The Museum of Oz (2)

I closed the leaflet after reading every line of text on the quest.

'From what I saw earlier, the inside of the glass cases was empty. So that means I'm supposed to put the characters of this work on display, then.'

If this floor's world was set long after the events of the original, the Lion would already be dead.

Most likely he'd survive only as a taxidermy piece or a model.

'But since this is a quest the Tower issued, it might not take the original form at all.'

I swept my eyes across the warehouse's exhibits as I searched for the Cowardly Lion.

Even if it wasn't his stuffed body or a figurine, anything at all that carried his meaning would do.

"Nothing…."

Why? Why isn't it here?

'Forget the Lion—I can't find the Scarecrow or the Tin Woodman either. Not even Dorothy or the witches. No one.'

Gilt-framed paintings and ancient tomes. Even film reels.

Amid all these works from every field imaginable, anything that evoked The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was conspicuously absent.

"Well, at least there's no time limit, so—"

KRAKOOM-!!

At that moment, a colossal roar erupted from outside the warehouse.

The ground shuddered, the old tent flapped violently, and dust came pouring down.

"Khhack!!"

Coughing, I went out toward the source of the noise.

"Haah…."

An enormous hourglass had fallen on top of one of the partition walls.

Just like Dorothy's house, swept away by a tornado.

Several partition walls, like table legs, were barely propping the hourglass up.

True to the concept, it was shaped like an hourglass, but what filled it was powdered emerald.

'Well, the wall didn't break, so it won't get in the way of my route.'

Sssshhh-

What I should have done was not console myself with that mutter about there being no time limit.

The emerald powder was slipping down through a narrow channel below.

'Hurry—I have to run.'

Since I was out of the warehouse anyway, I darted down a side path to check which exhibits I needed to collect.

My first priority was figuring out how many glass cases there were and which characters counted as exhibits.

"Whew, hah…."

I ran around like a madman, hunting for the hidden glass cases.

There were three in total. The names engraved on the silver plates were Dorothy's companions.

'Thankfully, among the main characters, only Dorothy's friends are on display in this museum.'

It was a relief the witches hadn't been included among the exhibits either.

I ran back to the glass case where the Cowardly Lion was supposed to be. That side path led straight to the warehouse, after all.

The moment I was about to step into the warehouse, the silver plate flared so violently it stabbed at my eyes.

Furrowing my brow, I absently touched the plate reading 'Cowardly Lion' again.

"Sniff, hnn… it's gone."

"?!"

The instant my palm made contact, a growl mingled with weeping echoed through the air.

Just as Oz's ritual had manifested as sound earlier, this time the Cowardly Lion's voice came through.

"Hnngh! Once you're already dead, the body doesn't matter anymore. That thing that changed me—that's all I am…!"

"…If you mean what changed you—courage, then?"

"Yes! Hnn, Curator. Please find my courage!! My courage—"

'So it's confirmed—I don't need to find the Lion's body itself.'

"Courage, then. Got it."

I left the weeping Lion behind and hurried into the warehouse.

There was no need to listen to any more of his sobbing.

Back in the warehouse.

"Docent. What did Oz give the Lion for his courage?"

Ssssshh-

"What a total con."

A hollow laugh escaped me the moment I read the description on the leaflet.

If the author intended to demonstrate the power of the placebo effect, I had nothing to say.

'So this time too, even if it's fake, I just need to fool the Lion well enough—right?'

I had to find a potion, or else an object that symbolized courage.

Just then, a glass vial slightly hidden behind a Buddha statue caught my eye.

A yellow liquid mixed with orange powder was sealed inside.

I shoved the statue aside and picked the vial up with my hand.

Ssssshh-

The moment I grasped the vial, the leaflet unfolded to show the material's description.

Apollo was the god of the sun and music—and also of medicine.

Going by that description, this potion could help the Lion, but….

'Let me think a little more.'

Shaking my head, I closed the leaflet with my hand and made it vanish.

I still had plenty of time, so I decided to dig through the exhibits a little longer.

Ssssshh-

'This warehouse is hiding items connected to the quests I've already been through.'

Apollo, Zeus. Even the Skeleton Monster.

All of them were materials tied to characters who'd appeared on the floors below.

'Which means I should be recalling the quests I've cleared for something connected to the Cowardly Lion—'

Perhaps because I was so deep in thought, retracing the past quests in my mind,

I absentmindedly shoved an exhibit far too hard.

One of the exhibits packed into the display case toppled over like a bowling pin and plummeted to the floor.

CRASH-!

"?!!"

"Oh no…."

The scythe, perched on the display shelf, fell to the ground with a sound like shattering porcelain.

And the scythe sprawled on the floor disassembled into fragments of data, vanishing in an instant.

Fortunately, the Scythe of Set didn't seem to have much bearing on this floor's exhibits.

'I need to handle things carefully from now on.'

Judging from the quest's nature, the answer would be an exhibit connected to the previous floors—not something I was seeing here for the first time.

I moved the Potion of Apollo to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a corner of the display case so it wouldn't fall to the floor.

Sssshhh-

I heard the sound of the emerald clock's powder falling.

It was an urgent situation, but I still needed to check how much time remained, so I pushed aside the tent flap and stepped outside.

'Damn it, all this back and forth has my head spinning.'

Still, the clock was so enormous that I could tell the time just by standing at the threshold of the warehouse entrance.

The green powder trickling downward had already piled up considerably.

'About 80% left?'

I had to find not just the Cowardly Lion, but the Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow too.

My steps as I ran back into the warehouse, and my hands rifling through the exhibits, grew more desperate than before.

Clack- clack-

With every exhibit my hand caught, I ran a quick mental check: could this be connected to the Cowardly Lion's courage?

'Courage. The timid Lion needs courage. But courage is an emotion—it can't have a physical form.'

Among the quests I'd been through, which work would evoke courage—

"!"

The moment something squishy brushed against my outstretched hand, deep in my reach, I knew it instinctively.

This was the Cowardly Lion's exhibit.

"…Right. Of course."

Yes—if it's a museum, this approach is closer to the answer.

After all, for visitors who didn't know the original well to solve a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠quiz by connecting it to 'courage'—

"Simpler than I expected. Intuitive, even."

Ssssshh-

To think a red liver, not even bottled, was hiding among the artworks.

'The Cowardly Lion could stand to have his liver grow a little bigger, that's for sure.'

No need to hesitate any longer.

I picked up the damp, squishy liver and dropped it straight into the leaflet.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Once I made my final selection, the Rabbit's Liver appeared in the item slot of the unfolded leaflet.

'So this is how the liver I saw in the Byeoljubujeon quest ends up being used.'

"The tiger is coming down! The tiger comes down!"

The pansori I'd heard during the Sugungga quest echoed briefly in my mind.

The animal that needed this liver wasn't a tiger but a lion—but even so.

Any lion that cried at everything would have a smaller liver than a rabbit.

'While I'm at it, finding the other exhibits along the way will push my route along faster.'

"You must place the exhibit inside the empty glass case before you can select a new item."

"Yes, yes."

The moment I tried to put the other exhibits into the leaflet all at once and carry them over, Oz immediately crushed my plan.

This damned Tower, reading even people's thoughts without permission.

"Yes."

I opened the material window in front of the Cowardly Lion's glass case.

And the instant I took out the Rabbit's Liver, the leaflet issued its final warning.

Courtesy or not, there was no time to be scared or hesitate. I answered on the spot and hurled the liver.

'Wait. Throwing it is right, isn't it?'

Fortunately, the liver floating in midair teleported into the glass case.

"Hnnghhh! It's done! Finally~! My courage has come back!!"

As I let out a sigh of relief, the Cowardly Lion's clearance message rang out.

"Glad to hear it."

"All thanks to the rabbit—a rabbit braver than me, with a liver bigger than mine! I don't even have the confidence to go anywhere near the sea."

Considering the trouble the rabbit had stirred up in Byeoljubujeon, it really was a bold character.

"Still, you're made of parts, so it's fine. Hnn… you're a being created by merging together visitors who were badly frightened, right?"

"…."

"But those visitors feel a little more at ease now too, thanks to you, Curator. What a relief!"

After that cry of relief, the Cowardly Lion fell silent.

I withdrew my momentary, tangled gaze and headed back into the warehouse.

Sssshhh-

'At that rate, maybe 60% left…. That's decent.'

It was fine—at least I now understood how to work through the quest.

What the Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow needed was already all recorded in my Docent.

Let me check it all at once.

Ssssshh-

'A heart and a brain.'

This quest worked by interpreting meaning and making the connection.

There was no need to find an actual heart and brain.

'Even if I can only select one exhibit at a time, I can still find things in advance.'

Once I found something matching either one, I'd leave it in a visible spot.

Thinking over the meaning of heart and brain, I moved my hands with equal speed.

'The Tin Woodman wished for a heart so he could feel emotions like love. The Scarecrow wanted a brain filled with knowledge.'

A material connected to love. The most recent quest I'd been through came to mind.

"Rick. I need to find Rick."

A dog who loved, endlessly, even the master who had abandoned him—yearning for affection.

Rick was love-filled heart itself.

'As I thought, nothing shaped like the dog's original form is in sight.'

I didn't spare a glance for anything unconnected to love or wisdom, and only fumbled blindly with the ambiguous pieces.

Some things only made sense once I checked the material's description through the leaflet.

'…It's about the masters, not Rick.'

Then what's the true exhibit of love?

Snatching up the emerald in its shabby pouch that I'd picked up earlier, I'd rushed to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠check it—only to find Master's Tears, not Rick.

Granted, the masters had loved Rick too, and repented their own actions.

'But that description is about regret. Damn it.'

If Rick's love wasn't the answer, what other loves were there?

There would be devoted loves, like a dog's love for its master, of course.

'But the Tin Woodman got his heart late.'

Emotion gained too late. A love that was never whole from the start, but genuine even if it came late—

Glitter-

"…!"

A gem gleaming just as radiantly as the emerald in that pouch caught my eye.

Not set into any ornament—a rough, raw shard of a jewel, rolling loose around the display cases.

Ssssshh-

The Tin Woodman, or Princess Tunan—both were imperfect, and that's precisely why they resembled each other.