WETRIED TRANSLATIONS
The Legendary Newbie of the Ghost Story Labyrinth
[Translator – Aren]
Chapter 99 - Floor 23 (5)
Because each member of the group had connected with different Remnants, they each possessed fragmented pieces of information.
So they all went through a brainstorming session at their lodging before bringing their ideas together. What emerged from that process was a map of the supermarket’s interior.
"So this is it…It’s more complicated than I expected.”
Gu Bonjae stroked his chin as he looked at the interior map they had completed together on the table. With his other large hand, he was petting Old Yellow’s head as the creature whined beside him in boredom.
"It seems the interior space has expanded and become distorted. These are typical symptoms of a space becoming part of the Backrooms.”
Park Minho nodded at Ivan’s assessment. The completed map was certainly far too vast to be the inside of an ordinary supermarket.
It looked more like a guide map for an indoor amusement park than a supermarket, to the point that they had initially wondered whether they had drawn it incorrectly.
"That might actually work in our favor."
At Park Minho’s words, the other two looked at him.
He pointed to various places on the map as he explained.
"No matter how many enemies there are, with a place this large, there are bound to be gaps in their surveillance. These areas here and here are practically empty. They should make a good infiltration route. The problem is……”
Park Minho pointed to several sections. They were blurry, almost as though the image resolution had dropped, making it impossible to tell what was there. There were places even the Remnants knew nothing about.
"We should be careful around these unknown areas. They might be nothing, but there could also be some hidden threat. There are plenty of possibilities."
The Remnants belonging to the High Priest’s faction had never been able to approach those places.
Perhaps they were meeting rooms used by Seol Suhyeok’s faction, or perhaps the supermarket’s transformation into part of the Backrooms had created entities or anomalous phenomena even the Moltenic Church couldn’t control. Or they really could be nothing more than empty spaces.
Gu Bonjae nodded at Park Minho’s assessment.
"It’s best to avoid places we know nothing about as much as possible. But even if you two disguise yourselves as members of the Molting Church, what am I supposed to do? I stick out like a sore thumb.”
Park Minho already had an idea.
"Mister, I’d like you to draw their attention from outside.”
"From outside?”
"Yes. I doubt infiltration alone will be enough to reach the area where the High Priest is sealed. Since it’s such an important matter, the Molting Church will have it heavily guarded. But if a great disturbance breaks out outside and draws their attention away, it might create an opportunity.”
"A diversion! Excellent!”
"An unidentified entity attacks while bringing along one of the monster dogs the Molting Church lost? They'll be thrown into complete confusion. A lot of their attention should shift toward you.”
"Good. Leave it to me!”
Gu Bonjae couldn’t wipe out the entire Molting Church by himself. After all, there weren’t just humans inside, but plenty of monster dogs as well. However, his very presence would be perceived as a tremendous threat, making him perfect for throwing the entire situation into disarray.
"When should I start raising hell?”
"About an hour after we infiltrate should be good.”
"Understood. But how do we regroup afterward? We can decide on a location beforehand, of course, but what if something unexpected happens?”
"Hmm……It would be nice if we had some way to send a signal.”
That was when Ivan stepped forward.
"I think we can use this. It’s a last resort though……"
Park Minho recognized it immediately, having used one before.
"Isn’t that a flare? Where did you get it?”
"I found it among the belongings left behind by the Molting Church members.”
"That’s impressive. You even managed to loot them in that situation? I was too busy thinking about getting outside because of the smell.”
"It was nothing."
In any case, thanks to the flare, they now had a way to contact each other in an emergency. Since they had neither radios nor phones, it would be a useful means of communication.
The problem was that the Molting Church would see it too, making it a double-edged sword.
“Then let’s get ready and start right away.”
At that moment, however, Gu Bonjae raised his hand.
"Hold on. Old Yellow says there’s something he needs to do.”
"Hmm? What is it?”
As Park Minho watched in confusion, Old Yellow unexpectedly came over, rubbed his body against him, and began licking his head.
"......."
He got goosebumps. If an ordinary dog had done this, he might have been delighted, but Old Yellow was only a dog in name. His appearance was horrifying.
There was really no need to elaborate when he was a dog with diseased-looking skin, a human face, and a lamprey-like mouth.
"Grrr..."
Unexpectedly, though, Old Yellow seemed to be doing something quite carefully.
It was almost as though he were coating Park Minho in his scent.
He nearly recoiled in disgust, but after sensing something, he stayed still.
"What exactly is he doing?”
Gu Bonjae shook his head.
“I’m not quite sure either. He just said it would help you.”
* * *
They had originally planned to infiltrate through the supermarket’s rear entrance.
However, after examining the Remnants, they learned of a much safer and more reliable route.
It involved entering through an abandoned subway station connected underground to the supermarket.
There was an undiscovered crawlspace-like passage there that the High Priest’s faction seemed to have used to secretly come and go.
Apparently, Seol Suhyeok’s faction still hadn’t discovered it.
"......This palace is seriously creepy.”
Park Minho clicked his tongue as he stared into the pitch-black darkness beneath the abandoned station. It looked like a scene straight out of a horror movie. A place where an entity was bound to leap out at any moment.
"I’ll take the lead.”
Beyond the beam of the flashlight stretched a subway station that had been devastated at the moment of the disaster. The metal security shutters were completely wrapped, and the facilities inside had been wrecked beyond recognition.
Amid the destruction, they could see a sign pointing toward V-Mart.
Park Minho fell into a strange sense of déjà vu as he watched the thick dust glitter in the flashlight beam.
That was because the scene before him was one he had already witnessed through the Remnants.
"That’s it.”
Looking where Ivan pointed, he saw a small passage blocked by various materials. Normally, it remained concealed like this, but once the debris was removed, it became an excellent hidden entrance for slipping in and out unnoticed.
"I’ll go first and check it out.”
Ivan entered ahead of him and soon signaled that everything was clear.
Park Minho went inside as well. Before long, the grotesque and distorted interior of the Backrooms-transformed supermarket unfolded before his eyes.
"Shit…What the hell is this?”
The first thing that drew his attention was the shelving, stretching endlessly into the distance as though perspective itself had collapsed.
It looked almost like space itself had been warped.
Of course, he already knew about it from the Remnants, but actually seeing it was another matter.
"We need to move while paying close attention to the signs indicating each section.”
"Understood.”
For example, if they moved in the wrong direction inside the food section, they could suffer the unfortunate fate of becoming trapped there forever.
If that happened, they wouldn’t get to see the Molting Church and would instead be forced to play an endless game of tag with the entity inhabiting the food section.
"Fortunately, the Molting Church left markings.”
Park Minho pointed toward Molting Church slogans hanging like banners.
[Shed Your Husk and Ascend to Greatness.]
[Never Forget the Prophet’s Words, Not Even for a Day.]
[Your Current Flesh is Not Your True Self.]
Those weren’t merely messages encouraging faith. They also served as warnings not to proceed beyond those points.
Ivan took the lead along the route he had planned beforehand.
"If we continue this way, we should reach the ordinary believers’ area. Let’s try to take some of their clothing if possible.”
"Understood."
Fortunately, since this was a supermarket, there were plenty of places to hide. Most of the surroundings were pitch-black, though electricity still reached certain areas and kept the fluorescent lights on.
But against the surrounding darkness, their lights seemed pitifully weak, and the bulbs flickered so badly that they almost hurt to look at.
As they passed through the seafood section and reached the clothing section, voices came from up ahead.
"Checkmate."
"Ah…Come on, let me take back one move.”
"As if. There's a whole carton of cigarettes riding on this.”
They were ordinary believers. Surprisingly, they were enjoying themselves by gambling over a game of chess. And judging by the cigarettes they had wagered, it seems even fanatics still know how to have fun.
There were seven of them in total, lounging on couches they seemed to have dragged over from the structure blockade section and arranged in a circle.
A game of chess was underway in the center, and everyone was watching with keen interest.
Ivan whispered quietly.
"There are more of them than expected. There’s no way to subdue them without causing a commotion.”
"Let’s watch for now.”
"Understood."
The chess match grew increasingly heated.
"Hey! I can already see that carton! "It's mine!”
"No, this is bullshit! Aaaah!”
From what they overheard, cigarettes seemed to be fairly valuable on Floor 23. Just as the match drawing all the cultists’ attention was reaching its climax, hurried footsteps suddenly rang out.
-Tap, tap, tap, tap!
The sound was ominous enough that everyone turned toward it. Then an officer-level cultists appeared and shouted,
"Emergency! All of Squad 6, arm yourselves and follow me!”
At that instant, the cultists moved with perfect coordination and followed the officer out. Their lazy behavior moments earlier now seemed like a lie.
"What happened, Exhorter?!”
"An unidentified entity! A huge one showed up and is smashing apart the entrance!”
Gu Bonjae had provided his assistance at exactly the right moment.
"Everything lined up perfectly.”
"Yes. I’ll look for what we need.”
Ivan quickly searched through the ordinary believers’ living quarters. Park Minho joined him, and before long they found spare gray robes belonging to the cultists.
The robes wouldn’t be enough to completely conceal their identities, but the important thing was that they would keep them from being exposed at a glance.
The two hurriedly put on the gray robes and moved on. Then they encountered an officer in the corridor and immediately saw how effective the disguises were.
"What squad are you with?!”
"Squad 6.”
“What are you doing here?! Get moving!”
"Understood!”
The two pretended to follow the officer’s orders, then discreetly slipped away and headed toward the sealing site. The diversion had clearly worked, and security in the area had become as lax as it could possibly get.
“This is different from what we saw through the Remnants.”
"Yes. There are fewer people. The operation worked perfectly.”
The two had now reached the deepest section of the supermarket.
The butcher section.
"......!"
Dead humans hung from hooks all around them like slabs of pork. Every one of them had been stripped of their internal organs.
The red lighting in particular made it feel as though they had stepped into hell itself. Even so, the two calmly continued toward their objective.
Then a cold voice rang out.
"Just as he predicted, the rats have crept inside.”
Along with those words, a young woman appeared leading more than a dozen cultists.
Thanks to the Remnants, Park Minho recognized her immediately.
It was an officer named Rachel.
She had originally served as the High Priest’s secretary but had betrayed him and joined Seol Suhyeok’s side. Because of that, she was a figure who had earned the hatred of the High Priest’s faction.
And now Rachel had arrived with the cultists as though she had been waiting for them. There were even three monster dogs with her.
"Grrrrrrrrr……”
Ivan frowned.
"This situation doesn’t look good.”
Park Minho thought the same.
"Winning would be pretty difficult.”
They might somehow be able to deal with the dozen or so cultists. Between Ivan’s hand-to-hand combat skills and Park Minho’s anomalous traits, it wasn’t impossible.
Although all anomalous abilities were sealed on this level, anomalous traits that functioned like passive skills remained intact.
But the three monster dogs were another matter entirely.
No amount of martial arts could overcome the raw physical power of beasts like those.
"You knew we were coming?”
Park Minho asked the question to buy time.
Though he was genuinely curious as well.
Rachel gave a faint laugh and nodded.
"Yes, thanks to his insight.”
By ‘him,’ she seemed to mean Seol Suhyeok.
'Looks like he’s smarter than I expected.'
Park Minho clicked his tongue inwardly. Seol Suhyeok had suspected that the attack outside might be a diversion and had made sure the sealing site remained guarded as well.
Judging from the fact that he wasn’t here, it seemed he had personally gone out to deal with Gu Bonjae.
"Drop your weapons. Surrender quietly.”
With those words, Rachel gestured forward. The three monster dogs growled low in their throats and began closing the distance.
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