episode_0006

“Oh… I want to go back.”

My visit to Hellstrom caused me to fall into a slump.

You might ask why a slump, out of nowhere, but on my way back to the city after hearing Naia’s story, seeing the explorers pass by, I suddenly embraced the dream of becoming an explorer.

So, when I asked Rie, who had come to greet me, if I could become an explorer and go outside the city alone, not just to Hellstrom, her answer was…

“No~ way!”

Rie, who rejected me with an unnecessarily witty and cheerful voice, ushered me towards home and leisurely departed.

Feeling utterly merciless, I protested to her from the day after I returned to the city until today, a week later, but my protests had no effect.

It was a plan to raise my complaints by drawing pictures of an umbrella octopus getting flicked on the head for a week straight, hoping my complaints would also be heard.

When I devised it, I thought it was a flawless plan, but contrary to my expectations, Rie loved it.

She claimed she was happy she could monopolize it?

I packed today’s finished drawing and left the house.

“So, the thing is.”

“Hahaha, and then?”

“The city is scary, isn’t it?”

“I prefer it here.”

I was fed up with the city residents who wouldn’t even greet me. Even though the three old men I saw in Hellstrom had a bad habit of harassment, I liked them because they truly exuded a strong human presence.

– Knock, knock, knock.

[Yes~ come in~]

“…Hello.”

“Oh, come on, Yuseong! I told you to let the air out of your cheeks.”

Pffft.

As Rie’s slender index finger poked my cheek, air escaped from my mouth.

I didn’t even realize.

“Here’s today’s drawing.”

“Hee hee, you drew me another one! I’m so, so happy~”

“…I’ll be going now…”

“Sigh… really…”

Thump, a cold hand grabbed my shoulder. If it had been me on the first day, I would have bowed, hearing Rie’s sigh and thinking I had been rude to my great employer, but not anymore.

This was a tyrannical act that went beyond overprotection, comparable to an overly zealous mother rearing a child.

When I looked at her with eyes full of complaint, Rie fully extended her hands like flowers and said in an excited voice.

“Here’s some good news for a sulky Yuseong! A festival is starting in our city today?”

“Ohh, a festival?”

A festival in a dark fantasy world. I hadn’t really experienced festivals even when I was on Earth, so I must be lucky.

What kind of festival would it be? As I imagined how the bored people here would amuse themselves, my head began to heat up.

“It’s none other than~ the Billowing Mask Festival!”

“A Mask Festival?”

“It’s my small gesture of sincerity for Yuseong, who’s met far too many humans, hasn’t he? You should have something to look forward to~?”

When Rie guaranteed something like that, good things always happened.

Since I could visit Hellstrom under her guarantee, the Mask Festival she guaranteed like this must surely be an exciting one.

“From today until tomorrow! It’s a festival where everyone wears masks, takes a break from work, and mingles as one. Hurry and enjoy yourselves.”

“Where do I get a mask?”

“Yuseong doesn’t need to wear a mask, does he?”

“What? If it’s a Mask Festival and you don’t wear a mask, why is it a Mask Festival?”

“…”

At this logical argument, Rie seemed lost for words, and began tapping her lips with her slender finger, lost in thought.

Of course, it was hidden by her veil, so I couldn’t see, but based on the estimated location, I was only talking about her lips.

“There’s a reason I’m not giving Yuseong a mask.”

“What is it?”

“That’s because I want to see Yuseong’s handsome face.”

“…I guess there’s nothing I can do.”

Hah, honestly.

If she says that much, what can I do?

I should have known from the way she usually fusses over me.

When someone is too good-looking, that’s the problem. I’m supposed to be taking my employer’s money, but now I’m even stealing her heart.

If this happens, I can’t even report a dispute to the labor board, can I?

I was convinced by Rie’s ardent persuasion and left the shop.

Rie vanished, with her words ‘Enjoy the festival’ being the last.

– Thump!

I saw the residents walking around wearing masks, just as she said, and my eyes lit up.

But…

“Hello.”

“Nice to meet you. I applied for this expedition because I’m looking for something. And you…”

“…Hello?”

“Oh, nice to meet you. Is this your first time here? You might not think so, but I’m not called ‘Social Butterfly’ for nothing…”

My interest plummeted at the sight of people so busy talking about themselves, it was like a convention of oversharers.

No, you’re supposed to greet and converse. A conversation is like catchball.

Just as I was heading home, feeling frustrated, I spotted someone not wearing a mask, just like me.

It was Mr. Thompson.

He lived across from me, a middle-aged man with a shaggy white beard, and he was currently observing the chattering residents from his rocking chair with subdued eyes.

Ah, his hobby is people-watching?

I had heard about Mr. Thompson from Rie.

She said he was someone from another city, a scholar staying here temporarily to research something?

When I complained that he screamed if I just spoke to him, Rie’s reply that he was just that kind of person because he was originally shy was quite memorable.

Anyway, for a shy person like him to even bring out a rocking chair just to people-watch.

Now was the time for catchball.

“Mr. Thompson!”

“Hee-eek!”

“Hee-eek?”

“Hee-eek!!!”

“Good morning.”

“Hee-eek!!!”

“…Can’t you say anything other than ‘Hee-eek’?”

As I grumbled in frustration, Mr. Thompson’s eyes widened.

He lowered his head and looked around, then whispered in a very small voice.

Ugh, why is his breath so hot?

“W-what is it? I’m quietly following the city’s rules, aren’t I? I haven’t broken any promises.”

“Who said anything?”

“Didn’t that woman send you?!”

“No, I didn’t.”

“What?”

Mr. Thompson stared at me with a bewildered expression, like someone who had just learned the answer to the ‘chicken or egg’ paradox.

“I don’t know who ‘that woman’ is, but I’m a resident living here by mutual agreement, having been hired.”

“Leruye, she didn’t send you?”

“Yes.”

“You’re not a slave either?”

“Nope.”

“You mean you’re staying here of your own free will, greeting me every day, visiting her shop on your own, and having private conversations with her?”

“Yes, because I’m a painter. I just go to the shop to deliver drawings.”

“You’re a painter?”

“Hah, you really don’t trust people, do you? Can’t you see this?”

I pulled a stack of papers from my pocket and proudly showed them to him.

My personal memo pad for sketching sudden inspirations during walks.

Mr. Thompson’s eyes quickly narrowed as he slowly examined the memo pad.

“You call yourself a painter with scribbles like these…”

“That’s too much! Rie said they were drawn so well that she collects them and shows them off to her friends.”

“What? Shows them off?”

“And someone even stole one of my drawings.”

“What? Stole them?”

Is he the Question Mark Killer? Why is he so surprised and asking so many questions?

But this kind of Q&A is exactly what a proper catchball is.

Give and take, how good is that?

“Yes, it was someone looking for his daughter…”

“Hebra… Ahem, what’s your name?”

“I am Han Yuseong.”

“Yuseong, Yuseong, young Yuseong. Don’t tell anyone we spoke today. And… if you want to talk to me again, make sure you fall asleep precisely at midnight tonight.”

“Midnight?”

“Not a minute early, not a minute late. Make sure you fall asleep precisely at midnight.”

“How do I control that?”

“…Anyway, you should go now. We shouldn’t talk anymore. And don’t come looking for me again.”

Mr. Thompson, who had arbitrarily ended the catchball, picked up his rocking chair and went inside his house, as if telling me not to approach him at all.

It’s a shame, but I guess I should find meaning in having become friendly with him.

I don’t know why he specifically mentioned midnight, but I felt good about having had a proper conversation after a long time.

It’s because the people here are boring, and Rie treats me too much like a child.

– Thump!

“Ah, I want to explore.”

Words I muttered unconsciously as soon as I returned to my gloomy house.

My house, full of canvases I had drawn alone without giving them to Rie, was filled with landscapes of various cities.

Of course, they weren’t real cities, just cities from my imagination.

Cities built of paper, cities sunken in water, white palaces, cities that hung my paintings in their homes.

Looking at them, Naia’s bright face came to mind.

Her figure, overjoyed to depart on an exploration with a face brighter than anyone else in the world.

What on earth would the outside world look like?

Excluding Hellstrom and this place, I had never properly encountered the scenery outside.

My entire experience consisted of being caught as a slave as soon as I landed here, walking across an empty plain, being rescued by Rie, coming to this city, and a week ago, taking a tourist trip to Hellstrom.

I’m so curious, so curious.

Submerged in primal curiosity, I idly rummaged through the house and found an item that might satisfy my curiosity.

Rie’s diary, which I had stumbled upon by chance.

Caressing its wrinkled surface, I fell into thought, then decided to read it since I’d already picked it up.

What’s the worst that could happen?