The Suspicious Innkeeper
The Ice King of Snow and Mina eventually followed the man back to his house. "Thank you again for letting us stay the night. The inn wasn't operating today either, so we were in a bit of a bind."
"Ah~ I saw they were busy cleaning. So that's why." Mina found it fascinating how Seok-jun could carry on a conversation without so much as a flicker in his expression. She, on the other hand, could barely open her mouth, convinced he had deliberately sought them out.
"Have you eaten yet?"
"We took care of it ourselves. Thank you for your concern."
"Tsk, really?" Then I'll just top off the boiler oil for you. The man smacked his lips with visible disappointment, closed the door, and disappeared. The moment Seok-jun turned to look at her, Mina reflexively checked for footsteps.
His footsteps... they're gone?
It was snowing heavily outside. Yet there was no sign of any snow being pressed down. She shook her head.
"Still, it's fortunate we have a place to stay."
"Ah, y-yes, exactly!" Startled by Seok-jun's loud declaration, she quickly remembered she was supposed to be acting and responded. He pulled out the same remote-like device from yesterday, walked around the room, and spoke naturally.
"The taxis weren't running and the inn was closed, so I didn't know what to do."
"He seems like a kind person." Even as Mina chimed in appropriately, Seok-jun continued checking the device's LED with measured steps.
"I feel like we should offer some kind of repayment before we leave tomorrow."
"Right? What would be a good gift?"
As they continued their casual conversation, Mina finally caught the sound of footsteps moving. Since the window was only on the back side, she subtly raised a finger to indicate where the sound was coming from—then immediately realized something strange. The footsteps were circling the entire building where their room was located.
She tensed, listening to the footsteps approaching the rear where the window was. Then came the creak-creak of what sounded like a valve turning. Was he really just filling the boiler with oil? But if that had been his only purpose, why had he lingered in front of their door eavesdropping earlier? The way he'd held his breath made it clear it wasn't just a casual errand.
"Giving local souvenirs to the villagers doesn't seem like a very good idea."
"Yeah, calling something like that a souvenir for the villagers feels off." Even while they kept up the idle chatter, the man's presence gradually moved away from the room and vanished completely. Once she confirmed it was safe, she signaled Seok-jun. He immediately approached the window, pressed a finger to the corner of the sill, then looked at her.
"Mina, do you still have the mask I gave you last time?"
"Huh? Ah, no." The mask he'd given her was definitely the one she'd received when the emergency alert came through. She'd stored it away in a small box.
"Here, take this." What Seok-jun pulled from his pocket was an identical model to the previous one.
"It's essentially a gas mask. It'll be convenient to carry around."
"A gas mask?" Mina examined the mask again with wide eyes. The stretchy, airtight material that covered most of the face and the small filter-like opening on one side finally made sense.
"But why all of a sudden..."
"It seems they're using an inhalational anesthetic."
"Anesthetic?!" She'd already confirmed there was no one nearby, but she still forced her voice back down from its instinctive rise.
"I wondered what those gas canisters were for. Looks like this was the purpose."
"The gas canisters? The ones stacked in the corner of the yard?" Mina recalled the green-painted canisters piled on one side of the yard. As far as she knew, gas canisters were usually gray.
"Those were painted green too. The chipped parts showed blue underneath, so they were originally medical gas cylinders."
"Medical gas cylinders..."
"Nitrous oxide. Using them for non-medical civilian purposes is illegal." The fact that they'd even hidden the color of the canisters made it hard to believe they were using them for anything good. Looking closely at where he pointed, she saw a small gap in the corner of the window. What she'd thought was a natural crack from the old wooden frame was actually large enough to fit a small hose through without issue.
"Besides simple anesthesia, it has various side effects. Put on the gas mask immediately and ventilate the room so the gas doesn't build up."
"But how?" If they left the door open, it would definitely look suspicious. People would ask why they'd open the door in this freezing weather. After listening to her, Seok-jun thought for a moment before speaking.
"Mina, keep the mask on and lean against the wall. I'll leave the gap open and stand guard by the door."
"Then you'll be up all night..."
"I'm used to it. It's fine." And so Mina was left alone in the darkened room. The only thing that told her she wasn't completely isolated was Seok-jun's shadow, cast by the streetlamp beyond the translucent glass, standing watch.
There's a strangely sweet smell.
Was it nitrous oxide? Even with the mask on, which made breathing difficult, she could still detect an oddly familiar-yet-unfamiliar sweet scent drifting through the room. In the silent world where even the passage of time seemed forgotten, all Mina could do was stare at her phone, which she'd set to silent mode. She could have watched videos to pass the time, but in a situation where she had to catch every single sound from outside, there was no way she could focus on a muted video. In the end, she simply turned on her phone occasionally to check how much time had passed.
The soft rustling of snow and the way her ears—kept sharp even as she dozed—caught the distant sound of footsteps. She immediately looked toward the door and saw Seok-jun's shadow lift its head.
"Oh? You're not sleeping at this hour? What are you doing outside?" At first the footsteps had been deliberately quiet, as if trying not to be heard. But the moment the man spotted Seok-jun, they grew loud and crunching, as if he'd never tried to hide them at all.
[If you're talking, take off the mask and come out claiming you woke up because it was noisy.]
As soon as the man's voice reached her, Mina checked the message Seok-jun had sent to her phone. The conversation continued.
"I just couldn't sleep, so I came out for some air."
"R-really? You were doing the same thing yesterday too. You must be tired."
Yesterday too? From the man's words, Mina realized Seok-jun hadn't only stayed up tonight.
"It's just that this isn't my usual place to sleep, so it's quite uncomfortable."
"Ugh, that must be tough. Hahaha." With an awkward laugh, the man kept glancing at Seok-jun and rambling on with meaningless chatter to stall for time. Mina waited for the right moment, removed her mask, and stood up.
"Yaaawn, what interesting story are you two sharing out here in the middle of the night?" She didn't bother hiding her yawn as she opened the door and stepped out. The man's expression grew even more flustered. He'd tried to hide it, but Mina caught the look instantly.
"Did we wake you?"
"Yes, it was a bit noisy." She answered his casual question with as much drowsiness in her voice as she could manage.
"Since we're all up anyway, would you like to join us for some fresh air?"
"A night walk? I was feeling a bit stuffy, so that sounds nice."
"What about the owner?"
"Ah, no. I'm fine." At Seok-jun's seemingly polite suggestion, the man had no choice but to decline and return to what appeared to be his own room. Only then did they step out into the street.
"Do you think that man is connected to the disappearances?" Using something like an anesthetic was suspicious enough, but it wasn't exactly concrete proof.
"The possibility is quite high. This should be sufficient, so we can leave early tomorrow morning."
"What? But we haven't actually solved anything yet, have we?" They'd only discovered that the man was illegally using anesthetic; they hadn't uncovered exactly what he was doing. She was half-convinced he was the culprit, but there wasn't enough to justify grabbing him outright.
"We can leave the case resolution to the police. This request can be considered moderately successful."
"Successful? It doesn't feel like we did anything." Even after hearing him, Mina could only tilt her head, still unsure how any of this added up. One whole day had been lost to the stranding, and another had been wasted on sledding and snowball fights. They'd only coincidentally found a suspicious person; it didn't feel like they'd conducted any real investigation.
"It was never going to be a particularly spectacular case to begin with. It's better for us to hand it over to the police and avoid any future complications."
Hmm. And yet someone like that did that kind of thing back then? Mina glanced at Seok-jun with sharp eyes, wondering what kind of act he was putting on.
The night deepened until even the snow looked pitch black. Beneath the streetlamps casting crimson light, snowflakes swirled like insects. They walked side by side down the street where snow had piled up softly, letting time slip by.
Then morning came.
"So how exactly are we getting out of the village?" Seok-jun and Mina had come to the village entrance early in the morning, trudging through snow that reached up to their knees. This was because Seok-jun had said they would depart in the morning. She'd wondered if they were taking a taxi, but it was still too early for the snowplows to have cleared the roads, so taxis still couldn't get through.
"I contacted them yesterday, so they should be arriving soon." She didn't need to ask what was arriving.
"Clearing snow, clearing snow, with a shovel! Clearing snow, clearing snow, with a wide rake!" A cheerful voice singing somewhere in the distance was followed by the appearance of a man in full plate armor—Lee Jun—carrying a wide shovel.
"...Did you really shovel your way here yourself?"
"Mm!" He gave a firm thumbs-up. It was impressive that a passable path downward was now visible because of it.
They were about to leave the village through that path when someone shouted.
"H-hey! Wait a moment!" The person who came running while calling out to them was a middle-aged man wearing a green cap.
"Huff, huff. You two are hunters, right?"