Ch. 11 The Thing I Most Want to Destroy (2)
by AfuhfuihgsChapter 11 – The Thing I Most Want to Destroy (2)
The library fell into a deathly silence.
A calm darkness filled the spaces between the bookshelves, and the smell of dust from old books mixed with the metallic scent of blood, wafting into my nose.
The faint fluttering of wings stirred the air, buzzing near my ears. While it might have annoyed others, to me, it felt oddly comforting.
At first, there was one, then two. Soon, a swarm of butterflies filled the air.
And then they descended upon the corpses.
(*Crunch—! Crunch—!*)
The sound echoed.
It was far more vivid and intense than what small insects flapping their wings could produce—it was as if teeth were tearing into something.
What the butterflies were devouring were already lifeless bodies.
The surface of the corpses crumbled like peeling skin, revealing the flesh beneath.
And the butterflies mercilessly burrowed into it, consuming it.
“My God… Huh, huh!? My God…”
Yu Hae took a step back.
His face turned as pale as a sheet of paper, and his pupils trembled, fixed in place.
His expression, a mix of shock and confusion, was frozen like someone trapped in a nightmare.
He tried to say something, but no proper words came out of his lips.
His trembling hand pointed to the floor.
“What… what is this…?”
The words he managed to spit out were short and fragmented, like broken breaths.
His gaze shifted between the butterflies, the corpses, and me.
The sight of beautifully patterned butterflies carrying blood and flesh was a bizarre paradox.
The delicate beauty of nature intertwined with the cold cruelty of death seemed to overwhelm Yu Hae with an unbearable sense of dissonance.
I watched his reaction, standing there expressionlessly.
*Cannibalistic butterflies…*
All my knowledge about butterflies from memory was hastily summoned.
There were no words to explain this situation, but I could at least make a rational inference.
Butterflies are known to feed on decaying matter, such as dung or rotting fruit.
But this…
No, this act of gnawing on corpses transcended both logic and instinct.
“Does this… make any sense?”
Yu Hae suddenly asked me sharply.
His voice trembled, but there was a desperate undertone to it.
It seemed like he wanted to understand the situation but, at the same time, wished he couldn’t.
I recognized that expression.
It was the face of someone regretting what they had just witnessed.
And in the library, the corpses with their stomachs torn open were still sprawled on the floor, their intestines spilling out like sticky threads, and chunks of flesh exposed like tough fruit pulp.
There were far too many of them.
And the red-winged butterflies soared gracefully through the air in swarms.
Their movements were as beautiful as a painting.
At least, to my eyes.
And soon, their elegant fluttering signaled the beginning of a feast.
The butterflies covered the corpses with their delicate bodies, piercing their proboscises into the flesh and instinctively sucking out the blood from the organs.
The skin stretched and tore, clinging to the butterflies’ mouths like old gum, being ripped apart piece by piece.
The muscles were torn apart as smoothly as meat in a freshly boiled seaweed soup, and the blood vessels were severed, being sucked in long, thin streams by the butterflies.
(*Squelch, squelch—!*)
Every time their wings beat with force, small droplets of blood splattered onto the corpses.
The blood slowly stained the floor, but even that was thoroughly sucked up by the butterflies’ proboscises.
I watched the scene indifferently.
Without moving a finger, my expression unchanged.
I observed from a step away as the butterflies chewed, swallowed, and drank the remaining blood, growing even redder.
The grotesque banquet the butterflies created was no longer special to me.
It was just, “Ah, so there are butterflies like that.”
“What… what is that? I don’t understand. I… I don’t know.”
Yu Hae beside me struggled to speak, gasping for breath.
His face was pale, and his eyes followed the butterflies devouring the corpses, filled with terror and confusion.
I glanced at his reaction briefly but felt no particular emotion.
Compared to what I had seen during my life on Earth, this level of cruelty was nothing.
I simply found Yu Hae, who was shocked, despairing, and questioning why he was here, somewhat interesting.
“No one can escape their fate. Not those butterflies, nor us. They are simply following their instincts. Whether to satisfy their hunger or because they are being controlled by the power of this library.”
Yu Hae said nothing more.
His eyes had already sunk into deep confusion and resignation.
I added an explanation.
“And they are just doing their job.”
I spoke calmly.
“Their job? That?”
Yu Hae asked in a trembling voice.
His hands were shaking slightly.
“This doesn’t make sense… Butterflies eating humans.”
He shook his head in disbelief, still staring at the butterflies.
“Yes. Eating corpses and erasing traces. That is their job.”
I replied indifferently.
Yu Hae looked back at the corpses, as if trying to understand my words.
The butterflies had already consumed most of the flesh, and even the organs and blood had been neatly sucked dry.
The process was grotesque and brutal, yet strangely precise.
It was like watching a perfect machine at work.
He turned to look at me again.
His voice carried an uncontrollable fear.
“What… what kind of place is this? Why am I here?”
“Well—”
I started to answer his question but then felt my words catch in my throat.
I watched as the butterflies swallowed the last remnants of the corpses and slowly opened my mouth again.
“This is a library. It might be a bit different from the library you’re imagining, but it’s a library nonetheless.”
Yu Hae tilted his head, looking confused by my answer.
He seemed to be struggling to understand something, his eyes filled with questions.
“A library… Do you mean something like the *Suseowon* (修書院) or *Bomungak* (寶文閣)? Or… perhaps the *Jiphyeonjeon* (集賢殿)?”
I paused for a moment.
The places he mentioned were unfamiliar to me, and I was momentarily taken aback, but I nodded.
Since I couldn’t clearly explain what this place was, it was better to answer in a way he could understand.
“You can think of it as such a place.”
“Ah…”
Yu Hae sighed and nodded.
But his face was still filled with doubt and unease.
“Then, there must be a reason I’m here, right? I came here… for something, didn’t I?”
“Yes.”
I answered succinctly.
As he looked back at the butterflies, the library finally fell silent.
Where the butterflies had been, only a red afterimage lingered.
The butterflies had simply gnawed away all the flesh, and even the bones and remains were gradually being crushed, leaving the library floor clean.
Somehow, the now-clean space regained its tranquility.
Yu Hae quietly lowered his head.
His shoulders slumped, and he stood there, unable to find a way to escape what he had just witnessed.
*****
In a corner of the stacks, books that hadn’t been properly organized were scattered about.
They seemed to groan under the weight of the past, quietly waiting to be returned to their rightful places.
As a librarian, my job was simple.
To return the books to their places—that was all.
But today, this monotonous and endless task felt strangely unfamiliar.
Perhaps it was because of the unfamiliar presence of Yu Hae beside me, or maybe it was the inexplicable aura he carried.
“It’s huge. I’ve never seen a place this massive before. It’s even bigger than the *Jinnamgwan* (鎭南館)…”
Yu Hae looked around the library, alternating between sighs and short exclamations of awe.
His gaze was sharp but unsteady, as if he had lost something on his way here or had already abandoned everything.
He seemed to have no regrets, yet there was something he still desired, or perhaps something he hadn’t yet seen with his own eyes.
“Is this really a library?”
Yu Hae asked skeptically.
“Yes. It’s literally a library.”
My answer was simple.
Naturally, his doubtful expression didn’t fade easily.
The place we were standing, the second floor, was still featureless.
Monotonous bookshelves, mechanically organized books in the stacks, and dust scattered carelessly.
But I knew.
This place could change at any moment, given the right trigger.
“What’s that button?”
Yu Hae’s gaze fell on a single button placed on a pedestal.
It was a simple yet strangely compelling button.
[Press it.]
<The best prophet of the future is the past.>
The phrase that appeared before my eyes was simple, but what it contained was anything but.
It felt like an invitation to cross a bridge between past and future.
“Press it. Then you’ll know.”
I said indifferently.
“What will happen if I press this?”
Yu Hae asked cautiously.
“You’ll see for yourself. You won’t get hurt.”
*Probably…*
He hesitated for a moment, then extended his index finger and pressed the button.
*Click.*
The moment the button was pressed, the air began to tremble.
The once-quiet space suddenly came alive, as if it had gained a life of its own. The bookshelves shook, dust rose, and everything began to transform into a new form.
The entire second floor was in upheaval.
“Wh-what!?”
Yu Hae looked around in panic, clearly uneasy.
I simply stood there, unmoved.
As the tiled roof began to take shape, thatched-roof houses emerged beneath it.
The air was filled with the damp, salty scent of the sea, as if rain was about to fall, mixed with the nostalgic smell of earth.
Beneath the thatched roofs, the savory aroma of salted fish soup wafted faintly, mingling with the sweet scent of scorched rice.
“This is…”
Yu Hae looked around, his face blank.
*Oh…?*
I looked into Yu Hae’s eyes.
For the first time, his gaze seemed fully open, bright.
“This is nice… It’s just like ‘that place.’ A library even bigger than the *Jinnamgwan* (鎭南館).”
There was a tremor in his voice, perhaps from longing.
I tilted my head slightly.
“That place, you say?”
“…No.”
He quickly denied it and turned his head away.
I was curious but didn’t press further.
It seemed like his past was something he couldn’t easily put into words.
Then he pointed to a book and said,
“So, the ‘Floor of History’… is it about the history of the world we live in?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm…”
He seemed to fall into thought, stroking his chin.
Then he pulled out a random book from the stacks.
“This book must also be related to history, right? Let’s see… the title is.”
Yu Hae looked at the book and said,
“It says here, ‘Mein Kampf.’ Do you know who this mustachioed foreigner is?”
“…???”
*Huh?*
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