=================
-Oh me, onlookers. So ye've climbed the stone stair.
-Monstrous strange beasts abound here. Even a bag o' bones among 'em.
-Yet that skeleton be no mere skeleton — 'tis people, transformed!
-Once the sun has turned thrice over, this thread of life shall snap, helpless as can be.
-How could human strength e'er bear such a thing?
-But one way there be.
-Past the one draped in white hide, a beast big as a house shall come down.
=================
"The Curator's gone."
"Good riddance. Better that spine-chilling thing leaves."
The Curator had vanished, leaving the leaflet hovering.
Go Gyu-min stroked his chin, reading the text on the leaflet slowly and carefully.
"Reads like pansori. I'd say they were going for an aniri feel?"
"Aniri?"
"Simply put, it's like the spoken narration. Young Kim, this one you didn't know?"
"No. Not the terminology...."
"Haha, so this old man has his uses."
'If I used the Docent skill, aniri might well be filed under the pansori category.... But I'd better keep my mouth shut.'
It was also simply true that Go Gyu-min knew the pansori side far better than I did.
Go Gyu-min, looking pleased with himself, pulled up one corner of his mouth.
Even smiling, he didn't look particularly gentle — but he was happy, so that was that.
He seemed, for the moment, to have forgotten how he'd bristled at the mere mention of pansori before.
"Most of it is just describing the situation. The part that counts as a hint: once the sun turns three times, we die."
"Matched against the Skeleton Yokai's words, it means we die once the sun has set three times."
"Right. And: past the one draped in white hide, a beast big as a house comes down — and then we can defeat the Skeleton Yokai. That's about it. No real need to memorize it."
'Truthfully, even without memorizing, the Docent ability has already stored it all in my head.'
"Did you two see that?"
Go Gyu-min and I turned toward where Jang Si-woon was pointing. A cave had appeared.
It was pitch dark inside — what was in there, how deep it went, we couldn't tell at all.
"A cave. They'll have made it not-dark inside even if it's a dark place, like the first floor — right?"
"We can't be sure. And the sun's about to set — should we sleep outside for today?"
"I don't know. If we burn today outside, won't we be left with far too little time?"
'Quest fails after three sunsets, they say — and yet the start time is afternoon? That's just cruel.'
"Then let's go in now. We've seen every scary thing there is — what's left to fear?"
"I'm still scared, though."
"Young Kim, where's the fire in you~ Truth is, so am I."
Talking with Go Gyu-min, we kept slipping into chatter that didn't fit the mood at all.
Either way, frightened or not, we'd have to enter the cave.
"Meow."
Just then, a cry I'd been missing sounded behind us.
Eyes lighting up, I turned around.
The cats that had fled earlier were all standing there together.
"You came back?!"
"We have come to offer food to the visitors who will explore the cave."
The three cats at the front handed us provisions with their soft paws.
Berries that looked much like wild raspberries.
Fwish-
[Material Acquired]
Name: Peculiar Berry.
Description: What might this be, ye ask? There be no poison, so rest thee easy.
The moment I received the berries, the leaflet floated up.
Judging by the item description, we could eat them without worry.
Though of course, since there was no telling how long we'd be inside the cave, better to save them for when we were hungrier than now.
"Mm, these are pretty good?"
Go Gyu-min had already popped a berry into his mouth.
At that, new text was written on the leaflet floating before him.
[The leaflet's ink has deepened.]
-Current Status: [■■■■■]
"And what's this supposed to mean?"
"...I think the ink refers to health?"
"Then just call it health. Skills are perks, the statue's a Curator. Honestly, they rename everything."
"It'll be for the museum concept."
While Go Gyu-min and I talked, the cats held out even more berries toward us.
"We will place the rest into your item slots."
Fwish-
The data of the berries held in the cats' paws disassembled.
And on the freshly opened leaflet, the berry item was drawn simply in pen.
"Whenever you wish, you may summon your own leaflet and take them out to eat."
"What. It can even do this? It's exactly like a game."
"But of course! This is the Museum of Wishes — the tower where anything is possible!"
The cats danced, waving both paws.
For a system built by this tower, they're far too cute. Damn it.
"Oi, young Kim. Time to go."
"Ah..., right."
Go Gyu-min tugged me away from the cats that had stolen all my attention.
We said our farewells to the cats and were about to enter the cave, when.
"Ah! We had one last gift for the visitors, and we nearly forgot~!"
A cat tapped its forehead with one paw and laughed.
Then, like a magician, it produced a small box from behind its back.
"What's this?"
"A present~ Once one night has passed, you may open the lid! The gifts that come out cannot be exchanged with one another~"
The three boxes each slipped into our leaflets.
If they could only be opened after a night had passed, they seemed more important than the berries from before.
Having finally handed over all the supplies, the cats waved to us.
"Thank you."
"Not at all. Good luck to you~"
"To you~"
Receiving the cats' farewells, we entered the cave.
As we walked slowly into the dark, the meowing voices of the cats faded away.
***
Contrary to our worries, the inside of the cave was, once again, not very dark.
Small holes had been artificially opened in the cave ceiling.
Even as we walked on, the holes kept following above us.
'It'll be to let us know how much time has passed. Moonlight comes in too, so no need to worry about the dark.'
"If possible, I'd say we sleep here? Look, they've even laid out an artificial mat."
The spot where Go Gyu-min stood was, as he said, unusually dry and soft for a cave.
'We haven't walked very far in from the cave mouth yet, but....'
I stole a glance at Jang Si-woon, careful not to let it show.
She, who should have walked even the slick cave floor with ease, was trailing behind me sluggishly.
"...All right. Everyone's been through a lot since the first floor. Let's recover some strength here."
'It also feels like the quest will begin in earnest once we open the boxes the cats gave us.'
"Yes, sure. Then."
At my words, Jang Si-woon barely managed to nod her drooping head.
No blankets, no sleeping bags. Still, we're inside the tower — sleeping on stone probably won't leave our bodies aching.
"......."
"......."
Go Gyu-min and I settled down at quite a distance from Jang Si-woon.
We'd meant it as consideration, giving her space — but it seemed only to leave her sinking alone into gloom instead.
'For that Jang Si-woon to wilt like this. The shock of facing the skeleton must run deep.'
Jang Si-woon was caught in an instinctive terror she couldn't climb out of.
We'd been through plenty of horrors since the first floor.
But this was the first time one of us had been seized by a grotesque monster and nearly swallowed.
"Um..., Si-woon. Are you all right?"
"No."
"Right."
A conversation severed clean as a blade.
I'd asked out of worry, and it left me feeling thoroughly awkward.
Well, I'd more or less expected an answer like that.
"Leave her, leave her. Unless you're close as kin, at times like this it's better to let a person stew it out alone. In the end, life is lived alone."
Go Gyu-min waved a hand at me.
Telling me to butt out, it seemed....
'If her mood stays this low, Jang Si-woon's physical performance could suffer too.'
While I was worrying about the trouble that could cause.
"Hnngh..., hic...."
'-!!'
Jang Si-woon buried her face in her knees and began to weep.
At the sound of her sobbing, tears and all, my blood ran cold.
Don't tell me... I made her cry? A student far younger than me?
"Well, well. Young Kim made her cry."
"It could be your fault, Mr. Go...!"
At some point Go Gyu-min had slid one step back, assuming full bystander mode.
I felt like I'd become some kind of villain.
'Wh-what do I do? I've never comforted anyone. What if I say the wrong thing and only wound her more-'
I'd only ever exchanged businesslike talk with coworkers. I'd never made anyone laugh, never made anyone cry.
"Life is such bullsh—t...."
In the end, even a curse escaped Jang Si-woon's mouth.
At least she wasn't calling me bullsh—t. Small mercies.
Jang Si-woon wiped her tear-soaked face with the back of her hand.
Tense, I kept checking her expression. At least she wasn't glaring at me.
"Damn it.... Hic, hup.... Nothing ever works out right."
"This place will be full of nothing but people whose lives never worked out."
"......."
Go Gyu-min, hardly sparing Jang Si-woon a glance, tossed out the light consolation.
Still, it was sound reasoning — and as she listened, Jang Si-woon slowly steadied.
This time Go Gyu-min raised a thumb toward her.
"Besides, student — your name's practically Jjang-Swiun. 'Super easy'! Your luck will follow your name soon enough."
'What kind of consolation is that....'
Even I, hopeless at communication, could tell that was a miss.
Go Gyu-min's dad joke sent a sharp chill through the cave.
"That stale joke — I have heard it so, so many times."
"Oh, really?"
"There are lots of adults who do dad jokes."
"Us old guys think this stuff is funny, that's why."
Go Gyu-min was a man of solid self-reflection.
The problem being that he critiqued and conceded only after committing the act.
"When I was little, life really did go easy, just like my name, hic.... They could've just let me coast forever-"
Sniffling, Jang Si-woon grumbled to herself.
I considered telling her that my life had never once gone easily, from childhood on.
But unfurling self-pitying comfort would do no good at all.
All I could do was wait for Jang Si-woon to settle.
"Hiik...!!"
Just then, a centipede the length of a hand span appeared at my feet.
The centipede's countless legs squirmed and rippled.
That revolting shape — my body sprang up like a coiled spring.
CRUNCH-
"Aaagh!!!"
Jang Si-woon stomped flat on the centipede with her shoe.
Then she ground it back and forth against the floor, exterminating it to the very end.
Fragments of data scattered from the sole of her shoe.
As I recoiled, shuddering, Jang Si-woon let slip a snort of laughter.
"It's just a bug. Why are you that startled?"
"It's a centipede...."
"Ji-san, you're much bigger than a centipede."
"But it looks so revolting, and there is not a single beautiful thing about it.... A personal view, of course."
As I rambled on in agitation, the corners of Jang Si-woon's mouth twitched.
"You really are a peculiar one."
'You're not exactly ordinary yourself....'
To have been so terrified of the Skeleton Yokai, and then stomp a centipede without a moment's hesitation.
I do know that tying those two situations together makes me the oddly sentimental one, but....
While Jang Si-woon and I failed to understand each other, Go Gyu-min — still in full bystander mode, of course — snickered away.
***
The next day, the moment we opened our eyes, we took the boxes out of our leaflets.
"Right, let's open them all together. I'd wager there's weapons or some other item inside?"
"I just hope nothing dangerous jumps out."
Jang Si-woon's voice, as she chatted with Go Gyu-min, had brightened considerably.
However she'd managed it, she seemed to have worked through it in her own way. A relief.
"The cats have stayed in the benevolent role throughout, so it should be fine."
At my words, everyone nodded and put their hands on the box lids.
And together, we counted off.
"One, two, three."
Fwish-
[Visitor Kim Ji-san]
[Tool Acquired]
Name: Unbending Dagger.
Description: That blade shall cleave falsehood clean through.
'A knife?!'
Just as we'd predicted, weapons came out of the boxes.
By looks, a weapon better suited to Go Gyu-min — physically, to Jang Si-woon.
Dubious, I held the dagger and checked the other two's tools.
[Visitor Jang Si-woon]
[Tool Acquired]
Name: Snout-Shutting Bell.
Description: It rings but once! Count sixty seconds, and the snout opens again.
"So these can't even be hidden from each other. And what is this supposed to mean?"
"It can be used only once, and it works for sixty seconds — I think?"
"Only once?"
At my deduction, Jang Si-woon's lips jutted out.
Unlike my dagger, hers came with a restriction, and she clearly didn't like it.
[Visitor Go Gyu-min]
[Tool Acquired]
Name: Chirping Fan
Description: The resident bird cries. Let each sing in their own way.
A dagger, a bell, and a fan. All tools of Eastern pattern and form.
"Tch. A fan again — could they make the pansori angle any more obvious? And what's with these descriptions?"
"The riddle-like description makes me think it's the most important item of all."
"Yeah, I think young Kim's right about that."
"That's the kind of fan used in pansori, isn't it?"
"Yes, that's right."
Go Gyu-min, seeming to realize something, smirked and stroked his chin.
"White hide, then the bell, and a cave. I think I've roughly got it?"
"Really?"
"My Eastern-side knowledge isn't bad."
Jang Si-woon and I looked up at Go Gyu-min with round eyes.
At that, Go Gyu-min cleared his throat and continued.
"Isn't it the Jangsan Tiger? I once meant to use it as material for a fusion piece."
"Ah!"
The Jangsan Tiger. I'd heard of it too.
A modern Korean monster-
At that moment, two enormous holes suddenly opened in the cave wall.
Darkness unfolded inside them, and the holes became tunnel-like passages.
"If it's the Jangsan Tiger, then that— kyaaah-!!"
Jang Si-woon was sucked into a hole mid-scream.
As if swept up in a whirlwind, she vanished swiftly into the dark.
"Uwaargh!!"
This time Go Gyu-min was pulled into the hole on the opposite side.
"-!!"
In an instant, I was left standing alone, dumbstruck, between the forked paths.
Not a sound could be heard from the two who'd vanished into the darkness.
"Si-woon!! Mr. Go!!"
'They can't be dead... can they?'
No. Judging by this exquisitely convenient timing.
"...This is the Jangsan Tiger's doing."
TL Notes:
TL Note: Jangsan Tiger — a modern Korean urban legend about a white-furred, tiger-like beast that mimics human voices to lure its prey.
TL Note: "Jjang-Swiun" — Si-woon's name sounds like swiun, the Korean word for "easy," so Gyu-min's nickname means roughly "super easy."