Chapter 38
Human Exhibition: The Human Body as a Tool
Thud.
Boom! Bang! Crash!
That was the sound of the docent repeatedly ramming its head against the door we were holding shut with our bodies.
“You locked it properly, right?”
“Yeah. As long as the door doesn’t break.”
Jeong Dohyeon had only just secured it tightly.
“So, where are we?”
“Who knows? I think we made it into Exhibition Hall Two, but....”
It was too dark and narrow to properly make out the interior.
Judging from the positions of the nearby walls, the room seemed no wider than the corridor itself.
Thump, thud. Thump....
A strange noise was coming from the opposite door, which was barely visible in the darkness.
It couldn’t be the docent. That was behind us right now.
“I think there’s something in here.”
No sooner had I spoken than the lights flicked on, revealing a fist-sized anomaly leaping toward the doorknob.
“Hanmu, it’s that hand!”
—!!
The black hand was in this room.
It apparently wanted to enter the next room, but the closed doorknob was small and round, making it impossible for the hand to turn. Instead, it was hopping up and down in front of the door.
“You’ve caused us enough trouble. Got you!”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Jeong Dohan rushed over and snatched the black hand out of the air. I took my phone from its grasp.
The hand thrashed violently, refusing to surrender it, but it didn’t stand a chance.
It was mine.
“Well? Does it still work?”
An overwhelming wave of relief washed over me as I turned on the phone.
The instructions from the app that I hadn’t gotten the chance to read were still displayed.
“Phew.... Yes.”
[Completion Requirement: Display an artwork in Exhibition Hall Three.]
- We recommend listening carefully to the audio guide and viewing the artworks accordingly.
- All artworks in this exhibition are presented as interactive exhibits.
- Every artwork is outstanding and worthy of respect.
- If you are an employee, … ■ the ■.
“You caused Hanmu so much trouble. Here’s a knuckle sandwich. And another.”
“Hyung, what should we do with this hand?”
“Can’t we tie it up tightly and lock it away somewhere? It seems like a weak anomaly.”
While I reviewed the app, the twins discussed what to do with the black hand they were holding firmly.
I could take care of that.
“Give it to me. I’ll throw it away.”
“How are you going to do that?”
Like this.
I stuffed the black hand into a standard garbage bag from my pack and tied it shut. [Tool Enhancement: Garbage Bag] activated automatically, and the bag was collected along with its contents.
[*)]
Happy now?
Why did that thing seem more alive every time I saw it?
“Whoa, what was that? Where did it go? Was that magic?”
“It’s a basic skill for a cleaner.”
“There’s no way that’s true.”
Unlike Myeong Haebin, these two were definitely looking at me as though I were the strange one.
At times like this, the best approach was to brazen it out.
“It just worked.”
“Just like that? Out of nowhere? Was there some kind of trigger, or did you come into contact with an anomaly...?”
“Yes. It just happened.”
I stared directly into Jeong Dohyeon’s eyes with the stubborn expression of someone who clearly had no intention of listening to reason. Before long, he shook his head as though giving up.
“Fine, fine. It’s not like you’re the only strange person in the world. Let’s move on. There doesn’t seem to be anything else in here.”
A brass plaque was mounted beside the door the black hand had struggled so desperately to open.
[Exhibition Hall Three >>]
Audio Guide
Didn’t we just enter Exhibition Hall Two?
This corridor doesn’t look anything like an exhibition hall.
With those thoughts in mind, I turned the doorknob.
It fit neatly in my hand, though it felt a little small and strangely soft. And there were raised lines across it like tiny blood vessels....
Wait. Is this really a doorknob?
By the time I realized something was wrong and tried to let go, the entire wall containing the door rapidly slid backward, expanding the room that had been no wider than a corridor.
“Hanmu, what did you do?!”
“I honestly didn’t do anything!”
All I did was turn the doorknob!
Click, clack, ker-chunk!
As the walls slid away, the space revealed behind them rearranged itself into something resembling an enormous house.
It looked like a lavishly decorated model home, with gleaming furniture aligned at perfect angles and bright lights positioned to showcase the interior.
Except the legs of an otherwise ordinary table were made from pale human thighs. A floor lamp was supported by a pelvis and vertebrae, while the piano’s keys were dozens of human fingers.
Every piece of furniture had been assembled in the shape of a human body, and all of them were plastered with dismantling markers.
“I did think that place seemed far too narrow....”
“I think all of these are artworks.”
“Dohyeon, Hanmu? Hanmu, Dohyeon?”
Jeong Dohan frantically patted both our shoulders.
“What is it?”
The instant we turned toward him—
Crack.
The door we had securely locked split apart.
A peach-colored finger without a fingernail suddenly protruded through the gap.
“Those without value, dispose of them, somewhere out of sight....”
“!!!”
The sight was so horrifying that I nearly screamed.
It can break through the door? With its bare hands? That thing has to be at least six centimeters thick!
“Hanmu, Hyung, get out of here! Hurry!”
“The door may have moved farther away, but it hasn’t disappeared. This way!”
We began weaving through the furniture filling Exhibition Hall Two.
Swoosh!!
But the furniture moved from its assigned positions and silently blocked our path.
“What the hell is wrong with these things? Move—!”
“Hyung!”
A chair that had charged out of the kitchen slammed into Jeong Dohan.
“Urgh!”
The chair struck him with the speed and force of a traffic accident, then completed a full circuit of the room without slowing down in the slightest.
“I’ll pull him off!”
I wanted to drag Jeong Dohan down from the chair, but it was moving far too fast for one person to stop.
It would be no different from deliberately throwing myself in front of a speeding car.
“It’s going too fast to stop! Hyung, just jump off!”
“I think the impact knocked him unconscious!”
The chair raced straight toward the dining table with the limp Jeong Dohan sprawled across it.
The table’s edges were neatly lined with the terminal bones of fingers—or perhaps toes.
If he hits that at this speed, he’ll break bones at the very least. He’ll be lucky if it doesn’t punch a hole through his stomach!
The back of the chair came into view.
A brass plaque engraved with its name was attached to it.
[Happy Family Dinner—Chair 1]
Audio Guide
The audio guide explained the artworks, didn’t it? In that case, I had the [Dictionary].
Maybe I could just search for the artwork.
“Dohyeon, buy me a little time.”
“How am I supposed to... All right.”
As if steeling himself, Jeong Dohyeon hurled himself without hesitation at the chair racing toward the dining table.
I didn’t mean for you to go that far!
Crash!
Jeong Dohyeon’s shoulder slammed into the side of the speeding chair.
“Urgh!”
The chair—its frame fashioned from human bones and its upholstery made from the victim’s clothes—shattered into pieces, scattering fragments everywhere.
Clouds of ash that had served as its cushioning billowed into the air, obscuring the scene.
What about Jeong Dohyeon? No, Jeong Dohan.
“Urgh, cough, cough.... What the hell just happened...?”
Awakened by the impact, Jeong Dohan dragged Jeong Dohyeon out of the wreckage.
“Are you both all right?”
“I’m fine. It’s just... Urgh. It wasn’t as sturdy as I expected.”
“Dohyeon, your shoulder....”
A bone fragment was lodged deep in Jeong Dohyeon’s ash-covered shoulder.
It must have splintered off and embedded itself in him when he collided with the chair.
“...I’m fine. I hit it with my left side.”
Answering casually, Jeong Dohyeon yanked the fragment out. The white shard was stained with his blood, and the blood that had been trapped behind it came gushing out.
Jeong Dohan clicked his tongue and grimaced as he pressed hard against Jeong Dohyeon’s shoulder to stop the bleeding.
“Why did you do something so reckless?”
“If I hadn’t, you would’ve been split into Jeong and Dohan. Hanmu, did that buy you enough time?”
Instead of telling him that his idea of buying time was just as reckless as mine, I forced my stiff fingers to move and typed the words into the [Dictionary].
: Happy Family Dinner—Chair 1 |
[Happy Family Dinner—Chair 1]
A component of [The Human Body as a Tool]—[Happy Family Dinner], located in Exhibition Hall Two of .
The Human Body as a Tool? Happy Family Dinner?
Then... what if I searched for this?
: Happy Family Dinner |
A component of [The Human Body as a Tool], located in Exhibition Hall Two of .
It consists of a dining table, a human, and Chairs 1, 2, 3, and 4, but harmony is easily broken.
So that was why it had carried Jeong Dohan away. Had it intended to impale him on the table and make him part of the artwork?
“This artwork is called Happy Family Dinner.”
“Happy? That name is far too generous.”
“And... Hmm.”
At some point, the piano had silently crept closer, its shadow looming over us like that of an inanimate object.
[Happy Family Dinner] wasn’t the only artwork with its name engraved on a brass plaque.
“I think all of these things can move.”
I was certain of it.
Some of the furniture had already moved, and there was also the second instruction in the app.
- All artworks in this exhibition are presented as interactive exhibits.
Bang!
“AAAAAAAHHHH!”
The lid of the piano, decorated with human teeth, slammed shut viciously. The protruding finger keys were crushed beneath it, causing the vocal cords connected inside the piano to shriek.
That signaled the beginning.
The eyeball bulb mounted on the spinal-column lamp flashed a bloodred light, while the table with human feet stomped against the floor hard enough to leave craters.
“We can’t fight all of them! Run like hell!”
“Dispose of them, dispose of them!”
Just then, the docent, half its head shattered from breaking down the door, finally forced its way into Exhibition Hall Two.
We began racing toward the far end of the room, weaving recklessly between the furniture and leaping over anything in our path.
“Now I understand why the rat took two weeks! Even with this many dismantling markers attached, how is this difficulty level reasonable?”
“It must’ve been even more horrifying before!”
From the place where a cuckoo should have emerged from a grandfather clock, a pair of lips suddenly thrust outward and cried out in a human voice. The reddish lips then opened wide, attempting to bite me.
“Watch out!”
Thanks to Jeong Dohyeon pulling me away, the cuckoo snapped at the air right beside my ear before springing back into the clock as if attached to a coil.
“Nothing here is normal! I’m opening the door!”
“Wait!”
I grabbed Jeong Dohan by the back of his collar and yanked him away, then felt around the hinge side of the door instead of reaching for the knob.
“Hanmu, what are you doing?!”
Earlier, I had merely thought the doorknob felt strange. Looking at it again, the truth was obvious.
It was an unnaturally small sphere with tiny blood vessels beneath its surface.
It wasn’t a doorknob. It was an eyeball painted to look like one.
This was the . Its artworks were made using human bodies.
If even this door was an artwork made from a human body, then where was its title?
[Exhibition Hall Three →]
Audio Guide
Why would something that appeared to be nothing more than a directional sign have an audio guide attached to it?
I had already found the answer to that question.
I hadn’t gotten the chance to look because the furniture had begun chasing us before I could even turn off the screen, but the display of the phone in my pocket was probably showing this:
: Exhibition Hall Three → |
[Exhibition Hall Three →]
A component of Exhibition Hall Two in . It also serves as the door leading to Exhibition Hall Three.
The correct position of the doorknob is indicated in the title.
“I found it!”
I pressed the center of the door, at the exact point horizontally opposite the false doorknob.
The panel disguised as an ordinary door sank inward, and another concealed eyeball doorknob popped out.
It’s a little disgusting, but....
If I grabbed this doorknob and pushed—
It opened!
A space entirely different from Exhibition Hall Two appeared beyond it, and we practically hurled ourselves inside.
Thud!
After spitting out me, Jeong Dohan, and Jeong Dohyeon in succession, [Exhibition Hall Three →] swung shut.
It took some time for our eyes to adjust to the dim space.
“What about the docent? Isn’t it following us?”
“You’re heavy. Could you please get off me?”
“Is this Exhibition Hall Three...?”
“Haa... Haa....”
All four of us seemed to be safe.
Wait. Four? There were only three of us.
I raised my head toward the unfamiliar voice.
Team Leader Jo was sitting against an empty display stand, gasping for breath.
One of his arms had been torn off at the shoulder.
Why was someone who had taken the easier route and arrived ahead of us in that state?
“...All of you, shut your mouths.”