Chapter 19
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Intestines
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Intestines
‘Water?’
I fiddled around the vent. A few drops of liquid had fallen near the entrance.
When I rubbed it with my finger, it stretched out like thick saliva.
It was too sticky and viscous to be water.
I was puzzled because the liquid was on the vent, of all places.
“Hurry up and get in. How long are you going to keep a lady waiting?”
Dayeon urged me on as I hesitated at the entrance.
It seemed she was eager to embark on an unknown journey through the vent.
Does she think she's the star of a spy movie or something?
“Coming.”
I belatedly started crawling in.
My questions about the liquid remained unanswered, but loitering at the entrance wouldn't solve anything.
‘I’ll find out if I go to the end.’
If there was one thing I'd learned from my experiences so far, it was that this school was full of unreal things.
To uncover the vent's secret, I had no choice but to see it with my own eyes.
I entered with the resolve to see whatever was at the end, no matter what.
“If you don't hurry, I'm going on ahead.”
“I'm ready, let's go.”
Dayeon, leading the way, was unusually proactive.
Proving her words weren't just an empty threat, she immediately began crawling inside.
I followed behind Dayeon, crawling in an awkward posture.
‘Why is it so narrow?’
The inside of the vent was extremely cramped and narrow, barely large enough for one person.
It didn't look like this in the game.
As expected, reality was very different from my imagination.
The only silver lining, I suppose, was that it wasn't piled high with decades of dust for the sake of realism.
Memories of the cleaning supply closet came flooding back. Traumatic memories, of course.
Just thinking about it made my throat tighten. It was then that I resolved to go to a hospital first thing after escaping the school.
I inadvertently looked up, and Dayeon's lower half was precariously exposed.
Startled, I quickly averted my gaze. Fortunately, she didn't notice.
Dayeon hadn't noticed my glance.
It was a huge relief. If she had caught me, I couldn't even imagine how she would've treated me.
“It's pretty long.”
“Uh, oh? It is...”
Her sudden muttering caught me off guard.
I'd accidentally stammered like a loser.
Dayeon noticed this change in me with uncanny sharpness. She suddenly stopped in place.
“You saw, didn't you?”
“No.”
“Then do you want to see?”
“No...”
Even without a subject, I pretty much knew what she meant. I immediately denied it vehemently.
But Dayeon didn't seem to believe me.
She subtly covered her skirt and made an 'X' with her fingers.
“Don't look, pervert.”
“I told you, I didn't.”
“I won't show you even if you beg. ...Probably.”
“Please, stop saying weird things.”
She was branding me a pervert out of the blue.
It might sound like an excuse, but I really didn't look.
To be precise, I *almost* saw, but I never actually did. Not even for a second. I swear.
Of course, I had no way to prove it.
Which only made it more frustrating.
Unable to argue, I clenched my jaw.
Dayeon clutched the hem of her skirt with her right hand and continued crawling.
“Now you can't see even if you want to. Too bad for you.”
The tightly held hem of her skirt boasted ironclad security. It was firmly covered so there was no chance of me accidentally seeing anything.
‘If she was going to do this, she should have just covered herself with her right hand from the start...’
And just like that, I was the one treated like a pervert.
Maybe even this situation was one of Dayeon's ploys.
‘Nah, no way.’
If the reason Dayeon had quickly entered the vent was just to create this situation,
then I had been caught firmly in her trap from the moment I set foot in here.
I suddenly looked at Dayeon. Since she was ahead of me, I could only see her back.
Still, it was obvious what kind of expression she'd have on her face.
‘A blank one, probably.’
What on earth was Dayeon, who always maintained the same expression, thinking?
It was impossible for me to even guess.
I put my stray thoughts aside and was about to hurry on.
“Look, I see the exit.”
“Really?”
Dayeon boldly pointed to the end of the vent.
A faint light glimmered not too far away. It really was the exit.
“Are we finally there?”
My back ached from crawling on all fours like a dog this whole time.
I was just happy to be able to escape this god-awful, cramped vent.
I was gathering every last bit of my strength to head for the exit.
“Huh?”
There was a damp puddle of water on the floor of the vent.
It felt a bit gross, but the exit was right there, so I tried to pass over it without much thought.
But this was no ordinary puddle. A sticky, clumpy liquid smeared my hand, making it slick.
“Ugh, what is this?”
It wouldn't wipe off no matter how I tried. A greasy, unpleasant feeling remained distinctly on my hand.
“Is something wrong?”
Dayeon, noticing something was off with me, glanced back. Unlike me, she was perfectly fine.
“You should've told me there was a puddle here. This is gross.”
“A puddle?”
A question mark appeared on Dayeon's face as she looked around.
“I don't understand what you're talking about. Where's the puddle?”
“Can't you see it? It's right here-”
I declared confidently, pointing at the spot I had just touched. But there wasn't even a trace of the puddle.
Only the vent's characteristic metal floor was there.
“No, it was definitely here...”
My lost finger hovered in the air. Wondering if I'd seen wrong, I felt the floor. To my surprise, the puddle was long gone.
“No way.”
“Did you see a mirage or something?”
Dayeon soon turned her head and continued toward the exit. Her reaction just made me feel awkward.
I pointlessly clenched and unclenched my clean right hand. The sticky, unpleasant sensation was still on my hand.
What is this feeling?
Am I slowly going crazy and starting to hallucinate?
I slapped both my cheeks to snap out of it. At this rate, I might go crazy like Jin Dayeon. I'd rather not.
I don't want to live like an emotionless robot.
‘Get a grip.’
After muttering to myself, I took a step toward the exit.
But the scenery inside the vent had changed.
The surroundings were dyed red, as if a crimson light had been turned on.
It felt as if the entire vent was caked in blood.
Moreover, that sticky liquid from before began to seep through the walls.
One drop, two drops.
The dripping liquid trickled down my body. The thick, sticky sensation touched my skin directly.
The slick liquid running down my back snapped me to my senses.
‘This liquid is...’
It was the same as what I saw at the entrance.
The puddle was the same, too.
The mysterious liquid had been slowly seeping out ever since I entered the vent.
“Jin Dayeon!”
I shouted Dayeon's name at the top of my lungs. But all I got was silence.
As if she couldn't hear me, Dayeon continued toward the exit without a single glance back.
‘Dammit.’
Panicked, I tried to hurry. The floor gave way like clay.
The metal floor, which had been perfectly fine just moments ago, began to turn soft and mushy.
The floor buckled so much that even taking a single step was a struggle.
“Damn it all.”
A slick mucus slid down the outer walls.
The passage toward the exit was covered in the sticky mucus, trapping my ankles.
It bound me tightly, as if trying to keep me from escaping.
A passage smeared in red.
A soft and squishy floor.
A mysterious, sticky mucus.
A grotesque scene unfolded before my eyes.
Seeing this, it was clear this was no longer a vent.
“You could at least explain what the hell is going on...!”
I have to get out of this horrible place. Fast.
I pushed forward, struggling across the slick, mushy floor.
The closer I got to the exit, the stronger a strange smell became.
The stench of blood and rotting food assaulted my nostrils. I naturally gagged.
“Ugh, what the hell is this place?”
I pinched my nose and forged through the carnage.
How should I put it? This passage was on a different level than simply 'bizarre'.
It boasted a strangeness akin to exploring the inside of a human body part.
Every step on the hot, soft, and sticky floor made me want to vomit.
Unable to look at the scene with my eyes wide open, I squinted to see the path ahead.
‘Just a little further to the exit...’
I crawled with all my might, trying to soothe my stomach churning with bile.
The light is getting closer.
A little more and I'll be out.
I crawled desperately and blindly, driven solely by the will to live.
‘I made it!’
I finally reached the source of the light.
I was reaching my hand out of the exit.
-Squeeeeze!
The vent suddenly began to shrink, enveloping my entire body.
It sealed around me like tough, elastic rubber hide.
“Ghk, keok...!”
It even sealed my nose and mouth, tightening its grip. I couldn't breathe. I was frozen in place, unable to move a single step.
‘I could have survived if I just went a little further...’
My airway was completely blocked, and the pain was excruciating.
I couldn't even move my body.
Ah, am I going to die like this?
As I felt the despairing agony of suffocation, my consciousness began to fade.
Someone from outside the exit grabbed my hand. They pulled with enough force to rip my arm off.
-Ruuuumble!
I was pulled out instantly, offering no resistance. I had finally escaped the horrid vent that was like a pig's intestine.
“Kahak! Keck-keck!”
I belatedly gasped for breath.
I thought I was going to suffocate.
I was clutching my dizzy head, hovering on the brink of death.
“Are you okay?”
Dayeon asked about my condition nonchalantly.
She must have been the one who pulled me out.
To think she'd be the one to save my life...
The fact that Dayeon was by my side was both surprising and reassuring.
“I thought I was a goner...”
I slumped against the wall, collapsing into a sitting position.
I'd used up all my energy struggling for my life just now. I lay sprawled out, without the strength to even lift a finger.
“Are you dead?”
“Not dead. I can't die, it'd be too frustrating before I escape this school.”
“Heeh, that's impressive.”
I sounded confident, but my body was in terrible shape.
My vision swam as if I were carsick.
It felt like all the fatigue from wandering around the school was hitting me at once.
I desperately held onto my consciousness, which felt like it would slip away if I let my guard down for even a second.
“...What about the vent?”
“See for yourself.”
Dayeon pointed to where we'd just come from.
-Shriiiink!
The vent, dyed red and mushy, writhed with mucus.
It began to shrivel rapidly like a deflating balloon, its volume gradually decreasing.
Finally, a curvy, pinkish balloon was left in the vent's place.
And a message popped up.
[You have acquired Intestines.]
“Fucking hell...”
Intestines.
The identity of the heinous monster that had just tried to kill me was mere intestines.
It was so absurd that a hollow laugh escaped me.
“Ha, haha...”
With that, the thread of tension snapped.
My exhausted body had reached its limit.
So my body naturally tilted to the side. By the time I realized it, it was too late.
‘Huh?’
Before I could even steady myself, my vision went black,
Thud.
And just like that, I passed out.