Chapter 344
Chapter 344
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 344. Wake Up
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But I guess Jang Chaeyeon did her best.
Its clothes were torn in various places.
It was a bit strange that only the clothes were torn.
But before I could think of anything,
-Thud!
It tossed something right in front of me.
One arm and one leg.
Something I'd seen before. No, something I'd been looking at until just moments ago.
Jang Chaeyeon's arm and leg.
Rage surged up in an instant, but I took a deep breath to steady my mind.
...
I recalled the words I'd heard earlier.
[Failure is when everyone dies.]
Failure occurs when everyone dies.
At first, I thought that meant Jang Chaeyeon and me.
Since we were the only people there.
But now that I thought about it, there was no need to phrase it that way.
No, if it had said that to me from the beginning, that would be one thing. But why wait until the last chance to tell me something like that?
And that's not all.
If it meant that it was okay as long as one of us survived, it would have said something clearer, like [Failure is when both of you die.]
So I had to consider the intent behind those words.
There were two main possibilities for what the advice was getting at.
<Who> constitutes "everyone" that must not die for failure, and <what> defines a person.
What if that advice itself wasn't the failure condition for me and Jang Chaeyeon, but the success condition?
What if the being that fails when "everyone" dies wasn't me, but someone else?
...
Honestly, this was the only lead worth pursuing.
The fact that it hadn't ended when I killed the aesthete stuffed in that sack dragged away by the long-armed monster earlier already meant I had to rely on improvisation.
For now, I had to somehow get past this hulking thing blocking my path.
The problem was how.
...
I raised my gun and pulled the trigger.
-Bang! Bang!
The gunshots rang out, bullets embedding in its body and forcing it back a few steps,
but that was it.
Man, couldn't I get some proper physical strength like Jang Chaeyeon or Song Arin?
Not even a translucent window popped up. What the hell was I supposed to do?
At the same time, the manual unfurled.
-Flutter!
[Office Manual]
Did it come up with some method after all?
[PLZ]
1. Do not feed the manual.
"Damn it."
No wonder I was being so harsh on you.
In the end, this just proved that even the manual itself couldn't help, leaving me to navigate this situation with my relatively frail body and this toothpick of a weapon.
At the same time, it began lumbering toward me.
First, I had to shove this thing aside somehow.
It swung its hand, and I desperately rolled my body to dodge before firing at its instep.
-Bang!
Blood sprayed, and in the moment its foot halted.
-Bang!
This time, I lodged a bullet between its knee joints and rolled away quickly once more.
-Crack!
With the sound of something crunching, it briefly knelt on the floor.
I hurriedly dashed down the stairs.
Was it because that monster was nearby?
<...>
<...>
The children with only heads left simply stared at this floor with eyes filled with terror, saying nothing.
-Click!
I swiftly reloaded and walked toward the children with only heads.
"Sorry."
Even if they only had heads left, they were people—or had been people.
-Bang!
I fired first at the one in front.
A hole pierced its forehead, and the smiling child stopped moving while still grinning.
-Thud!
At the same time, footsteps from above.
No time.
-Bang!
The next one.
-Bang!
Then the next.
-Bang!
The last.
I granted peace to all the smiling children.
The house, which had been filled with laughter until moments ago, was now shrouded in silent stillness.
"Ughhh..."
Well, precisely speaking, there was still one mannequin in the kitchen, groaning alone.
-Boom! Boom! Boom!
At the same time, the long-armed monster began descending at tremendous speed.
There was no way to win a fight against that thing anyway.
I ran hurriedly while organizing my thoughts.
"Hey! Show me that entry you showed earlier again!"
The manual didn't budge at my words.
Did it not understand?
"You know, the one about the kids I just shot!"
-Flutter!
Only then did the manual unfurl again.
[Office Manual]
[Smiling Children - Containment Team Hyun Woo-won's Record]
1. The Smiling Children are a containment object discovered in a remote European village, appearing as children's heads placed on chairs. Due to the European branch's strong insistence, this object was stored at the Gangseo branch.
2. The object shows no special behavior and simply repeats laughing while placed on the chair.
3. The object's laughter continues indefinitely and has never stopped even once.
4. Personnel exposed to the laughter show no physical or mental abnormalities, confirmed as ordinary laughter.
5. All attempts to remove the heads from the chairs have failed, and no physical force can detach the children's heads from the chairs.
No clause about them being people.
"Hey, are these people?"
The manual stayed still for a moment at my question before another page began to unfurl.
[Office Manual]
[HM - How to Distinguish People]
1. To distinguish a person, the flesh and <CENSORED> must match exactly.
2. Management Bureau equipment is required for verification, which can be rented through the Containment Team.
"Can't rent it right now."
The manual didn't turn the page again.
It didn't know either.
No choice then.
I drew my gun again and was raising my arm to shoot the mannequin when,
-Rumble!
The floor shook violently as if there was an earthquake, throwing off my aim at the same time.
"Urk!"
I hurriedly turned my gaze to the side, and there it was, already close by, stomping its foot and charging toward me faster and closer.
That stomp just now was deliberate.
To stop me from shooting the mannequin.
Which meant, conversely, that shooting the mannequin was getting close to the right answer.
I hurriedly raised my hand to aim at the mannequin again,
and at the same time, its hand touched my shoulder.
-Bang!
-Crack!
"Argh!"
I pulled the trigger, and its arm tore off my left shoulder almost simultaneously.
The good news was that the bullet cleanly pierced the mannequin's forehead; the bad news was that my left shoulder was completely ripped away, and.
"Grk, ah...!"
I still hadn't woken up.
Hadn't I done everything?
I'd killed everything presumed to be human, and even the thing like the aesthete's corpse outside.
What was I missing right now?
Blood poured from my torn left shoulder, and my vision began to blur.
If this kept up, I'd die from blood loss or shock.
I had to think of something before then...
-Flutter!
The manual unfurled again.
This time, unlike before, it was scrawled in handwriting that looked frantically dashed off.
[Office Manual for Clerks]
No matter what happens, there is nothing the eyes cannot see. If there is, you must seize the real one.
I hurriedly read the manual.
No matter what happens, there is nothing the eyes cannot see.
...
I lifted my head and looked at the monster in front of me.
Nothing appeared above it.
From the first time I saw it, nothing had appeared above its head.
In contrast, all the children I just shot had something visible above them.
In other words, the only things I couldn't properly see were this monster and the mannequin.
...
Dragging my legs, I stumbled out the door.
Blood soaked my entire body, and unspeakable pain hit me with every movement, but there was something I had to try nonetheless.
And there was probably one stubborn person who never listened to me waiting there.
I ran to where the sack had been.
A long trail of bloodstains stretched out,
"Haa... haa..."
and Jang Chaeyeon lay in a pool of blood, breathing raggedly, missing one arm and one leg.
"Chaeyeon...!"
When I called her name through clenched teeth, she slowly turned her head to look at me.
"Your arm..."
"You're one to talk...!"
She seemed like she wouldn't die even if I told her to.
I shot her a resentful glare, and Jang Chaeyeon just smiled faintly while pointing behind me with her remaining arm.
"...I was waiting."
-Thud!
At her words, it appeared behind me.
It, still with its long arms, staring at us.
Right.
Now, there were only three of us left here.
I'd ended every other living thing with my own hands.
Conversely, that meant I just had to kill that one.
...
I forced my blurry vision to focus, concentrating my mind.
[Coordinate Rip: 3 uses remaining]
The world turned into graph paper, and as if on cue, Jang Chaeyeon reached out her hand.
The target was the crumpled monster in front of me.
-Crush!
She clenched her fist hard.
Something tore.
"...One more...!"
[Coordinate Rip: 2 uses remaining]
-Crush!
Now seemingly unable to see properly, eyes closed, Jang Chaeyeon clenched her fist again.
-Crack!
Its body split open.
As if it had been wearing a massive skin like a coat.
At the same time, a mannequin with a head placed on it emerged.
Only then did a translucent window appear before my eyes.
[Name: Survivor]
[Age: -]
[Talent: -]
[Abilities: -]
[Background: Ordinary people being chased don't think of their pursuer as prey. Because people always choose to flee rather than confront fear.]
[Weakness: Shoot it.]
...
With trembling hands, I picked up the gun and aimed at its forehead.
Before it could do anything,
-Bang!
I pulled the trigger.
And at the same time, I was standing in the fifth-floor hallway of the hotel.
"Gasp!"
Agonizing pain shot through my left arm, and I hurriedly groped at it.
Fortunately, my arm was properly attached there.
What about Jang Chaeyeon?
I turned to look at her,
and locked eyes with Jang Chaeyeon, who was groping her arm and leg while looking at me.
"...I told you to go first."
"No."
She smiled in response to my scolding tone.
"I knew you'd come."
It was Jang Chaeyeon's words, not the Observer's.
As I looked at her for a moment.
"Huh! Why does my lower body feel like it's floating in the air!"
"What nonsense is happening now!"
A familiar voice rang out, and we looked at each other.
"Let's go."
"Yeah."
I reached out and took Jang Chaeyeon's hand; she leaned on my shoulder and stood.
"Let's finish up quick and go rest."
"Yeah. Sounds good. I'm beat too."
As I took a step, I glanced back.
The chair lay in pieces, with no translucent window appearing anywhere.