Chapter 239
Chapter 239
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 239. 48 Hours
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After sending the two of them off, how much time had passed? I gaze toward the bushes, now out of sight.
Beyond them, Yoo Daon and Park Ye-eun must be heading.
"Will they do okay?"
"Who knows."
Song Arin answered my worried question as if it were no big deal.
"No, what do you mean who knows, Arin? You're the one who came up with the idea."
"How can I guarantee they'll do well? You can't either."
"..."
She wasn't wrong.
It felt like leaving a child by the water's edge.
"...Shall we go?"
To shake off the worry, in the end, all I could do was keep walking.
*
As time passed, impatience welled up inside me.
I pore over the manual, lost in thought.
What on earth could it be?
What could it be that made me so cautious and careful?
The more I thought, the more my worries mounted.
"Huh."
Then, Song Arin and Eirin, walking ahead, came to a stop.
"What's up?"
"Look at this."
Song Arin pointed ahead.
The houses stretched out in a line.
"Aren't the houses denser now than before?"
"...Yeah, they are."
She was right.
The houses were lined up straight, like slices of bread in a sandwich.
"..."
The path stretched out in a straight line.
It felt almost like it was saying, just follow this road.
But what was this ominous feeling?
I look up at the houses, but nothing stands out.
"Have you seen anything unusual on the way here?"
At my question, all three shake their heads.
No one's seen anything unusual. Meaning there's no point turning back—nothing to gain, and it'd waste time.
We didn't have much time left.
"Let's go."
A straight path. If needed, we could run.
With that thought, I quicken my pace along the road.
-Thud... thud...
In the empty village, only the footsteps of four people echo.
Every so often, I turn to peer into windows, but there's nothing special inside the houses shining through.
At most, just the occasional mummy-like figures visible beyond the windows—
I whip my head back and stare into the house again.
There were people.
People staring at us, foreheads pressed against the windows, or hands placed on the glass.
"...Am I the only one seeing that right now?"
"Seeing what?"
"Over there, people."
"What people—kyaaah!"
Song Arin, who had glanced at the window with an expression saying not to talk nonsense after I tapped her shoulder, let out a scream.
"What, what is it? They weren't there before? I didn't see them?"
"Perception hindrance."
Jang Chaeyeon muttered, and Eirin nodded with an "Ah."
"Yeah, that makes sense. Perception hindrance."
"Perception hindrance?"
"Exactly as it sounds— you don't notice until you perceive it. The Management Bureau uses it often too. A way to fool perception."
"They blend the weird stuff in so it doesn't seem weird. Is that right?"
"If I have to explain it super short and simple, yeah."
Why use something like that here?
Our eyes meet, and
-creeeak...
the sound of a door opening rings out.
I slowly turn to look behind.
A gaunt figure stands before me, hair completely fallen out, only eyes gleaming fiercely.
Jang Chaeyeon steps forward, Eirin draws her gun.
Reflexively, I check above the person's head.
[Name: Choi Jisoo]
[Age: 20 years old]
[Specialty: X]
[Talent: X]
[Background: She fell for an illusion showing a sweet future. For that single reason of being deceived, she lost everything and became a husk.]
[Weakness: Not even an ordinary person. Killing her won't take any effort at all.]
"Shoot?"
"Wait a sec."
I hold back Eirin aiming her gun and look at the woman. Or whatever could be called a woman.
"Ugh..."
She slowly shuffles toward me.
"Hey, that's dangerous...!"
"It'll be fine."
I gently remove Song Arin's hand gripping my sleeve and approach the woman.
"Excuse me."
"Give it..."
"..."
"Kill me... please..."
She whispers in a shrill voice.
"When night... falls, they... please, just kill me..."
"..."
I've seen people like this a few times.
Someone who could have lived an ordinary life, but because they crossed paths with something disastrous while just walking down the street, they end up living worse than dead.
She mutters through clenched teeth.
Hospital patients come to mind. People from the art gallery.
"..."
Ending this person's suffering would be the greatest kindness I could offer her.
As I reach into my pocket for my pistol, Jang Chaeyeon raises her hand.
"...I'll do it."
"No, let me—"
-Crack!
Before I can finish, Jang Chaeyeon clenches her fist, and the woman's neck snaps. She's gone.
With a thud, her body collapses.
Dust billows everywhere, and Jang Chaeyeon looks at me.
"Don't carry it all alone. It's not a choice just for you."
"...Thanks—"
"...Mom, Dad?"
Before I can finish, Eirin mutters in disbelief.
"..."
I slowly turn my head.
Eirin stands with both hands over her mouth, staring somewhere.
Among the tightly packed houses, two people lean their heads against a window under a yellow roof.
So gaunt they look like skeletons draped in skin.
At a glance, they seem like corpses, but their shallowly heaving chests prove they're alive.
Looking closer, their faces resemble Eirin's.
"Mom! Dad!"
Eirin slings her gun over her back and sprints full-tilt toward the house.
Her foot slips mid-run, her balance crumbling, but she springs up without seeming to feel pain and flings open the door.
An acrid stench, unimaginable from humans, wafts out, and she reaches for the two.
"Uh, Mom, Dad..."
As if she's forgotten how to speak, her lips tremble as she approaches them.
Worried about hurting them, she raises and lowers her hands repeatedly, gazing at them.
"It's... me..."
"..."
"..."
Tears stream from Eirin's eyes.
"I'm... too late... uh... so late..."
She stammers repeatedly, staring at them.
"N-Now, let's... go out... s-somehow, even if I die, I'll save you, M-Mom and Dad—"
"Ei-rin."
"Mom...!"
The gaunt woman looks at Eirin, a voice so hoarse it's crumbling flowing from her throat.
"Mom, it's me, me... Eirin..."
"Kill... me..."
Eirin's movements freeze at her words.
Like someone forgetting to breathe, her chest stops moving.
"N-No."
Soon, as if snapping out of it, Eirin shakes her head desperately.
"W-We can get out of here. The people I came with are amazing, really amazing, and if you come out with me now, we can live together—"
"Kill me."
The quiet man beside her speaks.
No emotion but pain in his voice.
"Eirin... our request..."
"Please..."
The two pairs of emotionless eyes turn to her.
"Kill... me..."
"Give us... an end..."
"..."
Eirin stops moving.
Forcing her rigid body to turn, she looks at me.
"F-Find a way."
I slowly check above the two heads.
[Name: Lisa]
[Age: X]
[Specialty: X]
[Talent: X]
[Background: She wanted to return after leaving her daughter with this glory, but from the moment she was swept away, she had already left herself in the river Lethe.]
[Weakness: Can't even be an ordinary person. Killing her won't take any effort at all.]
I turn to look at the man.
A translucent window with the exact same content as Eirin's mother.
"...No human emotions at all."
Song Arin mutters, looking away.
"That's not even human anymore. Just something wearing a human skin."
"...No..."
Eirin looks at me.
"..."
What should I say to her?
I slowly shake my head, and denial flashes across Eirin's face.
"No, no..."
She grabs both their arms.
Then, with a snap, both arms break right off.
"Kyaaak!"
Eirin screams, yanking her hands back and stumbling into the wall, sliding down.
"S-Sorry, I'm sorry..."
"...Just human bones left, but even weaker than a thin branch."
"No! No...!"
Eirin shakes her head, and
"Eirin..."
"Please..."
the two look at her.
"Ugh, ahh..."
Eirin covers her ears with both hands.
"...I'll do it."
Jang Chaeyeon raises her hand.
"...Let's do it together."
I draw my gun, and as despair crosses Eirin's face,
-whoosh...
the sound of water begins.
"Ahh..."
"Ahhh..."
And the two look off into the distance.
I look up at the sky too.
The sun was setting.
Which meant—
-whoosh...
the pouring water grows rapidly closer.
"Chaeyeon!"
"Hey! You crazy bitch, say something before you throw— Agh!"
Before I can speak, Jang Chaeyeon has already hurled Song Arin onto the roof.
"Eirin first!"
I shout urgently, Jang Chaeyeon nods and swings her hand— Eirin's body flies up.
"No, no!"
She screams wildly as she's lifted to the roof, and Song Arin's voice comes from above.
"You'll die if you fall...! Listen...!"
"Chaeyeon, can you move those people too?"
"...If I try, their bones will shatter and it'll be worse than death."
Their broken arms float up as Eirin grabbed them.
"...Kill..."
"..."
No choice.
I draw my gun from my pocket, and
at the same moment, pitch-black water bursts from the house like a flood.
Eirin's parents are swept away, and
"-!"
Before I can react, Jang Chaeyeon thrusts out her hand to block the water and wraps an arm around my waist.
She raises her hand, my body lifts into the air, and I land on the roof too.
I hurriedly look around.
Water was bursting from every house.
As if the houses were the source of a river.
"Ahhh..."
"Ughhh..."
And countless people groan as they're swept into the water.
-whoosh...!
The water jets speed up, and
a chilling sensation pierces through my body.
I whip my head back to look behind— Jang Chaeyeon and Song Arin stare back with the exact same expression.
"...That just now."
"...Yeah."
As Song Arin and I exchange words,
-Boom!
a massive explosion erupts in the distance, smoke rising.
The direction Yoo Daon had gone.
48 hours had passed.