Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Spa (1)

[18. There are no mirrors installed in the hotel spa.]

“…….”

“…….”

Everyone checked the same sentence and fell silent.

Then what were all those things reflected in front of them?

“Our… luggage increased a little, didn’t it…?”

Ju-hee carefully trailed off and muttered as though whispering.

At those words, everyone felt a sense of wrongness from the “something” before their eyes.

The forms reflected in what they had thought were mirrors looked different from their current appearances.

They were closer to how they had looked when they first entered this place….

Click.

Su-myeon suddenly opened a locker beside him.

The locker door blocked their view.

“Do not try to meet those things’ eyes for now, and do not provoke them.”

Something that imitated their appearances.

The fact that those things were beyond the glass was far too chilling.

Inside the locker Su-myeon had opened, there happened to be another passage.

“……Should we go this way for now?”

At Su-myeon’s suggestion, the group squeezed themselves inside as though fleeing.

Whatever those things were, everyone now knew that running away was better than knowing.

Su-myeon led the group, who followed quickly as if escaping, along the correct path.

Even if the interior took a different form, it was no different from the previous floors.

The basics of a horror game were finding the route.

As long as they found the correct path and went on, that was enough.

“Ah!”

“Only look at your feet.”

The inside of the spa was extremely confusing.

Most of the scenery consisted of glass panes lined up like full-length mirrors, showing something that imitated them.

However, at certain moments, the path split into several branches, or many lockers appeared.

Sometimes, the path narrowed so much that they had to crawl through, climb over fallen lockers, or move sideways like crabs.

“…….”

Ju-hee, who had been silently following that situation, finally could not hold back and let out a question.

“What… on earth are those?”

There was no rule saying they should not make a sound.

Conversation itself did not matter.

“Couldn’t they be something like that? Doppelgängers… or something.”

Ha-min gave his own answer to Ju-hee’s question.

Su-myeon had no intention of getting involved unnecessarily.

“……Th-then… do all the people who meet them die?”

He would not have stepped forward for no reason if Du-pal had not stirred up unnecessary anxiety…….

After letting out a short sigh, Su-myeon finally spoke.

“There is one thing that comes to mind….”

At Su-myeon’s words, more attention than necessary focused on him.

“Do you remember item 8?”

[8. All mannequins installed in our hotel have no eyes. Therefore, if you discover a mannequin that resembles you, please never meet its eyes.]

Han-su, who immediately recalled item 8, asked back,

“Then are those… mannequins?”

Correct.

However, Su-myeon chose a safe answer.

“I am saying they might be.”

It was more of a guess than certainty, but everyone nodded as if they already accepted it.

Moving mannequins were better than something unknown.

“Then we should avoid talking to them as much as possible and keep our eyes down….”

Ju-hee, who had been saying that, flinched and stopped.

Because the same yet different paths kept continuing, they had nearly missed it.

“……!”

Far away, an unfamiliar figure appeared.

Everyone focused their gazes for a moment on the shape that had appeared at a distance, and almost simultaneously recognized its identity.

It was Ki San-hyeok.

“Behind me…!”

Han-su stepped forward while protecting the others.

In the meantime, Su-myeon aimed the gun he was carrying at Ki San-hyeok.

BANG—!

Without asking or questioning anything, Su-myeon fired the gun immediately.

In any case, everyone had already come to know that San-hyeok was human garbage.

There was no need to give a chance to make excuses to someone capable of offering living sacrifices.

A gunshot rang out loudly enough to make their ears burst, and afterward, Su-myeon expected to hear the scream of that sinister bastard.

SHATTER.

However, instead of a scream, ominously, he heard glass breaking.

Su-myeon hurriedly ran over and checked the broken shards of glass.

“Damn it…!”

As expected, behind the broken glass lay a mannequin that had been shot.

Its right shoulder had been shot and shattered.

A broken mannequin.

Perhaps it could no longer fulfill its role after being broken, because it was no longer a form imitating someone and was now nothing but a plain mannequin.

“This situation does not look very good.”

It was too early to say it was fortunate that it had not simply been Ki San-hyeok himself.

Every mannequin in this hotel lingered around the person whose form it had copied.

In other words, Ki San-hyeok himself was also nearby.

“Ki San-hyeok will be nearby, so be careful….”

As he said that, Su-myeon turned around, then flinched in surprise and lowered his gaze.

“…….”

Everyone around him was merely staring intently at him.

And,

…Damn it.

For some reason, Ju-hee was wearing dress shoes, not sneakers.

That was not all.

After all the hardships they had gone through, everyone should have been in disarray, yet they looked neat, just like the moment he had first seen them.

“…….”

When Su-myeon stopped speaking, only silence filled the surroundings.

Not a single one of them felt any doubt about this situation or spoke to him first.

Before he knew it, Su-myeon had been left alone.

***

The group was completely thrown into confusion.

After confirming Ki San-hyeok’s presence, Su-myeon had fired the gun.

And then…

“H-how….”

When they came to their senses afterward, the surroundings were already filled with mannequins.

Like mirrors facing one another, dozens of forms surrounded the group.

Having been surrounded in the blink of an eye, Ha-min was startled and reflexively grabbed Ju-hee’s arm.

“Wh-what is this…. Why are there so many…….”

Ju-hee’s gaze hurriedly swept the surroundings, then realized a strange point.

“Mr. Su-myeon….”

Su-myeon had definitely bought and put on a new jacket.

However, among the countless mannequins surrounding them, every one shaped like Su-myeon was wearing a plain white short-sleeved T-shirt.

Only Su-myeon himself, and no one else, could not be seen in his true form.

“Hey! Mr. Su-myeon! Where are you!”

Du-pal called out loudly.

Perhaps because he had a large body, his volume was so tremendous that Ha-min beside him covered his ears.

However, there was no answer.

“He must not be able to hear us.”

“He is not in danger, right?”

“He was definitely, definitely right next to us…….”

While Du-pal and Ju-hee worried about Su-myeon, Han-su carefully stretched out his hand and examined their surroundings.

“……There are three possible measures.”

After checking their surrounding environment, Han-su proposed options.

“We wait for Mr. Su-myeon here, go back, or move forward.”

When as many as three choices were presented, everyone stopped speaking.

It was a moment when they became even more grateful for Su-myeon, who had always presented a single direction.

“Um, that… Mr. Su-myeon is probably… all right, isn’t he?”

Amid everyone’s confusion, Young-cheol spoke cautiously.

At that, Ju-hee responded fiercely.

“How can someone who would not have survived without Mr. Su-myeon say something like that…!”

“N-no. That is not what I meant!”

Startled, Young-cheol hurriedly added,

“He is someone who will get through this better than we can. The problem right now… is actually us, who have been separated without him, I think.”

At Young-cheol’s words, Ju-hee could not refute him and closed her mouth again.

There were five of them here, and Su-myeon was alone.

And yet Young-cheol’s words felt valid.

“That… person. Is he not somewhat special?”

Since Su-myeon was absent, Young-cheol began rambling about the things he had been thinking on his own.

“I… am actually a doctor.”

And yet, Su-myeon had seemed to know that already before he even said it.

Young-cheol did not know how he had known, but even when he was being treated at the Wine Bar earlier, Su-myeon had provided every medical supply and then stepped back.

“His eye for details is extraordinary, and he does not hesitate when he moves, does he?”

In particular, Young-cheol had joined after Su-myeon decided to become fully involved in this situation.

The way he naturally led people and earned their trust.

Perhaps because he contrasted with Ki San-hyeok, Su-myeon’s behavior felt even more special to Young-cheol.

“Could he be some kind of special agent? The National Intelligence Service, or… something of that sort….”

The situation was one where they were surrounded on all sides by unidentified mannequins.

Su-myeon’s group, having lost Su-myeon, put their heads together and talked about Su-myeon.

“There is no way the state knows nothing about a bizarre phenomenon where people disappear all at once like this.”

Ordinary people might not know, but maybe there were special agencies or agents in that field.

Young-cheol’s imaginative remarks continued.

Normally, everyone would have dismissed them as nonsense, but they were already people caught up in a strange phenomenon themselves.

If anything, it was easier to understand this situation as a somewhat formalized phenomenon.

“Th-that’s true.”

“There is definitely… a possibility.”

In that way, the group ended up accepting Young-cheol’s words.

Moreover, it was not entirely absurd rationalization.

The actions and responses Su-myeon had shown until now had always been far too accurate and exquisite.

If not for his precise judgment in every situation, they could not have maintained this many people until now.

Would Su-myeon not actually be safer alone?

When his thoughts reached that point, Han-su nodded.

“Then what we can do now is at least avoid becoming a burden.”

“Yes, I think he will get out just fine on his own, and we only need to do our part properly.”

Having steadied their hearts in that way, the group looked around again.

Dozens of mannequins that imitated them like mirrors.

With their gazes lowered so they would not look at the places where the mannequins’ eyes were, they began moving forward while trying hard not to think about Su-myeon’s absence.

“Then let us move forward quietly.”

***

At that time, Su-myeon was holding his head for a moment and falling into thought.

He tried not to be conscious of it, but the more he remembered that he was alone, the more his body shrank as if the surrounding temperature had dropped.

It would have been better if he were completely alone, but right now, he was in a very troublesome state.

“…….”

All around him were mannequins imitating his companions.

Moving while receiving the attention of grotesque monsters with his whole body required more courage than he had expected.

“This is seriously driving me insane…….”

They were definitely somewhere not too far away, but even if he shouted, they probably would not hear him.

This place was damned well soundproofed.

If he wanted to make a noise loud enough to be heard around him, he would probably have to make a noise large enough to destroy property.

“…And the number of bullets is limited.”

Of all things, he had already given the weapons capable of striking things to the other companions.

He could not recklessly shoot into the air just to tell the group to come find him.

Just in case, he waited a few minutes to see whether the group would come find him, but the surroundings remained silent.

“For now, let’s get out.”

Like a lost child, he could not wait here indefinitely, so there was only one answer.

He had no choice but to hope he would meet them on the way out.

That also meant the possibility of running into Ki San-hyeok would increase, but….

The moment I see him, I shoot.

It was a problem that would be solved as long as he did not give San-hyeok an opening, so there was no need to worry.

Su-myeon decided to think as simply as possible.