episode_0010

“Ugh…!”

Stretching my strangely stiff body, I jumped out of bed.

A tumble, then a soft landing. This is why people should learn how to fall.

Leaving the cool room, I picked up a water bottle, touching the strangely damp table.

A cool glass of water to quench my thirst.

Once human desires were satisfied, a new desire, the urge to create, welled up.

In times like these, I had to satisfy it immediately.

I sat before the easel, picked up my palette and brush, and began to paint her.

I wasn’t sure what she was thinking. I didn’t even know my own true feelings, so how could I possibly know the depths of another’s heart?

In such moments, I just painted.

White paint spread across the pitch-black canvas.

As I poured my heart into the rough brushstrokes, my answer took form.

“Hoo…”

I rose from the chair, covered the easel with a cloth, and stepped out of the house.

-Creak, thud.

I walked along the damp dirt path to the house next door, but there was no sign of anyone.

It’s quiet, yes.

The city, once bustling, was quiet as if it had been annihilated.

Not even a whisper of noise could be heard; only my soft footsteps echoed in the empty city.

I picked up the broom that I always used to help clean in front of the house, stuck its handle into the ground, and then dragged it along as I explored the city.

Why did I want to explore? I was just… curious.

I had always stood a step back, sometimes trembling, sometimes just wishing for this dull moment to end. Now, I had stepped directly into that world.

What did they see? What did they want to protect?

As a reader, I wanted to resolve the pure questions I held. To do that, I had to leave this place.

There’s a saying, ‘The egg is the world.’ If I break open the world and move forward… wouldn’t there be something, anything?

-A soft, unsettling hiss…

The city, once filled with fabricated warmth, was now permeated by a chilling cold.

I roamed through the alleys, peering into the windows that shone into empty houses, but there was only pitch-black darkness.

Darkness, darkness, darkness, darkness.

Everyone had hidden away completely. Would I not even be able to say goodbye?

-Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump.

As I stepped onto a plaza I’d never seen before, countless footsteps filled the city.

My neighbors, who had always delighted my ears like larks.

All of them approached me, clutching brown paper bags like treasure, their faces adorned with wide smiles.

“Looks like you’ve been somewhere?”

When I greeted them and spoke, they hugged their bags tightly with trembling arms and replied with unnatural smiles.

“Coincidentally, we ran out of food.”

“You too?”

“Funnily enough, we also ran out of food.”

“All of you?”

“We all ran out of food, but not anymore! If you stay here, you’ll never feel hunger or boredom again!” “We all ran out of food, but not anymore! If you stay here, you’ll never feel loneliness or dullness again!” “We all ran out of food, but not anymore! If you stay here, you’ll never feel human emotions or emptiness again!” “We all ran out of food, but not anymore! If you stay here, you’ll feel eternal life and tranquility forever!” “We all ran out of patience, but not anymore! If you stay here, you’ll never feel mortal emotions again!” “I’ve become impatient now! If you stay here, everyone will recognize your art!” “We all—” “We all—!”

The plaza filled with humans who had swelled up like foam.

The fewer than ten people had multiplied one after another, as if feeding on each other, and now completely surrounded me, leaving me no room to move.

This is a bit scary—

Various races, various age groups, various genders, various appearances.

They were all different, but united by one thing: wide smiles like blooming flowers, stretching their mouths open.

-Snap!

I swung the broom and broke the neck of a man approaching me.

The chilling sensation transmitted through the hard wood was somewhat sickening, but I had to survive.

-Thump, rattle, crack.

The man, whose neck was broken and head bent 90 degrees, lurched forward, used both arms to straighten his head, and reprimanded me with a twisted smile.

“That hurts~”

I pushed away the humans who covered me like shadows with my shoulder. But as those stronger than me began to bear down with their weight, I slowly started to become one with them.

My skin began to melt, and black tentacles with suckers pulled me in.

The damp ground turned into an abyss, and the abyss, pulling me down, pressed upon my body like a deep ocean trench.

Just then, Thump, an alien white hand grabbed me.

The grotesque piles of tentacles writhed, and all of them recoiled, clearing a path.

“This way!”

The woman gripping my wrist began to run along the path that had opened.

Her touch was warm and full of life. She held me with a grip that conveyed a fierce determination not to lose me, pulling me along.

At this rate, it’s practically a suction cup!

She pushed back the lunging tentacles with her body and pulled out a white insignia, clearing a path.

She was like a human bulldozer.

I thought I’d die wanting to see you!

I shouted the name of the bulldozer, her gray hair streaming behind her.

“Ms. Erica!”

“We have to go this way!”

Clink, clink…

Ms. Erica, having dropped the white insignia, gritted her teeth and pulled me into a secluded alley.

We went deeper and deeper into the city, only stopping when the damp ground turned solid.

“Gasp, pant, your stamina is amazing…!”

“Whew, don’t, talk…!”

We collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath.

My lungs stung as if pricked by needles, and my feet were numb, but the joy of survival suppressed all the pain as much as possible.

What in the world is this.

“Whew, let’s get up.”

Ms. Erica took my hand, lifting me up with a flash.

The journey must have been quite arduous, for she was covered in a dust-laden cloak, and she rubbed her dirty nose with the back of her hand as she spoke to me.

“From now on, we must be careful. Keep low, so they don’t notice us—”

“You look a mess.”

“…A lot has happened.”

Ms. Erica, looking as if she were about to say ‘I’ve been through a lot’ while crossing her arms, leaned against the wall and began to recount her story with a stoic expression.

“After you left, that wicked woman attacked me. What happened next… it’s too difficult to describe, but I managed to escape safely and make it here.”

“You finally escaped, only to come back in?”

“Didn’t I have to save you?”

Oh.

“We need to get out of this city quickly. Did you see them earlier?”

“Yes, they were perfectly normal people, but suddenly they turned into tentacles, which surprised me.”

This is a genre violation. A horde of tentacles that seemed capable of those sorts of things… I wasn’t ready to accept it.

“If we go down this way, there’s a passage. For now…”

“But I haven’t even said goodbye to Rie yet.”

“What does that matter! If you don’t leave, you’ll be trapped forever. Is that okay with you?”

“Even so, a person has a duty.”

Ms. Erica, you’re surprisingly level-headed.

“I went to great lengths to tell you the truth, but it seems it doesn’t matter much to you.”

“I’m generally quite indifferent.”

We chatted as we headed deeper into the city center. The air grew damp, and our feet became muddy.

The passage she spoke of seemed to be a hole beyond us, its depth unknown.

So, if we go in there, we escape the city.

“…Ms. Erica.”

“Hm? Just a moment… this place is safe, yes—what do you want to say? Your face is full of dissatisfaction.”

“Ms. Erica.”

“I’m sorry for dragging you here by force, but this was the only way to save you. For now, escaping comes first—”

“Where did Ms. Erica go?”

“Hm? What are you talking about? I’m right in front of you.”

She thumped her ample chest with a fist, as if asking ‘What nonsense are you speaking?’, a truly imposing figure.

I stared at her intently and shook my head.

“A lie.”

“You must be very tired. I understand—the city is mad. I know that feeling well, when communication breaks down and there’s no one to rely on.”

“Where did Ms. Erica go?”

“What on earth are you talking about?!”

-Rip!

“Aaaaaaaargh…!”

I reached out both hands and grabbed the woman’s face.

The horrifying sensation of hard fingernails digging into flesh, the warm temperature and unpleasant feeling from my palms as I kneaded and squeezed, made it clear that the woman before me was human.

-Crunch…!

“Please, stop, I’m sorry, it hurts, it hurts, Yuseong, why, I was trying to help you…! Aaaaaaaargh!”

Scarlet muscles were exposed, and blood flowed down my hand, soaking my armpit.

Ms. Erica’s fingernails, as she wailed in pain, dug into my forearm and scratched my arm, pleading for her life, but I did not stop.

“No! Save me! I just wanted to help you! Why, why, whyyyy!!!”

“…”

“Aaaaaaah, ah, aaaaaaah! Whhhhhy, whhhhy!! Howwww long have you known~?”

-Splat.

Ms. Erica’s face skin tumbled onto the floor.

As her cloak fell away, a pitch-black dress was revealed.

Standing before me in attire more flamboyant than ever, she held her veil that fluttered in the blowing wind, revealing lips bearing a faint smile.

“Rie.”

“Yuseong.”

Leruye, the true master of this city, revealed herself before me.