Chapter 339
Chapter 339
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Chapter 339 - 339. 전화
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Translator: crow
Chapter 339: Phone
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I glance over at the branch chief.
She's breathing.
No, she's more intact than I thought.
Blood is flowing from her face, a few teeth seem missing, and some bones look out of place, but she's staring at me with bright, sparkling eyes anyway.
The branch chief says something with her mouth.
'Let me go.'
No, that's easier said than done.
...
A heavy silence descends.
To be honest, I was feeling pretty stuck.
How the hell am I supposed to beat something like that? And seeing the branch chief tied up right next to it only made those thoughts worse.
Even so, this might be the best chance we had.
One arm completely shattered, she's facing off against the Aestheticist.
No matter what, her condition wasn't great, unlike usual.
So, victory was still possible.
To make that happen...
"Daon."
"Yes?"
Yoo Daon looks at me, and I point at the branch chief before whispering to her.
"Go untie the branch chief first."
"Uh... will it just let me?"
"I'll make sure it stays put, so don't worry."
...
Yoo Daon hesitates at my words, then slowly backs away and heads toward the branch chief.
"You really think it'll let me untie you?"
"I'm planning to let you."
As I slowly reply to the Aestheticist, I give a look to everyone except Yoo Daon.
The rest of us position ourselves to protect her as she runs toward the branch chief.
"Branch Chief, is your arm okay? Any marks on your body?"
"No marks on my body, arm's fine, but my back kinda hurts. Untie me quick."
"Oh, got it! Ngh... it's tied super tight."
"Should I force it?"
"Or bite it off with my teeth?"
"No... just hurry."
I hear Yoo Daon grunting as she undoes the straps binding the branch chief, and the Aestheticist bursts out laughing.
"You guys sure know how to have fun."
...
"Still, you did better than I expected. I'm impressed."
Better at what?
The Aestheticist smiles at my gaze.
"Well, I didn't think you'd destroy my artwork so easily."
"What, surprised I smashed your masterpiece that quick?"
The Aestheticist laughs out loud at my question.
"You think I'd be?"
Then she looks at me.
"I never doubted you'd destroy the masterpiece."
...
What does she mean, she never doubted I'd destroy it?
Maybe sensing my confusion, she nods.
"Right. You destroyed my masterpiece."
"Yeah, you're not about to say it was intentional, are you?"
"Crazy? Do I look like someone who'd just toss out my own work to be destroyed?"
She shakes her head with a laugh.
"It's just fun. I like you, but you're acting like you've got every reason to kill me."
"Oh, I do. Plenty."
"Ooh, like what?"
...
I think of the people who were screaming.
And the ones turned into artwork in the gallery.
"No need for you to know."
With that, I draw my gun and pull the trigger right at the Aestheticist, and at the same time, Ailin draws hers and fires too.
Bang! Bang!
Gunshots ring out as bullets embed in the Aestheticist's body, then ping off with a ricochet.
As expected, without the branch chief, there's no winning a straight physical fight.
Which means we have to get the branch chief out somehow—that's our only path to victory.
Yoo Daon rescues her, we cover while buying time—that's the basic framework for winning.
"Daon! Not yet?!"
"Almost...! Got it...!"
Yoo Daon grunts, stabbing an awl into something.
At the same time, Jang Chaeyeon reaches out to push the Aestheticist away, but it doesn't budge.
"Shall we try that again?"
And then. She claps the mannequin's hands and mutters something.
...!
A horrific headache hits.
I've felt this before.
I'm wracked with pain, and the others—
I whip my head around to look at them.
Thwack!
Jang Chaeyeon swings her arm without a second thought, sending Song Arin and Ailin flying into the wall. They smash their heads and pass out without a sound.
"Chaeyeon!"
Hearing my scream, she raises her hand as if to knock herself out too.
...
Then she lowers it and squeezes her eyes shut.
"I'm fine."
"Fine?!"
Before, she would've knocked herself out. What does she mean fine?
But before I can finish, Jang Chaeyeon starts levitating nearby objects and hurling them at the Aestheticist, who takes them on the body with a deep sigh.
"No. Even if this is my rest spot, you don't need to trash the place like this, right?"
Jang Chaeyeon keeps throwing objects without a care.
"Go help Daon."
She says it calmly, and I look at Yoo Daon the moment I hear her.
At the same time, Yoo Daon raises the awl high and starts stabbing down at the branch chief's body.
"Blood is art..."
She mutters blankly and stabs at the branch chief's arm.
Crunch!
The awl pierces the branch chief's arm, but she doesn't even flinch, just sighs deeply.
"Looks like Jang Chaeyeon found another way."
She glances at Jang Chaeyeon, shakes her arm with a grunt, and smiles.
"Good thing, huh?"
Crack!
The branch chief shakes her arm harder, shattering the pillar binding her, and brushes off her hands.
"This is manageable."
"Yes, art..."
"Let me see..."
She watches Yoo Daon keep stabbing at her with the awl, then claps her hands with an ah and stomps hard.
Boom!
Something crumbles, a foot-shaped hole punches through the floor, and she shoves Yoo Daon into it.
Upper body up top, lower body below. Yoo Daon flails, stuck in the floor.
"There, that should do it."
The branch chief mutters with a sigh and starts loosening her fists again.
Jang Chaeyeon, who had been throwing objects, pulls back toward me, and the branch chief approaches too.
"Why'd you lose?"
"Because it overpowered me?"
"Shouldn't you win every time, Branch Chief?"
"What're you saying? I'm human too. I win when I win, lose when I lose."
She grunts and rubs her back.
...
"This might be a pain."
The Aestheticist scratches her cheek, looking genuinely troubled as she watches us.
Her expression wasn't one of real worry, more like someone stuck in an awkward spot, so we stayed on high alert, watching her.
"Listen up from now on."
The branch chief flexes her fists and looks at me and Jang Chaeyeon.
"I'll tell you the top priority."
"Listening."
"Don't ever think you can win a head-on fight with something like that. That's my specialty, not yours two's."
Jang Chaeyeon and I nod at her words.
We'd felt it bone-deep.
"From what the Management Bureau's figured out so far, the Aestheticist comes back even if you destroy it."
"...Pardon?"
Destroy it and it comes back?
Isn't that just immortality?
Reading my mind, the branch chief continues.
"But it's not immortality."
"Not?"
"Look at it."
I look at the Aestheticist.
It's smiling at us with a different face than before.
"The Director's theory is, something that human-like couldn't have spawned naturally."
...
Not naturally?
"What does that mean?"
"No idea."
"Pardon?"
What is this?
As I look confused, the branch chief smiles.
"Figuring that out is your job, Kim Jaeheon."
"No. I don't even know where to look, how am I supposed to..."
"That's this hotel."
She smiles.
"Otherwise, why would you storm in here, Kim Jaeheon."
...
Technically, to smash the masterpiece.
Meaning the Director thinks the Aestheticist's secret is hidden here.
...
"Anyway. I'll buy you time, Kim Jaeheon."
I nod at the branch chief's words, and she smiles.
"You two have two main tasks."
She holds up two fingers.
"First, wake up the others."
...
"Second, search this place top to bottom, find what's needed, then destroy it, burn it, whatever."
"...Got it."
I look around.
It wasn't huge, but still a whole floor of a building.
Searching should turn up something.
No, it had to.
"Alright. Then..."
The branch chief wipes the blood dripping from her forehead with her thumb, sighs, and launches herself again.
Boom!
Something shatters as her fist slams into the Aestheticist, and Jang Chaeyeon and I bolt off like we'd planned it.
How far did we run amid the booming sounds?
Jang Chaeyeon looks at me with a troubled expression.
...
"We can't search everywhere for that."
"...Yeah."
She's right.
"Then we won't search."
"...Huh?"
Jang Chaeyeon looks puzzled,
and I pull the phone from my pocket. She claps with an ah.
The phone from the first floor.
The one phone in the hotel that grants a single request.
...
I slowly lift it to my ear, and an old dial tone starts.
Rrring...
It doesn't ring many times before a mysterious voice picks up.
"Front desk."
...
"Can you find the Aestheticist's hidden items on the 5th floor?"
Pretty vague, hope that's okay.
As I worry,
"Understood."
The dry voice cuts the line.
Jang Chaeyeon and I look at each other, and ding! A bell rings in our heads.
Before we know it, someone in an old tailcoat, face unseen, is watching us.
"I'll guide you."
He mutters in a low voice.