Chapter 43

"I can't believe this place has basement floors too..."

Standing before the stairs leading underground, Go Youngeun looked equal parts frightened and hopeful.

Baek Saheon sneered.

"Exactly. And the person standing next to me insisted we had to go to basement level one, without saying how he knew there were basement floors or why we were going down there."

"If you don't want to go, we can split up here."

"..."

Baek Saheon fell silent. Now that he'd confirmed there was a basement, he apparently wasn't about to pass up a situation in which Kim Soleum seemed to have something up his sleeve.

I briefly explained to Go Youngeun that I'd used special equipment to read the notice by the elevator and locate a potentially useful space.

Then, at last, we started down the basement stairs.

"..."

"..."

With every step, it became clearer.

'The style has changed.'

The mansion's brass hues darkened to bronze, and more avant-garde decorations appeared.

Somehow, it felt as though we were descending far deeper than we had when going from the second floor to the first...

"..."

"..."

Eventually, an old-fashioned double door appeared beside the stairs.

- Basement level one. That's what it says.

We'd arrived.

I cautiously took hold of one handle and opened the door only after making certain I couldn't hear any machinery on the other side.

What it revealed... was neither an exhibition hall nor a corridor.

Go Youngeun's eyes widened.

"This is..."

"A visitors' lounge, I believe."

It was a sort of rest area. The enormous hall was furnished quite comfortably, with luxurious armchairs, vintage tables, and even a fireplace burning with bronze light in one corner.

"Y-you read about this place at the elevator?"

"Yes."

"Oh, places like this are usually in the lobby, so there's an exit somewhere around here...?"

"I don't know about that. But..."

"But?"

"The manual listed several things we couldn't do in the exhibition halls. I thought a 'rest area' might have fewer restrictions."

Exactly. I'd come here hoping that some of the exhibition's prohibited activities would be allowed.

"Things we can't do... Oh, like eating and drinking!"

"Yes."

2. Eating and drinking are prohibited in the exhibition halls.

"... But I don't think we really need anything to eat right now."

Of course not.

"To be precise, I came here to do something prohibited under that restriction."

"... What would that be?"

I took the item I'd prepared out of my bag.

[Quick and Easy Candle-Making Kit]

"The ban on open flames."

It was time to make an item to help us escape.

* * *

Go Youngeun swallowed.

Before her eyes, her impossibly competent fellow recruit was doing something truly impossible.

"Like this, then."

Kim Soleum had taken a strange box out of his briefcase and was rapidly reading through the enclosed instructions.

But the box looked anything but ordinary. Why on earth had he brought a candle-making kit?

'I've never seen that brand before.'

The logo, which read 'Gaiety Laboratory,' gleamed with a tacky shine beside a smiley face. Yet the instructions in Kim Soleum's hands were a mess of handwriting scrawled in dark red ink.

... It felt profoundly strange.

Like a prop you might encounter in a ghost story...

Then Baek Saheon muttered,

"... An item?"

An item?

She reflexively turned toward Kim Soleum, who answered quite obligingly.

"Yes. An object with supernatural abilities."

...!

"Th-then isn't it a Darkness?"

"It depends on the classification system... But I believe objects whose anomalous properties are too stable to qualify as Darknesses, which are portable and have no territory, are called items."

"..."

And how did Soleum know that...?

'Aren't we... both new recruits?'

Why was there such a gulf in the information available to them?

And where on earth had he gotten that...?

As someone who'd done well enough at the company to rank among its top three recruits, Go Youngeun could hardly be anything but bewildered!

'And he even looks incredibly experienced at handling it...?!'

Perhaps sensing her gaze, Kim Soleum turned toward her and said, almost defensively,

"This is my first time making one too."

It was true!

He'd read the instructions a few times and considered how to use it, but this was his first attempt at making one.

His fellow recruit, however, had no way of knowing he'd already performed similar rituals about three times. To her, it was simply mind-boggling...

Seriously, wouldn't someone like him benefit society more by starting a business than getting a job?

Shouldn't he be staying away from this horror-movie nightmare of a company??

But cold reality soon brought her back to her senses.

'... It must be the Wish Coupon.'

A wish he couldn't give up on.

Go Youngeun nearly sank into gloom out of sympathy for their shared plight, but quickly pulled herself together.

For now, she needed to focus entirely on escaping.

... She would even turn her fucking rage at Team R's leader, who'd ditched her and bolted the moment the monster machine approached, into fuel!

She wanted to take back what she'd once said about how, since there was no hazing on her team, at least interpersonal stress wouldn't be an issue.

'Drop dead, Team Leader!'

Still, thinking that her Team R superiors might actually die miserable deaths with their eyes, noses, and mouths torn out felt a little strange too...

"Done."

"...!"

Just as she was about to lose herself in thought, Kim Soleum's voice made Go Youngeun look up again.

At some point, he'd laid a sheet of black paper on the floor and drawn a small picture with the crayon included in the kit.

It was... Well.

'... A candle?'

Yes. It looked like a candle... More precisely, it was merely a flat drawing of a candle's outline.

Unconcerned, Kim Soleum gestured with one hand toward the cards placed beside the drawing.

"You see the cards?"

"Y-yes."

"Please choose one."

"..."

"It determines the item's properties."

Was she about to be used, or dragged into something?

Go Youngeun hesitated briefly, then reached out.

There had never been anything unpleasantly suspicious about Kim Soleum's words or actions toward her. Objectively speaking, she'd concluded that he'd always treated her with goodwill.

'Let's do it.'

She had considerable faith in the vast store of data in her own intelligent brain.

So she flipped over one of the cards scattered on the floor without much hesitation.

On its face was an energetic blue figure raising one hand. At the very top, a white star glittered like a jewel.

[Honor]

A faint smile spread across Kim Soleum's face.

"... Good choice."

Was it?

*'I don't think we particularly need honor right now...'

Still, if the person who'd read the instructions said it was good, that was a relief.

Then Kim Soleum turned and addressed Baek Saheon in a distinctly reluctant voice.

"Pick a card."

"..."

Baek Saheon seemed to be calculating his options, but soon narrowed his eye and reached out.

The card he turned over depicted a crookedly smiling mouth and red prison bars.

[Obstruction]

"Suits you."

"What?"

Kim Soleum ignored him and continued crafting!

"I'll turn over all the remaining cards."

"Y-yes."

She had no idea what was going on, but by all means!

Go Youngeun watched him flip the cards over with quick, precise movements.

There were ten left in total.

Confusion, Healing, Meditation, Wound, Lies, Dream, Rage, Protection, Strike, Gaze... The ten cards lay faceup in a row on the floor.

'What on earth is this?'

Why have them draw cards like a tarot reading, only to reveal them all at the end?

Watching Kim Soleum's next move, she understood.

He got to choose whichever card he wanted for the last one.

[Lies]

After selecting the card depicting a golden cog beside a black heart, Kim Soleum used a lighter to burn all three cards they'd chosen.

Multicolored flames leaped up, and the cards became glittering ash.

"...!"

He carefully gathered the ash and spread it inside the crayon outline of the candle, as though coloring it in, then folded the paper.

"Now it just needs about thirty minutes to set."

With a faint smile, Kim Soleum picked up the paper from the floor, folded it, and tucked it into the front pocket of his suit.

"What you just made..."

"This candle will help us get out of here."

"...!"

"I was prepared to repeat the process a few more times if it didn't work, but we got decent keywords on the first—"

SCREEEEEECH

"..."

"..."

All three turned their heads at once.

In the distance, an enormous shadow emerged beneath the bronze light.

Eight straight limbs resembling a spider's legs.

And...

SCREEECH

Mechanical eyes spilling gaslight.

"..."

"..."

"Run!"

All three immediately broke into a full sprint in the opposite direction.

* * *

I'd known.

I'd known the machines could appear even in a rest area.

Still, I'd assumed their patrols would be less frequent than in the exhibition halls, so I'd decided to accept some risk...

'There wasn't anywhere to hide, like a ventilation duct, so I didn't have much choice, but why now of all times!'

Gritting my teeth, I raced down the corridor.

Now that we'd been spotted, it would be able to follow us even if we hid in another duct.

These machines were capable of that much!

"Do we keep going straight?!"

"For now!"

Straight ahead was the main exhibition hall.

Our only hope was to get there and find some higher-priority problem to draw its attention, but...

'Who knows how much more dangerous the exhibits are down here...!'

That was when it happened.

A hand darted toward me.

"...!"

Baek Saheon tried to grab my suit.

'What now, you fucking lunatic!'

He shouted,

"That item! The candle! Let's offer it the candle you made! It's valuable, isn't it!"

I slapped his hand away and yelled,

"No, you idiot!"

"What?!"

"Look at the exhibition's theme!"

+++

In a spirit of openhearted admiration for art, this exhibition offers one hour of free admission.

+++

"Art!!"

"...!"

"Specifically, living creatures, civilization, and history!!"

I screamed at him.

"What does this item have to do with any of that? Why would they accept it as payment!"

If items had any value here, our employees would have handed over their equipment before getting their eyes ripped out!

Besides, the candle wasn't even finished yet!

But Baek Saheon reached out again to snatch my bag, and Go Youngeun let out an exasperated cry.

"Let's at least try! We're going to die anyway!"

"Argh! Hey! Knock it off and run—"

I turned my head.

Our feet had just...

Crossed the threshold into the main exhibition hall.

"..."

Catching my breath, I looked up.

S t a r l i g h t t w i n k l e d a l l a r o u n d

N o , w e r e t h e y p e b b l e s ? C o u n t l e s s c i r c l e s , g l o w i n g i n s a m e - c o l o r e d p a i r s

coveredtherectangularwallssolidandwerestaring atmehuman gazes...

Eyes plucked out by the attendant machines.

"Hah!"

I stopped and lowered my head. Beside me, I heard Baek Saheon striking his one remaining eye.

My shaken mind slowly settled...

- Ah. Arranged like stars in the universe. 'Shining Gazes.' A rather conventional but popular sort of title! They must have had the donors of the artwork's materials in mind.

"..."

Three walls of the enormous black exhibition hall were packed with eyeballs, without a single gap.

The door we'd entered through was the only way in or out.

And the attendant machine was steadily approaching that door...

We were trapped.

- I wonder what you'll choose, Mr. Roe Deer! You're at a dead end now. Somewhere to run... Hmm, there doesn't seem to be one. What will you do!

- But my friend, you can escape anytime, anywhere. Because you have me, Braun!

I knew... that too.

'If it's just me.'

I could escape safely whenever I wanted.

Braun would gladly use his ability to erase my presence, which he called 'turning off the spotlight.'

Then I could slip out while the others drew its attention and had their eyes and ears removed.

- In that case, why not let this Baek Saheon fellow pay the fee? He doesn't have much of his life left anyway!

Right. We'd successfully made the candle, which recommended three participants, so I no longer needed Baek Saheon.

'I only brought him along because I was worried about my mental state.'

Honestly, would it really matter if that bastard died? In fact, his death might even benefit society.

And with luck, Go Youngeun might escape in the meantime too...

... Huh?

Wait.

"Let's split up! That way, if even one of us gets out..."

"Ms. Mountain Goat!"

"Yes?"

"You're safe."

"...?!"

"You paid the fee recently, didn't you? You should still have time before the next payment is due."

"Oh!!"

Go Youngeun had lost her ears relatively recently. She was certain to have some 'admission time' left!

Hope flashed in her eyes.

"Then I'll go try to get in its—"

SCREEEEEECH

"..."

"..."

It had entered.

The attendant machine.

RATTLE

In the bronze candlelight, I saw the machine head-on for the first time.

It was ruthlessly sharp and intricate.

As though a spider had been used as a frame and iron added as flesh, its head and thorax were strangely joined, with an abdomen and lower body beneath.

Yet its shape bore an odd resemblance to an intelligent biped, triggering the uncanny valley. Its bizarre, creaking movements sent chills through me.

Sharp, needlelike legs articulated their joints at random.

And in its head, eight gas lamps shone yellow through the pale shadows.

"..."

Go Youngeun froze mid-approach.

It looked as though the trauma of having her ears torn off had surged through her mind.

Understandably.

SCREEECH

The machine passed right by her.

'As I thought.'

Which meant it had been pursuing...

Baek Saheon and me.

SCREEEEEECH

I considered it for a very brief moment.

Erase my presence and flee the instant its attention shifted to Baek Saheon.

It might be difficult if the machine was focused solely on me, but with two targets still here, perhaps Braun's ability would work.

- Oh, shall I use it now?

Then I decided.

'No.'

Instead, I shoved Baek Saheon aside.

"...!"

"Run."

Baek Saheon was already missing an eye.

Which meant he knew it might take more than his eyes.

'There's no telling what he might do.'

Even if he persuaded it to 'collect' his ears instead, someone who'd already had an eye gouged out would resist even more violently.

I couldn't begin to guess how extreme his lunacy might become.

Better to let him escape.

"I said run."

Baek Saheon hesitated briefly.

Then he backed away from the machine. When it stopped in front of me, he sprinted for the door and vanished.

At the same time, Go Youngeun caught my eye signal, squeezed her eyes shut, and ran out through the door too.

"..."

Now, then.

- Have you thought of something to ask the Attendant, Mr. Roe Deer?

I looked up.

The machine stood facing me, casting gaslight, looking like a half-finished mosaic of a spider and a woman.

Its appearance was grotesque and chilling.

Eventually, the attendant machine raised its eight surrounding needle arms and legs and began twitching them at me.

I bowed politely.

"Hello. I've only just arrived."

I knew it wouldn't work.

Sure enough, the machine made an incomprehensible noise and flexed the joint of one enormous needle.

- It says one hour and fifty-four minutes have elapsed since your arrival, so an additional fee is due.

I took a deep breath.

"One moment. May I ask a question before paying?"

- Of course you may!

"Are guest-room reservations made at the front desk? ... Please nod once if the answer is yes, and shake your head if it's no."

...

It nodded.

"Thank you for the information. Then..."

Suppressing a sigh, I spoke.

I'd asked the first question so I could ask this one.

The key question for our escape.

'These machines only remember information about their own sections, so they don't know which floor the exit is on.'

It probably wouldn't know where the front desk was either.

But.

If I reframed the question around information about its own floor, couldn't I get an answer?

Like this.

"When visitors finished viewing the exhibition and wanted to go home, did they go downstairs from this first basement level?"

...

"Or did they go upstairs?"

It nodded.

"They went upstairs, then. Thank you."

Exactly.

By asking the right questions of each attendant machine we met on each floor, we could eventually narrow down the exit's location...

Provided we didn't have our eyes, noses, mouths, and all four limbs removed first.

'If it's above basement level one... it's aboveground.'

Finding that out alone was a major achievement. There were only seven aboveground floors, and it was on one of them.

'Those are good odds.'

But my joy went out like a candle.

The unavoidable moment had arrived.

SCREEEECH

- It says it will collect the fee now.

Fee collection.

"..."

Thinking about it dispassionately, there wasn't a major problem.

'They'll put loan devices in my eye sockets, so I should retain my sight until I escape this Darkness.'

And I knew this fictional world well. I already knew several ways to restore lost body parts, and I was certain I could access them more easily than other people...

That was part of why I was standing here.

'I've weighed it all up and accepted the situation.'

The problem was... this maddening revulsion!

Who could calmly submit to this as though it were nothing?

A monster was about to pluck both eyes right out of my living head!

In a room displaying everyone else's extracted eyes, no less!

Cold sweat trickled down my chin.

'I still have to find out.'

I gritted my teeth.

Having my eyes removed wouldn't hurt.

'If I can't endure even these conditions, I might as well give up on surviving here.'

There really were no better conditions than these for finding out whether my cowardly heart could withstand being injured in a ghost story.

I needed the experience of enduring a reversible loss at least once to build up some tolerance.

Even so, my clenched hands shook.

'Fck...'

WHIRR

An enormous needle of thin, sharp metal, like a spider's leg, approached my face.

I held my breath.

With a sudden movement.

The needle began to dig into the edge of my eye—

WHIRRRR

"..."

Moving only my eyes, I glanced sideways.

From beyond the darkness, a huge, bizarre, spiderlike shape was approaching...

WHIRRRR, SCREEEEECH

It was another attendant machine.

"..."

What was this?

'They should have programmed patrol routes.'

Those routes weren't supposed to overlap... were they?

Sure enough, the machine about to remove my eyes seemed to malfunction briefly... then moved away from me.

As though adjusting its route on its own.

SCREEEEEECH...

"..."

I didn't sigh in relief.

The new machine would remove my eyes instead.

I simply held my breath and stared at the newcomer.

Coming right up to me, the attendant machine raised its spiderlike appendages.

And then...

"Whew."

...?!

"You okay, Roe Deer?"

The spider's shape crumbled away, revealing a person in a badger mask.

"... Supervisor!"

Supervisor Park Minseong grinned, his face drenched in cold sweat.

"Phew... That was close!"