Chapter 59
Chapter 59
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 59
Chapter Title: The Deadly Performance Begins
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59.
Bamppa-bam~♪
Bam-bam~♪
Bamppa-bam!!!
The brilliant melody of instruments filled the air and echoed throughout.
【♥Hey!!】
Love Mask approached me and thrust her face right up to mine.
This is too close.
'Aren't you a bit too close?'
……But I couldn't show any sign of that on the outside.
【♥…Perfect. I really like you. If you're okay with it, I'll ask that idiot to let you skip this performance! What do you think! Aren't you smitten?】
“…….”
As if.
This one is gauging my reaction. So what I had to do was simple.
Pretend to react the way this ghost story wanted, while extracting the information I desired.
I flashed the most relaxed smile I could muster and slowly brought my face closer to Love Mask.
Toward Love Mask, who had shown favor toward me. Thinking of a response that wouldn't upset her.
As I showed that false smile.
You can do this, Park Yeon-jeong.
'It's not like this is new.'
I slightly lifted the corner of my mouth, which twitched with spasms, and let out a voice laced with a subtle chuckle.
“As much as I enjoy watching the performance, I also love experiencing it firsthand. I'm looking forward to your next show, too.”
【♥…….】
But there was no reply from Love Mask.
I'd responded as slyly as possible to her words, trying not to draw attention from Hansol and the other agency guys.
‘…Was I too cocky?’
With her face hidden by the mask, I couldn't read her expression at all.
If Love Mask showed even the slightest suspicion here, then……
I might have to use the revolver sooner than planned.
That would throw all my plans into disarray.
So please.
'Please work…'
Snap-!
!
Love Mask snatched my right hand with speed too fast for the eye to follow.
‘Damn, she grabbed me! I'm screwed!’
Caught!
If her hand touches me……I'll change.
In the instant I moved to pull the revolver from my employee ID,
【♥I really, really like you-! Hey!! Stupid brother!!】
A girl's excited voice echoed through the entire space.
【◆What now?】
【♥Don't kill this audience member! Don't kill him for real! I want him!!】
…Ah, looks like it worked.
‘But I'm not an object, you know?’
And now these guys were openly using the word "kill" without hesitation.
【♥For real, for real, for real! Don't kill him!】
【◆……If you insist.】
【♥Aaaah!! I said don't kill him!!】
Ignoring the bickering between the two Pierrots for a moment, my gaze turned to Hansol, who stood there like a folding screen.
I'd been too focused on Love Mask right in front of me to notice, but this woman……
She was pushing herself way too hard right now.
The faint trembling in her hands and the pale gaze trailing down her cheek entered my eyes.
“…Do you have something to say?”
“!”
Did she sense my gaze subtly?
Unlike her rigid body just moments ago, her eyes still held a spark of life.
Hansol the woman.
I'd felt it even when she boldly filled out her job application.
Among the civilians dragged into ghost stories, she had those rare "eyes that held light."
If someone like her joined the agency, she probably would have saved countless people and resolved countless ghost stories.
……No.
Hansol surely would have become a named employee of that caliber.
Smirk-
My judgment that I had to save Hansol didn't seem wrong after all.
Swoosh.
!
I slightly turned my head toward Hansol and drew out my quiet voice to speak.
“Fascinating……I can't stop watching you.”
“!!”
The way Hansol flinched in surprise at my low murmur was vividly captured in my gaze.
‘…Oops.’
For a moment, I'd forgotten that to her, I appeared as a ghost story.
Raising her guard right now wouldn't benefit me at all.
'With this reaction, maybe I shouldn't have said anything..'
Crunch-
?
While I was having that brief exchange with Hansol,
From inside the mask of Love Mask, who had been watching us, came a sound like something breaking, striking my sensitive ears.
【♥…Ha?! That bitch is wagging her tail right in front of me?】
“Yes?”
When Hansol turned her head upon hearing her voice,
Thrust!
!
Love Mask had somehow moved right in front of Hansol and began emanating a sinister aura unlike before.
【♥This is why I hate fox-like bitches. The second I look away even a little, they try to steal my possession……And you!!】
Soon, Love Mask's finger pointed straight at me, standing beside her.
【♥I liked your looks and hoped you wouldn't die this time, but you're ogling another woman behind my back?………I'm mad now!!】
Getting excited by herself.
Getting angry by herself.
This is it, right?
‘Monologue-style dating.’
Exactly that type.
【♥Hmph! I'm not helping anymore. Good luck on your own!】
With Love Mask departing our side in a huff, showing a very girlish demeanor, things got quiet and nice.
And soon, Angry Mask pressed down on his mask, calming his anger.
【◆Haa……What a disgustingly annoying bitch.】
Flick!
As Angry Mask raised his right hand toward the ceiling,
Thud!
The intact ground began to shake.
Rumble rumble thud!
As the shaking intensified, and Hansol momentarily lost her balance and started to fall,
Grab.
“Careful.”
“……Thank you.”
I caught Hansol like that, and she thanked me.
But.
In that brief moment, what had happened……
‘I almost fell too. No, I nearly did!’
In the instant the ground shook and I nearly toppled, I'd instinctively grabbed Hansol's arm that entered my view.
Screaming internally, I barely regained my balance, but on the outside, I smiled as calmly as possible at her flustered face.
-…Careful.
I'd lied so shamelessly.
…….
The ground's trembling subsided.
When I looked around again,
The flat center of the stage, which had been there moments ago, was now filled with countless obstacles, and the group of Pierrots on stage had vanished.
Wobble-wobble.
My gaze naturally turned upward, where the Pierrots were riding aerial swings—I had no idea when they'd set them up—looking down at us.
Angry Mask grabbed the mic and immediately began explaining.
【◆This performance is simple. Take out our troupe members and be the last one standing. Easy, right?】
Easy?
Do you think we're ghost stories like you? And this wasn't what you called a "participatory performance." This is just a straight-up colosseum slaughterfest, isn't it?
As my urge to snap back at that muscle-headed idiot grew,
Snap!
Love Mask snatched the mic and continued the show.
【♥Now, we'll present the first performance everyone's been waiting for! Introducing my adorable♪ troupe members!】
No sooner had she finished saying she'd introduce her troupe members,
Whoosh!
Two black figures leaped in from outside the stage.
Thud!
With a single bound, the so-called troupe member landed in front of me and Hansol, its appearance utterly.
Splat!
Grotesque.
A fairly grotesque existence resembling a male with human flesh sagging to its limits.
They must have been human once.
But now, they were beings that could no longer be called human.
As those two troupe members stepped onto the stage, Love Mask gripped the mic with both hands and shouted.
【♥So cute!!】
Cute, she says.
Spurt!
With yellow pus oozing from its abdomen.
‘Cute?’
Love Mask continued cooing over those lumps of flesh in an excited tone.
【♥How can they be so cute! I want to turn you into one of my cute troupe members soon, too……】
【◆Shut up! You're distracting!】
Angry Mask quickly snatched the mic from Love Mask.
‘Well done this time, Mr. Angry Mask. We're on the same wavelength.’
Angry Mask swiftly continued the proceedings.
【◆No time limit. No holds barred. First to turn the opponent into mush wins. That's it!】
With that, Angry Mask gave us a brief piece of advice.
【◆If you don't want to become that crazy bitch's boyfriend, you'd better struggle hard……Countdown starting!】
Angry Mask shouted loudly and handed the mic to Tear Mask.
And.
【◆Start the countdown.】
【♣You always make me do this stuff……10.】
The countdown began.
Without hesitation, I pulled out another Bear Doll from my employee ID and thrust it toward Hansol.
“Put this on.”
“……Pardon?”
I get it.
You're confused, Ms. Hansol.
If some guy suddenly shoved a tiny keychain-sized bear doll at you and told you to wear it.
That realistic expression and reaction is totally natural.
But I replied slyly.
“You lack imagination.”
Snap!
I flicked my fingers.
At the same time, as Hansol's eyes met the Bear Doll she held, I signaled it with my gaze.
'Bear Doll!'
!
The Bear Doll seemed to catch my hidden intent.
Poof!
It instantly expanded in size, startling Hansol.
‘Good job! My second Bear Doll!’
Inside, I wanted to bow to the Bear Doll, but on the outside, I nodded calmly.
“H-How… It was clearly a small keychain size.”
“Your reaction…is amusing.”
Maintaining the persona is tough.
But her wonder at the spectacle before her eyes was short-lived. Hansol's curiosity soon deepened again.
“But how do I wear this?”
And with that, the countdown assaulted my ears.
【3…….】
From here on, showing rather than telling might be better.
Poof!
My first Bear Doll, with the heart-embroidered chest, also grew in size.
And with that, the first Bear Doll lifted me up.
I casually said aloud,
“Just leave it to the Bear Doll.”
Leaving only those words.
Chomp-!
Gulp.
I was swallowed by the first Bear Doll.
!
Flash!
The second Bear Doll didn't wait either, lifting Hansol right up.
“W-Wait a second! I'm not ready yet…….”
Gulp.
Hansol was swallowed whole by the giant Bear Doll as well, and the Pierrots watching from above.
【♣……Isn't this already over, bro?】
【◆…….】
Even the Pierrots seemed unable to grasp the situation.
Thrust!
Soon, the faces of the two swallowed by the Bear Dolls popped out near its mouth.
?!?!
Hansol still couldn't keep up with the breakneck pace, it seemed.
The Pierrots were the same.
Proof was that Tear Mask, who had been counting down, stopped.
“The countdown seems to have paused? When can we start? Please proceed quickly, host☺.”
Tear Mask and Love Mask showed no reaction to my sly voice.
Well, I wasn't expecting one anyway.
Crunch-
Only one person reacted to my complaint.
Crunch-
Just as I'd thought, the hot-tempered Angry Mask.
【◆…Look at that little shit? Can't wait to die, huh?】
His voice dripped with killing intent, and soon.
Grab!
【♣Hey! There were still 2 seconds left.】
He snatched the mic from Tear Mask and yelled.
【◆It's started! You bastard!!!】
Ziiiiing-
With heavy static from the mic, it began. Along with the mic announcing the start.
Crackle-!
The grotesque bodies of those two massive troupe members soon began bouncing like rubber balls.
The sight was utterly bizarre, and wherever the giant flesh ball passed.
Crack-!
Massive cracks formed, the fissures in the ground announcing that anyone crushed underneath would die instantly at minimum.
“What do we do now!”
Hansol's urgent voice.
Crackle-!
“Hey!”
As the massive flesh drew closer, her anxiety grew.
I had no intention of standing around like an idiot either.
I hadn't come down to this stage to do nothing and get squashed.
To the anxious Hansol, I said only one thing.
“What did I say earlier?”
“……Pardon?”
Hansol shot me a look full of dissatisfaction at my odd question in this dire situation, but she remembered what I'd told her.
“…Leave it to the Bear Doll…….”
“Excellent memory.”
‘That's right, Ms. Hansol. We just entrust our bodies.’
The Bear Dolls we're wearing now are just the cutest, most ordinary bear costumes……
No, that's not it.
Craaaack-!!
With a ear-piercing sound.
As the thick shadow fell over Park Yeon-jeong's head.
Thud-!
Park Yeon-jeong was completely crushed under the massive flesh.
Without even a chance to resist, vanishing without a trace.
The first to react was.
【◆……Pfft! Just a loudmouth worm after all! Hahahahaha!!】
Angry Mask burst into hearty laughter, convinced of Park Yeon-jeong's death.
…Bulge!
【◆……Huh?】
But.
The flesh sitting on Park Yeon-jeong suddenly began to swell.
And soon.
Bulge—BOOM!!!
With a massive explosion.
A man covered head to toe in red blood and chunks of flesh showed a stiff smile at his mouth, muttering inwardly so no one else could hear.
‘…I'm gonna puke.’