Ch.171171 – Prisoner’s Cave 2

# 171 – Prisoner’s Cave # 2

“What’s this, so you were descendants of a count. A noble family. The Tensho family from foreign lands was famous. I heard they dug endless pits toward the underground.”

For some reason, I was able to get along with the Japanese soldiers.

It was possible because Dahui was Cheon Daegon’s granddaughter.

Who would have thought being the descendant of a pro-Japanese collaborator would benefit me in survival.

Ironically, the actions of the Cheon family who sold out their country were benefiting us in a place we never could have imagined.

This count status must have been quite impressive, as even the Japanese soldiers who had been emanating murderous intent suddenly became very docile and gentle.

“To think we would surrender to something called an atomic bomb.”

“And Japan is America’s closest ally now?”

The Japanese soldiers from the Pacific War didn’t seem particularly shocked by stories of the 21st century.

When I was surprised by their flexible thinking, they explained:

“There are shadows here.”

“If you look, you can roughly see what’s happening in the outside world.”

“I see.”

“Come on, kids. Let me show you our base.”

“Though it’s just the two of us left at the base. Originally, there was a platoon. We were swept into some strange ruins during an operation in the jungle and ended up here.”

The Japanese soldiers were quite friendly.

However, I couldn’t tell how long they would remain so gentle.

Their eyes were those of madmen, and their hands and legs were trembling severely. Their faces were grinning constantly. Not from amusement, but as if they couldn’t control their facial muscles.

Suddenly, I became curious.

How had these Japanese soldiers survived in this cave without food? Why were there only two left out of an entire platoon?

What were they planning to do with the old man’s corpse?

I’ve heard about it.

In Papua New Guinea, there’s a custom of eating human corpses. People who practice cannibalism develop a disease called kuru.

A disease that makes your hands and feet tremble and causes loss of facial muscle control. Eventually leading to death.

Even an idiot could figure out the answer with these hints. They were clearly planning to take us to their “base” and eat us.

[Yeongwon, we need to escape.]

Dahui seemed to have realized what I was thinking.

Indeed, the soldiers weren’t hiding the desire in their eyes when looking at Dahui. It was the most primal biological urge—hunger.

A high school girl like Dahui must have looked like a feast to these cannibals trapped in the cave. They weren’t human. It was better to think of them as hungry ghosts.

Suddenly, I remembered what Yang Dohui had said.

—Layer 3.5 isn’t a place to stay long. Time flows like running water there. If you stay too long, everything will be washed away. Memories. Will. Self.

Thirty minutes here equals one minute in the real world.

Then how long would 70 years in the real world be in this world?

‘2,100 years.’

These soldiers had been wandering in this place for 2,100 years.

It was natural they’d lost their names and humanity after such a time.

While thinking about how to safely escape this situation, I decided to ask one more question.

“Excuse me, have you seen a girl wearing the same clothes as us?”

“We’ve seen her. A girl with very fast legs.”

“She’s with us.”

“She’s with you?”

“Yes. This purgatory is dangerous for kids. We’re protecting her.”

“She’s doing well. If you want to meet her, come with us.”

What were the chances that Yang Juhui was actually with them? I thought about it for a while and came to a conclusion.

This was a lie. But they probably had actually seen Yang Juhui.

She must have fled like a deer with her incredibly fast legs.

[Yeongwon, when I signal, scream loudly.]

Dahui gripped the torch in her hand more tightly.

I seemed to understand what Dahui was planning.

[Now!]

Whoosh!

Dahui struck the torch against the cave wall, creating friction that caused the torch to burst into a larger flame. An impressive technique.

I didn’t hesitate and shouted:

“Here! Here! Here! Heeeere! Aaaaargh!”

I screamed at the top of my lungs.

The Japanese soldiers, seemingly confused by our behavior, made incomprehensible noises and lunged at us.

They had removed their masks and revealed their bestial nature. However, the torch drew shadows. A beast’s shadow appeared from somewhere, revealing long claws and slaughtering the Japanese soldiers.

Grrrrrr—

“Aaaah!”

“Gaaah!”

While the beast’s shadow was butchering the soldiers, Dahui and I ran as fast as we could. We only stopped to catch our breath after running for a long time, when we could no longer hear any noise.

“I really thought we were going to die.”

“That was dangerous. If we had gone with them, they would have eaten us.”

At least we survived.

So what now?

There was no guarantee that there weren’t more madmen like those Japanese soldiers in this cave, driven insane by long periods of time and hunger. I thought there were probably many of them.

“Dahui, have you been trying to talk to Juhui?”

“I have, but I don’t know if she can hear me.”

In my opinion, Yang Juhui had spent about a month in this place. If I had spent 30 days, a total of 720 hours here, I probably would have gone insane already.

So Yang Juhui’s mental state was certainly not normal.

“Given the situation, I think I need to use my trump card.”

“Trump card?”

“Status Window—”

I manipulated the Status Window.

I was planning to summon a ghost from my mercenary corps.

When I dispatched “Monkey’s Paw” by consuming 100 points, something bizarre happened.

Fwooosh—

Suddenly, my left hand grew an enormous amount of hair.

“Ugh, damn. So this is how it works.”

The Monkey’s Paw was an item that granted wishes.

Of course, there were no restrictions on how it granted wishes, so there was a risk it could become a curse.

In other words, high risk, high return.

With this, finding Yang Juhui should be easy.

“Find Yang Juhui right now.”

I spoke to my left hand.

Then with a crack—my pinky finger broke.

Crack, snap—

『Your ‘Monkey’s Paw’ has achieved enlightenment.

It can no longer be dispatched from the mercenary corps.』

“Aaaaarrrrggghhh!”

It really hurt.

Tears welled up and my head was spinning. My scream echoed throughout the cave, and lights flickered from various corners.

Thump, thump—

Countless presences were felt.

I felt my hair stand on end as I sensed presences approaching us. As I was wondering what to do, someone peeked around the corner.

“Hey! What are you doing, you idiots! Why are you screaming like that!”

It was a familiar voice.

Yang Juhui.

“Hurry, come here and hide! There’s a passage here!”

An extremely disheveled Yang Juhui was gesturing to us from a crevice in the cave. Dahui and I approached her, and Yang Juhui touched our cheeks and sniffed us.

“You’re not illusions, right? You’re real?”

“Illusions?”

“You won’t suddenly disappear if I turn around, right?”

It was difficult to explain, but it seemed Yang Juhui had been through a lot during the 30 days she spent in this cave. Her uniform was torn, her hair was disheveled, and her face was covered in dirt.

# # #

“I thought you were illusions. That’s why I could only watch you. I’ve had many experiences where I approached what I thought were you guys, only to almost get caught and eaten.”

Yang Juhui said she had been watching us from the darkness.

To determine if we were real people, she said.

Honestly, I couldn’t understand what she was saying.

Yang Juhui was completely incoherent and clearly not normal.

“When you screamed… it didn’t seem like an illusion. To scream so loudly in such a terrible place. Are you really Ha Yeongwon?”

The Monkey’s Paw had fulfilled my wish after all.

By breaking my finger and creating that noise to awaken Yang Juhui’s mind.

Rub, rub—

Yang Juhui kept touching my face with her dirty hands. She put her finger in my nostril, stuck her pinky in my ear, and even bit my finger.

“Ow.”

“You’re real?”

“I told you I’m real.”

What kind of time had she spent in this cave to become so strange?

I felt really sorry for Yang Juhui.

“Juhui, what happened to you?”

“What?”

“I’m asking what you were doing when you entered this cave. We came all the way here to rescue you. You’re currently lying in a hospital. Only one day has passed.”

“Just one day?”

Yang Juhui clutched her head.

Crouched on the dark cave floor and trembling, she looked just like a frightened rabbit. So even the brave Yang Juhui would end up like this after spending about 30 days in a dark cave.

“It took me about a month to build this hideout. Just one day?”

“That’s what I said.”

Actually, whether it was a day or a month didn’t matter. What mattered was that Yang Juhui needed to get out of here.

That was our purpose from the beginning.

“This is a talisman. An escape talisman. Hurry, tear it and escape.”

Yang Juhui’s pupils shook greatly as she looked at the talisman.

“What about you guys?”

“We’ll die and cure our quirks with 100P.”

I opened the Status Window.

Yang Juhui’s status window, who was stranded here, wouldn’t open.

She must have a quirk.

“Go now.”

“……”

Yang Juhui trembled.

She seemed to have finally made a decision.

“Alright.”

Rip—

Yang Juhui tore the talisman and escaped.

Now only Dahui and I remained.

Without talismans, the only way for us to escape this place was to die.

Die.

This would be my first time dying.

Until now, I had always been lucky enough to acquire talismans or avoid death through various fortunate circumstances. But now that death was staring me in the face, I was scared.

‘Should I try to get a talisman through gacha?’

I could acquire a talisman by spending 400P.

But that would be foolish.

Curing a quirk after death costs only 100P. That’s 4 times cheaper than gacha.

Dying would actually be my way to survive.

The question was how to die.

How could I die painlessly, without even realizing I was dying?

Should I strangle myself? That wouldn’t be possible.

While I was deeply contemplating, Dahui handed me something.

“Oh, that’s a talisman!”

“I didn’t use it when we entered the third floor earlier.”

I thought she had used the talisman to remove her quirk after crossing the torii gate. But apparently, Dahui had saved it.

Thanks to Dahui’s “Elegance” trait, I didn’t even know she had a quirk.

“Yeongwon, use this to escape.”

“If you’re offering, I won’t refuse.”

I opened the Status Window.

And removed Dahui’s “Coldness” quirk.

“Yeongwon, you go first.”

“But… will you be okay?”

“Yes. But I don’t want to show you me dying. It won’t be pretty.”

Wave, wave—

Dahui waved her hand as if saying goodbye.

I closed my eyes and tore the talisman.

# # #

“…Gack!”

When I came to my senses, my body was soaking wet.

Looking at my phone, it was 6 AM.

I thought the space was extremely cramped, but I was crouched inside what seemed like a closet.

“Ah.”

Dahui and I had gone into the closet to sleep.

When I rustled, Dahui also seemed to wake up.

“What’s going on?”

Dahui also didn’t seem to understand the current situation.

So she doesn’t remember either.

When I opened the Status Window, Dahui had developed a quirk. It was “Aesthetic Sense.”

「”Aesthetic Sense”: You pursue beauty. But beauty, like the thorns of a rose, often harbors cruelty.」

I immediately spent 100P to cure it.

‘Now I only have 340P left.’

After spending so many points this time, I only had 340P remaining.

“I wonder if Juhui is awake? She must have escaped, right?”

Sleep had completely left me.

I wanted to meet Yang Juhui and talk to her.