Chapter 178
Chapter 178
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: In the Darkness
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Silence lingers.
The child gazes at me with a tearful expression, and I say nothing.
"..."
The child stares at me with that choked-up look,
then—
thwack—
kicks my shin with her foot.
Of course, it doesn't hurt at all.
She didn't even put any real force into it.
"Why did you do that?"
She locks eyes with me, her tone accusatory.
No, less accusation and more...
"..."
Resignation.
The kind of face someone makes when they're staring down an unstoppable catastrophe.
Wanting to run but unable to, destined to be swept away and die—or watch others die instead.
Why is she making that face? Honestly, I can't say for sure.
But my answer is already decided.
"Because it's the right choice."
It was a gamble in the end, but the option of killing everyone else and surviving alone wasn't on the table for me.
I didn't want to live like that, and I didn't trust myself to take other people's lives with my own hands anyway.
"..."
Her expression upon hearing my words...
"Always."
"Huh?"
"You've always been like that."
...was heartbreakingly sad.
"You never rush in first, but if it's something you have to do, you throw yourself into it without hesitation."
"..."
"But the world always piles so much on you."
She continues, her young face etched with an expression no child should wear.
"I don't ask for much."
She lets out a sigh that sounds like a sob.
"Maybe that was too hard after all."
"..."
She's lived a countless number of long lives.
Listening to her sigh, I open my mouth as well.
"The ordeal?"
"..."
"Just overcome the ordeal."
"Yeah. That's all you have to do."
The child smiles and nods.
"If someone's suffering right now, you try to solve the problem yourself instead of just comforting them."
"..."
"But don't overdo it. Sometimes you get hurt if no one says anything."
She gives a hollow laugh, as if she's seeing right through me.
"Hang in there."
"You not coming with?"
Honestly, couldn't she come along?
Her eyes widen slightly at my words.
"I've never heard you say something like that before..."
She mutters something in a small voice.
"What?"
"Nothing."
She shakes her head.
"Going together won't be a problem, but I can only watch from the sidelines. All I can do is chat a bit. That okay with you?"
"Isn't that enough?"
Chatting alone would already be a huge win, right?
One thing I've realized from going through all sorts of experiences is that having someone to talk to provides a lot of mental comfort.
I look at her with a puzzled expression, and she rolls her eyes around before nodding.
"As long as you call for me, I'm happy."
"Then let's go."
"Okay."
She smiles softly.
*
-Step... step...
I walk through my old hometown.
Nothing in the world has changed.
No, there was one thing.
I look at the sign in front of me.
Number 3.
What does this mean?
"By the way."
"Yeah."
"What exactly are we doing?"
"...Right. Now that we're together, I can explain."
A spark of hope lights up in her eyes beside me.
The child opens her mouth to speak,
".........hey."
"What?"
".........I said."
Her mouth just moves silently.
"I can't hear you."
"...Ah. I see."
Despair fills her face again.
"Looks like all I can do is chatter away here after all."
"Yeah?"
Nothing to be done about it then.
"Sorry I can't be more help."
"Don't worry about it."
It was called an ordeal, after all. If it were that easy to get outside help, it would've been cleared before I even got here.
I walk through my old neighborhood, looking around.
Come to think of it, old memories come back.
Just like always, the child had reached out her hand in the darkness.
Along with the words not to fear the dark.
Those words surface again.
But why tell me not to fear the darkness?
My parents were more overprotective than I remembered.
If my memory's right, around sunset, Mom or Dad—or my little sister—would come pick me up.
The child would smile and see me off.
So why did I, as a kid, have to go into the dark?
Whoosh!
The scenery I'm walking through flips upside down.
"..."
Darkness descends.
"You're here."
The child mutters painfully, turning her gaze forward.
"This place is where you ..."
"I can't hear properly."
"I see."
The child sighs and closes her eyes.
I take a step forward.
The darkness thickens.
I recall the bride I saw.
What happened to that translucent window that appeared back then?
I think of the bride's translucent window.
[Name: Bride]
[Age: X]
[Specialty: Confession]
[Talent: Reflection]
Reflection.
According to that, it meant I was reflecting on something.
Jang Chaeyeon said she had terrible dreams too.
If this ordeal is what I have to face now...
I desperately try to revive my memories.
It was definitely there.
There was a day I feared advancing into the darkness.
That's when the child beside me reached out her hand and said not to fear it.
But I couldn't remember the situation.
"You won't remember."
She speaks, looking at me with my brow furrowed tightly.
"Someone made you think it wasn't a good memory back then."
"Who was that?"
"...hey."
Couldn't hear it, as expected.
"Anyway, right now..."
She thinks for a moment, then raises her hand.
Or at least, I thought she did.
"Can't see it?"
The moment she raises her hand, it becomes like a mosaic—completely invisible.
Her fingers too.
"Can't see."
"Figured as much."
She sighs and walks beside me.
We press on into the darkness.
Slowly, as I start getting used to it.
[Come here, sweetie!]
A fuzzy voice echoes.
It sounds like Mom's voice drowned in heavy noise.
[Time to eat!]
The sound comes again.
[Where are you?]
"..."
Mom's voice from when I was little.
The child looks at me anxiously.
".....do?"
"Can't hear."
She squeezes her eyes shut at my words.
Just in case, I check her mouth, but it's mosaicked too—completely invisible.
For now, let's keep going.
That voice definitely isn't Mom calling me.
I continue stepping forward.
A dark tunnel appears.
Something vaguely comes to mind, or maybe not.
I furrow my brow, lost in thought, but concentration slips away as if something's forcibly blocking it.
Roughly speaking, from memory, I passed through this tunnel and went home with this child beside me.
Was it really that easy?
Then this wouldn't be an ordeal.
I look back.
Nothing but pitch-black darkness greets me.
Should I turn back?
But what change could I make by going back?
The moment I step backward,
-hiss...
A horrific sound echoes, and I stop immediately.
Instinct tells me I can't go back that way.
"..."
"It's okay."
The child looks at me, then takes my hand.
No warmth. Not cold either.
"I'll be right here."
Her expression as she says it is like someone who's already foreseen the end.
*
We walk inside the tunnel.
"You know, something you said to me in this tunnel comes to mind."
"...You remember that?"
She looks up at me.
"'Don't fear the darkness,' you said."
"..."
She nods slowly at my words.
"Back then, I wondered why I was afraid of the dark."
"..."
-hiss...
I look at our joined hands, then ahead.
"No wonder I was scared."
The tunnel's end isn't an exit.
True darkness, where nothing is visible, looms before us,
and
-hiss...
from behind, the eerie sound starts closing in bit by bit.
No choice.
I step into the darkness.
Now even my footsteps are silent.
-hiss...
I grip the hand tighter and pick up the pace.
I glance sideways, but in this darkness, I can't even see the child holding my hand—let alone my own.
How did I escape from a place like this?
"Huff... huff..."
Now we're running hand in hand through the dark.
-hiss...!
The sound draws even closer.
Sensation leaves my legs.
My field of vision lowers.
My field of vision is lowering?
-Thud!
The thought hits, and I flail in the air, tumbling awkwardly to the ground.
I hurriedly turn and look at my legs,
"Stop."
Before I can, something wraps around my head, blocking my view.
"...Don't look."
The child whispers in a despairing voice, hugging my head.
"Nothing good will come of seeing it."
She clings tight—like that's the word for it—muttering as she holds me.
"It's okay. It'll be okay."
Sensation fades further.
"It's okay. You can do this."
Doubt seeps into her voice.
Not doubt in me, but in the inevitable outcome of this situation.
"...This time, you can do it."
Her words sound more like she's telling herself than me.
Sensation vanishes from my upper body.
Soon, even my hands go numb.
"..."
I open my mouth to speak, but no words come.
"It's okay. I'll always be here. Don't be scared—"
Sound cuts out, and my vision fades.
Finally, I vanish.
*
"..."
I open my eyes.
In the darkness, I'm alone.
I check my pocket, but the manual's texture is gone.
Where did she go?
I look ahead.
A sign is there.
I recall the one from before.
Number 3.
And now, after failing, it's 2.
Two chances left for me.
[Come here, sweetie!]
A noisy voice echoes.