Remembering Sisyphus (5)
I'd gathered everyone and finished explaining.
Not everyone in the world was cooperative, so it took quite a while.
By the time I'd somehow convinced them all, the performance was about to start.
[The performance will begin shortly. Please take your seats, esteemed audience members.]
Second movement.
The lights dimmed gradually.
The surroundings sank into a tomb-like silence.
A spotlight flicked on above the stage.
Applause poured from the empty seats.
The instruments rose once more, beginning to play a melody like a chilling winter wind.
Focus.
I fixed my gaze on the stage.
There wasn't much left to figure out.
Just that one unresolved caution, still a mystery.
So far, the one without clear meaning was number 2.
Never forget that the tragedy that day happened right here, at the Gudaeri Municipal Concert Hall.
The people who died here are extremely angry!
...And right here, there were dead people.
I stared at the heads scattered across the stage.
Just as cautions 1 and 3 related to the instruments, 2 surely connected to those.
Observe. See what happens, how those things get used.
Then compare it.
To the caution itself... and...
To the report.
Once observation ended and the situation was grasped, the rest was simple.
Deduce. That's what I'm best at. My specialty is Office Work. I'm a businessman at Mirae Co., Ltd..
Gather the intel.
The escape method would reveal itself.
I could survive!
Good. Time to watch.
The second movement resembled the first.
A perfectly fine, beautifully ordinary performance.
The orchestra's melody flowed plainly onward.
Yet that plainness felt somehow gaunt, eerie.
I focused not on the music itself or the instruments' motions, but on the conductor.
The mood shift in the first movement came after the baton changed.
It wouldn't be a leap to assume the same here.
The lines the baton traced in the air were delicate.
Refined more than intense, majestic and unhesitating.
That motion changed about ten minutes into the melody.
It changed!
The baton's tip snapped back, pointing at the ceiling.
With that forceful swing, the solo melody shifted to a duet.
The 'instrument' playing the overlaid voice part was a human head.
"Ah— aaagh—! Aaaagh—!"
"Uhheuhheuhhuk—? Hic, uhheuhhuk—?"
"Heuugh. Heuuugh! Heuuuuugh!"
The heads nailed in midair bulged their eyes wide.
Blood-tear streaks ran from below their cheeks— a grotesque sight that turned the stomach.
But.
Even so, this level...
It's bearable?
I was surprised at my own indifference, wondering when I'd adapted this quickly.
That was when it happened.
Bam-bam-bam-bam—! The brass section suddenly blasted a powerful melody.
I startled, eyes widening.
The scene on stage had changed.
Until moments ago, the heads were just instruments.
Eyes, mouths— all mere parts.
But now...
They were instruments and 'heads'.
The bulging eyes swept the audience.
Stage lights dimmed; spotlights hit the seats.
Under one spotlight sat a man in his early thirties.
He widened his eyes, then clamped his hands over his mouth.
He remembers. The warning worked.
But.
The next instant.
My efforts sank like a dinghy wrecked on rocks.
The true meaning of caution 2 revealed itself.
"In the name of Sisyphus—! Confess—! You—! Lee Jae-jun—!"
The head sang.
It was a sentence, and a name.
The man's eyes popped wide.
Lee Jae-jun was the man's name.
Bam-ba-bam—! The brass blared powerfully.
"I know what you did last summer—!"
The head's exposé began.
"Lee Jae-jun—! Age 31, you shoved a colleague aside and fled from the fire—! Because of you, two died, thirteen gravely injured—!"
Aaaaaagh—!
Other head-instruments layered melody over the revelation.
It sounded like the wail of sinners from hell's depths.
"A place awaits you at hell's very bottom—! In the name of Sisyphus—!"
The screaming heads played chorus.
Confess—! Atone—! Accept your sins—! Accept Sisyphus's punishment—!
The baton's tip swept from ceiling toward the sacrifice.
Instruments flew through air to the sinner's side.
The man, Lee Jae-jun, stared in terror at the head before him.
"Confess—! Atone—! Accept your sins—! Accept Sisyphus's punishment—!"
"N-no, that wasn't me... Hup!"
He gasped, startled by the head's shout, mouth opening.
Spurt—! Blood sprayed.
The melody shifted.
The duet turned light, more dance than symphony— like a waltz.
Two heads swam back through the air to the stage.
Only then came realization.
It said to confess sins.
My heart pounded wildly.
Pulsing blood scorched my veins.
It's not over yet.
The baton pointed to the audience again.
Heads launched en masse.
Accusing eyes, furious eyes, hateful eyes.
"In the name of Sisyphus—! Confess—!"
To turn the living into instruments.
"You killed—! Murderer! Ko Kyung-min, you abandoned your comrade and survived alone—!"
"Bad luck? No! Hwang Eun-hye—! You knew! You knew!"
"Kim Young-shin—! Filthy wretch, blood and in-laws mingled—!"
The heads exposing others' sins cried out in unison.
"Confess—! Atone—! Accept your sins—! Accept Sisyphus's punishment—!"
And.
A head flew at me too.
Its forehead met mine.
Cold, veined eyes stared.
"Oh Sung-jin. Betrayed your friend's trust. Treason! Summary execution! Even hell's depths won't open for you!"
A roar that split eardrums.
I knew the gist; the head opened wide again, cheek skin tearing to bare muscle.
The voice cut off.
Spurt—! Blood fountains erupted across the seats.
Heads sprayed blood everywhere, heading to the stage.
Bam—! Bam—! Bam—! Bam—!
Brass at crescendo, strings swaying madly with countless bows.
And above all, the heads nailed in air drew the eye.
They were a choir.
Confess—! Atone—! Accept your sins—!
In the name of the blasphemer who deceived his lord—.
Your sins are forgiven.
From hell's abyssal depths—.
Eternally praising, singing!
Confess—! Atone—! Accept your sins—!
With the shouting heads, stage lights blazed.
The baton flailed divinely; instruments poured passion.
And—.
The baton stopped.
Sound faded.
Leaving an ominous afterecho, then— like a switch flipped— gone.
Lights dimmed.
Then rose again.
From stage to seats.
When that warm, cold light bathed the audience, I realized only three survivors remained.
...Dead.
Everyone except me, the faint-impression woman, and Ko Kyung-min.
All gone.
In deathly silence, during intermission.
We didn't even think to huddle; just sat blankly, staring at the stage.
Blood dripped from the pile of human heads, soaking the stage floor.
The concert hall reeked of red.
The initial chill vanished, as if it had always been this way...
No.
I clenched my fist.
Swung my arm hard, slapping my thigh.
The grim-faced woman flinched, looking at me.
Still dazed.
I raised my fist again, slapped my thigh harder.
Thud—!
Caught.
The woman stared.
She shook her head.
I nodded the opposite.
We rose together, steps heading the same way.
Ko Kyung-min handled it better than me or the woman.
He watched us approach his seat, then spoke.
"...Can you endure the third movement?"
I shook my head silently.
"...We'll use the last resort. Just in case, everyone move to seats beside me."
"Will it be okay?"
"It will. From what I saw earlier, just moving seats doesn't trigger 'that'."
I didn't ask if he was sure.
We three sat simultaneously.
But our actions differed.
Ko Kyung-min loosened his tie, sinking deep into his chair.
The woman trembled violently, clutching her head, sobbing faintly.
And.
And I.
Used my specialty to summon the report.
E-23's educational efficiency applies only to first entry. This is because E-23 induces no emotional disturbance in those with experience.
The emotional disturbance from E-23 is core to its use for training.
This meaningfully boosts trait awakening rates in trainees.
Efficiency peaks in the second movement; data shows decline from the third.
Likely due to third movement's high injury risk even when following the manual, unlike first and second with near-zero risk.
Crunch—.
What the hell do you mean 'near-zero injury risk'?!
Is this... it? Death doesn't count as injury?
Ah, right. Of course! Death's fatality, not injury!
...No. Stay calm. Contextually, this means 'near-zero chance of dying'.
Yes.
I'd missed something.
And it was probably...
In the manual. The pamphlet cautions.
I opened the pamphlet.
Quickly scanned the cautions.
No clear sense yet.
But something hovered, almost visible.
The report said: from second entry, this damn ghost story loses educational value.
Because Remembering Sisyphus no longer stirs emotional disturbance.
Why no disturbance?
...Too easy?
That was the thought.
Like watching a horror movie knowing every ghost jump scare...
Wait.
That's it.
Overcomplicated it.
Brain froze from the first-time slaughter show!
The pamphlet cautions!
We'd misunderstood all along.
Cautions weren't to follow.
To violate!
They say 'do', not 'don't'! Becoming instruments came from following. And...
Everything listed in cautions must happen.
That means?
5. During intermission, cause a disturbance and you'll be ejected!
This!
