Chapter 3
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 3Object Head (2)
February 28th, night.
A person died.
No, let me explain accurately.
I found a dead person.
It hasn't been that long since I found him.
That goes back to a few hours ago.
I returned from the road and searched the house for clothes to wear, but it was ultimately in vain.
There were only clothes that crumbled due to being old and decayed, or clothes that didn't fit my body type at all.
Left with no choice, I had to continue staying naked.
While staying in an upset mood, I sensed someone entering the mountain.
It was an ordinary man.
It was hard to figure out his attire, but he had a load of luggage.
With a joyful heart, I went looking for the man.
Because he entered through a path on the completely opposite side, finding him wasn't that easy.
But just the singular desire to meet a person and have a conversation.
I crossed the mountain to the opposite side and could finally check the visitor.
Whatever he was thinking coming to a mountain, he was wearing a suit.
A tall man holding even a suitcase in one hand.
His complexion was terribly bad.
Whether his body was sick, or his heart was hurting.
His eyes were swollen tight, and the distinct tear stains around his eyes were dark.
"Heu-uh-uh-uh...... Uwaaaaah!"
The man, who had come in quite deeply, burst into tears and suddenly shouted.
Startled forest birds hurriedly flew up.
The shout spread widely across the entire forest like an echo.
"Sons of bitches... Sons of bitches...! I will curse you for the rest of my life. You fucking bastards."
The man takes out a rope from his suitcase.
Absurdly, he is preparing something while searching how to tie the rope on his phone.
He made a noose, hung it on a high branch, and fixed it firmly.
And for a long time, he leaned against the tree and cried his eyes out.
I was quietly watching his every move from a distance.
'It's suicide.'
Though I have no eyes, I'm not blind, and though I have no head, I'm not thoughtless.
The man, who anyone could see had come to commit suicide, was only spitting rough curses at someone unknown to me.
Bullying? Or a scam?
He might have been betrayed by a friend or turned away by his family.
In many ways, it is certain that he is a person backed into a corner enough to risk suicide.
'Would it be right to talk to him and save him?'
Even though I look like this right now, I can't just stand by and watch when a person is going to die.
It is a natural duty and human nature to stop someone if they are trying to die.
It was the moment I made a small resolution and was about to approach.
'Oh no.'
Whoosh-
The wind blows.
No. This isn't the wind.
An unreality, an existence that cannot be seen with the eyes, and therefore only I can feel, is coming.
'...It's an evil spirit.'
An evil spirit.
I had no choice but to express it that way.
That thing, whose entire body is putrefied and rotting, its flesh crumbling down.
A hideous entity oozing black blood and emitting a stench due to its rot.
The evil spirit with an opaque body clung to the back of the suicidal man.
It mutters while chewing its own tongue, which droops down limply like someone who committed suicide by hanging.
Kill yourself. Kill yourself. Kill yourself. Kill yourself. Kill yourself.
'It's really repulsive.'
Its appearance is repulsive, and what it's doing is repulsive too.
The man, unaware that an evil spirit had attached itself to him, gradually had his complexion dyed dark.
He became so ominous that his impression changed just by having an evil spirit attached to him.
'It's inciting suicide.'
It's truly a soul befitting the name of an evil spirit.
The dark energy emitted by a person trying to die.
Just as fish flock when bait is scattered, the evil spirit drawn by the dark energy clings to the human body, sucks its energy, and instead incites them to commit suicide.
I must act here.
Am I going to just keep watching as a bystander?
Or step forward right now to drive the evil spirit away and save him?
'Should I step forward?'
It wouldn't be hard to step forward, talk to him, and change his mind.
But the problem lies elsewhere.
The fact that I still don't know how to speak.
And the evil spirit.
I want to stop him more than anything, but there's no way the evil spirit will let me do as I please.
It will definitely counterattack.
Clatter. Drag.
The man drags his suitcase over.
He stands the suitcase next to the tree and perilously climbs onto it.
"Uuuu......"
He almost fell, but since he was focused on getting up, he didn't care about safety.
After leveling his eyes with the rope hung on the tree, he put his head into the noose without hesitation.
He looked like a death row inmate on the gallows.
Even though the death row inmate was also his own executioner.
Eyes stricken with terror.
Realizing reality as he stood before the threshold of suicide, what filled his eyes were regret and hesitation.
The evil spirit still whispers in his ear.
The man hesitates to commit suicide.
"L-let's postpone it just a l-little bit. Think about it more......"
It was the moment he muttered and tried to take off the noose to postpone his suicide.
The man suddenly whipped his head around and stared at me.
I see. I don't know about when it's bright, but now that it's dark, my burning flame head is more visible.
"G-ghost?!"
It was the moment the violently startled man lost his footing.
The suitcase was pushed by his feet and fell over, and the momentarily panicked man urgently grabbed the rope above the noose to support his weight.
Flail flail.
He flails his legs and tries to hold on somehow, but he cannot easily slip out of the noose.
"Heuak...! Kaaak! Kkeu-euk...... Kkeo-eok...!"
As his neck is slowly squeezed, the man's face turns pale blue.
The man who, until just a moment ago, wailed because he wanted to die, built his own gallows, and hung his neck on it.
Now he is struggling because he wants to escape death.
It's a disgraceful sight, but as a living being, it was an extremely normal reaction.
"Kkeu-reuk......! Eu-geup. S-save... Keok!"
No living being wants to die.
Their mind is just pushed to the extreme, to the point where they feel they'll only be at peace if they die.
When facing death, all humans eventually end up regretting their actions.
At the threshold of death, the man is putting strength into his toes, holding on desperately so as not to cross over.
'If you're going to regret it, why on earth are you trying to die?'
It's pitiful, but I also don't understand it.
Why on earth does he have the courage to commit suicide, but not the courage to run away from or fight the reality strangling him?
No matter how hellish his reality is, wouldn't the reality he faces after running away from it be better?
'But no matter how much I press him... in the end, it's just a complaint from someone who can't understand a person backed into a corner.'
It's just that no one can understand the reality that person is in. Just pressing and scolding them is all there is.
Then that person will be driven further into a corner.
So there is only exactly one thing people like us can do.
Therefore, the actions I take are also limited.
Fwoosh.
A blue flame flares up on the side of the noose rope hanging on the tree.
It didn't spread to the tree or the noose, but accurately burned and snapped only the rope.
Snap.
Thud!
"Kkeo-eok!"
The man, who fell ugly onto the knocked-over suitcase, couldn't even let out a proper scream of pain.
Making gasping sounds, he floundered on the ground and only later threw off the noose around his neck in shock.
"Heu-ik! Kkeu-eu-euk......"
How was I able to cut the rope.
I don't know the exact principle or method.
It was just possible the moment I made up my mind to sever it.
'The tree and the house weren't affected by the flames. It seems I can control the fire as long as I have the will.'
It's a fascinating ability.
To think something like this is possible.
Meanwhile, having seemingly calmed down, the man finally looked back at me.
"Hwaaaak!"
His face is more terrified than the moment he faced his death.
I admit that my appearance is unrealistic. I understand it too.
But doesn't he have any will to have a conversation?
Can't he tell that I don't have any aggression?
Why is that the reaction whenever someone sees me?
"S-save me! Please spare me!"
The person who was trying to commit suicide just a moment ago is begging me for his life.
The man, squeezing out tears and snot, wrapped both arms in front of his head to block his vision like a child and continuously shouted.
"I was wrong! I won't come back ever again! Just spare my life!"
I understand how he feels.
But right now, I'm keeping a close eye on something else, not the man.
"Shaaaak!"
The evil spirit making a threatening sound like a snake.
It opens its torn mouth as if to swallow me whole.
A hideous appearance. An unrealistic entity.
It's an appearance that would rightfully cause fear, but I didn't feel afraid at all.
In the eyes of this evil spirit, my existence must be a similarly abnormal entity.
'Strange.'
At first, it was an unknown emotion.
This intense emotion is lurking inside my head, as if it's about to explode.
I can make this emotion explode.
'I think I can burn that evil spirit.'
It's not just burning.
It looks like consumption is possible.
So I decided to do just that.
Fwoooosh!
Suddenly, the flame on my head starts to soar intensely.
Like the eruption of an active volcano, the intensely spewed flames spread blue fire all around, causing a blaze.
"Uwaaaak!"
The man screaming without knowing why.
"Kyaaaaak!"
The evil spirit screaming in sheer terror as well.
The spreading flames reached out like a living thing and grabbed the evil spirit's leg.
Fwoosh-
The fire catches on.
The flames climbing up the evil spirit burned even its soul.
"Kyaaaak! No! Save me!"
The agonizing evil spirit speaks.
As the flame attached to its leg spread to its entire body, its form seemed to have become visible to the man as well.
Hearing a scream along with suddenly seeing a human-shaped flame, the man momentarily forgot his fear of me and stared at the evil spirit as if he'd lost his mind.
Swooosh-
And I sucked in the flames that had spread everywhere.
The flames attached to the tree, ground, and grass return to me.
In the same way, even the evil spirit is dragged along.
"No! I said no! Noooo! I don't want to die!"
The evil spirit's scream echoing through the mountain.
The evil spirit, sucked into my head's flame, stopped screaming and disappeared.
Shockingly, I feel full.
The taste of the evil spirit was an awful sewer taste, but strangely, my insides felt hearty.
'A dead evil spirit doesn't want to die, of all things.'
It was a contradictory statement, but in the end, it was just a habit from its human days screamed out of a desire to live.
I looked back at the man again.
The terrified man stealthily looked up at me, then slowly slipped to the side.
"I-I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
He backed away while constantly muttering apologies, then quickly turned and started running down the mountain.
I didn't chase him, but only stared blankly at the man practically tumbling down the mountain.
'Yeah, it's better to run away.'
Running away isn't weak, it's wise.
While lightly waving my hand at his fading back of the head, I suddenly noticed the suitcase caught at my feet.
'He left this behind?'
What if there's something important in here.
Still, I opened the suitcase out of curiosity. Fortunately, it was an unlocked suitcase.
'It's clothes.'
It was a suit.
Other than that, comfortable clothing or simple necessities.
Seeing the way he ran away, it doesn't look like he plans on coming back. If he's just going to abandon it like this, wouldn't it be okay if I took it?
'I'll consider it the price for saving his life.'
I liked the suit.
I was naked anyway, and it was exactly what I needed, wasn't it.
Feeling like I was looting someone else's item, I put on the clothes.
Although it felt slightly small for my build, it fit snugly, so it was the best.
I grabbed the suitcase as well and then climbed the mountain again.
What a windfall.
To think I'd obtain clothes and necessary items while saving a person at the same time.
Getting both a sense of pride and a material reward, I couldn't feel any better.
'Ah.'
But I lacked the time to even savor such joy.
There are many evil spirits in the mountain, and I don't know if that's why, but there are really a lot of people committing suicide.
On my way back, I sensed someone intruding into the mountain once again, and before I could even find him, he quickly hung himself and committed suicide.
I looked up with a hollow feeling in front of the corpse, dead from a broken neck.
'I can save some people, but I can't save others.'
I'm not a superhero with superpowers.
I also have no sense of duty that I must absolutely save people.
But seeing a person die, I can't do anything about that heavy feeling in my chest.
Feeling an unknown sense of camaraderie in misery, I cut the rope and lowered the corpse.
Since I don't have a shovel, I can't dig the ground.
Instead, I gathered fallen leaves and grass and just covered his body like a blanket.
'I can't tell him to go to heaven. Since it's suicide.'
I don't believe in religion, but I deliberately brought it up for the sake of the dead person.
But would a being called a god really take in someone who took their own life?
Screech.
The place they stopped was a quiet road flanked by a mountain path.
Because it wasn't maintained, the lanes were faint, and there were no fences, just like the countryside.
Two police officers got out of the police car parked on the shoulder and looked around.
"He said it was here."
The junior police officer looked around the surroundings where nothing was particularly visible, shining his flashlight.
Since it was chilly and dark, it gave off a creepy feeling.
"Cigarette?"
On the other hand, the senior police officer calmly offered a cigarette.
The junior police officer shook his own cigarette to show him, and then they both smoked while looking toward the mountain.
"It's cold."
"It's still cold. It's gotten dark, too."
"It's going to be spring soon, so why isn't the weather warming up?"
They were only wasting time, and nothing was visible.
Since there was no need to search the mountain just for a patrol, the two men only stared blankly at the mountain.
"Do you see anything?"
"The forest."
"Besides that?"
"The darkness."
"Those are all things I'm seeing."
"It means there's really nothing there."
As expected, it was certain that the reporter had seen a hallucination, or had mistaken someone's prank.
After smoking exactly one cigarette, the two men put their cigarette butts in their pockets.
"We'll just put this on the patrol course a few more times in the future and then ignore it after that."
"Can't we just not come? This isn't even a patrol course."
"The police exist for times like this, you punk. Let's just think of it as taking a drive."
"It's a shitty drive course."
The junior police officer, who had gotten into the vehicle, was reversing into a short gap on the shoulder to turn the car around when he found something and got out.
"Why? Don't tell me you hit something?"
"There was a path here?"
Although hidden by the thicket, a faint path existed.
It was a small path leading up the mountain. It seemed to be one of the hiking courses used in the past.
It was just abandoned because no one used it anymore.
"Well... there can be a path."
"What is there if we go up?"
The two police officers followed the path with their eyes and looked up the mountain.
The senior, crossing his arms as if thinking, brushed his hair back and made a groaning sound while looking at the sky.
"Uhm... over here... uh, well..."
"If you can't remember, never mind."
"There's a house. Yeah, that's right. There's a house."
A house? To think there's even a house in a place like this.
"Do people live there?"
"No one lives there now. It's been abandoned for a really long time."
"Why was it abandoned? Did someone die perhaps?"
"An old lady lived there and passed away, but actually, her children lived there even after that."
"Ah, really? And they don't live there now."
"They don't. It's far apart from the city, and the path is rough. It's hard to live there with kids, so they left. It's been left neglected ever since."
"I see."
It was a fact he didn't know. In fact, he had no need to know.
Even so, he didn't feel the urge to climb this mountain.
Especially not at night when it's dark out, at least!
"……"
"……"
The two of them knew what the other was thinking, but they didn't bother bringing it up and only stared at the faint path.
As police officers, having received a suspicious report here, they should at least climb the mountain and check.
However, these two lacked the courage to climb an eerie mountain late at night.
Standing there like fools, the senior police officer hurriedly rubbed both arms and changed the subject.
"Ugh, it's cold. I want to eat fish cake broth."
"Shall we drop by a snack bar on the way back?"
Naturally, the junior police officer did not miss that opportunity.
As the satisfied senior police officer turned around, the junior also hurried to get in the vehicle.
"Let's buy spicy rice cakes on the way and eat it together after work. Can I go to your place today?"
"When have you ever not come?"
"True. Let's come back later when it's bright."
"Let's do that."
It hadn't been long since the police car returned the way it came.
A van approached through the dead of night.
From the vehicle parked in the exact spot where the police car had stood, about three men and women got out, carrying filming equipment like cameras and microphones.