Chapter 18

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Translator: True Detective

Chapter: 17

Chapter Title: The Way to Save Everyone

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Echoes contain the past, present, and future all at once.

The shout I let out in the present becomes the past the moment it echoes, and that past sound reverberates ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠back to me in the future.

The time axis being twisted in the Cursed Mountain Lodge means the past, present, and future are all tangled together.

In other words, even if I kill one Echo of Ghostly Wails right now, a new one will regenerate in the future and crawl out again, followed by echoes born in the past that will swarm me.

This means I have to fight against an infinite wave of anomalies, and if I don't manage my stamina carefully, I could be overwhelmed by sheer numbers and die.

"Fixer... where are youuuu..."

"Fiiiixer...!!!"

The anomalies mimicking Monk Hye-ryeong and Nam Yu-ha poured out their monologues as they kept charging at me.

There was no end in sight.

It was reckless for just Sowol and me to take on a number close to infinity.

After killing countless anomalies, I finally realized it.

Simple hunting wasn't a fundamental way to eradicate the Echoes of Ghostly Wails.

Their numbers were infinite.

It seemed impossible, but in reality, they were.

My exorcism method, believing I could eventually clear them all, must have been wrong.

If I realized the method was wrong, I needed to quickly revise it.

"Sowol! This isn't working! Let's pull back for now!"

"Y-Yes...? R-Right now...?"

"Yeah, killing these things doesn't seem like the right strategy! We need to get out of here first and rethink the plan!"

Sowol heard my shout and immediately returned to the ring, yelling back.

"Darling, then let's share our life forces!"

"What!?"

"While I'm resting inside the ring, give me your wounds, and take my stamina! Th-That's... more efficient...!"

Just like a homegrown virgin ghost, calculating efficiency—impressive.

Pass on the wounds and receive stamina in return.

I wasn't sure if it would really work, but it was worth a try.

I activated White-Faced Groom.

"It worked!"

My life force filled up instantly, and Sowol's stamina was transferred to me.

Sowol, entering the ring, must have taken my wounds in my place and gone into rest with her stamina fully depleted.

In exchange, with the stamina I received from her, I could run faster and longer.

"Hyah!"

Bam!

No time to open the door, so I smashed through it with my body and kept running.

The walls were the same.

I knew it put more strain on Sowol, but to shake off the Echoes of Ghostly Wails, I had no choice.

No time even to turn corners—I just burst through walls and ran, and soon the echoes chasing me started falling behind.

"Hoo..."

I barely managed to escape them.

The ones pursuing me seemed to have completely lost my trail; they no longer tracked me.

"Sowol, you okay? Sorry for the rough ride."

-I'm fine... Darling...

This bought me a momentary breather, but I still hadn't found a way to deal with those anomalies.

I must have misunderstood their exorcism method.

It clearly said to exorcise the Echoes of Ghostly Wails by identifying their true nature and attacking.

So I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠naturally thought it was a simple condition: spot the anomaly mimicking my companions and that was it.

'Identifying their true nature doesn't mean just spotting the mimicry. It's not enough to notice they're imitating. I need to grasp the source of the echoes themselves.'

That must be the true strategy.

In short, unless I destroy the 'source' itself that's shouting echoes from the future and past, these things will keep reverberating inside the Cursed Mountain Lodge, multiplying infinitely among themselves.

"There should be clues in the central hall."

I looked around, searching for a path connected to the central hall.

Then I found a crucial clue.

"Is this... Hanja?"

I discovered a memo scrawled in what looked like blood.

Quite some time had passed; the blood had darkened, and it was filled with characters that might be Hanja or something else.

Mixed with Hangul and Hanja, it was extremely hard to read normally. It felt like looking at a Hunminjeongeum manuscript.

"Oh..."

Right on cue, the Ancient Text Deciphering skill activated, and I could soon understand the writing on the memo.

This was a note left by Woo-hyeon Monk.

One of the two monks we were supposed to search for had been wandering here, gathering clues.

'The more anomalies, the farther from the center. This is crucial info.'

To figure all this out, how long had he been wandering inside?

The paper itself was extremely worn, making me think Woo-hyeon Monk might have spent decades in here.

"This is bad."

If time flows even more strangely the farther from the center, the time gap between me and my companions could be enormous.

I need to head to the center as much as possible. That should minimize the distortion.

'For now, follow Woo-hyeon Monk's trail.'

That should lead me to the central hall.

"Another one here."

I followed Woo-hyeon Monk's memos, heading in the direction he indicated.

Ancient Text Deciphering allowed me to understand the monk's script, and through the clues he left for Yeon-jeong Monk, I could avoid the Echoes of Ghostly Wails and quickly reach the central hall.

Clunk!

Finally, after four days inside the Cursed Mountain Lodge, I arrived at the central hall.

"..."

And there was already a skeletal corpse, with an elderly man sitting beside it—his beard and hair fully grown out, turned completely white.

"Who... are you...?"

"I'm a Fixer who came in to rescue the monks..."

"I see... A Fixer..."

Next to the greatly aged monk's face, his information appeared.

The monk, whose spirit was completely broken by the ravages of time, was Woo-hyeon Monk—the one who had left the memos, desperately searching for Yeon-jeong Monk.

Then the corpse beside him...

"This one... is my old friend Yeon-jeong. When I found him, he was already dead..."

"..."

The time gap between the two.

I could understand how vast it must have been.

Woo-hyeon Monk must have arrived here first and waited endlessly for Yeon-jeong Monk, who, after wandering the lodge for who knows how long, had aged into that skeleton amid the flow of time.

"Yeon-jeong came too late... too late to catch up to me... How long did he wander inside here?"

Woo-hyeon Monk lamented, gazing at his late friend's skeleton.

Apparently, upon reaching the central hall, time stabilizes to match the outside world.

In other words, the later you arrive at the central hall, the more time passes.

Woo-hyeon Monk had wandered quite a while too, but Yeon-jeong Monk had wandered until the end of his lifespan.

"How many years... have passed outside...?"

"It's only been... about a week since the monks went missing."

"...A week...?"

"Yes. I think that's about right."

"Only... just a week...?"

The despairing monk shook his head, denying reality.

"I've wandered in here for a full twenty years. And only a week has passed outside...? I've already aged like this..."

Twenty years wasted inside this mansion, doing nothing.

The monk collapsed, staring at his withered, bony hands like an old tree.

"Monk, for now, let's get out of here together. Before it gets any later..."

"No."

"Pardon? Why not?"

"You and I... just the two of us can't escape this place."

"Pardon?"

"At least... three people need to gather... Even if you came, it wouldn't let us out... If only I'd found Yeon-jeong sooner and brought him here, maybe things would be different."

Three or more people needed to gather to escape?

What kind of nonsense was that?

"You mean two people can't escape?"

"Yes. That's right. If Yeon-jeong had arrived here sooner... and was still alive, then you, me, and him—three of us—could have escaped together. But Yeon-jeong died before reaching the central hall. I barely dragged his body here... So you and I can never escape."

"..."

Three must gather for the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠path to open.

One or two won't do.

Absolutely three.

"That means..."

Monk Hye-ryeong and Nam Yu-ha probably hadn't escaped yet either.

Maybe reinforcements had entered after us due to our disappearance.

If we didn't get out, the next search party would come in.

This place was...

"An ant hell... If you all hadn't come... we wouldn't have had to die in here. It would have ended with just me and Yeon-jeong dying... I'm sorry it turned out this way because of us."

"No, don't blame yourself too much..."

"We need to get out and tell everyone... No one should ever come in here... Anyone who steps foot inside can never leave alive..."

As Woo-hyeon Monk said, this was an ant hell.

Without understanding the internal situation, they'd keep sending search parties, and those who entered would die trapped in this prison of time, unable to escape.

Now, only one method remained for me.

Destroy the mansion.

Doing so would probably fling everyone inside except me somewhere in space-time.

Monk Hye-ryeong, Nam Yu-ha, who hadn't escaped, and the surviving Woo-hyeon Monk would be lost forever with the mansion.

Knowing that, if I wanted to escape, I had to destroy it. That way, I could minimize future victims.

Now I understood why everyone in the World of Doom Gallery unanimously said never to enter the Cursed Mountain Lodge.

Those without the power to destroy the mansion would inevitably die inside.

'To escape, I have no choice but to destroy the mansion... But is this really the best way?'

Destroying the mansion to escape is the last resort.

Shouldn't I try everything else first?

"Monk."

"What is it...?"

"The Echoes of Ghostly Wails... I mean, the anomalies mimicking us."

"Hm...? What about them...?"

"Do you know what their source is?"

"Their source?"

"Yes. Their origin. Where do they come from?"

"Their source is simple... It's the intruders here. We are the source... They are our echoes."

"Our echoes?"

"Yes. They're remnants created by our past. They manifest in the present as anomalies trying to kill our future. The mansion's duplicates of intruders... They'll keep coming until we escape."

"But there were no duplicates of Woo-hyeon Monk or Yeon-jeong Monk."

That was strange.

My own duplicate wouldn't appear in front of me anyway, but so far, the Echoes of Ghostly Wails had only mimicked Monk Hye-ryeong and Nam Yu-ha, never Yeon-jeong or Woo-hyeon Monks.

If it was because I didn't know them well, that didn't hold— I'd seen their profiles before entering, so I knew what they looked like.

"Wait... then..."

"Maybe they can't mimic people who have entered the central hall?"

"...Could be...? But what does that matter now... We're done for..."

"No, hear me out. Since I entered here, it's unlikely a duplicate of me was created. If I use this ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠cleverly, I might be able to lure the two still wandering the mansion here..."

There has to be a way.

A way to save Monk Hye-ryeong and Nam Yu-ha.

As a Fixer, I couldn't give up so easily.

"Monk, could you write on my body? Mixing Hangul and Hanja, like the memos you left before."

The structure of how Echoes of Ghostly Wails are created, the script combinations they can't read.

And the fact that no echoes are made of those who enter the central hall, plus the secret that time stabilizes here and doesn't flow doubly.

Combining all these clues, the method I came up with.

It's a gamble, but with this, everyone inside the Cursed Mountain Lodge can survive.