Ch.55The Wanderer’s Library (3)

As I strode through the library, I couldn’t take my eyes off the surrounding landscape for even a moment.

The same was true for everyone else.

Paper and leather. Parchment. And bookshelves—all kinds of terrain had been created from them.

I stopped walking.

Jung Haewon laughed dejectedly as he clutched his bangs.

“Wow… this is kind of ridiculous.”

Before us, a steep valley stretched out.

Plop.

Things disappearing below made sorrowful sounds.

Books pulled from precariously angled shelves, and fragments of broken bookshelves.

“Dabin. What do you want to do?”

Choi Serim asked, but I was lost in other thoughts.

Where did all those fallen books go?

Thanks to my exceptional aptitude for observing anomalies, I could see more.

Paper. The letters written on it being sucked into darkness, flickering briefly at the last moment. Illuminating a massive entity that devoured all information.

Empty eyes.

Stars floating around.

And writhing black flesh wrapped around translucent glowing teeth.

Whatever was visible down there was something my perception could never approach.

“Dabin?”

“…Just a moment.”

“Are you seeing something weird again, oppa?”

Daju, who had suddenly appeared beside me, asked from right next to me.

Without her usual playfulness, her voice was filled with concern.

“You know you’ll go crazy if you keep looking at that, right?”

Squeeze.

Daju placed her hand on my shoulder for the first time in a while.

“I’ll give you three seconds to look away.”

“Okay.”

I turned my eyes away.

I heard Daju murmuring in a disappointed voice, “What? That’s no fun.”

Instead, Jung Haewon stuck close to my side.

“Huh? Is there something down there?”

Yoon Daju grabbed the back of Jung Haewon’s neck as he mindlessly tried to peer into the abyss.

A painful scream immediately burst from Jung Haewon’s mouth.

“Ah! Aaah!”

“You didn’t listen to me?”

“I did. But I was curious. Aaah!”

“Really? I’m going to torment you every time you get curious.”

Yoon Daju was a devil, pressing her fingers firmly as she tormented her victim.

Jung Haewon grimaced and slapped at Daju’s hand.

“Ah! Noona! Ah! It really hurts.”

Only then was Jung Haewon released.

As Jung Haewon grumbled about why she was only tough on him, Daju answered with a grin.

“Because you’re not cute.”

Then Yoon Daju glanced at me. Her gaze was somehow sticky.

What was written on her laptop last time?

“Want to… sleep with Lim Dabin?”

A chill ran down my spine, and before I knew it, both my arms moved closer to my body.

“It’s cold.”

Gently rubbing my forearm, I casually surveyed the length of the valley.

An endless cliff stretching out like the end of walkable land. Whatever was down there, we absolutely shouldn’t fall in.

“Let’s just find the most suitable place around here. When night falls, what was it again?”

“Monks.”

Choi Serim added the explanation in the middle.

I nodded slightly and continued.

“Yes. Since people in monk’s robes will appear, too open spaces aren’t appropriate. And we don’t have enough time to build a house now. I think we need to find something like a cave.”

“Right?”

“Yes. Crossing that just doesn’t make sense no matter how I think about it.”

The cliff was so wide that an entire building could fall into it.

Whether building a bridge or throwing a rope, there was no way we could cross it.

“But we’ve only seen flat corridors so far, so I’m not sure if we’ll have time…”

In the records I read, there were convenience stores and villages built by survivors, but strangely, the places we’ve passed through have only been flat ground.

As I trailed off in thought, Jung Haewon’s voice pierced my complicated mind.

“Come to think of it, this is like playing Minecraft. Monsters come out at night and stuff.”

“You’re in high school and still playing Minecraft?”

After scolding Jung Haewon for talking nonsense, I stopped walking and placed my hand on a bookshelf.

I looked up at the sky. The stained glass covering the ceiling had already changed its color. To a more intense color. From white and yellow to a sunset-like red. A vivid orange border with faint green afterimages floating. Gradually. Night was coming to the library.

There was something strange.

Even though the library was clearly an enclosed space with walls, a cold wind was blowing.

The sound of someone whispering mixed with the wind. I listened carefully. Old voices and young voices were mixed together, offering prayers.

Daju, who was nervously moving her eyes from side to side, asked next to me.

“Did you hear that too, oppa?”

“Yeah. You too?”

Yoon Daju nodded. Everyone else was the same.

The prayer was becoming increasingly clear.

[Stat Rosa pristina nomine, nomina nuda tenemus.]

The more I listened to it, the more I felt my strength draining away. I couldn’t give a specific reason, but I instinctively knew. We needed to find a hiding place as quickly as possible.

Looking down into the abyss at my feet, I made up my mind.

“Let’s just camp here. It seems too late to keep moving.”

“But this is just flat ground? Will that be okay?”

Choi Serim expressed her concern.

I looked down the cliff, examining its shape.

It was a very steep cliff, but there were several protruding parts below. I could find flat spaces large enough for several people to stand on.

After marking the most suitable spot, I spoke.

“Have you heard of cliff camping?”

As soon as I spoke, Jung Haewon was horrified.

“No, you don’t mean…?”

“Let’s go down there and see that protruding part? Let’s spend the night up there.”

“Oh. That sounds fun.”

Daju seemed excited as always, so there was only one person left.

I turned to Choi Serim.

“What do you think, noona?”

“Yeah. I think doing what Dabin suggests is best.”

Choi Serim looked down the cliff.

“But have you thought about how to get down? I brought rope, but we don’t have nails or hammers.”

“Just rope is enough.”

The wind blew from below.

My long hair whipped against my face, forcing me to move.

Watching that scene, Daju interjected.

“Oppa, you need to cut your hair later.”

“Shut up.”

Cutting off Yoon Daju’s words, I returned to the cliff discussion.

“If this were a rock cliff, I’d be worried, but it’s all bookshelves, right? It should be much easier to climb up and down.”

“Um… what if we fall?”

It was Jung Haewon.

“Then you die, what else?”

After blurting that out, I prepared to descend.

“Just kidding. Be careful not to let go of the rope and you’ll be fine.”

I took gloves out of my bag and put them on.

“I’ll tie the rope there, and we’ll go down one by one.”

Then I took out the rope and tied it to a bookshelf pillar. Given its size, it should easily support one person.

After finishing the work, I looked at everyone.

“Who wants to go down first?”

“…”

Neither Jung Haewon nor Choi Serim, not even Yoon Daju. No one volunteered.

“Daju?”

“For things like this, oppa should go first.”

Daju smiled brightly and lifted me up, placing me in front of the cliff.

“Fighting!”

“Ah, no. I thought you’d go first.”

“Why would I?”

Chuckling, Daju tilted her head.

“By the way. Oppa is cute after a long time?”

“Fine, I’ll go first. Okay.”

I tied the rope around my wrist and went down.

The angle was really steep, but going down the cliff was even easier than I expected.

Because it wasn’t just a simple cliff, but terrain made of bookshelves.

I could wedge my feet between books or grab empty shelf spaces with my hands.

“Whew…”

My strength was decent enough, but this body… definitely lacked stamina.

Sweat dripped into my eyes, forcing me to squeeze them shut.

Both hands were supporting my body.

With a sticky, stinging sensation, tears leaked out.

This is something I heard somewhere.

In rock climbing, pioneering the initial route is most important.

You drive bolts into the rock and secure ropes to them. Climbers later retrieve the ropes, but the bolts remain in the rock as guides for the next person.

My case was a bit different, and I didn’t need to go through the trouble of driving in bolts. But the importance of this task remained unchanged.

I needed to reach the target point and firmly secure the other end of the rope.

That way, others could hold onto the rope and come down.

Plop.

“Gasp.”

A few books under my feet came loose and disappeared below.

Books growing smaller and smaller until they completely vanished.

The information contained in the paper emitted a final light.

Something briefly visible far below.

[7]

[6]

X

[2]!

[1]

[???]

[7]

[6]

X

[2]!

[1]

[???]

After staring as if being sucked in, I soon decided to focus on my goal.

I fixed my gaze on the target point and jumped.

One. Two.

Soon, with a thud, my feet touched flat ground.

A flat space created by a huge bookshelf that had fallen backward. This should be enough for about ten people to stay without problems.

I secured the rope to a protruding pillar nearby and called to the people above.

“All done, come down!”

“Come down!”

“Down!”

The echo resounded.

No answer came back.

“Did something happen up there?”

“Happen up there?”

“Up there?”

“There?”

The echo resounded again.

Again, no voice returned.