Chapter 14
Chapter 14
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Morning Pursuit
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I woke up for anything but a pleasant reason.
The sky was dark, and the Squad Leader along with Mr. Choi's entire family were sleeping peacefully as if nothing was wrong. Yet my senses sharpened at the faintest hint of unease.
Only endless grasslands and the moon painting them green met my eyes, but in reality, I should have been inside the house.
Then, the wind blew.
The Squad Leader had definitely said he'd closed all the windows and doors, but an inexplicable chill kept assaulting me relentlessly.
This was all wrong.
Especially with a tale rampaging outside.
But it was too quiet for anything to have happened.
I'd only heard breaking sounds before, but now even those had vanished.
Could it really be this quiet?
Wasn't the response team still locked in combat with the tale right before I went to sleep?
I peered closely at what had once been Mr. Choi's biological mother.
The doll that had been circling her was gone without a trace, and beneath it lay dozens of mutilated corpses.
There could be corpses, sure—plenty of people had burst open and died earlier.
But mutilated corpses like these? Impossible.
Something was terribly, terribly wrong.
I had to get out of here right now.
"Everyone, wake up! Quick!"
"Uuum... Uncle, what's wrong..?"
Yu-na was the first to stir and sit up.
And then, next...
"Good children have to sleep early, don't they?"
Ha.
How I wished that voice had come from some other monster.
Unfortunately, it flowed from the Squad Leader's mouth.
The aura around him felt utterly different—like some other entity had taken over his body.
"It's time to sleep now!"
"Yu-na, dear! You have to sleep early to grow up healthy!"
Mr. Choi and his wife rose one after another.
They didn't look normal at all.
"Mom? Dad?"
I had no idea why only Yu-na seemed fine, but what I needed to do was clear.
"Yu-na! Get on my back!"
Yu-na looked reluctant to leave her parents, but we didn't have time for that.
A house turned deathly cold. A vanished doll. Mutilated corpses. People possessed by something.
There was plenty of evidence something was wrong here.
But I wasn't sharp enough to piece it all together quickly.
Figuring things out was always the Squad Leader's job in our division.
I could manage a basic guess—like something slipping in through an open window and taking control of people—but it didn't explain why Yu-na and I were unaffected.
I recalled the house's layout I'd memorized earlier and bolted outside.
With the response team likely wiped out, nowhere was safe.
Until the Tale Management Bureau found a solution, my best bet was fleeing from whatever was behind the mutilations.
Ever since the Squad Leader helped me pinpoint my location earlier, I could navigate most places blind.
I'd roughly memorized the village's layout.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ It didn't take long before I figured out the source of the mutilations.
Dolls.
They appeared out of nowhere, charging at me with kitchen knives in hand like something out of a horror movie—intent on killing.
Not incredibly fast, but not slow either.
If I could just see properly, I'd have shaken them off by now. But relying on memory to navigate in real-time made it tricky.
Sweat trickled down my back, but it felt damper than just sweat.
Yu-na was probably crying.
"What do I do?"
I couldn't just keep running forever.
My stamina wasn't infinite, and without the Squad Leader, endurance was an issue.
Fighting the dolls crossed my mind, but that would be utter folly.
If the response team—specialists at subduing tales—got taken out, what chance did I have?
"Still, I've got to try until I can't anymore."
I kept running. The unchanging scenery and scattered bodies were my only companions.
Taking solace in the sky slowly shifting hues, light gradually filled my vision until it blazed with brilliant sunset glow.
In any other situation, I could've stared at it for hours.
As if reading my mind and granting a moment to admire it, the pursuing dolls halted all at once.
I'd thought the atmosphere felt almost peaceful apart from the murder spree, but apparently they knew how to compromise.
"It's morning! Time for morning exercise!"
Yeah, no chance of that.
With the dolls' sudden shout, the fallen people began rising one by one.
Most looked fine on the surface, but some had half their bodies blown away.
Their eyes gleamed like the Squad Leader's and the Chois'.
Soon, they advanced alongside the dolls—straight toward me.
Honestly, I could handle regular people easily, dolls aside.
But with bodies half-gone still shambling around, killing them wasn't an option.
Besides, massacring civilians would put me in a tough spot once this blew over.
I subdued only those closing in and kept fleeing.
"This isn't working."
Dolls and people swarmed from every direction—front, back, left, right.
As despair set in, a familiar silhouette appeared in the distance.
The Squad Leader and the Choi couple.
They'd come for me and Yu-na too.
Yu-na spotted her parents and stared their way.
"Yu-na, I'm sorry, but your parents..."
"Uncle! That card in sister's pocket—the business card!"
"Huh?"
"The Shop's safe, right?!"
I had no clue how Yu-na suddenly pieced that together, but yeah—it had to be safer than here.
The issue was we still didn't know exactly what kind of tale the Shop was, but better than dying idly.
I shoved through the crowd and sprinted toward the Squad Leader.
Sorry to say it, but his physical abilities were just above average—nothing exceptional.
In other words, subduing him was a breeze.
Squad Leader, mind if I borrow you for a sec?
"Fun morning exer—"
Bam—!
I hoisted him piggyback-style while yanking the business card from my pocket.
He was sturdy enough; he wouldn't die from that.
The Shop was about ten minutes away at full sprint.
Minor problem: I hadn't fully memorized the area around it. But walls would guide me.
I kicked off the ground with everything I had.
Barreling through obstacles, shoving and hurling them aside.
Dolls and people surged toward me like waves, gripping all sorts of blades.
But even at their terrifying speed, they couldn't catch me at full throttle.
I kept checking the map on the card.
Right, here.
Right again.
Straight two blocks, then left—
"Ugh."
Wall.
I shook it off and bolted again.
Yu-na was tense as hell—hadn't said a word.
Twenty meters straight, then turn now!
Here.
It looked like endless grassland, but the Shop existed here in reality.
A sketchy, danger-filled gamble, but the only safe spot left.
As that thought crossed my mind, my pursuers closed in.
"Yu-na! Push straight through my back—quick!"
"Huh? Where are we?"
"Now!!"
Yu-na obliged, shoving the door and vanishing inside.
Thank goodness—I'd found the right spot.
My turn.
I checked the map again.
It pointed to a barbershop.
Fortunately, the door wasn't far.
With Yu-na before, I'd paced myself. Now? Full speed.
I poured it on and arrived in no time.
Creeeak—
Stepping through the door, I found myself in a normal barbershop.
"What?"
Hold on—this wasn't the plan.
Why couldn't I enter?
Mixed up buildings in unfamiliar territory?
But beauty supplies surrounded me.
I recalled entering the Shop before.
The door had vanished once inside.
One at a time, then?
But the cops and the boy had entered together once.
"Did I need to go in simultaneously?"
If so...
I whipped out Rose's Cutter Knife from my pocket.
No clue if it'd work, but...
I slashed at where the door should be.
Kreeeeaaagh!
A piercing scream echoed from somewhere as space tore open, revealing the entrance to the Shop.
"Welcome, customer. How may I assist you?"