Chapter 27
Chapter 27
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: The Law of the Musical
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"Aaagh!"
I woke up clutching my throat.
Song Arin's hands still felt like they were wrapped around my neck.
The moment I sat up, I checked on Song Arin beside me.
She had her eyes closed, as if asleep.
I tapped her shoulder, but she showed no sign of waking.
Had she survived?
What was that scream I'd heard before dying?
...
What if she'd been killed by the Red Lady?
'From now on, any audience members who have exhausted all their chances will join our lady.'
I recalled the announcement.
It had mentioned "chances," which implied, inversely, that people didn't die all at once.
The problem was not knowing how many chances there were.
...
For now, let's think through the information we had so far.
I started pondering the musical.
A musical without a script.
That meant my hypothesis of ending it by destroying the script was currently impossible.
Even if Jang Chaeyeon had used her telekinesis to wipe the place clean, would it have worked?
Probably not. It didn't seem like something solvable by physical means.
I thought about the musical and the Red Lady.
Let me summarize what we'd experienced so far.
1. The 'Red Lady' can't be seen with the naked eye.
This wasn't information blockage or interference. For some reason, looking directly at the Red Lady caused fatal damage to my eyes. As if it was the most natural thing in the world.
2. Changes in location and the reasons behind them.
When I was talking to that kid at first, the location changed a total of three times. And the Red Lady didn't appear right away.
On the other hand, Song Arin never once said the location had changed. Then suddenly, the scene shifted.
3. Chances aren't just once.
Getting caught and killed by the lady once didn't make your body explode like the others. In other words, if we failed next time too, I'd be the one dying.
Putting 3 aside. Focus on 1 and 2.
This place wasn't another world or a dream.
What if the place I was in was inside the musical?
What if the human named 'Kim Jaeheon' had entered as a character in the musical?
It made some sense if I thought about the conditions for scene transitions in a musical.
The progression of a play is fundamentally driven by characters' dialogue. Especially in musicals. Unlike pantomime, it's a genre centered on action and lines.
That's the law of all theater.
The story advances through interactions, leading to resolutions of conflicts or endings within the play.
If that's the case, this musical is vicious among the vicious.
It forces interactions while deliberately inserting audience members into the musical separately.
In a story that progresses through interactions, advancing it via monologues isn't easy.
So what the hell is the 'Red Lady'?
What could it be that my eyes exploded the moment I looked at it?
...
I still had no solid answer for that part.
For now, the next course of action was decided.
If we entered the play again, I'd mix dialogue and actions as much as possible to advance the plot.
Then adapt on the fly based on what came next.
Not being able to see was frustrating enough to drive me insane.
If worst came to worst, I might have to use the manual.
According to Song Arin, for some reason, only my manual was sticking with me.
...It wasn't cursed or sentient or anything, was it?
I looked at Song Arin once more.
She still hadn't opened her eyes.
Before figuring out how to end this play, let's first think of a way to escape this place. If need be, get Song Arin out first.
What would be the easiest escape method?
I tested the simplest hypothesis.
I jumped up from my seat, and sure enough, a staff member soon approached me.
"Soooo niiim... goooood tiiiime..."
"Bathroom. Emergency."
"...Riiiight thiiiis waaaay..."
The staff member pointed toward the exit with a hand, and I hurried that way.
I spotted the sign for the bathroom and rushed past it toward the exit.
The theater's glass door was right in front of me. I opened it and stepped outside.
"...Damn it."
I'd clearly opened the outside door and exited.
But somehow, I was back inside the theater.
I opened the door and went out again.
If Möbius strips made you dizzy, this was it.
I looked at my reflection in the glass door.
Maybe a Critical would trigger?
[Critical: 0]
No such luck.
I gave up quickly and headed back into the theater.
Song Arin was still sitting there blankly, as if asleep.
"...Ugh."
Soon, Song Arin groaned and opened her eyes.
"You okay?"
She'd killed me to save me. The phrasing was awkward, but since she'd literally done that, I had to ask her carefully out of guilt.
"...Damn it."
She pressed one hand to her forehead and bowed her head.
"Song Arin?"
"...I'm fine."
Her voice trembled.
"...What happened?"
...
She flinched at my question.
Soon, her body began shaking like a leaf.
"...Huh."
"Yeah?"
"...No way to win."
She looked up at me.
Her face was filled with despair.
"No matter what I did, I couldn't win. I tried kicking, throwing rocks, even used my secret weapon, but I couldn't land a single effective hit."
...
"It doesn't make sense. It's like it was designed from the start so I couldn't win...!"
...
I could understand how she felt. I'd seen it with my own eyes, and mine had burst. How disorienting must that have been.
I started speaking to comfort her.
I was grateful she'd sacrificed for me, and even though she was my senior at work, I felt bad as the elder in life for not helping her.
I chose my words carefully and spoke slowly.
"Next time, we'll do better."
...
"I've thought it through, and I've come up with some decent ideas."
...
"Next time something happens, I'll die. We have to share the tickets to get more chances."
...
"And thank you. I survived because of you."
...
Comforting people is really hard.
Song Arin lifted her head and sighed.
"You're grateful to me."
"Huh?"
She looked at me.
"I can kind of guess what you're thinking right now, so at least your sincerity comes through clearly."
"Oh."
Then why not just read my mind?
"That wouldn't be any fun."
As if reading my thoughts again, Song Arin teased with a grin.
[Break time begins.]
People woke up.
The same commotion as before, the same announcement.
People started exploding again.
Far more than last time.
Now, there seemed to be less than 30% of the original crowd left in the theater. Not even half.
Was it because we stopped the suicides?
If so, how did the others escape? Did they still have chances left?
A bitter taste filled my mouth.
A phrase from the Butterfly's Dream incident flashed in my mind.
[Humanity's last bastion.]
"...Arin."
"Yeah."
"Can you do something like telepathy?"
"...You think?"
She looked up at me.
"I don't have that kind of ability. I can just do a bit of brainwashing... I mean, plant suggestions in other people's minds. That's it."
"That might be enough."
She stared at me blankly.
"What are you planning?"
"It's just a hypothesis, but hear me out."
I explained the musical to her, its connection to the script and scenes. She nodded slowly after listening.
"I get what you're saying. The logic holds up, more or less."
"More or less?"
"Common sense doesn't apply here anyway. Yeah, we might really have been sucked into a musical and become characters. Fine. Next time, let's push the story more dramatically."
She looked me straight in the eye.
"So, what does that have to do with my ability?"
"Let's plant suggestions in the people."
"All these people?"
Her face soured.
"What?"
"Like I said, we'll proceed assuming it's a play. Tell them to talk as much as possible, lots of monologues."
"...That'll work?"
"And since it's a musical, there might be other characters besides the lady."
"Could be."
"If it's too hard, tell them to get killed by the others."
"...Like how I killed you."
I nodded at her words, and she glanced around, her expression hardening at all the empty seats.
"So many people gone already..."
...
"No choice. Wait here."
Soon, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and focused.
My migraine intensified.
Before I knew it, my hand was at my temple, and the panicked, screaming people's faces gradually went blank.
Soon, Song Arin exhaled sharply and opened her eyes.
In that short time, her face had gone extremely pale.
"You can do group hypnosis?"
"I can. But it leaves me feeling like I'm about to die."
Still, her expression held more hope than before.
"This should save more people, right?"
"Hope so."
[1 Minute Until Break Time Ends.]
The break felt shorter this time.
"Ready?"
"Honestly, I had it easy just now. You okay, Song Arin?"
"Not okay."
She pressed her forehead as she answered.
"But I have to be. I'm a Management Bureau employee."
[Break time ends.]
Soon, with the announcement, my vision darkened again.
*
"Come on, say something. Start a conversation."
In a barren wasteland without a single blade of grass, Song Arin looked at me and spoke.
She deliberately swung her arms wide and gazed at me.
Her purple hair sparkled in the sunlight.
"Let me think..."
What story should I tell?
"This is from my time in the Cube..."
In the end, storytelling duty fell to me again.