Chapter 311: The Spiraling Spiral of Daily Life
Chapter 311: The Spiraling Spiral of Daily Life
I searched the Log Cabin more thoroughly, but found nothing of note.
The only new information was that there was a staircase leading down in a spot that wasn't easily visible at first glance.
And that in the basement reached via those stairs, there were three beds, a wardrobe, and a television.
I took the opportunity to rummage through the wardrobe and turn on the TV.
The wardrobe held only clothes that an adult male might wear.
As for the television, no matter which channel I turned to, nothing but crackling static flowed out.
Truly, there was nothing special at all.
So, I stepped out of the cabin for a moment to look around.
Outside was still thick with fog, and the car remained exactly where it was, unchanged.
Looking toward the forest, I could see that the tunnel we had entered through was also still there.
There was no sign of anything happening.
After thinking that, I looked back at my disciples and Un-ho.
They were all forcing themselves to act bright, but...
To my eyes...
They’ve reached their limit. Everyone is already too exhausted.
It wasn't physical exhaustion, but mental.
Han A-bin would jump excessively at the slightest sound and whip her head toward it.
Baek Si-hyun also seemed fine on the surface, but the time she spent standing blankly, her lips twitching, had increased.
Un-ho had gone into full combat mode, his fur standing up sharp and prickly.
We need... to rest.
In this bizarre situation, where we don't know what might suddenly jump out, we can't stay this high-strung forever.
A stiff, unbending rod is easily snapped.
Therefore.
"Let's stay here tonight. Everyone, go inside and rest."
I made the suggestion to them.
Several protests followed my words.
But in the end, the disciples admitted they were on edge and crawled into the beds as I told them.
"...What about you, Senior?"
As they were heading to bed, the disciples asked me as I stood there calmly with my hammer slung over my shoulder.
"Night watch. I'll wake you when it's the next turn, so don't worry."
I replied simply.
Then I waited quietly for the disciples to fall asleep.
* * *
Outside the window, the shadow of a seven-legged beast—one of the thirteen—passes by.
As night fell, the dark fog seeped into the Log Cabin.
My body, which could withstand even the Siberian cold, grew chilled by the damp frost of the fog.
Someone knocked on the door.
When I went out, no one was there.
The telephone rings.
When I lift the receiver, only noise flows out.
"...."
The night flows on.
* * *
After staying up all night, morning dawned.
Once the disciples woke up, I checked on Baek Si-hyun, who had absorbed the clothes yesterday, but I couldn't find anything particularly different.
Afterward, we all tidied ourselves up and left the Log Cabin together, but nothing had changed significantly from yesterday.
Just like when we first arrived at this place.
A circular clearing surrounded 360 degrees by trees, no matter where you looked.
And situated in the center, the Log Cabin we had found after wandering the forest for a long time.
"...Hm?"
Something's strange.
Did something... change from yesterday?
Is it just my imagination?
After pondering for a moment, I spoke with the disciples.
"Something different? Hmm...?"
"I've gotten hungry!"
"Woof? I'm not sure."
Since the disciples and Un-ho gave me those answers.
It was likely just a simple delusion of mine.
Contrary to my concerns, nothing special had happened during the night.
Looking at the disciples, who had shed their fear and regained their energy, I thought that taking a break had been the right choice.
Then, we ran through the forest just like yesterday.
We must have run for about an hour.
Maybe two.
At any rate, there was no lie in the fact that we had run, but...
"...Why are we back here again?"
"...I was wondering the same thing."
Before our eyes, the Log Cabin appeared once more.
The Log Cabin of unknown significance, sitting right in the middle of the clearing surrounded by forest.
Perhaps the angle of our run had drifted slightly.
So, I asked Un-ho for the Song of Origin and tried running in a perfectly straight line.
Still, we returned to the front of the Log Cabin.
Again, and again, and again.
"...."
When everyone fell into a silent stupor.
Having no other choice, we went back inside the Log Cabin.
The cabin hadn't changed much from when we left.
The fire in the fireplace was out, just as it was when we stepped out.
The sofa was smashed and scattered.
And a skeleton sat in the Dining Hall.
In front of cold food.
The cottage, where no one had entered since we left.
Relieved by that fact, we had no choice but to spend another night there.
Since a disciple took the watch yesterday, today it was my turn.
* * *
Time flows.
How long has it been since we were trapped?
Unlike me, the disciples needed to eat to survive, so they went out into the forest to procure food.
Contrary to expectations, it wasn't that difficult to encounter wild animals.
They hunted them, turned them into meat, and put them in the refrigerator.
As for the lack of vegetables, they fed the nearby weeds to Un-ho to check for toxicity, then gathered them in bulk to dry.
Of course, the escape attempts did not stop.
Again, and again, and again.
However, we never succeeded even once.
Whether the four of us went together, or someone stayed behind at the cabin to check.
We always returned to the Log Cabin.
A long confinement shared by the four of us.
One might expect stress to build up.
But we accepted it.
As if it were a daily routine.
As a daily life devoid of enemies or fear.
There was no one to torment us, no enemies.
Days passed peacefully.
There was no excitement, but living itself was sufficient.
Is this what life after retirement is like?
I thought so to the point of wonder.
I had wondered how one could live such a dull life without stimulation.
But once I actually lived it, it wasn't bad.
Within that, our escape attempts also became part of the routine.
As if it were natural, we ran through the forest believing we could leave today.
When we failed, we returned, ate, sparred, and chatted.
That daily life continued.
On and on.
On and on.
* * *
"I'm back."
I returned from another escape attempt today.
I spoke loudly, hoping to fill the Log Cabin where no one usually greeted me.
"I happened to run into a reindeer on the way, so I caught it."
I hadn't bled it yet, but I could do that now.
So, after brushing the dust off my clothes, I hung the captured reindeer on the outer wall of the house.
Hanging the massive reindeer upside down, I cut its throat.
By doing so, the heavy blood pools downward and drains out through the severed aorta.
Actually, it's not a highly recommended method.
This thing isn't a rabbit; it's a large animal—would all the blood really drain out like that?
This was simply the method I chose because I didn't want to spend a long time on the bleeding process.
Of course, the disciples would be disgusted, saying the blood hadn't drained enough, but lately, they seemed to have gotten used to it and were eating normally like me.
After finishing the task.
I wiped the blood off my body with the pure white snow that filled the clearing and returned to the house.
Since it was a quiet house where no one welcomed me, just like before, I didn't make a sound either and sat normally on the sofa to rest my weary body.
"Squeak. Squeak."
Hearing a sudden sound, I looked in that direction.
A brown-furred rat.
"Un-ho, what is it now?"
"Squeak. Squeak."
"You want food?"
My partner was begging for food at my feet as always.
I briefly debated whether I should give food to this glutton.
But since I had plenty of fresh meat, it should be fine.
Soon, I reached the conclusion that giving him some wouldn't be a big problem.
So, I went into the kitchen with Un-ho the rat.
The kitchen light was off, and while it didn't matter much to me since I can see in the dark, I turned the light on out of habit.
Immediately, I could see that two of my disciples were in the kitchen.
"Ah, I was wondering where you were. You were in the kitchen."
It seemed they were cooking again today.
The two of them were always in the kitchen these days.
"Still, try to come out once in a while. It's a bit sad for me to try to escape alone and spar by swinging my hammer at empty air."
After giving the disciples a bit of a lecture.
I rummaged through the kitchen cupboard and pulled out some jerky.
It was something made quite a while ago, but I didn't smell anything spoiled.
I tossed a piece of jerky to Un-ho.
"Squeak. Squeak."
Un-ho, clutching the jerky he received, hid himself in a hole in The Wall—his home.
Now then. What should I do?
There was no specific schedule for this life, so I acted according to my whims each day.
Anyway, the options were obvious.
"Shall I get some sparring in?"
Picking up my hammer, I stepped out of the Log Cabin alone.
The clearing, scattered with fog as usual, was chillingly cold, but that too felt quite refreshing to a body heated by solo sparring.
* * *
Seeing the tilting sun, I realized dinner time was approaching, so I finished my solo sparring and returned home.
The disciples were in the kitchen, but since it had long been decided that I was the one to prepare the meals, I took out the ingredients and cooked.
Then, I set the food on the table where the disciples and Un-ho were sitting, as usual.
As expected, if you do anything for a long time, your skills are bound to improve.
Even I was surprised that I could make food like this.
After looking at the prepared meal with satisfaction.
The moment I sat in my designated seat and was about to put food in my mouth.
Stab.
Something pricked my body.
It didn't hurt much, but it was a pain I hadn't felt in a long time.
Focusing my consciousness, I looked at my thigh where I felt the pain.
A single red bone fragment lay on the chair.
It wouldn't have touched my body if I just sat still, but it was at an angle that would hit my thigh the moment I moved slightly.
Ah, damn it.
Thinking that, I tossed the bone fragment away and lifted my bowed head.
"Huh?"
Everything had changed.
The disciples were gone, replaced by skeletons sitting there, and Un-ho, who had been scarfing down food as usual, had vanished somewhere.
And the strangest thing was.
The characters carved in blood across the entire room.
The moment I read them.
A familiar, yet long-forgotten sensation raced through my head.
However, my body reacted to it quickly.
The Adversary.
The Enemy of my story.
I immediately drew my hammer and fled the suspicious kitchen.
In that instant.
Everything around me was dyed black.
No, that's not it.
Holes began to sprout from everything.
The holes emerging from every existing thing in the world turned into tentacles and lunged at me before I could do anything.
"Ah. I see."
Looking at the holes closing in before my eyes, I understood everything.
I had been bewitched by this thing and had wasted a long time.
As expected, this place was a hunting ground.
A hunting ground created by my Adversary.
I didn't know exactly what these Hole Tentacles were eating yet, but this thing was creating it to feed.
Perhaps like a livestock farm.
And we were in the position of being farmed by The Enemy.
I had only been mistaken because those I had faced until now were gluttons.
There must be beings who want to eat what they like, slowly and steadily.
The Enemy before me must be that type.
Or perhaps it's impossible for them to eat or create in large quantities.
The reason I hadn't noticed this phenomenon until now was likely because that "something" was being eaten.
It's too late to realize, but it can't be helped.
"Let's see, regression, is it? I didn't think I'd be the subject of such a thing."
The one who told me this was likely Happiness Drop.
The word LOOP written in blood all over the kitchen told me many things.
Why hadn't I noticed those red letters until now?
That, too, was probably because The Enemy had eaten something of mine.
I've experienced time distortion, but I've never experienced a regression that returns to the very beginning like this. If there's a difference from other fictional works, it's that I have no memory of having undergone the regression.
I wonder which turn this is.
However, I know one thing.
"You can't kill me. Right?"
Perhaps it's building up strength like this to kill me one day.
The moment it judges it has grown strong enough to kill me, it will flip everything over.
Or perhaps that day will never come. If so, it might be doing this to keep me trapped forever.
"Well then. See you in the next loop."
You Adversary tentacle bastard.
Thwack.
A hole was pierced through my brow.
And my consciousness sank into the void.