Chapter 90

The woman instantly overtook me, her thick coat flapping.

Her head had been pulled out long like a spring and coiled around itself.

Had she leapt by striking the floor with that twisted head?

The woman, who had come from the first floor to the second floor in one move, tried to pounce on me while running down the stairs.

I moved my body to the side and let the woman slip past.

I was about to press down on the woman’s shoulder and twist her arm, but damn it……!

The woman’s head distorted again and tried to wrap around me.

I shuddered at those gaping head-holes and lifted the woman.

Then I threw her over the stair railing.

“I have arrived at the second-floor left corridor……!”

-The Room of Silence! Go to the place with the 「Half-Lotus-Seated Buddha Statues」!

After climbing all the stairs, I ran down the empty corridor.

“Do not…… go…… come, here…… stay, with, us…….”

But the woman’s voice came after me again from behind.

The woman was chasing me with only her head stretched long, while leaving her body on the first floor.

I gritted my teeth and turned into the entrance beside the corridor.

When I went through the entrance, a dark corridor appeared.

“I have arrived at the corridor entering the Room of Silence.”

-Close your eyes there. Touch the wall, and go 40 steps forward. Do not run.

I closed my eyes as Kwon Mu-seop instructed. Then I walked forward with my hand on the corridor wall.

One, two, three…….

“Caught, you…… caught, you…….”

The woman’s voice came from behind.

I felt the urge to run, but I forced myself to endure and kept walking.

“Come, here…… stay…… with me…….”

The woman’s breath brushed the back of my hand.

……38, 39, 40.

When I had walked exactly 40 steps.

“Ah…… aaah……?”

The woman who had been chasing me muttered to herself, then suddenly went quiet.

-Hold out as you are. Absolutely do not open your eyes.

At Kwon Mu-seop’s warning, I squeezed my eyes shut even tighter.

A short while later, I heard the footsteps of the people who had followed me.

The sound of dragging feet with ruined bodies.

The sound of steps stopping abruptly.

The silence that followed.

And a certain sound reached me.

“Ghk, gghhk…… ggrrk…….”

CRACK—! CRUNCH—! THUD—!

A sound I could not understand, and did not want to understand.

That sound continued.

Each time a person who had chased me entered this place, the same sound repeated.

Gghhk— CRACK—! THUD—!

One person, two people, three people.

It continued until perfect silence arrived.

How much time had passed?

After the same sound repeated 6 times, everything around me became quiet.

-It is all right now.

I opened my eyes in fear.

Trying not to look at the 「Half-Lotus-Seated Buddha Statues」 in front of me, I kept my gaze on the floor and slowly turned around.

Because of that, I instead wanted to die.

On the floor, six people lay dead with their arms shoved into their own necks.

As if trying to stand in for those who had died in silence, a scream tangled inside my throat.

---

■ Final Communication Record #4 of the Late Team Leader Kang Seung-cheol

I am sorry, I have calmed down.

I am stopping the bleeding. The wound is, hoo, not that deep.

It does not interfere with speaking, so I will continue.

The fourth danger factor is the 「Half-Lotus-Seated Buddha Statues」.

The 「Half-Lotus-Seated Buddha Statues」 are two Buddhist statues located in the ‘Room of Silence’ on the second floor of the space.

Depending on the situation, they are entities more dangerous than the 「False God」, contaminated people, or the 「Exhibition Docent」.

Do not look at these Buddhist statussasasasarbadushta.

If one sees the smiles of these Buddhist statues, one realizes that the five aggregates are empty and feels the urge to escape the body.

This urge is powerful enough that one cannot feel pain even while breaking one’s own cervical vertebrae.

Agent Lee Hae-sin also died with a peaceful expression while putting his hand into his own neckggrrahasahasranam.

The reason the convicts deployed during the last exploration died as a group was also because of this.

Absolutely do not look at these Buddhist statues.

Those who see God will surely die.

---

“Hh, ngh……!”

-Do-un, Seo Do-un! Sit down and touch the floor! Put your feet on the ground and close your eyes!

Kwon Mu-seop shouted at me, trapped between God and corpses.

-Breathe the way you learned. I will count, so follow and breathe. One, one!

At Kwon Mu-seop’s pressure, I forced myself to sit on the floor.

Then I breathed according to his instructions.

-Five, six. You are doing well. It is all right. You are safe.

Safe?

When people died like that?

When humans who died after shoving their arms down their throats were lying in a group in front of me?

I wanted to scream, but I forced myself to hold it back.

Barely enduring it, then enduring it again, I changed the scream knotted inside me into low breaths.

“……I am all right now.”

-Good. Do not open your eyes, and listen. Focus only on what I say.

“…….”

-You were pulled into 「National Museum of Korea Where a False God Looks Down」 yesterday at 14:43 while entering 「Hotel That Selects the Real」. The current time is 4:18 a.m. It has been 13 hours and 30 minutes since you were dragged there.

“What happened to the 「Hotel」 operation? The core…….”

-We will talk about that later. You do not need to worry about it now.

Kwon Mu-seop cut off my question and continued.

-We recognized immediately that you were dragged into 「National Museum of Korea」, and Response Team 3 entered the entrance there at 15:32 yesterday to rescue you.

“Then why have they still not come?”

-They are currently opening a path at the entrance.

“……?”

-The entrance into 「National Museum of Korea」 is an underground tunnel at the northern end of Jamsu Bridge. It has not been used for a long time, and it seems the entrance became blocked during that time.

What does that mean?

The passage connected to the Special Zone was blocked, and they did not even know it was blocked until now?

So they were currently trying to open it?

“……Then how long do I have to hold out?”

-It looks like it will take some time. They say an unknown substance is blocking the entire entrance, and if we use explosives, there is a risk the passage will collapse, so for now we are mobilizing equipment and digging it out.

I was left at a loss for words.

Even if the thing blocking the passage was concrete, with the Bureau’s scale, they would have opened it within an hour or two.

But they had been opening the path for over 12 hours, and they could not even guess how much longer it would take?

“Then do I have to keep holding out here?”

In this place where the stench of the dead vibrated through the air, with my eyes closed?

At my question, Manager Kwon Mu-seop let out a short sigh.

-If possible, I would like to tell you to wait there, but there is something you need to check.

“What is it?”

-They say the substance blocking the entrance seems to have pushed out from inside the Special Zone. It may be that the entrance of 「National Museum of Korea」 is connected in both directions, like the 「Island」, and can be used as an exit. Of course, for that, we have to open the path first.

“…….”

-If you check the situation on the other side of the passage, it will help us grasp the situation. Also, we can find out what substance is blocking the passage.

“You are telling me to go to the rooftop and check?”

-Yes. Move only from your current location to the rooftop. The 「False God」 will be asleep until noon, so you should move during that time.

The passage secured by the Bureau connected to the rooftop of 「National Museum of Korea」.

The rooftop of a building like this would usually be locked, but since I had already learned lock-opening technique, a lock or so was not much of a problem.

However, what bothered me now was…….

“A contaminated person and her group tried to catch me.”

The woman who had first grabbed my hand.

And the 5 or 6 people who had moved according to that woman’s command.

But they had all died here.

Then did that mean I no longer had to worry about being chased?

Or did I have to beware of another pursuit?

Why was I chased in the first place?

-They probably did that to secure a sacrifice to offer to the 「False God」.

A sacrifice…….

-The contaminated people there are people addicted to the 「Imitation Rice」 the 「False God」 scatters. But if they want to eat only 「Imitation Rice」 without being eaten by the 「False God」, they need a scapegoat to offer when the 「False God」 looks down, so they keep a few people as insurance.

“But only one group tried to catch me. The others seemed to only watch.”

-That should be seen as an internal rule.

“An internal rule?”

-It seems the old members made their own rules. Something like, when a newcomer enters, they are considered to belong to the person who catches them first.

To the contaminated people who were like old fixtures of this place, a sacrifice was a kind of auxiliary life.

So having a comfortable number secured was advantageous, but that did not mean there was a need to stockpile them excessively.

Whichever group produced the scapegoat, 「Imitation Rice」 fell for everyone.

It would also be troublesome if the sacrifices banded together and resisted.

So the old contaminated people had established loose rules instead of fiercely competing.

Something like, the newcomer belongs to whoever catches them first.

……So the woman in winter clothes and her group were the only ones who chased me, while the rest watched.

Because I was already that woman’s property.

Because that was the rule.

“……That woman is probably dead.”

I felt a chill at my own words.

I was the one who had lured that woman and her gang here and killed them.

And yet I spoke as if talking about someone else.

-It is difficult to confirm, but probably.

“What do you mean, difficult to confirm?”

-「National Museum of Korea」 does not have CCTV properly installed. So from our side, we cannot examine the space.

Kwon Mu-seop spoke as if making an excuse.

I pressed my mouth shut to swallow a sigh.

“……In any case, if the woman is dead, another contaminated person may attach themselves to me.”

Because the ownership of the prey called me was currently vacant.

-That is right. So you must move carefully so other contaminated people do not discover you.

Manager Kwon Mu-seop did not tell me to wait for Cha Si-eon.

Was that because he believed I could get through this situation?

Or did he still trust the 「Crow」 that had sent me here?

If neither was true, then perhaps opening a path from outside was harder than expected.

Whichever it was, it was not a pleasant situation.

But simply staying here was hell all the same.

Behind my back sat a smiling God, and in front of me lay grotesque and peaceful corpses.

“Understood. I will move once my body loosens.”

In the end, I answered like that.

Because I had been lying face-down for over 10 hours, my arms and legs still ached.

I rested briefly until the tension left my body, then forced myself up.

“I will move now.”

I slowly opened my eyes and walked toward the corpses.

When I passed beside them, it felt as if eeriness and guilt clung to my body like powder.

Unable to carelessly shake that off, I stood at the exit of the Room of Silence.

Before going out into the corridor, I took a mirror from my vest and checked the outside situation first.

The corridor was empty.

Left, right, floor, and ceiling were the same.

The other contaminated people probably knew that I had run away and that the woman had died.

But if no one was starting up to catch me, could I take it that their interest in me had faded?

Or did they think I was dead?

I sincerely hoped so.

I turned the mirror’s angle a little more.

Beyond the marble corridor railing, the 「False God」 was visible.

It slept while making a coil in midair with one long strand of spine.

Because of the intricately coiled spine, its head was completely hidden from view.

I had to check the rooftop before that thing moved again.

Taking a deep breath, I went out into the corridor.

And had I walked only about 30 steps?

SQUISH—!

Something like gum was stepped on underfoot.

What is this?

I unconsciously looked at the floor.

But there was nothing on the floor.

Only an ordinary floor laid with broad marble.

But the grout between the marble tiles was strangely swollen.

“Heeh…….”

And from beneath my feet came a small laugh.

At the same time, more than 10 thin cords hidden between the marble tiles in front of and behind me rose and retreated outside the railing.

And the cord I had stepped on slowly rose and wrapped around my ankle.

The tiny holes in that cord whispered.

“Mine…… all…… mine…… kik!”