Chapter 99
Chapter 99
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: -11
Chapter Title: The Owner's Passage
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The corridor stretched on endlessly.
Long LED bulbs were embedded regularly every two meters along the ceiling, illuminating a smoothly finished concrete path that extended far into the distance.
Anyone could tell at a glance that this was a passageway, yet it radiated an inexplicable sense of wrongness, as if some lunatic had stubbornly declared it wasn't—as if daring you not to pass through.
I took the lead down that path.
"Jin-seong, I know you're pushing yourself for our sake, so I won't pry into how you know this tale in such detail."
My two companions trailed behind me, eyes scanning the surroundings warily. In this interminably long corridor where not even the waiter's voice could be heard, only brief exchanges echoed sporadically.
"That said, I have to ask... Is this path really safe? I can handle most tales somehow, but if it's a phenomenon, even I can't do a thing about it."
"Yes, well. Just do exactly as I say, and there won't be any problems."
It sounded like something a kidnapper would say to a hostage, but it was the plain truth.
It might be hard to call this path truly safe, but the rules were simple, and the countermeasures straightforward.
Without knowing the rules, it'd be a perilously reckless adventure, but with me here, it was little more than a kiddie ride.
"Uh... shouldn't you explain those rules to us, then?"
Hyeok Tae-jun clutched his pounding heart as he asked.
"Yeah, it's about time I did."
This place was fundamentally a restaurant.
So the core rules were tied to that concept to some degree.
But this corridor was far removed from the 'dining hall' area.
The rules here deviated from the restaurant entirely.
"Listen carefully from here on out. The rules are simple, but mistakes won't be tolerated."
I stopped and turned around.
"Better to die by heaven's will than make a dumb mistake, right?"
"...Yeah, fair enough."
I confirmed their resolute expressions, filled with determination, then resumed walking forward.
"There are no waiters here. No chefs either. What we need to watch out for are the phenomena."
What was the original purpose of this corridor's existence?
It was the path the monstrous Owner used to enter and exit the restaurant.
The Owner was a massive lump of a creature, its entire body composed of thick layers of fat.
So, what means would such a being use to quickly reach the restaurant?
A car? A bus? Maybe a train?
A sharp wind howled from somewhere.
"Everyone! Press yourselves against the wall right now!"
All wrong.
Whooooosh—!
The wind roared past us majestically.
Clank... clank.
The faint sound of mechanical gears interlocking echoed through.
And after a brief moment...
Dozens, hundreds of mechanical hands swept violently through the corridor.
"Argh!"
Despite Hyeok Tae-jun's scream, the mechanical hands only passed through the center of the path.
"W-what the hell was that?"
Hyeok Tae-jun clutched his chest as he asked.
"The mechanical hands the Owner uses to get around."
"Those... are mechanical hands? But they clearly..."
"I get what you're trying to say, but let's not go there."
It's healthier for your brain to just accept them as mechanical hands.
"Uh... okay."
"Jin-seong, so we just stick to the wall every time we hear that creepy noise?"
"No, focus on the wind itself, not the sound. Those grotesque hands randomly pick left, center, or right to approach from, and the wind only blows from the side they're coming from."
"Got it. Simple enough."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ After repeated evasions, we arrived at a massive door towering well over three meters high.
I couldn't open it with my strength, so the Headquarters Chief did it for us.
"Who are you people? How the hell did you get all the way here?!"
It was a place that embodied indulgence itself—gluttony incarnate.
The vast room was filled with unidentified meats and dishes, and smack in the center sat a table the size of a car.
Piled atop that table like a tower were enough foods to obscure even the Owner's grotesquely obese body.
"Sorry, Owner, but we're here for your carving knife."
"W-what?!"
The Owner tilted its body in disbelief at my words.
That slight motion alone unleashed a horrific noise, as if the room itself were warping.
"You're the first human to set foot here. A true madman has wandered in."
The Owner creaked as it heaved its massive bulk upright.
Under normal physics, this should have been impossible, and gravity seemed to function fine—yet somehow, it stood.
A vague tension hung in the air.
The Owner looked ready to attack at any moment, while the Headquarters Chief stepped forward ahead of me, bracing himself.
In the stifling heat of the room, amid the stench of rotting food that assaulted our noses...
Bam—! Bam—! Bam!
A single monster began its charge, slow but resounding with brutal force.
"Haha! Feast time today!"
The indiscriminate assault of a monster that utterly surpassed human limits was enough to crush morale and force acceptance of one's fate—but the Headquarters Chief showed not a flicker of fear.
Bam—!
The Owner put on a final burst of speed.
Splat!
And lunged at the Headquarters Chief.
No one could guarantee the Headquarters Chief's survival amid that savage violence, yet the Owner's hideous laughter rang out.
"Kuhahaha!"
But it didn't last.
"Haha! Ha, ha... Huh?"
The Headquarters Chief was nowhere to be seen.
The Owner frantically scanned front, back, left, right—but nothing.
"Where are you! Where?!"
The Headquarters Chief wasn't one to make the foolish mistakes of cartoon characters.
Silently, mid-air, he descended upon the Owner's head.
"No way! Above?!"
Bam!
What kind of sound was that for two living beings colliding?
It rivaled an explosion from a construction site.
"Gaaah! You filthy bastard—!"
Like an enraged wild boar, the Owner lashed out wildly with its stubby arms, heedless of direction.
There was no way the Headquarters Chief would get hit by those sluggish movements; he effortlessly dodged them all and tore into the Owner's protruding belly fat with raw grip strength.
"Uwaaaah! Aaaagh—"
Organs, entrails, and appendages spilled out madly.
"How! I can't lose to some puny human!"
That might have been true once.
The Headquarters Chief's body, pushed to the absolute human limit, seemed to signal no further growth was possible—but I, the absolute variable of time, had granted him the new weapon of seasoned expertise.
His veteran prowess far surpassed any tale.
"Th-this guy's the Headquarters Chief? Shouldn't someone like him be kept away from field work...?"
Hyeok Tae-jun muttered from behind, throat bobbing.
He had a point.
Anyone would question whether deploying a literal human weapon to the front lines was the right call.
According to the Headquarters Chief's reminiscences last night, he hadn't planned on becoming 'Headquarters Chief' either.
"Gaaahhh..."
The Owner lost strength and began to collapse.
And in that instant.
Pop!
Its body burst open.
"Headquarters Chief! On the floor there!"
My finger pointed at the fleeing 50-centimeter Owner.
The Headquarters Chief raised his foot.
"Ah, aaah! No!"
Squish!
And stomped it.
"Whew... It's been ages since I cut loose. Age is the problem... age."
The expertise born of that age had led him to victory, but he didn't seem to care.
"You're incredible... seriously, wow..."
Hyeok Tae-jun gaped, unable to close his mouth in admiration.
"I'd love to celebrate the win, but we don't have time. The waiters and chefs will be after us any minute now."
"Right. We just need to find the carving knife?"
"Yes. It looks like any ordinary carving knife. Probably somewhere around this table..."
Searching for something in a sludge-filled mess was no easy task.
The stench induced headaches, and the squelching texture of foreign matter made my stomach churn in real time.
"Whoa! Found it!"
Our savior turned out to be Hyeok Tae-jun.
"Looks like a perfectly normal carving knife."
"It even has a fancy name: Fabulabrum."
The Headquarters Chief looked puzzled as he said,
"Still, odd that it didn't use the knife despite having it."
"This knife only affects tales. Stab a human with it, and you won't even get a scratch."
"So what does it do to tales?"
"When you stab a tale, one of the stories that make it up vanishes from that body part."
"Oh! Perfect for fighting tales! Do you know which part to stab?"
"Nope?"
"Huh?"
"I don't. If I did, I'd have grabbed it and gone stabbing already."
A brief silence.
Then the Headquarters Chief's hearty laugh broke it.
"Haha! Fair enough. Deleting a story has to be fatal to a tale, though."
"Not bad odds. Worst case, we stab a few times."
"Then let's get out of here."