Smile (2)
That was clear enough.
A bright thing that jutted out in pitch-black darkness.
And a smiling pair of eyes and a mouth that looked even darker than that darkness itself.
“Heeheeheehee.”
From the moment it appeared, Smile had kept growing with a little giggle.
And its mouth kept stretching wider and wider.
Confused as hell, I forced myself to laugh anyway, just like Jemmini had told me.
“Hahahahaha.”
“Heeheeheehee.”
Then Smile stopped growing. It stopped splitting its mouth open, too.
So if I was laughing, it stopped? Was that the bastard’s rule?
For the moment, all it did was laugh, so I stayed on guard and walked toward the POS terminal.
Author: Kim Daejang
The lights suddenly went out, and then some actual smiling light bastard popped out.
I’m laughing so it’s just standing there for now, but what the hell am I supposed to do?
So at least it wasn’t some resident nuisance that hung around here and tormented people.
Small mercy, I guess... but how long was I supposed to keep laughing?
You started it first, okay?
Anyway, the bastard’s rules were simple.
Don’t cry, and laugh.
What was this thing, a smile missionary?
I had no idea why a freak like this even existed, but trying to find logic in the Backrooms was just another kind of madness, so I stopped thinking about it.
“Heeheeheehee.”
“Hahahahaha.”
Still, it was annoying as hell.
“Hahah... you happy I’m laughing for you? Huh? What, am I your friend now or something?”
“Heeheeheehee.”
“No, seriously. Being forced to laugh like this... what, are you some kind of Backrooms delinquent? You need a proper beating, you little shit.”
“Heeheeheehee.”
I felt like I was losing my mind.
The echoing laughter was trash, and I looked insane laughing back at a smiling wall.
“Anyway, you’re an entity too, right?”
Then you’re a material for crafting.
I didn’t know how I was supposed to catch light, just like Jemmini said, but maybe I could at least try to smack it around first.
Keeping my grin in place, I pulled out my hammer.
“Heeheeheehee.”
“Let’s see how long you can keep that up. Hahaha!”
I swung down on the still-standing Smile, but all I managed to do was chip a bit of the wall. The bastard itself was still there, lumpy and untouched, like a shadow.
Physical damage didn’t do a damn thing.
Even if I ground it with the hammer head, it just cast its own shadow over the thing and made everything useless.
Was I really going to have to just endure this?
“Heeheeheehee.”
“Hah, could you stop laughing for one damn second?”
It felt like the thing was mocking me, so I made a mannequin arm and threw a straight punch.
It probably wouldn’t do much either, but at least I could vent some anger.
“Hm?”
That was different.
When I’d touched it with the hammer, the thing had lain over it like a reflected shadow, but the mannequin hand was clean.
Part of the bastard’s right eye was hidden beneath the mannequin fist.
Why was that? What was different about the hammer?
I tried pressing down with the hammer again, but it didn’t cover it up this time.
The difference is that this hand was made from an entity.
Maybe the same kind of entity could interfere with it?
I tested that idea by stretching out my arm to grab it, but the shadowlike thing couldn’t be held. It didn’t seem to take any real damage when I hit it, either.
Even covering its mouth didn’t stop the laughter.
“Heeheeheehee.”
“Hah, this is nuts.”
Back to square one?
I’d confirmed that an entity could interfere, at least a little, with phenomena caused by another entity, but that was it.
There was no way to attack it out of existence.
“Heeheeheehee.”
In the end, after I’d spent ages glaring at Smile and laughing at it without getting anywhere, the light finally came back and the thing vanished along with it.
You damn laughter therapist bastard.
Now that I’d left the mall, I sincerely hoped it wouldn’t come back anytime soon.
“...But how does that thing move around?”
Was there some kind of passageway?
Since it was an entity, maybe it could just move wherever it wanted, but the Backrooms often worked on surprisingly real-world rules.
Maybe there was an exit somewhere.
Whatever the case, I needed to catch Smile first.
Only then could I observe it, or watch how it moved.
“...Wonder when it’ll come back. Ah.”
So our Smile apparently had an S personality.
It liked watching other people cry while smiling.
“Aaaah. Ugh, my face is stiff.”
Of course I wasn’t actually going to call it right now.
My eyes and mouth were starting to cramp up like they were on strike, so I needed a break.
* * *
After loosening my frozen facial muscles and sleeping for a bit, I got up and grabbed the helmet first.
Too bad I’d run out of materials.
Longing for the mannequin that wouldn’t come back, I picked up the hammer.
My target was the mouth.
I tapped away, punching ten or so small holes in a long line, then carefully chipped at the spaces between them until they connected.
“Oh... not bad at all.”
When I finished, I blew the dust off the helmet.
It had come out better than I’d expected, and I scraped together the loose powder with a satisfied grin.
“All right, time to call it.”
With my supplies ready, I took my place in front of the wall and cried.
I had no idea how to cry properly, but I did my best to act the part.
“Sniff, sniff. I’m so sad. Waaaah, sob sob.”
...
I’d been at it for, what, ten minutes?
Nothing. The bastard still showed no sign of appearing.
What was missing?
“...At this point, there’s only one way.”
I really didn’t want to go this far, but it couldn’t be helped.
You son of a bitch, Smile. How sadistic are you, exactly?
“Hngh, ah! Aaaah! It, it fucking hurts, shit! Ughhh...”
I planted the hammer upright and kicked it as hard as I could.
I curled up and rolled on the floor, clutching my toe, which hurt so badly I wasn’t sure it was still attached.
It hurt like hell. It really, truly hurt.
The pain was bad enough to make tears spring up, and a groan came out of me before I could stop it.
Flicker.
Biting my lip and crying silently, the light overhead flashed once, and then, just like before, darkness came down.
“Heeheeheeheehee!”
“You fucking bastard, this good for you? You like it when people hurt like this?”
“Heehee...? Heeheeheehee!”
Yeah, this bastard was definitely enjoying it.
As soon as I barked at it, the laughter seemed to falter for a second, then it burst out even harder.
Damned thing. We’ll see how long you can keep that up.
“Hahahahaha! It hurts! Ahahaha!”
“Heeheehee!”
Before Smile could get any bigger, I laughed with tears streaming down my face.
Wasn’t there some saying that if it hurt enough, laughter came out instead?
Right, something like that. I wasn’t an M, okay?
“Heeheehee!”
“Hah, let’s see if you’re still laughing after this, bastard.”
Limping over to the wall, I smashed the helmet down over the thing.
I used the open neck as the face-down side, like I was trapping an insect.
Inside the mannequin helmet, the crescent grin rang and echoed with the bastard’s laughter.
“Hee- heehee- hee-”
“I thought about it, and the problem isn’t just that entities can interfere with each other. The real issue is your form itself, right?”
“Hee- hee-!”
“When I saw you hidden under the mannequin hand, I knew I had it. So I made you a sort of prison.”
I sprinkled reinforced plastic powder around the neck opening and started hammering.
As the powder melted, it flowed along the wall and sealed the helmet’s open throat.
The smiling shape on the helmet made the thing inside look as though it were forced to grin back, pinning it in place.
Honestly, it was a gamble, but hey, it worked, didn’t it?
When I tapped the helmet a few times, the light beneath the eye holes writhed wildly, then flared up.
“Got you, you little bastard.”
When I pulled the finished jack-o’-lantern lantern off the wall, the mall’s lights came back on.
Smile still existed inside the helmet, spilling light and laughter, but the darkness it dragged with it was gone.
Which meant the bastard had been completely neutralized.
He’d been mocking me just fine a minute ago, huh?
And on top of that, the thing even got recognized as equipment, because my status window flickered.
Jack-o'-Lantern (B): Finds hidden paths.
Current area: Warmthless Shopping Mall
Explored paths: ■■■ ■■■
“So what can you do now, huh? Hey. Laugh.”
“He, hee... hee...!”
“Then let’s see what kind of effect you actually have.”
Hah. Hahahaha!
It actually worked!
I’d been planning to grab the thing and threaten it if I had to, but turning it into equipment had given me a navigation function.
Even if it was filtered and didn’t tell me the destination, the important part was that I now had a way out of here.
I opened the Gallery immediately and left my farewell.