Chapter 10

Chapter 10. Mystery Mart (2)

I couldn't shake the feeling that something had gone terribly wrong.

Fourteen new Mysteries had been added.

Excluding the mart itself, that meant thirteen.

That was more Mysteries than I had encountered in total since the apocalypse began.

And all of those Mysteries were gathered inside a single mart.

No wonder there were no people around.

It would've been stranger if anyone was still here.

But...

“How the hell did those people get out of here?”

The group I had agreed to come with said they had entered this mart once before.

They had lost their friend inside and escaped.

Now, they had returned to try and save that friend.

When I first heard their story, I hadn't thought much of it.

But now I couldn't understand how they had managed to escape from this place alive.

For the first time, I seriously felt like I might die here.

Damn it.

Should I never have come here in the first place?

Should I run away even now?

“What the hell...”

“Oh my god... the door...”

“......”

“The door... is gone.”

I turned my head at the groans beside me.

Just as he said, the door had disappeared.

More precisely, it no longer existed.

The place where the entrance we had passed through should have been was now nothing but an empty wall.

“...No way.”

I knocked on the spot where the door had been, but only a heavy thud echoed back.

It was a thick wall.

Far too solid for a person to break through.

I looked around, wondering if there might be another door somewhere else.

But there wasn't even anything resembling a passage.

We finally understood.

We were trapped inside the mart.

And there was no way out.

“This... This is impossible. It wasn't like this before—!”

“Keep your voice down. Didn't you read the rules? Even if you speak, keep your voice as low as possible.”

“...I'm sorry. But it wasn't like this last time... Why? Why is this happening?”

The man who had previously shown so much confidence and determination broke down.

His noble determination to rescue his friend quickly faded when faced with the boundary between life and death.

It was a normal reaction.

Very few people could remain calm when death was a real possibility.

What surprised me more was the woman's behavior.

Her name was Lee Yeonhee.

Even in this unexpected situation, she was managing to keep herself relatively composed.

However, even she went pale after hearing that there were thirteen Mysteries gathered in this place.

It looked like she was starting to panic a little.

I felt somewhat sorry for her, but hiding information like this wasn't an option.

All I could do was hope she managed to calm herself down.

Besides, I was trembling too.

Even though I had already nearly died once in the restroom, I couldn't seem to get used to this.

Standing on the line between life and death was still terrifying.

But I endured the fear.

If I wanted to survive, I had no choice but to endure it and push forward.

Though I hadn't expected anything remotely like this.

For now, let's just do everything I can.

“...Everyone. You've all read the mart's rules, right?”

“Yes... But these are different from last time too. Last time, there were only six rules...”

I looked at Rule 9.

It said that new rules could be added in real time.

The rules seemed to be directly connected to the mart's power.

If more rules kept appearing, that probably meant the mart itself was growing stronger.

A Mystery that became stronger as time passed.

This mart seemed completely different in scale and nature from every Mystery I had encountered so far.

It was far more threatening.

Far more malicious.

It was terrifying, and at the same time, it triggered a deep instinctive sense of rejection.

One Mystery containing thirteen other Mysteries.

I stroked the book in my hand and desperately tried to find some hope.

“Keep watch around us.”

Seeing their pale expressions, I leaned against the wall and opened the book.

I already knew which page I needed to see.

[11. Scq679 - Mystery Mart]

[Mystery Mart is a phenomenon-type Scq that contaminates buildings belonging to the concept of a “mart.” Complete containment is impossible.]

A building contaminated by Mystery Mart attracts various Mysteries from the surrounding area.

This was apparently a trait shared by all building-contamination Scqs.

Below that were instructions on how to escape Mystery Mart and a list of precautions.

The precautions themselves were simple.

Follow the manual given upon entering.

According to the book, Mystery Mart wasn't particularly dangerous as long as you didn't violate the manual.

I looked down at the manual in my hand.

It was a bizarre manual.

I had already memorized its contents.

I went over everything in my head while moving.

There was only one thing left to do.

Clear this place and survive.

“Everyone, come here.”

I called the others over in a low voice.

Lee Yeonhee and the two men approached me.

Their faces were even paler than before.

Lee Yeonhee in particular looked so white that her skin almost seemed bluish.

She had looked fairly confident earlier.

It was unfortunate.

We couldn't afford to waste any more time.

We needed to start clearing this place immediately.

This was why I had wanted to come alone.

Playing leader despite never intending to was irritating.

I suppose I should consider this the price of insurance for the insurance called divine power.

If Lee Yeonhee's divine power was as useful as I expected, then this much trouble was probably worth enduring.

Once everyone had gathered, I began explaining.

“According to what's written in the book, we shouldn't be in danger as long as we follow the manual.”

“Really...?”

“Yes. You've all memorized the manual, right?”

The manual was the single most important thing here, so I asked again.

They all nodded at the same time.

“Then that's enough. Stay quiet. Don't eat any samples. If you hear music, move to another floor—”

“Wait. Doesn't one of the rules say that if we hear music, we have to dance?”

“The wording is different. Rule 5 is probably fake. It also conflicts with Rule 4, and more importantly, it says that the ‘Customers’ can modify the rules.”

The instant I finished speaking, an eerie chill ran through me.

I looked around.

In the distance, murky fog was trembling.

It wasn't the fog produced by the book.

This one was darker.

Thicker.

Sticky and viscous.

It looked like a mist made from the darkness of a curtain.

Two holes were visible inside it.

Two pitch-black openings, as if staring directly into an abyss, were watching me.

Instinctively, I realized that I had made eye contact with some kind of Mystery.

Unidentifiable whispers brushed past my ears.

I quickly pulled out the manual and read it again.

“Damn it.”

It had changed.

1. This mart loves liveliness and excitement. If you hear music, immediately enjoy the song and dance with a partner where you are standing. If you have not chosen a partner, immediately call for a safety officer.

The strange difference in tone that had made Rule 5 stand out was gone.

It was now written in exactly the same style as all the other rules.

This meant we were screwed.

We had just lost the clue that would have allowed us to recognize any new rules added later by the beings called “Customers.”

I looked at the man who had asked the question.

Part of this was my fault too, so I didn't blame him.

“I won't be taking any more questions. A Mystery is watching us.”

He lowered his head with an apologetic expression.

Now I understood.

This place was much more dangerous than I had expected.

And these people were going to hold me back far more than I had imagined.

He hadn't done it intentionally.

But the result itself had been deadly.

And there was no guarantee something similar wouldn't happen again.

His action pushed me toward a decision.

It was a decision I had already been considering ever since I entered this place and checked the book.

“Let's split up here. I'll go gather food and supplies. You three can go search for your friend.”

In the end, I decided to separate from them.

“......”

The man's apologetic expression disappeared as his face twisted.

The other man reacted similarly.

The atmosphere became quite hostile.

Had their previous friendliness only been a mask?

No.

More likely, their instincts were simply showing now that they were facing death.

If the first man had really been pretending from the beginning, there would've been no reason for him to return to this mart.

So the latter explanation was probably correct.

But that wasn't important.

What mattered more was Lee Yeonhee.

I was fine separating from those men.

But I wanted Lee Yeonhee to stay with me.

From what I could see, there was a ninety-nine percent chance those two men were going to die.

I still couldn't understand how they had escaped the mart the first time.

It must have been a chain of ridiculous coincidences.

And I doubted those coincidences would happen again.

Even the door that had apparently remained in place last time had disappeared now.

I thought about the situation as though they were already dead.

What a waste.

If those men died, I would feel a little bad about it and that would be the end.

But if Lee Yeonhee died, I'd regret it a lot more.

Divine power was apparently extremely rare even in the worlds of the people from the Regression-Possession-Reincarnation Gallery.

They also said its performance ranked second among all powers.

Its rarity ranked second too.

If I lost this opportunity, I had no idea when I would find someone with divine power again.

“Lee Yeonhee.”

“...Yes.”

“Would you like to come with me?”

Before Lee Yeonhee could answer, the man reacted.

The man who had been about to leave with the rest of his group suddenly stopped.

His face twisted sharply.

I heard a quiet curse.

Veins bulged on his hand as he clenched his fist, and his eyes moved toward the mart's weapon section.

Even though I had already been tense and preparing for conflict, I couldn't help feeling dumbfounded.

What the hell was that?

Why did a mart even have something like that?

The weapons section was filled with all kinds of weapons.

Katanas.

Greatswords.

Compound bows.

Things that would never normally be sold in an ordinary mart.

Had this section appeared after the building became a Mystery?

Now that I thought about it, the inside did feel much larger than it had looked from outside.

A lot seemed to have changed.

But there was a more immediate problem.

Why had the man in front of me chosen this exact moment to look toward the weapon section?

There was only one obvious answer.

Before the situation could develop any further, I moved.

I stretched out my right hand and grabbed his leg.

At the same time, the veil wrapped around my right hand clung to his leg.

It crawled upward, consuming his entire body.

He looked as if his body had been submerged in thick, sticky jelly.

“What the hell is—”

He tried to scream at the bizarre sight.

Just before he could, I covered his mouth with my right hand.

That had been close.

If I had been even slightly slower, we would've been screwed.

With a mixture of irritation and anger, I covered both his eyes and nose with my right hand.

The veil spread from my hand across his face, sealing every opening.

Unable to even breathe, the man froze in place.

I never thought this would be how I'd test the veil's abilities for the first time.