WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Natty
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ How to Rewrite Ghost Stories ◈
Episode 63: Geochilsan Express Train (9)
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“Section Chief Mok...?”
“Yeah. You’re alive and well. As long as one of you survived, that’s enough. Have you seen the others?”
“N-no... Archivist Ryu Hyeon-u was in the cars ahead...”
The words would not come easily. My dry lips stuck together. Pulling myself together was hard enough, but Mok Inha’s voice was so absurdly calm that the disconnect was jarring.
“Did he leave anything behind?”
At the top of the tree made of people, Mok Inha’s upper body swayed wildly for a moment. No, it dangled, then slid downward.
The part of her that was only a head descended from above Mok Inha’s shoulders with a scraping sound, like fish bones being pulled apart.
Our eyes met at the same level. It looked even crazier up close. Chunks of flesh, blood vessels, some unknown mucus, and translucent fascia spread from beneath Mok Inha’s neck in every direction, stuck fast to the mass of flesh.
“He left a report on the PDA... And a key to resolving this situation, too.”
“Good work. So you came here because you thought there would be clues in the rear cars as well.”
“What the hell happened? What happened in the rear cars... No, how many years have you been like this, Section Chief?”
“Hmm... I stopped counting after 870,000 days, so I’m not sure. It may have been a few more decades after that.”
Why was this person so calm? Just hearing it made my head spin and my stomach churn.
“Then the survivors in the rear cars...”
Rather than answer, Mok Inha simply spun her head once. The enormous mass of flesh twitched all at once, accompanied by a deflating hiss and the sound of water slapping about.
“There were infiltrators in the rear.”
“Infiltrators?”
“One of the things that tends to happen in situations like this. The sort commonly called cults.”
She meant Helical Cult followers. Just as I thought. I did not know how many there had been, but they must have tried to seize the train starting from the rear cars.
“With your skills, Section Chief, couldn’t you have gotten out somehow? It’s not as though those infiltrators were some kind of veterans...”
“Hey.”
Mok Inha snorted. She laughed so easily that, for a moment, I forgot she had nothing below her head. Even without hands, it felt as though she were patting my head.
“The Ghost Story Records Corporation never abandons people. That’s our second principle.”
“What’s the first?”
“Eradicating Distortions.”
“When this train reaches its destination, you can deal with it whether those people become masses of flesh or not. So why did you do something so foolish?”
“Isn’t it for the same reason that a civilian like you isn’t tucked somewhere safe, but running around like this?”
“I...”
“You didn’t run into anything outside that used to be a passenger, did you?”
“Ah, no. I didn’t. I didn’t encounter any cultists either.”
“Then it wasn’t pointless.”
Mok Inha let out a long breath with a laugh, and sobs and snickering seeped out from the mass of flesh again. It almost seemed like the entire thing was Mok Inha’s body, or like all their emotions were being shared.
“You were right.”
An arm emerged from the flesh and gave a little wave.
“I may be crammed in here with them, but it’s not all bad. I can keep them from moving forward. It’s like the boatman has put the boat on his head and, instead of climbing a mountain, is flying into space.”
“You have control?”
“Yeah, that’s right. I’m the only one here who has kept my sanity, so I’m stopping them from causing trouble elsewhere.”
“Are you insane?”
“If I were insane, I wouldn’t be doing this.”
“This is not something anyone should do while sane!”
“I’m joking.”
That was what she said, but staying sane could not have been easy. Taking in a ghost story with her whole body while retaining enough reason to hold control over it was impossible. The fact that she still had the presence of mind to joke was an inhuman feat of will.
“Do you know where Senior Lee Gangrim went?”
I hurriedly changed the subject. Mok Inha furrowed her brow as if searching her memory, and sticky blood and mucus flowed down beneath her neck.
“I think I saw him around the fourth year. He came then.”
He had arrived later than I expected.
“He didn’t seem to have been here long. He looked like he had only been here for a few hours. Like you are now.”
“Where is he now?”
“There were people trying to establish a religion in here. He went to the rear cars with them. I should have followed.”
A clue. The missing piece of the puzzle slipped into place. The clock in the engine room, the spiral structure of the space, and someone who had gone to the rear with Lee Gangrim.
“That’s him!”
At my shout, several chunks of flesh slipped down from Mok Inha’s body. My heart nearly dropped with them.
“They weren’t trying to start a religion. They were already cultists.”
Without even stopping to breathe, I hurriedly laid out everything I had learned. The timer I had found in the engine room, the spiral structure of the space, and the Helical Cult.
“Helical?”
The face that had been calm until then twisted in an instant.
“Do you... know them?”
“I do. Very well. Those tenacious bastards...”
Mok Inha’s gaze darkened. It was close to murderous intent. But that coldness soon vanished behind a blank expression, and Mok Inha looked at me quietly.
“It would take too long to talk about it here. Something else is more important.”
“...Yes. There isn’t much time. If we arrive like this, everyone will forget. Then it’s over.”
“Let me ask you one thing. If you find the key, do you think this will really end the way you expect?”
“...At the very least, we can break the loop ghost story called the 100 Million Years Train. After that, we’ll probably have to deal separately with the ghost story that formed this train’s original framework, the Geochilsan-bound Train.”
“That’s enough.”
“What about you, Section Chief? If you can survive with only your head left, should I try separating you?”
“What kind of crazy thing are you saying?”
Mok Inha burst into hearty laughter.
“That’s enough. It’s enough if I keep these things from interfering with what you’re doing.”
“Still...”
“I said enough. If you really want to do something, light me a fire.”
“A fire?”
“A cigarette.”
Mok Inha twisted the shoulder buried in flesh at a grotesque angle and squirmed a little. Something popped out from between the tangled flesh and heaps of bone below.
It was a bluish glowing emergency beacon baton, similar to the one Lee Gangrim carried, and a pack of cigarettes with a lighter inside. There was only one cigarette left.
“The last cigarette in the pack, then.”
“I saved it for just a moment like this. And take that. You can’t go around empty-handed.”
After taking the beacon baton, I put the cigarette between Mok Inha’s lips. When I lit it for her, smoke slowly leaked from beneath her neck.
“May I borrow the lighter too?”
“Do whatever you want.”
“...All right. Thank you. I’ll finish this as quickly as I can. Please hold on a little longer.”
“Sure.”
Leaving Mok Inha’s calm, cool reply behind me, I turned around.
I returned to the dining car, found the passage leading upward, and ran up it. This time, I didn’t hesitate. I sprinted toward the rear cars faster than I had ever run in my life.
The squelching sensation of something beneath my feet. The hallucination of hundreds of eyes staring at me from wallpaper that had become like mucous membrane. I ran, repeating to myself that I couldn't see any of it.
My heartbeat became as loud as a drumbeat, and the old jazz rose in pitch with it. At last, the train’s final car appeared before me.
“...”
I carefully opened the door. The passenger car inside was empty. There were no seats, luggage, or curtains. Nets that looked as though they had been torn from seats were spread densely across the floor.
Like an arrow pointing toward the very end of the train, everything formed a vortex toward the rear door.
Bwoooong!
“...!”
I instinctively ducked, but my legs were swept out from under me. I rolled once across the floor, and shards beneath the net dug into my body. Before I had time to feel the pain, I looked up and saw a long, black pipe swinging down at me.
Whoosh!
This time, it barely grazed my fingertips. A cry escaped me.
“You, who are you? You’re one of the Helical Cult, aren’t you?!”
I shouted, but received no answer. Their clothes had gone from brown to almost black. Dried blood crackled from the creased fabric.
Beneath the cap pulled over their head, lifeless eyes flickered with murderous intent. They muttered endlessly and raised the iron pipe again.
Whoosh!
Clang!!
The pipe struck Mok Inha’s beacon baton, which I had barely managed to raise above my head, sending sparks flying. My arm went numb, and I nearly dropped the baton.
“I can’t beat them by force... I’m losing ground...!”
“Let’s talk!”
“Your purpose is to steal time, isn’t it?!”
No matter what I said, there was no response. I was starting to wonder if I was the crazy one for trying to talk. I kept getting pushed back, until my foot was almost against the rear door.
Partner, to your side!
Clang!!
“Agh!!”
It was a feint! I had barely blocked the pipe coming from the side when they swept my legs out again.
My body lifted into the air, then I crashed onto my back. Before I could defend myself, the pipe they raised came flying straight down at my solar plexus.
I couldn’t block this. Damn it!!
I squeezed my eyes shut.
“...?”
The pipe hung a few centimeters above my neck. I opened my eyes a sliver and saw them leaning to the side, their mouth wide open as they gripped the pipe.
As their body fell over, the shadow of a third person standing behind them stretched long across the floor.
A tall person holding a fire extinguisher. A familiar face wearing that crooked, upturned smile.
“Our little rookie can’t even fight and is just a civilian, but you’re putting up a pretty good fight?”
“Senior Gangrim.”
“See? I’m the only one you can count on.”
I scanned him reflexively. His clothes were a little ragged, and he had injuries here and there, but both arms and both legs were still firmly attached.
Lee Gangrim was still fully human. The moment I confirmed that, a wave of relief washed over me.
“...You’re safe. You saved me.”
“Sounds like the others weren’t. Section Chief Mok too?”
“She’s still conscious, but...”
When I trailed off, Lee Gangrim shrugged. He seemed to understand without me saying more.
“...What about that person?”
“They’re not dead. We’re not some barbaric organization that harms people carelessly, are we?”
“Then...?”
Instead of answering, Lee Gangrim playfully grinned and shook the fire extinguisher in his hand.
Just as he said, the person I had thought unconscious raised their head with a gurgle. Their flickering, bleary eyes rolled around, then fixed on me in a glare. They began crawling toward me like mad.
“O... Oooooo... The One Who Goes First, the One Who Goes First is here...”
“The One Who Goes First?”
Ah. Damn it. Right. The bracelet.
There had been that time I tried to avoid a tiger, got showered in mercury, and nearly ascended beyond the cogs.
I quickly checked Lee Gangrim’s reaction and signaled to him. Quick-witted as ever, he slightly raised the corner of his mouth and stepped back.
I can pretend to be a cultist one more time. What the hell.
Before their hand could touch my wrist, I hurriedly got up and stepped back.
“...Are you all everyone who boarded this train?”
“...For now, I am the only one left. I only have to endure another 1,391,291 days!”
“Then you have what you were holding onto, right?”
Fanatical joy filled their previously bleary eyes.
“Ahh... Of course! Of course! I have kept it safe so that you may take it whenever you desire!”
Kneeling on the floor, they reverently pressed their hands together, then raised and stretched them toward me as if begging for salvation. A key hung from their fingertips.
“Thank you. I’ll use this for our plan.”
I snatched it quickly in case they tried to hide it. I examined it in case they had given me a fake, but its shape and feel did not seem very different from the engine-room key.
“What else did you hear?”
“Nothing, nothing! I was only told to recover what is inside once everything was over.”
I was getting sick of them muttering, “Mercy, mercy.” I stepped back once more and partially hid behind Lee Gangrim.
“From now on, I will execute a new plan... So you must not move from this spot. Ever. Do you understand?”
“Yes!”
Good. The crazy cultist truly did not move at all. They remained in place with their hands clasped and their eyes closed. I grabbed Lee Gangrim’s arm and immediately headed upward.
Lee Gangrim remained silent as we passed through the corridor and returned to the dining car. At last, he spoke.
“Kid.”
“...Yes.”
“Are you in a cult?”
“...Yes... no?”
My mind began desperately turning again.
Footnotes:
The familiar Korean expression is that too many boatmen will send a boat up a mountain. Mok Inha exaggerates it further by saying the boatman has put the boat on their head and is flying into space.
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