The Hill That Steals the Five Senses (4)
Survive for 29 hours.
If you endure 29 hours, you will return to reality.
However, several lethal dangers exist in this location. Please review the following carefully to ensure your safety.
1. The Cold
The ambient temperature of this zone is −1°C. Beware of hypothermia.
2. 「Ant Silk」
White strands coated in viscous mucus, scattered between the trees and across the trails. Their powerful adhesive clings easily to clothing and skin, and they are so tough that even knives or scissors struggle to cut them.
Melting them with fire is possible, but a common lighter will produce little meaningful effect.
If 「Ant Silk」 attaches to your body, escape immediately — even if it means cutting away your clothing or skin. Flailing at the strand in an attempt to tear it off will only tangle you further.
Those caught by 「Ant Silk」 will not return to reality, even after the 29 hours have elapsed.
Furthermore, contact between 「Ant Silk」 and bare skin may trigger bodily mutation.
3. 「Executioner Ants」
「Executioner Ants」 are Hazard Entities that roam this hill, biting humans to death. They take the form of ants reaching 1.8 meters in body length, distinguished by massively developed sickle-shaped mandibles capable of shearing through human bone with ease.
There are 28 such entities in total, and they treat humans as prey and hunt them accordingly.
The detection radius of a 「Executioner Ant」 is approximately 100 meters. Given that the total area of this Special Zone is 2 km², nearly every location within it falls inside a detection range.
Two grown adults working together can kill a 「Executioner Ant」, but such action is not recommended.
1. Locate the 「242 stone pagodas」 scattered throughout the Ant Hill.
2. Touching a 「stone pagoda」 will brand your wrist with a red mark. Only one brand may be inscribed per pagoda, and the pagoda that grants a brand will collapse.
3. 「Executioner Ants」 cannot attack anyone bearing this brand. However, the brand's duration ranges from a minimum of 21 minutes to a maximum of 50 minutes.
4. Before your brand fades, find a new 「stone pagoda」 and renew it.
5. Repeat this process for 29 hours and survive the 「Executioner Ants」.
In short: a deadly game of tag. We had to find the 「stone pagodas」 while dodging traps and monsters, ceaselessly, for 29 hours — and with one of our five senses stripped away the entire time. Which sense got taken made an enormous difference to your odds of survival, and losing your sight in particular turned the situation into something close to despair.
"Well, I can't see a thing."
And of all people, Chief Kwon Mu-seop had drawn the short straw.
-Ant No. 6 has already picked up your scent and is closing in. Move to a 「stone pagoda」 for now.
As if that weren't bad enough, the hunt had begun.
-The nearest 「stone pagoda」 is 80 meters from your current position. The next one after that is another 130 meters beyond it.
"Chief, take my hand."
I grabbed Kwon Mu-seop's arm and hauled on it in desperation, but he was carrying so much gear that he couldn't properly get to his feet.
"No, it's fine. I'll get up on my own."
Looking vaguely embarrassed, Kwon Mu-seop steadied himself and rose alone. Then—
"Chief, on your—!"
Thud!
He cracked his head against a tree and sank right back down. This was bad. What were we supposed to do about this?
As I fidgeted anxiously, Yoon Woo-jeong spoke up.
-Do-woon, if the Chief is slowing you down, you can just leave him behind.
"You're joking, right?"
I stared back at her in flat disbelief, and Kwon Mu-seop chuckled sheepishly.
"Quit teasing him, Deputy Chief. Do-woon's taking this seriously."
That remark was somehow even more absurd. The man couldn't even stand up on his own, and he had the nerve to—
"Do-woon, put this on first."
With everything on the line, Kwon Mu-seop rummaged through his pack and pulled something out. It was a lightweight padded jacket.
"It's below freezing here. You need to keep your body temperature up."
For the exact item we suddenly needed to materialize out of his bag left me a little dazed. I layered the jacket under my vest and offered Kwon Mu-seop my hand again.
"I'll support you from the side this time."
"Hmm, you're making me feel a bit old, fussing over me like this…"
-Look at that, senior citizen discounts already.
"See? This one's clearly built to last."
Yoon Woo-jeong needled him without end. Kwon Mu-seop cracked jokes without end. Nobody here seemed to have read the room. Was this really the time to be playing it cool? What exactly were they placing their confidence in—
"Deputy Chief, you can set our bearings, right?"
-Oh my, putting me to work at this hour. Turn on your body cams.
As Kwon Mu-seop stood up again, he switched on the body cam clipped to his chest, then asked Yoon Woo-jeong:
"You said Ant No. 6 earlier, right?"
-Yes. Your current position is Sector D-6.
"Then that'd be the entrance to the walking trail."
-Time to stretch those legs. Straight ahead, two o'clock.
"Do-woon, let's go."
Finishing the exchange, Kwon Mu-seop took a long, sure stride forward — and then broke into an outright run.
What?
I scrambled after him in shock. At first I trailed after him clumsily, then quickly panicked and sprinted flat-out — and even then, all I managed was to keep pace with him.
Impossible. He's actually running?
Was the whole "I can't see a thing" thing a joke after all? The instant that suspicion crossed my mind—
Crash!
Kwon Mu-seop, running ahead of me, caught his foot on a tree root and went sprawling.
"Deputy Chief…"
-Ah, sorry about that. I was taking a sip of water.
He picked himself up with a sigh. You'd think one fall would at least make him cautious, but he immediately took off again at exactly the same speed. I was far too busy chasing him to catch him.
-Keep going straight. Upcoming stone stairway, ascending. Turn at eleven o'clock, five meters ahead.
Yoon Woo-jeong guided us like a human GPS, and Kwon Mu-seop pressed on without pause.
-Halt!
Screeech—!
Kwon Mu-seop stopped dead, boots grinding against the gravel, and asked back in a voice utterly unruffled:
"What is it?"
-Ant No. 8 is approaching, and it's fast.
"How fast?"
-I don't think you have time to hit two 「stone pagodas」.
"Then we'll take one first."
Completely unbothered by the oncoming 「Ant」, Kwon Mu-seop ran on. We climbed the hillside behind him, and before long a small stone pagoda came into view — the kind you'd see on any mountain path, a few small stones stacked atop a large one.
"Do-woon, touch it."
I wanted to yield the first touch to the man who couldn't see, but I was too busy gasping for breath to have the grace for it. I did as I was told and laid my hand on the 「stone pagoda」. It crumbled away like dust, and a red band appeared on my wrist — a mark like a rope bound tight. So this was the brand.
Now I was safe, even if an 「Ant」 showed up. The problem was Chief Kwon Mu-seop, but there was no time to ask what he intended to do.
"Deputy Chief. Give me the direction and distance on No. 6 and No. 8."
-No. 6 is at seven o'clock, 130 meters. No. 8 is at ten o'clock, 60 meters.
"Keep feeding me No. 8's position."
Kwon Mu-seop spoke with perfect calm as he set down his pack, then drew out something like a thick cylindrical rod and fitted it to the muzzle of his gun.
Is that a suppressor?
-24 meters. 22. 19. 17…
Through it all, Ant No. 8 narrowed the distance by the second.
Rustle—
At the sound of it finally reaching us, I looked up. It was there on the ridge above. It was, quite literally, an ant — an ant enlarged to monstrous scale, like a sculpture by an artist with terrifying observational skill. Waving antennae like steel rebar, the 「Ant」 came charging straight at us.
"Chief—!"
Pfft—!
The instant I opened my mouth to shout, one of the 「Ant」's eyes burst. Pfft— pfft-pfft-pfft—! Muffled reports followed, one after another: legs blew off, its head ruptured, and the 「Ant」 was riddled into something like a honeycomb. Kwon Mu-seop was calmly picking it apart, shot after shot, through his suppressed rifle.
Still dazed, I looked back and forth between him and the dying 「Ant」. Yes, the Deputy Chief had given him the bearing and distance. But even so, come on…
-Ant No. 8: silenced.
Only at Yoon Woo-jeong's declaration did Kwon Mu-seop stop firing. As he casually shook the smoke off the suppressor, I stared at him, flabbergasted.
"Chief."
"Yeah?"
"You genuinely can't see, correct?"
"Why on earth would I lie about that?"
Kwon Mu-seop burst out laughing, and Yoon Woo-jeong cut in.
-At this rate, we can afford to save some 「stone pagodas」.
"Right? It's been a while, so I was a little worried, but this is going better than expected."
Their breezy confidence only deepened my confusion. Whether they'd read the look on my face or not, Yoon Woo-jeong snickered.
-Do-woon, this place used to be the Chief's personal front yard.
"His front yard?"
-He had this sector back when he was a team leader. And back then the Ants didn't vanish into the floor like they do now, so he came and went here like it was his own house.
I see…
-Chief, Ant No. 6, seven o'clock, 30 meters.
Yoon Woo-jeong dropped the small talk and called it in.
Pfft-pfft-pfft-pfft-pfft—!
Another 「Ant」 turned into honeycomb. Once could be a fluke, sure. But stringing kills together like this—
-Still alive, Chief?
"Hahaha, in what sense?"
-Ugh, your skill, obviously. What else would I mean?
"Are No. 7 and No. 9 coming too?"
-Yeah, they've completely lost it and are sprinting flat out. Call it three minutes for one, nine for the other.
Two grown adults working together can kill a 「Executioner Ant」, but such action is not recommended.
「Executioner Ants」 are linked together in numerical order. When one is attacked or killed, the entities linked to it will sense it and attack you.
「Executioner Ants」 had a habit of coordinating and retaliating. But against a human with a gun — against a human who could hit what he couldn't even see — well, honestly? It was an awfully convenient habit. Ants No. 7 and No. 9, come to avenge their kin, ended up boarding the express train to heaven all the same.
They said No. 10 had already departed, and that it would take about fifteen minutes to reach us. Kwon Mu-seop fanned the smoke off the suppressor with his hand and asked:
"Deputy Chief, what time is it?"
-Current time, 1:02 a.m.
"Hmm. So we've slept not quite two hours, then."
Right. We had lain down to sleep a little after eleven.
"Do-woon, want to set this up? I can't see, you know."
Kwon Mu-seop lowered his gun and passed me the long, slender bundle strapped across his back.
Clank!
A bundle wrapped in waterproof cloth that clinked with metal. Inside, the skeleton of something waited to be assembled: a one-person lightweight tent.
"Pitch that and sleep four more hours. That's the only way we last all 29."
"Chief… you knew we'd be dragged here?"
"Of course not."
"Then how do you—"
I couldn't finish the sentence, my eyes darting between Kwon Mu-seop and the tent. Kwon Mu-seop just smiled, his gaze fixed on some distant point, as if he truly couldn't see.
"I've always had good instincts."
Is this something you can explain away with 'instinct'?
Two scenes suddenly floated up in my mind. Kwon Mu-seop's name, listed repeatedly on the monthly outstanding-agent roster. Cha Si-eon snapping to rigid attention whenever Kwon Mu-seop so much as glanced his way.
…Hadn't I been badly misjudging Chief Kwon Mu-seop all this time?
Just then, as if something had occurred to him, Kwon Mu-seop pulled out his notebook — then abruptly froze, his face going grave.
"Wh-what's wrong?"
"I forgot I can't see."
Kwon Mu-seop tucked the notebook away again, looking glum. Chief. Sir. Couldn't you manage just the one thing?
-Chief, better safe than sorry — get your shots in before the next 「stone pagoda」.
"Good call. That's the safer play. Do-woon, the ring Sa-ra gave you works here too. Let's hope we won't need it, but keep it in mind."
Watching Kwon Mu-seop push one task after another into motion, I understood once more. Chief Kwon Mu-seop was neither reckless nor unreliable. He was simply, straightforwardly, a capable man. Capable enough to give his subordinates a free ride even inside a Special Zone.
Feeling as if I'd been put under some kind of spell, I watched his back as he moved out ahead.
We'd been climbing the hill for about ten minutes when—
-Both of you, stop!
At Yoon Woo-jeong's shout, we froze mid-stride.
-There's 「Ant Silk」 ahead.
Ant Silk?
Then, faintly, a whimper drifted through the cold air.
"Please… help me…"