Chapter 74
Chapter 74
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Factory
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Talking with my colleagues from the HR Team, and from experiencing it firsthand, I've come to realize something: who is the scariest person when they get angry?
-Thud!
-Crash!
It has to be Yoo Daon.
They say the angriest person is the one who normally never gets mad.
But if you ask who can unleash anger on the grandest scale, that would be—
-Boom!
"That woman always that ferocious?"
"She'll flip out if she hears you, so shut up."
I run toward the source of the noise while chatting with Ailin.
The sounds grow louder the closer we get.
"Be careful not to get caught up in it."
"You too."
Even in the long, dark maze, I spot white hair faintly reflecting the light.
It would normally be neatly tied back, but not right now.
-Thud!
She swings her hand, and what looks like me gets smashed by a rock fragment, turning into a shadow and vanishing.
"Hahaha! Hahahaha!"
"Shut up."
-Thud!
She crushes another monster with my face with a gesture.
It felt really weird that they all had my face.
Of course, it wasn't just me.
There were Yoo Daon, Song Arin, the Team Leader, and even Ailin.
She was just pulverizing them all without looking at anyone.
"...She's kinda scary."
"I know, right."
It wasn't surprising, but Ailin and I were on the same page.
"...Huff... Haa..."
Jang Chaeyeon wipes the sweat dripping down her face, breathing heavily.
I call her name during this brief lull.
"Chaeyeon."
-Whoosh!
I dive to avoid the rocks flying straight at me.
"Wait! Just a sec! Let's talk first!"
...
Only then does Jang Chaeyeon stop her hands and turn her gaze toward me.
"...You?"
"Even if you ask 'you?', I'm not sure how to respond... but yeah, it's me."
...
She narrows her eyes slightly, then starts examining me closely.
"...What were you—"
"Quiet."
"Yes, ma'am."
What kind of logic is it that makes her ignore words and judge on her own?
After squinting at me, she slowly nods and speaks in a sulky tone.
"You're late."
"If I could be found just by looking, we wouldn't have gotten separated in the first place."
Her gaze shifts to Ailin, then back to me.
I get what she's implying, but I just shrug in response.
"...Let's go."
With a slightly sulky tone, she stands next to me.
"Now that we've got three, we can pool our info at least."
I glance at Jang Chaeyeon while running my hand over the wrecked wall.
"First off, we all saw people we know."
Both nod.
"I figured it out by seeing... Ailin sensed it... and Chaeyeon, you..."
"No vibe from you guys."
Jang Chaeyeon answers calmly.
"Vibe?"
"Yeah."
Whatever.
As the three of us walk, I voice the question that pops into my head.
"But it's kinda weird."
"What's weird?"
"How to put it... Is this a haunted house?"
"...Yeah."
Ailin nods like she gets what I mean.
"Yeah, calling it a haunted house feels off."
At first, I thought it wasn't scary because Jang Chaeyeon was just smashing everything, but that wasn't it either.
"If it's ghosts... they'd be more like invisible threats."
"Intangible."
"...Intangible."
I mull over Ailin's words.
"...For now, let's keep it in mind. It said it'd make us tremble in fear, but nothing's happened yet."
Both nod.
"We need to find the others..."
Jang Chaeyeon made a racket, so that's one thing, but how do we find the remaining three?
Especially the Team Leader and Song Arin. They're probably hiding somewhere.
We start walking.
We tread through the dark maze.
No more rampaging noises, and even the frequent gunshots have stopped.
-Crack, crunch.
Just the sound of bones breaking.
...
The three of us exchange glances.
As far as we know, only one person could make that noise.
My pace naturally quickens, and the two follow behind me.
-Crack, crunch crunch, craaack crunch crunch!
The bone-snapping sounds grow louder.
Worried, I hurry without realizing it.
Soon, we reach the source.
"Daon, you—"
I start to call her hurriedly, then shut my mouth.
It wasn't Yoo Daon.
It was a gaunt old man.
His hair was completely gone, and his limbs were so skinny they looked skeletal.
The only difference was his chest, swollen like it was about to burst.
He opens his mouth.
-Crack...
The bone-cracking sound flows from his lungs, his jaw dropping all the way to his chest,
-Splat!
And he spits out a black lump.
"...Ugh... No... I hate it..."
The voice didn't come from the shadow.
The old man was shaking his head.
"No more... I hate—"
-Craaack!
Before he can finish, his jaw gapes even more grotesquely, and he vomits another lump.
The lump soon forms a body,
...
And there I was, standing.
With an expressionless face, I stare at the old man, take a deep breath, and walk past him, disappearing.
...
The three of us exchange looks.
Should we put him down?
...
Maybe sensing my gaze, Ailin slowly shakes her head.
"We can't tell if that's human or not."
...
"Working on response teams, you encounter a lot of people—or things that used to be people. Nine times out of ten, they're not human anymore, or even if they look it, they've stepped outside humanity."
"'Non-human' by Management Bureau standards."
Jang Chaeyeon mutters under her breath, and Ailin nods in agreement.
"That's not human. Not by Bureau standards, or any common ones."
"Kugh!"
-Splat!
She turns away from the old man and says quietly.
"For now, let's pass by."
Then she walks on silently.
Jang Chaeyeon gently grabs my arm.
"Let's go."
What has to happen to turn people into that?
Before leaving, I glance above his head.
[Name: Factory]
[Age: 21 years old]
[Traits: Factory]
[Talents: None]
[Background: Those who lose to ghosts in battle become ghosts themselves.]
[Weakness: Must find the lost heart.]
21 years old?
I confirm the face of the man aged beyond his years, then follow Jang Chaeyeon.
*
We search every nook and cranny for the other three.
"Jaeheon!"
-Bang!
A hole punches through Yoo Daon's forehead as she greets me happily, and she vanishes with her laughter.
Sometimes clones appear to us too, but each time, I identify them, and the two smash them with their powers or shoot them in the head without hesitation.
"Where the hell are they?"
"Beats me."
-Craaack!
Mid-conversation, we tense up at the sound again.
The noise started right after recognizing the "Factory" object.
It felt like the moment we acknowledged it, it integrated into this maze.
"Quiet this time too—"
"Hey, what's that?"
"...No idea."
Song Arin and Yoo Daon's voices come from beyond the wall, near the Factory, cutting me off.
Song Arin's voice is full of caution, Yoo Daon's a bit low.
"...Hypnosis is working?"
"...Human?"
Just from the talk, they sound real.
The three of us approach slowly, and soon Yoo Daon speaks sharply.
"Someone's coming. Footsteps, three. ...Huh?"
She briefs hurriedly, then mutters in a dazed voice at the end, sniffs the air, and shouts brightly.
"Jaeheon? It smells like you! Right?"
"...Yeah."
No way, she found me by smell?
"We're right here—"
-Splat!
As she starts to say something, mud splats, and Song Arin yells urgently.
"Hey! It saw us!"
"Save..."
-Crack!
Something huge. Like a spine snapping, and Yoo Daon and Song Arin gasp.
"Chaeyeon. Break the wall now."
"Okay."
She reaches for the wall at my words, and it crumbles—
...
It stops.
"...Won't break."
Like last time, she doesn't seem to have the strength to shatter rock.
"Then hurry and toss me and Ailin over."
"Behind that wall?"
"Now."
She hesitates at my words, looks at me worriedly, and says.
"Land carefully."
Then my body floats up.
But instead of a safe flight, I'm launched over the wall,
"Stop!!!"
And land right in front of the screaming old man.
Behind him, Yoo Daon holds a sharp glass shard, blood dripping from her hand—who knows where she got it—and Song Arin stands behind her.
"Hey! You— Agh!"
Yoo Daon kicks Song Arin, who yells with wide eyes, shoving her aside,
-Kwach!
Then leaps in, grabs the old man's neck as he starts chewing her right arm, and savagely slashes his throat with the glass shard.
-Crunch, crunch...!
Her right arm makes gruesome noises, but she ignores it, stabbing his neck expressionlessly over and over,
Soon, blood sprays from his neck, and I draw my gun and shoot him.
-Bang!
"Stop...!"
The Factory backs away, releasing his teeth from Yoo Daon with a scream.
"Jaeheon!"
She tosses the blood-soaked glass shard aside and grins at me.
Her hand and arm are already spotless white skin, no scars.
"We—"
-Kwach!
Before she finishes, her head vanishes in a spray of blood.
"-were looking for you!"
Her neck reforms like nothing happened, and she smiles at me.
-Clack! Clack!
The Factory, mouth agape trying to chew something, just clashes its teeth together.