Chapter 11
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: The Secret Archives
-----------------------------------------------------------------
────────────────────────────────────
────────────────────────────────────
Secret Archives
“Was there always a place like this in the library?”
“The school's structure changes at dawn. This is part of that, I guess.”
Considering all the unreal things going on, a secret place like this was bound to exist.
The two doors hidden behind the bookshelf stood side by side. Each had a placard above it.
[Secret Archives 1]
[Secret Archives 2]
‘Not a very subtle secret place, is it?’
Dayeon approached the first door and inserted a key.
-Click.
Even when she turned the key, the door didn't open.
It was the same with the second door.
-Click, clack.
“See?”
Dayeon turned to me, dangling the key.
“Then isn't that key for somewhere else?”
“No way.”
She shook her head, her tone full of conviction.
“I've checked every locked door in this school. About thirty times.”
“Is that even possible?”
Dayeon didn't answer, just stared at me intently.
I felt the unspoken pressure: don't make me repeat myself.
“You can guess what the result was, can't you...?”
“Well, more or less.”
Dayeon tapped the door to the Secret Archives.
“This door is a puzzle. The clue is that warning.”
With an alluring gesture, she pointed to the warning.
[When the minds of two become one, the door shall open.]
“So, what does that mean?”
“You figure it out.”
“Me?”
Dayeon shook her head as if annoyed.
Her eyes seemed to say, *Do I have to explain every little thing to you?*
“This is a test. If you want to team up with me and escape, prove your worth.”
A test.
The word came out of nowhere.
I wondered why she was acting this way.
“Why do I have to take a test?”
“Curious?”
Dayeon stealthily approached me. Then, as if about to embrace me, she thrust her face close.
Flustered, I tried to step back.
But Dayeon grabbed my uniform sleeve tightly so I couldn't escape.
Then she extended her index finger and lightly traced it along my neck.
A ticklish, electric sensation ran through me.
I unknowingly gasped.
‘Hhup…’
Dayeon observed my reaction before finally stepping back.
“You are a pervert.”
“I'm not.”
“Is that the face of someone who's not a pervert?”
“...Shut up, and just answer my question.”
The question returned to the original point.
Dayeon wouldn't reveal the solution to the Secret Archives.
She would only watch, under the pretext of a test.
“You can't escape this harsh school with ordinary guts. So, I'm checking if you're qualified.”
“What if I fail the test?”
“Can't be helped. We'll just give up on escaping and live here together forever.”
Her tone was perfectly calm, but the words themselves were chilling.
“...I'd rather die.”
“You can't die even if you want to. You'll remain in this school forever, living a tedious life.”
“But then you can't escape either.”
According to Dayeon, she couldn't escape the school alone. That was also why she'd been trapped here for ten years.
Yet, Dayeon had declared she wouldn't cooperate if I didn't pass her test.
“Didn't you want to escape, too?”
“...”
Asked so directly, Dayeon fell silent.
She twirled her hair, feigning indifference. Just as I was about to respond to that,
“It doesn't matter.”
Dayeon gave a rather unexpected answer.
“What?”
“It doesn't matter, whether I escape the school or stay here.”
She still maintained her expressionless face.
She didn't seem to be lying.
“You said you've been in this school for ten years,”
“Yeah. Ten years and thirty-two days, to be exact.”
“But you don't want to leave?”
“...I never said that. I said it doesn't matter whether I leave or not.”
Isn't that the same thing?
Honestly, I was skeptical. Seeing my confused expression, Dayeon continued.
“At first, I desperately wanted to escape this school too. I wandered around, trembling. The memory's faint now, though.”
A trembling Jin Dayeon.
I couldn't even imagine it.
‘So she used to have emotions, huh.’
I pictured Dayeon hiding from the security guard in a cleaning supply closet, whimpering.
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
The echoing footsteps. And Jin Dayeon, covering her mouth, streams of tears pouring down.
‘Hmm.’
It was so different from how she was now that it felt surreal.
“Don't get any weird ideas.”
“I didn't do anything.”
“I can tell just by looking at your face.”
“...So why did you bring up the past?”
I tried my best to avoid her glare.
Dayeon shook her head.
Then she continued her explanation.
“Like that, I made it to this library. But I couldn't go any further.”
“Because you couldn't solve the puzzle?”
“Right. I was frustrated at first, but after a while, I got used to it.”
The "getting used to it" that Dayeon mentioned sounded different to my ears.
‘She's lost it.’
Not "lost it" in a figurative sense. Her mind had broken, and she'd gone mad.
“A day, two days, a week, a month, a year... as time passed, I completely adapted to life here.”
Dayeon's expression was as calm as a doll's.
Is this what it takes to become one with this insane school?
“I'm not happy, nor sad. Not surprised, nor anxious.”
“You've completely adapted to school life.”
“I guess so. Thanks for the compliment.”
...It wasn't a compliment.
Dayeon gave a light shrug.
Did her social awareness disappear along with her emotions?
“Living here, a thought suddenly struck me. Do I really want to escape this school? After thinking about it, I realized I didn't really feel that way. So I gave up.”
I could guess what she meant by "gave up."
She probably stopped self-harming around then.
“So, what will you do? Escape? Or... live together?”
“...Don't say 'live together.' It sounds weird.”
“It's not exactly wrong, though.”
Dayeon tilted her head.
“So, your answer?”
Answer or not.
There was only ever one choice.
I answered as if it were obvious.
“Escape.”
“The reason?”
“Because I don't want to end up crazy like you.”
“A fine answer.”
With those last words, Dayeon whipped her head around and returned to the desk she'd been sitting at.
Then, she glanced at me and said.
“Tell me when you've solved the puzzle.”
She immediately opened her book. It was the same one she was reading when I first entered the library.
‘So she's not going to help, telling me to solve it myself.’
I understood the situation.
I walked up to the Secret Archives.
The two doors stood there imposingly.
[Secret Archives 1]
[Secret Archives 2]
-Click, clack.
Both were locked.
I read the warning posted in the center.
[When the minds of two become one, the door shall open.]
Combining two into one.
That seemed to be the gist of it.
‘Two become one, huh.’
What object in this library only comes in a pair? I thought for a moment.
‘...It can't be people, right?’
I glanced over at Dayeon.
She was reading her book nonchalantly.
Her face was, as expected, expressionless.
Of course, it had nothing to do with the book.
It was just that she'd gone mad and lost her emotions.
“Is there something on my face?”
“...Never mind.”
I must have been staring for too long.
I managed to shake off the impure thought.
‘Then there's only one thing left.’
I opened my inventory and took out Key No. 2.
It was the key I'd received from the archives.
[Key No. 2]
【A small key. The number 2 is etched on its surface.】
Dayeon had a key like this, too.
I remembered she'd found it by searching the central drawer in the library.
And unlike my key, which was engraved with a 2, hers had a 1.
Key No. 1 and Key No. 2. It was easy to guess what they signified.
[Secret Archives 1]
[Secret Archives 2]
‘This must be it.’
Each key is for its corresponding door.
The circumstances fit perfectly.
All that was left was the hidden message in the warning.
[When the minds of two become one, the door shall open.]
Usually, messages like this are written abstractly. This was no different.
My interpretation of the warning was as follows:
Insert the correct key into each door and turn them simultaneously.
Only then will the doors open.
The reason Dayeon couldn't solve this puzzle for the past ten years. Because she was alone.
Dayeon had definitely said it.
That she couldn't escape the school alone.
As long as this puzzle required two people, she would never have been able to open these doors.
‘And she must have fallen into despair.’
Waiting endlessly for someone to arrive before the unopening doors, she went mad.
That was Jin Dayeon's tragic end.
‘A perfect deduction.’
Even I had to admit, it was a perfect interpretation.
I was just about to go to Dayeon and suggest we open the doors at the same time.
But for some reason, I felt uneasy.
It was that feeling you get when you leave the house and wonder if you left the stove on.
I went over everything again to see if I'd missed something.
‘First, Key No. 2.’
[Key No. 2]
【A small key. The number 2 is etched on its surface.】
The item description, for one.
There was nothing unusual about it.
But one thing was suspicious.
‘Why doesn't it say what it's used for?’
Normally, a key's description clearly states its purpose.
Like the Art Room Key, it should specify which place it's connected to.
But Key No. 2 didn't.
It was just labeled "A small key."
The background information was lacking. If so, Key No. 1 must be the same.
‘I need to see the description for Key No. 1.’
But I didn't have Key No. 1.
Once again, I looked toward the desk.
Dayeon was still engrossed in her book.
Seeing that she didn't even glance my way, it seemed she didn't care whether I solved the puzzle or not.
‘Was she like this earlier?’
A sense of déjà vu washed over me.
When we first found the Secret Archives, Dayeon had used Key No. 1 on the door.
Of course, it didn't open, but it made me think that these keys were for the archives.
She'd said something about checking all thirty locked doors in the school.
And then she immediately declared it a test and demanded I solve the puzzle.
Dayeon's intentions were puzzling.
It was like... as if...
‘She led me to believe that the doors would open if we turned the keys at the same time.’
If Dayeon was lying, my entire hypothesis falls apart.
The truth is that Key No. 1 and Key No. 2 are used somewhere else,
and the real key to open the archives exists somewhere else.
...something like that.
‘Nah, no way.’
For now, it was just a suspicion.
I couldn't make a decision based on circumstantial evidence alone.
I needed clear proof.
The answer had to be in Key No. 1.
I walked over to Dayeon's desk.
“Finished already?”
Dayeon didn't even look at me, her eyes fixed on her book.
This just confirmed my suspicions.
“Why don't you look at me?”
I snatched the book she was reading.
Unsurprised, Dayeon just blinked blankly.
“It was just getting to the good part.”
“You can't feel 'good parts' anyway.”
“True. You know me well.”
Dayeon replied nonchalantly. She blinked, staring blankly at my face.
Her expression asked why I'd come to her.
“Did you find the solution to the puzzle?”
“No, not yet.”
“Then you don't have time to be fooling around with me.”
“Cut the chatter and just give it to me.”
I held out my hand. As I presented my palm, Dayeon tilted her head.
“My hand?”
And then she placed her hand on mine.
A warm, soft sensation slowly spread through my palm.
“Is this enough?”
“...That's not what I meant.”
I hastily pulled my hand back.
The thought, *Wow, so this is what a girl's hand feels like,* briefly crossed my mind, but I forced it away.
“Then what do you want?”
“The key. Key No. 1.”
“Oh, this?”
Dayeon took a small key from her pocket.
The number 1 was engraved on its surface.
It was definitely Key No. 1.
“Hurry up and give it.”
I beckoned with my hand, urging her to hurry.
But Dayeon didn't seem inclined to hand it over.
“Hmm, should I or shouldn't I?”
“You said I didn't have time to waste. Just give it.”
Dayeon held the key between her thumb and index finger, wiggling it gently.
“Ah, I know.”
As if she'd thought of something, she repositioned the key.
And then she placed the key between her thighs.
“If you want it, come and get it.”
The small key was nestled between her white legs. To get it, I'd have to reach in there.
‘...She thinks I wouldn't dare.’
I opened the book and placed it on her lap. Then I quickly closed it, snatching only the key.
[You have acquired Key No. 1.]
‘Got it.’
Dayeon made a sound as if to say, "Not bad."
“I thought you were just a pervert, but I guess not.”
“I told you, I'm not a pervert.”
I casually ignored her and took out the key. It was slightly warm.
‘Let's see here.’
I immediately brought up the detailed description for Key No. 1.
Reading it, I couldn't help but let out a dry laugh.
‘...I knew it.’