Chapter 155: The Ark of the Golden House (5)

3-5) Mermaid in the Bathtub

A mermaid who has lost her voice but failed to gain legs cannot leave her bathtub.

She poses no particular threat, but rescuing her and bringing her back to reality is extremely difficult.

If the water on her body dries up, she will experience tremendous pain and begin to die, so she must be kept wet during transportation.

However, be careful. Anyone bitten by her will suffer the same fate.

Since she cannot speak, it is important to determine whether she has retained her sense of self.

Su-myeon pressed a hand to his forehead as he recalled the survivor's voice coming from inside the cabin.

These situations were always the most troublesome.

When a survivor was accompanied by someone who had transformed into a monster.

But they couldn't simply leave them behind.

'...If we can't take her with us, we'll have to kill her.'

It was cruel, but there was no helping it.

Ideally, he would persuade them to come along, but if that failed, he would have to use the "Dreamlike Aroma" perfume to make them follow him.

Su-myeon carefully spoke again.

“Is someone with you? If you're in a condition that makes it difficult to leave right away, we can help. If we think it through together, we might be able to find a solution.”

Su-myeon spoke as calmly and clearly as possible, and another brief silence followed from inside.

Then, before even three seconds had passed, the door opened.

Standing inside was a haggard-looking man who appeared to be in his fifties.

“C-can you really... really help us? You really can......?”

Su-myeon looked past the man's trembling hands and examined the room behind him.

Unlike the other cabins they had seen, this one bore traces of someone who had been hiding there for a long time.

There were food supplies stolen from all sorts of rooms and facilities.

It couldn't have been easy, but there had been a few food items, such as canned goods, left in the freezer if someone searched carefully enough.

Apparently, the man had somehow managed to slip inside quickly, snatch only those supplies, and barely keep himself alive.

What struck Su-myeon was that the man hadn't touched any of the valuables that looked expensive.

“Of course. It's impressive that you've managed to survive this long.”

Despite Su-myeon's words, the man simply studied their weapons with anxious eyes while picking at his fingertips.

Rachel carefully offered him an energy bar and some drinking water from the supplies they had brought.

“Please, have something to eat first.”

He looked ready to tear the wrapper open and stuff the food into his mouth immediately, but then he shook his head.

“In the bathroom, in the bathroom... my wife is there.... I-I can't leave without my wife. So.......”

“Has she turned into a mermaid?”

Seeing the man's eyes waver violently, Su-myeon immediately lowered the rifle from his back and placed it on the floor.

Then he continued, apparently trying to reassure him.

“In cases like that, if you soak something like a bedsheet and wrap it around her lower body, you should be able to transport her a greater distance. Have you tried that?”

The man's expression changed at Su-myeon's words.

“I... I've thought about it, but I haven't tried.... I didn't know where... where we were supposed to go....... But how could I go anywhere without Ji-hye...? If I die, Ji-hye will starve to death too!”

To go that far for his wife.

Su-myeon suddenly thought of his own parents.

If the two of them were in this situation, his father would probably do the same for his mother.

Su-myeon forced the corners of his mouth upward in something resembling a bitter smile.

“Could we take a look at her condition first?”

The man hesitated a little at Su-myeon's request, but now that he had already let them inside, he effectively had no real right to refuse.

If Su-myeon insisted on examining the bathroom, there was nothing the man could do to stop him. Even so, Su-myeon had asked his permission first.

The man apparently still possessed enough judgment to recognize that.

He nodded and opened the bathroom door for them.

“.......”

Inside, a woman wearing a large, worn-out hoodie sat leaning against the bathtub.

She had strikingly large eyes and was beautiful enough that Su-myeon could understand why her husband was so devoted to her.

Even more surprisingly, she looked remarkably young for her age, appearing to be in her thirties at most. She glanced anxiously between her husband and the strangers.

“.......”

But as they already knew, she couldn't speak.

Su-myeon addressed her carefully.

“Are you in pain anywhere? Is anything troubling you?”

She shook her head.

“If you could leave this place... and return to reality, would you want to go?”

At Su-myeon's question, her eyes filled with tears, and she nodded vigorously.

She reached out as though desperately trying to communicate something, but her lower body, now a fish's tail instead of two legs, slipped beneath her, causing her to lose her balance and lurch forward.

Water splashed everywhere from the half-filled bathtub, and her husband hurriedly supported her.

'She seems to have retained her mental faculties completely.'

The fact that she could communicate was evidence enough, but there was something else.

She had been receiving her husband's care and assistance all this time without infecting him.

That, too, proved she was still in her right mind.

“We know the way out, so as long as you're willing to follow our instructions, we can leave together. Would you like to try?”

At Su-myeon's words, the woman in the bathtub nodded again with almost desperate intensity.

She gestured frantically, as though she had something she wanted to tell them, but her movements were difficult to understand.

In any case, it probably meant she wanted to get out that badly, right?

“...But, honey... with your body like that.......”

Would it really be all right to return to reality in her current condition?

That seemed to be the practical concern weighing on the man's mind.

Su-myeon understood the husband's position, but they couldn't afford to waste any more time here.

Nor could he irresponsibly promise that they would somehow turn her back into a human.

And so Su-myeon offered an alternative so extreme that it bordered on cruelty.

It was both a provocation aimed at the hesitant husband and a statement of reality.

“If you don't believe you can manage that, we can also help the two of you meet your end together.”

His choices were escape or death.

There was no option to continue living here like this indefinitely.

***

Kurosaki was driving leisurely toward the harbor, humming to himself.

He no longer had any intention of concealing his identity.

In truth, he was a spy sent by Japan.

Then again, perhaps calling him a spy was a little ridiculous.

'Considering how blatantly I went about it.'

A vile smile spread across Kurosaki's mild-looking face.

He had picked up several clues from the materials he had been given.

And he had come to a definite realization.

There had to be some kind of item here capable of extracting the rules governing ghost stories.

[If you return to Japan with that item, we will grant you whatever you desire.]

Kurosaki had gladly accepted his country's offer.

The problem was that Han Su-myeon apparently was the only person who knew how to use the item.

[We'll handle that ourselves. Focus solely on bringing back the item.]

With instructions like that, Kurosaki had no reason to hesitate.

If anything, knocking Du-pal unconscious and using his fingerprint to access the fifth floor had been the hardest part.

Still humming, he answered a call from Japan.

—Do you have the item?

“Of course I do. But I warned you in advance, didn't I? The instructions for using it—”

—Yes, only that man knows how to use it. We'll take care of that, so just make sure you bring the item back.

“...Well, fine. Anyway, this means you'll erase my criminal record and help me start a new life, right?”

Kei Kurosaki.

He had never been a Japanese agent in the first place.

He was nothing more than a vicious serial killer.

That forest where the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons had taken place.

He had been committing a series of murders there when he happened to get caught up in the ghost story.

To him, the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons had been nothing short of a delightful amusement park.

Stab someone, and they would collapse and turn into a monster.

He had entertained himself by repeating that act dozens of times before accidentally reaching the shrine above, where he crossed back into reality.

Ultimately, he was arrested for his crimes and thrown behind bars.

He had continued longing for the ghost story, talking about it incessantly even while in prison.

Japan did, in fact, have an organization dedicated to dealing with ghost stories, but it was true that their situation was little different from America's.

It was an era in which portions of the population were helplessly dragged into ghost stories and forgotten.

Perhaps it was only natural that those desperately trying to prevent a rapid population decline decided to make use of Kurosaki.

“How naive.”

After ending the call, he found everyone in the world laughably foolish and easy to manipulate.

Who would have thought that having a Korean grandmother, which had led his father to speak Korean, would prove so useful?

His parents had severed ties with him long ago, but wasn't this simply another example of his own luck and destiny?

Kurosaki chuckled, his face twisted into a sneer.

To him, everyone other than himself existed solely for his benefit.

Anything he could exploit, he would exploit.

But he was so intoxicated by the thrill of having deceived everyone that he failed to notice something.

Another black vehicle was already following his car.

***

Han-su was carrying Ji-hye over his shoulder, almost like a tightly wrapped bundle, with her body enveloped in a thoroughly soaked blanket.

There was little choice, considering how much she weighed.

Seeing Ji-hye lower her head in embarrassment, Rachel tried to lighten the mood with a joke.

“Looks like your husband will need to start exercising once we get out, doesn't it?”

“He'll have to eat plenty of good food.”

Coming from a woman who was unmistakably white, the distinctly Korean-style remark was so awkward that it was almost difficult to tell whether it was supposed to be a joke.

Ji-hye squirmed slightly.

“I suppose so. I'll have to work on that....”

Her husband, whose name was Kim Do-jin, responded awkwardly.

As they climbed the stairs to the next floor, he asked,

“If we go back to reality like this, will she still look the same? Will her voice never come back...?”

Su-myeon answered matter-of-factly.

“Yes. She'll remain as she is. That's something you'll have to accept and live with.”

It was a harsh thing to say, but this was a man who had protected his wife even under such extreme circumstances.

Su-myeon doubted he would be incapable of doing at least that much once they returned to reality.

“I see.... I see.......”

The man muttered in a strangely subdued tone, perhaps feeling somewhat hopeless, but Su-myeon decided not to pay it much attention.

If.

Just if.

There ever came a day when he had a Golden Rose to spare, perhaps he could contact them then.

'......If that day ever comes.'

It was better to keep such hypothetical possibilities to himself.

“Then, Han-su, wait over by those stairs with Ms. Ji-hye for a little while.”

[Grand Banquet Hall]

The area on the floor they had just reached was the most luxurious part of the cruise ship.

They could reach the stairs leading farther up by simply walking straight down the corridor without entering the Grand Banquet Hall.

But Su-myeon needed to inspect the interior regardless.

When Su-myeon told Rachel and Do-jin that they would be going inside with him, Do-jin hesitated.

“......Can't I stay with my wife?”

“I understand how you feel, but there's something inside that requires a few extra hands.”

Su-myeon waved a hand, telling him not to make such a fuss.

“Otherwise, are you confident you can carry your wife, blanket and all, safely to the end of that corridor?”

“Of course!”

Do-jin answered immediately.

However, the 'end of that corridor' was so far away that they couldn't even see it from where they stood.

When Su-myeon stared at him with a flat, unimpressed expression, Do-jin quickly backed down.

“I'm sorry. ......Let's go.”

Su-myeon waved him along impatiently and stepped inside.

After the others entered, Han-su began walking toward the far end of the corridor.

But he hadn't gone far when he stopped.

“......Are you trying to write something?”

Ever since Do-jin had disappeared from sight, Ji-hye had been tracing something on Han-su's back with her finger.

At his question, Ji-hye nodded vigorously.

Unable to make out the letters she was tracing on his back, Han-su immediately set her down for a moment and took out his phone.

However, unable to find anywhere convenient for her to type, he simply opened his conversation with Su-myeon and handed her the phone.

She quickly typed a single sentence and passed it back to him.

[That man isn't my husband.]