Soone wished to die.
Soone wished to live.
"S-Save ...!"
A cold hand no one could hold.
"......"
A breath that quietly sank to a place no one could see.
"...Hh...."
Warmth stolen without even knowing.
A teenage girl, drowned in a valley stream swollen by monsoon rains.
A man in his forties, threw himself into a river in despair.
A man in his seventies, died of hypothermia while sleeping rough on a rainy night.
Trapped in water yet unable to die—not a person, but a fish.
'Cold.'
They are together and one, yet always lonely.
'Quiet.'
They loathe warmth, and long for it.
'It hurts.'
But because they are always in the water, people call this a 'water wraith.'
A ghost of the water. A monster encountered at sea, or a phantom ship. Most would call it a Water Ghost, but the scope is broader than that. More varied people, and stories, are what it truly is.
And then, for this cold and lonely thing, a door opened.
"Thank you for visiting."
"......"
"How may I help you?"
Of all things.
...It was a lavish hotel.
"......"
And by nature... a water wraith's mory is a wretched, hopeless thing.
It was only after drowning the only voice's owner again and again that it rembered. Only after killing, over and over, countless tis beyond counting, that it recognized.
What had it been staring at so intently?
Pale skin.
Fleshless fingers.
A composed face.
Jet-black hair.
A precise tone.
Warm,
'Soft.'
Gentle.
Just... those kinds of....
"......"
"......"
—SPLASH...!!
"...Gkh...."
"......"
"Ugh...."
"......"
"......"
"......"
Hypocrites, the lot of them.
The water wraith could not forget.
"...Hh...."
It must be because sumr is long.
***
Yeon-woo had been examining a single hypothesis all along.
'This place does not perfectly match the ga I knew.'
It wasn't that the ga had beco reality—rather, reality had summoned the ga into itself.
Therefore, the Monster Guests before him wouldn't necessarily move strictly according to the data he rembered. Reality was inherently a mass of variables.
Even so, what remained clear was that they, too, were subject to the ga system's influence.
'I should act based on the ga information I rember, but never blindly trust it. Still, even accounting for that discomfort, the information from Hoone is useful.... Especially in a life-or-death situation like this.'
To be precise, it was Director Lee Seon-hae's life more than his own at stake.
"......"
In any case, the important thing was that Yeon-woo had to follow the ga's rules.
"Excuse ?"
Yeon-woo addressed the Drenched One courteously.
"How are you feeling right now?"
"......"
"You seem to be doing better than before. I'm glad."
Entry to the 23rd floor within eleven hours of abduction.
Rescue target secured within the Aqua Park.
Tutorial complete.
The Drenched One in a non-agitated state.
All conditions required for Rescue thod 2, the Managent Route.
'And it's finally co down from its agitated state.'
The creature wasn't smiling, nor was it walking or running quickly. It still held the knife, but that was just how it always was. This was the "non-agitated" state he'd observed through the screen.
In that case, had all conditions been t and the transition to the Managent Route occurred?
'No.'
One more condition remained.
'I need to execute the forced checkout.'
Now, all he had to do was declare "You are not my guest," and that would constitute a successful rescue route. However—
"...I'm a bit concerned. Your manner of existence seems to have grown far more complex than what I rember. I'm not confident that past asures will still be effective."
The difference between a ga and reality.
'What if this isn't the Drenched One I knew? And even if it is, what if the Tutorial Bug wasn't applied?'
But Yeon-woo had done his best.
"So I must deliver so unfortunate news."
"......"
"...You are...."
You.
"—not my guest."
"......"
"......"
Silence settled.
Yeon-woo blinked.
Dark lighting and the grotesque waterways soaking the floor. The chilling weight of air that pressed down upon that beautiful scenery.
"...Ha, well...."
...Having confird that nothing whatsoever had changed, he slowly drew his hand across his lips.
"How unfortunate."
He had failed.
And the monster lunged.
***
Yeon-woo put distance between them at character-level speed, lost in thought.
'What went wrong?'
The Tutorial Bug might not have been applied.
'That happened in the ga sotis, too.'
A bug was a bug—consistency couldn't be expected. Moreover, since this place was a reality built upon a ga, entirely new irregularities might have erged.
'If it's the forr, that happened even in the ga, so it doesn't matter much. But the latter would be a real headache. I'd hoped otherwise, but now that it's co to this, the value of the information I have is incomparably lower than before....'
"I'm lonely."
"—Tch."
Damn it.
'Is it entering Phase 2?'
Though still on dry ground, the Drenched One spoke. That ant it had begun perceiving the Aqua Park itself as its tank. Naturally, the danger level spiked.
"Lonely, cold. I said I'm cold. I'm telling you. Listen to ."
"Appearances aside, I am listening."
"Why? Why? Why? Why am I alone? I'm scared, it's cold, it's so quiet...!"
"You're treating
as if I'm worth less than the air."
"Hypocrite! Ah, you're warm, only you, only you, only you...!!"
"What a lunatic."
He kept moving, maintaining distance by a hair's breadth.
But once Phase 2 fully got on track, even this would be hopeless. "Phase" was a generous term—in practice, it was summary execution.
'Nothing's going right.'
Normally, as long as you'd mastered the routes, there was no way to be caught. The Drenched One and the Operator are set to the sa speed. But since the Managent Route had failed, its speed would now increase.
Ah, how to put it? He could almost hear the developer's malicious voice: 'If you're bitter about it, you should've done it right the first ti.'
'Even trying to brush it off, this feels unjust. I don't think the fault was on my end, but whatever the case, is this how a failed route manifests...?'
Good information to have.
"Give it to —!!"
"I'll need to be more careful next ti."
The advantage of a character's body:
'I don't get winded from talking while running.'
Oh, good lord. What an absolutely magnificent advantage.
Yeon-woo ached for items so badly his teeth chattered. Or skills, or stats—anything. If he'd had an interface, he wouldn't have suffered this level of humiliation.
"......"
There truly was no way out now.
'The only escape at this point is....'
No—not even the only one. In the worst case, he could resort to a brawl using the Blood Magic he'd learned just before coming up to the 23rd floor. But that couldn't guarantee Director Lee Seon-hae's safety. Rejected.
So the only remaining thod.
'Proceed with the Contract Route.'
Ah....
'Everything else aside, the contract was the one thing I really wanted to avoid.'
This might be called a "contract," but it was no different from a loan that mortgaged your entire life. Over twenty-six years, he'd lost count of how many save files he'd had to scrap because of these damned contracts.
'But with Phase 2 underway, there's no other way.'
In an uncontrollable situation, at the very least, he could control his own death. That was the only initiative he could seize in this scenario.
"......"
Just so I can live.
So that I can live more comfortably.
Letting soone else get hurt for that.
'That kind of thing.'
To Yeon-woo, that was sothing that must not happen.
"Warm, soft, gentle...!!"
"—Blood."
Tap.
"Breath."
"......"
"...Warmth."
The things you've whispered about to the point of tedium.
Yeon-woo stood with his feet precariously balanced on the edge of the pool.
"I have them."
Rescue thod 3, Contract Route.
Two or more self-harm events perford. Two or more structural utterances selected. Entry to the 23rd floor Aqua Park within twelve hours. The Drenched One in a non-agitated state.
And the final condition.
"......"
"How about it?"
Death in the main pool.
Yeon-woo held out his hand.
"I can't perform miracles, but...."
"...Lonely."
"I can die alongside you."
"Okay."
The scale-covered, pallid Water Ghost smiled and engulfed him.
"My hypocrite."
SPLASH—!!
A massive spray of water erupted, and the surface heaved violently.
One human.
One rman.
***
If you thought about it coldly.
Andersen's fairy tales had an unsettling edge to them.
'...Were the two legs the rmaid received truly a gift?'
Imagine cutting off your two legs for love and attaching a fish's tail instead. Everyone would say you'd lost your mind. How could it not be grotesque?
She'd lost the tail she originally had and replaced it with the body part of a creature she barely knew. She'd given up her talent and pride in singing and offered up her voice.
'Walking on unfamiliar legs, tornted by pain with every step upon the ground....'
If love failed, she would dissolve into sea foam and vanish.
'Isn't that grotesque?'
No different from a ghost story.
"......"
The sensation of cold water flooding deep into his lungs was vivid.
"Cold, right?"
"......"
"It hurts, right? It's suffocating, and dark, and frightening."
"......"
"I felt that way too, all of us did...."
"......"
"...Lonely."
Regrettably, it's not as painful as you'd hoped.
Cold, or pain, or the sensation of suffocation—such purely physiological feelings. To the present Yeon-woo, they were already stories from a distant land. He had the growing sense of gradually becoming that way.
'...Perhaps this inhuman numbness is the most efficient tool for properly operating this hotel.'
The feeling of slowly being bleached out of the human category. This place treated human emotion as an unnecessary variable and compelled its manager to erase it.
Alongside that arid thought, an idle impression surfaced.
'It doesn't... kill
right away.'
This wasn't in the ga.
'Then again, the conversation we had just before falling into the pool wasn't in the ga either.'
The Drenched One simply pulled Yeon-woo down—deeper, and deeper still. It didn't swing a sharp weapon, nor did it strangle him.
This was a scene the ga never showed. Falling into the pool, and that was the end of it.
"......"
"...I didn't want to die."
...The instinct of a living thing. Only natural.
'I'd like to hear more of what it has to say, but....'
His glasses had drifted off sowhere long ago. Beyond the swaying black hair, water so transparent it stung his eyes flooded in. A sight that belonged to the deep sea of a dream.
'A world invisible when it was rely a ga. Voices inaudible.'
The emotions beyond the data, finally confronted.
"......"
"......"
And so the Drenched One's form filled his vision completely.
'...A rman.'
Well, obviously.
It was not that sort of romantic creature.
The Drenched One, having fully revealed itself, took the shape of a rman.
'Calling it a "rman" is generous.'
It was just a monster fish.
'What was once a person, breathing underwater instead of on land, with a tail instead of legs.'
Tail fins as flamboyant as a betta's, as long as a serpent's....
"......"
His breath ended,
and his eyes closed.
"......"
"...Sleep well."
Yes.
'Is it because this is a death defined by the ga, or... who knows.'
There was no breathing reflex, no convulsions that should accompany drowning, no thrashing, no involuntary movents. Only the sensation of his heart and brain gradually dying—a feeling he'd grown quite accustod to in this hotel.
"......"
...The cry of a deep-sea creature
could be heard.
Andersen's fairy tales really weren't ant for children.
***
"......?"
Seon-hae suddenly noticed her vision brightening.
"...The bulb...."
After flickering, the treatnt room's light ca on.
The oppressive air that had weighed on her body and the chill that had crawled down her spine were washed away in an instant. It was simply an ordinary treatnt room—devoid of people, the kind you could find anywhere.
And that was how she knew, instinctively.
'It's over.'
The relief lasted barely a mont before the thought that followed was terrible.
'Did he really... die...?'
Ah.
"...Ugh...."
—RETCH, GKH, *COUGH*!!
Seon-hae dry-heaved for a long ti.
She'd eaten nothing, so nothing ca up, but a foul, tallic water kept churning out of her mouth. Dizziness and an indescribable, horrible feeling engulfed her entire body.
Her breath was ragged.
"...No."
Huff, gasp.
"There's no way."
Right?
"It can't be."
She had no ti to collect herself. She rose, panting, and fumbled with the walkie-talkie with trembling hands. But as expected, there was no response.
Seon-hae stepped out of the treatnt room. Anxious footsteps echoed through the corridor. The hallway that greeted her was excessively bright and serene. As if nothing had happened.
Did this hotel even realize how that artificial peace was more unsettling than anything?
"No...."
High ceilings and neatly installed lights. Tile floors and walls so smooth there wasn't a drop of moisture. The corridor beyond displayed an elegant facade, but it was nothing more than a structure filled with lifeless silence.
"......"
Plod.
Seon-hae moved her feet.
She spotted signs helpfully written in Korean. Following the markers, she soon arrived at the pool.
Its scale was nothing like an ordinary hotel pool. As if an underwater palace or a museum built upon water had been transplanted here, the space exuded an air of extravagance and luxury.
"......"
But there was no trace of the monster anywhere.
It was rely bright, still, and polished. As though mocking the vivid terror she'd experienced, every threat had evaporated without a trace.
"...Yeon-woo."
It was as if soone had erased everything.
She knew. Seon-hae had heard the plan. He'd said he would try to persuade it. And that if he failed, he might die. But he'd said he'd only half-die, so he should still be breathing—then why.
"Yeon-woo?"
Nobody's here, is there?
"General Manager."
Her voice grew louder. Her steps had turned into sothing close to running.
"Lee Yeon-woo...!!"
No matter how loud she called, all that returned was a cold echo.
"......"
Seon-hae muttered into the empty air. Damn, this place is huge, she said.
'...Granted, no matter how I think about it, it's nonsense—but still, if he was only going to half-die, doesn't that an he should be alive? Shouldn't he be alive?'
Ah, she didn't know anymore. Her head throbbed, and her vision swam.
'Fuck, what is this? It's not like I took so kind of drug and... this kind of... fantasy bullshit is actually happening? Yeon-woo said... no, he definitely told
he wasn't going to die....'
And yet, she truly didn't know.
'Why does it feel like this?'
Why.
That she'd left him behind.
...Why did it feel that way?
"......"
She looked around once more.
Pleasant music drifted throughout the entire park.
The floor was polished to a shine, and all the impressive facilities were perfectly in their places. A space where artificial structures and natural elents harmonized. The air was fresh, the view refreshing.
The sound of the brimming water lapping gently....
"...Haha...."
Seon-hae intuited two things.
"Where are you?"
This was not the sa space she'd been in monts ago, and Yeon-woo had likely died at the hands of the killer there. Her survival might have been built upon soone else's death.
"Where is this?"
Using a kid as a sacrificial lamb to escape.
"......"
What a terrible survival.
Reviews
All reviews (0)