Chapter 273
Chapter 273
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 273. She's Smiling
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Arin?"
Song Arin smiles confidently at my mutter, about to reply, but her expression freezes solid.
"Your arm. What the hell happened to it."
"It's smashed."
"No, I mean, why is it smashed?"
"Because it got hit by that thing?"
"..."
Song Arin's face stiffens a little.
"You need to get that treated ASAP."
"I think so too."
"...At least you're not rolling around on the floor whining about how much it hurts."
"I can't feel it."
It's a lie. My right arm is throbbing like hell, making my face scrunch up on its own, but saying so won't fix anything, so I'm keeping quiet.
Whining about the pain here would just make the two of them worry about me more. Better to wrap this up quick—for the sake of my arm too.
"...Fine. I'll make it fast."
Song Arin mutters with a determined look, and a sudden question pops into my head, so I glance at her.
"But where'd you leave Daon?"
At my question, Song Arin freezes up, and after a brief silence, she speaks.
".....She said she wanted to be alone, so I left her. Why."
"Ah. Got it."
It was the same earlier too—can she really be okay by herself? Worry creeps in.
Song Arin shoots me a sulky glare before turning to Jang Chaeyeon.
"Hey, white-hair."
"Yeah."
"You weren't protecting her? What were you doing."
"...Sorry."
Jang Chaeyeon bows her head slightly at Song Arin's words, and Song Arin frowns at the sight before raising her hand.
"Alright, then. Watch this."
"Urk...!"
At the same moment, the Observer groans and collapses to its knees.
"I'm seriously the strongest against humans."
Her expression looks incredibly smug.
*
She wasn't kidding.
True to her word, it couldn't do a damn thing—just took Song Arin's mental attack lying down.
"Urk, ugh..."
"You really are the strongest."
"You think I say empty shit like that?"
Song Arin snaps back at my mutter with an annoyed look, then turns to the Observer again, which just keeps groaning.
"While you're at it, find us the way out too. My right arm might actually fall off at this rate."
"I don't plan on waiting on your right arm hand and foot forever either? I'll find it as fast as I can."
Who asked you to?
Song Arin closes her eyes, pressing her index finger to her temple, and soon twitches before the Observer starts talking.
"The way out... I don't know..."
"Don't lie. If you don't know the way out, who does?"
"I really... don't know...!"
"Then how'd the other people get in here. How long have you been here."
Like an interrogation, Song Arin keeps pressing the Observer, finger still on her temple.
"A long time...!"
"Ugh, how long is 'a long time,' and where's the way out!"
"I don't, know!"
-Thud!
A gust of wind kicks up at the same time, and Song Arin looks flustered.
"Huh, what? It suddenly stopped wor—"
The moment she opens her eyes, a red light starts glowing from the Observer's forehead, and I ignore my throbbing right arm, drawing my pistol with my left hand.
"Chaeyeon!"
"Yeah."
Jang Chaeyeon reaches out, and I pull the trigger.
The bullet hits its forehead with a sharp "clang!", snapping its head back, and as Jang Chaeyeon slams her hand down toward the floor, its body crashes into the ground too.
-Thud!
"Guhhh...!"
The Observer groans, and Song Arin closes her eyes again.
"Not working?"
"Yeah. ...No. It's not that it's not working. It just got cut off for a sec."
Song Arin answers hurriedly before closing her eyes once more.
"...Weird."
"What is?"
"Feels all jumbled up."
She mutters with her eyes shut.
"Like three consciousnesses crammed into one person. So when I suppress one, the other two push back."
"...Three?"
Not two?
One's the Observer's personality right now, and Jang Chaeyeon's. What's the other?
"Two of them I can kinda control at least."
Song Arin furrows her brow.
"But one won't budge. Way too mechanical. Like a robot or something."
I exchange looks with Jang Chaeyeon.
Mechanical, but with a personality.
"Chaeyeon."
"Yeah. Probably the Cube."
Jang Chaeyeon replies to me, and Song Arin stares at us both.
"Cube? That time, what was it. That..."
"Something we handled while you weren't around."
Jang Chaeyeon brushes it off casually, and Song Arin's brow creases at the words.
"Yeah, that. So how're we handling it? Can you do it like last time?"
"Not sure right now. What do we need to do to block it?"
"...Hmm, uhmm..."
She groans with her eyes closed.
"Best bet... the most human personality takes back control first."
"How?"
"The absolute best way is just smashing the personality outright, but honestly, I can't..."
"Can't do it?"
"..."
She groans without answering me, sweating bullets.
"...Yeah, can't. But I can find another way in."
"If it's too hard, you don't have to—"
"Shut up. I can do it."
She snaps sharply before opening her eyes.
"Need to find what she left behind."
"What the hell does that mean?"
"No idea. That's just what I heard."
Song Arin mutters, and Jang Chaeyeon blurts out bluntly.
"Useless."
"Shut it before I rip every hair out of your head."
Song Arin glares daggers at Jang Chaeyeon before looking back at me.
"Any ideas? Something precious she left behind or whatever..."
"...Precious... and left behind..."
Only one thing comes to mind for me in this place.
"The torso?"
"Torso? What the hell's that."
Song Arin asks incredulously before clicking her tongue.
"Fine. Nothing else here anyway. Can you get it?"
"I ca—"
"I'll go."
Jang Chaeyeon cuts me off.
"I'll come with."
"You can't hold shit with that arm."
"..."
No argument there.
I shrug one shoulder, and Jang Chaeyeon nods before dashing off.
"Be right back."
"...Yeah."
She vanishes from sight quick, leaving just me and Song Arin.
"..."
Song Arin groans with her eyes closed.
I glance at the Observer, but it just stares blankly into space with a dazed expression.
"Arin, you okay?"
"No. Right after you shot its forehead... ugh..."
Song Arin groans.
"The backlash got way stronger. And why're you calling my name like that..."
She mutters irritably, then...
"...What?"
She opens her eyes.
Like she's staring at some vision in the sky, she starts muttering while looking elsewhere.
"How do you know that."
"Arin?"
She mutters blankly into space, ignoring me.
"No, seriously, how do you know that."
"Arin. Listen to me."
"Quiet. What do you know—"
"Arin!"
My shout snaps her eyes back into focus.
"What was that."
"...It talked to me."
Song Arin answers my question, brow deeply furrowed.
"Sounded like white-hair's voice, but super..."
"No emotion?"
"...How did you... No, yeah."
She nods.
"What'd it say?"
"...Nothing much."
She avoids my eyes.
Must've been something after all.
"You didn't buy it, right?"
"What do you take me for? I'm Song Arin from the Management Bureau."
She always says shit like that when she's full of herself—or when she has zero confidence.
Whether she reads my mind or not, Song Arin rests a hand on her hip and nods.
"Anyway, that thing's creepy as hell too."
"Creepy?"
"Tired? Calling it robotic might be too human after all."
Song Arin scowls, snaps her fingers, and the Observer's body freezes again.
"Anyway, I read the file on the Cube."
Song Arin mutters.
"Cube. Presumed sentient entity that lures Management Bureau personnel for repeated escape attempts. Class 3... I think."
Man, haven't heard class ranks in forever.
Not sure if it was exactly 3, though.
"But if it can pull shit like this, maybe bump up the class. We don't even know its goal."
"Figuring out a containment object's goal is the real impressive part."
"True. Unless you get inside its head—"
Our eyes meet for a split second.
What happened in Act 2 of the Theater flashes through my mind. And Song Arin seems to think the same.
"Connect it."
"Method."
"Yeah, that. Can you?"
"..."
Should we even?
Last time in Act 2 of the Theater, using this left Song Arin in bad shape. Feels like this could go really south.
"...Don't worry."
And like she reads my mind, Song Arin grins at me.
"What do you take me for. Nothing'll happen."
"Arin, better safe than sorry here."
"Fair point."
Then she looks at me.
"You saved the black-hair one, so you'll save me too, right?"
Why bring up Yoo Daon out of nowhere.
"...I'll try."
I nod, and Song Arin smiles.
"Yeah. Let's do it."
"..."
[Method: 1->0]
Did time pass again in between?
A purple thread emerges from Song Arin's head, and I grab it with my eyes before slowly pressing it to the Observer's head.
"..."
I glance at Song Arin, wondering if this is right, but...
"Do it."
Her intense gaze hits me with iron will, leaving me no choice but to jam the thread into the Observer's head.
"Ugh...!"
"Aaah...!"
Song Arin clutches her head, and the Observer—which had been blank-faced till now—goes wide-eyed.
"Arin, you okay?"
"..."
"Arin?"
As I call out with no reply and move to cut the thread in worry,
"I'm back."
Jang Chaeyeon appears, carrying her own body.
Seeing Jang Chaeyeon's body floating in midair feels so weird I don't want to look anymore.
At the same time, Song Arin staggers clutching her head, and the Observer—and she—speak in unison.
"Hey, don't! That's...!"
"Finally."
A mechanical voice.
Totally unlike the innocent one before or Jang Chaeyeon's tone—pure machine.
"I don't know how you're still alive, but..."
The Observer—no, not the Observer. Not Jang Chaeyeon either. Something else mutters as it looks at me.
"Give me that body."
"..."
"I'll share the way out."
"..."
"That arm? It'll necrotize soon. You'll live the rest of your life as a one-armed freak."
"Not even human, but you've got a good eye for wounds."
Just like it said.
The sensation in my right arm was starting to fade.
Song Arin and Jang Chaeyeon look at me after hearing our exchange.
"I can give it. If I want to."
Jang Chaeyeon says.
"...Arm..."
Song Arin mutters before squeezing her eyes shut.
"I'm fine...! Some world-ending crisis? I'll just handle it myself!"
"That works too."
Jang Chaeyeon nods.
As I listen to them, I meet the eyes of the Observer staring at me emotionlessly.
All that time I spent with her, what feelings did she hold for me?
What feelings did I come to hold for her?
Even if we'd lived together for decades, centuries, and I couldn't remember.
"Chaeyeon. Arin."
I mutter, staring it down.
A translucent window pops up.
[Name: Cube]
[Age: 3098]
[Trait: -]
[Talent: -]
[Background: Sentience means feeling loneliness. It learned that fact down to its bones.]
[Weakness: Extract it. Can't leave it like this, can't take it outside. Only you can.]
I sigh, picking up my gun.
Magazine's full. Can shoot one-handed.
Song Arin's fine. Jang Chaeyeon too.
Just wish Yoo Daon was here.
[Your understanding of the Observer greatly increases.]
[Critical: 0->2]
"Let's smash the Cube."
I had no doubt that was what she wanted.