Not Act 2, but the Final Curtain
Not Act 2, but the Final Curtain
Dolls brandishing crude toy swords.
They were among those who had been sitting on the bench watching the performance from earlier.
And the audience members collapsing in sync with their blade swings.
Just as I was wondering what on earth was happening—.
- Act 2 has begun!
- Now! Breach!
.......
- :: ...You, you can see me, can't you...? ::
- :: Run away, run. No matter where you flee, I'll visit your house tonight. ::
...!
This is that.
Audience participation theater!
Come to think of it, it felt strange the entire time I watched.
The way she handled the theatrical puppets was so crude, it was as if
she was merely tormenting the puppets that were clearly meant to be the protagonists.
Just where in that sadistic play were people supposed to find any fun?
" As expected... I tried to bear with it, but it's hard to watch. Above all, it seems some disgusting things got mixed in too. "
Since there was even someone who eventually stood up from their seat while watching the show.
Indeed, I wasn't the only one finding the world of art difficult to comprehend.
Just as I had that thought, my eyes met with hers as she slithered past like a serpent.
" You, you're similar to me, but you haven't fully immersed yourself yet. Your scent says so. "
Scent...?
Ah. Is she talking about the candy fragrance soaked into me from the store?
A sweet smell must be radiating from the strawberry jam splattered from the piñata, yet she skillfully noticed it came from my body.
" I'll give you a piece of advice. You should quit while you still can. "
Come to think of it, people do say the food service industry is tough these days.
There's even talk that more stores are closing down than opening up.
Though I appreciate the advice.
" Thank you, but I am satisfied. "
" ...Is that so? "
In her gaze looking at me, I felt something indistinguishable between contempt and pity.
" I misjudged you. Excuse me. "
Hmm. I had my suspicions, but was it not advice after all, and instead an attempt to eliminate a competitor?
For someone I just met for the first time, there was no reason to show such massive disappointment just because I didn't follow her advice.
Rather than being someone with that strong of an ego, it seemed far more plausible that she was a fellow business operator trying to eliminate competition.
What a harsh, cutthroat world.
'Mm. Looking back, that person wasn't quite normal either.'
I got quite sidetracked, but anyway.
" Die, you wicked things! "
That must be that as well.
An audience participation play.
Come to think of it, it was strange.
Most residents of this world are dolls, yet expecting them to find fun in tormenting dolls.
If compared to humans, it's essentially a gore show, isn't it?
To the point where one might mistake it for someone with purely sadistic tastes tormenting dolls and packaging it as art.
Since there were horror movies I watched in the world before reincarnating that raised similar suspicions, I won't nitpick too much, but still.
Not knowing much about artistry, even if I chalked it up to just having a different opinion, I wondered if achieving commercial success with this would be difficult.
Just what fun are people supposed to find in unilaterally abusing creatures that resemble themselves?
"Fight! For the honor of hum::achoo::!"
However, seeing the intruding toys fight for honor made me realize my thinking was mistaken.
Right. It was an intended setup for catharsis!
It was just that the puppeteer was such an amateur that she mismanaged the pacing, causing the buildup to take up most of it.
'And the guests collapsing looked like regulars who had watched this performance for a long time.'
They are probably already accustomed to this situation.
Since they are enthusiastic fans who visit regularly, they must be playing along.
What's a bit funny is that the way those regular audience members collapse is far more realistic and dramatic than the artist who had been performing with puppets until now.
Their screams are so realistic, as if they were actually dying.
" Gaaaahhh! I'm really dying hereeee! "
Ah. That person over there seemed to collapse a bit awkwardly, but is making up for it with dialogue.
However, he is strictly an audience member. Not an actor.
Let's overlook his clumsy acting, if only for that passion.
The suited dolls are coming toward me.
Is it my turn soon?
Then how should I react here?
Play along and collapse.
If I want to go with the flow, this would be it.
However, didn't she clearly say during the opening greetings that her goal was to join a certain circus troupe?
An entertainer should naturally be able to respond even to unexpected scripts.
All the more so for a performance like a circus where one must respond immediately on the spot.
"Wh-What is this...!"
" ....... "
...Ah.
An involuntary sigh. I'm sorry to say it, but this is terrible.
Handling ad-libs requires skill to back it up.
In fact, though it was brief, I already saw that puppeteer's skills, didn't I?
It looks unmistakably like a marionette, but...
No strings are attached.
Its movements are also astonishingly detailed.
This isn't a theater puppet, but one of the residents of this world where I reincarnated.
Probably an actor from the same theater troupe.
"Th-There was no advance information about this, was there? What do we do about this? "
"An anomaly? Rookie, step back. I'll take care of this."
Moreover, the fellow in front of my eyes seems to have been recruited relatively recently.
Given how flustered it gets over a first-time customer who isn't one of the regulars.
And the teddy bear presumed to be his senior.
Seeing how flustered the rookie was, he's even yelling at the top of his lungs in anger.
Yet, despite getting so excited, he even hesitates slightly once he actually stands in front of me.
To blame someone else only to look no different himself. This is disappointing.
The same goes for being an actor.
To be an actor who shatters immersion instead, when involving the audience is meant to draw them into the play.
:: Truly pathetic. ::
" Right? Complete third-rate. "
Oops. My inner thoughts slipped out again.
Having heard my inner voice, the teddy bear flies into an extreme rage.
"You baaaaastaaard!!!! Let's see if you can say that after taking this!"
...That doesn't seem like a line, but like he's genuinely angry.
Dropping even the clumsy dialect that was his gimmick, the momentum with which he throws a punch is quite serious.
Still, well, it's also true that I made a slip of the tongue.
If only for that clumsy acting, I should play along.
" Keoheooo-eok! "
I tumble spectacularly and roll around degul-degul.
At that, the teddy bear grows immensely triumphant.
"Haha! How's that taste!"
It's fluffy and squishy.
Because it's literally a cotton fist.
What would one expect from a teddy bear?
'Even getting hit by a part-timer in a mascot costume would hurt more than this.'
However, this time I won't repeat the same mistake.
I covered my mouth before my inner thoughts could inadvertently slip out again,
but perhaps because that looked like I was trying to hold back vomiting blood, the teddy bear's momentum surged another level.
"Still think I'm third-rate, huh?!"
Now the thug teddy bear is fully mounting and pounding me.
It's really stating the obvious, but there is undoubtedly emotion behind it.
Perhaps static electricity arose from the teddy bear's fluffy fur, as I feel occasional tingling zaps.
" Keo-eok! Keo-eoo-eok!! "
"Die! Just drop dead!"
I took the beating while acting out groans.
" Keo-eoo-eok!!! "
Thinking it was dragging on long enough, I even let out a dying shriek, and—
Pulsseok. Draining the strength from my body, I let my arms hang limply.
###
No, what the hell is that now?
That was the thought that crossed the minds of Special Suppression Team 1 the moment they saw the candy store clerk.
There was definitely no mention of such an entity in the data compiled and provided by the preliminary investigation team.
"Th-There was no advance information about this, was there? What do we do about this? "
"An anomaly? Rookie, step back. I'll take care of this."
'Those investigation team bastards, how the hell do they do their jobs?'
If a greenhorn took it on, it would only add to the corpse count.
Kang Wan, leader of Special Suppression Team 1, stepped forward while simultaneously ordering his team member back.
Though it was an anomalous entity, being in the audience on the bench made it glaringly obvious that it had come as a spectator to this ridiculous puppet show.
It wouldn't just sit by and watch while fellow entities of the same ghost story were being slaughtered.
It was either retreat here, or bring him down along with the rest.
Needless to say, the choice was the latter.
Variables always accompany actual combat.
Fearing a mere single variable, he could not botch the operation now that they had already revealed themselves.
'We've already shown ourselves and exposed our presence. Since this ghost story professes to be a street performer, if we don't bring it down here, it's highly likely to relocate under the principle of avoiding crackdowns.'
Above all.
:: Truly pathetic. ::
:: Right? Complete third-rate. ::
The gaze of that anomaly bastard looking down as if spectating even until this situation unfolded was exceedingly unpleasant.
Once the calculations were made, action had to be swift.
Kang Wan's movement was swift.
He closed the distance in an instant with a spring in his step, then thrust forward his fist.
:: Keoheooo-eok! ::
"What, was this all you had!!!"
Good grief. With it throwing taunts and looking exceptionally ominous, he had thought it possessed something to rely on or some hidden special ability.
Turns out it's no different from the other audience entities.
So a physical approach where you just bash it with fists works, does it?
'Fucking spooking people for nothing!'
"Haha! How's that taste! Still think I'm third-rate, huh?!"
Was it just a purely brainless fool?
There's always one in every organization. An idiot who can't read the room like that.
Rather than being angry at the content of the taunt itself, it was anger over the fact that he had briefly hesitated at that unintended bluff.
The opponent was an anomaly anyway.
There was no compromise.
Raising the electrical output of the anti-anomaly special equipment he wore, the knuckles, to the maximum, he beat the bastard thoroughly until it went limp.
"What about the people?"
"Everyone who could be rescued has been...."
"What's this? Are ya feeling guilty right now?"
"...No, sir. It's just that watching people burst helplessly...."
The person who burst apart before Act 1 ended, was it?
However, given the timing, it couldn't be helped.
"Rookie. I understand how ya feel."
If they start rampaging in the middle of a performance, the anomalies will run amok in fury on the grounds that the show was disrupted.
On the other hand, if they breach before the performance even begins, the show itself gets canceled entirely, causing the anomalies to run amok.
Therefore, the moment Special Suppression Team 1 targeted was the intermission after Act 1 of the performance concluded.
When the audience thinks it's part of the show, and the performer—the puppeteer—is caught off guard and flustered by the commotion during the show, that is the optimal time to breach.
"But if we barged in before then, we would've been the ones done in instead, wouldn't we? If we dropped dead, who was gonna save these people?"
Hearing Team Leader Kang Wan's words, the team member looked around.
His seniors handling the aftermath.
He could see the hostages captured by the lunatic puppeteer being rescued.
"Don't look at the ones who croaked. Look at the lives we saved and the lives we'll save. That'll be better for yer mental health."
"...Yes, sir. Thank you."
"If ya got it, go help yer seniors. If a rookie goes around shooting the breeze and slacking off, yer seniors'll take a disliking to ya."
"...Yes, sir!"
With this, the situation is over.
Watching the rookie go to assist with the cleanup, Kang Wan leaned against the wall.
Right. A show ought to be like this.
What fun could there be in a play that ends in the villain's victory?
The wicked sorcerer who tormented pitiful people loses his life to the intrusion of righteous heroes.
It was classic, but for that very reason, it was standard and a fine conclusion— .
Clap.
"...?"
Clap, clap.
Clap, clap, clap, clap.
Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap.
"...What the hell is this sound?"
:: Bravo! ::
Suddenly echoing, an off-key clapping sound.
:: It was a very entertaining performance! ::
A voice far too alien to be called that of a human.
As if this tragedy were nothing more than a momentary diversion, a voice looking down upon the world as though it had just watched a well-crafted show filled the space.
Kang Wan slowly turned toward where the sound came from.
:: Truly, I truly enjoyed it from the bottom of my heart. ::
What entered his eyes was the anomalous entity he was certain he had brought down with his own hands.
As if asserting that it had never experienced anything like death.
Raising its head from the deep mire, it displayed that chilling smile across its face.
"...Why you little bastard."
Spooking people again.
A fellow who couldn't even react to my fists and just took a beating.
I don't know how it stood back up, but if it's standing, I just have to bring it down again.
He clangs his knuckles together.
Sparks of electricity burst forth.
"Hryaaaaap!"
Letting out a battle cry, Kang Wan charged toward the anomaly like a tiger.
:: Oh dear. ::
:: Please calm down. ::
He froze upon seeing his strike blocked by a single index finger outstretched by the anomaly.
:: Are you still angry? ::
And then the anomaly addressed him as if genuinely curious.
Genuine curiosity was dripping from its voice.
:: I shall politely apologize like this. ::
:: I'm sorry about earlier. ::
What that smile, still undiminished, meant was crystal clear.
Earlier, that thing had not used its full strength.
And even up to this very moment, when its comrades had suffered damage close to annihilation.
'As if enjoying it like a game, showing it still has power to spare....'
The moment he finally recognized the cruel yet mighty entity before his eyes.
Kang Wan, leader of Special Suppression Team 1, felt the illusion that the blood in his entire body was running cold.
:: But if you keep acting like this. ::
:: even I will find it hard to hold backfor you...? ::