Chapter 45
Chapter 45
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 45. Arachne
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-Boom!
Hair whipped around, caving in the wall next to me.
"Can't you trip its leg one more time?!"
"I'm trying!"
Song Arin shouted urgently as she whipped her head around and swung her hand again.
The hair lashed out the other way, narrowly grazing past us. She clicked her tongue.
"It's starting to adapt!"
No wonder I'd noticed the number of times it was slamming into walls had dropped off noticeably.
If we assume physical dodges are no longer an option, then how the hell do we shake this monster?
I racked my brain desperately while rummaging through my pocket. Aside from the hard texture of the manual, I felt nothing.
Come to think of it, hadn't I sent those two off without their guns?
"You two! Where did you put your guns!"
I hurriedly looked toward them.
"I lost mine while running!"
"I dropped mine when it grabbed me at the first-floor entrance!"
"The first-floor entrance—did you end up calling the monster instead of me—"
"Yep!"
Yoo Daon nodded frantically before I could even finish.
I had to make a call.
"Let's split up!"
Song Arin nodded with a resolute expression at my words.
"...Right. I'll hold it off, so you two—"
"No! I'll do it!"
"What kind of nonsense is that!"
Her face shifted from resolute determination to utter exasperation as she yelled.
The reason was simple.
Both Yoo Daon and Song Arin were in worse shape physically than me. They were clearly hitting their limits.
Me? I could still hang in there.
"When we hit the stairs, Daon-ssi, you go first! Then loop around once, and Arin-ssi, you go after!"
"You're insane!"
"And! Either find Chaeyeon-ssi or get as prepped as you can!"
"Listen to me—!"
"Just do it!"
I bellowed, and they both flinched. Yoo Daon shot me a wary glance before bolting toward the stairs.
Now it was just me and Song Arin.
As we drew near the stairs, she kept looking back at me over and over.
"...You'd better not die for real!"
"I won't, so get going!"
"If you do die, I'll kill you myself!"
Spouting complete nonsense, she dashed down the stairs.
I glanced back at it charging on all fours. Confirming it was still coming after me, I took off running again.
From any normal predator's perspective, it should've gone after the weaker, slower prey. But it completely ignored Yoo Daon and Song Arin heading down the stairs and barreled straight toward me in a straight line.
Did it just crave bigger game? Or was its field of vision that narrow? No way to tell right now.
Just two more laps, then down.
I choked down the searing pain shooting through my legs and pounded down the old classroom hallway again.
One lap. Two laps.
This ought to do it.
Praying our paths wouldn't cross, I hurtled down the stairs.
Second floor. First floor.
The first-floor entrance where I'd hidden at the start came into view.
I ran the opposite direction from the path I'd taken up. Yoo Daon said she'd been nabbed around here...
There.
A gun gleaming black in the moonlight caught my eye.
I'd realized something the moment I fired it earlier.
My marksmanship hadn't gone rusty at all. I'd figured the Cube incident was just my eyes giving me aim assist, but apparently not.
At some point, the gun had started feeling like a perfect fit in my hands.
I rolled across the floor in a dive and snatched up the pistol.
The familiar grip mixed with an unfamiliar heft filled my hands. I yanked the trigger without hesitation.
-Bang!
The bullet slammed into the spot where its eyeball should've been, stitched shut as it was. It let out a shriek.
This ought to buy me some time—
An alarm blared in my head as I geared up to bolt.
Hold on.
Now that I thought about it, back in the duty room, its eyes had already been sewn shut with black thread. Which meant it'd been chasing us this whole time without eyes.
How? Before the thought could finish forming, its hair surged toward me.
So it was tracking us by sound all along?
I rolled sharply across the floor to dodge the hair.
The manual tumbled from my pocket, flipping open to a random page.
[Office Manual]
[KH - Dealing with Sightless Objects]
1. The best way to handle sightless objects is, naturally, to stay completely silent.
2. That said, some containment objects can even pick up your heartbeat.
3. In those cases, we recommend making a racket to draw their attention, then fleeing.
4. Caution: Most people see lack of sight as a weakness, but the opposite is true. These are entities that survived by giving up vision. Always bear this in mind when dealing with containment objects.
Make noise.
Not many options for that here.
I yanked off my shoe in a flash and hurled it at the wall with everything I had.
-Thud!
-Crash!
The shoe smacked the wall with a clatter just as its hair whipped around and pulverized the spot.
"Tasty?"
It muttered the word as it clenched the shoe tight.
Narrow hallway. And right above my head.
From down here, it was crystal clear.
Not human. Not even close.
Only the neck up was remotely humanlike. Below that hung a spider's abdomen.
Like someone had grafted a human neck and limbs onto a spider's body.
An eerie wrongness washed over me. I'd seen this setup somewhere before.
-Squelch. Squelch.
It poked and prodded at the shoe before crushing it and tossing it aside.
"...Tasty..."
Gun tucked in one hand, the fallen manual clutched in the other, I dropped into a slow prone crawl.
Don't forget basic training. Crawl quiet. Crawl slow. Never lift your head.
I muttered the mantra to myself over and over as I inched silently along the floor.
My limbs screamed in agony, but what choice did I have?
How long did I crawl like that? The moment I figured I'd slipped its shadow, I finally lifted my head and peered back.
It was still groping around on hands and feet, hunting for me.
Now I got how it'd zeroed in so fast when I smashed that vase.
I eased myself up slowly, slipped off my other shoe, and chucked it the opposite way before tiptoeing off on the balls of my feet.
It was still diligently probing the source of the second shoe's noise.
*
How far had I gone? I double- and triple-checked that its sounds were gone before letting out a silent sigh of relief as I walked on.
Gym first. But I needed to find Jang Chaeyeon before that.
I opened the manual.
Maybe it'd cough up more details? It'd added notes for the Red Lady, after all.
"...Commencing containment object registration."
I muttered under my breath, and the manual flipped open on its own, generating new entries.
[PRV - Object Name: Arachne - Recorded by HR Team's Kim Jaeheon]
Arachne? I'd never said that name.
I squinted at the object name field, but the manual refused to erase it, like it knew best.
Let's see. What to log.
Key points only. For whoever reads this later. Too much detail just wears them out.
After some back-and-forth debate with the manual, the containment object profile was finalized like this.
[PRV - Object Name: Arachne - Recorded by HR Team's Kim Jaeheon]
[This object has no eyes. Prioritize minimal noise while moving.]
[Physical attacks have little effect. If hypnosis or mental attacks are viable, pursue those options.]
[Presence induces heaviness in the body. Unconfirmed—please update upon entry.]
[Appears to consume human flesh. If unable to rescue personnel quickly, recommend abandonment.]
New registration? So no one had ever made it in here before?
Or maybe anyone who did couldn't use the manual. Who knew.
This would have to do.
No extra intel after all.
I clicked my tongue, slowly closed the manual, and trudged onward into the endless quiet.
Where the hell was Jang Chaeyeon?
Anxiety was starting to gnaw at me. But yelling for her was out of the question.
As I crept along slowly, faint rustling footsteps echoed from behind.
The feeling sinking into my gut was very, very bad.
Along with my gut instinct came a chill like the hairs on my nape standing straight up.
I really didn't want to look. But I turned anyway.
A little girl was trailing after me.
[If a child starts following midway, shake them off by any means.]
The line from the manual flashed through my mind.
How?
I broke into a light jog.
The girl toddled after me, matching pace.
Walking, jogging—I figured it out after a few tries.
She was keeping exact pace with me.
Meaning the only way to lose her was a full sprint.
Problem was, sprinting meant noise. And noise meant a high chance of summoning that Arachne freak.
"..."
As I racked my brain in desperation,
Someone laid a hand on my shoulder.
I jolted, clapping a hand over my mouth, and whipped around.
It was pint-sized Jang Chaeyeon.
Baggy white t-shirt and gray sweatpants hanging off her. She gazed up at me with visible relief.
"Found you."
No clue who'd found whom.
Before I could blow up, a spark of inspiration hit.
This could work.
"Why?"
"Come with me."
"Okay."
I nodded at Jang Chaeyeon and the little girl shadowing her, no questions asked.
This way, we could slip by quietly.
"You can fly, right?"
"Huh?"
Jang Chaeyeon stared at me with a blank look.