Chapter 94

Last July.

「National Museum of Korea Where a False God Looks Down」 entered its reorganization phase.

Because the Bureau was having difficulty attacking 「National Museum of Korea」, it decided on a reset without hesitation.

They were in a situation where they had to identify the core’s location first.

So Response Team 9 and Exploration Team 8 formed groups and entered together.

When they entered, 「National Museum of Korea」 had completely stopped, and the 「False God」 was also asleep, attached to the ceiling.

However, the dozens of citizens and contaminated people trapped inside were awake normally when they encountered the Bureau agents.

Some citizens desperately requested rescue.

On the other hand, some contaminated people felt bewildered by the unexpected change.

The agents regarded all of them as stranded people and handed over relief supplies.

It was an action taken without yet knowing the addictive nature of 「Imitation Rice」.

For the first 2 days, order was maintained fairly well.

The agents simply searched every corner of 「National Museum of Korea」 for the core, and the citizens watched the agents while satisfying their hunger with relief supplies instead of 「Imitation Rice」.

But on the third day of exploration.

The Bureau agents touched the 「False God」.

Since the core did not appear no matter how much they searched the space, they decided to split open the 「False God」’s skeleton.

At the time, the 「False God」 was hanging from the ceiling like a whale bone specimen displayed in a maritime museum.

The agents tried shooting at it.

But the 「False God」’s skeleton was harder than imagined, so not even a scratch appeared.

In the end, the agents reached the conclusion that they should blow that thing up.

Because issuing explosives required procedure, the agents had to stand by for a while.

At that time, one citizen who came to receive relief supplies asked an agent.

“Excuse me, why did you shoot at those bones earlier?”

“We have to catch that thing for everyone to go home.”

It was probably meant to reassure the citizen, but it was a careless statement.

That afternoon, explosives arrived at 「National Museum of Korea」.

While the agents were setting up the explosives, the contaminated people attacked the agents.

A surprise attack from protected subjects was fatal.

Contaminated people who had stretched their heads thin like piano wire strangled and killed many of the agents.

The agents responded, and gunfire followed.

Then more than 10 citizens even joined in.

As if suffering withdrawal symptoms, they lost their reason and lunged at the armed agents.

They shouted, “Do not kill God,” and pointlessly lost their lives.

That day, 5 Bureau agents fell in the line of duty, and 1 was caught in an accidental blast and had a leg severed.

More than 20 contaminated people and citizens who had sided with them also died.

Despite that mess, the agents set explosives on the 「False God」.

Then, to end this nightmare, they detonated them.

But when the firepower erupted once and faded, the people inside were swept up in bewilderment.

Despite concentrating the firepower of the latest explosives, the 「False God」’s skeleton was intact.

As if God were laughing at humans, it merely flaunted its soundness.

---

I briefly chewed over Kwon Mu-seop’s story.

The probability was high that this space’s core was inside the 「False God」.

But the bones hiding the core were that hard.

“Did the 「False God」 take no damage from the explosions?”

-It was not that it took no damage at all.

“……?”

-Until the 4th explosion, some bone powder fell from the skeleton, but from the 5th onward, parts of the skeleton began to crack. During the 19th explosion, a large crack appeared in the 「False God」’s skull.

“Then had you not almost destroyed it?”

-If there had been more time, yes. But they could not proceed any further than that.

“The reorganization phase ended.”

-That is right.

Kwon Mu-seop murmured bitterly.

The agents tried again and again in desperation.

While climbing ropes to set explosives on the 「False God」 in midair.

While watching out for citizens who might turn at any moment.

While encouraging comrades whose wounds were deep.

They conducted the operation on such thin ice.

And just as it seemed they would finally see results, the reorganization phase of 「National Museum of Korea」 ended.

The 「False God」 also woke from its long sleep, and it permitted no more blasphemy.

The agents tried to target the 「False God」 again while it was asleep after predation, but as a result, they woke the 「False God」 instead, causing several more sacrifices.

So Team Leader Kang Seung-cheol and the survivors began searching for another escape route.

Their exploration continued for 13 days.

And no one returned alive.

“Do the explosives used then still remain, by any chance?”

-We will have to check. If no one touched them, they should be on the third floor.

“But was the 「False God」 originally shaped like whale bones?”

-According to records. Is it different now?

“Yes, it is quite different. Now it is closer to a giant snake than a whale. The white skeletal form is the same.”

-It may have changed form while restoring the damage sustained during the reorganization phase.

That could be.

Because he said its skull had cracked from the consecutive explosions.

Repeating Kwon Mu-seop’s answer to myself, I asked again.

“In Team Leader Kang Seung-cheol’s audio records, there was an expression: ‘Those who see God will surely die.’ Where is that from?”

-Where?

“Was that simply something Team Leader Kang Seung-cheol said, or was it a phrase that came from this Special Zone?”

Those who see God will surely die.

This was a story that also appeared in mythology.

In the Bible, God said to Moses, “You cannot see My face, for no one may see Me and live.”

In Greek and Roman mythology, Semele, the princess of Thebes, asked the god Zeus to show her his true form, and burned to death in that radiance.

Had Team Leader Kang Seung-cheol said that with these myths in mind?

Or if not…….

-Wait a moment.

Manager Kwon Mu-seop paused for a while, perhaps searching through the materials, then answered.

-That was something the 「Exhibition Docent」 said. It is written that Team Leader Kang Seung-cheol asked the 「Exhibition Docent」, ‘The 「Half-Lotus-Seated Buddha Statues」 are artifacts too, so why is there no docent over there?’ and that was the answer the 「Exhibition Docent」 gave then.

“I see.”

I chewed over the information I had received from Kwon Mu-seop again.

If we were players in the space called a Special Zone, that is, simple participants, then we had to find the answer within the fixed frame.

Because that was the first rule demanded of game participants.

But if we were editors, if we had the authority to assert new rules, then the story changed.

Instead of agonizing over figuring out and carrying out the rules, we could edit the materials of this place convincingly and draw out a victory by judgment.

Like during the 「Sports Complex」.

And this was something I was quite good at.

Because I was an editor.

“Manager, there is something I want to try.”

---

I opened the rooftop door and entered the interior of 「National Museum of Korea」 again.

In case a contaminated person or the 「Exhibition Docent」 was waiting for me, I carefully looked around.

Fortunately, this time, it was truly quiet.

At the innermost part of the third floor of 「National Museum of Korea」, there was a café.

It was a tranquil café where the sky and garden visible beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows were beautiful like a lie.

I went to that café and checked the interior.

Behind the dessert display case, a heavy load had been placed.

It was the explosives used during last year’s Intensive Suppression Week.

“Manager, I found the explosives.”

-Good. I will explain how to use them. You said you only need to break one wall, right?

Kwon Mu-seop explained step by step so I could make bombs suitable for the purpose.

Following his explanation, I made 5 bombs about the size of cigarette packs.

By calculation, 2 would be enough, but I deliberately made plenty in preparation for defects or emergencies.

Even so, quite a lot of material remained. What if I tried blowing up the rooftop with this?

If I was lucky, would the passage open?

I thought that unconsciously, then shook my head.

If I touched the 「False God」 while it was asleep, I could lose my life.

On top of that, what was piled up above was not just filth, but the bodies of victims.

It would not be right to blow them up merely as a test.

I took the bombs and went down to the second floor.

Flinch—!

But as soon as I arrived on the second floor, I stopped walking in surprise.

On the floor, the contaminated person who had chased me and the 「Exhibition Docent」 were dead together.

“…….”

The things that had threatened me had fought each other and died.

Should I be happy about this?

I do not know. My head feels like it is spinning.

I was about to pretend I had not seen those corpses and pass by, then stopped again.

I felt a sense of wrongness.

The two had fought, but both had died.

On top of that, the contaminated person had one shoulder torn away in a long strip.

And the 「Exhibition Docent」’s arms and legs were bent at strange angles.

If it was mutual destruction, should it not have been a more decisive strike?

Did they inflict such persistent and terrible harm while dying themselves?

“Hoo.”

I exhaled deeply.

Then I inhaled again and ran down the corridor.

Rustle—!

As expected.

When I ran, the cords lying on the floor raised themselves.

They were contaminated people.

The 「Exhibition Docent」 dying was probably their doing too.

The contaminated person chasing me must have been dealt with by the 「Exhibition Docent」 first, and the other contaminated people had retaliated against the 「Exhibition Docent」.

And now, the remaining target was me.

The contaminated people chased after me in the form of cords.

Then they overlapped with one another and formed a lattice.

They were planning to cover me like a net.

Damn it, I had not even tested these yet, but……!

I removed the safety device from one of the bombs I had made earlier and threw it behind my back.

BOOM—!

“Aaaaah……!”

“It, hurts……! H-hot……!”

The cords twisted their bodies and screamed.

I stopped running, took out another bomb, and showed it to them.

Then the contaminated people flinched back and muttered,

“Youuu…… military……?”

“Come, again…… to kill…… us……?”

It seemed some of the contaminated people had been here during the previous reorganization phase too.

When the old contaminated people withdrew first, the other contaminated people shrank back along with them.

Sensing that atmosphere, I answered coldly.

“That is right. I am an agent affiliated with the government. So step back.”

“You are…… a-alone, alone, alone…… though……?”

“Even alone, I can deal with the likes of you.”

“Even, though…… you, r-ran…… away……?”

One contaminated person sneered at me.

As if it had already seen me running away disgracefully.

But I pretended not to hear and extended the hand holding the bomb outside the railing.

“Get lost while I am asking nicely.”

The bodies of these contaminated people were on the first floor.

And so were the sacrifices they had secured.

If I dropped the bomb like this, their losses would be enormous.

Understanding the situation, the contaminated people curled the tips of their heads like bracken and groaned.

“The next…… sacrifice…… is, you…….”

“Do not…… come, down…… to, the first floor…….”

“Be, eaten…… and, die…….”

Their speech was clumsy, but their intelligence and judgment were extremely normal.

The fact that they were raising humans for sacrifice while in that state was even more chilling.

The contaminated people withdrew, crawling across the floor like rainwater.

Forcing my trembling knees to hold me upright, I exhaled a long breath.

Then I moved to the place where I would set the bombs.