Pitter-patter.
"...Yes...."
Pitter-patter-patter.
"No...."
A peek.
Pitter-patter-patter...!
"...Yes, no, yes...."
Coco, three cards clamped in its mouth, wandered the corridor.
Its short, squishy legs moved busily, its tail taut with effort. Its large, round eyes and head swiveled rapidly, darting in and out of one corridor after another.
Like droplets seeping through the cracks of a broken glass cup. Drip. Drip.
"No, no...."
Then, at so point, when it dropped from the ceiling—
SPLASH!
"...! Yes!"
Having tumbled into a puddle of blood, Coco found the answer.
It shook its stubby body with a FLUTTER, righted itself, and bounded toward it. Coco's black eyes scanned every part of the door.
"Yes. Yes...."
A massive door that couldn't be found anywhere else. And thick walls. Coated in age and dust, yet gleaming with the luster of solid steel—it was unmistakably the Central Control Room Yeon-woo had been searching for.
Coco bounced up and down until its squishy body stretched.
"Yes! Yes! Yes!"
Its short body couldn't reach the card reader. It extended itself to maximum length, but still couldn't insert the cards. SPLASH, SPLASH—the little monster-cat bounced up and down, sending ripples across the blood on the floor.
"Mmn."
"......"
"Mmmn...."
Fidgeting anxiously, Coco scanned its surroundings.
"......!"
A box caught its eye.
Coco bit the edge of the box and dragged it all the way to the door. It was just tall enough to reach the reader mounted beside it. Stopping at the right position, Coco dropped the box from its mouth and climbed on top.
"Yes."
BEEP—
One inserted.
"Yes."
BEEP—
Two inserted.
"......"
Done.
"Mm."
With the last one still in its mouth, Coco gave its ears a light shake. Its squishy body settled onto the box. Coco's head was turned toward the left corridor.
It wasn't yet ti to insert the third card.
"......"
"......"
"......?"
Coco turned its head.
"......"
"May I eat?"
A large fra, and two hands clasped as though in prayer. Eyes curved like crescent moons.
The gentle, well-pitched voice was clean, but the intent held in that smile was not. He cast no shadow, and was the master of all the blood that filled this place. The blood flowing from the walls, too, welcod him.
That which mimicked glory asked once more.
"May I eat?"
"No."
"May I?"
"No."
GULP.
Coco swallowed the card.
"No!"
Then burrowed straight into the box.
***
"......"
By nature, driving ga was the work of servants.
"...Oh."
The Guest Without Taste had arrived ahead of ti at the spot where the blade should fall.
"It must be cramped in there."
"No."
"Co, let us wait for the master together."
"No."
"You—monster in the form of a beast. A devil whose face I do not know...."
"No."
"......"
He tapped the top of the box lightly. How had the master of this place so thoroughly captivated this thing?
"Surely you know his is not a soul suited to yours."
Perhaps it was only natural. Clean water was easily dirtied, and so it was the dirty things—those like them—that were drawn to what was clean.
"Then how pitiful he is. Surely the devil is the loneliest of souls. Having built so grand a house, it must be divine providence that he is beset by all manner of devils within it."
"No."
"You should have simply pretended not to know."
That day, The Guest Without Taste had seen.
"It was none other than you who summoned
when he was cornered in that dead-end corridor."
He had also seen the fate of the monster deeply entwined with this place, the one who always sat upon its master's shoulder.
"When your master crouched in that narrow box, holding his breath. When you insisted that fragile blood-fragnts be thrown as bait, and ultimately led this starving vampire right to his doorstep—that was clearly your will. Though by whatever caprice, you confounded
imdiately afterward, but well...."
"......"
"For you, that would be a rightful authority and an utterly natural instinct."
Standing by while danger unfolded and guiding despair through deceptive counsel. Making prey walk into the kill zone of its own accord. That was not malice but instinct.
A diversion befitting the system of one who was a pure aggregate of misfortune, and an authority only you could wield in this castle. You must have placed your master in such predicants countless tis before.
"Then why are you blocking this door now? Why have you cast aside that absolute authority and dragged yourself down to this shallow, low place—where dirty things like
can reach—all to help a re human?"
The Guest Without Taste's eyes narrowed at the absurdity.
"It would have been better had you remained aloof."
An abyss as clear as a spring, trying to imitate life and death.
"Surely you understand? You must. Having set foot on this filthy ground and accepted a human's request... you are no longer free from all that danger."
"Yes."
"Over a single word like that."
"Yes."
"Trust, he says."
Let
trust you, he'd said.
"What sort of folly is this?"
Even trust was ultimately grounded in reason. Those who had forgotten restraint could not even trust one another.
"How far do you believe he can endure? How long do you believe he can remain noble? I would never do such a thing. It's far too foolish and fanciful."
A story that would beco aningless once he finally broke.
"Ah, of course—I'm well aware. You, a pure devil, won't be easily hard. But what matters is that your feet have touched this ground."
"No."
"In the end, the way of the world is to eat and be eaten, is it not?"
"Yes."
"......"
The Guest Without Taste lifted his hand from the box. Then tilted his head.
"...Knowing that, why did you do it?"
You, too.
And your master.
"Why on earth do you do this?"
【Who knows.】
SLAP—!!
In that instant, from what had appeared to be blood on the floor, a vast column of clean, transparent water erupted skyward. The Water Wraith's rough spray forcibly blinded The Guest Without Taste's vision—
"......?!"
WHOOSH—!!
"Are you curious?"
Yeon-woo, bursting through the spray and the blood, gripped the hunting dagger [Noble rcy], its blade crusted with dried blood.
"That answer."
"......"
"I'll give it to you now."
And drove its cold gleam into The Guest Without Taste's neck.
[Noble rcy]
[To chase a fleeing beast for long is beneath one's dignity. When breath grows ragged, the nobleman approaches and severs it. Whose blood is it? The one who holds the blade, or the one who is cut?]
"You were 'blood' too, weren't you?"
[Inflicts temporary Status Ailnt 'Excessive Bleeding' on attack]
SQUELCH—!!!
***
.......
...—And yet, what was he supposed to do with this horrifying feeling of being placed atop a massive dinner plate?
'Do with it? What kind of stupid thought is that.'
Yeon-woo let out an irritable breath.
"Hah...."
If you're going to be that discourteous, then I'll have to prepare a counterasure.
"Hello?"
"......"
'Are you all right?'
Yeon-woo, emotions severed, asked Coco.
"Yes! Hello!"
"Soon...."
Soon, they would reach the trap.
The Watchers were killing him, but that wasn't what mattered right now. He needed to focus on the whereabouts of The Guest Without Taste, who had vanished from sight the mont the Watchers descended.
So where would that man be right now?
"The Central Control Room."
He'd be waiting in front of the Central Control Room. And so.
"Won't you help?"
"...Yes?"
"There's no ti."
It wasn't solely about the Watchers. The burden wouldn't be entirely absent, but since he only needed to dissolve into liquid blood and shake them off, it was manageable. If it was voluntary rather than forced, he could hold out for a mont.
But during the six seconds the door took to open and close, he had to subdue The Guest Without Taste standing guard at the entrance. For that, he needed to draw the opponent's attention.
How?
"The door needs to be opened in advance."
Only then would The Guest Without Taste's attention turn that way.
Yeon-woo passed over the three cards hanging from his neck as he ran. Dodging and ducking while looking ahead left him no room to spare, but he could feel Coco's body being pressed down by the thickened cards.
Only up to two.
"......"
"Please."
So that he could abandon this body, stand behind The Guest Without Taste, and ultimately wring out as much blood as the people the vampire had consud. So that they could endure this together and tomorrow could be better.
In a way only Coco could hear.
"......"
"......"
Yeon-woo asked.
***
Of course, honestly speaking,
The fact that The Drenched One—who'd been eavesdropping—also lent a hand was truly an unexpected developnt.
It probably ant she wanted her share included in that 'trust'....
'...Marking territory....'
Truly no different from a beast.
As if I'd let you set up camp in my lungs.
***
And so ti circled back.
"—Bullying a child, honestly."
That day, the fact that Coco had summoned The Guest Without Taste was sothing Yeon-woo already knew. There was no way Yeon-woo didn't know the malice of this hotel he'd been with for twenty-six years, and then another five.
He had simply chosen to believe nonetheless.
"Coco!!"
"Yes!"
BEEP—!!
At Yeon-woo's shout, Coco spat out the card and drove it into the reader.
The door, as massive as it was heavy, opened slowly. In three seconds it would be fully open, and in three more it would close. For a total of six seconds, Yeon-woo had to hold The Guest Without Taste in place. That wasn't difficult.
Because the man had sothing he needed to know more than his own life.
He wouldn't be able to endure not asking.
"Why?"
One second.
The creature thrashed under the curse of the hunting dagger that forced the Status Ailnt [Excessive Bleeding].
While the Water Wraith's spray coiled slickly around his ankles, buying ti, Yeon-woo—perched atop him—seized the vampire's ash-gray hair as bloody tears stread down his face, and t his eyes.
"Why...?"
"Listen well."
Two seconds.
The composed exterior twisted, and from the neck where the blade was lodged, blood surged uncontrollably. With the old vampire losing blood, it was now Yeon-woo who held the advantage.
As Yeon-woo used his own blood and fierce water pressure to completely suppress resistance, a scream like a wail of resentnt burst free.
"I—! Why am I...!!"
"You're not different."
Three seconds, then four.
Consuming each other, yet controlling what was theirs—that was how Yeon-woo spoke.
"......"
"Not at all."
And five seconds.
"I said you're not different."
He rose, and vanished through the gap in the door.
THUD—!!!
"......"
"......"
"......"
***
"......"
"Hello?!"
He was a bit dazed.
"...Yes...."
Yeon-woo, slumped against the door, answered.
"...Hello."
This was far more 'hello' than he'd expected.
Perhaps because ga-like elents had been reflected. Partly because Yeon-woo had surrendered his body, slipped out of it, and given them the slip—but the swarm of Watchers that had been so clamorous couldn't be sensed at all.
He thought he'd heard this place described as a kind of bunker.
'At any rate, it seems like everything's fine once you enter the separated zone.'
Having thought that far, Yeon-woo blinked slowly through blurred vision. A head throbbing as though feverish, a back drenched in cold sweat from fear. Fingertips twitching in faint spasms beyond his control.
"Ha, what a ss...."
Yeon-woo scrubbed his face irritably.
Bottod-out stamina and a cliff-edge situation had stripped away the layers concealing his true nature, leaving it bared and sharp. Confronting one's own limits was always an unpleasant affair.
He forced down his ragged breathing and opened his mouth in a cracked voice.
"...Coco."
"Yes!"
"Coco."
"Yes? Yes!"
"Coco."
"......?"
"......"
Yeon-woo pulled the squishy cat into his arms.
"...Well done."
"......"
Yeon-woo forced strength into his trembling arms and held Coco a little tighter. Gratitude for a partner who had willingly completed the collaboration for his sake.
Then he added, once more, dryly.
"You were a help. An enormous one."
"Yes."
"Yes."
Whether it was friendship, trust, or hope. It didn't matter that he couldn't feel those soft, warm things right now. The solidarity that had been torn away could be reassembled on the foundation of this result.
'In the end, I can build it up again with the mories I'm making now.'
That was enough.
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