Chapter 39

I took a deep breath and recalled the Blood Bathtub’s instructions.

First, fill the tub with warm water.

1. Fill the bathtub with as much clean water as desired.

(The Bathtub of Youth – Foot Massage Edition does not support automatic filling.)

As instructed, I collected enough warm water from the sink to submerge a plush doll and poured it into the tub.

And...

This was where the real business began.

2. Once the water reaches the desired level, pour at least 200 ml of fresh blood into it.

For best results, use blood freshly drawn from a healthy, vigorous subject.

The fact that this crap was written in such a kind, friendly font was insane in itself, but fortunately, I had a substitute.

I lifted the wild ginseng and used the scissors to snip off one of its medium-sized outer roots.

‘Ugh.’

Blackish-purple sap streamed from the severed root, nauseating just to look at.

Thank God I was wearing rubber gloves.

Trying to avoid touching it as much as possible, I rested the cut end against the Blood Bathtub.

Then an astonishing sight unfolded.

BUBBLE, BUBBLE.

The sap began to foam where it touched the tub, releasing a fantastic fragrance.

"...!"

The nauseating blackish-purple sap had transformed into a rich, beautiful rosy cream that shimmered.

Strange and wondrous.

And just like that, the bath was ready, so inviting and luxurious that anyone would be tempted to dip their feet in...

3. Immerse your body fully in the bath solution and enjoy your bath.

(The Foot Massage Edition invigorates your entire body.)

An eager voice came from the darkness beneath the bed.

「At last!」

The plush doll laughed.

「Ah, there’s no need to pick me up and carry me, Mr. Roe Deer!」

「Just stay where you are and don’t look behind you.」

I froze.

... Behind me, I began to hear something.

THUD.

THUD.

THUD.

The plush doll’s footsteps.

No, was it... really the plush doll? It sounded almost like a man walking in dress shoes. The slightly jaunty, heavy footsteps passed right behind me, then stopped.

Then I heard something splash into the tub right beside me...

「You may look in front of you now.」

I turned my head.

A small plush doll floated in the little tub, thoroughly soaked in the bath solution, still wearing the same unchanging smile of an animal mascot...

"... Braun?"

No answer.

Of course not. In reality, I couldn’t talk to the doll while looking directly at it.

But he would be listening.

"I’ll put the ginseng away for now. Enjoy your bath."

I put the ginseng, which had stopped leaking sap, back on the desk and looked at the bathtub.

Recalling the records of people who had used it.

* * *

Usage Record #5

A household servant in their forties stirred the water in the Blood Bathtub by hand while disposing of the bath additive prepared by the homeowner (blood from a twenty-year-old male of mixed Caucasian ancestry).

Thirty seconds elapsed before the tub was fully emptied.

The skin and muscle tissue of the hand were immediately observed to have rejuvenated to their mid-thirties condition. Signs of increased vitality were observed throughout the body.

That night, the servant was arrested while attempting to flee with the Blood Bathtub loaded into a car.

* * *

Hmm. Nothing like that was happening.

‘Does it not work on dolls after all?’

I should at least get a towel.

I had just turned toward the dresser when—

「Ohhh!」

A voice?

I turned my head.

From inside the tub, out of sight, electrical sparks flew like sparks from an old TV.

「Light floods my feeble limbs!」

A flash.

A huge, dark shadow of the plush doll lifting both arms loomed above the tub.

What the hell was that?

「Mr. Roe Deer!」

Don’t call my name!

「What a fascinating item this is! Ha ha, hahahaha!」

I swallowed as I watched.

‘... Is his strength really returning?’

I’d never seen any record of the Blood Bathtub’s rejuvenating effects extending that far.

This was a new case.

One I knew nothing about.

「More bath additive! Pour in more!」

Bath additive.

I reached for the ginseng on the desk without thinking—

["Aaaaagh! These bastards are killing a ginseng!!!"]

["No, noble one!! Noble one! Save me! Please spare me!!"]

Agh, fuck!

‘It’s awake!!’

Startled out of my wits, I reflexively flung the ginseng away.

THUNK.

By some incredible coincidence, it landed in the Blood Bathtub. It thrashed, as though sensing the remnants of the sap it had shed turning into fragrant bath additive.

["Aaaaaaaah!!"]

But that was all.

It seemed unable to pull any of its old tricks. I didn’t know whether the Blood Bathtub’s strange power was suppressing it or Braun had done something.

Desperate screams rang out.

["Please spare me, noble one!! Noble one!! I was wrong! I was wrong!"]

["I’ll work hard! I’ll work haaaard!! I’ll serve you!!"]

「How unspeakably rude and noisy!」

Electricity sparked inside the Blood Bathtub again.

It looked almost like images being composited on a TV screen...

The furious Host’s voice boomed from within.

「Slit its throat, my friend! Silence it. Don’t let it ruin this scene!」

"..."

I stood up.

Without looking into the tub, I said,

"I can quiet it down without doing that."

「...」

"We don’t need to resort to extremes."

「In a show, a single instant, a single beat, can determine every reaction and impression.」

"But this isn’t a show, is it?"

「Well...」

The sparks flying from the tub subsided.

「I see. Yes. You’re right.」

I let out a long breath.

‘I almost ended up listed under something like “New Blood Bathtub Usage Record—Irregular.”’

As if the situation weren’t already ridiculous enough.

A pitiful, sobbing voice came from inside the tub.

["Thank you... Thank you, my savior."]

["Kind, noble one! Now please take me out of here and save me from this lawless monster’s clutches—"]

I folded my arms.

"I never said I’d spare you."

["...?!"]

Who gets taken out in the middle-to-late stages of a ghost story?

Kindhearted people who let their guard down at precisely these moments!

‘The instant you soften up because a ghost starts whining, something horrible happens!’

At times like this, I had to remain calm and show I wasn’t a pushover. I stared through the tub’s ceramic wall at the ginseng left inside.

"How do I know what’ll happen to me if I spare you?"

I heard a sob.

["Then, then... Uh, how about this? The field! I’ll tell you about the rare treasures around the field where I lived!"]

"Don’t need them."

They somehow sounded like they’d be haunted, cursed objects.

["Th-then..."]

I sighed.

"Just prove you won’t hurt anyone. Stay quiet."

["..."]

The ginseng shut up.

That seemed to have bought me some time, at least.

Several minutes passed, suffocating for me and (probably) enjoyable for Braun...

‘Ten minutes.’

I was checking the time when he spoke.

「Mm. That was a fine bath.」

"..."

Was he finished?

I was just about to turn my head, wondering whether I should take Braun out of the tub.

「Ah, splendid... Thank you, Mr. Roe Deer.」

The plush doll’s voice turned sinister.

「For waiting until I finished my bath!」

BANG.

["Kyaaaaaagh!!"]

A thunderous crash and a scream erupted from the tub.

Holy shit!

「One moment! My friend, don’t move. This cotton-filled body gets too shy to move when someone’s watching!」

["You said you’d spare me! You said you’d spaaare me!"]

「Haha! But Mr. Roe Deer says he never promised to spare you!」

"Wait!"

In the end, I ran to the tub.

I thought I heard a tongue click, but it vanished as I bent over the tub.

All I could see was the ginseng crammed into a corner, flailing and shaking its berries frantically.

The berries were half crushed, as though someone had kicked them, and one side of the root was mashed as if someone had tried to squeeze the sap out.

["Spare me, spare me..."]

The berries’ movements slowed, as though the ginseng had exhausted its strength.

["L-let me loose..."]

... Let it loose?

I prodded around the ginseng in the tub with my rubber-gloved hand.

‘It isn’t tied up.’

["Spare..."]

A vibration reached my hand in time with its words.

"..."

A vibration.

Come to think of it, whenever this ginseng did anything resembling speech, waves like this had reached my hand.

That wasn’t strange. A voice was a kind of wave, too.

But one thing was strange.

‘The roots aren’t moving.’

Now that I thought about it, even when I first saw it in the field, only its leaves and berries had shaken when it spoke.

The roots had merely stretched out like infected tentacles.

"..."

In that case.

Acting on instinct, I grabbed the ginseng and tore off the berries.

At that moment—

["Hooooo!"]

The berries trembled violently and bounced in my hand.

"...!"

Then they wheeled around in my palm, seemingly beside themselves with joy.

["I’m free!! I’m free! The tiger’s maw is disappearing! It’s disappeariiing..."]

["Thank you, my savior!! Thank you!!"]

The berries shimmered as their outlines gradually faded. Then they rose into the air like a light and vanished, as though flying out the window.

"..."

So that had been its true body.

「Oh dear! It escaped. What a shame.」

I sighed in relief.

「Such a base, vile creature, so fond of changing its tune, should never be given another chance!」

"Is that so? Still, from now on, please let’s agree before doing anything..."

「Even when swift action is required?」

"Unless someone’s going to die, yes."

「... Understood, my friend.」

He sounded rather sulky, but at least I’d gotten a definite answer.

I’d settle for that...

「Anyway, look at this! I’ve rejuvenated quite nicely!」

I looked into the tub again.

The plush doll went utterly still the instant I looked at it.

Somehow, the waterlogged bundle of cotton had a sheen to it.

"...?"

Huh. It really did look a little more expensive. Higher quality, maybe.

As he’d said, it also seemed a tiny bit bigger.

‘... He can’t get any bigger, though?’

I could carry him around without raising suspicions because he was keychain-sized. A grown office worker constantly carrying a doll bigger than his hand would draw far too much attention.

I already stood out enough at work.

‘I’ll have to think of something before the next time we use the Blood Bathtub.’

Actually, better yet, I could get home before then.

"You’re right. Looking good."

I fished Braun out, carefully dried him with a hair dryer, and settled him on his sleeping towel.

Then I returned to empty the tub and saw something surprising.

"... The ginseng root’s still here."

I’d expected the ginseng to disappear after the berries flew off, but it remained intact.

In fact, it was in even better condition.

The ginseng, which had been discolored as though contaminated, had regained its original clean ivory hue.

‘I think it even smells nice.’

It looked imbued with sacred power. The exact opposite of a ghost story.

"Hmm."

After a moment’s hesitation, I took it and put it in my desk drawer.

It might come in useful somewhere.

"Then that’s... everything, I guess."

‘One more crisis over...’

I slumped onto the bed.

Wow. Ever since entering this world of ghost stories, I felt like I’d lost a good twenty years off my life.

‘I really do need to rack up points and get the hell out.’

The irony that doing so meant tackling ghost stories more aggressively was almost funny—

「Mr. Roe Deer.」

Shit, that scared me.

「It’s much easier to move my body and mouth now!」

「Oh, whoops. Don’t look this way.」

I fixed my head back on the pillow before I could finish turning it.

Braun started talking again.

「It seems we can converse here now, as long as we don’t look directly into each other’s eyes.」

「What a bashful arrangement, don’t you think? Frustrating, but interesting in its own way.」

Sure. Talk all you want...

‘You’ll have to be my lifeline again when we enter a ghost story...’

「You seem terribly tired! Sweet dreams, my friend.」

I fell asleep as though passing out.

It was a refreshing sleep that washed away days of fatigue.

... Though by the time I woke, another problem had erupted.

* * *

Earlier that day, in the afternoon.

While Kim Soleum was busy chatting about everyday matters with his superiors in the Team D Office, an employee who had recently been rather closely involved in his personal affairs was walking down the hallway...

"Ah, Section Chief Lee Byeongjin."

Yes. The very section chief who had gone missing and been rescued by Kim Soleum.

"Y-yes!"

And the person who had stopped him was one of the directors.

It wasn’t a particularly welcome encounter for an office worker, but the section chief strained every muscle in his face into a beaming smile and politely accepted the handshake.

He had no choice.

This was the person at the top of the rope he’d grabbed to climb the corporate ladder—the rope that ran through Team A and up to the very top of this strange, terrifying conglomerate’s food chain!

‘Director Ho!’

The director who had stopped him in the hall smiled back and asked,

"I hear you’ve returned after going missing. Are you all right?"

"Oh, I’m perfectly healthy, Director. Thanks to your concern, I’m quite well and working hard for the good of our company, yes."

"Haha."

The director didn’t call out his empty words. Instead, he spoke gently and casually.

"You were lucky. Many people never make it out once they fall into a Darkness."

"Ah. Indeed... I was lucky enough to be rescued."

"Rescued? Did the Disaster Management Bureau help you, by any chance?"

The director’s tone hadn’t changed, but Section Chief Lee Byeongjin nearly jumped out of his skin.

This director found involvement with the government so intolerable that he even retaliated over it.

Cold sweat ran down Lee’s back.

"N-not at all! One of our own employees found me!"

"I see."

"Yes, yes. Ah, he’s one of the new Field Exploration Team recruits. A very fine young man! Truly!"

To think someone had managed to draw such praise from a man so devoted to protecting his own skin.

The director smiled and asked,

"What’s his name?"

"Ah! Kim Soleum... Team D’s rookie. Kim Soleum."

From Section Chief Lee Byeongjin’s perspective, this had taken considerable courage.

All to repay the man who had saved his life!

‘Director Ho may be a little creepy, but he’s a decent superior.’

Provided you didn’t touch on the keywords that set him off.

"He’s a very promising recruit. Yes."

And so, without the person in question knowing anything about it, a connection was being forged!

Section Chief Lee Byeongjin rubbed his nose.

‘Soleum, you’ll thank me when you find out!’

He would not!

But at any rate, Section Chief Lee Byeongjin’s actions would produce quite a butterfly effect...

"Oh, I’ll have to remember him."

Just a few days later, an incident erupted at the company.

In the Field Exploration Team, to be precise.