Chapter 322
Chapter 322
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Room 101
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"Person...!"
The man who heard our footsteps turned his head toward us.
Eileen took a sharp breath at the sight.
It was impossible not to.
Where his eyes should have been, fist-sized orbs were embedded.
"Is that guy... really alive?"
"Please save me!"
No sooner had Eileen spoken than the man screamed upon seeing us.
I'd expected a gruesome scene, but I hadn't thought a living person would actually be there.
"...!"
Eileen's body flinched, and Yoo Daon gripped her arm tightly.
"Don't run off."
"I'm not."
Eileen replied in a calm voice to Yoo Daon's cool tone.
"..."
I slowly raised my head to look at the man.
[Name: Park Hoo-young]
[Age: 29]
[Talents: None]
[Abilities: None]
[Background: This man visited to find video content but does not know why he is still alive.]
[Weakness: He is an ordinary person. Attacking vital points will kill him.]
"...'
Even with eyes like that, he's just human?
Was it right to approach like this?
As I hesitated, the man started screaming loudly again.
"P-please! Aaaagh!"
Worms with only mouths crawled up the pole.
One larva bit into the man's toe.
Blood spurted out, and he let out a scream of agony.
I turned my gaze to the painting.
[Name it.]
Name it? How?
Was I supposed to just watch?
"...'
No, I couldn't.
I drew my gun and shot the charging larva.
Bang!
A sharp crack rang out as the bullet pierced the larva, and it fell to the ground.
"...Huh?"
All three of us froze for a moment.
I'd fired on instinct, but I hadn't expected the bullet to work.
"Why did the bullet hit?"
"Yeah?"
"I thought it definitely wouldn't."
"What are you talking about? Hurry up and save me!"
Before we could finish, the man wailed, and the three of us exchanged quick glances.
"Eileen, got plenty of mags?"
"Don't worry."
"Got it. Daon, if any larvae try to swarm out, handle them."
"Yes!"
Yoo Daon took position beside us with her awl, while Eileen and I steadily fired.
Bang!
Bang! Bang!
"Agh, agh!"
Each time a bullet hit a nearby worm, the man shrank back with terror-filled screams, but Eileen and I picked off the larvae clinging to his feet without a single miss.
Only after the room filled with the smell of gunpowder did the blood-soaked man hang there alone, with all the larvae burst open or sprawled dead.
"...If they were going to die like this, why bother with restrictions?"
Yoo Daon tilted her head at the scene.
"H-Hurry... let me down...!"
The man shuddered as he cried out.
I glanced up at his head again.
"...'
No matter how I looked, nothing seemed off.
"Daon."
"Yes?"
"Does that guy smell like anything?"
"...'
Yoo Daon closed her eyes and sniffed, then scratched her cheek awkwardly.
"Too many smells mixed together. Hard to tell."
That made sense. So much blood, and we'd fired a ton.
I turned back to the frame.
[Please name it.]
"...'
The title still hadn't changed.
"Please... let me dow-"
"Daon."
"Yes."
At my call, Yoo Daon hurried over to the man, who yelped and squeezed his eyes shut.
"Stay still."
"Y-Yes...!"
Yoo Daon untied the ropes holding him, and the moment he hit the floor, he collapsed to his knees.
Splat!
Blood splashed, staining the orb in his eye red.
"Gasp, haaagh..."
The man panted raggedly, while Yoo Daon just stared at him in confusion.
At that moment, the golden frame shimmered, and letters engraved themselves on the nameplate.
[Thread of Conscience]
It depicted the man kneeling and panting, and Yoo Daon.
No translucent window appeared.
"Daon?"
"Yes?"
I called Yoo Daon, and she scurried over to me.
"Your face looks bad. What's wrong?"
"No... it's just..."
Yoo Daon trailed off, mumbling.
"The blood smell is off."
"Off how?"
"Doesn't feel like one person's blood...? Too many smells mixed in. I might've gotten confused."
She muttered in bewilderment, and the man crawled toward us.
"Th-Thank you..."
"...What's your name?"
"P-Park Hoo-young."
He answered my question in a trembling voice.
At least the name checked out.
"...Get up."
I helped him to his feet, and blood smeared onto my clothes.
The foul stench seeped into me.
"I can do it..."
"Daon, check if the door opens. Eileen, cover us."
"Oh, okay."
"Got it."
At my words, the two sprang into action.
Creak...
"It opened!"
The door swung open with Song Arin's voice, and by the time I helped the man out, all three were staring at me.
"...This is...?"
The branch chief's eyes widened slightly at the sight of the man as she looked at me. I met her gaze and spoke.
"He's human."
"...'
The branch chief eyed him with one eye half-open, while Song Arin closed hers in focus, then nodded.
"He's human. But his eyes..."
"Th-They were gouged out."
The man replied to Song Arin's question in a quivering voice.
"...For real."
Song Arin muttered flatly, then looked at me and the chief.
"What now?"
"...Let him stay here for now?"
"Yeah. We can't take him with us when we leave."
"What do you m-"
The man reached out, but Song Arin furrowed her brow slightly, and he went blank-faced, leaning against the wall.
"This okay?"
"Of course not. He'd just trail after us."
Got it.
"Good thing we have you, Arin."
"...O-Of course. Leave this stuff to me."
Song Arin coughed awkwardly several times at my words, while Yoo Daon and Jang Chaeyeon stared at her.
She probably needed some praise right now.
I stepped toward Room 102, and the man started trailing right behind us.
"...'
The branch chief walked beside him, staring fixedly at the large orb embedded in his eye.
"Chief?"
"Oh, yes."
She looked at me when I called, smiling apologetically.
"Sorry. That orb... looks familiar."
"...'
I followed her gaze to the orb in his eye but saw nothing familiar.
"No idea."
"If even Kim Jaeheon doesn't recognize it..."
The chief eyed the orb reluctantly, then stopped before Room 102's door.
[Only those with sturdy bodies may enter.]
"Just me and Daon, then."
The chief declared confidently, and Yoo Daon nodded while loosening up.
"It won't come with a mind control attack, right?"
"Then I can just knock Daon out and carry her out."
"I'd wake right up even if knocked out."
"Then I'd just keep hitting. Don't worry."
For the first time, Yoo Daon looked anxious as she glanced at me.
"I-It'll be fine, right, Jaeheon?"
"...Should be."
I nodded, and the chief opened the door at the same time.
"Be right back. Call if anything happens."
"Yes."
Creak... Thud!
Yoo Daon and the chief disappeared inside.
"...Nothing happened while the three of us were in the room?"
"Nope."
Jang Chaeyeon answered my question plainly.
"No sounds either."
"Yeah."
"...'
Song Arin, who had been quiet until then, finally spoke.
"The more I think about it, the weirder it is."
"What?"
"This guy."
She pointed at the man.
"Isn't he too fine?"
"...'
I looked at him too at her words.
She wasn't wrong.
"Yeah, he is."
"Where'd he eat or whatever?"
"You think the Aestheticists fed him?"
"Too sloppy for that. He folds to brainwashing instantly."
Song Arin groaned in thought, while Eileen crossed her arms and peered into the glass orb in the man's eye.
"This... is kinda weird."
"Yeah?"
"Looks like a mirror."
I stood beside her and looked at his eye as she spoke.
Our reflections—mine and Eileen's—shone in the transparent glass orb.
"Response team manuals usually say mirrors are mediums."
"Mediums?"
"Yeah, conduits and pathways for all sorts of anomalies."
Pathways and mediums...
It probably wouldn't suddenly sprout Aestheticists from the eyeball.
I stared at the orb, but it just reflected me and Eileen.
"No hints right now."
"Yeah."
"Guess we wait."
Song Arin shrugged, and I had no choice but to nod.
Maybe check the hallway.
I started looking around the corridor.
It resembled an old luxury hotel or resort.
The carpet was stained but not filthy, and some paintings hung on the walls, all flipped over.
"Don't flip the paintings."
"I won't."
Song Arin replied as if I was ridiculous.
After warning her lightly, I kept searching and stubbed my foot on a small frame on the floor.
"...'
I kicked it over, and a painting caught my eye.
A painting of a wrist.
A sudden headache hit, and I hurriedly covered it back up.
That was close.
At the same moment,
Boom!
Something exploded from Room 102.