Literally, I was truly startled.
Someone might ask, why be so surprised at merely hearing a human voice. But I was genuinely, deeply surprised—so much so that Jelly bristled as if with spikes. It’s kind of like how humans get goosebumps.
If someone were watching me from the side, they might tease me for looking like a hedgehog, but they’d likely be shocked speechless if they saw what was happening right in front of my eyes.
Hearing a human voice was, to that extent, an astonishing event.
In reality, it should have been a joyful thing. If others had come before us, this meant that the people before me weren’t like the ones earlier—mere ‘refrigerated’ humans but rather survivors.
But the landscape stretched out before me contradicted that.
What was in front of me… Well, I wasn’t even sure if you could call it human.
As I stared at this ‘something’ before my eyes with a deep sense of déjà vu—
“You, you, youuu…”
The thing responded to my gaze like it was speaking, opening its mouth wide and spewing out the same words, its voice cracked as though it were a broken radio repeating something unexpected over and over.
Even from that alone, it was clear this entity was hard to call human, but the decisive factor was that its neck seemed to be attached to something bizarre, akin to a phonograph. The cylinder that should have been there was nowhere to be seen, and instead of music, it was just repeatedly spitting out the same word.
Any ordinary human who saw this would have likely wet their underwear and collapsed on the ground.
I had already seen something similar, so it was the sound of a human voice emanating from it that shocked me.
Suspecting that it might still be alive despite its appearance, I cautiously approached it… but there was no life left in the rolling eyes. The person who’d now become a phonograph merely repeated the same word endlessly and emitted an eerie wail.
I even worried whether its face was just poking out of a broken phonograph box. When I tried to lift the box, it seemed glued to the dresser beneath it, unmoving.
Strictly speaking, it might come off if I used force, but it felt like doing so would physically break the phonograph.
Honestly, whether this unfortunate person was currently alive or dead was something I had no way of knowing. Maybe, in this mansion located within the Singularity, its twisted preferences inspired only terror, making it impossible to determine the state of its victims no matter how we observed them.
It probably wouldn’t be different even if someone like Hwang Bo-yul or some uncle outside came here. Maybe not even Han Seori, who might still be at the house (or mansion?).
Eventually, I gave up trying to figure out the exact state of things and stirred Jelly, prompting the Jelly army to approach and bounce around me. It was unsettling now, not knowing what may appear in front of me next.
Still, neither I nor they could speak, so there was no way to ask detailed questions.
Even a light question like, “What else awaits me in the place you’re leading me to?” felt humiliating to ask. Why couldn’t I do what Daesik could when piloting Alice?
Perhaps this terrible situation was just an elaborate excuse to stay silent.
Anyway,
What appeared before me this time was also, ultimately, something that had once been human. Often, horrifically deceased ones are described vaguely, but what appeared before my eyes was something truly literal: humans, plain and simple.
Should I call it degeneration since they had turned into objects from being humans? Or perhaps victims of a horrific crime?
I leaned more towards the latter idea as I slowly moved forward. At this point, nothing upset my stomach anymore. I suppose it was always faint, but after encountering these so often, I’ve grown accustomed.
Before long, I noticed most of the Jelly troop that had left had returned. Now there were only a few left who hadn’t come back yet.
Why weren’t the remaining ones returning? Where could they have gone that they haven’t come back yet?
Maybe they didn’t find anything and decided not to return? If so, I had to reconsider the loyalty of these guys.
Still, as they say, “Even tigers roar when spoken to,” and I saw one particular Jelly hopping toward me in acknowledgment. This one didn’t seem like it could ever elevate to being a noble.
And so, following them this time, I wondered what kind of creative (in the bad sense) something awaited me. Now, I somewhat understand why becoming numb to these things is scary.
Through the lens of dopamine, I begin to understand why seeking greater stimuli can be dangerous.
Truthfully, I didn’t want to go. As a person who once was, witnessing these grotesque transformations is painful.
Still, I couldn’t just not go. What if they’re leading me to something that could solve the problem instead of “it”?
That in itself would be another form of horror.
Something was exhausting. Walking around this damp mansion with non-verbal Jellies gave me less the feeling of being a game protagonist and more a sense of solitude and loneliness.
Jin Lime, your belly’s full…!
Remember the days you fought rats in the sewers and became a crocodile’s snot? Compared to that, this feels like heaven, right?
Ha! Indeed, a kind of reverse sensory deprivation is terrifying. If I had come here directly from the sewer, I might not have thought so, but here I have a cozy room, a warm bed, and a TV that chatters voices.
A vast mansion with no end in sight, floors squeaking with dampness, and pieces of furniture that were once humans.
Even trying to hypnotize myself into being the owner of this massive mansion didn’t help; I didn’t want to own such a ghastly place.
Then,
I spotted the silhouette of another figure, presumably human, in the distance. This one retained a relatively more human form. It hung on a stand like an ornament carved onto the front of a ship.
While the others had forms that were beyond recognition and were unpleasant to look at, this one was disturbingly real. This one felt the most unpleasant of all.
Even though I really didn’t want to approach, I gritted my teeth and got closer.
“…Who.”
Like the ones I’d encountered earlier, a voice came out from the entity. At first, I was taken aback and nearly blurted a curse… but not this time.
Ignoring the voice, I approached it.
“… Who— whoever you are, it’s good. Please… please kill me. Kill me now.”
What?
“Since… since you’re somewhat close now… you should know, you don’t have to be afraid. I’m… I’m still human… at least for now.”
Judging from the context, it seemed like Jelly had done its job this time. Although it appeared as though this male figure hanging on the wall couldn’t see, his tone was oddly lively despite the lifelessness in his gaze.
As unsettling as it was, the vitality in his plea to be killed made me feel peculiarly uneasy.
Since I couldn’t communicate directly with the man, I made a sound near him to get his attention. Realizing someone (probably a human who’d come with me?) was nearby, he continued speaking.
“I-I don’t know who you are, but… I am Hong Seon-yeol… You don’t have to… don’t have to remember me… but, but… you should at least report that I’m dead… but can you… actually do that? Argh.”
His state seemed quite unstable. He started out calm when I first made a sound, but probably because he thought someone (a real human, perhaps?) was talking to him, his speech became scattered.
As he expressed his emotions through increasingly stuttered words, he once again repeated that phrase.
“Hurry… while I’m… still human. I can… I feel myself becoming… something else. Quickly, please. Kill me before I’m no longer human. You don’t have to… feel guilty. This isn’t… an uncommon occurrence here. Hurry.”
In the end, what appeared before me wasn’t the mansion’s crumbling secret.
It was just a pitiful human who wanted to escape whatever was coming for them, to the point they were ready to forsake life itself.
Isn’t the most basic and desperate human desire the will to live? I couldn’t grasp how someone could feel so disenchanted with life.
And,
With his request to die as a human, I felt Jelly quiver.
What was this feeling?
Was it just pity for this person that made my insides churn?
Or was it longing for humanity?
No, I didn’t need to long for it even though my body has become like this… because I’m still… human.
If I possess a human heart, am I not human?
…Maybe.
Which is why I couldn’t grant the man’s wish. The sensation of taking a human life by my own hands felt too vivid.
If he had harmed me, it might have been different—but that wasn’t the case.
Besides, I’m not someone who’s been rolling around on a battlefield; I can’t just casually take a human life.
“Ah, ah, ah!”
Before long, Mr. Hong Seon-yeol transformed into something similar to what I had seen earlier. It was now certainly clear that whatever this was, it was no longer human.
Still, I didn’t feel like treating it recklessly.
With a bitter feeling, like taking Chinese medicine, I closed Mr. Hong Seon-yeol’s lifeless eyes.
And then,
Before I had time to dwell on that bitterness, the mansion began to shake violently.
It was a fierce tremor as if an earthquake had struck.
