Chapter 14
Chapter 14
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: One Night's Shopping (5)
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No.
No. No.
No no no no!
Snap out of it!
What the hell are you thinking?
Let's think this through carefully again.
Me, saving that woman?
What's my basis for that?
My heart is pounding like mad.
I try to cool my head somehow and think rationally.
Just now, I thought it would be different.
Even though everyone said we have to abandon that woman, I thought I could save her.
But let's break it down properly.
What's the reasoning behind that judgment?
What do I have?
A basis,
a logical basis...
Nothing, right?
So why did I think it would work?
I trace it back. I forcibly rein in the thoughts trying to bolt ahead in excitement and reverse-track my thought process.
I.
Read that description.
Understood it.
And still.
Was fine.
...Is that my basis?
I.
Can create ghost stories.
...Did I really think this was my basis?
That this flimsy thing was grounds for half-believing I could save her, that I'd be different?
My head is ringing.
So, to sum it up, that's it?
I'm different.
I have some special quality others don't, so I can resolve this situation?
Isn't that what they call overconfidence?
Since when have I let overconfidence sway me like this?
It's ridiculous.
My insides are burning up.
But what's even more insane is that this baseless confidence won't leave my head.
You know those audition shows? There's always that character type.
After someone gives an amazing performance, in the interview, they say, "I feel like I could do that even better." Full of confidence. But then when they actually try, they pull it off even better—a total prodigy character.
That's how I felt. Like I'd become that person.
Logically, there's zero guarantee it'll work,
so why do I keep feeling like it will?
The more that thought creeps in, the more my heart leans that way.
What if—what if I really can do it? Saving one person. How incredible would that be?
And who knows? Maybe that woman holds some crucial information. Maybe she's the only one with a decisive clue to the exit. If I don't save her now, it could be game over.
My heart thuds wildly.
Do it. It'll work.
Save a life.
This pointless, unpredictable death.
I can stop it.
Suddenly, a sharp pang in my chest.
Not letting people die.
Come to think of it, back when I first started making ghost stories, didn't I worry a lot about that? Not letting people die...
But at some point, didn't that mindset fade? My head full of ideas for ghost stories, just brushing it off... Why did I do that? Like it wasn't even me...
Something.
An unpleasant realization.
The moment I felt it,
I'd already let go of Mr. Park Bong-su's and Team Leader Shin's hands and stepped forward without realizing.
"I'll go."
"Pardon?"
"No, wait. This is dangerous. If she gets like that, it's over."
"Just once. Just one try. She's a person. We have to save her. I'll just gag her, pull her away, calm her down. If it doesn't work, I'll run too. Let's meet up ten blocks past here."
"Wait...!"
"No!"
Team Leader Shin panicked, and Mr. Park Bong-su whispered urgently, but I quickened my pace instead. Almost running. In case they grabbed me.
All the while, I cursed myself madly inside.
You lunatic!
What are you doing!
No basis, remember?
Why the hell are you going?
But the feeling driving my feet stubbornly persisted.
If you can save someone, you should.
You've been off lately.
Snap out of it.
And who knows, maybe just gagging her and pulling her away will work.
She's not that big. Try it, and if not, run.
Am I crazy,
brave,
kind,
or insufferable?
I don't know.
By then, I'd reached the woman from behind.
I could see the exhibit under the light.
It was an exhibit made from a woman's corpse, drained of all blood.
Her white face twisted,
posed as if trampling a mirror she'd just smashed.
The backpack woman stood blankly before it, staring down at the description plaque and muttering.
"Don't look. Don't look. Why. Why are you looking. Why. At me only. Why at me. I said don't look. I know you're there. I know everything. You you sent the signal from there didn't you. Don't look! You! I told you last time too. Don't send signals. You!"
Chills ran down my spine. Definitely not sane.
My heart raced faster.
I'm crazy. Why do something this reckless...
But now that I'm here, I have to at least try.
I quietly approached from behind, yanked her into a tight hug, and clamped her mouth shut.
It was practically a crime, but she was going berserk and screaming—had to subdue her and silence her.
"Mmph! Mmmph!"
She thrashed. Her strength unbelievable for a woman.
I'm not short, but my frame is light, so her struggles shook me like a ragdoll.
"Don'look. Don'. Don'look!"
Even then, she gnawed at my hand, repeating "don't look."
I twisted her head so she couldn't see the plaque anymore,
and backed away.
Kept backing up.
Staggering, dragging her as far from the plaque as possible.
In the struggle, suddenly, over her shoulder, the description plaque she'd been staring at entered my view.
⚙ DESCRIPTION PLAQUE ⚙ —— <Mirror and Person>
People think the mirror is looking at them. Even in the home that should be safest, it's watching. The most horrific thing is that brazen face pretending not to watch while staring so shamelessly. It's looking, isn't it? Why pretend otherwise? Why are you looking? I told you not to look not to look I told you —— ...What a concept.
I felt dazed for a moment.
Just like with the Wind-up Device.
Inspiration striking at an inopportune time, mismatched to the situation.
With material like this, I bet I could craft a ghost story too...
But,
"Don'lookkk!"
The woman thrashing and wailing despite my hand over her mouth snaps my focus back. This much noise must have alerted nearby monsters. Need to calm her fast and hide in the dark again.
Or abandon her now and save myself.
Feeling the lingering afterglow of that inspiration, I coaxed the woman I held tight.
We'd dragged pretty far now, edging into the darkness—praying the distance from the plaque would calm her.
"It's okay. It's fine. Right? Calm down."
She flails. Don'look!!!
"I said it's okay."
She struggles. Don'look! Why look!!
At those words, reflexively recalling the plaque, I blurted out,
almost as if responding to the text itself.
It was watching don't look don't look... or something.
"But it's okay. Let it look. So what? Even if it's looking at you. Even if it keeps watching."
Holding her tight as she writhed.
Like soothing a tantruming child, I whispered in her ear.
"Nothing will happen."
Drop.
The thrashing woman suddenly went limp. Her body sagged.
"Ha... haa... nothing... will happen...?"
She stirred in my arms, catching her breath like she'd finally relaxed. Clutching my hand tight.
Huh.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Clack clack. Scratch.
I crouched in the darkness with the barely calmed woman, waiting.
Monsters drawn by our commotion prowled nearby but eventually scattered without finding us.
I strained my ears.
In this pitch black where nothing's visible, hearing is all I could trust.
Once I was sure the monsters were gone, I led her to our rendezvous point.
"I-han-ssi!"
Nearby, Team Leader Shin's whisper reached me.
"Yes. Yes. Here."
I stood before Team Leader Shin, guiding the woman who still trembled faintly.
"Whew... You actually did it. Must've been the type of contamination that clears up once separated from the plaque."
"Yes. Got lucky."
"I'm embarrassed. That was my job."
"No."
Yeah. Maybe it really wasn't that.
Earlier, when she suddenly calmed. Was it really just the distance from the plaque?
More like... she reacted to the new setting I added?
Leaving the existing setup of being watched, but adding that it does nothing...
I did it almost unconsciously, so it's surreal.
Am I overthinking? Or did I actually tweak something like crafting a ghost story?
As I sorted my thoughts alone, the woman I'd saved perked up a bit.
Surprisingly, her bag had some water and food—we all shared a little.
The woman said, trembling.
"I... was biking around Jeju Island."
Ah. That's why she had water and rations in her backpack.
"Then night fell... I rushed along the night road to get to my lodging... and when I came to, I was here."
...You could enter like that too?
I'd unconsciously assumed others entered similarly to me.
But thinking it over, that doesn't make sense.
Who the hell would go down to the 5th floor, then 4th, spin around like that? I only did it because the Shadow Office told me.
Listening to the others chime in one by one, they all seemed to have wandered in accidentally at night.
So why did I use such a convoluted method? Difference between stumbling in versus entering deliberately...?
As I pondered, Team Leader Shin continued questioning the woman.
"Pardon? Oh. Yes. I've been here... about 6 days. Yes. Plenty of water and emergency rations. The souvenir shop? No, haven't seen it. This place feels endless. ...Why? Um... that. Yes, you call it the Execution Platform. Right. That Execution Platform... it repeats. Every two days' distance or so."
Team Leader Shin's voice suddenly rose a bit.
"The Execution Platform repeats?"
"Yes. Head straight in one direction for about two days, and another one appears. It... keeps repeating. At least, over the 6 days I went one way."
"..."
"There are stairs going down here and there. Really ominous ones... Some people I ran into said screw it and they'd check the bottom."
"What happened?"
"Don't know. Saw three, none came back. Maybe they escaped... or died."
"Why didn't you go down?"
"Too scary..."
"..."
Team Leader Shin fell silent for a long time.
We all did. Just the sound of swallowing now and then.
Six days.
A full six days wandering this place carried real weight.
Six days without hitting a wall, pillar, or souvenir shop.
Meaning even wandering like this, the odds of never finding the exit are high. And even if we eventually hit a shop or wall... we'd likely die of dehydration first.
We all sensed it.
Time to decide.
Finally, Team Leader Shin spoke.
"Then... we've narrowed the escape routes to exactly two candidates."
Tap tap tap, fingers drumming, then she continued, each sentence pressed out firmly.
"First, the stairs."
"Second, the Execution Platform."
"One of them has to be the exit."