While I remained silent—
“……!”
The usher machines disappeared, leaving the first floor’s main exhibition hall empty.
From various shadowy corners, people hiding under tables quickly emerged, whispered to one another, and scattered in different directions.
All of them wore masks.
‘Employees…!’
Their masks and suits confirmed it.
They were from our company’s Field Exploration Team, cautiously dodging the machines by sticking to areas outside their paths.
“Hey.”
What now.
“If you spot any rookies among them, let’s bring them along. It’s better to have one or two more people with us.”
“Why?”
Baek Saheon looked at me as if I were asking something obvious.
“We need bait for when we run into a monster.”
Ah, this sick bastard, seriously.
I tilted my head in mock confusion.
“We already have bait.”
“What?”
“You.”
Baek Saheon’s face froze momentarily before relaxing again.
“Whatever. I’ll bring someone else along to use as bait, too.”
“Great. Just make sure to tell them you’ll use them as bait.”
“……”
“I told you, didn’t I? I’m at least polite enough for that.”
Baek Saheon fell silent again, his expression one of exasperation.
I was equally exasperated. This exhausting little shit…
‘I miss you, Chief Lizard.’
I missed the straightforwardness of a taciturn colleague.
But then, as I caught sight of a familiar figure darting out from behind a sofa at the edge of the exhibition hall, I froze in surprise.
“……!”
It was someone I recognized.
“……”
“……! What are you…”
After a moment of hesitation, I climbed out of the vent.
When I waved, the person also froze in shock before quickly lowering her voice.
“……! Sol— I mean, Mr. Roe Deer? Is it okay if I call you that?”
“Yes, Ms. Goral.”
It was Go Yeongeun.
The new hire who had fully supported my words during the subway incident was standing there. Didn’t she say he’d dropped out of medical school?
“Did you get sent in too, Mr. Roe Deer? Anyway, I’m glad to see you’re safe.”
“…Thank you.”
In any case, Go Yeongeun, who was now wearing the mask assigned to her, seemed much calmer than when I’d last met her.
Though there was some redness in her eyes.
‘Has she already adapted to this…?’
The fact that I could have a rational conversation in this insane situation was almost moving.
Go Yeongeun glanced around warily and spoke in a whisper, lowering her voice as much as possible.
“Um, there’s a blocked window nearby, and I was thinking of trying to open it. Have you seen anything that could work as a lever on your way here? I don’t think we’re supposed to use the exhibits…”
“You can’t.”
“Sorry? What do you mean?”
“You’re thinking of escaping through the window, aren’t you?”
“…Would that be a problem?”
Yes, it would.
This ghost story’s exploration records mention windows exactly once.
Do you know what it says?
========================
The 19th record is a testimony from a visitor who attempted to pass through a window. However, due to credibility issues, it has been omitted.
This exhibition does not have windows.
========================
It’s a trap.
I quickly made up a plausible reason.
“If you go out through the window, I have a feeling you’ll physically leave the mansion. But… not return to the real world.”
“…Oh.”
Go Yeongeun’s face turned pale.
“You’re right. This isn’t reality… so finding a door that counts as a proper exit makes sense.”
“I think so, too.”
“But we don’t even know what floor we’re on…”
“I checked. We’re on the first floor.”
“……! How did you… Wait, hold on. The first floor?”
A glimmer of hope lit up in Go Yeongeun’s eyes.
“Then there’s a good chance there’s a door nearby! Exhibition entrances are usually on the first floor, so if we search thoroughly…”
I forced my reluctant mouth to speak.
“…The reason doors are usually on the first floor is because we live on the ground level.”
“That’s—”
“Do you think the original visitors to this ghost story did the same?”
“……”
Go Yeongeun closed her mouth. She understood immediately.
‘How can you be sure a monster would place a door on the first floor?’
Soon, the same despair that had clouded my face earlier spread across hers.
“Then… W-What do we do? Was asking the monster machine earlier the right answer? But… I can’t encounter another machine. I don’t have any chances left…”
“You don’t have any chances left…?”
“……”
Go Yeongeun hesitated before brushing her hair back slightly.
Beneath her hair, where there should have been an ear…
There was only a stitched scar.
“They… took my ear.”
“……”
“They kept saying, ‘Ear instead of eye, ear instead of eye!’ while gesturing… and I guess they accepted it? It didn’t even hurt. It was so strange…”
Go Yeongeun shivered slightly.
“And they seem to have put something weird in its place… but I can still hear. I don’t know how it works, maybe some kind of artificial cochlea or eardrum?”
Ah, damn it.
“It’ll be fine, right? I mean, uh, the employee store sells those organ-regeneration potions and all…”
“You’ll be fine.”
I spoke firmly.
“You’ll be fine. Let’s focus on getting out.”
“…Okay.”
Go Yeongeun’s breathing calmed again. For someone who’d just lost an ear, her mental strength was superhuman.
I couldn’t help but admire her.
But someone else apparently didn’t feel the same way.
“Shall we get moving? Let’s not waste too much time.”
“……! Baek Saheon-ssi.”
The moment Baek Saheon, wearing his goat mask, emerged from the vent, Go Yeongeun’s eyes lit up with alarm.
“Wait. Are you traveling with him?”
“Somehow, yes.”
“…I see.”
Go Yeongeun glanced warily at Baek Saheon but didn’t refuse to continue traveling with me.
‘Thank you…’
It had been so long since I’d had a normal companion.
After dealing with psychopaths and people possessed by ghosts, I felt tears well up at the relief.
Still, Go Yeongeun muttered quietly.
“That guy… he even managed to pick a mask that suits him. You know goats are a symbol of the devil in Western cultures, right?”
“Wow. Did you know lambs are a symbol of sacrifice?”
“Lambs are more associated with helping humanity than with devils, though.”
Baek Saheon smirked dismissively at Go Yeongeun, who ignored him in turn.
– Is this an intermission skit? They’re like a comedy duo.
Yeah.
Except it’s not a skit—they’re actually dissing each other, and that’s the problem…
‘This party composition feels doomed.’
But our destination was steadily drawing closer.
“……!”
I found it.
At the end of the hallway, a staircase leading to the basement had appeared.
T/N:
Saheon and Yeongeun’s masks are both kinda goats, I guess? Here’s the scientific name for both:
Saheon: Capra hircus – the goat or the domestic goat is a species of goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock.
Yeongeun: Naemorhedus caudatus – gorals are small goat relatives, and they are agile over the rocky crags and cliffs they inhabit.
The lamb comment earlier is (I’m assuming) stemming from how goats were referred to as ‘sheep’ in the olden times, given that cotton/wool sheep were introduced to the East much later.
After these actual sheep were introduced, the existing ‘sheep’ were hence distinguished and called goats or mountain goats. Until then, in the East, the term ‘sheep’ referred to the current goat.
So basically, our comedy duo’s kind of doing the spiderman meme calling each other scapegoat and sacrificial lamb lol