Chapter 11

Chapter 11. Mystery Mart (3)

I recalled the ability of the Veil.

The function—or rather, the characteristic—of the Veil.

Anyone who touched its main body would be swallowed by darkness and suffocated.

In my case, it meant that anyone who touched my right hand would be devoured.

Those swallowed by it would lose their senses, wander through the darkness, and slowly die.

The man in front of me was experiencing exactly that.

His mouth was covered, so he couldn't scream.

His eyes were wrapped in darkness, so he couldn't see.

Little by little, he was losing all five of his senses.

I only removed my hand after he had been buried so deeply in the darkness that he could no longer even struggle.

The moment my hand left him, the man twitched as if having a seizure before going limp and losing consciousness.

He probably wouldn't be able to move for a while.

At the very least, he should remain unconscious until I left the mart.

“Lee Yeonhee.”

“Y-Yes?”

“Are you coming with me? You need to decide right now.”

I pulled back my right hand and checked my condition.

Things weren't looking good in several ways.

The air touching my skin felt colder than before.

And the already gloomy atmosphere now carried a faint sense of murderous intent.

It was enough to give me goosebumps.

I wasn't stupid enough to dismiss all of this as my imagination.

I could hear faint wailing sounds of ghosts near my ears.

There was no way that was just my imagination.

I had an idea about what was happening.

Before Lee Yeonhee could answer, I read the rules of the mart again.

Sure enough, a new rule had appeared.

[9. This mart contains a wide variety of products. Customers should not remain in one place. Please walk around and explore the mart. This mart welcomes you.

1. The rules of this mart are being updated in real time. Please keep this in mind.]

The rule that had originally been number nine had moved down to number ten, and a new ninth rule had appeared.

Don't stay in one place.

Apparently, the mart didn't like the fact that we had remained near the entrance for too long.

Lee Yeonhee followed my gaze and read the rules as well.

Her expression hardened.

She rubbed her arms, which were covered in goosebumps.

“I don't think we should stay here any longer. I'm leaving right away, so if you're coming with me, tell me now.”

If she refused, I planned to leave by myself without hesitation.

Divine power was certainly valuable, but my life was far more important.

Lee Yeonhee soon opened her mouth.

I thought she would need some time to decide, but surprisingly, her hesitation was brief.

Maybe she wasn't that close to the people she had been traveling with.

Lee Yeonhee walked past the unconscious man and the other man who was standing there blankly, then came over to me.

“I'll come with you... If I want to find Yujin, that would probably be better.”

It seemed Yujin was the name of the friend she'd lost inside the mart.

Personally, I thought there was a very high chance that this Yujin was already dead.

But I didn't say that aloud.

“Then let's move right now.”

I started walking while ignoring the blood-red eye that had appeared behind Lee Yeonhee and had been staring at me for some time.

Blood dripped from the eye at perfectly even intervals, like the ticking of a metronome.

It seemed to be some kind of Mystery that had attached itself to us because we'd stayed near the entrance for too long.

I grabbed Lee Yeonhee's hand and walked faster.

But the sound didn't grow any quieter.

The eye casually followed after us.

Lee Yeonhee didn't seem able to hear it, but perhaps that would change if we stayed here long enough.

We had only remained there for around ten minutes, yet this many Mysteries had already gathered around us.

What would happen if we stayed even longer?

I had no desire to test it.

Feeling another chill creep across my skin, I hurried onward.

We could talk while moving.

Lee Yeonhee followed closely beside me.

“Where are you planning to go?”

“We'll go up to the fourth floor first, then search each floor as we make our way down. Ah, do you know what's on the fourth floor?”

“Ah... The fourth floor...”

She seemed to remember something about it and suddenly stopped walking.

The floating eye was still following right behind her.

I grabbed her wrist and continued walking, almost dragging her along.

Even while being pulled forward, cold sweat gradually appeared on her face.

It looked like she was remembering something unpleasant.

Maybe even something traumatic.

“Did you lose Yujin on the fourth floor?”

“No. It wasn't there... I lost Yujin on the third floor.”

“Then what was on the fourth floor? This is information I absolutely need to know.”

I couldn't exactly tell her not to think about the fourth floor.

Judging from her reaction, it was clearly a dangerous place.

Going there without knowing anything could genuinely get me killed.

She looked at me with trembling eyes before tightly shutting them.

Then she spoke in a quiet voice.

“There was... a Mystery Corner on the fourth floor.”

“A Mystery Corner?”

Maybe it was similar to the weapon section I'd seen earlier.

But if it was called the Mystery Corner...

Did that mean they sold Mysteries there?

For money?

If that was really the case, it sounded horrifying.

No.

Maybe it could actually be useful.

I needed more information.

“What happened there?”

“That—”

“—Sorry. One moment.”

I covered her eyes with my left hand.

The eye floating above her head stared directly at my hand.

Blood suddenly streamed from it and fell toward the top of Lee Yeonhee's head.

I caught it with my right hand, the one covered by the Veil.

The blood flowed across the Veil before disappearing.

The moment it touched the Veil, it lost both its color and shape before being absorbed into the darkness.

Its blood couldn't reach me.

The eye refused to give up and began pouring out even more blood.

Blood gushed from it.

I reached out with my right hand and grabbed the eye itself.

Just before I could seize it, the eye completely transformed into blood and splattered onto the floor.

Was it dead?

No.

I suddenly felt someone staring at the back of my head.

When I checked, an identical eye was glaring at me.

Apparently, physical attacks didn't work on this Mystery.

What an annoying thing to have following us.

“E-Excuse me? Why are you covering my eyes...?”

“There's a Mystery in front of us, but it isn't particularly handsome. I think you're better off not seeing it.”

“O-Okay...”

The eye stubbornly followed us all the way to the elevator.

It tried every possible method to get even a single drop of blood onto Lee Yeonhee.

I didn't know what that blood would do.

But I seriously doubted the effect would be pleasant.

I couldn't even check its ability with the book because the eye kept attacking us from every direction.

All I could do was block every drop of blood it sprayed.

The constant struggle finally ended when we entered the mart's elevator.

“......”

I stepped into the elevator while staring directly at the blood-red eye.

Apparently, it couldn't enter.

I let out a small laugh and pulled Lee Yeonhee closer to me.

The eye widened furiously, and thousands of blood vessels suddenly bulged across it.

Blue and red veins twisted around one another, creating a grotesque sight.

It was terrible for my stomach.

I should skip dinner tonight.

I punched the eye with my right hand before stomping on it.

Before the regenerated eye could try anything else, I pressed the button for the fourth floor.

There was also a button for the fifth floor right above it.

I didn't even look at that one.

I pressed the button to close the doors.

Once the elevator doors shut, the eye finally disappeared from sight.

I removed my hand from Lee Yeonhee's eyes.

“I-Is it gone?”

“Yes.”

“...I'm sorry. And thank you...”

Was she apologizing for being a burden and thanking me for helping her?

It was too early for that.

Our situation was far from over.

So I simply nodded and half-embraced Lee Yeonhee from behind, guiding her in front of me.

She looked confused, but followed my hand and stood ahead of me.

When I glanced at her, I noticed the tips of her ears had turned slightly red.

Well, from the outside, it probably looked like a rather sweet and romantic scene.

But what I'd done wasn't anything like what she was imagining.

Only after pressing the button had I noticed the thing that had already been inside the elevator before us.

I nodded in greeting toward it.

The thing—

A man with something resembling soap bubbles rising from where his head should have been.

He lightly raised one hand and returned my greeting.

The man got off on the third floor.

Foamy bubbles lingered behind him like afterimages wherever he walked.

A mouse scurried along the floor and touched one of those bubbles.

The moment it did, the mouse transformed into the exact same kind of foam.

Then—

Pop.

It burst.

Just as I'd expected, this trip wasn't going to be easy.

Before the elevator reached the fourth floor, I looked down at Lee Yeonhee and thought about it.

Should I abandon her now while I still can?

Having a companion with divine power offered enormous benefits.

But was it worth risking my own life to obtain those benefits?

I wasn't sure.

If her power had been something focused purely on combat, like mana or martial arts, I might not have cared as much.

But divine power possessed healing abilities.

According to what I'd seen on the Gallery, if developed properly, divine power could even cure a zombie virus.

During the early stages of the apocalypse, magic or martial arts might be more useful.

But later, once different survivor groups began forming, divine power would become increasingly important.

In other words, divine power was the kind of ability that became terrifyingly powerful in the late game.

It wasn't something I could easily give up on.

Besides, things weren't that difficult yet.

There hadn't even been any serious bloodshed.

It should still be manageable.

In the end, I decided to keep Lee Yeonhee with me a little longer.

Her information and experience were also things I desperately needed right now.

“We're here. Let's get off.”

“...Okay.”

Before I knew it, the elevator had stopped.

She followed me onto the fourth floor.

The atmosphere here was completely different from the first floor.

If the first floor was like a forest inhabited by wild beasts, then this place felt more like a forest inhabited by witches.

Even the sense of mystery hanging in the air was on an entirely different level.

The lights were different too.

While the first floor had been covered in a reddish glow, this place was beautifully illuminated by a faint purple light.

I stared blankly around the fourth floor.

I could see the Mystery Corner Lee Yeonhee had mentioned.

It was roughly five times larger than the weapon section.

The enormous area took up nearly one-third of the entire floor.

Considering the place was literally called Mystery Mart, I supposed that made sense.

I walked along the Mystery Corner and examined all the items displayed there.

There were all kinds of objects that couldn't possibly be placed into a single category.

Old books.

Broken jewels.

Liquids contained inside bottles.

Strands of hair.

There was even a simple sheet of paper with nothing but a single black dot printed on it.

“Are all of these Mysteries?”

That didn't seem right.

Even with a rough count, there were well over a hundred items in the Mystery Corner.

But when I first entered the mart, the book had only recorded thirteen Mysteries.

The difference in numbers was far too large.

I opened the book and checked again.

Aside from the Mysteries I'd already encountered, none of the question marks had disappeared.

Then what exactly were these things?

Every price tag here was blue.

That alone made me feel like touching them would be a terrible idea.

Maybe I should just check the other floors.

After casually looking around, I started heading back toward the elevator so I could go downstairs.

At least, that was what I would have done...

If something hadn't suddenly pulled at me.

The moment I tried to leave the Mystery Corner, an indescribable force seemed to draw me back.

It wasn't physical.

It was something pulling directly at my mind.

“......Hmm.”

My first reaction was caution.

Maybe I'd already fallen under the influence of some kind of temptation-type Mystery, like the mirror I'd encountered at the apartment.

I brought Lee Yeonhee along with me, who had been trembling ever since we entered the fourth floor, while carefully checking our surroundings.

The source of the sensation seemed to be coming from the center of the Mystery Corner.

I narrowed my eyes.

I could faintly make out a display stand in the middle.

It was a large, circular display table.

As I approached and examined it, I noticed a single piece of paper sitting on top.

No matter how carefully I looked, that was the only thing displayed there.

A huge display stand...

With nothing but one tiny piece of paper sitting on it.

That only made it seem even more suspicious.

I heightened my guard and slowly approached the center.

“This is...”

A piece of paper with no price tag.

The small slip, barely the size of a finger, had a special symbol followed by a single word.

[#Medieval]

I picked up the paper and tried reading the word written on it aloud.

How was I supposed to read this again?

Sharp Medieval?

No...

Tag Medieval?