Chapter 196
Chapter 196
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 196. Masterpiece
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"Whoa! Did all that happen while I was gone for a bit?"
Running toward the exit, I quickly explained the situation to Yoo Daon. Her eyes widened as she muttered upon hearing it.
"How was it for you inside the painting, Daon?"
"Oh, well..."
Yoo Daon gave an awkward smile.
The kind of smile people make when they're uncomfortable talking about something.
"Should I say it was a bad dream?"
"A bad dream?"
"You know, like a nightmare."
Yoo Daon glossed over it and looked ahead.
"Oh, isn't that the exit?"
"Oh."
Looking ahead at her words, there was a single frame placed there.
A frame with a gaping hole in the center.
"That looks like it, right?"
"Yeah, seems so."
I hurriedly approached and reached out toward the frame.
-Thud!
The solid material of the frame touched my hand.
"I figured something like this might happen."
A sigh escaped me naturally.
"..."
Jang Chaeyeon stretched her hands, Yoo Daon hopped on one foot to loosen up, and Song Arin had her hand on her chin, eyes closed as if deep in thought.
"Arin?"
"Yeah."
She opened her eyes and looked up at me.
"What are you thinking about?"
"How to land one solid hit on that damn mannequin's head?"
Song Arin shrugged and met my eyes.
"Got any good ideas?"
"Well..."
Yeah. What good ideas did I have?
I averted my gaze from Song Arin's expectant look and sank into thought.
-Thud! Thud!
Sounds started coming from far away.
About time for the mannequin to break free from the debris.
"Let's deal with that thing first somehow."
"How?"
"No idea."
No Criticals at all. Meaning I couldn't use any of my strong skills.
"...Hmm."
No clever ideas came to mind.
Truly caught between a rock and a hard place.
No way to escape, a monster ahead that turns anything it touches into a painting chasing us, and here I was flailing in a place where I couldn't even tell if it was a dream or reality.
I did have a few plans in mind.
"For now, let's somehow deal with that thing chasing us."
Song Arin was right.
I couldn't just keep taking hits like this.
I needed to fight back in my own way.
"First, shall we split up?"
"Huh?"
Yoo Daon tilted her head at my words and looked at me.
"Split into teams?"
"Yes."
"How should we do it?"
"..."
Yoo Daon looked at me, and Jang Chaeyeon met my eyes too.
"Arin, and Daon."
"Yeah."
"Yes!"
"You two go together."
"Us two?"
Yoo Daon pointed at herself and Song Arin, then at me and Jang Chaeyeon.
"Yes, that's right."
"Got it!"
"...Sigh."
Yoo Daon nodded, and Song Arin sighed as she looked at me.
"Alright. What are we supposed to do?"
"Something only you two can do."
I pulled a butane gas canister from my pocket, placed it in Song Arin's hand, and met her eyes.
"Listen carefully. What you two need to do is—"
*
"...Are you sure that's right?"
After explaining what Song Arin and Yoo Daon needed to do, Jang Chaeyeon looked at me with a face full of worry.
"Even if it's not, we have no choice."
"..."
Jang Chaeyeon looked at me and let out a small sigh with a smile.
"Yeah, that's more like you."
"I don't know how you see me, Chaeyeon, but thanks anyway."
I gave Jang Chaeyeon a slight nod and moved toward the approaching sounds.
-Crash!
With the sound of something collapsing, the mannequin burst out.
Its wooden body was scratched up all over, probably from being buried under stone debris.
Its still-mosaicked face looked at me.
-Crackle! Crackle!
"...Chaeyeon."
"Yeah."
Jang Chaeyeon couldn't take her eyes off the mannequin.
"Be honest. Your sister isn't a normal person, is she?"
"...Containment Team members aren't normal people."
Jang Chaeyeon muttered as she looked at me.
"Right. My sister's not normal."
"..."
"There were people in the Containment Team who had to infiltrate."
Jang Chaeyeon muttered and shifted her gaze back to the mannequin.
"My sister can change her face at will. Into someone from that person's memories."
"..."
"So when we infiltrated the art gallery, she went in first to open the door for us."
Jang Chaeyeon's gaze turned to the mannequin.
As if recalling something, her eyes looked beyond it.
"But by the time we got in, it was already too late."
Jang Chaeyeon muttered and looked down.
"Everyone except me and my sister was dead."
-Crackle!
The mannequin let out a louder noise, arching its back straight as the static echoed.
"I see."
"And then, my sister decided to save me."
-Crackle!
Emitting an unknown sound, the mannequin charged at me.
Who was that mannequin supposed to show itself as?
"But is that the only reason?"
Jang Chaeyeon swung her arm, and something invisible whipped out, sending the mannequin flying.
"That doesn't prove it's definitively your sister."
"No."
-Boom!
The mannequin crashed into the wall, and Jang Chaeyeon looked at me.
She wore a bitter smile.
"I know what my sister's real face looks like."
*
"Is this how it's done?"
"Yeah, so hurry up!"
Yoo Daon and Song Arin ran around shaking the butane gas canisters.
*Burn the paintings.*
Song Arin recalled the man's words.
*Is that really okay?*
*It's fine. Burn all the paintings. Oh, except one.*
"Hold the lid toward the face, and fire comes out."
"And if you shake it too much, it might explode, so shake it just right."
"Okay."
Yoo Daon shook the butane gas, and Song Arin watched her.
"That looks good enough."
"Yeah."
Then, Yoo Daon aimed the nozzle,
-Whoosh!
and opened the lid. Flames shot out, burning the painting.
Rather than the smell of burning wood, a more acrid stench assaulted their noses.
Song Arin wrinkled her brow, while Yoo Daon nodded nonchalantly.
"It's warm!"
"...Is this really gonna work...?"
Song Arin looked at the painting with a worried expression.
"Burning the art gallery might just make that crazy containment object go even more berserk."
"Are you worried?"
Song Arin looked at Yoo Daon.
Her face, backed by the flames, glowed in crimson light.
"Don't worry."
Yoo Daon smiled softly at Song Arin.
A benevolent smile.
As always, it rubbed her the wrong way.
She didn't get along well with Jang Chaeyeon either.
Some might call them bad friends, but Song Arin definitely didn't like Jang Chaeyeon purely.
On the flip side, Yoo Daon.
Song Arin's gaze turned to her.
Their relationship was lukewarm at best, and at some point, that piercing gaze of hers had started to really bother Song Arin.
Of course, she knew what kind of person Yoo Daon was.
Even so, she didn't like how Yoo Daon treated her.
Hard to get close to, maybe.
And unlike Jang Chaeyeon, her emotional closeness to that man really soured Song Arin's mood.
Anyway, she didn't like it.
Song Arin clicked her tongue inwardly.
"Tch, whatever. Let's go. He told us to do it, so he must have a plan."
"Yeah. Shall we hurry?"
Leaving the painting that reeked horribly behind, the two moved on.
*
-Boom!
Jang Chaeyeon kept knocking away the mannequin lunging at us, and I pulled my gun to shoot its joints, slowing its advance.
Before long, our surroundings were thick with smoke.
"...Done."
Jang Chaeyeon looked at me.
"Good."
[Coordinate Rip: 1 use remaining]
No words needed.
The world turned into graph paper, and Jang Chaeyeon swung her hand viciously.
The sound of space ripping under her nails echoed as the mannequin slammed into the floor again.
"Let's go."
"Where to?"
"In front of the Aesthete's masterpiece."
I hurried along with Jang Chaeyeon.
Yoo Daon and Song Arin were already hiding amid the collapsed debris, waiting for us.
"You're late?"
"No, we just got here too."
Yoo Daon nodded and turned her gaze ahead.
Amid the thick smoke and foul stench, only one of the Aesthete's paintings remained.
And standing before that painting was the Aesthete alone.
The Aesthete stood before the painting in the hazy smoke.
A translucent window popped up before my eyes.
[Name: Self-Portrait]
[Age: Created 17 years ago]
[Specialty: Awe]
[Talent: Awe]
[Background: By the time she decided to capture her own image, a long time had already passed. This painting is proof she once lived, so despite her pitiful skills compared to now, she loves it dearly. Enough to pour her true heart into it.]
[Weakness: Burn the painting. But not recommended.]
"Here."
I drew my gun, gripped the butane gas canister Yoo Daon had given me, and stood.
"Chaeyeon."
"Yeah."
I shook the butane gas like mad.
No holding back, shaking until my arm hurt.
Then, I hurled it full force at the painting.
Jang Chaeyeon reached out, and the canister flew straight, embedding into the painting.
I drew my gun and recalled the weakness.
Burn the painting. But not recommended.
Why not recommended?
Because this painting meant so much to the Aesthete?
No.
-Bang!
I pulled the trigger.
"You...!"
The Aesthete looked at me and reached out,
"Gah!"
Agonizing pain hit my chest.
"Jaeheon!"
Even through the pain, my gaze stayed on the painting.
The bullet struck the butane gas,
-Boom!
and with a massive roar, flames erupted, burning the Aesthete's self-portrait.
-Roar!
The huge painting burned, the smell of wood charring piercing my nose.
"Guh, urk...!"
"Jaeheon...!"
Yoo Daon caught me and fumbled around my heart area.
"B-blood, blood...!"
Yoo Daon's face went pale as she muttered.
I looked at my heart area.
A hole-like gash was there, blood flowing from it.
But I felt no fear.
"...It's fine."
I calmly reassured Yoo Daon in a steady voice and looked ahead.
The art gallery was now no different from hell.
Flames shot up everywhere, the stench of burning chemicals and proteins assaulting my nose.
Toxic fumes that would kill a normal person.
Why wasn't I dead?
The idea that dying would wake me from the dream was vague to begin with.
If the me in the dream picked up the gun in the dream and shot my head, would that count as death?
That gun was made in the dream too, after all.
I'd been thinking wrong.
I recalled the manual's words.
To wake from the dream, you need to go deeper into the dream.
Right, it wouldn't be that easy to wake up.
I stood up.
"...H-how...? Th-there's a h-hole..."
Yoo Daon muttered as she looked at me.
Ignoring the dull pain in my chest, I aimed my gun.
"Now only two pieces left."
"..."
"A masterpiece can only have one."
The Aesthete looked at me.
"...You're too quick on the uptake. Annoying."
As the Aesthete muttered,
-Boom!
The mannequin kicked her body, sending her flying.
The Aesthete's body rolled across the ground.
*Don't worry. You're my greatest masterpiece.*
Greatest masterpiece.
Assuming this was a dream, what was before me wasn't the 'real' thing.
The real one couldn't be in the dream.
So in this place where all paintings but two had burned, only two works remained.
Jang Chaeyeon's sister and the Aesthete's 'Aesthete'.
Two masterpieces couldn't coexist.
"You called it a masterpiece yourself, so now face the consequences."
In the flames, the Aesthete and the mannequin faced off.
The blaze that should have scorched felt warmly comforting.