Chapter 27. Toward the Company (2)
It looked like a chameleon dropping its camouflage.
A boy who had seemingly melted into empty space suddenly appeared before us.
He stared awkwardly at us as we looked back at him with puzzled expressions.
His face seemed strangely familiar.
After thinking about it for a moment, I realized he was one of the guys who had thrown the flashbang earlier.
What did he want?
Judging by his empty hands, he didn't seem to be planning a surprise attack.
Even so, approaching us while hidden wasn't something we could simply overlook.
Hwaryeon's blade and Arlin's finger moved like the hand of a clock, pointing directly at the boy.
There was no way someone who carried flashbangs wouldn't understand what that meant.
The boy hurriedly raised both hands to show that he had no intention of attacking us.
“I-I'm sorry. I came here to… apologize about the flashbang. That's all… Really.”
“……”
“If I can make an excuse, that was our first time using a flashbang… We thought it would just be really bright. We honestly didn't know it would make that much noise!”
His voice sounded like it had only recently started changing, and it was filled with urgency.
He'd come all this way just to apologize?
It was difficult to take those words at face value in a world this dangerous.
Arlin and Hwaryeon didn't say anything.
They merely shifted their eyes toward me.
They were leaving the decision to me.
However, I was far more interested in the new Mystery that had been added to Lucy than I was in what the boy was saying.
[Scq229 - Invisibility Cloak]
Judging from the circumstances, it seemed to be the Mystery the boy possessed.
Its effect was simple.
If you wore it, you became invisible.
Since Arlin and Hwaryeon had noticed him beforehand, it didn't seem to provide perfect concealment.
Still, it probably only failed against superhumans like them.
Against an ordinary person like me, it would work perfectly well.
An invisibility cloak.
I wanted it.
“Forget the apology. Would you be willing to sell me that cloak?”
“…What?”
“I'd like to buy it in exchange for weapons or food. Are you willing to sell it?”
I didn't care about the apology.
I wanted the cloak.
Just possessing that thing would probably be enough to prevent zombies from harming me.
Even if only one person could use it at a time, there were countless ways it could be useful.
The boy blinked blankly as if he couldn't understand what I'd just said.
Then he asked me to wait for a moment.
Apparently, he was going back to discuss it with the companions from earlier.
Honestly, I'd expected them to reject the trade immediately.
They must be seriously short on resources.
To think they were actually weighing a Mystery against ordinary supplies.
Then…
Had they used that flashbang for our sake even under those circumstances?
I felt a little more favorable toward them.
I sat on a bench with the others and waited for the boy.
While we waited, Hwaryeon spoke to me.
It was about the cloak.
“Yuhyeon. If you wanted that cloak, couldn't we have just taken it?”
“We have more than enough food and weapons, so I'd prefer to solve things peacefully whenever possible.”
“Why? We're strong.”
“We're strong right now, yes. But Mysteries exist. I possess a Mystery that lets me regress endlessly. There's no reason someone else couldn't obtain something equally troublesome.”
What if someone who hated me obtained a Mystery like the book and came after me?
Just imagining it was horrifying.
In a world like this, creating unnecessary enemies was foolish.
Even after I explained that, Hwaryeon still seemed confused.
“Then can't we just kill all of them? There'd be no one left to come after us.”
“That's…”
I was somewhat reluctant to do that.
After seeing all kinds of people through the Regression-Reincarnation-Transmigration Gallery, there was one thing I'd learned.
Everyone needed to draw at least one line they refused to cross.
Maybe it was refusing to torture people.
Maybe it was avoiding killing people without a reason.
Something like that.
If you committed evil without any boundaries, it gradually wore you down.
Unless someone was a psychopath or lacked something fundamental to begin with, repeatedly committing cruel acts would eventually numb their mind.
If they'd threatened my life, that would be different.
But massacring a group of children merely because I wanted something they owned?
That didn't sit right with me.
Even for my own sake, that wouldn't be good.
After I explained my thoughts, Hwaryeon seemed convinced and nodded.
Around that time, the boy returned.
Behind him were several other children around his age.
The boy who had worn the invisibility cloak earlier seemed to be their leader.
“…Mister, first of all, I want to apologize again. What happened earlier really wasn't intentional.”
“There's something I'm curious about.”
“Yes?”
“Why do you keep apologizing? The result wasn't good, but you acted out of kindness. You even used up a valuable flashbang.”
It was a question born from genuine curiosity.
At my words, the boy's expression darkened.
“…Because we want to survive.”
“What?”
“Actually… Busan is finished. Mysteries are everywhere.”
I already knew about that.
The internet had been in an uproar over the fact that Busan had effectively fallen and the reason behind it.
Apparently, anyone who fell asleep in Busan wouldn't wake up again.
No one had figured out which Mystery was responsible, or how someone could wake up once they were affected.
The only confirmed fact was simple.
You must not sleep in Busan.
Of course, because I had Lucy, I already knew which Mystery had taken over the city.
Three Mysteries had been added the moment I entered Busan.
One of them involved sleep.
[Scq619 - Eternal Dream]
[Those affected by this Mystery will fall into an eternal dream.
If they die inside the dream, they may be able to escape, but that will be difficult.
You will become unable to meet death inside the dream.
