Chapter 24: Sounds Like Teen Spirit

The vibration sounded again.

[Aunt]

[Swipe to chat]

I told you I’m not going to answer. Please, stop already.

I rejected it.

[Aunt]

[Swipe to greet]

Wait. What?

I rejected it anyway.

[Aunt]

[Swipe to delete]

You can’t delete something that doesn’t exist.

Reject.

[Aunt]

[Swipe to merge]

It kept becoming more and more disgusting.

Reject.

[Aunt]

[Swipe to murder]

……Reject.

[Aunt]

[Swipe to revive]

…….

…….

…….

“Mr. Seon Yuhan.”

“Ah? Yes?”

The sudden call startled me so badly I nearly dropped my phone.

When I turned my head, Choi Jaeha had a very strange expression.

It was like even he himself didn’t know what expression he should be making anymore and had lost control of his face.

“No, I mean, I’m seriously not trying to…… how do I put this, offend you or anything.”

Choi Jaeha looked around even though no one was watching us and muttered quietly.

“Mr. Seon Yuhan, do you have some kind of…… mental issue or something?”

“Excuse me?”

“No, it’s just that honestly, it’s starting to really scare me seeing you smile to yourself in a situation like this.”

I was smiling?

Instinctively I touched the corner of my lips, then lowered my hand to turn off the screen.

I need to be careful.

“If there’s something wrong with you, tell me beforehand, seriously. Please. At least so I can prepare myself mentally.”

“Mmm, I’ll try.”

“Nooo, that’s not something you should ‘try.’ Ah, whatever. It’s fin…… ugh, waaah……!”

Choi Jaeha, who had been walking ahead of me just fine, suddenly covered his mouth and jumped.

Then he spun around and desperately ran behind me.

He pressed himself so close against me I could even feel the violent pounding of his heart.

“A-are you okay? What……?”

“O-over there…….”

The huge accountant stretched out a trembling hand.

“I-in that black car……! Don’t you see it……? There’s something in the back seat……!”

I slowly followed the direction Choi Jaeha was pointing.

Very slowly.

I kept my mouth tightly shut and narrowed my eyes just in case I ended up screaming.

Where he was pointing was a black vehicle.

And inside……

“There’s nothing.”

“Huh? What are you saying? That’s impossible. Didn’t you see another car? There, there…… huh?”

Choi Jaeha, still hunched behind me, stepped out uncertainly and made a stupid expression.

“What the hell? There’s really nothing there. No, just a moment ago there was something horrifying there. Seriously. It was like a shadow full of teeth, ugh. It was really there.”

“Yes, I know. I know. You weren’t lying.”

The labyrinth had probably tried to frighten Choi Jaeha.

“You handled it well.”

“Ughhh…….”

Choi Jaeha let out a long sigh while leaning on his knees like someone exhausted after intense exercise.

“Good thing I covered my mouth in time. Otherwise I really would’ve……”

“……Choi Jaeha?”

Choi Jaeha froze in the middle of his sentence.

Then he slowly stood up and looked somewhere.

With an expression as if he had seen something worse than a monster.

That terrified me.

The fact that he didn’t even scream.

“……Minha?”

“What?”

“Choi Minha? Minha!”

“Mr. Choi Jaeha, wait…….”

Choi Jaeha shoved me aside and started running like a madman.

That man who was so cowardly.

Without a single light.

Straight into the darkness.

“Choi Minha! Where, where are you? Why…… why are you here……? Minha. Call me uncle again…… I can’t hear you. Where are you?”

Clack, clack.

By the time I finally caught up to him, Choi Jaeha was pulling at car handles and pounding desperately on trunks.

“Are you here? Choi Minha, where are you! Are you here? Why? Why? Why? That makes no sense…… you shouldn’t be here…… you can’t be here, Choi Minha…….”

The man trapped in the labyrinth desperately searched for his niece with tears covering his face.

After hearing the voice of a niece who wasn’t even there.

“Mr. Choi Jaeha, calm down…… your niece isn’t here.”

Grabbing him while he frantically struck the vehicles, I tried to stop him.

“Let go of me! It really was her voice……!”

The force with which he resisted was astonishing.

It wasn’t enough to be careful only of what you saw.

You also had to beware of what you heard.

“I also thought it wasn’t real at first, but…… she said she finished an activity nearby early and came to see me. It was really her voice! She said she can’t breathe! That she’s trapped! We have to open it quickly! If you’re not going to help, then let go of me!”

“I don’t hear any voice. Only you hear it.”

“D-don’t lie! You just don’t want to save her!”

“I’m not lying. Mr. Choi Jaeha. Your niece isn’t here. Don’t worr—”

Clang.

The instant I heard that heavy metallic sound, every bone in my body tensed as though they were being reconstructed.

That thing was coming.

“Mr. Choi Jaeha, please stop. Hide.”

I grabbed him from behind and pressed against his neck just hard enough to drag him down to the floor with me.

Choi Jaeha collapsed clumsily in front of me while still repeating his niece’s name.

“That thing heard your voice…….”

Maybe it was already too late.

Splash, squelch.

The merciful World-Honored One had heard Choi Jaeha’s scream and would now guide him out of this world full of suffering.

Kigik, kiririk.

The sound of small gears turning echoed through the darkness.

Suppressing the urge to scream, I bit my tongue and covered my ears with both hands.

“Do not forget. Illusion takes shape, shape becomes attachment, and attachment calls forth new suffering.”

Clang, clack.

Within that sealed darkness, the voice and footsteps of that being echoed like a solemn epic.

“Open your eyes.”

Would I dare defy him?

“Look.”

The words of the World-Honored One stood above any rule.

“It is the shadow born from your own confusion and the form of the truth to which you turned your back.”

Within that body, human flesh and mechanical bones coexisted in harmony.

Over the simple Buddhist robe were countless Chinese characters written everywhere, impossible to recognize.

Between the half-exposed ribs still remained remnants that had not even finished rotting.

It looked as though it had crossed an eternity, rusted dark red in various places.

No.

That was not rust…….

The only intact parts of that half-destroyed head were smiling lips and two benevolent ears.

Truly a sacred and perfect figure.

“Open your ears.”

When I removed my hands, that muffled voice finally became clear.

“Listen.”

The hand of the World-Honored One was approaching.

Toward me.

“The true essence shall liberate you.”

No.

Toward someone in front of me who was not me.

The compassion was not for me.

Crack, crunch.

I closed my eyes again.

“Ghh, uuuugh…….”

I shut my ears.

Crack, splat.

I covered my mouth.

Clack, clang…….

Calm down. Calm down. I have to calm down. It’s not the first time I’ve seen someone dead. I’ve already gone through this before. It’s not my fault. It wasn’t my mistake. It’s okay. Wasn’t it my fault? Wasn’t it my mistake? Calm down! Cover your ears. Close your eyes. Cover your mouth. Yes. Like that.

“…….”

And finally, peace came.

“……Mr. Yuhan.”

The World-Honored One had moved away from me.

No, that was not my World-Honored One.

It was not a Buddha statue to whom prayers should be offered, nor a buddha before whom I should pray.

“Mr. Seon Yuhan……!”

“Yes?”

I felt someone shaking my shoulder and my vision wavered, so I turned my head in alarm.

In front of me was the face of Director Yoo Hyunjae.

His living body was blocking the dead body.

“We heard loud noises and came worried…….”

Yoo Hyunjae helped me up and turned me toward a place where Choi Jaeha’s corpse could not be seen.

“When we arrived, that monstrous statue was already too close…… I’m sorry I couldn’t help.”

“Mr. Seon Yuhan…….”

Hwang Juyeon was hugging Jung Jiho and covering his eyes.

She too was standing in a position where Choi Jaeha’s corpse could not be clearly seen.

“But that box…….”

“Ah, this.”

When I seemed to calm down a little, Yoo Hyunjae and Hwang Juyeon pointed at the delivery box completely crushed in my hands.

“Around the vehicle that used the same kind of tires as the skid marks, this appeared.”

I peeled the box away from my palm as though it had stuck to it and briefly explained while letting out a sigh.

Riiiip, riiiip…….

Inside the box was a decorative object—a small wooden crucifix hanging from a chain too short to be a necklace.

“Ah, this is…….”

Hwang Juyeon recognized it immediately.

“It’s one of those decorations that hang from a car’s rearview mirror. Then this time, do we have to search for vehicles that have crosses like this?”

“It’s possible. Then, Mr. Seon Yuhan, please rest here for a moment together with little Jiho…….”

I looked up at Yoo Hyunjae and Hwang Juyeon, who were naturally trying to leave me behind.

“But I’m fi—”

“Mr. Seon Yuhan. My eyes were mistaken.”

His voice was so firm it almost sounded indifferent.

“You were not Red Snake material. Not at all.”

Yoo Hyunjae gently pushed me back down when I tried to stand.

“Because you do not understand where you are right now.”

“……What is it that I don’t understand?”

“You do not understand what kind of labyrinth this is. Nor what state you yourself are in.”

What do you know? What the hell do you know? You, who maybe suffered a little when you were young but now sit at the top of a building observing labyrinths from afar. What do you know about me? What do you know about labyrinths? What do you know about living in a state where you can’t even die even if you want to?

Formless words crawled inside me like insects.

“From what I can tell, this floor is a place where the more pressure you put on yourself, the easier it is to die. Am I wrong? Take a deep breath and calm yourself a little. You are Jiho’s guardian too, aren’t you?”

Those words brought me back to my senses.

When I lowered my gaze, the child’s round and silent eyes were watching me.

I must have frightened him.

“Jiho needed to rest anyway, so that’s why I’m leaving him in your care. Can you help me?”

“……Yes.”

I nodded weakly.

When the irrational anger toward him began to fade, it was replaced by shame.

“Then we’ll go and come back quickly. Rest here.”

“We’ll be right back, Mr. Seon Yuhan. Jiho, rest well.”

The child’s small hand waved them goodbye.

I sat leaning against a pillar and hugged him so he wouldn’t be able to see anything.

……Wait.

Staring at the empty and completely crumpled delivery box, a bad premonition crossed my mind and made me tremble.

“‘Sammae Delivery…… is there even a company like that? The address says Seoul…… this is this building and, huh? Go1020? What kind of address is this? What lunatic uses his own car as a delivery address?’”

Why a package?

Why was there a cross inside a delivery box?

If that cross truly was the clue.

Then there was no need to put it inside a package.

It would have been enough to simply leave the cross there.

Ah.

Don’t tell me.

Bzzz.

I anxiously looked at the cellphone screen that had just lit up while vibrating.

[〈Sammae Delivery〉

Ding dong¿

Customer Seon Yuhan¡

Sammae Delivery brings you compassion.

Since you were unavailable, your package was delivered to the drop-off location (in front of the representative).

Come claim your precious Pure Land.

Quickly.
Come.]

Clang…….

From somewhere, a faint metallic sound could be heard.

From the place where the group that had followed the wrong clue was.