010 – Monkey Gallery # 2
010 - Monkey Gallery # 2
010 - Monkey Gallery # 2
「Monkey's Paw Site」
「Please enter your wish : 」
The words appearing on the mobile phone screen were completely unfamiliar.
To think I traded a 'Neuron Clear' for something like this.
It was only natural for me to suspect whether I had been ripped off just because I was a clueless newbie.
"Boribori, what do you think of this?"
Boribori was busy swiftly taking the seat where the medicine buyer had been sitting, shoveling tiramisu cake into his mouth with a fork.
Whether I asked a question or not, he was completely engrossed in sugar intake.
It seemed the imp Boribori was extremely fond of desserts in addition to jjamppong and tangsuyuk.
Should I say that fit quite well with his appearance, which looked around a 6th grader in elementary school?
"A wish, huh..."
I turned my eyes back to the phone screen.
The search bar-like prompt reading 「Please enter your wish : 」 seemed totally suspicious, yet on the other hand, my heart fluttered.
Hey, I'm not a total idiot either.
Telling me to enter a wish is basically the same as saying they'll grant it, right?
Of course, there was a possibility they'd be stingy like, 'I only said to enter it, I never said I'd grant it~'.
If it turned out to be like that, I'd seriously bawl my eyes out like a neutered cat.
'So what is my wish?'
Suddenly, I became curious.
If someone offered to grant one wish, what would be the most correct answer to desire?
I began to ponder.
Just this morning, even right up until I came to the cafe, I never imagined I'd be thinking about something like this.
'I guess it'll only grant just one wish, right?'
I glared at the wish input field as if engaging in a staring contest.
Although there was no number limit written regarding how many wishes could be entered...
...from the vibe of it, it felt like only one could be entered.
In that case!
"Increase... the number of... enterable wishes... to 10."
Totok, tototok-.
Tapping on the phone screen, I typed the above sentence into the input box.
The moment I was debating whether or not to press enter.
Text floated up below the empty search bar.
「Risk : ■■■■■■■■■■」
Risk?
Is it the English word 'Risk'?
It must mean loss risk or negative uncertainty, right?
A phrase stock traders love.
"Ah!"
At this moment, I realized the absurdity hidden within this 'wish input window'.
Nothing in life is free.
Equivalent exchange.
As the essence of this 「Monkey's Paw Site」 hit me, cold sweat dripped down from my back to my waist.
And Boribori neatly finished off the tiramisu cake.
# # #
I returned home and turned on my computer first.
Then I searched for 'Monkey's Paw Site'.
The site didn't come up.
It seemed that unless it was the link or QR code handed to me earlier by the medicine buyer 'Oseonjok Exterminator', one couldn't enter the site through external searches.
Instead, other things came up.
Things like the origin or background of this 「Monkey's Paw Site」.
The Monkey's Paw.
The Monkey's Paw
An amulet-like object appearing in a short story by a British author named William something-or-other.
Its effect was none other than granting wishes.
However, the manner in which it fulfilled those wishes was completely messed up.
To be exact, it was imbued with something resembling malice.
For example, if I wished "I want to have 1 billion won"?
Misfortune would suddenly strike my family, resulting in me collecting 1 billion won from their life insurance payout.
If I wished to win 1st place in a running race at sports day?
The other runners besides me would suffer sudden accidents mid-race and break their legs or something.
The lesson imparted by this 'Monkey's Paw' was, as far as I could gather, probably something like this:
There is no such thing as a convenient free lunch.
Then what about the 「Monkey's Paw Site」?
The site's name and principles were likely taken from the 'Monkey's Paw' of that short story.
In fact, when typing words into the window asking to enter a wish—.
An item called 「Risk : 」 popped up to signal danger.
Like this:
「Monkey's Paw Site」
「Please enter your wish : 1 Billion Won」
「Risk : ■■■■■□□□□□」
The risk gauge filled up.
About 5/10.
Halfway.
Is there any way to guess what degree of risk this represents?
The short story 'Monkey's Paw' I researched earlier would probably serve as a decent hint.
Something like the death of a family member and collecting their death insurance payout.
Or one could predict that I myself would be severely injured and collect insurance payouts for it, or a corresponding 'danger' would befall me.
In that case?
What on earth would happen with the 10-bar Full risk I saw earlier when I said I'd increase the wishes to 10?
With my meager imagination, nothing came to mind at all.
"Sigh, I feel like I've accepted something utterly ridiculous."
I leaned my shoulders against the back of the chair and looked up at the ceiling.
As I rubbed my face with my palms in a dry wash, the face and attitude of 'Oseonjok Exterminator' from earlier crossed my mind.
He had said that the link he handed over was extremely valuable.
That it wasn't something just anyone could obtain.
What did he say again?
He said it was like a limited edition item that you could only get after doing something for about a year.
To my eyes, there seemed to be no falsehood in his facial expression.
Rather, a sense of 'pride' or similar emotions had been oozing from his eyes and snorts.
'Even if there's danger, the very possibility of having a wish granted is incredible.'
If I passed this to a wealthy collector, wouldn't I easily get hundreds of millions of won?
People like Warren Buffett, I mean.
People whose money is piled up to the sky, but don't have time to spend it all.
Aged oil tycoons.
Ruthless dictators.
If you gave this to such people, they would undoubtedly wish for 'youth and health'.
If I were terminally ill and going to die tomorrow, I would have wanted to get my hands on this 'site' no matter what cost I had to pay.
Yeah, this is definitely worth way more than that 'Neuron Clear'.
The mere possibility of being able to 'enter a wish' alone seems priceless.
Up until earlier, I thought I was scammed with a lowball price for the medicine...
...but looking back now, it was as if I had received an enormous 'bonus' instead.
'Was that Oseonjok guy in that much of a hurry for the medicine?'
The guy did seem a bit anxious.
Flinching at every single hand gesture.
What kind of experience made him like that?
Will I end up like that someday too?
But not right now.
I didn't want to miss this opportunity of having become a magician, lying in bed with my head full of fun and excitement, anticipating tomorrow morning to come quickly.
"Wishes... let's not enter one for now and save it."
What I needed was information and knowledge.
Suddenly, I became curious about the circumstances and method of obtaining this 'Monkey's Paw Site'.
Oseonjok Exterminator.
Where did he say he got this?
He spoke of it as if it were some kind of reward or payment.
'...An internet gallery.'
Monkey's Paw and gallery.
As I cross-referenced those words, a single thought flashed in my mind like a collector discovering a gem in a pile of trash.
"Monkey Gallery."
# # #
"Successfully recovered MeTubers Yoon Heegon, Jang Geunbeom, and An Miyeong. We watched Jang Geunbeom and An Miyeong swallow the medicine, so there shouldn't be any issues with them."
A suited man wearing glasses entered the office and spoke indifferently.
The employees who were looking at their computers glanced at the man and spoke up one after another.
"As expected of the field team's ace!"
"By the way, why did Assistant Manager Kim take on an Eosureum-grade assignment?"
"You know, that Thai witch he was chasing suddenly went into hiding. Since a huge hole opened in his schedule, he's taking on all sorts of odd jobs to fill his quota."
The whispering grew louder.
Assistant Manager Kim returned to his desk, took off his glasses, and pressed his eyes.
As he was relieving his fatigue in his own way, someone tossed a document folder onto his table with a thud.
"If it's Yoon Heegon, you mean that Ghost Story Unicorn? Did he not take the medicine?"
Assistant Manager Kim glanced up at the face of the woman who approached him.
An active ponytail, hoodie, and sneakers.
To them, who valued strict discipline, her free-spirited nature was in itself a privilege and proof of her achievements.
Reflected in those green eyes, Assistant Manager Kim couldn't help but straighten his posture.
"Yoon Heegon didn't take the medicine. Turns out that guy is a user of that gallery."
"Haa, again? There's been a lot of them lately. People from that weird site. What about the other two? What were their names again, Kim Iryeong and Yuseong Woo?"
"Ha Yuseong. Those two escaped from the Torii Shrine on their own before I could even get them out. I handed over the medicine, but whether they'll take it or not, I don't know."
"Hoo, escaping from that Torii Shrine by their own power? How intriguing."
"It is intriguing."
Assistant Manager Kim stated his honest sentiment.
Intriguing.
The basement of Dori Building.
Although an incomprehensible anomaly slept in 「Torii Shrine」, its measured danger level was merely an 'Eosureum grade' where one or two people die a year.
Those trapped or swept into that place would simply end up wandering that basement.
As long as they didn't provoke the unidentified anomaly, their 'lives' weren't at risk.
A rulebook was issued for that exact purpose.
People like Assistant Manager Kim would go to rescue those drifted souls after a certain period.
That was also why no method regarding 'escape' was written in the rulebook.
Because it was a place where escaping by one's own power was absolutely impossible without external help.
However—.
There were two who escaped such a place on their own power.
Kim Iryeong and Ha Yuseong.
Assistant Manager Kim recalled their faces and shrugged his shoulders.
"Well, things like this happen occasionally, don't they?"
"That's true. Did they pierce through some loophole in those rules that we didn't know about? Could those guys also be from that gallery? Or maybe Originals?"
Interest surged in the woman's eyes.
However, Assistant Manager Kim merely traced back the past with eyes still full of fatigue.
"Neither, most likely."
"Hoo, then?"
"They asked me this: 'Aren't you a wizard?'"
At Assistant Manager Kim's words, a moment of silence swept over the office.
But only for a moment.
"Puhahaha!"
"What a hilarious guy!"
"They're total greenhorns, aren't they?"
"Kim Iryeong seemed somewhat useful. She said she drove that thing in the basement far away. Supposedly thanks to her experience as a shaman or whatever."
"Ho, a former shaman? Interesting."
Assistant Manager Kim was simply tired.
He buried his body deep into the back of his chair.
The woman asked him.
"Then how was this Ha Yuseong?"
"...Ah, no need to worry about him. Although he forcibly awakened his eyes because of this incident, as a magician, he didn't even have a trace of spiritual root—he was a third-rate hack."
"Is that so? Assistant Manager Kim, you always evaluate people who didn't take the medicine strangely harshly."
"It's not particularly like that."
Instead of making lengthy excuses, Assistant Manager Kim thought about his prey, the 'Witch of Isan'.
The fact that the high-level magician had vanished somewhere without a trace was severely bothering him.
Regardless of the reason, since the boulder that reigned with terror had suddenly disappeared...
...new water would inevitably seep in and pool in that hollowed spot.
Everyone would clamor to claim that spot for themselves.
That was why Assistant Manager Kim fed the papers related to those 'Transfer Students' into the shredder.
They didn't have the leeway to care about small fry like this.
Also, on a personal level, he was irritated by that ignorance.
"There's no such thing as wizards in this world."