Chapter 9
Chapter 9
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: Tyui-█-█████(1)
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This was the second time.
After successfully wrapping up my duties
as the Newbie Protector?
Right now,
"Haa—."
I let out a sigh so deep it could make the solid ground cave in.
The reason I was sighing like the earth itself was crumbling was ridiculously simple.
The thought that I might have to traverse this corridor dozens, hundreds... no, even more times in the future made a sigh escape on its own.
How many more times did I have to repeat this nonsense?
Thud—
"...Haa."
With steps more drained of energy than ever before, I finally reached the white door at the very end of the corridor.
Click—
I gripped the doorknob and turned it without a moment's hesitation.
Just like always, the interior revealed yellowish wallpaper and countless lights.
A rotary dial phone sitting smack in the center of the room caught my eye.
'How is it that not a single thing changes in this place...?'
Eh?
It had changed.
A clothes hanger I'd never seen before was... floating in midair.
My gaze was naturally drawn to this brand-new change that hadn't appeared during my two previous visits.
A clothes hanger floating in the air.
And hanging on that clothes hanger was a single black suit.
'That looks suspicious as hell.'
No one could look at that scene and not find it suspicious.
Keeping my guard up, I cautiously stepped slowly toward the center of the room.
And right on cue, as always at this moment, the familiar ringing echoed through the space.
Rrring—!
...Looks like
'I have to pick it up, huh?'
I was more terrified of the fallout from ignoring that phone than whatever was up with the black suit, so I put as much distance as possible between myself and it
before picking up the receiver blaring noisily.
From the receiver flowed the familiar AI voice, just as always.
『This call is being recorded, so if you'd like to chat with beautiful me anytime, any moment, every single day, feel free to drop by whenever. This place without you is...』
Today,
just like always,
our AI lady was babbling on endlessly.
After the unusually long preamble finally wrapped up, the real topic came through the receiver.
『As you've already seen. This is our little gift to Employee Kim Min-hyuk, who successfully completed this mission.』
"A gift?"
A gift for me?
The moment I heard the word "gift,"
my eyes weren't drawn anywhere else but
to the black suit floating unnaturally in the air, asserting its presence.
No way—that black suit
is the "gift" they're talking about?
"Just to be sure... that suit doesn't have any special functions or weird curses on it, right?"
You know, the usual stuff.
Like blocking an instant-death attack once,
or being made of material tougher than any steel plate,
or maybe once you put it on, you can never take it off.
This place was based on my favorite Apocalypse of Ghost Stories,
after all—the worst worldview imaginable.
So I figured they'd prepared a gift on that level.
And as if living up to my expectations,
『It does.』
"What is it?"
With my face a mix of the tiniest bit of excitement and equal parts anxiety, I waited for the AI lady's response.
『Coolness. The most important thing about the Newbie Protector role is the image you project to others, after all.』
"... "
『I'm sure it'll suit you perfectly.』
Cool...ness.
Black suit = cool
Far removed from any practical functions that might protect my life in a ghost story,
I'd just been told that looking cool for others mattered more.
All on my own, I'd built up expectations
and gotten all worked up in the heavy atmosphere.
The AI lady's voice carried an urging tone, telling me to try on this one-trick stylish suit.
『Before your next mission is assigned. We recommend changing quickly.』
"...Right here?"
『Yes.』
After hearing I was supposed to change clothes right then and there, I glanced around the space where I stood.
Just me, standing all alone in a room the size of a gymnasium.
'...No one's around to see.'
Should be fine, right?
I decided not to worry about it.
I did as the AI lady instructed and started changing right there.
Changing clothes didn't take long at all.
Far from taking long—
the suit fit me so perfectly it sent chills down my spine.
'This place... is a real ghost story world.'
These little details,
one by one,
kept drilling home the fact that this space was utterly unreal.
'Oh, right.'
And I didn't forget to pin the Smile Badge to the suit's collar.
Once fully changed,
I picked up the receiver again to report my current status.
"All changed."
『As expected, I knew it'd suit you.』
"...Pardon?"
『Then, I'll transmit the details of your next mission right away.』
"Yes? Ah, no. Hold on. What you just said..."
『This next mission isn't particularly difficult. It's just a 'simple conversation' and you're done—truly straightforward.』
The AI lady was moving straight on to the next mission.
But what she'd said to me moments ago sent a chill straight down my spine.
-As expected, I knew it'd suit you.
'They've been... watching me the whole time?'
I was still reeling from the shock when the details of the next mission reached my ears.
⚙ MISSION BRIEF ⚙
Identification Code: Tyui-█-█████ Mission Location: Silent Black Girl [Main Mission Procedure] - Conversation with the 'Girl'. - On failure: No penalty.
!!!!
"Wa-wait a sec. The black girl wha—"
Snap—!
But before I could even finish, every light in the room flicked off.
And from the receiver came the AI lady's final words.
『May you find the 'white flower'.』
*****
Snap—!
A bright light flooded my vision, illuminating my surroundings.
The first thing to enter my sight was
Rustle—
a warm breeze brushing my cheek and a deep floral scent tickling my nose.
I was currently standing in the center of a space bursting with flowers of every color.
A bluish sky.
Flowers and fields in vibrant hues.
A place radiating an atmosphere utterly unlike any ghost story space I'd dropped into before,
and one I absolutely should never have set foot in—but here I was.
Tremble—
The shaking in my hands transmitted straight to my skin.
"... "
My gaze slowly drifted down to the collar of the suit I was wearing.
Thankfully, the Smile Badge was still firmly attached.
The badge that had kept my sanity together until now was right there on the suit's collar.
But...
For some reason, the trembling in my arms wouldn't stop.
I'm not saying the badge wasn't working properly.
The Smile Badge's effect was probably functioning normally.
And if I'd dropped into this place without it, I might have...
been unable to move even a single centimeter
before passing out right then and there.
That's how utterly deranged the place I'd landed in was.
Bzzz—
My smartphone started vibrating right on cue.
Probably to show me the gallery post about wherever I'd ended up.
But I already knew all about this ghost story.
There was no way I didn't know the details about this godforsaken place.
📰 /Apocalypse of Ghost Stories
/Silent Black Girl Did you meet a rabbit with ruby-like red eyes? Then that means the 'Black Girl' has found you. If the black girl approaches you and asks for your favorite flower color, don't hesitate—say you like 'black flowers'. That way, you can die with a little less suffering. Because black flowers are the ones the girl hates most. Naturally, she'd want to quickly clear away anything she can't stand the sight of.
Just as the AI lady had said earlier,
the ghost story known as the
'Silent Black Girl'
had a management rating of
█ grade.
Not A-grade or S-grade... █ grade.
A mark akin to a 'blank' given to categories that haven't been properly rated yet.
But exceptionally, this symbol is also used to mean something else.
In Apocalypse of Ghost Stories, it's the mark attached only to the 'absolute worst existences'.
Ghost story name: Silent Black Girl.
Immeasurable grade.
Grit—!
I ground my teeth unconsciously.
'Crazy bastards...'
I didn't have time to just sit here like this.
I had to find a way out of this place, and fast.
Otherwise, this time for real—
I'd die.
I had to move as quickly as possible.
Before the black girl found me first...
With my arms still trembling, I barely pushed off the ground and stood.
Not anywhere else—
I started rapidly digging through the gaps between the flowers on the ground.
In the process, I recalled the most suspicious part of this mission.
- On failure: No penalty.
This mission had no penalties even if I failed—that statement.
In other words,
it was basically saying I could quit anytime.
So I was quitting this mission.
It was impossible to succeed from the start anyway.
I had to find that flower before the black girl found me, and fast.
That flower was the only escape route out of here.
📰 /Silent Black Girl
If you've found a 'white flower' in the black girl's flower field, you can relax now. No one knows why, but there's a rumor that everyone who's found the white flower has made it back safely. *Nothing confirmed yet.
A rumor would do just fine.
Right now, I had to bet everything on that.
Not red flowers.
Not blue flowers.
No other colors.
I had to find the white flower.
I started frantically rummaging through the flower field.
And the color that dominated the field by far
was red flowers.
Unlike the others,
red flowers had thorns sprouting between their stems, and the moment one pricked me—
"Gaaahhh!"
an excruciating pain shot through me, like my flesh was burning away.
— Anonymous
Those who said they liked red flowers had their entire bodies engulfed in flames. Where only black ashes remained, countless red flowers bloomed.
And the second most common flowers
were blue ones.
— Anonymous
Those who said they liked blue flowers started swelling up like balloons all over their bodies. Bang! The exploded body was beautifully decorated by blue flowers all around.
I gritted my teeth against the pain and focused solely on finding the white flower.
After that, I spotted countless other flower colors scattered through the field one after another.
Orange flowers with every leaf sliced off.
Purple flowers with only petals scattered across the dirt.
Green flowers smeared with some unidentified bizarre liquid on their leaves.
Even yellow flowers that zapped me with electricity just from touching them.
Dozens of varieties.
But the only two I couldn't find
were black flowers and white flowers.
My hands, already raw and worn to hell, were stained red with blood just like the red flowers.
In my quickening breaths and narrowing field of vision, the only new thing I spotted was
Hop—
?
Twitch—
a small animal twitching its nose came into view.
A single white rabbit.
Glossy fur and long ears shooting straight up toward the sky. Red eyes staring right at me where I sat in the flower field.
A white rabbit...
staring at me.
…
…
…
After spotting the white rabbit,
I stopped rummaging through the flowers and clenched my blood-soaked hands tight.
I stopped trying to find the white flower.
From the moment I'd encountered that white rabbit in this space. From the moment the girl fluttering her white skirt beside the rabbit suddenly started staring at me.
'...Damn it.'
— Anonymous
Did you meet a rabbit with red eyes? Then that means the 'Black Girl' has found you.
Rustle—
A strong gust whipped up my clothes, and right before my eyes appeared a girl in a luxurious white dress.
A girl with ebony-black bobbed hair and skin to match.
Her eyes sparkled like jewels inlaid with priceless gems as she approached me, slumped in the flower field,
and asked me this:
【What's the color of your favorite flower?】