Chapter 8

Chapter 8. Outside

A faint sense of exhilaration spread from my heart and wrapped around my entire body.

With slightly trembling hands, I stroked the book.

The book trembled lightly and released a puff of smoke.

I silently thanked it in my heart, then began reading what had been written.

[Scq102 - Curtain]

[Curtain is a shapeless Mystery with no fixed form. Normally, it survives by parasitizing a ‘room.’ When a living creature that enters the room it inhabits dies, Curtain moves to another room and begins parasitizing it.]

…The information about Curtain was detailed enough to fill two full pages.

I read those pages again and again.

Twice.

Three times.

I kept reading until the contents were carved into my mind well enough that I could recall them without looking at the book.

After reading it around five times, I had memorized everything.

“Thank you.”

I stroked the book more carefully than usual, then ran my hand over Curtain.

The darkness rippled along with my touch.

Unlike before, it no longer frightened me.

According to what was written in the book, Curtain could not harm me.

Rather, Curtain, which was currently taking the form of a glove, was a Mystery capable of helping me harm others.

I trusted the book.

And I trusted the information written inside it.

There was nothing left to hesitate about.

The longer I waited, the less food there would be outside, so I decided to check the information about the other Mysteries later.

What I needed to do now was secure food as quickly as possible.

There was no reason to delay anymore.

I put on several layers of clothes in preparation for zombies, then grabbed a kitchen knife from the kitchen.

I also tucked away a sashimi knife as a spare in case the first blade broke.

After checking my equipment several times, I opened the front door with a trembling heart.

Only one day had passed.

Yet it felt as though I hadn’t stepped outside for an entire week.

An unfamiliar world stretched out beyond my door.

A world reeking of blood welcomed me.

Grrrrk.

A wet, phlegmy growl echoed through the hallway.

The sound came from every direction, making it impossible to tell exactly where it originated.

The government might have been responding to the disaster, but there was no way they could clear out every single apartment building one by one.

Making my way through this zombie-filled apartment building was entirely my responsibility.

I held the kitchen knife in one hand and the sashimi knife in the other.

I tensed my body and sharpened my senses.

At the same time, I recalled everything I had read about swordsmanship on the gallery.

Dragging things out wouldn’t help.

Without hesitation, I took my first step.

“……”

There was no one in the hallway.

Of course there wasn’t.

There was no way ordinary people would casually walk around outside in a world like this.

Whenever I sensed someone nearby, it always turned out to be a zombie.

I chose a route that allowed me to avoid as many of them as possible.

Moving while carefully watching every direction, I soon reached the elevator.

The number displayed above it was slowly descending.

That meant someone was inside.

Should I take the elevator too?

My home was a penthouse.

It was located near the top of the apartment building, and this apartment complex was both tall and massive.

If I tried to walk all the way down using the emergency stairs, I would probably run out of stamina halfway.

And if a zombie attacked at that point, I might not be able to escape.

Even if I stopped to rest along the way, I couldn’t afford to lower my guard for even a moment.

Physical exhaustion could be recovered from.

Mental exhaustion was different.

Without being able to rest properly, fatigue and stress would only continue piling up in my head.

That was high risk and low return.

If I had to choose, high risk and high return was better.

After thinking about it briefly, I decided to take the elevator.

The book floating behind me seemed to read my thoughts and pressed the button.

Soon, the elevator began coming up.

I didn’t relax.

It wouldn’t be strange if zombies or raiders suddenly jumped out from inside.

A moment later, the elevator doors opened.

No one was inside.

I sighed in relief and entered.

Some of the tension left my body.

I pressed the button for the first floor, then glanced around.

There was nothing inside the elevator except for a mirror mounted against one wall.

My eyes naturally settled on it.

It was positioned perfectly.

There was something strangely attractive about that mirror.

I almost wanted to take it off the wall and decorate my house with it.

How did they even make it?

Why does it feel so captivating?

I stared blankly at the mirror until I heard the elevator doors open.

For a brief moment, I felt annoyed that my appreciation had been interrupted.

But I didn’t step outside.

I just kept staring at the mirror.

Even the zombie noises coming from behind me failed to distract me.

“It’s really… beautiful.”

Despite the fact that the mirror reflected absolutely nothing, it possessed an almost demonic beauty.

It was so beautiful that I even found myself wanting to cross over to the other side and live there.

No.

Why not just go through and live there?

Without realizing it, I reached out toward the mirror.

My extended hand passed straight through the surface and entered the world beyond it.

The mirror, which had reflected absolutely nothing before, now contained a single hand.

The mirror had somehow felt incomplete before.

But now that my hand appeared inside it, there was no greater work of art.

It was like a masterpiece painted by the greatest artist in history at the cost of their own life.

If just my hand looks this good…

What would happen if my entire body went inside?

Pleasure and joy were swept up by a wave of expectation and flooded into my head.

I gradually leaned forward.

My body began sinking into the mirror, and a warm, comforting sensation wrapped around me.

Then, suddenly—

I felt an icy chill.

It was completely opposite to the warmth inside the mirror.

Normally, I would have preferred the warmth.

Yet for some reason, I couldn’t ignore that cold sensation.

I turned my head toward its source.

My left hand.

The one that had yet to cross into the mirror.

The book was pulling on it.

The moment I saw that, my mind instantly cleared as if someone had poured freezing water over my brain.

My eyes widened in horror.

I hurriedly threw my body backward.

At the same time, I slashed the head of a zombie that had quietly approached close enough to bite me.

I collapsed onto the floor.

The fact that I had just cut something that looked almost human didn’t even register through my survival instincts.

I kicked away the growling zombie, which now had a deep cut across its neck, and quickly opened the book to the preface.

As expected.

A new Mystery had been added.

[8. Scq-169 - The Mirror That Contains Everything.]

“Holy shit.”

It had only been one minute since I left my room.

And I had already encountered a Mystery.

Worse, I had almost died because of it.

If the book hadn’t been there, I definitely would have died.

Fear of death and countless other negative emotions began sprouting inside me.

Words like give up, comfort, and safety flooded my mind.

“Should I just go back now?”

While I stood there unable to decide what to do, the book approached me.

It seemed worried.

With my body still trembling, I hugged the book tightly.

After staying like that for several minutes, I finally felt a little better.

Some of my confidence returned as well.

I was thinking too weakly.

Giving up already?

No.

I couldn’t do that.

I had already come this far.

A desire began rising inside me.

If I had already made it downstairs, then I wanted to accomplish something.

I pushed aside the negative emotions and kicked the mirror with my stiff leg.

Unlike before, the mirror failed to swallow my leg.

It shattered normally.

Dozens—no, hundreds—of colorless shards scattered through the air.

Soon, the scattered fragments slowly became transparent before disappearing entirely.

When I raised my head, a new mirror had appeared on the elevator wall.

This time, I could see my reflection.

It seemed to be a normal mirror.

“Phew……”

I caught my breath and steadied myself.

I already felt drained.

Stay tense, but don’t become intimidated.

Remain cautious, but don’t hesitate.

With that resolution in mind, I opened the apartment building’s entrance door.

The towering apartment complex spread out clearly before me.

The fresh scent of grass mixed with the metallic stench of blood and tickled my nose.

The thick smell made my head ache slightly.

I ignored the headache and continued walking while repeatedly glancing at the open book.

If I encountered another Mystery, I wanted to react immediately.

So far, there was nothing.

Hopefully, it would stay that way.

Unfortunately, my destination was a large supermarket outside the apartment complex.

A huge supermarket filled with food and all kinds of supplies.

It would be one of the most popular locations during an apocalypse.

There was absolutely no chance I could go somewhere like that without encountering trouble.

I would just have to deal with whatever happened.

“Grrrrk! Krk!”

“Graaaah!”

Whenever zombies rushed toward me along the way, I dealt with them using clean sword techniques and self-defense moves.

Even I was surprised by how neatly I handled them.

Do I actually have talent for this?

Or maybe the martial arts taught to me by the gallery users were simply that good.

It was a shame I hadn’t managed to awaken something called internal energy.

If I had, things would have been even better.

“……Oh.”

After walking for quite a while while lost in thought, I finally spotted the main gate marking the edge of the apartment complex.

I checked the nearby security office as well.

No one was there.

Apparently, anything that could possibly be useful had already been taken.

The inside of the security office was completely empty.

It had been stripped so clean that I almost wondered whether only one day had truly passed since the apocalypse began.

Then again, maybe it was only natural.

The more I thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed.

Still, unease crept into my heart.

If even the apartment security office looked like this, there was a high chance the supermarket had already been completely looted.

Still, there was no way to know for sure.

I continued toward the supermarket without changing direction.

I didn’t see a single person along the way.

I assumed I would start seeing people once I got closer to the supermarket.

Yet even when I was less than a minute away, there was still no one around.

I began to feel that something was wrong.

“There are way too few people.”

There was no way nobody had come to the supermarket.

On the way here, I had seen a small store that had been looted so thoroughly that it looked half-abandoned.

If a tiny store had been reduced to that state, there was no way there would be absolutely no one around a huge supermarket.

That made no sense.

I sharpened my senses and stood still, listening carefully.

After waiting like that for a short while, I finally heard voices.

Around three people were approaching while talking.

Right.

There was no way there could truly be nobody here.

I hid the floating book inside my clothes and observed them.

There was one woman and two men.

None of them carried any obvious weapons.

Their clothes were also thin enough that there didn’t seem to be anywhere they could hide a blade.

They were quietly talking among themselves when they spotted me.

Their expressions brightened.

A tall man stepped ahead of the others and reached out his hand toward me.

It looked like he wanted a handshake.

As if I’d accept a handshake without knowing what he might be hiding.

I refused.

The man awkwardly withdrew his hand.

“You’re quite cautious. Well, I understand. The world has become the kind of place where you have to be.”

“What do you want?”

The man looked at me.

His eyes shifted toward the direction I had come from before he spoke.

“Are you, by any chance… planning to go to the supermarket?”

I didn’t answer.

The man continued in a low voice.

“If you are, I wouldn’t recommend it. You’ve watched the news, right? These days, it’s full of stories about Mysteries. There’s one inside the supermarket.”

His face had turned slightly pale.

It didn’t look like acting.

He seemed genuinely afraid.

The man and woman standing behind him also went pale as though remembering the supermarket.

The woman even looked like she was suppressing the urge to vomit.

Apparently, some kind of Mystery had settled inside the supermarket.

So that’s why there’s no one nearby.

It had to be extremely dangerous.

Avoiding Mysteries whenever possible was the smartest option.

There was no reason to risk my life against something as dangerous as a Mystery just to enter the supermarket.

However…

There didn’t seem to be any other place nearby where I could acquire a meaningful amount of food.

I was almost certain of that.

“But there aren’t really any other places nearby where we can secure food, are there?”

“That’s true… The people who came to loot the supermarket found out there was a Mystery inside and went somewhere else instead.”

“Then there’s no other choice.”

I looked at him.

“Thank you for warning me about the Mystery. Could you also tell me what you know about it?”

“Why do you want information about it…? Don’t tell me you’re actually planning to go inside?”

I nodded.

I had a feeling that if I missed this opportunity, I wouldn’t get another one later.

The man repeatedly tried to stop me, but I made it clear that I intended to go no matter what.

After trying to persuade me several times, he eventually gave up.

Why does he care so much?

We were complete strangers.

Personally, I wanted to stop asking questions and simply check the book.

Unfortunately, the book only seemed to record Mysteries that I had personally encountered.

That meant it probably didn’t contain any information about what was inside the supermarket.

I needed to get information from them.

After seeing how determined I was, the three of them began talking among themselves.

Their voices rose and fell.

At times, it almost sounded like they were arguing.

Then suddenly, the woman ran toward me.

The two men didn’t try to stop her.

She stopped in front of me and spoke in a trembling voice.

“If you’re going to the supermarket… could I go with you?”

“Why?”

“My friend is inside.”

Now that I saw her from up close, I noticed the scrapes on her skin and the red stains covering parts of her clothes.

I could more or less guess what had happened.

Even so, I had no intention of dragging extra baggage around with me.

If I lowered my guard, they might even stab me in the back.

I was about to coldly reject her.

But the woman shouted first.

“I-I can be useful…!”

She raised her hand.

Only then did the two men move forward to stop her.

But she was faster.

Her hand stretched out into the empty air.

Her fingers spread wide.

Then an overwhelming burst of light erupted from her fingertips.

The light swallowed the darkness and illuminated the surroundings.

It was an utterly unreal sight.

I immediately pulled the book out from inside my clothes and opened it.

[10. Scq030 - Divine Power]

A new entry had been added to the preface.