Chapter 92
Chapter 92
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 92
Chapter Title: The Living Must Live
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*Rip—!*
*Bang—!*
*Crunch… Crack!*
Just dazedly listening to the sounds made it feel like I was experiencing some kind of 4D horror movie… no, something even more advanced, like 5D.
A vivid tone paired with the faint stench lingering at the tip of my nose.
It was a type of stench I’d never smelled before, so acrid it scrunched up my face and numbed my nostrils.
Watching the horde of ghost stories surging toward 404 like a tidal wave, I figured I wouldn’t have a chance to step in for a while.
Sure, it was all his own doing, but still…
I moved to the opposite side of the chaos.
Holding a digital camera in one hand, I stopped in front of a particular glass case.
The figure inside had never once reacted to me since I’d arrived here.
Yet now, that figure was looking right at me.
Not content with casually releasing the ghost story trapped in the glass case.
She was staring blankly at me—the one who’d turned against 404.
As if she’d lost all sense of self-awareness.
We gazed at each other in silence.
*Step—*
Only then did she notice my footsteps drawing closer to her glass prison.
!
She buried her face in her arms again.
Probably because of the glasses I was wearing.
The ones that made me look like a ghost story to everyone else.
In her eyes, I must’ve appeared as a ghost story wreathed in black flames around my face.
To her, I wasn’t all that different from the other ghost stories here.
Even if I took off the glasses right now and proved I was human.
It wouldn’t change a thing.
So.
I had to do what I came here to do.
What I could do.
*Shk—*
I raised the digital camera in my hand toward her.
Without hesitation, I pressed the shutter.
*Click—!*
With the faint shutter sound brushing my ear.
The woman who’d clearly been inside the glass case just moments ago had vanished completely.
She disappeared in an instant.
Up until now, I’d wondered if I was just seeing ghosts.
*Flutter—*
A single photo drifted weakly to the floor, catching my eye.
It gave off an undeniably eerie vibe to anyone who saw it, but I picked up the fallen photo right away.
Without a shred of hesitation.
*Tear—!*
I ripped it apart.
The photo I’d just taken shredded apart in my hands.
And in that moment.
The woman who’d been curled up in the glass case until seconds ago was now staring at me vacantly, her long hair disheveled.
Her eyes were unfocused, filled with bewilderment.
But.
I gently slipped my hand into my employee ID.
!!
At my bold move, she shrank back completely.
She lowered her head again.
She started trembling in fear.
A frail sob circled endlessly around my ears.
I understood her reaction. It was precisely because I understood that…
I proceeded with even greater care.
So her fragile heart wouldn’t shatter further.
Gently.
Like handling a child.
I took something out of the employee ID and placed it softly on the floor.
*Pat pat pat—*
Something approached her lowered head with its signature cute footsteps, then.
*Tap tap—*
……
Lightly nudged her ankle.
Feeling the touch, she slowly lifted her head.
A keychain-sized bear doll was waving its little arms at her.
It was a bizarre sight, yet an incredibly cute one, she thought.
But that didn’t stop her trembling or her tears.
She just…
Found herself staring at the bear doll, the light returning to her eyes.
Seeing that spark reignite in her gaze, I decided it was time to speak.
I spoke in a low, steady tone.
“The living must live, don’t they?”
“……”
No answer came to my question.
Of course, I hadn’t said it expecting one. I continued explaining.
Holding out the digital camera I’d been gripping.
“You let this bear doll friend handle your protection. Take this camera and save the people still trapped in their glass cases.”
“……”
“Think of it not as an order, but a request.”
“……”
Still no reply.
No response at all.
But.
The glimmer in her eyes remained, holding steady right there.
*Grab—*
She took the camera, but her steps still carried hesitation.
Something was holding this woman back. And I knew the cause.
A dreamlike wish she’d probably harbored at least once since being trapped here.
A story so fantastical.
One she’d waited for someone—anyone—to say, even if just in words.
If those words alone could give her the courage to move forward.
“Leave dealing with 404 to me.”
“!!!”
“I’ll fulfill your wish in your stead.”
Just this one sentence.
With those simple words escaping my lips, she gripped the camera tightly again.
She sobbed.
Her eyes reddened.
She stifled the tiny whimpers—barely audible unless you listened closely—with all her might.
……
After that, she took shaky steps forward.
Her back looked so precarious.
Like if I didn’t grab her right now, she’d collapse to the floor any second.
*Halt—*
She suddenly stopped, turned back to look at me.
And bowed deeply.
I was flustered.
Her unexpected reaction genuinely threw me off.
“…Thank.”
?
With a shallow breath.
A frail, sob-choked voice rang clearly in my ear.
“…you.”
“……”
At those words, I fell silent.
This time, she’d silenced me.
Watching her slowly walk down the vast, pitch-black corridor.
……Haa.
A deep sigh escaped my lips on its own.
Right now, worrying about others could wait—self-preservation came first.
Worry was already creeping in.
And as expected, what worried me most was.
That guy, 404.
*Rip—!*
*Bang—!*
*Crunch!*
The violent sounds still pounding from 404’s direction battered my eardrums.
Even an A-rank ghost story wouldn’t find a swarm of them easy to handle.
But.
Tough didn’t mean impossible.
Especially for an A-rank fueled by pure hatred.
*Riiiip—!*
With the sound of something tearing.
No more eerie noises echoed through the corridor.
‘…Even without his special powers, an A-rank is still an A-rank, huh.’
At our first meeting.
The tomboyish 404 now looked like a savage beast with its grotesque appearance.
We still outnumbered him with suspicious chunks of flesh scattered everywhere.
But no one dared approach 404.
More precisely.
Everyone here was overwhelmed by his crushing presence.
I’d half-expected it.
He was strong.
‘As expected, it won’t end easily.’
I felt a bit embarrassed for so confidently leaving him to them earlier.
[Big bro… no, you bastard.]
“……”
That guy was pissed.
Royally so.
[Satisfied? Is this the birthday cake you promised?]
“…Looks like you’re enjoying it well enough, fortunately.”
[Enjoying…? Enjoying it! Are your eyes just for show?! I’m sick of this. Sick of playing along with this backwater farce… sick of it, damn it!]
[This warehouse is done for! You lot… all of you are expendable now!!]
This guy was seriously furious.
His tone suggested he planned to trap everyone here forever.
*Thud—!*
A bright beam of light erupted from beneath 404’s feet. And I had a rough idea what it was.
When a camera-wielding guy like him ends up in a space where he can’t use his camera.
One of the powers he employs.
[Emergency Shooting]
A force used to return to the original location, regardless of position or place.
Normally, 404 doesn’t use this technique much.
He hates capturing anything unnecessary in his footage.
Just like how he raged when I ruined his broadcast earlier.
He’s obsessive about what goes into his camera.
Yet this guy.
The fact that he used it means.
Right now, 404.
Outwardly, he seems to have lost his reason to rage.
But he’s definitely sensing something off.
And the biggest source of that unease is me—the one showing no movement here.
He’s on guard against me.
[Experience days of being forgotten by everyone with your whole body! You bastards!!]
*Flash—!*
The light intensified.
But no one stepped toward that space.
And neither did I.
“This is farewell, then.”
I spoke with a calm utterly out of place in the moment.
At my inexplicable composure, 404 spat his final agitated words.
[How long can you keep up that calm?!]
[I’ll etch the sight of you being forgotten and vanishing by everyone into these eyes! I’ll capture your endless despair in my footage forever!]
Maybe, just maybe, this really would be our last encounter, as 404 said.
I wanted it to be.
So, to make my wish come true.
I prepared a parting gift.
“Guess it’s time for that farewell present.”
Moments ago.
Along with the bear doll, I’d pulled out something else—and now I tossed it lightly into the space emitting that bright beam.
*Whoosh—*
I smiled at 404’s final glimpse as he vanished into the light’s gap.
And I was grateful.
Truly grateful to 404 for moving just as I’d predicted.
“It was fun. And…”
Along with the thing I’d thrown, 404 vanished from this space entirely.
“Thanks for the cleanup.”
*****
404 barely made it back to his studio.
Part of him wanted to give that bastard who put him through this hell a real lesson.
But he’d put that off for later.
He’d used up too much stamina right now.
It wouldn’t be too late after fully recovering.
Even after ripping off all four of his limbs, it’d still be fine.
Slowly.
Just wait for the moment his power wanes.
Wait.
Imagine him crawling at my feet…
*Crack—*
…?
A shattering sound echoed through the entire space.
His gaze followed the source to a crude, eye-shaped structure now broken on the floor.
Puzzling.
Before he could even register where it came from…
A voice brushed his ear, whispering lowly into 404’s own ear.
A soft murmur.
Amid the eerie atmosphere.
*Blink—*
A single eye materialized in the empty air, beaming a bright smile at 404.
『You moved, huh?』