Clearing the Game at the End of the World Chapter 91: Masquerade Party (5)

Noon. 12:05 oclock briefing start.

Alright, prop team, stage team! Have you completed preparations!

The prop team has no issues!

The stage team is still working on bullet marks in Zone C!

We dont have much ti left, so Ill allow the use of live ammunition! Use silencers, and finish it in under 5 minutes!

Seeing that the Jack guy was nowhere to be seen, he must have left after finishing his ssenger role.

Ah, actors! Over here! You can co this way if youre ready!

In the middle of all of the chaos was a scruffy-looking man shouting into a gaphone like a director on a movie set.

Nice to et you! Im Sanggook Lee, the director in charge of this act!

The man enthusiastically greeted them and held out his hand. When Gyosus group just coldly stared at him without taking his hand, he sheepishly retracted his arm back.

Hahah, pardon . I must have been bothering everyone when you all were supposed to be getting into the roles, with the play starting in a minute and all. You were the resistance army role thats supposed to save Old Picture, whos the hostage, correct? That cold and rigid attitude Its perfect! Youre professionals! To think that I have the privilege to plan a play that will be written in history with such amazing actors, the honor is all mine!

This guy, I dont think he knows anything.

He was considering and acting everyone as an enemy after hearing what Jack said, but looking at this directors reaction, it actually seed like all he was thinking about was the play with Old Picture.

Tap tap.

[Rear / Three / Flank / Two / Ard]

Vex inford and Ian of the surroundings using the signals we used in Area 45.

Three in the back, and two on each side. Seven and thats just the ones visible, so there are probably more monitoring us from places where we cant see them. They arent watching over just us, but all of the people that are spread out here. Then the director and most of the staff team are probably normal citizens.

That did make sense. If they were going to trick Old Pictures keen eyes, then they needed to be way over the average skill level, and even if the Executive Departnt is a collection of the most talented people in the Do, they probably dont have that many people who have a talent for stage settings and scripts.

I see. A play that will be written in history, you say I actually didnt really hear much about the details; can you tell exactly whats such a big deal about this?

Hahahah! The news must spread slower outside. This is all that the people in the Do have been talking about. This is going to be the official occasion that brings that massive monster, Area 47s celebrity, under the Dos control! It will be a huge help in pushing away those Raptor murderers and rebuilding the old civilization! I have said my whole life that the bud of culture will bloom to heal the hearts of the people in despair, even within this land of blood! And since I, Sanggook Lee, am the one to take the first step, this couldnt be more

The director answered his question imdiately without hesitation. Ignoring the man who had, at so point, turned the conversation into complints about himself, Gyosu concentrated on understanding the current situation.

So thats how the news spread in the Do.

It looked like the higher-ups at the Do revealed only a partthe good partof the information about this project. If this play succeeds, then Old Picture will be under the rule of humanity. Then the Do will beco stronger than ever! Or sothing along those lines.

Well, it has been a few years since they trapped Old Picture in the central area of Area 47. The Do did do everything to block the press at the ti, so there are probably not that many people left that know what actually happened. No, its probably right to say that even the ones that know are keeping quiet to avoid those serpents of a human.

Since most of the pods used in the Do were duplicate products of the actual Gedroits Company pods, it wouldnt be unusual for them to have planted a back door in order to control the news. The people that are smart enough to know what actually happened should have understood the aning behind the Dos propaganda, so theyre probably pretending as if they dont know anything.

A well-controlled group of people that receive only filtered information about the outside and are separated from the logic of the Wastelands. Thats the reality of the Do.

People who have sacrificed freedom and intelligence for the sake of peace in this crazy world. That was the reality for the majority of the citizens who lived as a gear part of the Dos system.

In the end, that ant that the people here, including the director and the prop and stage teams, didnt know that the monster coming their way was a crazy monster that killed hundreds of people.

20 minutes until the rendezvous!

Ah! Im sorry! Ive held you up for too long! Heres the script!

Script? We have 20 minutes to morize all of this?

Its more of a description of a situation than an actual script! All you have to do is act out the situation in the script. Alright? You all are professionals! I know you guys can do it!

Wink!

The director shot a happy wink at the group.

Gyosu had a serious internal debate about whether or not he should shove his fist against the mans filthy bearded chin.

Did I think it all wrong? Are they spies from the Executive Departnt directed to kill us? They dragged us here all of the sudden to act out a war, and they expect us to ad-lib the entire play without giving us a single line? Is this guy actually a director?

It was one of the two. Either this Lee sothing guy whos supposed to be a director was an idiot. Or they prepared sothing extensively beforehand so that everything will work out if they buy ti in front of Old Picture. The Do guys couldnt be that much of an idiot, and looking at the piles of empty cent bags and tools, it was most likely the latter.

Excuse Director Lee?

Yes?

I would still like a short explanation of everything. Even if we are professionals, we still need to know how everything is going to progress.

Mmm, it is all in the script, but alright. The communication between the actor and director is, after all, an important part of a great movie!

The director, Sanggook Lee, maintained his bright attitude as he opened the script.

Now then, Ill start the explanation! Act 1, [The Encounter]!

.

.

.

.

#1. The Encounter.

Characters: Hepburn, Vex, Ian

(Noon. Bright lighting. The three resistance mbers are running on stage. Hiding from the enemy inside a narrow alleyway, they et refugees that are not aware of the current situation.)

Hah, hah! Vex, how many minutes left?

Four! Hepburn, we still have so ti left, why are we running?

You guys arent as good at acting as I am. Its better to be actually panting a little than pretending awkwardly. Past the destroyed convenience store into the third alleyway, one, two its here.

Ssshhhk!

While taking a mont to collect their breath after arriving at the alley in the script, they looked at the large fleshy monster with shoes for scales in the distance.

Ill explain it one last ti. First, Old Picture was born from a mory that doesnt even know it died. Not even the Do figured out the exact cause of death, but they presu its death from shock. It has the habit of collecting shoes, and itll be fine if its not broken out from its illusion, but if sothing goes wrong, throw your shoes at it. Itll chop your foot off with the shoe if you dont. Ian, you lost a shoe when you guys ran away, right?

Hm? Ahh, that reminds , one of my shoes slipped off while I was kicking off the tentacles that were sticking onto the Buggy.

You were lucky. The monster has a tendency to stop and check the new shoe it collected. That was probably how you bought the ti to throw the bomb and destroy the building.

If that shoe didnt co off

That squishy flesh of his can harden when it needs to, so it could have either sucked in the entire car like subrging it in cent or swung its hardened tentacles to break off your entire leg and take just the shoes.

Schlt schlt

Ziiiiiiiiiiing!

Arrgh! What exactly is this ringing sound?

Close your eyes and concentrate on the headache.

H-Hepburn! I saw a little bit of sothing! And then it faded away!

Youre right. The psycho-wave that Old Picture sends out is a mory of the host.

[I saw it too. It was a man holding his sons hands with his wife walking past a convenience store. It looked just like an analog picture from reality.]

Yeah. Thats the reason why it got the na Old Picture.

Gyosu didnt concentrate, but he vaguely knew the picture. Its probably the mory of the host, walking past the convenience store with his family like always.

Schlt schlt

Old Picture was now about two blocks away from them.

There, the three mannequins hanging in front of the guys main body. Do you see them?

Uh wait. Those mannequins, its like the ones from the monsters

mory. Its a gift from the Investigation Bureau back when they tied up the guy to this place. The host of Old Picture is a being who is living in order to complete the mory of him, his wife, and his son walking down this street. Those dolls are an embodint of the core of the mory: the host, wife, and son. Physically, the guys actual body is that mass of flesh and shoes, but what it cares the most about are those three mannequins.

Wait. If those mannequins were gifted by the Do then what did it use before? Old Picture must have existed in this Area before the Do tad it, right? Since according to what you said, its duty is to walk around this place.

Yeah. Before they made this model garden, it was incredibly aggressive. It used humans instead of dolls.

He definitely has a keen eye for these things. Theres still quite a distance between them, and the image the psycho-wave shows them can only be seen for a short instant, but he already figured it out.

Humans?

Yeah. When it found soone that looked similar to the people in the mory, it imdiately kidnapped them, dislocated all of their joints, and walked through this street with them until the person died. And when they died and rotted away, it threw away the person since they no longer looked like the people in the image, so they searched for new dolls. It was basically a walking disaster, but thankfully Area 47 was in a pretty ssy state during those days, so you could find fresh corpses lying around here and there. The Investigation Bureau matched the timing of the guy throwing away the corpses and throwing in the dolls to put an end to the rciless killing.

When he first ca to Area 47, his mother had shown him Old Pictures territory, and it was what one would have imagined hell would look like. Flesh and film connected and pulled together the collapsed building debris, and the monsters body transford the street destroyed by the war into a living, breathing entity. Looking at the [GX 25] convenience store sign made with tendons beating to the monsters heartbeat, he couldnt help but puke.

When he told them a short description of the monsters form before the restoration, the two n who had been attempting to maintain a straight expression crumpled their faces up.

So youre telling that were supposed to put on a clown show in front of a guy like that?

Well yeah?

Keheheheh, amazing. Hey, can I smoke a quick cigarette?

Probably? You have that macho character vibe from war movies. Actually, smoking fits better with your image. You can smoke, and wear those sunglasses you always like to wear.

I thought we were supposed to act like fleeing soldiers? Wont that be a little awkward?

Old Pictures host was a civilian. Its probably more used to characters from movies and such. Just keep one thing in minddont ever get scared of it or act harshly toward it. As long as you dont touch the guys dolls, you can act aggressively, too. Act like soldiers that t a civilian dumb enough to be taking a walk in a warzone.

Although it looked like a monster, the man in Old Pictures mories was just an average man, so getting scared and shrinking away only broke its illusion and made it lose control.

But if were supposed to act according to its mories, shouldnt we trigger it right away since were not in its mory?

Seeing that the others in Area 47 walked past this place, I dont think it rembers everything down to the smallest detail. A humans brain has a tendency to edit their mories in a way they want to. And since these are vague mories of a dead person, I think it understands as long as so parts match up.

Even a war situation that its never experienced?

Thats why I said I think. Im not sure either.

This was also the part I was the most concerned about. A stranger walking by him and his family? Of course, it can happen. Its not like you can know the faces of every person who walks past you.

But if theres a person walking by with a gun? Thats out of place. But as long as they persuade it, then it still lets them go. There was a post on the Community that said they made it past the thing in their Wasteland clothes by claiming it was cosplay. If Ian and Vex talked their way out of it when it gained interest in their Buggy, they could have passed through the situation.

But a warzonecompletely wrecks the origin of the mory. He honestly couldnt guarantee that the monsters consciousness would be able to understand and accept this.

It should work out sohow. Its mories cant be detailed. No, it probably cant rember much other than what it was doing consciously. If the last mory I saw back in the last play is true. If thats true

Ziiiiiiiing

Aghh! Oy, Gyosu! I saw it too! There are three people sitting at the table in front of the convenience store!

Its starting! Rember! Act rough like real soldiers, but make sure the dolls dont get hurt!

Schlt schlt

Clack clack clack clack.

It was the sound of so massive squishy mass moving its body and the sound of light footsteps. This was the position where the guys dolls were walking towards the convenience store like always.

This was the starting point of the play.

Gulp.

Hey, Im going in. Make sure you pretend youre covering !

Leave it to us!

Damn it. Its the first ti Ive been this nervous holding a gun with just blanks!

P-p-patter!

Gyosu ran out of the alleyway with a nervous expression, sharply glanced around the area, and pretended to be surprised after looking at Old Pictures mannequins.

Wait.. civilians? Hey! What are you guys doing here?

Ziiiiing Tziiiiiiing!

Argh!

Old Pictures psycho-waves suddenly shot into their heads, the image of a man in a military uniform being written over the image of the family walking towards the convenience store! That thing will burst if I ss it up here!

[Who are you? Is this so sort of training?]

The mannequin of the middle-aged man looked around questioningly while its mouth bobbed up and down.

Good! It subrged into the situation! From now on, we have to make sure that the guy doesnt ever think the situation doesnt make sense!

And in order to do that, Gyosu just blabbering off wasnt going to cut it.

So when Gyosu looked up to the sky and signaled with his eyes, Vex quickly raised his watch from the alleyway.

ZzzZ zZzzzZt

Suddenly, a broadcast rang out from sowhere and spread its sound throughout the entire street.

[ Attention. This is the Ministry of Public Safety and Security, the Civil Defense Alert Control Center. We are issuing an air raid warning. At the current ti, an air raid warning has been announced across the entire country. This is not a drill. ]

Waaaaaaeeeeeeaaang! Eaaaaaaaaaannng!

This wasnt a siren they normally heard from a police car, but an actual siren that one may have heard during a disaster evacuation drill that added on a realistic elent. And he could see the Old Pictures main body and its mannequins wave visibly in reaction to the announcent.

=====

12:30 oclock.

#2 Civilians and resistance forces isolated in the midst of battle

(The sharp sounds of sirens as well as bombs ring out in the air. The main character drags the civilian family out of the chaos.)

=====

Its impossible to plant a new mory. Since the mory itself is the main body. We need to fill in the gaps, the small details within the mory, to create the situation! No matter what, we cant leave the range of the base mory!

Siren. Army uniform. It was a well-built setting, but none of it ca from its mories. They first needed to return the situation to the guys normal range.

- Pewwwwww!

[ We ask for theaters, gyms, terminals, malls, and other places with many people to imdiately evacuate the people sowhere safe. ]

Banggggggg!

Nice timing!

And just at the right ti, a mortar fell on the building next to them and showered debris on them.

Damn it! Hey, you over there! Get under the table! Youll get hit by the debris!

Gyosu roughly grabbed the woman mannequin and the little mannequin and pulled them under the table.

What are you doing? Stop dawdling!

Pmhp!

After pushing the two mannequins under the table, Gyosu spread the parasol over them.

[Uh, uh.]

The hesitating mannequin of the man walked toward the table and wrapped his arms around the other two dolls, and at the sa ti, he saw the main body of Old Picture calm down as well.

Thats one obstacle were over. Since whats left of its mory is just walking through the street with its family, we just need to maintain the main actions and input the new situations.

The first checkpoint, Sit and rest at the table in front of the convenience store., clear!

When Gyosu signaled to Ian and Vex, who were waiting in the alleyway, with their experience in special forces proving itself, the two rushed out quickly and took cover behind a flower bed near the convenience store and watched guard.

[Whats exactly happening? This sudden warningis there a war going on?]

[H-honey!]

[Wahhh! Daddy! Im scared!]

Three different voicesone of a man, one of a woman, and one of a childca out of Old Pictures mouth. It was proof that the monster was completely imrsed in the situation and started to fill in the empty gaps in his mory.

Damn it. Stupid civilians. Were you living under a rock? Didnt you see the news?

[News?]

Yeah, the news! Its been going crazy since yesterday! Those North Koreans actually sent the nukes! Its a total warzone out here!

To Gyosus response, Old Pictures massive body shrank back.

[That does remind there were rumors about a weird illness spreading.]

Thats the hosts mory. Its piecing together the pieces to match the situation.

Cap! We dont have ti! Well get surrounded by the enemy if we dont get to the escape point in ti!

I know! Oy, civilians, you heard that. I dont have the ti to be listening to your whining. If you want to live, follow us.

[W-where are we going?]

Gyosu pointed at the street to answer Old Pictures question. The road that it always took.

Were going there. Well cover, so you take care of your family over there. Make sure you dont lose them.

(The main character shakes their hand with the head of the family. A small trust towards the soldiers and the determination to protect his family bloom in the mans mind.)

Rembering the information in the script, Gyosu stretched out his hand.

The nas Hepburn, Sargent Hepburn.

[Sargent Hepburn?]

Old Picture suddenly froze at Gyosus introduction.

Yikes! A plot hole! I should have just said Gyosu Park!

Gyosu tensed his muscles to run. If the words [That doesnt make sense] ca out of his mouth, then hell run, run away as fast as he can, maybe he could start to turn around right

After montarily gurgling, Old Picture cald down on its own, and the mannequin took the hand Gyosu extended.

[Well, over 70% of the citizens in the country are foreigners, so there must have been a change in the army as well. Im Dojin Kim, and this is my wife and son. Please take good care of us.]

Sweating internally, Gyosu mustered up his most trustworthy-looking smile.

Well need to help each other. If we want to survive.

The play had only just started, but Gyosu already felt like crying.