Chapter 356
Chapter 356
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Boundary of Reality
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Looking around, I keep my distance from the Troupe Leader walking beside me.
"How did this even happen?"
"I don't know either."
The Troupe Leader shakes her head impassively at my question.
"Then how did you get here?"
"Because I have talent."
People don't change at their core—she's saying the exact same thing Song Arin would.
"Then explain the situation."
"For starters."
Having heard my question, the Troupe Leader looks ahead.
We were walking down an endless street in the Management Bureau.
"It feels like a play related to the Management Bureau."
"There's that kind of thing too?"
"There is."
The Troupe Leader nods.
"Everyone else probably got pulled into the play too."
...
"Your goal is to finish this play or cut it off midway and get out."
"I see."
Hearing my response, the Troupe Leader stares at me blankly.
"What."
"Aren't you curious?"
"About what."
"How I can be here by your side."
"You just said it."
She has talent, she said.
So, she must've figured it out on her own somehow.
...
Hearing my words, the Troupe Leader turns her head impassively.
"You seem anxious to see the others soon."
"Of course."
No matter what, the Troupe Leader and I have fought for our lives before as enemies—it's even weirder to expect me to trust her just like that.
She wasn't opposing me like some detached observer with a reason.
"Got it."
Then, hearing my words, the Troupe Leader nods and points ahead.
"We need to find the others first."
"But where did everyone go?"
...
At my question, the Troupe Leader looks up at the ceiling.
"We'll have to go out and see."
She mutters in a low voice.
"But brace yourself."
...
A story that started at a desk in the Management Bureau, and then an empty hallway.
Something felt ominous.
...
"You ready?"
"Ready for what."
"I was being considerate of you."
The Troupe Leader looks at me impassively at my question.
"I can make a path. But you might need to prepare your heart for what comes after."
"You're making me more anxious saying that."
...
"Those who die here can only be saved if someone completes the play."
Ignoring my mutter, the Troupe Leader continues.
"You won't feel fear. You're the type who looks for a way out even if your body turns into a doll, rather than panicking."
...
"But a sense of responsibility will weigh you down. I'm telling you to hold onto that."
She mutters in a calm voice, as if she knows exactly what kind of person I am,
"Got it, so hurry up."
...
Responsibility only becomes yours when you take it on. No need for her to worry about mine unnecessarily.
Hearing my response, the Troupe Leader lets out a small sigh and swings her hand.
Soon, a door appears in front of us.
The door I pass through every day on my way out.
At the same time, sounds start to reach us.
-Aaaah!
-Kyaaah!
Screams filled with agony from people.
It was something I'd been thinking about since noticing the Management Bureau was empty.
I hurriedly open the door,
"Kyaaaah!"
A woman falls from the air in front of me and her body crushes on impact.
Blood splatters on my face.
It was hell.
Countless people were suffering.
A man wearing an old wooden mask wandered around, butchering others with a bizarre laugh, and from a gramophone, a song played as the people around it danced happily to the tune.
Even as blood flowed from their feet.
I draw my gun and shoot the gramophone needle; it breaks, and the music cuts off.
Only then do the people who had been dancing until their feet bled stop in confusion, and at the same time, some get snatched up into the sky.
Giant mosquitoes.
[Name: Mosquito]
[Age: X]
[Specialty: Bloodsucking]
[Talent: Bloodsucking]
[Background: In Jirisan, people occasionally go missing and are never found. Usually, they turn into mummies after having their blood sucked dry by mosquitoes.]
[Weakness: Tear off the wings.]
The giant mosquitoes' proboscises pierce into people's bodies, and they soon turn into mummies and drop to the ground.
-Thud!
"Is this the play right now?"
"Who knows."
The Troupe Leader answers calmly to my question and swings her hand.
The mosquito flying toward me gets wrapped in thread and turns into a small doll that falls to the ground.
"I'd say it's a mix of play and reality."
...
-Aaaah!
-Save us!
The people's screams ring in my ears,
"Don't think about saving everyone."
The Troupe Leader speaks to me in a calm voice.
"Find the one you need to save first."
...
I draw my gun and kick off from my spot.
First, I start shooting the wings of the mosquitoes flying in the air one by one.
-Bang! Bang! Bang!
With each gunshot, mosquitoes fall to the ground, and the ones heading my way turn into cute dolls and drop when the Troupe Leader swings her hand.
Even so, my eyes keep scanning the surroundings.
I need to find someone in my line of sight first.
Someone I know...
The moment that thought crosses my mind,
-Crack!
A tree sprouts from the ground.
It wasn't there just a moment ago?
Before I can dwell on it,
Fruits begin to form on the tree, now four times my height.
Human heads hung like fruits.
[Name: Screaming Tree]
[Age: -]
[Specialty: Screaming]
[Talent: X]
[Background: The tree had to scream. But it couldn't make a sound. So it sought out those who could give voice.]
[Weakness: Harvest the fruits.]
-Aaaaaaah!!
The fruited heads open their mouths and start screaming.
A headache hits me, and the other people who heard the screams vomit blood from their eyes, ears, and mouths before collapsing to the ground.
...
The Troupe Leader winces and covers her ears too.
-Click!
I swap magazines and keep scanning the surroundings.
No Yoo Daon, no Jang Chaeyeon, no Song Arin, no Park Yaeun.
No branch chief or Ahn Sanghyeon either.
-Bang! Bang!
My gun muzzle spits fire, piercing the screaming heads.
Soon the screams stop, and the now-silent tree stands there unmoving.
"Where to next?"
"What are you talking about?"
Stay calm.
"Didn't we just change acts?"
"No?"
I've reloaded my spent magazine by now and look at the Troupe Leader, who tilts her head as our eyes meet.
"This is on stage."
"What?"
"I told you. Act 3 would be somewhat connected to reality."
...
"So this isn't a play?"
"No. It is a play."
The Troupe Leader speaks in a calm voice.
"If you properly complete this play or end it midway."
...
As she mutters in a calm voice,
-Boom!
Something explodes in the distance.
"Save us!"
"Stop...!"
The people around me scream, and my grip tightens on my gun instinctively.
But there was nothing to be done.
Think rationally.
If I just stay here trying to save others, I might not end this play.
"Follow me."
"Got it."
We start running toward the sound,
"Please!"
"Save us...!"
The people's screams pierce my ears.
Even so, I had work to do.
Hastening my steps toward the noise,
-Boom!
A massive boulder was crushing something.
"Huff... huff..."
A white-haired woman was breathing raggedly as she stared at it.
"Chaeyeon!"
Jang Chaeyeon turns at my call and looks at me,
"Thank goodness."
She approaches me with a look of deep relief.
"What about the others?"
"No idea. When I came to, I was here with one agent I knew."
"Agent?"
"She said she got thrown into the play."
"Where is she now?"
...
Without a word, Jang Chaeyeon points to the floor,
A person with a burst head enters my view.
"Dead."
...
"Don't let it get to you."
The Troupe Leader mutters from behind me.
"You can fix it."
...
"You okay?"
Jang Chaeyeon stares at me intently.
"What about Daon?"
"No idea. Don't know where Song Arin is either."
...
"Understood. Let's go then."
As I start walking with Jang Chaeyeon, I begin explaining the situation.
How reality and the play are bizarrely mixed right now.
...
Hearing me, Jang Chaeyeon looks bewildered.
"So if these people die, it's all over?"
"That's what it seems like for now..."
...
Jang Chaeyeon rests her hand on her chin thoughtfully for a moment, then nods.
"Got it. Let's find them first."
"Yeah."
"Every play has a climax to its acts."
The Troupe Leader, who had been walking quietly beside me until then, speaks up.
"We're still in the opening stage right now."
Opening stage.
Meaning the "rise" in exposition-development-turn-conclusion.
So how do we reach the next development?
As I'm thinking that,
-Whirrr...
The sound of a motor starting up echoes from afar.
...
"Motor sound?"
Jang Chaeyeon furrows her brow, having heard it too,
-Whirrrr...
The motor noise grows louder.
Is a helicopter flying around or something?
High chance it's Management Bureau people.
"Let's head toward the sound first."
"Yeah."
Jang Chaeyeon nods at my words, and we keep moving.
-Whirrrr...!
Now it's loud enough to ring in our ears.
...
That's when the doubt hits me.
No wind.
If a sound like this is coming from a helicopter nearby, there should be some wind.
Why is there no wind at all?
The moment that realization sinks in.
...
"That."
Jang Chaeyeon quietly tugs my sleeve.
"Yoo Daon."
...
I look up ahead.
People were trembling in fear, hiding their bodies.
Some were prone on the ground, others running the opposite way.
"Thank you! Thank you!"
"Sorry!"
People running past us, expressing gratitude and apologies.
What were they fleeing from?
Unlike those fleeing the sound, we head toward it.
-Whirr!
Corpses start coming into view.
Corpses with holes in their stomachs.
I turn my gaze ahead.
A woman was hugging a tree.
-Whirrrr!
An enormous noise came from inside the tree,
"Kehk..."
The woman hugging the tree vomits blood.
She keeps vomiting blood endlessly but clings to the tree.
Her black hair shakes in rhythm with the vibrations.
"Daon!"
I call her name,
"Kehk!"
Vomiting blood, Yoo Daon turns to look at me.
"R-Run... kehk...!"
She smiles with effort.