Chapter 105
Chapter 105
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 105. Requiem in d-Moll, KV 626
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I check the manual once again.
[Office Manual]
[Gallery No. 1 - Gallery of Love and Darkness]
1. First, die once.
Living life and getting told to die by the manual of all things—truly, life is worth sticking around for.
"Everyone see the manual?"
"Who else but you would pull out the manual the second we drop here?"
"Well, then what should I pull out?"
It's exactly because of situations like this that I bring out the manual. When else would I even use it?
Staring at the others in disbelief, Song Arin sighs as she looks at me.
"Fine, spill it. What's it say?"
"Oh, well, you see..."
I relay the contents of the manual I just read to Song Arin.
"...Die?"
Song Arin mutters, clearly displeased.
"You're sure that's not contaminated?"
"Not entirely."
"But you trust it anyway?"
"Uh."
How do I even explain this?
"Just?"
"You're really going to die if the manual tells you to?"
"That's exactly what it's saying right now, isn't it?"
"You really want to mess around like this even after getting here?"
Wasn't she always the pessimistic one back in the day?
"For now, we don't really have any other options, do we?"
Song Arin stares at me intently before letting out a sigh.
"What's the next item say?"
"That's the thing."
I flip open the manual's page and show it to Song Arin.
"Nothing but the first one is visible."
"..."
In fact, when I opened the manual, the very first line I saw was the one about dying first.
"Usually, if the manual doesn't show the next item, there's a good reason for it."
"...Meaning it's not good for us to know yet."
Or maybe it's sulking.
But I just nod without voicing that thought.
"Exactly."
"...Ugh."
Song Arin shakes her head like she's utterly fed up.
"Then, should we check the T item?"
"Ah, yeah, let's do that."
The suicide item.
I open the manual's cover.
[T - Suicide Methods]
[The subject does not meet the conditions to view T item.]
What the hell is this now?
"It says conditions aren't met."
"Same here."
"Since when does suicide have conditions?"
"You know the manual better than I do."
Song Arin and I murmur back and forth while glancing at the manual.
Yoo Daon, who had been watching us, suddenly raises her hand and speaks up.
"Or should I try dying?"
"..."
Song Arin and I exchange complicated looks.
"You don't have to worry about me!"
Seeming to pick up on the mood between us, Yoo Daon smiles and shakes her head.
"I'm fine! Honestly, it's not like this is my first or second time dying."
Hearing her say that does make me feel kind of bad.
"Use me while you can, right?"
Yoo Daon steps forward, and in the end, I can only sigh and nod.
"...Then, could I ask you to do it once?"
"Sure!"
Yoo Daon beams and presses right up against me.
"Then, I'll leave it to you, Jaeheon."
"...Alright."
Right. Better me shooting her with a gun than Jang Chaeyeon snapping her neck.
Though we're way past the point of debating what's humane.
Yoo Daon clings to me like an embrace and looks up.
"Then, Jaeheon, I'm counting on you."
"Got it."
I draw my pistol from inside my coat.
I aim it at Yoo Daon's temple as she closes her eyes while holding onto me.
-Bang!
The gunshot echoes. Song Arin flinches her shoulders, and Yoo Daon goes limp, blood trickling from her forehead.
Not long after, she groans and looks up at me.
"You okay?"
"Me? I'm always fine."
Yoo Daon smiles as she gazes at me.
"...So, the result?"
Song Arin clears her throat awkwardly and wedges herself between us.
"Oh. Um. It was kind of weird."
"Huh?"
"I died, but it didn't feel like dying?"
What does that even mean?
"Well, anyway, it feels like we have to die once to know..."
Is the manual lying to me?
I hurriedly open the manual.
[Office Manual]
[Gallery No. 1 - Gallery of Love and Darkness]
[1-1. Calmly examine the walls. The manual does not deceive you.]
Unlike usual, it was written in hasty scrawl.
Yet still in that cute, hand-printed font.
"The walls?"
At those words, I look at the walls.
"..."
Yoo Daon's portrait hung there.
Her eyes closed, wearing a serene, benevolent smile.
I rush over and examine the painting.
[The Woman Who Cannot Sleep]
The title was below it.
"The Woman Who Cannot Sleep."
Yoo Daon, now beside me, peers at the painting and murmurs.
"I sleep just fine, though?"
Her usual smile.
"Hey."
The odd feeling from her cheerful words fades as Song Arin calls out, drawing my gaze to her.
"Shoot me too."
"...You sure?"
"Yeah."
"But still, let me—"
"The moment you actually die for real here, we're done for."
Song Arin takes a bold step forward.
"Black hair, whatever—sure, she can die no problem. But even after that, I'm the one whose loss causes the least issues."
"..."
"Don't look at me like I'm pathetic. It pisses me off."
"I wasn't."
I nod and aim the gun barrel at Song Arin's forehead.
"..."
She closes her eyes, tense.
Song Arin always undervalues herself.
She talks like she's confident, but when real choices come, she downplays her own worth.
And I hated that about her.
"On second thought, no."
"What?"
Song Arin opens her eyes.
-Bang!
She shifts the gun barrel to my temple and pulls the trigger.
There was no pain. Just a brief severance of memory.
Just for a moment, the feeling of something leaving me.
"...Ow."
How much time passed? I open my eyes to find Song Arin looking at me worriedly.
"You."
"How long was I out?"
"20 seconds."
"Well, the manual was right after all."
I brush off the dust and stand, and Song Arin glares at me as she mutters.
"What if you'd died for real?"
"Lives aren't ranked by importance."
"..."
I point the pistol at Song Arin's forehead.
"I don't really care who's more precious or not."
"Jeez."
Song Arin smirks at my words and presses her forehead against the barrel.
"Fine. Like I could ever win against you."
I pull the trigger.
-Bang!
*
"Chaeyeon."
"Yeah."
Jang Chaeyeon gazes at me quietly.
"You okay?"
I leave the fallen Song Arin with Yoo Daon and check on Jang Chaeyeon.
"No."
"Figured."
Her breathing trembles unlike usual, her gaze unsure where to settle.
"For now..."
"...Yeah."
I aim the pistol at Jang Chaeyeon's temple.
"It's fine. Everyone's here."
"...I know."
"Here goes."
"Yeah."
She nods gloomily.
-Bang!
After shooting Jang Chaeyeon last, I examine the paintings on the wall.
I start with Song Arin's.
She was surrounded by countless shining people, staring at the floor.
Only she wasn't glowing.
I turn to check the title.
[One Thread Binding All]
"..."
What a shitty title.
"Off-putting."
The model in the painting seems to think so too, her brow deeply furrowed.
Next is Jang Chaeyeon.
She smiles brightly, receiving congratulations from others.
A bespectacled elderly woman, and a kindly old man.
I check the title.
[Days That Will Never Come Again.]
Jang Chaeyeon stares at the painting with wide eyes.
"White hair."
Song Arin glances at Jang Chaeyeon after seeing the painting.
"...You good?"
"Yeah."
For the first time, Song Arin asks her in a tone full of concern, and Jang Chaeyeon replies listlessly before looking away.
Come to think of it, my painting...
I turn my gaze to where mine should be last.
There were countless mes.
Me with blood trickling from my forehead, dead; me standing against a burned landscape; me cradling someone's corpse and weeping.
And in the center of all those mes,
"..."
Was the current me.
Holding the manual and pistol, gazing resolutely ahead.
I check the title.
[The Final Choice]
No clue whatsoever.
-Flutter!
[Office Manual]
[Gallery No. 1 - Gallery of Love and Darkness]
2. If you have successfully registered your work, you now have permission to move around this place.
3. The gallery is basically quiet. Occasional noises won't greatly upset the guides, but sustained loud noises will bring a guide to warn you.
3-1. One warning is fine. But from the second warning, the guides will restrain you and drag you to the stabilization room. There are currently no known survivors from the stabilization room.
4. The Gallery of Love and Darkness is divided into the Love Wing and the Darkness Wing, as befits its name.
4-1. Based on survivor data, the odds of surviving to the next wing alive are higher in the Darkness Wing.
5. The path to the Darkness Wing is easy to find. Follow the dark path. The Darkness Wing will appear.
"That's what it says."
"But Love Wing and Darkness Wing? The naming sense is terrible."
An aesthete, my ass, Yoo Daon mutters as she starts walking.
That might piss off an actual aesthete.
We follow Yoo Daon, seeking only dark paths.
Artworks lined the walls, but all were covered with cloth, making it impossible to identify them.
"Huh?"
Yoo Daon stops walking and leans forward, sniffing.
"I smell something."
"What kind?"
"Uh..."
Yoo Daon murmurs with her eyes closed.
"Strong perfume...?"
As she finishes, a pitch-black path impossible to see through unfolds like a panorama before her.
-Flutter!
The manual flips open with a loud rustle.
[Office Manual]
[Gallery No. 1 - Gallery of Love and Darkness]
6. The Darkness Wing is exactly as it sounds—a place to enjoy art in the darkness. There is only one survival rule here.
7. No matter what, no matter what sights you see or sounds you hear, never leave the darkness.
-Click.
In the darkness, a spotlight shines down, revealing one artwork.
A person sculpted in a screaming pose.
It was carved from wood.
-Aaaaah...!
A human scream emanates from the statue, as if it's crying out.
I check the title from afar.
<Word>
"..."
-Click.
Light pours in, a spotlight hitting an empty space.
As if inviting us in.