Chapter 72

Exploration Record for 「Island Where Blood Falls (After Second Awakening)」

Date Written: May 14, 20XX

Author: Cha Si-eon

■ Response Manual for New Pattern “Photo Exhibition” in ‘Area E. Gallery Hall 2’

1. Basic Structure

Long passage form, 4m wide and 450m long.

Approximately 800 black-and-white photographs on the left and right walls.

Subjects are men and women of all ages, presumed to be Korean.

2. Danger Factors

1) New dangerous entity 「Thing Without a Face」

Humanoid dangerous entity.

Face section is cut away, exposing the subcutaneous cross-section of the face.

Hand areas distorted into the forms of blades and deadly weapons.

Normally disguised as photographs among the black-and-white photographs.

When a human enters its attack range, it protrudes from the photograph.

Even when a human is within attack range, it maintains its disguise if watched by the human side, then attacks the moment the gaze is removed.

When in photograph form, it can be identified by distorted facial features, the appearance of a long protruding tongue, black tears flowing, etc.

Can be easily suppressed if the moment it surges out is targeted.

May be difficult for ordinary citizens to respond to.

Take special care when multiple photographs of 「Thing Without a Face」 overlap in one space.

2. Penalty from damaging black-and-white photographs

Confirmed phenomenon of blood flowing from photographs when black-and-white photographs are torn.

Knife damaged upon contact with blood. (Blood Rain?)

Upon tearing 28 black-and-white photographs, returns to the starting point of the exhibition hall.

Do not damage photographs carelessly.

※The same phenomenon of blood flowing was observed when 「Thing Without a Face」 is attacked while in photograph state.

3. Escape Method

Find a military jeep within a black-and-white photograph and tear it.

---

CRASH—!

Cha Si-eon’s knife stabbed into the jeep in the photograph.

At that moment, the 「Things Without a Face」 lunging toward Cha Si-eon lost strength and fell to the floor one after another.

Then they began to soften and melt down.

CREEEAK—!

At that moment, with a small sound of friction, a gap opened in a door that had not been visible until now.

When he pushed that door open, light poured into the dim interior.

Outside was a garden full of sunlight.

“We will rest for 5 minutes, then enter the next area.”

At Cha Si-eon’s words, I merely nodded blankly.

Something had passed in an instant.

I thought I was going to die when monsters with their faces cut off came bursting out.

But to think he would deal with them this quickly and break through.

Somehow dumbfounded, I asked Cha Si-eon,

“How many times have you been in this area?”

“This was my 11th.”

Not 11 minutes, not 11 hours, but the 11th time.

……He really had intended to escape on his own.

Outside, they were all fretting because they did not know whether Cha Si-eon was alive or dead.

But the person himself had been steadily advancing toward the exit while breaking through the stages of each area.

Yes, I acknowledge it. Ms. Baek Sa-ra was right this time too.

I looked at Cha Si-eon, whose eyes were closed, for a moment, then turned my gaze around.

It was a small, neat garden.

A brick path ran beside a flower bed where flowers were blooming, and at the end of it was one door.

It was the door that led to another area.

This garden was the passage connecting one stage to another.

Right now, it maintained a peaceful atmosphere beneath a clear sky, but once 「Blood Rain」 began falling, this place too would turn into a hellscape.

While I looked up at the sky, Cha Si-eon spoke.

“Seo Do-un, did you come out of 「Ant Hill」 on the 12th?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

When I answered and looked to the side, Cha Si-eon still had his eyes closed.

“What was your exact stay time?”

“23 hours and 20 minutes. I entered at 1 a.m. on the 11th and came out a little after midnight on the 12th.”

“So you kept the rest period.”

That was right.

To prevent contamination, anyone who entered and exited a Special Zone had to rest outside for three times the duration of their stay in the Special Zone.

The time I spent in 「Ant Hill」 was 23 hours and 20 minutes.

And I was dragged into this place, the 「Island」, 86 hours after coming out of 「Ant Hill」.

I had not intended it, but it meant I had followed the Bureau’s designated rest period quite well.

Should I call this fortunate, or strangely coincidental……?

“As far as I know, the rest period between escaping the 「National Theater」 and being pulled into 「Ant Hill」 was also kept. Is that correct?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

At Cha Si-eon’s confirmation, my feeling tilted toward the latter, toward strangely coincidental.

As he said, when I entered 「Ant Hill」 after coming out of the 「National Theater」, I had also kept the recommended rest period exactly.

Was this truly coincidence?

Or was it the intention of something that, as Manager Kwon Mu-seop claimed, was “at minimum the enemy of our enemy, and at maximum on our side”?

I wanted to dismiss it as mere coincidence, but look at the current situation.

Immediately after receiving various snacks from Ha Yu-ju, I had been dragged into the Special Zone where Cha Si-eon had gone missing, and even right in front of Team Leader Cha.

Would dismissing this as simple coincidence not be denial of reality……?

“By now, the Bureau should also have recognized that Seo Do-un is here.”

“I suppose so.”

At Cha Si-eon’s dry voice, I nodded.

My location was constantly monitored by the Control Team.

Of course, location tracking might have cut off when I entered this place.

If so, they would first suspect this place, where a communications failure had occurred.

So they would soon realize I was here too.

“But I don’t know whether a rescue team will be able to enter.”

“They will come.”

At my light complaint, Cha Si-eon spoke with certainty.

“So we have to escape first from our side.”

As if taking those words as a signal, Cha Si-eon pushed his back off the wall.

He opened the eyes he had kept closed too, and they were still bloodshot.

They were so red they were almost like a rabbit’s, so I wondered if he was truly all right, but surely he would take care of himself.

In this area, he was far more of an expert than I was.

On top of that, I had already experienced feeling awkward after worrying first for no reason with Manager Kwon Mu-seop.

“Time is up. We will move.”

Cha Si-eon strode ahead.

Right now, the only thing I had to do was quietly follow behind him.

---

■ Response Manual for New Pattern “Light Performance” in ‘Area B. Indoor Concert Hall’

1. Basic Structure

Circular stage 28m in diameter. The floor rotates like the top surface of a spinning top.

6 pin spotlights installed on the ceiling.

The light from the pin spotlights is white in a circular shape 50cm in diameter. It moves continuously while drawing specific patterns.

Phenomenon observed in which white lights cast on the floor change color to orange or blue when 2 or more overlap.

Some kind of switch in a wall gap.

2. Danger Factors

1) White light - burns

White lighting possesses strong heat.

2. Orange light - explosion

When white lighting overlaps and changes to orange, a flame explosion occurs, 50cm in area and 5m in height.

3. Blue light - 「Thing Without a Face」

When white lighting overlaps and changes to blue, 「Thing Without a Face」 appears from the blue light and shows hostile reactions toward humans.

3. Escape Method

When the 6 pin spotlights gather at one point, operate the device in the wall gap.

---

“We will enter the next area in 5 minutes.”

As soon as we left the area, Cha Si-eon recited this.

Then, as he had kept doing before, he leaned his back against the wall and closed his eyes.

I had become fairly used to this situation too, so I roughly sat down on the garden floor.

It had already been 2 hours since I was dragged into the 「Island」.

In that time, we had broken through stages 9 times, and it was not particularly difficult.

Because Cha Si-eon had taken the lead and opened the path.

I had wondered whether, after the Kwon Mu-seop bus, I was riding the Cha Si-eon bus, and that was exactly what was happening.

As expected, traveling with pros really is nice.

Of course, Manager Kwon Mu-seop’s care and Team Leader Cha Si-eon’s treatment of me as baggage were very different in nature.

But compared to rolling around alone as if trying to die, either side was much more humane.

And, hm.

I did not want to acknowledge it if possible, but I think I have to now.

That Cha Si-eon was incredible to an out-of-spec degree.

「Island Where Blood Falls」, having completed its second awakening, had changed considerably, just as the Bureau had expected.

So the existing patterns I had seen in the manual had all disappeared too.

Only the form of the space was more or less the same, while the danger factors and detailed rules had all changed.

But Cha Si-eon had already grasped all those new patterns.

He had found them out by crashing into them with his own body, alone.

I thought he was just someone who sat around acting smug…….

But he actually was amazing…….

Ms. Baek Sa-ra, I think it may be a misunderstanding that Cha Si-eon is keeping me in check.

No matter how I look at it, that person has no reason to feel competitive toward me.

In any case, exploring a Special Zone with Team Leader Cha Si-eon was quite comfortable, just like it had been with Manager Kwon Mu-seop.

However, there was one issue that bothered me too much to simply feel relieved.

“Team Leader Cha, how many times have you cleared areas so far?”

“…….”

I asked a question, but I was ignored.

Cha Si-eon remained silent with his eyes closed, and after flaring up briefly, I let out a sigh.

In 2 hours, we had broken through areas 9 times.

B, C, F, G, and I Areas once each, and E and H Areas twice each.

A, D, and J Areas had not appeared yet.

There were 10 areas in this place in total, and when one area was cleared, the next area was assigned randomly, so the probability of each area appearing was one in 9.

So A Area not having appeared yet was not that absurdly unlucky.

However, this was only from my point of view.

Cha Si-eon had been trapped here for 3 days.

And Team Leader Cha cleared 4 areas per hour.

In fact, he had said he had cleared E Area 11 times.

Then why had he still not escaped?

Of course, at first, he might have wandered while learning the patterns.

While 「Blood Rain」 was falling, his feet might have been tied too.

Even taking that into account, it made no sense.

Until now, Cha Si-eon must have broken through areas dozens of times alone, perhaps even more than that.

Even so, he still had not gotten out. Did that not mean we needed to consider the possibility that A Area had been excluded from this random assignment entirely?

I did not think Cha Si-eon would be unaware of this, so why is there no explanation, you bastard?

It was when I was glaring at the silent Cha Si-eon with dissatisfaction.

“Seo Do-un.”

Cha Si-eon suddenly called me, then asked this.

“Do you have aspirin?”

Aspirin? Does he have a headache or something?

I took the bottle of aspirin from my vest pocket and handed it to Cha Si-eon.

Cha Si-eon opened the medicine bottle, poured out 5 or 6 tablets, and tossed them into his mouth.

No, wait!

Shocked at Cha Si-eon’s drug misuse, I asked,

“Team Leader Cha, are you unwell somewhere?”

“I am fine.”

“If you are fine, why would you take medicine like that…….”

When I asked back, Cha Si-eon looked at me as if I were being bothersome.

But that gaze was also a little strange.

His eyes were insolent as usual, but somehow they also seemed hazy and unfocused.

……No, thinking about it, of course.

Cha Si-eon was not superhuman.

Even if he was incredible in an out-of-spec way, he was still human.

Team Leader Cha Si-eon was overexerting himself right now.

“Team Leader, if you are feeling unwell, please rest properly. It looks like you are overdoing it.”

“There is no time.”

“There are still 12 hours before 「Blood Rain」 falls. It is not urgent right now, so would it not be better to rest even for 1 or 2 hours? If you force yourself to endure no matter what and then collapse, it will be an even bigger problem.”

“I will not collapse, so do not worry.”

“No, why are you so stubborn…….”

“Do you think I am doing this for myself?”

What is this bastard saying out of nowhere?

“If you cannot grasp the situation, simply follow me. That is how you help.”

Cha Si-eon unilaterally ended the conversation and stood.

Then he began striding toward the next area.

“Huh…….”

Ms. Baek Sa-ra, is Team Leader Cha Si-eon’s personality flawed, or is he really especially prickly to me?

In fact, either way, it does not matter.

Because I already hated that bastard from the start.