Chapter 106
Chapter 106
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 106
Chapter Title: Pedestrian IV
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Shin Noah
Even after that, the "clear" operation continued.
It was like a chaotic chess match unfolding on the board.
Black represented the monstrosities. White represented humanity.
However, unlike a standard game where the number of pieces was fixed, the Inunaki Tunnel had an endless supply of pieces.
It had swallowed tunnels across all of Japan. That meant it had monopolized every horror and ghost story tied to those places. There were more chess pieces than ghost stories, overflowing onto the board.
On our side, as humans, we only had 72 pawns. But I didn't rush.
My chess pieces replenished with each cycle anyway. Even if I failed this time, I could just hit the "Continue" button in the next cycle and keep playing.
With more accumulated knowledge and richer strategies.
[Scout has died.]
[No abnormalities.]
[Advance.]
Cycle 141, 142, 143, 144, 145.
Over five cycles in total, I tackled the Inunaki Tunnel. That didn't mean I devoted all my time solely to it, though.
Leisurely. While subjugating other monstrosities, I merely expended the 72 death row inmates.
As cycles piled up, the numbers game increasingly favored me. No more inmates died at the tunnel entrance. Fewer fell victim to the graffiti.
The record of the numbers game between the monstrosity and me—the chess notation—remained intact as strategy.
And so.
[Exit visually confirmed.]
[Undertaker. Inmate No. 66 died with the exit about 20 meters ahead. Right before death, the inmate turned around.]
I gripped the radio.
"Nothing unusual other than turning around?"
[Yes.]
"Then it seems the Orpheus myth got mixed in. The moment the cave exit came into view, he turned back and his lover was dragged away to die... Myths warping strangely and applying to monstrosities happens often."
[Ah.]
"We need to add to the strategy: once the exit becomes visible, absolutely do not turn around. Saintess, that was the last scout, right?"
[Yes. No more usable inmates remain. Shall we postpone to the next cycle?]
I shook my head.
"No. If it's only 20 meters left, we'll finish it this time. The operation leads should handle the finale anyway. To verify our strategy..."
I glanced back.
"And for the council's face."
Yoo Ji-won, Manyeopmyo, Heosugeom—the three Awakeners watched me.
"Ji-won. Stay here and keep monitoring the map. Staring at it blankly is fine."
"Yes, Your Excellency. I will gaze solely at the operation map without even blinking."
"No need for that. Anyway..."
I locked eyes with the two magical girls. Their gazes held various emotions.
Anxiety. Had they left the subjugation almost entirely to the Korean Peninsula's Awakeners?
Excitement. The chance to deliver the final blow to the monstrosity that had relentlessly tormented the Japanese archipelago might finally have arrived.
Sorrow and guilt.
No need to explain this one. It wasn't toward us or the living humans.
"Let's go. Manyeopmyo, Heosugeom."
"......"
"To avenge your comrades."
Their eyes turned icy.
Soon, the final scout team departed.
8
"We got careless in all sorts of ways during the first subjugation operation."
Step. Step.
Human footsteps echoed off the tunnel's pitch-black walls, trickling down like rainwater. Mud splashed onto the magical girls' shoes.
"It stayed quiet without spitting out monstrosities on its own, after all. Compared to other monstrosities smashing villages and cities to bits, it seemed weak-nyang?"
[The shrines around Nagoya and Kyoto—five of them united to form the first subjugation team. Though back then, we never imagined it would be the 'first' of many.]
"My childhood friend was in that subjugation team-nyang."
[My close friend too.]
Step.
Outside, the distant cry of a thrush from the wild mountains was deafening, but inside the tunnel was an unnatural silence.
Each footstep echoing off the walls made the bizarre graffiti writhe like glowworms. But no one glanced at the patterns.
"The stars—guide—the dawn-nyang."
As the darkness deepened, Manyeopmyo lightly shook her umbrella. The space outside the umbrella faintly glowed blue.
It was magic. Until the peerless witch Dang Seo-rin single-handedly developed Song Enchantment, this word-section magic was the world's only known method of casting magic.
Magic that assembled words to manifest the caster's imagery. A mage's rank was measured by how many word sections they could weave together at once.
"After that, we formed second, third, and fourth subjugation teams, but the outcomes were similar-nyang. Ah, look at this-nyang."
Manyeopmyo pointed at the floor with the tip of her umbrella.
On the concrete floor, relatively untouched by mud, Japanese text was carved. Most was damaged, but some readable characters remained.
-Die.
-I hate it. I don't want to stay here anymore. Where did everyone go? Why leave me alone to die? LCNA. 1199.
-For any future explorers or council members who come here: First, absolutely do not walk the center. Do not listen to sounds from the center, and if you sense a presence—
-Please save me.
Manyeopmyo raised her umbrella, burying the floor's writing in eternal darkness again.
"All traces from previous subjugation teams-nyang."
[This was the Gamma Point, right?]
"Unya. We decided to leave markers like this in every relatively safe zone from the Inunaki Tunnel's corrosion-nyang."
They had tried creating strategies too. Just like me.
"But 'relatively safe zones' aren't 'completely safe'-nyang. The fourth subjugation team followed these guidelines faithfully and got wiped out-nyang."
"...Document contamination."
"Exactly-nyang. This damn bastard did nothing during the third team but started playing tricks when the fourth arrived-nyang."
It wasn't rare for monstrosities from the Void to mimic human language. They often imitated voices, behaviors, and appearances too.
Just like now.
-Manyeopmyo!
-Heosugeom? Heosugeom, right?
-You really came to save us!
-Our disciple, so reliable. I always believed in you.
Heosugeom smiled coldly. Mute, no mocking laugh escaped her lips, making the smile's chill sharper.
[Bullshit.]
"Familiar faces?"
[Yeah, comrades and masters. The fourth team's leader that Manyeopmyo mentioned. Apparently only her lower half was left at Gamma Point, but her voice is intact, fortunately.]
Step.
The magical girls walked without turning back.
Suddenly, their footsteps felt like muted screams.
The monstrosity pulled out every trap card, but we didn't fall for any. The "Inunaki Tunnel Strategy" from No. 1 to 77 guided us to the exit.
The moment the exit's light appeared in the distance.
-Manyeopmyoooo.
Suddenly! An arm jutted from behind us. As if to embrace us.
A cute bracelet adorned the wrist. The sleeve had frills.
-What's wrong? Hurry and hold my hand.
-Aren't you here to save us? Where's the council? Did headquarters abandon us?
-Let's go back together, Manyeopmyo. No, Rika.
A faint crack appeared on the magical girls' consistently calm faces.
-This year, when the first snow falls, we promised to meet again at Yahiko Mountain.
"......"
-I still remember the promise I made with you, Rika.
Manyeopmyo halted.
We both knew turning back here meant the end.
But instead of reminding her, I stayed silent. Heosugeom didn't use telepathic magic either.
"...Really, fucking dog-nyang."
Her mutter echoed through the tunnel.
"That promise was from seven years ago-nyang. And damn it, we didn't even set what counts as first snow before you left for subjugation-nyang. Was it Hokkaido's snow? Or did it have to snow in our village back then? That was the shittiest promise ever-nyang."
-......
"So when snow fell in Hokkaido, in the village, in your hometown—three times total—I climbed Yahiko Mountain-nyang. Suffered like a dog-nyang. And each time, you weren't there-nyang. Thought I'd freeze to death-nyang."
-......
"You. Wondered where and how you died since we couldn't even find a scrap of your body—but you were luring harmless humans in this fucking tunnel-nyang? Where'd the promise to serve the gods and protect people go-nyang? Fucking dog. Really..."
I still can't forget what I saw then.
The 'hand' that had only flailed in the air behind us now gently held Manyeopmyo's hand.
Interlocking fingers.
-Sorry. Let's go back together.
"......"
-Rika.
Human voices trickled down the pitch-black walls like rainwater. The rain fell for a long while.
Step.
We walked.
The light drew closer. The moss and corpse stench tormenting our noses gradually yielded to the scent of grass. By the time the muted screams turned to thrush cries.
[We've arrived, Undertaker.]
We exited the tunnel.
Without exchanging words, we all turned back as one. The tunnel's exit plaque, once engraved "Inunaki," now bore a different name.
Sorozidani Tunnel.
The name this tunnel originally held before the monstrosity seized and devoured it.
Beneath that name, hundreds, thousands of corpses sprawled beyond the tunnel.
"......"
[......]
Most wore the magical girls' flashy outfits. But the pitch-black corpse poison mud and ravages of time rotted the dresses.
Manyeopmyo knelt before a corpse missing one arm.
I later learned Manyeopmyo had been assigned to the first subjugation team but survived because she waited outside the tunnel.
Monstrosity: Inunaki Tunnel.
Alias: River of Three Roads, Hell Gallery, Orpheus's Path to the Underworld
Threat Level: Lv. 3 Continent-class
Subjugation complete.
9
Epilogue, First.
Tunnels across the Japanese archipelago all reverted to normal one by one. Strangely, the undersea tunnel crossing the Korea Strait remained intact.
Of course, "intact" meant it could only be used by strictly following the strategy. All the dangers once held by the Inunaki Tunnel monstrosity lingered in the undersea tunnel.
No Do-ha furrowed her brow.
"Peculiar. The undersea tunnel was fictional to begin with, so it should have vanished, no...?"
"Who knows. Even as a monstrosity expert, I don't know everything."
"Hmm......"
Gazing at the undersea tunnel poking its head out in the sea off Busan, No Do-ha grimaced.
"Well, if worst comes to worst, it's just another means of交流 with them—not bad......"
The story related to this undersea tunnel comes in the next episode.
10
Epilogue, Second.
From cycle 145 onward, I decided to visit the Japanese archipelago as early as possible each time.
The goal was simple. Subjugate the Inunaki Tunnel before the council suffered massive casualties.
Of course, there was also the aim of farming my precious spirit camera.
Thus, in cycle 146, after obtaining the camera and arriving at the Inunaki Tunnel, a familiar presence approached from afar.
"Fu-nyang? Guests already-nyang?"
It was Manyeopmyo.
A slightly younger, more immature face than in previous cycles.
So instead of an umbrella, something else dangled from Manyeopmyo's hand.
"What to do-nyang, you? The head shrine maiden ordered us to seal the tunnel entrance-nyang."
"Just warn them to back off for now?"
"Unya, but her aura is intense just looking at her-nyang....... Ah, she noticed us too-nyang."
"Step back, it's dangerous. Rika."
I raised both hands to show no hostility and approached.
A magical girl with jet-black hair contrasting Manyeopmyo's golden locks stared intently.
"Who? Never seen you before. Not from the village? This area's off-limits to civilians starting today. Missing persons report came in."
"Awakener from Korea."
"Korea...? Why would someone from Korea come here?"
Hmm.
Distrust and wariness filled her eyes. But I, Undertaker, was a regressor adept at mingling with people despite appearances.
Four minutes of talk and four snack bags passed between us.
"Delicioooous-nyaaa!"
"Chocolate after dozens of days...... Not fake, but the rich cacao depth of genuine quality......"
"Huaa, melting away-nyaaang......"
"So, we're friends now?"
"Yay! Tomodachi-nyang!"
The magical girls diligently strung up the sacred rope at the entrance. They repeatedly stressed not to enter before leisurely departing.
The sunset glowed. I watched the two holding hands and fading away for quite a while.
"...Should I snap a pic."
Click.
Raising the spirit camera to photograph the Inunaki Tunnel then was pure whim.
Wanted to commemorate the moment, perhaps?
Zzzing—the photo developed. Since the Inunaki Tunnel hadn't yet swallowed Japan's tunnels, the photo was far tamer than before.
No magical girl corpses, no limbs or heads disgustingly displayed.
Just a stone wall blocking the entrance.
Red letters scrawled there.
-Come back soon. Seventh time already?
My body froze, camera raised.
Thrushes cried in the cedar grove.
...It wasn't chills from the monstrosity seemingly knowing I kept regressing.
Such pretense could be achieved with illusion powers showing "what the target fears." A high-level illusionist like Inunaki Tunnel could manage it.
The problem lay elsewhere.
I'd first encountered the Inunaki Tunnel in cycle 141. 142, 143, 144, 145....... Finally returning in 146.
Total of "6 times."
Yet the Inunaki Tunnel welcomed me as the "seventh" encounter.
So where did the remaining one disappear to?
- Pedestrian. End.