Chapter 18
Chapter 18
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: One Night's Shopping (9)
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No!
No! No way! This can't be!
She's dying? For real?
Right in front of my eyes?
Don't mess with me.
I have no idea what came over me.
Just... Team Leader Shin Na, sprawled on the floor, drained of all color like she was in some extreme close-up, filling my entire field of vision.
By the time I snapped out of it, I was already shaking her.
...Her cheek is cold.
...Her shoulder flops limply when I shake it, no resistance at all.
...Hey.
Hey.
"Open your eyes."
No response from her. Like a doll.
Clack-clack. Clack.
Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw dozens of needle legs pressing into the ground.
Clack-clack. Clack.
It tapped the floor with its needle legs, making that sound.
Claiming her as their property. Demanding her back.
I froze.
Now I see... Right now. Me. I'm in the middle of all these aberrations.
I slowly rolled my eyes around. So far away. The spiral staircase. The only exit.
It wasn't actually that far, but...
Clack-clack.
Considering the length of that po... po... freakish eight-foot aberration's limbs, there was no scenario where I could reach the stairs without getting caught by these things.
As that thought hit me, a sudden question popped up.
"Why... haven't they touched me...?"
They killed Team Leader Shin Na on the spot? Is it because of the Responding Bear Doll's eyeball badge?
Clack. Clack-clack.
Another needle leg tapped the floor.
Of course. One's prey caught in a trap. The other's a guest who entered through the front door.
Is that it?
They were treating me like a customer.
Enter the way the Shadow Office told me, and you become an official guest...
Clack-clack. Clack.
Another needle leg tapped the ground. That's what it meant.
...
Or not?
Wait.
Roll-roll! Roll-roll!
The eyeball badge on my chest rolled noisily, louder than ever.
No idea when it had crept so close—those needle-thin legs brushed right by my cheek before jerking back with a flinch.
Clack-clack.
It tapped the ground. My apologies, it said.
Only then did my hairs stand on end and my back grow slick with cold sweat.
What the hell am I doing right now? Did I just... understand what that thing said?
No. Sure, understanding it in a situation like this is better than not, but... this whole situation...
It's overwhelming.
These aberrations surrounding me, talking to me.
Suspecting me.
And I'm understanding it.
I don't even know what I am anymore.
The one person I could rely on here ended up like this.
Clack-clack. Clack. Tap. Tap.
The tapping on the floor grows louder.
Aberrations gathering one by one.
Clack. Clack-clack.
Customer? Prey? Customer? Prey?
They're.
Suspecting.
Me.
Even that eight-foot aberration licks its black maw with its red tongue, smacking its lips. Staring at me with its dark eyes.
Roll-roll. Roooll-roll.
If it weren't for the badge on my chest, I'd be dead by now...
But as soon as I thought that, strangely, my mind calmed.
Right. They thought I was a customer, but now I look like just another piece of prey, so they're debating whether to jump me or not.
You bastards. The more scared I act, the more pathetic I look to you.
Who the hell are you to judge?
Acting like a human's life is a joke?
You grotesque aberration shits. The lives of people who've survived all kinds of crap. You think those are funny? Lightweight?
I bit my lower lip.
I glanced at Team Leader Shin Na, cold in my arms. Yeah. If trembling in fear just makes them more suspicious and eager to kill me, then I should just follow my gut.
Grind. I clenched my teeth, steeling myself.
Forget the aberrations around me. If I die, I die. Screw these bastards. I'll do what I have to.
"I can save her."
CPR golden time is four minutes, right? Even if blood flow to the brain is cut off, it can hold out that long without brain damage.
Less than thirty seconds have passed since Team Leader Shin Na lost her blood.
The problem is... these aberrations treating her like their property...
"I'll buy her!"
I shouted, gripping Team Leader Shin Na's shoulders tight.
I didn't trust myself to carry her to the souvenir shop counter, and I wasn't sure if the aberrations would just let me, so I yelled it out... but it worked.
Sssshhhh—
Threads brushed past my ears and fluttered forward, then...
Tok.
A copper ring touched Team Leader Shin Na's forehead and strings of them poured down over it.
One, two, three... ten... fifteen... twenty-five...
Thirty?
My vision went dark.
Well... a whole intact human body... thirty fingers might actually be a bargain?
But.
I rummaged through my bag with shaking hands.
All I pulled out was Lee Seol's pinky finger...
Crunch.
This is it...?
Team Leader Shin Na dies like this. And me...? Barely scraping by with my life...? That's the end of this whole saga?
What a bitter.
Dogshit ending.
Sssshhhh—
White threads fluttered over my trembling hand.
"Huh?"
Now I saw—they were fluttering around Lee Seol's finger, quivering like they were happy.
"Wait, what?"
Moments later.
Sssshhhh—
The thirty copper rings lined up on Shin Na's forehead retreated.
And in their place,
Tok.
A single ring tapped her forehead and hovered there.
A silver ring.
Just one.
"...One is enough? Lee Seol's pinky finger. Just one is okay?"
The ring wobbled. As if to say yes.
"..."
I looked down at Lee Seol's pinky finger with renewed wonder.
My ever-active imagination kicked in again.
Maybe.
Just maybe.
Lee Seol, a person who'd never seen light since birth, perceiving the world only through sound and touch.
A finger from someone like that might have a uniqueness unlike any other...
Whatever. It worked.
I carefully unwrapped the packaging around Lee Seol's finger and fitted it into the silver ring.
Squish.
The ring securing the finger fluttered back.
—Gr rumble.
A guttural sound of approval rumbled from afar. Good.
Now everything was ready to save Team Leader Shin Na. Remaining golden time... about three minutes.
I pulled out the wind-up device I'd bought earlier.
Cupped it in both hands.
A wind-up device made by the man who believed everything in the world ran on wind-up mechanisms.
With a story like that... it should make for a perfectly plausible ghost story.
Focus.
Immerse.
No mistakes.
No failures.
I have to create a ghost story this time.
Forget the chaos around me. Stare only at the wind-up device and seize the inspiration.
No time to refine it safely—just spit it out.
Thinking of that man's madness, believing he could move everything with a wind-up device.
"I... made a wind-up device that makes people move."
The words I hate most in the world are: "People don't run on wind-up mechanisms." Not everything in the world has a wind-up, but a wind-up can move anything in the world. Especially people. Everything a single person needs can be fulfilled with just one wind-up. The fact that humans with wind-ups are superior to those without. I want to show that to everyone. My wind-up. Makes the unmoving move. Makes the breathless breathe. Fulfills everything. Keeps them alive forever. What an amazing thing. What an amazing thing.
⟨ Wind-up Device ⟩
...Did it work?
Clack-clack-clack!
The moment I thought it, letters engraved themselves onto the wind-up device.
<K.E.H>
My initials.
...Isn't this a bit different from usual? Normally it's the item's name followed by "From KEH" or something.
But no time to nitpick. It took over three minutes just to recall the inspiration and form the words.
Now to revive her immediately.
I slightly lifted Team Leader Shin Na's shirt and pressed the wind-up device to her side.
Squelch.
Squish-squelch.
The moment the tip touched her skin, the flesh rippled, securing the device and forming gear-like tattoo patterns around it like a mechanism.
And some text appeared...
No time to read it now. Time to wind it.
Click-click! Click-click!
One turn, two, three—five in total, and it wouldn't turn anymore.
"Hoo..."
A shaky sigh escaped me.
My fingertips trembled.
Will it work?
Please.
I let go.
Tick-tock. Tick-tock. The wind-up slowly turned on its own...
And Team Leader Shin Na's pale, limp body...
"Nngh..."
Let out a faint groan and her chest began to weakly rise and fall.
...It worked.
Color returned to her deathly pale face. Steady breathing sounds. She stirred.
It worked.
She made it.
The wind-up really replaced her blood flow.
She's alive.
Relief washed over me.
Then,
Sudden terror hit me.
...Shit.
Clack-clack.
I rolled my eyes—the needle legs had multiplied since before. Over ten encircling me... and that po-po freak's long limbs still right there.
...This is insane.
Just moments ago I was ready to say screw it, do your worst.
But now that I've saved Team Leader Shin Na... I'm scared out of my mind.
No. We've come this far—we have to survive and get out together. Dying here? After all this? Hell no.
But... can we?
No. Get it together. The more I panic, the more they suspect me.
Act bold. Like before. Confident.
Slowly, I scooped Team Leader Shin Na into a princess carry and stood.
I'm on the lighter side, but a year in the factory gave me enough muscle for this.
Of course, my herniated disc won't let me hold it long... but I can run for now.
I backed away slowly.
Clack-clack clack.
Locking eyes with the aberrations still eyeing me suspiciously, I retreated toward the stairs.
Clack-clack. Clack.
"Po... po."
As I retreated, the aberrations advanced just a little. But they didn't pounce.
Cold sweat soaked my back. My waist already ached like it might snap. Damn herniated disc—flaring up from stress already.
Slowly, steadily retreating, I reached the stairs. I glanced back. Four steps away...
"Huh?"
Something completely unexpected.
Sitting on the stairs I needed to climb...
A single Responding Bear Doll.
Silver short sword drawn from its waist, slung over its shoulder, staring down the aberrations facing me.
...
Was it... protecting me? This whole time?
Now I saw—the aberrations were all aware of the Responding Bear behind me.
Why they only advanced one step when I retreated one. Why they never took two. All because of this Responding Bear...
A surge of emotion choked me—something hot rising from my chest to my throat.
"Thanks, Responding Bear."
I bit my lip hard and bowed my head. My voice trembled at the end of the thanks.
Thud.
The Responding Bear planted its silver short sword's sheath on the ground and stood, hopping down one stair.
Clack-clack.
"Po..."
The aberrations crowding close to me scattered back.
Head bowed low, I slipped past the Responding Bear and stepped onto the stairs. The upper stairs vanished into darkness. But when I reached out, solid ground met my foot. I pulled myself up.
One step. Two.
Suddenly. The world brightened.
"Ah..."
Thud.
The familiar shopping district hallway. The dingy corridor of the old building where today's ordeal began.
Dawn light filtered through the windows.
"...Gone."
Everyone returns to where they entered? Team Leader Shin Na vanished from my arms. The sudden loss of weight felt empty.
"She'll... be okay... right?"
I don't know.
I did everything I could.
Stumble. Stumble.
Staggering down the hall, down the stairs, out into the world.
In my inexplicable emptiness, I rummaged through my bag. A small hand mirror and a million won in cash I'd brought just in case. That's it.
The mirror proved it wasn't a dream.
Ah. The wind-up device's still attached to Team Leader Shin Na's side.
Well... nothing to be done.
Whatever. It'll be fine.
My head won't think straight right now.
I just want to go home.
Stagger. Stagger.
Dawn shrouded in blue mist.
Just one night.
And the world looks so peaceful...
So deceptively peaceful...
Sniff.
"Shit..."
My first ghost story experience.
Wasn't easy.