The Abandoned Warehouse (3)
Why? Why the hell? How come that bastard got refilled and my food didn’t?
This is ridiculous.
Hey, White Hair. Is this how you’re gonna run a business?
If this was a loop, everything should’ve reset. Why is it only the spider web that’s fine?
Or maybe it isn’t a loop after all.
For once, I really hoped that wasn’t the answer.
From the evidence in front of me, though, things pointed to the worst possibility.
The box hadn’t reset, but the web had come back. That meant it wasn’t a loop.
And if what I’d smashed was intact again, then that thing wasn’t the real body.
In other words, that was literally just a web, and the spider that made it was somewhere else.
The maggot-infested web in front of me was already enough of a headache. Having to deal with the spider, too, made my stomach sink.
“So there really is a spider after all...”
I checked the third warehouse as well, just in case.
The case of bottled water I’d brought in yesterday was gone for good.
Back in Warehouse 1, I stood there with a mess of thoughts in my head.
This wasn’t what I’d expected.
After a while, I snapped out of it and counted the food left in the box.
“...Thirteen packs of hardtack and eleven 500ml bottles of water.”
Even if I rationed it, would that last me a month?
And of all things, hardtack and water.
In a situation where I had to conserve water, hardtack was the kind of joke that came dripping with malice.
Whoever designed this place had clearly put real effort into making human beings suffer as much as possible.
I didn’t know who it was, but if I ever met them, I’d smash their jaw in and make them eat nothing but soup through a yogurt straw.
A month, maybe...? If I swallowed the hardtack without chewing as much as possible, would that help? It probably wouldn’t choke me, at least.
Smack!
Oh, shit... that was way too hard.
I rubbed my stinging cheek and glanced at the second warehouse.
The web had regenerated while I was spacing out.
Right. Fuck.
What was I doing talking about swallowing hardtack like pills?
I needed to figure out how to break through ahead, not waste time calculating how many crackers and mouthfuls of water I’d need per day.
And there might still be something useful in Warehouse 4 that I hadn’t checked yet.
I slapped myself back to my senses, then took out all the restored Thousand Hands and spread them open.
I unfurled them like petals, my straightened left arm serving as the flower’s stem.
My fingers were grazing each leaflet, but it was still my arm, and I wanted to keep my distance from it.
Anyway, the maximum number of arms I could make with Thousand Hands was thirty-six.
Exactly the same as the number of mannequins in the mall.
Even if I cut them away together with the webs, regeneration would keep that number intact.
Then the conclusion was obvious: I could advance while consuming those thirty-six arms one by one.
The problem was that I had no idea how many warehouses there were.
Would Thousand Hands hold out until I reached the end and dealt with the spider?
I’d find out by doing it.
There were two webs in Warehouse 2 and four in Warehouse 3.
If it were up to me, I’d like to just sweep the whole mess away in one shot and be done with it.
The only reason I couldn’t was that I was scared of the damn things sticking to my body.
I went back into Warehouse 2 and cleared away one web.
The ones that had eaten all the mannequin arms got the hammer treatment.
Then I handled the second one the same way.
“Takes longer than I thought.”
The hammer was easy enough, but clearing out all the mannequin arms thrown off by the maggot web took time.
If I just smashed straight through, the fragments would get in the way.
Either way, after clearing Warehouse 2’s webs, I moved on to Warehouse 3.
I scooped up the webs, tossed them aside, and crushed them with the hammer.
One,
two,
three,
four,
fi-
“......?”
What the hell? Why are there six? Fuck?
It had definitely been four a second ago.
Even though I’d unconsciously cleared away the fifth web that shouldn’t have existed in the first place, there was still one left in front of the door.
Why? Why? Why?
Why was it increasing?
I cleared the web in front of me and angrily smashed it to pieces.
Why did the variables keep changing?
Goddamn Backrooms. Goddamn spider bastard.
Where did I go wrong? Was I not supposed to kill it? Damn it, let’s check Warehouse 4 first.
When I yanked the door open, webs wrapped around every direction welcomed me.
At a glance, there had to be more than ten of them.
Just clearing this lot would use more than half the Thousand Hands I had left.
There was no box in the corner, no useful item in sight.
All I could see was web after web.
“Maybe this is the last one.”
There were so many webs here. Surely there couldn’t be more, right?
My thoughts kept tilting toward the bad end of the scale, so I focused on the hammer and started clearing the webs.
The damn maggots didn’t even count as material.
They were nothing but little shits whose entire purpose was to make people miserable.
“Huu, huu...”
I kept careful not to let any of it stick to my body while I stripped the webs away, and it was harder than I expected.
Still, I managed to get through them all.
After dealing with twelve layers of web, I had twelve Thousand Hands left.
One-third remaining.
I could still work with this. I could fight with this much.
As long as no more webs showed up in the next warehouse.
Click, creeeeeak-
Please let this be the last door.
Even if some horrific spider bastard was waiting on the other side, I was ready to greet it with open arms.
I opened the door to Warehouse 5.
“......Nope, fuck this.”
There were so many webs packed in there I couldn’t even count them.
The whole place was filled white, like fog.
Yeah. No chance.
There was no way I was punching through this.
And through the webs, I could just barely make out a steel door, which told me this still wasn’t the end.
Balancing, my ass.
First it was two, then four, and now suddenly dozens? What the fuck.
This was way too much, even for this place.
“Hey, Ye-eun, are you getting revenge on me right now?”
I slammed the steel door of Warehouse 5 shut and went back to Warehouse 1, shaking the lantern violently.
You guided me here to die, didn’t you?
Hey, I even gave Ye-eun your spot as a fresh start present!
But no matter how hard I shook it, the lantern stayed silent.
This really is all there is to eat. The front is a total iron defense.
It was the pure definition of hopeless.
What the hell kind of bullshit was this?
At this level of effort, wasn’t it rude of me to stay alive?
I hated everything.
Was this what being a maniac felt like?
“Aaaah! Agh! Bastards! Fuck! Agh!”
I pounded the warehouse wall with the hammer.
The wall didn’t budge an inch, whatever it was made of, and all I got was pain in my fist.
After hammering at it like a lunatic, I ran out of strength and collapsed onto the floor.
I want to go back.
...How long had it been since then, with not even the courage to die?
I’d been staring blankly at the spots on the ceiling when I got thirsty enough to sit up.
Maybe there were only eight jugs of water left now.
I’d been drinking like I had nothing to lose, so it vanished fast.
“......”
Should I try once more?
I didn’t want to sit around waiting helplessly for death.
And I was tired of the long, mind-numbing boredom, too.
[Explored Path: ■■ no■ ■■mall, ■■ ■■■]
And if a path existed, then there had to be some kind of answer.
I shook off the heavy layer of depression and got up again.
Just in case, I took an empty water bottle and threw it at the web.
Plop, roll.
Goddamn bastards were even picky eaters.
“So we’re back where we started.”
This time, I’d try forcing my way through like I had at the beginning.
Last time, maybe it had gone wrong because I killed the maggots, or maybe because I wasted time dealing with them.
So this time, I did it the way I’d done it at first: I cleared the webs in Warehouse 2 and flung them far away, then headed for Warehouse 3.
“...Four.”
This time there were four webs.
Last time there had been six after I killed them, so something had definitely gone wrong with that approach.
Then what was there to think about?
I ran forward and cleared every web as fast as I could.
“This definitely is the right way.”
Warehouse 4 had eight webs.
Still a lot, but not twelve like last time.
I kept moving toward the door, clearing the webs as fast as I could.
Twenty-two Thousand Hands left.
When I opened Warehouse 5, sure enough, there were still a fair number of webs, but fewer than before.
Did they double every time I looked at them?
The webs in Warehouse 5, at the point when I’d killed the maggots, had grown into twenty-four from Warehouse 4’s twelve.
Then if I’d cleared eight of them, that would leave sixteen, right?
If I handled all of that, I’d have six Thousand Hands left.
They’d still need time to regenerate, but those things would rebuild faster than that.
I hesitated.
With what I had now, I could break into Warehouse 5.
But what came after?
Would Warehouse 6 be the last one?
What if there was a Warehouse 7 too?
If there were more webs after that, I’d be screwed.
And trying to check would be suicide.
By now, I was pretty sure the webs in Warehouse 2 had already returned to their original state, and if Warehouses 3 and 4 also reset while I was forcing my way through Warehouse 5, then with only six Thousand Hands left I’d have no way forward.
At best, maybe the first two I used would regenerate.
If only Warehouse 3 had restored itself, I could still break through with six Thousand Hands, but the moment Warehouse 4 came back, I was done.
Fuck, I was losing my mind.
And even while I was hesitating, those webs were probably regenerating.
But if I just charged ahead and made a mistake, I’d die for sure.
I’d get trapped between the webs and eaten alive.
That was one kind of death I really wanted to avoid.
Go back? But would that change anything?
Even if I retreated, would some new method suddenly appear?
No. Worse than that, I was afraid that if I turned back again, I might never make it here a second time.
I was afraid my fear would only grow bigger until it swallowed me whole.
Even now, I could feel something scratching away inside me.
Die trying to go all the way, or give up, go back, and starve to death.
I already knew there was only one road from the start.
Webs and doors. The rules were simple.
The only thing holding me back was the terror and despair that came from the thought that I might throw everything I had at it and still fail.
If I went back, even if it was only temporary, the relief would be sweet.
“...Let’s go. Even if it’s fucked, I have to go. That’s the only way out. And once I’m out, I’ll get revenge on the bastard who trapped me here.”
I didn’t know why, or what twisted reason was behind all this, but they’d picked the wrong person to fuck with.
Having made up my mind, I tore through the webs in Warehouse 5 without hesitation.
Then the door.
I kicked open the steel door leading to Warehouse 6.
“FBI! OPEN UP!”