Carnival (2)
I knelt beside Jung Ji-soo, who had collapsed to the floor.
“...Does it hurt a lot?”
“Haa, haa. I can… bear it.”
“Your bone’s broken.”
With practiced movements, I fashioned a splint and pressed it against her injury.
“Get on my back.”
“...”
“Ji-soo?”
“B-being carried by a stranger… feels a bit…”
“Excuse me?”
Bewilderment spread across my previously rigid face.
“Heh heh heh, Ji-soo. Then what would you have me do? Leave you here?”
“N-no, that’s not it!”
She quickly wrapped her arms around my neck and climbed onto my back. Her face flushed bright red.
I used to be like that once.
“Min-hee.”
“Yes?”
“If you have any requests, just tell me.”
“...”
“U-um, Mr. Lee Han? M-me! I have a request!”
“I wasn’t talking to you, Ji-soo.”
“...!”
Carrying Jung Ji-soo on my back, I took a step forward. Behind me came Lee Yena, clutching something tightly to her chest. And trailing after her was Iryuk, wiping away tears with his dirty sleeve.
“This is probably the last stop.”
Even though I spoke with hope, anxiety crept over me. Still, I gripped the end of that line and followed.
“Let’s go put an end to this mess.”
The words let’s take a breather first rose all the way to my throat, but I couldn’t bring myself to say them.
I was an outsider beyond the stage. I couldn’t influence anything; I was merely an audience member who laughed and cried at the story unfolding above.
A dizzying world. A hazy, dreamlike reality. A duckweed tossed about by the waves of this disaster.
I stepped forward, following the footsteps of those walking out the gate.
Creak.
Amid a sinister intuition that something had gone terribly wrong, I headed once more toward that place reeking of rot.
I simply… surrendered myself to the flow of events.
So please, let peace await at the end of this wave.
No matter how much of a vampire I am, thinking I’d enjoy grotesque things is a huge mistake. All those ridiculous rumors about me bathing in blood or other horror-story nonsense are completely unfounded.
In that sense, the sight that greeted me the moment I opened the door was more than enough to make me feel revolted.
“Happy happy happy~.”
Along with the noisy drumbeats came an incomprehensible song.
“Thanks for the meal~!”
The freaks who had lost their minds and couldn’t even speak properly just yesterday were now eating food. It would have been a dazzling festival scene—if it hadn’t been a festival of madness made of blood-soaked lights, the groans of the living, and the act of cannibalism.
“Oh my god…”
“It’s the Carnival event that happens on the day we collect the tripled monthly maintenance fee,” Iryuk whispered, his face deeply furrowed.
The space had grown at least three times larger. Intestines hung from the walls and ceiling of the wide corridor like balloons, and the floor was carpeted with pieces of corpses as if welcoming guests. Right then, a voice came from beside us.
“You must be the newcomers. Nice to meet you.”
Unlike the other freaks, this one looked different. His clothes weren’t shabby, and his posture wasn’t hunched. He wore neat attire and a smiling clown mask. My gut feeling was bad.
“Are you looking for the exit?”
Whoosh—
Using short-range teleportation, I moved to his side and immediately grabbed him by the throat.
“Oh dear, was my prediction wrong?”
“Do you know something?”
The man didn’t even pretend to choke. His expression remained hidden behind the mask as he spoke calmly. I didn’t like it.
“There is only one way to leave this space.”
He slowly raised his hand and pried my fingers off his neck. This bastard… his strength was no joke.
“You just need to get approval from the Administrator.”
“So you’re the manager?”
“Of course not. I’m merely his proxy. However, if you’re strong enough to defeat the Collectors, I can at least put in a word for you with him.”
The guy finally shook my hand off and brushed down his clothes with a few pats. A strength that didn’t lose to mine.
“...What do you want?”
“My goodness, why so wary! I can’t hide my sorrow! There’s only one thing I want. For all of you to properly enjoy this festival!”
“...”
The mask he wore rippled, changing into a crying expression as if sorrowful.
“Enjoy at least three contents and then come back. Then I’ll introduce you to the Administrator.”
The mask had already shifted into a fake salesman’s smile.
“Haha, it was wise to aim for Carnival day, but wandering around without direction would be troublesome, wouldn’t it?”
Eavesdropping must be a default feature. What a creepy son of a bitch.
“See you later!”
With those words, he vanished as if sinking into the ground.
“M-Mr. Lee Han! Are we really going to listen to him?”
Min-hee, who had worn an anxious expression the entire time, spoke up.
“We have to.”
I stared intently at the spot where he had disappeared, organizing my thoughts.
“For now, at least.”
A sign right in front of us read Zoo. It didn’t look very big. Was this also one of the contents? Seemed like an easy score.
“Let’s start here.”
The Golems that had chased us like rats just yesterday were now wandering around in relatively decent condition. Bones were scattered all over the paths, making them slippery, and the plants had inexplicable teeth attached to them. Inside the iron cages, humans were either slumped over chained by iron shackles or devouring each other. And the freaks were watching them, drooling.
One of the grinning freaks approached us and spoke. At first glance, it looked like someone walking a dog. Except instead of a dog, it was a human head bouncing around on a leash.
The target was Min-hee.
“Happy Carnival!”
“Happy… Carnival?”
“Are you having a good time?”
“Y-yes…”
“Oh my, how delightful. Let’s be good friends from now on! Here, this is a gift.”
Startled by the sudden knife, I stepped back, but the freak sliced off a chunk of flesh from its own forearm with a schlick.
“I don’t exercise much, so it’s very tender and soft.”
The lump of flesh dripped with blood.
“Ugh.”
…Fuck.
I heard retching from behind.
“You’re not going to eat it?”
“I-I’m full right now…”
“You’re full?”
The freak tilted its head as if it had heard something very strange, then clapped its hands together.
“Then you can just give me a little gift instead.”
Clang.
The blade it drew was blocked by my hand. I knew this would happen. If I killed this thing now, would it draw the attention of the others?
While I hesitated, Jung Ji-soo on my back suddenly held something out.
“H-here. A gift.”
Hair?
“This doesn’t look very tasty…”
“I-it’s a s-special delicacy that only those in the know appreciate?”
The freak pouted in dissatisfaction before eventually leaving, still dripping blood. And as we watched it get devoured alive by another freak not far away, we quickly headed for the exit.
Next was the Concert.
Weeeng—
It was clearly imitating an electric guitar. It was unfortunate that the strings were made of human veins, though.
“Are you ready!”
Even the fan service was thorough. A drum made of unidentified leather beat out a rhythmic pulse, beginning the intro.
“Uwooooooooh.”
It sounded like the roar of a crowd from the deepest pit of hell. At the same time, I felt someone bite down hard on my shoulder.
“Ji-soo?”
“Haa, haa. Mr. Lee Han. You drank a little of my blood last time… Could I drink a little of yours this time?”
“What are you saying right now?”
“I-I’m hungry. I’m so hungry. I know it’s weird… I know… but just a little blood, I’ll hold back after that, please…”
She was gripping so hard that the veins on the back of her hand wrapped around my neck stood out sharply as she trembled.
“Aaaaaaaaah~!”
Along with the main vocalist’s shout that sounded like a scream born from deep inner power, the crowd began tearing each other apart.
“It hurts, I’m hungry, it hurts, I’m hungry.”
“Let me eat…!”
“This hunger… huh?”
Someone who seemed to have briefly regained their senses staggered, and the moment they fell, a swarm of freaks pounced and tore them to shreds.
“Everyone, over here!”
Yena slashed her hand, scattering blood around us. The instant Min-hee and I stepped into the blood barrier—
Whoosh.
Flames erupted, forming a wall.
“Yena!! Even without your ability, you can still do this much?!!”
“...I used too much of the mana inside the blood. I won’t be able to hold it for long.”
The freaks who had been enjoying the frenzied music of eating and being eaten slowly backed away from the flames. It wasn’t ordinary fire—it was exorcising flames that destroyed evil. Those with malice in them couldn’t help but feel instinctive repulsion.
Jung Ji-soo’s ragged breathing inside the barrier of flames gradually calmed.
“There’s no need to be confused. From my observation, this festival called Carnival constantly craves our human flesh.”
That was true. Although Yena’s blood magic had bought us time, the freaks would keep charging until we gave them something.
“I believe that’s what they’re aiming for.”
The body and mind are one. A kind of mind-body monism.
“Therefore, offering one’s body carries the same occult meaning as offering a part of oneself.”
Ah, so that was it. Those who practiced cannibalism under the excuse of food shortage, those who offered their bodies under the threat of cannibals. In the relationship of eating and being eaten, the heart becomes entangled, discarded, and worn down. What is ultimately completed… is a kind of mental chimera.
“You gave them your hair. You might think it’s just hair, but that created a deficiency in you. And this space induces you to fill that deficiency through the act of cannibalism, which is why you felt such extreme hunger just now, Jung Ji-soo…”
Yena spoke with a slightly reluctant tone.
“You seem to have rich emotions, so it may not show immediately, but acts that tamper with human reason are dangerous. It would be best if you didn’t step forward anymore.”
“Y-yes!”
“Still, that was good judgment for an intern agent.”
“!!!”
When the music died down and the flames protecting us extinguished, what appeared was a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. The sight of a corpse with only its jaw left clacking its teeth, still craving human flesh, was utterly horrifying.
“Not fun at all.”
In the middle of the sea of corpses, a man wearing a mask sat casually.
“What? It shouldn’t be time for us to meet yet.”
“You noticed all of that? Strong and smart. I’m incredibly jealous.”
Hmm, maybe it’s Yena and not me.
“Very… very tempting.”
The man smiled leisurely, his gaze fixed on one person.
“Min-hee.”
The man called out to Min-hee. She had been shedding tears nonstop since earlier.
“Isn’t this enough of a deviation?”
“...”
“Our daughter is crying like that.”
“Ugh, ugh. Hic… hic…”
At some point, Hyun-ah, who had been trembling in Yena’s arms, finally burst into tears.
“So you were lying about being the Administrator’s proxy.”
“Ah, not at all. Min-hee is the Administrator here. Can’t a husband act as his wife’s proxy?”
His giggling was disgusting to watch.
“Then Min-hee can just let us out. At least she still has her mind intact.”
“Oh, would you like that, Min-hee? These are the first ones to make it this far—should I let them go?”
Min-hee lifted her face from between her disheveled hair. And at that sight… the corners of the masked man’s mouth rose endlessly.
“Hahaha, but I don’t want to! The greater the person, the more they should become one of us!”
What surfaced on Min-hee’s face was despair. The anger I had been suppressing rose in my throat.
“Couldn’t Min-hee refuse your words?”
“Ah, that child will listen to me. She’s extremely timid, you see.”
The man brought his hand to his mask and slowly removed it. The body of the man, dressed in a neat suit splattered with droplets of blood, swelled explosively. Gray fur covered him. And what appeared from behind the mask was—
The face of a wolf.
A lycanthrope. A werewolf.
“A smart woman doesn’t make pointless bets, right?”
The clan of the Lycans had revealed themselves across the ages.