Chapter 106: Gallery of Nature
“Be careful.”
“...Yeah.”
At Jang Chae-yeon’s words, Song A-rin nodded and began walking cautiously, avoiding the areas where light fell.
Her voice was less irritable than usual, which made Song A-rin look at her again. Meeting her gaze, Jang Chae-yeon tilted her head.
“What?”
“...It’s nothing.”
I watched the two of them talking for a moment, then turned my gaze to the wall.
People who had been turned into wood were displayed as decorations on the wall.
Their poses were all different, but the one thing they had in common was that every single one of them wore an expression of extreme agony.
“Yu Daon-ssi, be careful over there.”
“Ah, thank you.”
As long as we avoided the occasional patches of light, it wasn't too much of a problem.
But it didn’t feel like this would be the end of it.
“...Yu Daon-ssi, you’re not hearing any sounds, are you?”
“Huh? Sounds?”
“Yes. Like something telling you to go towards the light...”
“Hmm, no?”
Yu Daon answered with a tilt of her head.
“I haven’t heard any sounds so far.”
“Understood. If you do hear anything, please be sure to tell me.”
“Okay.”
‘Stay in the darkness, no matter what.’
That implied there was something that required you to leave the darkness.
“What is the Management Bureau even doing? Why aren’t they capturing scum like this?”
“It’s something like Mutual Non-Interference.”
Jang Chae-yeon answered my muttering calmly.
“We call it Mutual Non-Interference when entities use people as materials.”
“You’re right. But you’re overlooking something.”
“Huh?”
“If the damage is too great, the Management Bureau steps in immediately to suppress it.”
“Suppress?”
“Think back to the great flood last time.”
As if they had planned it, Song A-rin picked up my question and began to explain.
“Assuming accidents happen simultaneously before our eyes, if it’s an accident where 10 people die versus one where 1000 people die, of course we have no choice but to focus more on the accident where 1000 people die.”
“...”
“Of course, as you said, if we deployed the Branch Head, we could eventually capture Aestheticism.”
“That would be possible, I suppose.”
She was like an asymmetrical asset on our side.
“But there’s never just one incident happening in the world. And frankly, there aren’t that many people at the Branch Head level.”
“That... is also true.”
“So, this is like an implicit agreement between the Management Bureau and them.”
“...An agreement.”
“If the Management Bureau fought with all its might, or fought prepared for its operations to be paralyzed, then they would eventually be defeated too.”
“...”
“And they know that, which is why they’ve never crossed the line so far.”
“But we don’t know when they might go crazy and cause a major incident.”
“Right. So the Management Bureau keeps that in mind, but...”
“...”
Jang Chae-yeon, who had been listening to Song A-rin, clenched her fists so tightly her nails dug into her palms. Seeing this, Song A-rin muttered.
“It’s not easy.”
“...”
“Shh.”
Yu Daon, who was walking ahead, urgently stretched out her hand towards us, signaling us to be quiet.
-Clatter-clatter.
A clattering sound began to be heard.
I hurriedly looked around.
A place to hide...
In the darkness, the four of us hid in perfect unison behind the carved wooden figures placed there.
A bright light began to approach from afar.
“...Light?”
I narrowed my eyes and looked at the source of the light.
It was a puppet made of wood.
It was the size of an average adult man. The only difference was that a flashlight was attached where its head should be.
It patrolled the area, shining its light here and there as it moved around.
Soon, a semi-transparent window floated above its head.
[Name : Patrol Squad]
[Age : Created 3 years ago]
[Specialty : Light]
[Talent : X]
[Background : These entities, tasked with patrolling the Darkness Gallery, are no different from first-class contributors who have produced more than half of the artworks.]
[Weakness : Destroy the flashlight attached to its head.]
So just touching that light turns you into an artwork.
Should I shoot it?
But if that ends up summoning something like the Guide, things will get even more troublesome.
We need a way to finish this quietly.
I looked at the other three.
They were all looking at me, as if waiting for my instructions.
“Yu Daon-ssi, please hand the awl to Chae-yeon.”
I whispered to Yu Daon, who was closest.
At my words, Yu Daon took out the awl and rolled it towards Jang Chae-yeon. I looked at Jang Chae-yeon and made a gesture of stabbing my own head with my finger.
Jang Chae-yeon nodded as if she understood and reached for the awl.
Soon, the awl floated into the air and shot towards the flashlight-head at a ferocious speed.
The flashlight-head heard the sound and hurriedly turned, but
-Thwack!
With a dull sound of impact, glass shattered and splintered upwards, and the wooden body slowly collapsed to the floor.
-Thud.
There was no sound of anything breaking or bursting.
“...It’s surprisingly anti-climactic?”
“I agree.”
I couldn’t help but agree with Song A-rin. I hadn’t expected it to fall so easily.
“Ah. Could it be because of the awl?”
While we were putting our heads together and thinking, Yu Daon clapped her hands clap! and skipped over to pull out the embedded awl.
“Look at this! Even though Chae-yeon shot it with such great force, it’s neither broken nor bent at all!”
I looked at the awl along with Yu Daon.
True to her word, there wasn’t even a scratch on it, let alone a bend.
I looked at the semi-transparent window that had appeared again.
[Name : Awl]
[Age : Created 20 years ago]
[Specialty : Stabbing]
[Talent : - ]
[Background : The man lost himself in thought while making things. The awl is too soft, in my opinion. Let's make a sharper awl.]
[Weakness : He entrusted this awl to someone he could trust.]
Come to think of it, didn't a 'man' also appear in the background when we looked at the mirror?
I recalled the mirror's background.
[Background : How can I make people happy? He was tormented by this thought all day. Soon, he reached a conclusion. I should make a mirror that allows people to see what they desire.]
So, does that mean the person who made the mirror and the awl are the same person?
The one who showed me the past and future, and the one who sent the awl to Yu Daon, are the same person?
At the same time, a semi-transparent window floated before my eyes.
[Critical : 0 -> 1]
"..."
Does that mean it's safe to assume that the person who gave this is either not human, someone related to an isolated object, or even an isolated object itself?
Well, there must be a reason he gave it to Yu Daon.
I looked at Yu Daon and spoke.
“Please continue to take good care of it, Yu Daon-ssi.”
“Yes!”
I watched as Yu Daon carefully put the awl away, then opened the manual and began to read.
[Manual for Office Workers]
[1st Museum – Museum of Love and Darkness]
8\. After passing through the Darkness Gallery, you will enter the 2nd museum.
8-1. Occasionally, all the lights in the Darkness Gallery may turn on. In such a case, please refer to [Clause T - Suicide Methods] before it is too late.
8-2. The exit of the Darkness Gallery varies depending on the occasion, but you will invariably pass by a tree with numerous people blooming on it. At this time, you may find acquaintances among the people on the tree. These acquaintances are absolutely not real, or even if they are real, there is nothing you can do, so you must ignore them.
"...Ah."
Before I could relay that information, Jang Chae-yeon had already stopped, covering her mouth with one hand, and muttered.
"...Unnie."
"Unnie?"
Did Jang Chae-yeon have an older sister?
I was sure she said she was an only child during the Cube incident.
Frowning, I was about to call out to her when Jang Chae-yeon turned around, looked at me, and shouted urgently.
"My unnie is over there. Save her!"
I looked to where she was pointing.
It was a giant wooden sculpture.
Inside a spherical wooden ball, numerous people were embedded, all reaching their hands towards a light shining down from above.
Like people running towards the sun, they were all looking up at the ceiling where a spotlight was shining, and above all.
-Screeeech...
A horrific sound echoed.
It sounded like someone scratching a blackboard with their fingernails.
"Ugh..."
My face naturally contorted and I covered my ears.
"What is this..."
"Unnie!"
Jang Chae-yeon lunged forward, trying to run out.
Yu Daon grabbed her by both shoulders and pulled her back, causing the two of them to tumble to the ground.
"Chae-yeon-ssi! Get a hold of yourself!"
"Unnie! Unnie!"
"...Chae-yeon-ssi, your unnie isn't over there."
"No, she is...! Look...! With such a tormented expression—"
Jang Chae-yeon's hands trembled as she struggled against Yu Daon's grip, thrashing about.
"Chae-yeon-ssi."
I continued speaking in a calm voice.
"The things over there all have no faces."
"..."
Jang Chae-yeon's movements stopped.
"...Let's go."
Yu Daon, who had been watching her, grabbed Jang Chae-yeon's wrist and led her away. With an expression that suggested the shock hadn't faded, Jang Chae-yeon allowed her wrist to be held and followed Yu Daon.
"Yu Daon-ssi."
"Yes?"
"Do you see or hear anything over there?"
"Hmm..."
Yu Daon looked at the wooden sculpture and shook her head.
"I can see and hear it too. But it's a person I've never seen before and a voice I've never heard before."
"Huh?"
"So... frankly, I don't feel anything about it."
With an "Ahaha," Yu Daon laughed awkwardly.
"What about you, Song A-rin-ssi?"
"I..."
Song A-rin looked at the wooden sculpture and touched her temple.
A composed expression returned to her previously shaken face.
"I can see something, but I'm fine."
"...Understood."
I nodded at her words and looked at Jang Chae-yeon, who was still staring blankly at the wooden sculpture.
"Chae-yeon-ssi."
"Yeah."
"Every single artwork here causes problems for the mind."
The insidious part is that if it were a direct mental attack, there would at least be a way to block it.
But this place torments people based on their trauma, future, or past, so there's no way to block it.
How vicious.
"..."
Yu Daon held Jang Chae-yeon's wrist and passed by, and I too, taking care of Song A-rin, moved on.
Soon, a bright path appeared.
A path overgrown with vegetation spread out before us,
and the manual opened again.
-Flutter-flutter!
[Manual for Office Workers]
[2nd Gallery - Gallery of Nature]
[Welcome to the Gallery of Nature. Numerous aspects of nature, and lifeforms assimilated into nature, will greet you.]
1\. Keep in mind, every lifeform you see here, aside from yourself and your companions, is not human.
-Tap, tap.
The sound of footsteps was heard, and someone appeared.
"...Me?"
Along with Jang Chae-yeon's mutter, I looked at the person in front of us.
With her hair completely drenched, she was standing before us.
[Name : Jang Chae-yeon]
[Age : X]
[Specialty : X]
[Talent : Telekinesis]
[Background : This is not Jang Chae-yeon.]
[Weakness : Shoot it in the head.]
As she stretched out her hand, I drew my gun and fired.
-Crack!
-Bang!
The thing that looked like Jang Chae-yeon stretched out its hand just as the bullet pierced its forehead.
"Argh!"
At the same time, Song A-rin's right arm, who was standing beside me, bent in a grotesque direction. With a scream full of pain, she grabbed her arm and fell to her knees.
"Song A-rin-ssi!"
"Id-iot! In front!"
Song A-rin gritted her teeth and shouted, kicking me and furrowing her brow.
Another monster, also in the form of Jang Chae-yeon, which had been reaching out its hand, had its neck snapped in half and collapsed.
"...Huff..."
Jang Chae-yeon, her face pale as a sheet, stood with her hand outstretched, her eyes meeting ours.
-Tap, tap.
The sound of footsteps was heard.