The Clockmaker's Mansion

I think the world holds two kinds of nonhumans.

The first think in ways not so different from a human. The second think in ways no human common sense could ever hope to grasp. Personally, I prefer the latter.

That doesn't mean I dislike the former. Object heads—bodies that keep a more or less human shape, with only the head replaced by some object—were a field I was absolutely mad for.

"Mr. Baek Hoon, you aren't having any trouble walking, are you?"

"Ah, I'm fine."

"But you've been holding your side for a little while now."

"Ahaha... it's nothing. I got a bit hurt on the way here."

"......You were hurt?"

Tick.

The sound of clock hands at my side went still, and I turned my head without thinking.

Orvelia.

The first person I had met after arriving in Nonhuman Pandemonium, and an exquisitely beautiful one: a black lace dress and an antique clock for a head, the two of them in fantastic harmony. I especially liked the countless pupils that surfaced across the clock's face.

Who on earth came up with a design like that?

"Mr. Baek Hoon."

"Yes?"

"Who hurt you?"

Her voice was still soft, and yet the air around us felt colder than it had a moment ago.

"Ah, I ran into a monster that looked like a spider in the forest."

"A spider?"

"Yes. It had twelve legs, and its body was covered in mouths. It was wearing a bridal veil on its head, and the design was honestly incredible."

"......A bridal veil."

Orvelia's hands moved, slow.

"Were there needles stuck into that being's head, by any chance?"

"Yes! How did you know?"

"I see."

She murmured it very quietly.

"The Spinning Widow dares ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to..."

"Sorry?"

"It's nothing."

Orvelia smiled gently again, and a crescent of a smiling mouth appeared on the face of the clock.

"Only, the fact that something exists which wounded you sits a little uneasily with me."

"It's all right. I might have walked into its territory first."

"......And that is reason enough for you to forgive it?"

"Well, we couldn't exactly talk it out."

I shrugged, then winced as pain lanced through my side.

"Ghk!"

"Mr. Baek Hoon!"

Orvelia rushed to support me. Her hands were careful to a startling degree.

"Please don't push yourself. The moment we reach the mansion, I will see to your treatment."

"Thank you."

"Not at all. If anything, I should be the one thanking you."

"Sorry? Why?"

"Because you are walking with me like this."

Her clock hands sped up again. I found it a little odd, but I didn't ask. The people of this world, it seemed, simply expressed their feelings differently from humans.

"Ah, Miss Orvelia."

"Yes?"

"Do you happen to know the name of that spider monster I met earlier?"

"......Are you curious?"

"Yes. Its appearance left quite an impression."

She looked at me for a moment, then answered.

"It is called the Spinning Widow, a low-tier predatory species. By nature it lurks at the boundary of the forest and devours travelers who lose their way."

"Ooh."

"Did it please you, perhaps?"

"Honestly, I liked the exterior a lot."

Tick.

"......I see."

"I don't particularly want to meet it again, though. I nearly died."

At that, Orvelia's hands returned to their ordinary pace.

"Hehe. Then that is a relief."

"Sorry?"

"It's nothing."

She took my hand and held it tight. Somehow there seemed to be more strength in the grip than a moment before.

Orvelia's mansion stood on the outskirts of the city. The first moment I saw it, set on a hill a little off the road that led inward, I couldn't help but let out a gasp.

"Whoaaa..."

The estate was built around an enormous clock tower, with several buildings joined to it. Hundreds of clocks were set into outer walls of black brick dressed with golden gears, and every clock pointed to a different hour. In place of stained glass, the windows ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠held moving shadows, each one busy with something of its own. One shadow was dancing. Another was eating. Another looked out past the glass at me and waved.

The garden was the most striking of all. Where flowers should have been, little pocket watches were in bloom, and silver pendulums hung from the trees like fruit. At the center stood a great fountain, except that what leapt upward was not water but glittering sand.

I muttered before I knew I was doing it.

"This is unreal."

"Does it please you?"

"Yes, a lot!"

I didn't bother hiding my excitement.

"Do you manage all of this yourself, Miss Orvelia?"

"Yes. I am the clockmaker who tends time, so the place naturally took this shape."

"Wow. That's seriously cool."

"......"

Bong!

A single chime rang from her clock.

"Hehe."

Orvelia lifted her parasol and lightly hid the clock of her head behind it.

"If you keep praising me like that, I shall be in trouble."

"Why?"

"Because I may become so happy that I won't know what I'll do."

"Ahaha."

I laughed, taking it for a joke. Orvelia did not laugh. She watched me for a while, then turned her gaze toward the mansion's front gate.

"Well then. Shall we go in?"

Kreeeeak.

She gestured, and the great iron gate opened on its own. The manner of it was a little peculiar. The doors did not swing apart to either side. Instead, the faces carved into them opened their mouths wide and made a passage of themselves.

"Oh."

I was impressed.

"Are these alive too?"

"Yes. They are part of the mansion."

"That's amazing."

At that moment one of the faces carved in the door looked at me and spoke in a low voice.

"......Welcome."

"Hello!"

I greeted it cheerfully. Every face on the door shut its mouth at once.

A moment later—

"......"

"......"

The faces looked at one another, and one of them whispered.

"Did he... just greet us?"

"I think so."

"A guest greeted us?"

"That's a first."

I listened, head tipped.

"Do guests usually not say hello?"

Orvelia answered.

"Most of them take one look at those children and either scream or run."

"Why? They're cute."

In that instant every face on the door opened its eyes wide.

"Cu..."

"Cute?"

"Us?"

I nodded.

"Yes. Especially that one over there. The fangs are cool."

"......!"

The face with the fangs opened its mouth wide and suddenly began to cry.

"Waaaaaah!"

"Huh?!"

I jumped.

"Wh-why are you crying?"

"It's the first tiiime!"

Tears ran down the face on the door.

"The first time since I was born that anyone's praised my teeth!"

"Ah, no, that's..."

Flustered, I looked at Orvelia. She had one hand cupped over her clock head.

"Hehehe."

"Miss Orvelia?"

"You really..."

She murmured it softly.

"...are a dangerous person."

"Sorry?"

"It's nothing."

I came to understand that the residents of this world were more sensitive than I had expected.

The inside of the mansion was far more bizarre than the outside. The corridor looked as if it might go on forever, and clocks large and small crowded the walls. Enormous gears meshed and turned across the ceiling, and patterns like clock hands were inlaid in the floor.

The most astonishing thing, though, was the servants.

"Welcome home, Master."

A woman bowed at the waist as we stepped into the entry hall. She was a nonhuman as well. Above the collar of a black maid's uniform, where a person's head should have been, sat a white teapot. Blue flowers were painted over its surface, and warm steam drifted from the spout.

"......"

A teapot-headed maid. And in an antique Victorian maid's dress, no less. Perfect.

When she tilted her head, a soft slosh came from inside the pot.

"Master, you've brought a guest today."

"Yes. A very precious guest."

Orvelia answered.

"See that he is attended with the utmost care, Tia."

"Understood."

The maid called Tia bowed her head to me.

"It is an honor to meet you. I am Tia, head maid of this mansion."

"Ah, hello. I'm Baek Hoon."

"Mr. Baek Hoon. Please, make yourself comfor—"

Her words broke off. She had seen my head.

"......Oh my."

Steam burst from the spout.

"Is that a television?"

"Yes. A CRT."

"You have a truly unusual head."

"Thank you. Your head is incredibly pretty too, Miss Tia."

"......Pardon?"

"Those floral patterns suit you especially well."

Water began to boil inside Tia's teapot.

Bubble, bubble, bubble!

"Uh, are you all right?"

"Ah, aah...!"

She clapped both hands over her teapot head in a panic.

"I-I'm terribly sorry!"

Hot steam jetted from the spout.

"To commit such a breach in front of a guest...!"

"No, it's fine."

I waved a hand.

"If anything, it's fascinating."

"F-fascinating..."

For a while Tia couldn't get another word out. That was when Orvelia slipped gently between us.

"Tia."

"Yes, Master!"

"Our guest is injured. Please prepare the treatment room first."

"Injured?"

Tia's teapot head turned toward me. She found the blood on my side, and her voice jumped.

"Good heavens! How did you come by a wound like this...!"

"There was a small accident on the way."

"I'll prepare it at once!"

Tia hurried off down the corridor, and I watched her go with open admiration.

"Wow..."

"Does Tia please you?"

Orvelia asked.

"Yes. She's incredibly cute."

Tick.

"......I see."

"I've never seen a teapot head before."

"Hehe. Then I shall have to introduce you to many more of the children, in time."

Orvelia smiled, but several of the pupils on her clock face were looking in the direction Tia had vanished.

The treatment room was in the mansion's western annex. Inside, countless glass bottles and grotesque medical tools were on display, among them bandages that moved on their own and a syringe lined with little teeth. I was too busy staring at all of it to think of anything else.

"Whoa, that one's actually alive."

"Mr. Baek Hoon, please sit here."

"Ah, yes."

I perched on the bed, and Orvelia sat beside me and carefully lifted my clothes.

"......"

A dark bruise had spread across my side, and beneath the skin the outline of a broken rib showed faintly. Orvelia's clock stopped.

"......You must have been in a great deal of pain."

"Only a little."

"That is a serious wound to call only a little."

"Ahaha. But I'm alive, aren't I?"

She drew off her white gloves. Beneath them was a hand much like a human's, except that a tiny clock was set into every joint of the fingers. Orvelia laid that hand against my side.

"It may tickle a little."

"Sorry?"

Tick.

A strange sensation washed through me. The wounded place went hot, then cold, and something moved under the skin.

Crack.

The broken rib slid back where it belonged. The dark bruise vanished, and the torn muscle knit itself whole. In only a few seconds, the wound was gone entirely.

"......Huh?"

I pressed a hand to my side. It didn't hurt.

"Whoaaa!"

I shot to my feet.

"What was that?!"

"I rewound time a little."

"Time?"

"Yes. I returned you to the state you were in before the wound existed."

"That's amazing!"

The admiration was completely sincere.

"The power to manipulate time! That's seriously cool!"

Orvelia's hands raced.

"Hehe. It's nothing much."

"Nothing much? It's an incredible power!"

"......Do you truly think so?"

"Of course!"

She asked, carefully.

"Then what do you think of a being who handles time?"

"Hmm..."

I thought for a moment. A nonhuman who governed time was a genuinely attractive concept. But her question didn't seem to be asking only for an appraisal of the ability, so I answered honestly.

"I think it's wonderful. But it also seems like it might be a little lonely."

Tick.

The hands stopped.

"......Lonely?"

"Yes."

I sat back down on the bed.

"Other people change as time passes. They grow old, they grow up, and someday they die."

"......"

"But a being who manages time would have to watch all of that change, I think."

When Orvelia said nothing, I scratched my head. Being a CRT, my fingers met metal.

"Of course, I might have it all wrong."

"......No."

She answered quietly.

"You aren't wrong."

The pupils on the clock's face slowly closed.

"I have managed time in this place for a very long while."

Her voice dropped.

"I have watched countless beings be born, grow, love, and die. And among them were those who said they loved me."

Orvelia looked down at her own hands.

"But all of them left."

Tick.

"Some died of old age. Some fled because they feared me. And some tried to take my time for themselves."

She smiled. Loneliness clung to it.

"In the end, I was always alone."

I looked at her. A moment ago I had thought of her only as a beautiful nonhuman. Now it was different. She was a being with feelings of her own—a being who felt loneliness, and who wanted to be with someone.

I hesitated, then spoke.

"Then how about starting by making a friend?"

"......A friend?"

"Yes."

I smiled, and a smiling face appeared on the CRT.

"I don't know a single person here either."

"......"

"So, want to be friends with me?"

In that instant, every clock in the mansion stopped.

Tia was walking the corridor when she felt that something was wrong.

"......Oh my?"

Every clock on the walls had stopped. The gears in the ceiling were not moving either. Even a bird that had been flying past the window hung frozen in the air.

"This is..."

Water boiled ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠inside Tia's teapot. She knew this phenomenon. It was what happened when the master's emotions were stirred to an extreme: a stoppage of time. And this was a large one, reaching across the whole of the mansion.

"Has something happened to the master?"

Tia hurried to the treatment room. But the moment she reached the door, a voice from inside brought her feet to a halt.

"......A friend."

It was Orvelia's voice.

"You would be friends with me?"

"Do you not want to?"

"No!"

Her voice rose.

"I do not dislike it in the slightest!"

Then Orvelia asked, her voice trembling.

"But, Mr. Baek Hoon."

"Yes?"

"Someday, you will leave me too, won't you?"

Tia stared at the door. She had never heard the master use a voice like that. Orvelia was always elegant, always composed, and she handled every matter according to her own timetable. That same master was anxious now, like a child.

Then Baek Hoon's answer came through.

"Who knows? No one can say what the future holds."

"......That is true."

"But at least, right now, I'm here."

Tia clutched the handle of her teapot.

"So we can start getting closer from this moment on."

Bong!

A great chime rolled through the whole of the mansion, and the clocks that had stood still began to move as one. Tia knew, with a certainty that needed no thought, that something had just changed in a direction that could not be undone.

"Hehehe."

Orvelia laughed.

"I see."

She took my hand.

"From now on... from now on, we simply have to grow closer."

I nodded.

"Yes. That's right."

Her clock hands moved softly.

"Mr. Baek Hoon."

"Yes?"

"Thank you. Truly."

"Ahaha. Don't mention it."

She brought my hand to the clock of her head. Cold glass met my palm.

"I will never forget today."

"That much?"

"Yes."

Orvelia whispered.

I thought the line was a little romantic. A nonhuman bound up with time, it seemed, even spoke like poetry.

Ding.

A new message appeared in my vision.

"......Huh?"

I read the message and blinked.

Obsession Level? What kind of system is this? Like an affection meter from a game? Then why isn't it called affection?

"Mr. Baek Hoon?"

Orvelia asked.

"What are you thinking so hard about?"

"Ah, it's nothing."

I closed the message in a hurry.

"Just... something seemed a little amazing."

"Hehe. What seems amazing?"

"This world."

I answered honestly.

"It's completely different from where I lived."

"......Where you lived?"

"Ah."

A slip. I thought for a moment. Was it all right to say I had come from another world? But Orvelia had already shown me a considerable amount of goodwill, so there didn't seem to be much point in lying.

"The truth is, I came from another world."

In that instant, Orvelia's hands stopped.

"......Another world?"

"Yes."

"I see."

She nodded slowly.

"As I thought..."

"Sorry?"

"It's nothing."

Orvelia closed her hands around mine even more dearly.

"Then this place may feel strange and uncomfortable to you."

"Maybe a little."

"Even so, don't worry."

Her voice went endlessly soft.

"I'll teach you everything."

"Really?"

"Yes."

She smiled.

"The laws of this world, its residents, its dangerous places. All of it."

"Wow, thank you!"

I was genuinely glad. Information about this world was the thing I needed most right now.

"Could I ask one favor, though?"

"Of course."

"Is there a place nearby where other nonhumans live together?"

"......Other nonhumans?"

"Yes!"

I said it brightly.

"I'd like to meet all different kinds, if I can."

Tick.

Orvelia's hand moved a single notch.

"......All different kinds, you say."

"Yes. I'm curious what sorts of nonhumans exist in this world."

"......"

She was silent for a moment, then smiled slowly.

"Hehe. I see."

"Is it not possible?"

"No."

Orvelia shook her head.

"Of course it is."

She let go of my hand.

"Only, you must be very tired today, so why don't you rest first?"

"Ah, that sounds good too."

"Tia."

"Yes, Master."

At her call the door opened, and the teapot-headed maid came in.

"Please guide Mr. Baek Hoon to the finest guest room."

"Understood."

Tia bowed with perfect courtesy.

"Would you come this way, Mr. Baek Hoon?"

"Yes. Thank you."

I got up and offered Orvelia a parting bow.

"Then I'll see you tomorrow."

"......Tomorrow."

She repeated the word slowly.

"Yes."

The hands moved gently.

"Let us meet tomorrow as well."

After Baek Hoon had gone, Orvelia was left alone in the treatment room. For a long while she looked at the bed where she had been sitting—no. At the place where Baek Hoon had sat.

"......A friend, he says."

She murmured it. Friend. How long had it been since she had heard that word? Perhaps this was the first time.

Most of the beings who had approached her wanted eternal youth, or an undying life, or the power of a time that could rewind the past. Some had worshipped her. Some had feared her. Some had tried to use her. Baek Hoon was different.

He had said her form was beautiful. He had praised her ability as wonderful. He had said she seemed lonely. And last of all, he had said he would be her friend.

"Hehehe..."

Orvelia laughed, and every pupil on the face of her clock curved at once.

"You really are a strange person."

She looked down at her hand. The hand that, until a moment ago, had been holding his.

"How could you, so easily..."

Her voice trembled.

"...step inside me?"

Slowly, she brought the hand to her chest. A sound unlike the usual one was coming from there.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Like a heart.

"......Mr. Baek Hoon."

She quietly spoke his name. And the pupils on the clock's face opened, one and then another.

"You wouldn't know what it means, for a being who governs time, to promise tomorrow."

She looked out the window. Every clock in the mansion was pointing to the same hour. It was something that had never once happened before.

"But that's all right."

Orvelia smiled softly.

"You don't have to know."

She rose slowly from her seat, and added, in a very small voice:

"Even if it takes a very long time, I can simply be the one to teach you."

Guided by Tia, I reached the guest room and found myself marveling all over again.

"Whoaaa..."

The room was far larger than a decent hotel suite. A great bed and antique furniture stood about, and clocks arranged like constellations glittered across the ceiling. Beyond the window spread the grotesque night of Nonhuman Pandemonium: far off, the spires of the Black City, and in the sky, enormous jellyfish drifting at their leisure.

"Does it please you?"

Tia asked.

"Yes, a lot!"

I answered with a smile.

"I never thought I'd be sleeping somewhere like this."

"Hehe. I'm glad it pleases you."

She bowed with perfect courtesy.

"If you need anything, please call me at any time."

"Ah, Miss Tia."

"Yes?"

"Could I ask just one thing?"

"Of course."

I hesitated, then asked.

"Are there humans in this world too?"

In that instant, the sloshing inside Tia's teapot stopped.

"......Humans?"

"Yes."

"Why would you ask such a thing...?"

"Just curious."

I shrugged.

"Where I lived, humans were almost everyone."

Tia looked at me for a moment, then answered carefully.

"Humans do exist."

"Oh, they do?"

"But here in Nonhuman Pandemonium, they are an extremely rare species."

"I see."

"Most of them become prey for other beings, or are kept and raised as toys."

So this really is a dark-fantasy world. Far more dangerous than I expected.

"Then it must be hard for a human to get by."

"Yes. Very hard."

Tia nodded.

"But you need not worry, Mr. Baek Hoon."

"Why?"

She looked at my CRT head.

"Because you are not human."

"......Ah."

I understood, a beat too late. Right. My head was a television now. Anyone looking only at the outside would have taken me for a nonhuman without a second thought. That was why she had said it.

"True enough."

I laughed.

"I'm a nonhuman too."

At that moment water began to boil inside Tia's teapot.

Bubble, bubble.

"......Hehe."

She laughed quietly.

"Yes. Of course you are."

But I didn't understand what that laugh meant.

A little later, left alone, I lay down on the bed. It was soft past believing.

"Haa..."

A long sigh slipped out. So much had happened in a single day. I, an ordinary office worker, had fallen into another world, nearly been eaten by a giant monster along the way, and had my head turned into a television. And I had become friends with a beautiful woman whose head was a grandfather clock.

"......What an insane day."

I looked at the ceiling. The clocks arranged like constellations were moving slowly.

"So this really is another world."

It was finally sinking in. Could I go back to my original world? What had become of my parents? Had the company filed a missing person report? Had the guys on the gallery noticed I was gone?

Thinking about it made me a little depressed. Loving nonhumans didn't mean I had no attachment left to the world I'd come from.

"......Hah."

I knocked on my CRT head.

Tonk. Tonk.

"Staying alive comes first, I guess."

That was when a new message rose in my vision.

"......Huh?"

I bolted upright.

"Wait, what is this?"

Earth Internet. It couldn't actually be—

I hurriedly selected the first entry.

Kssshhhk!

A familiar browser window appeared on the CRT.

"......"

I stared at the screen for a while. It was the gallery I had logged into every single day. There were even messages waiting.

With a trembling hand I pressed the button to write a post, and slowly began to type.

A moment later, the comments arrived.

I touched my CRT head and let out a short laugh.

"Proof?"

Fine. I'd give them as much as they wanted.

I activated the camera function.

My own appearance reflected on the CRT. I framed the white smiling face floating on the black screen of the old television head, and the grotesque nightscape of Nonhuman Pandemonium spread beyond the window.

Click.

I pressed upload. A moment later, the gallery exploded.

I burst out laughing.

"Hahaha!"

Their reactions really were the best. But right then, a new message appeared.

"......Huh?"

I tipped my head. And that was when a new alert arrived from the Nonhuman Pandemonium Public Information Network.

Carefully, I opened the message and read it.

"......"

I stared at the screen and muttered.

"......What is this?"

At that moment, one of the three moons floating outside the window began to move. It was the moon shaped like an eye, and its enormous pupil stared straight into my guest room.

I swallowed.

"......Ah."

This function might be more dangerous than I thought.