Chapter 89

CLACK—!

The long spine coiled around the stone pagoda struck against itself and made a sound.

That bone moved as if it were alive, like a snake.

And at its end.

Attached to the end of the skeleton rising so high it seemed to touch the ceiling was a human skull.

Facing that enormous skeleton, I felt my mind being bleached white.

“Hah, haah……!”

My breathing grew ragged on its own.

I did not want to look at that thing any longer, but I could not move.

The only thing possible for me now was to stare at that giant’s skeleton and gasp for breath.

It was then.

Grab—!

Something pulled one of my arms downward.

Thud—!

I, who had barely been standing, collapsed weakly.

Someone pressed my head down with a hand and made me lower it.

“Lower…… your head…….”

A faint voice reached me.

“Hup, haah, hah……!”

Lying face-down on the floor, I barely came to my senses and inhaled.

In that state, I looked at the person holding me.

The one who had pulled me down was a woman.

A woman wearing a thick winter coat, her long hair covering her face, was clasping my hand.

As I stared blankly at that hand, water dripped from my forehead.

It was cold sweat I had shed.

The abdominal pain I had forgotten for a moment in my bewilderment also came rushing back.

Enduring the pain, I tried to figure out where I had been dragged.

This building had a three-floor structure, but the central corridor was vertically open from the first-floor floor to the third-floor ceiling.

A long, wide-open corridor, and a huge stone pagoda placed around the middle of the corridor.

And even a giant entity in the form of white bones coiled around it.

This place was the Quarantine-grade Special Zone, 「National Museum of Korea Where a False God Looks Down」.

I am going insane.

I had definitely been entering the 「Hotel」, so why had I come here?

Was there a problem with the underground stairs connected to the 「Hotel」?

No, that was not it.

If that were the case, Response Team 3 should have come here with me.

The fact that I was here alone meant I had been dragged here while entering the 「Hotel」.

Why on earth? Could this be the doing of that 「Crow」?

First, first I need the earpiece.

Suppressing my confusion, I moved my arm.

No, I tried to move it, then stopped again in frustration.

When I tried to move my body, my chest hurt as if it were being torn apart.

Do not move. Please stay as you are. Do nothing.

It felt as if my entire body was screaming at me.

Terrified, it was urging me to lie face-down as if dead.

I could not defy that command.

Because of that enormous skeleton looking down on me, the 「False God」.

The other people lying face-down on the floor.

Were those people seized by this feeling too?

Then how had this woman pulled me down?

I was full of questions, but I could not resolve any of them.

Lying helplessly face-down, I could only look at the woman’s hand holding mine.

---

How many hours had passed in that state?

RUUUUMBLE—!

A roar poured down over my head.

A terrible reverberation that seemed to make even my brain sway.

I knew what this sound meant and gritted my teeth.

The pressure that had weighed down on my body like gravity had become much fainter.

Realizing I could move now, I tried to straighten my stiff body a little.

“Stay still…….”

But the woman beside me grasped my hand even tighter and whispered.

“You must not…… lift your head…….”

At that moment, a shadow fell over us.

CLACK—!

The sound of bones striking each other came from directly above my crown.

It was the 「False God」.

It was stretching its neck long from the stone pagoda and moving above us.

I held my breath again.

CLACK—! GRIND— GRRRIND—!

Every time the bones struck each other, goosebumps crawled up my spine.

Keeping my body rigid, I watched carefully the movement of the 「False God」 reflected on the glossy marble floor.

After some time.

RUUUUMBLE—!

The 「False God」 roared once more.

Fortunately, it was not above our heads.

I felt the people around me lift their heads.

So I also raised my stiff body and looked over the situation.

The spine of the 「False God」 had descended close above my head.

The distance between that enormous bone and the crown of my head was only about 1m.

Everyone lying face-down in this central corridor was the same, carrying the 「False God」’s spine over their heads.

But the worst situation belonged to the people who had come face-to-face with the 「False God」.

The 「False God」 was peering closely at a group of people gathered in one spot.

Then one among them shouted as if exploding.

“This person……!”

“Aaaargh!”

One person pointed at the person beside him, and the person he pointed at lunged at him.

They tangled together, shouting.

A short while later, one person shouted while covering the other person’s mouth.

“This person!”

Then the surrounding people, who had only watched without stopping or helping them, shouted along with him.

“This person!”

“This person!”

The people pointed at the one pinned beneath him, shouting the same words.

Today’s scapegoat had been decided.

RATTLE—!

Something like wires spilled down from beneath the 「False God」’s cervical bones.

Those cords moved as if alive and approached the person pinned below.

The one on top hurriedly retreated, and the person who had finally been freed instead clung to that person and shouted.

“Fuck! No, why me?! It is this person! I said it is this person!”

It was already too late.

The wires that had descended from the 「False God」’s body wrapped around the shouting person’s wrist.

“Save me! Aaaagh!”

That person was lifted into the air.

And the 「False God」 swallowed him.

CRUNCH—!

SQUELCH— CRRRUNCH—!

The 「False God」, which had nothing but bones, crushed that person with its hard teeth.

Once again, I could not breathe.

More than anything else, I was afraid that person would fall back down from the 「False God」’s throat.

I was deathly horrified that a human chewed like gum might pour down over people’s heads.

But that was only my needless fear.

The laws of this place were not so commonsensical.

The 「False God」 swallowed its prey without waste, then bestowed mercy upon the humans who had offered a sacrifice.

Rattle—

Something like white hail poured down from the joints of the 「False God」’s bones.

It was 「Imitation Rice」.

It also fell around me with soft taps.

So I picked up one grain from the floor and examined it.

Its appearance was certainly like a grain of rice.

But its material was closer to plastic, so I could not regard it as food.

Yet unlike me, who felt a sense of alienation from that object, the other people began hurriedly catching and eating the 「Imitation Rice」 falling in showers.

Among the people filling their hunger like that, some already had heads that were swollen and distorted.

Feeling as if I had fallen into hell, I blankly watched that sight.

---

■ Final Communication Record #1 of the Late Team Leader Kang Seung-cheol

I am sorry, Manager.

Everyone except Agent Park Dae-cheon and me has fallen in the line of duty.

I also think it will be difficult for me to return.

There is not much time. First, please listen to what I have to say.

In this place, 「National Museum of Korea」, we have confirmed 6 types of danger factors.

I will tell you what I have identified.

First is the 「False God」.

The 「False God」 has a form like a whale’s body attached beneath a human skull.

The skull is approximately 3m in size, and the body’s length is estimated to be at least 30m or more.

The 「False God」 floats above the ‘Ten-Story Stone Pagoda’ in the corridor on the first floor of the space.

I will describe the 「False God」’s pattern.

Sasasarbhasaturu mahagraahanam.

I am sorry.

From noon until 4 a.m. the next day, the 「False God」 looks down upon the people in 「National Museum of Korea」.

A person subjected to the ‘Looking Down’ stiffens and cannot move.

At this time, if one faces the 「False God」, one shows symptoms of breathing difficulty, then faints or dies.

Agent Choi Jin-ho could not withstand the ‘Looking Down’ and fell in the line of duty.

At 4 a.m., the 「False God」 withdraws the ‘Looking Down’ and emits a ‘woooong’ noise.

After that, the 「False God」 goes around searching for food.

The 「False God」 chooses as food the person in the highest place first.

That is why all the people trapped here lie face-down on the first floor.

Do not hide in blind spots such as inside exhibition halls or bathrooms in order to avoid becoming the 「False God」’s prey.

The 「False God」 accurately detected Agent Heo Jeong-gyu, who was hiding in the bathroom, and dragged Agent Heo Jeong-gyu out with a ‘cord’ before devouring him.

The most desirable method is to leave one’s fate to God and lie face-down in the first-floor corridor.

If everyone is lying low in the first-floor corridor, the 「False God」 comes down and examines the people.

Then it randomly selects one group and makes a sound again.

At this time, the people located beneath the shadow of the 「False God」’s head must quickly designate a scapegoat.

If three people point to one person, the 「False God」 eats that one person.

If a scapegoat is not designated at this time, the 「False God」 randomly devours approximately 40 to 50 people.

Agent Lee Hye-rim was devoured together at this time and fell in the line of duty.

After finishing its predation, the 「False God」 scatters delicious 「Imitation Rice」 to the people.

「Imitation Rice」 is a substance in the form of uncooked rice, and it is truly delicious, but if one keeps eating it, mental distortion occurs.

So one must not eat it, but because it is truly delicious, one continues to eat it.

Agent Park Dae-cheon, who could not stop consuming 「Imitation Rice」, was eventually contaminated.

Even now, Agent Park Dae-cheon is waiting only for delicious 「Imitation Rice」 to fall from the 「False God」.

I will take responsibility for preserving Agent Park Dae-cheon’s dignity. Bidbham-sanakarim!

……After finishing predation and scattering 「Imitation Rice」, the 「False God」 enters a dormant period until noon.

During the dormant period, it sleeps with its head attached to the ceiling, and during that time, the ‘Looking Down’ also stops, allowing relatively free activity.

This is the only time when 「National Museum of Korea」 can be explored.

---

I looked at the hellscape before my eyes and barely regained my mind.

Just how long had I been lying face-down?

My entire body ached, and my arms and legs trembled.

In any case, now that the paralysis had lifted, I had to put in the earpiece first.

But my hand was still being held by the woman beside me.

I moved to pull my hand away.

But even while the woman was catching and eating 「Imitation Rice」 with one hand, she held my hand tightly with the other and would not let go.

“……?”

I pulled my arm again.

Squeeze—!

But the woman pulled my hand even harder.

At her unexpectedly strong force, my upper body instead tilted unsteadily.

Normally, I would have regained my balance immediately, but right now my body was not well.

So I collapsed weakly toward that woman, and from below, I looked up at the woman’s face that had been hidden by her hair.

The woman’s face, so distorted that it was full of holes like a cross-section of lotus root.

“Where…… are you going……?”

The woman spoke, moving the holes in her face like breathing holes in a tidal flat.

“You must not…… go…….”

“……!”

WHUMP—!

Without realizing it, I pulled my body back and shoved the woman’s body away with my foot.

As the woman fell backward, she left long fingernail marks on the back of my hand.

“Ah, that is, too…… mean…….”

The woman who had lost hold of me groaned as she lay fallen.

CREAK— CRRRREAK—!

As if trying to rise again, the woman braced her head against the floor.

Seeing the woman’s head stretch stickily like slime, I hurriedly got to my feet.

“Do not…… go……!”

The woman shouted from behind, but I ignored her and turned around.

Then an even more frightening sound reached me.

“Catch…… him……!”

At the woman’s command, the people around her staggered to their feet.

Like me, their bodies had gone stiff, so they could not move properly.

No, they looked to be in worse condition than me.

Even so, the sight of 5 or 6 people coming to catch me was terrible.

I ran on legs that had not fully loosened and put the earpiece in my ear.

-Seo Do-un, current location!

Manager Kwon Mu-seop’s voice came through immediately.

“「National Museum of Korea」, first floor, middle of the central corridor. I am being chased……!”

-To the second floor! In the direction where you can see the entrance, the left exhibition area! Go to the first room!

Dragging my trembling legs, I headed toward the stairs.

The humans chasing me floundered and pushed through the people sitting on the floor.

Fortunately, aside from the humans who had risen at that woman’s command, no one else showed interest in me.

Whether I passed them or not, they simply ignored me or merely glanced at me with their eyes.

But the woman.

Where is that contaminated woman?

As I climbed the stairs, I searched for the woman who had held me.

At that moment, something flew quickly to my side.

“Do not…… go…….”

It was that woman.