Chapter 195
Chapter 195
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 195. Shock Therapy
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Doing this job for a while now, I've been through a lot.
I've been swallowed whole by darkness itself, escaped from a hospital that saw people as mere materials, and fought an unwanted battle with a sea monster.
The emotions I felt each time were always different.
Sometimes I'd get angry, sometimes filled with resolve, and other times utterly dumbfounded.
Despair.
No matter what else, facing the Aesthete brought this overwhelming sense of hopelessness—like, how the hell do you even beat something like this?
I mull over its words.
Real? What's real?
I desperately string my thoughts together.
Its actions are artistic, and even its speech feels like art.
Meaning it's hard to understand.
"...Me?"
Jang Chaeyeon muttered, pointing at herself, and the Aesthete nodded at her words with a smile.
"Yeah. You."
...
Jang Chaeyeon raised her hand.
"Oh dear. You really don't want to talk, do you?"
...
"But your sister says she wants to talk to you."
At those words, Jang Chaeyeon's body flinched, and she slowly lifted her head to gaze at another mannequin.
-Static... sssstatic...
Noise poured from the mannequin,
"...I can't forgive you."
Jang Chaeyeon clenched her fist tight, glaring at the Aesthete.
It was the first emotional expression I'd seen from her in a long time.
"The more I look, the clearer it gets."
The Aesthete smiled as it regarded Jang Chaeyeon.
"You're the better material."
...
"But someone already claimed you first."
The Aesthete's eyes turned to me.
"You've got an eye for artwork, at least."
"Urgh...!"
A horrific headache hit every time the Aesthete took a step closer.
"Oh my. One kid's already turned into a fine painting?"
The Aesthete's voice echoed in my head, and to keep it from snatching the frame with Yoo Daon, I clutched it tight to my chest while pulling a gun with one hand and firing at the Aesthete.
-Bang!
The bullet lodged into the Aesthete's body, and the sound of it embedding in hard wood reverberated.
Of course, the Aesthete didn't flinch.
It smiled and kept walking.
"No need to be scared."
It smiled and swung its hand.
"Argh!"
At the same instant, Song Arin, who had swung her thread, clutched her wrist and screamed in agony, dropping to her knees.
"Using thread is clever, but it won't work on anyone above troupe leader level."
The Aesthete smiled softly, and Song Arin's expression went blank immediately.
At the same time, she bit into her own shoulder with her teeth, blood spraying.
"Quick on the uptake, huh?"
"It's not like this is my first rodeo with bastard freaks like you."
The Aesthete's smile never faded, while Song Arin spat blood from her mouth and muttered.
"You're laughing like you're hot shit now, but your day will come too."
"So many have said that, I can't even keep track."
The Aesthete grinned,
"But I don't like how you said it."
And flicked its hand.
"Gack...!"
Song Arin grabbed her throat, gasping as if she couldn't breathe,
"Koff!"
And vomited black paint.
"You're the most useless of the four."
The Aesthete chuckled as it continued.
-Bang!
I fired, but the bullet just sank into wood again, and the Aesthete kept talking.
"You know it too."
"...Koff!"
Song Arin glared at the Aesthete while vomiting paint.
"So you even copied my paintings."
...
Song Arin gritted her teeth,
-Thud!
And at the same moment, the Aesthete's body was hurled back, slamming into the wall.
"You talk too much."
Jang Chaeyeon muttered.
"Arin!"
While Jang Chaeyeon bought time, I rushed to Song Arin and checked on her.
"Koff! Koff!"
She kept coughing up black paint from her mouth.
The smell of paint wafted from her entire body.
"I'm fine, ah...!"
Coughing up paint, Song Arin looked at me.
"It turned my body into paint."
...
It can do that?
I'd only seen it once before, but in my memory, the Aesthete didn't have that ability.
It couldn't have awakened a new power without us knowing.
Did it hide its abilities all this time?
"Anyway."
Spitting paint, Song Arin looked at me.
"Honestly, I don't think we can win."
"Same here."
...
Song Arin and I exchanged glances, and Jang Chaeyeon stayed silent too.
-Footsteps... footsteps...
I turned my gaze forward.
Something was emerging from the thick dust.
[Name: Aesthete]
[Body made of XX, human head, sculpture]
[157cm]
...
Hold on.
Since when can my eyes see info like this?
I trace back my memories.
When Yoo Daon became a painting, and I picked up her frame, what text did I see?
I recall.
[Name: Reunion Not Far Off]
[Made of canvas, human]
[50 x 50 cm]
"...It's a dream."
"What?"
I barely registered Song Arin's puzzled mutter before swiftly drawing my pistol, pressing it to my temple, and pulling the trigger.
-Bang!
The bullet fired, piercing pain shot through my head, and I collapsed to the floor.
*
"Gasp!"
I bolted upright.
Countless people were visible.
People who weren't there before, still blankly staring at paintings.
Song Arin and Jang Chaeyeon stared at me collapsed on the floor in shock.
And,
"You're really sharp, aren't you?"
The Aesthete's voice came from afar.
It stood in the dust, looking at me.
Jang Chaeyeon's attack had landed on the Aesthete.
Was she not dreaming?
"You saw it with your own eyes, right?"
...
"Yeah. You might not want to say."
The Aesthete swung its hand,
"Koff!"
And Song Arin vomited paint again.
"Arin."
"...Koff! Koff!"
Song Arin looked at me while puking paint.
The paint dripping from below her lips made it look like she was melting.
I drew my pistol and aimed at Song Arin.
"You trust me?"
...
Covered in paint on her clothes, she looked at me.
...
"What are you waiting for."
Song Arin wiped paint with her sleeve and stared at me.
Jet-black paint stained her white sleeve.
"What are you waiting for."
Song Arin gave me an incredulous look.
"Shoot already."
"Thanks."
-Bang!
The bullet pierced Song Arin's temple, and she collapsed.
The paint on the floor vanished like smoke,
"...This sucks."
She wiped her mouth and looked at me.
"Drool?"
"Shut it."
Song Arin muttered as she stood.
"...Me too?"
Jang Chaeyeon pointed at herself,
"Hold on."
I couldn't shoot Jang Chaeyeon yet.
Her attack had worked on the Aesthete.
Jang Chaeyeon probably wasn't dreaming anymore.
There was other evidence, but that wasn't the issue now.
More importantly.
When did I fall into this dream?
My eyes were fine when I first saw the mannequin.
It started glitching after Yoo Daon became a painting and I looked at it.
I turned my gaze back to Yoo Daon's painting.
[Name: Reunion Not Far Off]
[Age: Just created]
[Specialty: X]
[Talent: X]
[Background: The future approaches her moment by moment.]
[Weakness: Destroy the painting cleanly.]
Destroy it cleanly?
How?
"Should we run for now?"
"Agreed."
Song Arin stood and nodded.
"What's the proper way to escape?"
"Waking from this dream, I guess."
"Didn't we already wake up twice?"
"Yeah."
-Footsteps... footsteps...
Footsteps approached, and Jang Chaeyeon extended one hand again, slamming the Aesthete into the wall before looking at me.
"Let's go."
"Sounds good."
With Yoo Daon's frame in hand, we started running.
The Aesthete didn't chase us.
I glanced back while fleeing.
The Aesthete placed its hand on another mannequin's hand, smiling as if its mouth were tearing.
"Don't worry. You're my masterpiece."
-Shudder...
The mannequin trembled.
-Crackle!
Noise intensified,
"Crazy bitch."
Song Arin clicked her tongue.
The other mannequin began chasing us.
-Clack clack clack clack!
Its footsteps echoed on the marble floor as it pursued.
Jang Chaeyeon smashed walls and toppled pillars to block the mannequin, but each time, it twisted its joints grotesquely and blindly charged at us.
Finally, mid-run, I spun around, raised both hands to the ceiling, clenched my fists,
-Boom!
And with a massive crash, the ceiling collapsed, boulders blocking the path.
I looked up.
Above the ruined ceiling, golden haze rippled.
-Throb!
A headache hit, and I quickly averted my eyes.
"Huff... huff..."
Jang Chaeyeon knelt, catching her ragged breath.
Blood streamed from her nose.
"...Hey."
Song Arin looked at Jang Chaeyeon.
"Explain now. Why do you think that's your sister?"
...
Jang Chaeyeon was silent for a moment, then lifted her head to look at Song Arin and me.
"It's talking."
"...What?"
Jang Chaeyeon looked at me.
"What did it say to you?"
"...Nothing."
Just noise.
"To you."
"I'm just hearing meaningless strings of words."
Song Arin answered after hearing Jang Chaeyeon.
"And I..."
Jang Chaeyeon closed her eyes.
"It's keep asking me to end it."
"...That's it?"
"It's not just that."
...
Jang Chaeyeon looked at us with gloomy eyes.
"My sister went missing here."
...
Song Arin dropped her gaze to the floor.
"...We'll go with that as our working theory for now."
It might not be true.
"Thanks."
Jang Chaeyeon nodded.
"Alright. Let's move again."
To escape, we'd have to backtrack the way we came.
I sorted my thoughts while running.
I had one Critical left.
Who to use it on?
Criticals didn't work anyway, so where to use it?
...
[Weakness: Destroy the painting cleanly.]
"...Ah."
I looked back.
Near the boulders, something was digging through, the sounds echoing.
I carefully set the frame against the wall.
"...What are you doing?"
Song Arin gave me a puzzled look,
"Trying to restore Daon."
"...How?"
"Like this."
I drew my gun.
[Critical: 1 -> 0]
The world turned black and white.
A bright red dot appeared on the painting.
-Bang!
Without hesitation, I pulled the trigger.
"You idiot!"
Song Arin yelled,
And the painting melted.
The frame melted, the painting melted.
"...Whoa!"
Yoo Daon appeared before me in perfect form.
"...Jaeheon!"
Yoo Daon grinned at me.
"I knew you'd always come for me, Jaeheon!"
"...Of course."
I nodded and looked at the others.
"Let's go."
Now we just had to escape the dream.