Chapter 21: 21. Miho
As Yoon Chaewon and Kang Seoyun dealt with the incoming Goe Bung—
Now that the welcome party for the gallery’s newcomers had been confirmed.
[Chat] Newbie recruits, attention!!!!!!
"Eeeek! Y-you really summoned me...!!"
Some jungle where the sun and moon hung in the sky at once.
A woman dressed in a martial arts uniform trembled all over.
"W-what am I supposed to do!? I should have contacted him when that young man Maestro warned me...!"
Two pointed ears rose from atop her head.
Her figure and beauty went beyond merely beautiful, carrying an air of sensuality.
Three tails swung madly behind her waist.
Her gallery username was ㅇㅇ(112.5).
Or rather, she was ‘Miho,’ disguised behind that nickname.
"Haa... How did I end up in such a predicament...?"
Whoosh.
Miho curled into a ball with a resentful expression.
Her fluffy tails wrapped tightly around her head and grew damp from the tears that had slipped out.
"It is not as though I failed to greet Senior because I disliked him."
When she had first awakened her sense of self,
she had intended to immediately send Senior a message to ask how he was doing.
He was the gallery’s hottest topic and her senior in service, after all.
It was only proper to greet him.
"But Senior is far too frightening. What else was I supposed to do...?"
However, Senior’s exploits had been far too extraordinary for that.
Fame: 999.
The first to command low-intelligence anomalies.
He ended the hunting of humans by supplying energy bars.
And, decisively,
he had even brutally punished an insolent low-intelligence anomaly.
For Miho, even speaking to him was overwhelming, never mind greeting him.
ㅇㅇ(112.5): Hehehehehehehehehehehehe
In the end, she had unwittingly pretended to be a low-intelligence anomaly herself.
And naturally, she had missed her chance to greet him as well.
"I was insane. Why did I put on such a ridiculous act back then...?"
With a long sigh, Miho lifted her head from where she had buried it in her tails.
She sat still and blankly watched the two celestial bodies hanging in the predawn sky.
Ding!
"Gah...!?"
The gallery window blocked Miho’s vision.
Maestro: Miho.
└ Maestro: Do you have a moment?
It was a message from Maestro, her contemporary and colleague.
"Y-you startled me. For a moment, I thought it was Senior himself!!"
Miho snorted and hurriedly moved her fingers.
Of course,
it was obvious whether that snort came from anger or relief.
ㅇㅇ(112.5): You rascal!
└ ㅇㅇ(112.5): How dare you contact me without any warning!!
└ Maestro: Oh, my apologies.
└ Maestro: I became hasty for a moment because I wanted to relay Senior’s words.
"Senior himself...!?"
Miho’s small mouth fell open as far as it could go.
She was so shocked that she felt a little dizzy,
but this was no time to space out, so she continued the conversation.
ㅇㅇ(112.5): Hmm, then it cannot be helped.
└ ㅇㅇ(112.5): So, what did he say?
└ Maestro: I do not know the precise meaning, but...
└ Maestro: He said not to be afraid and to come without disguising yourself.
└ ㅇㅇ(112.5): !!!
"W-without disguising myself!? Does that mean he realized what kind of ghost story I am!?"
Miho sprang to her feet in horror.
Publicly, Miho’s identification code was 5.
It was a code that denoted a location-based ghost story.
However,
telling her to come without a disguise meant he wanted her to appear in her true form.
In other words, it meant he had seen through her false code.
"What a truly terrifying ability. Not even the gallery moderator noticed my disguise..."
ㅇㅇ(112.5): I-I understand what you mean.
└ ㅇㅇ(112.5): I shall handle it myself, so d-don’t worry.
└ Maestro: Ah, and one more thing.
└ ㅇㅇ(112.5): ?
Ding!
Maestro attached a photograph.
"Hmm? A human?"
It was a picture of a man sitting alone in the audience seats.
Though he wore nothing more than a shabby convenience-store employee uniform,
he was a handsome young man whose looks could not be concealed.
ㅇㅇ(112.5): He is a remarkably handsome young man.
└ ㅇㅇ(112.5): Who is this?
└ Maestro: It is Senior.
└ ㅇㅇ(112.5): !?!??
└ Maestro: I secretly saved it when I beheld his visage.
"S-so this is Senior’s face...!!"
Miho stared blankly at the man in the photograph.
She had liked his face from the first glance,
but once she thought of it as Senior’s, the area around her heart began to tingle.
Maestro: I am sending this in advance so that you do not faint.
└ Maestro: It is nearly time for you to go meet him.
└ ㅇㅇ(112.5): Ah.
└ ㅇㅇ(112.5): I-it is already that time!!
"Ahem! T-then, shall I get going?"
Miho began preparing to leave with a false cough.
She hurriedly straightened her martial arts uniform.
The anxiety that had covered her face until moments ago was nowhere to be found.
Rustle, swish.
"W-would Senior like it if I dressed like this...?"
Like a maiden meeting a man for the first time,
Miho looked at her reflection in the water and fixed up her appearance.
"No, this looks too obviously forced. Urgh... It is not as if I have ever dressed myself up before, so how would I know...?"
It could not be helped.
It truly was her first time meeting him.
**
"Huff, huff..."
"Looks like that was all of them."
Thud.
Yoon Chaewon spoke as she put down the anomaly she had been holding.
Beneath it lay a spectacle of wires piled up like a mountain.
The anomalies lay unconscious at Chaewon’s feet.
"Good work. There were so many of them that it took a little while."
"...Did you kill all the anomalies?"
"No. Their bodies were so tough that even my kicks could not punch holes through them."
Kang Seoyun wiped the sweat from her neck with her sleeve.
At the same time, she stole a sidelong glance at Chaewon.
At Chaewon, whose rabbit ears twitched as she stared only at the wall.
She did not show any sign of betraying me in battle. No, did she actually protect me?
During the fight, Seoyun had deliberately left plenty of openings.
She had raised her arm too much, exposing her abdomen.
She had lowered her head deeply enough to block her own vision.
There had been many opportunities, but Chaewon had not even glanced at them and had focused solely on the fight.
"Anyway, let us continue the operation. We need to find that humanoid anomaly."
"...Yes."
Still, the fact remained that she was suspicious of Chaewon.
As Yoon Chaewon took the lead toward the next room,
Seoyun kept her distance and remained wary of her.
How long did they walk like that?
"Doors...?"
"This is another unexpected sight."
A door beside a door.
And another door beside that door.
So many doors greeted them that counting them was meaningless.
"An anomalous phenomenon after another anomalous phenomenon. Even for a Catastrophe-rank, there are far too many gimmicks."
Kang Seoyun slowly walked between the doors.
She did not go out of her way to open any of them.
She could not even trust Yoon Chaewon behind her.
She did not want to add any more variables here.
"What do you think, Branch Director?"
Kang Seoyun turned only her head to ask Yoon Chaewon.
"Well, I do not really know?"
"Do not joke around."
"I am serious. Whether this place is Catastrophe-rank or Source-rank, all that matters is clearing it properly in the end, right?"
"..."
Chaewon shrugged and evaded the question,
so Seoyun had no choice but to give up.
Just as she was listlessly examining the doors for any distinguishing features—
"Assistant Manager Seoyun."
"What is it now? Is there another anomalous phenomenon—"
"Isn’t that one open right now?"
Yoon Chaewon called to her and pointed somewhere.
At the end of her finger was a door.
A door opened just slightly, with light leaking out through the crack.
"I think you are right."
"Yeah. Assistant Manager Seoyun, why do you not try opening it?"
"...Excuse me!?"
Kang Seoyun looked at Chaewon in disbelief,
but Chaewon only smiled broadly and instead pushed her forward.
Step, step!
"Hehe, it is not as though we can just stay stopped here forever."
"No, then you should do it, Branch Director..."
"I am still tired from the fight. Okay?"
"P-please stop pushing me...!!"
In the end, Kang Seoyun was pushed right in front of the door.
She did not want to do it, but Chaewon’s pressure was too strong.
Just as she reached out to grab the doorknob—
「You cannot go in there」
"Huh?"
"...!?!"
Words suddenly appeared engraved on the door.
Craaaack!!
"T-the floor...!!"
"Assistant Manager Seoyun! Watch out...!"
A massive crater formed as the floor split apart and swallowed them whole.
「Protect our master」
「At all costs」
Before they fell,
those words had been carved into one of the walls.
**
Ghost Story Newcomer Welcome Party, Season 1945.
(Did not count them.)
(Actually, since I am hosting this for the first time, it is the first one.)
Bzzzz!
"Tsk, why is the summoning ticket doing this again?"
"S-Senior! What is the matter!?"
"It is nothing. More importantly, keep your voice down."
Setting aside the Backrooms Summoning Ticket, which had inexplicably started vibrating again,
"Let us start roll call now. Starting from the left, call out your numbers."
I began morning roll call for the newcomers—or rather,
in a way, my children.
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