Chapter 152: The Ark of the Golden House (2)

3. How to Deal with Monsters

Various kinds of monsters exist throughout The Ark of the Golden House. Most of them appear to have no free will and behave as though they have been absorbed into the ship as components. The possibility of rescue is extremely low, so if one is encountered, elimination before proceeding is recommended whenever possible.

When they opened the laundry-room door and stepped inside, the space was filled with the steady mechanical noise of washing machines running.

Water had pooled low across the floor there as well.

Despite that, the drums of the washing machines continued to turn, the sound of laundry tumbling inside echoing endlessly.

Rachel swallowed dryly and walked almost directly against Su-myeon’s back.

“.......”

Su-myeon found it a little uncomfortable, but if that made her feel better, it was awkward to tell her to stop.

Scratching his cheek, Su-myeon moved farther inside.

The laundry room was filled with rows of washing machines.

Su-myeon bent slightly to peer inside one, and Rachel lowered her head along with him.

Thump—

Thump—

The laundry rose with the rotating drum, then dropped back down under gravity.

The loud, heavy sound repeated over and over.

Thump—

Thump—

Beyond the glass was nothing but pitch-black darkness.

Something spun rapidly inside the drum....

Thud—

Rachel saw a hand strike the glass and jerked backward in shock.

“......!”

The thing tumbling heavily inside the drum was a human body.

Then she saw a head, its mouth stretched as wide as possible as though it were screaming, its eyes rolled halfway back.

Thump—

The drum continued turning, producing that same heavy sound.

3-1) Rotating Torso

Inside the ship’s laundry room, a pale face spins around and watches while pressed against the glass.

It does not cause any particular harm, but if bitten, the victim may become infected like a zombie and transform into the same entity. Exercise caution.

Even though she had already known something like that might be inside....

Embarrassed by how badly she had overreacted, Rachel cleared her throat for no particular reason.

Su-myeon, who had been checking the washing machine opposite it, came over and bent down beside her to look inside.

The monster within seemed to have noticed them as well and was now pounding on the glass with its hand.

But the sound of it striking the thick washing-machine door barely carried outside.

“Should we open it?”

Su-myeon looked at Han-su as he spoke.

Han-su pulled out a hand axe and nodded.

“Stand back.”

Su-myeon motioned to Rachel.

Once she had moved far enough away, he opened the washing-machine door.

The water filling half the drum poured out, sweeping the monster inside along with it and sending it sprawling across the floor.

Its body had been severed around the navel, and long strands of intestine were wrapped around its shoulders and neck as it thrashed wildly in the shallow water.

Uuugh— Uuuaaaagh—

A long howl that could no longer be called language dragged out from its throat.

Before the cry could continue any longer, Han-su raised his arm high and ended it.

He severed its neck in a single blow as though chopping it apart, then struck the head several more times to make certain.

Rachel had seen people die plenty of times in the course of working as an agent, but even she turned her head without realizing it.

She understood perfectly well why he was doing it.

'Of course.... It was already moving with half its body gone....'

So merely cutting off its head might not be enough to kill it.

By the standards of a ghost story, Han-su and Su-myeon’s actions were entirely reasonable.

Cold, perhaps, but reasonable.

—Krrrrk.

—Ah, ah. Attention, all passengers aboard the ship.

—There is currently a minor disturbance aboard the vessel,

—so all passengers are requested to gather on the lowest level, where it is safest.

—Once again, attention please.

A strange announcement suddenly began playing through speakers whose location they could not identify.

Ignoring the repeated message, Su-myeon and Han-su checked the remaining washing machines and disposed of another monster.

***

At that same time, the atmosphere in the Governance office was calmer than usual.

This ghost story was unusual in several respects.

They had already prepared sufficiently detailed documents for dealing with it, yet the investigation had repeatedly been postponed because cooperation with other countries could never be arranged.

On top of that, the monsters inside this particular ghost story were comparatively less dangerous.

Of course, that did not mean they could afford to underestimate it.

Still, now that it had become a matter between nations, there was no need for the Governance to personally manage the surroundings or control access.

The ship was already out at sea, and personnel assigned to escort it had accompanied it from the beginning.

Hwi-yeon briefly stroked Mu-yeon’s head as he watched a drama on a tablet, then suddenly shifted her gaze.

“.......”

Her eyes landed on Kurosaki.

It was somewhat inconvenient that Mu-yeon had to keep his hat on because of him.

But leaving that aside, Hwi-yeon had repeatedly been getting a strange feeling from Kurosaki.

And right now, he was casually looking through the documents spread across Han-su’s desk.

Even though both Hwi-yeon and Han-su were team leaders within the Governance, their positions were subtly different.

If she had to put it simply, Han-su had greater influence over ghost-story investigations, while she was stronger when it came to handling external incidents in reality.

Which meant the documents on Han-su’s desk were generally directly related to ghost stories.

“Why are you looking through those?”

After watching Kurosaki flip through Han-su’s documents for a while, Hwi-yeon finally spoke to him.

What had already been shared with the American and Japanese agents was unprecedented.

There should have been no need for him to go digging for more.

At Hwi-yeon’s words, Kurosaki answered with a slightly flustered expression.

“Ah, I was just... checking something. Was I not supposed to look?”

Strictly speaking, it was not forbidden.

The government had instructed them to share as much information as possible.

After all, eliminating ghost stories was something that benefited all humanity. Cooperation would naturally be more effective.

'...That’s the official reason, anyway.'

The real reason was that they had judged much of the information impossible to reproduce simply by learning about it.

So they would share it, and the government would undoubtedly use that gesture later to claim credit and secure benefits elsewhere.

But there were still certain materials Su-myeon had personally classified as information they would not reveal.

Information about the items stored in the fifth-floor warehouse.

In other words, objects related to ghost stories that physically existed in reality.

Bell’s existence, and the fact that such objects could be traded through her, were also being kept completely secret.

“It’s not that you absolutely can’t look. I just don’t particularly appreciate a guest going through someone else’s personal belongings without permission, especially when that person is currently absent because he entered a ghost story.”

Hwi-yeon prioritized Su-myeon’s judgment over the government’s orders.

Han-su’s private materials contained too many clues about where their items had come from and about the fact that those items had been brought back into reality.

So she deliberately adopted a sharper tone, took the documents from him as though she were merely offended by his rudeness, and placed them back on Han-su’s desk.

The atmosphere in the office chilled slightly at Hwi-yeon’s pointed response.

After glancing around awkwardly, Kurosaki lowered his head, looking even more intimidated.

“Ah, I’m sorry. I suppose I got a little carried away.”

Looking at him, Hwi-yeon felt an odd sense of unease.

The reason Su-myeon had concealed information about items brought into reality and about Bell was clear.

If that information became known, there was a risk that personnel entering ghost stories would become distracted by greed for items or opportunities to trade and end up putting themselves in danger.

From the perspective of senior government officials, that might simply be a risk each country could manage for itself.

But for the people actually working in the field, it was not something that could be dismissed so casually.

What could safely be coveted, and what absolutely should not be?

There was no easy standard for deciding that.

And at present, no one besides Su-myeon had any right to make those judgments with confidence.

Even Su-myeon himself was rarely certain about everything.

He simply brought back only the things he knew for sure were safe.

“.......”

Kurosaki quietly returned to the seat assigned to him.

Hwi-yeon’s discomfort with him came not only from instinct, but from several other details as well.

The most obvious was the coffee machine.

Even when Kurosaki walked past it, the machine did not react in the slightest.

That machine normally produced coffee suited to the preferences of anyone who approached it.

Yet for some reason, it remained completely still only for Kurosaki.

According to Ryang, a newly born dokkaebi had taken residence in the machine.

Then what exactly was that child sensing that made it refuse to respond only to Kurosaki?

On top of that, with neither Ryang nor Su-myeon around, it had apparently decided it did not want to say anything at all and had shut itself away in the basement.

That had started precisely when Kurosaki returned here instead of boarding the cruise ship.

'Something definitely feels wrong.'

Watching Kurosaki begin reading through the officially provided materials again, Hwi-yeon decided she could not afford to lower her guard.

After all, it was still true that their relationship was ultimately one of trading mutual benefits.

***

Leaving the noisy announcement behind, Su-myeon stepped back into the corridor.

The others followed him, pushing through the water curling around their ankles.

“......This....”

Rachel muttered as she suddenly noticed something strange.

The water that had only reached their ankles was now halfway up their shins.

“We should hurry. I think the master of the ghost story noticed that we came in.”

Even Su-myeon had not predicted this.

Had it realized that they were not merely visitors, but people who had entered with the intention of destroying the ghost story?

Despite this being a ghost story that normally lacked especially aggressive gimmicks, the fact that the water level was suddenly rising felt ominous.

“For now, that should be the last place we need to check down here.”

[Frozen Food Storage]

Once they checked that room, they could immediately head upstairs.

Rachel nodded.

She wanted to get out of this heavy, revolting water as soon as possible.

“Yes. Let’s go in.”

The information about that room had definitely been included in the documents Su-myeon had given her.

Rachel had practically memorized them and now wore a grim, determined expression.

Aside from the water suddenly starting to rise, everything Su-myeon had told her so far had been one hundred percent accurate.

There might be additional things they did not know about, but nothing they knew had been wrong.

How significant was that?

'Mr. Kurosaki said it felt just like a game.'

Rachel agreed with him now.

It really felt as though she had entered a game while holding the strategy guide in her hands.

“We’re entering.”

“Yes.”

At Han-su’s words, Su-myeon answered briefly.

Han-su opened the freezer-room door, which was secured by a heavy locking mechanism.

Out of habit, Rachel wanted to draw her gun from the tension, but she suppressed the urge and tightened her grip on the dagger instead.

Bzzzz—

An old fluorescent light flickered on with a low hum.

Inside the freezer were dozens of corpses frozen in place, their bodies so badly bloated that they were difficult to identify.

Even though water from the corridor rushed into the room, the level outside did not drop at all.

The only difference was that the water’s temperature fell until it felt cold enough to ache in their bones.

“Agent Rachel....”

Rachel had hesitantly begun stepping inside when Su-myeon called to her.

She turned back toward him.

Seeing the fear filling her eyes, Su-myeon frowned slightly.

“I was going to ask you to hold the door, but if you’re frightened, it would probably be better for you to come inside.”

If she panicked and let go of it, leaving them trapped inside, that would be a problem.

At Su-myeon’s coldly practical judgment, Rachel slowly nodded.

At that moment, the old fluorescent light flickered with a crackle of electricity.

At the same time, the sound of ice breaking loose echoed from every direction.

“.......”

She knew what those were.

She knew what kind of situation this was.

'You already know all of this. Rachel!'

Repeating that to herself over and over, she finally forced her feet to move.

The mangled bodies, crushed beyond recognition, twisted under the flickering light and gradually turned toward Han-su and Rachel.

Rachel swung the dagger fiercely, trying to suppress the fear inside her.