Chapter: 113
### 113 – Room 107, The Gate Room – ‘Witch’s Forest’ (4)
—
– Han Kain
The fire in the hearth began to crackle and pop, creating a cozy atmosphere.
My teammates, who had been frantically moving around, began to settle down and take a breather.
“Kain.”
“Grandpa?”
“Doesn’t the scenario give us any clues?”
“Good question. We entered the house as instructed, but the next part hasn’t shown up yet.”
Ahri, who was leaning beside me, chimed in, “If you think of it like a movie, it seems it’s just not time yet.”
Time, huh… Is something about to kick off soon?
With a hint of disappointment, Ahri sighed.
“Ugh~ I picked up five guns on the train! I even snatched four transparent badges. And now they’re all gone!”
In the first trial, ‘Doppelgänger Train,’ all items except our legacies got duplicated.
The guns, badges, pens, and gloves were all handed out to the fakes, after all.
Ahri had simply gathered them one by one, but sadly, as soon as the first trial ended, all the duplicated items vanished.
“That gun was something you earned by sacrificing your limbs! It deserved to be treated as a precious item; I didn’t think they’d let that be replicated so easily.”
“That’s true. But if we’re in the ‘Witch’s Forest,’ I guess a witch is going to show up, right?”
“Seems likely.”
Songee chimed in, “Do we have to defeat the witch?”
“Who knows? Let’s not rush to judgments. We should reference my ‘Understanding the Scenario’ to avoid mistakes.”
“I’m hungry; should we look for something to eat?”
With that, Eunsol stood up and headed toward the kitchen.
At that moment, an announcement popped up.
We will seal the participants’ legacies until the end of the second trial.
In the first trial, it was the blessing that got sealed, and now it’s our legacies being sealed in the second trial.
It’s a back-and-forth structure like that?
With the announcement, ‘Understanding the Scenario’ began to blink again.
Things were getting serious now.
*Scenario: The Gate Room – ‘Witch’s Forest’
The party, who had been resting in the suspicious house, opened the cupboards and drawers in search of snacks.
Strange traces were discovered! The party sensed danger, but it was already too late.
The witch is approaching the mansion. Can the party survive the witch’s threat?
Please check back for updates at midnight.*
Suddenly, what the—
“AAAAAAH!”
A piercing scream! Startled, we turned to the kitchen to see Eunsol trembling while opening a cupboard.
Grandpa Mooksung rushed over to check.
“Damn it! Eunsol, get out here!”
He cursed immediately. What’s going on?
“What is it?”
“The owner of this house is a crazy cannibal. Each bowl is filled with human corpses!”
I forced myself to look only to immediately turn away in horror.
The transparent jars, like Lock & Lock, were filled with human eyeballs, and scattered about were various body parts.
As we were all getting the chills from the revelation of the ‘witch’,
The beasts from the entire forest began to howl.
—Woof! Woof!
—Awooo!
Despite not having the Blessing of Affinity, I understood the meaning behind their cries.
Terror-filled howls! It was the beasts’ way of signaling that a monster had appeared; everyone run away!
In this dreadful atmosphere, everyone began to panic.
Jinchul was still unconscious. We couldn’t escape this mansion. We had to hold our ground.
Securing the doors and windows, we fashioned torches while loading the bullets into our guns, a tense time stretched out.
Who’s got combat skills? Ironically, the strongest—Jinchul—was down for the count!
I could barely move, and Songee and Ahri had become ordinary girls after their legacies were sealed.
So, is it really up to Grandpa Mooksung, who’s armed, to fight alone?
Turning my head, I spotted a second potential fighter.
“Songee!”
“Yes?”
“You said you could communicate with Pero? Have him transform into a monster like before!”
Upon hearing me, Songee appeared to be trying to connect with Pero.
Did she get it? Pero flew from Songee’s shoulder and moved towards the door of the house.
I couldn’t just lie around like a potato. I grit my teeth and stood up.
The moment I did, my limbs shook and a piercing pain hit me. But there was no turning back.
I had to fidget with the capsaicin spray or silver dagger and prepare for battle.
—Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Finally, the figure of the ‘witch’ appeared through the window near the mansion.
I’ve never seen such a horrific creature in my life.
Is it because the word ‘witch’ is used? Technically, it resembled a female creature.
Its limbs looked like they were twisted; it had probably around eight of them, and there were bulging eyes all over its body.
It crawled and must’ve been at least 3 meters tall when fully upright, and its mouth was filled with razor-sharp teeth.
When the horrifying monster confirmed our presence, its mouth split into a wicked grin.
… Seeing that grin made me feel like I was going to throw up.
Did the monster feel like a ‘meal’ had just walked into its lair?
—Bang! Bang!
As soon as its form was revealed, Grandpa Mooksung started shooting.
Shining the torch around, it was clear that his shots weren’t having any real effect.
The bullets didn’t just bounce off; it was as if they went in like jelly without fazing the witch at all.
—Bang!
The witch attempted to rip the door off its hinges!
“Block it!”
Frantically, we dragged tables and furniture from all corners of the mansion to barricade the door.
“How on Earth are we supposed to deal with this thing if bullets aren’t working?”
“Do I look like I know? If only I had a star or something, it would be simple, but our legacies are sealed, and Jinchul isn’t coming back anytime soon!”
“Shouldn’t we burn it?”
“We don’t have any oil! Why would it catch fire just because we stick a torch near it?”
—Scrape! Scrape!
A massive claw suddenly burst through the window, scratching at the wall!
In an instant, the hand was coming down on Seungyub, who ‘accidentally’ fell and dodged it.
—Screech!
Pero transformed grotesquely, slamming its huge beak down on the witch’s hand.
The witch screeched in rage, grabbing Pero by the head and flinging it away!
Ignoring my pain, I dashed over and lifted Pero’s head from the wall, checking for injuries. Usually, it would run away the moment I got close, but this time, it didn’t budge.
I was out of ideas. Without a star, how were we supposed to stop that monster?
“Just die already, you bastard!”
I grabbed something that resembled a pitchfork hanging in the mansion and swung it wildly out of the window. The witch stepped back slightly as it tried to push through.
Its creepy eyes twitched counterclockwise, staring me down ominously.
In that moment, a thought crossed my mind.
I rushed over and grabbed Grandpa’s gun.
He panicked but handed it over, and I passed it to Seungyub.
“Use the blessing and shoot!”
“Eh?”
“Just like when you hit a balloon—use the blessing and shoot!”
Finally understanding, Seungyub went to the window, eyes shut tight, and pulled the trigger without even looking.
—Bang! Bang!
Lo and behold, luck was on our side! Not even aiming, he shot and blood splattered from multiple eyes of the witch!
Could it endure losing its eyes, even being a monster?
—Kiiiiiiiiii!
With a scream that shook the whole mansion, the witch began to retreat.
…
Everyone lay on the floor, dazed.
How long did that even take? Maybe around 20 minutes? It was just a quick fight, but it felt like my life was drained away.
What a ridiculous monster.
Eunsol muttered, staring blankly.
“Is that it?”
Grandpa Mooksung was skeptical.
“No way! A monster like that? It must be able to regenerate its eyes and come back!”
“How does the Administration Bureau deal with a creature like that?”
“Simple. Usually, we just send in helicopters and blast away with machine guns and rockets.”
“Eh? Who? Helicopters?”
“Did you think we’d sprinkle holy water and pray? It’s the 21st century! It’s bullets over holy water, and missiles over bullets. In the 21st century, monsters’ greatest adversaries aren’t holy men but helicopters and tanks! It’s a forest, so a helicopter’s our best bet.”
“… That’s an impressive story, but we don’t have a helicopter right now.”
“Exactly. I don’t get why the Administration Bureau sends us out to catch a monster that needs military gear like tanks and helicopters.”
I felt completely drained. Even a lifelong monster hunter like him felt helpless against something that required military hardware.
How were we supposed to catch such a monster without our legacies?
Ahri stood up and started speaking.
“Something feels off. We’ve broken through the curse room several times, but we’ve never faced something like this.”
“What do you mean?”
“This hotel generally favors breaking things with brains over brawn, right? They wouldn’t suddenly throw an absurdly powerful monster at us and say, ‘Go break it down!’”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
That’s right. Plopping an absurdly strong monster in front of us and saying to fight doesn’t fit the hotel’s style.
There had to be another way to tackle this.
Immediately, we all got up and began to search the mansion for clues.
*
We re-entered the kitchen, where we’d fled screaming just moments ago.
The place was filled with food made from human ingredients.
Small glass jars overflowing with eyeball pickles littered the counters, and hanging from the ceiling were sausages clearly made from human flesh.
Beyond that, we discovered some creatively horrifying dishes.
“What kind of twisted freak does this with actual people?”
While wandering around with a sigh, I felt something was amiss.
…
What was that witch’s appearance again?
It was a grotesque monster in every sense of the word.
Its limbs were all twisted, with multiple appendages, and bulging eyes protruded all over its body.
It must have had a height of about 3 meters; just imagine how tall it would be if it stood on two legs!
Could something that large even fit inside this regular-sized mansion? Even if it did, could it really move around?
And it made all this ‘food’ while being such a twisted creature?
I immediately called my teammates over to share my thoughts.
Ahri nodded in agreement.
“That makes sense. This house couldn’t accommodate such a large monster, and it’s impossible for it to whip up these dishes with that body.”
Grandpa Mooksung added, “So, it can transform into an ordinary human form?”
I answered quickly, “That’s the key to solving this. No matter how you look at it, fighting that monster isn’t the answer. We need to find a way to transform it back into a person and take it down!”
“Thinking that way reminds me of something.”
“What is it?”
“Back when Kain told you about the scenario. It mentioned checking back at midnight, right? Something might change at midnight.”
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