Chapter 39
Human Exhibition: The Beauty of the Perfect Human (1)
“I’m impressed you made it this far alive.”
Team Leader Jo’s hair, which had been neatly combed back before we came here, was now completely disheveled. His shirt, glasses, and uniform were in no better condition.
Around his neck hung a lanyard marked [STAFF].
“We would’ve gotten here sooner if it weren’t for you.”
“Ha.”
Team Leader Jo sneered at us before fixing his gaze on Jeong Dohan.
“I suppose the docent demanded some teeth from you.”
“Perhaps you should also mention the causal relationship between that and you taking all the audio guides.”
He seemed to know exactly what the docent had done to Jeong Dohan.
Then again, of course he did. Damn it.
But for all his arrogance, he wasn’t exactly in good condition himself.
“Thanks to abandoning us, you appear to be dying.”
Why was this man acting like this again?
In the end, I was the one who responded.
“What do you want?”
“Ha, this is funny. Jeong Dohan, is this brat the leader now? I made the offer to you, not this grubby junior.”
So I hadn’t imagined it. He really had been deliberately ignoring me.
As if refusing to answer, Jeong Dohan leaned against the exhibition hall wall and folded his arms.
“Are you the one giving me the stickers, Team Leader? No. Hanmu is.”
“You stupid bastard. What about you, Jeong Dohyeon?”
“I’m taking my brother’s side, so... Hmm.”
When the twins united in refusing to entertain him, Team Leader Jo’s piercing gaze finally snapped toward me.
“Hey, cleaner. Who the hell do you think you are?”
Who did I think I was?
“That strategy for [Life and Death].... Was it to avoid its operating hours and watch out for the threads on the floor?”
“What the hell are you trying to say?”
“In my experience, if you get caught in the thread, the machinery drags you in.”
“You know that much. Wait.... You got caught?”
“Cleaner, I’m glad you brought that up. Jeong Dohan, while we’re on the subject, how about making a deal with me?”
That was an unexpected response.
But had this man just ignored me again?
Jeong Dohan tilted his head as though asking what nonsense he was talking about. Team Leader Jo slipped his remaining hand into his jacket and partially withdrew a bundle of papers.
[Human Exhibition: On the Limitless Possibilities of the Human Body—Manual]
“That’s...!”
Jeong Dohyeon’s pupils visibly trembled.
Of course such a thing existed.
Nearly every artwork we had passed on our way here was covered in dismantling markers.
There was no way they would have gathered that much data, committed it all to memory, and then charged blindly into the exhibition!
Damn it.
“Well? Aren’t you going to answer? If you made it through [Life and Death], you should understand how valuable this is.”
Displeased that he hadn’t received an immediate response, Team Leader Jo resorted to threats. Jeong Dohan, however, simply stood there staring blankly.
Team Leader Jo’s eyes widened slightly, as if Dohan’s reaction made no sense to him.
Perhaps he was thinking, Impossible.
“How... are all of you still standing here? You should’ve... died.”
“I cleaned that thing up and destroyed it.”
“You destroyed it? Ha! Bullshit! That isn’t something people like us can destroy.”
“Well, take it as a useful point of reference. You asked who I thought I was.”
Team Leader Jo didn’t appear to believe me, but at least he seemed to accept that I was the only person here willing to consider his deal.
“Every last one of you bastards is insane. Fine. It doesn’t matter. Are you making the deal or not?”
His language seemed rougher than when he had made the offer to Jeong Dohan, but... that much hardly mattered.
“What do you want?”
“I dropped a whistle near the central display platform in this exhibition hall. Find it for me, and I’ll give you this manual.”
At those words, Jeong Dohyeon’s expression visibly twisted.
“What are you planning, Team Leader?”
“Has it not occurred to you that we could simply take it from you?”
Team Leader Jo calmly placed the manual on his lap as if daring us to try.
“Will you? The three of you I know aren’t ruthless enough to deliberately kill someone.”
Jeong Dohan, who had remained a step removed from the conversation until now, strode forward, clearly displeased by those words.
“Do you think I’m like our team leader?”
“Then you aren’t? Cough. Forget it if you don’t want to.”
What nerve. If we didn’t clear this ghost story, he would be trapped here and die as well.
But the same applied to me. I didn’t want to increase the number of people who died unnecessarily.
“I’ll do it.”
The instant I answered, a rapid pattering of footsteps came from deeper within Exhibition Hall Three.
We instinctively ducked into hiding and cautiously peered out.
What we saw was a foot.
A “black foot,” formed from foot after foot fused together, raced away before we had any chance to observe it further.
“What... was that?”
“To commemorate our deal, I’ll tell you one thing. That thing you just saw will tear off your feet.”
“Is there one that tears off arms too?”
I gestured with my chin toward the place where Team Leader Jo’s arm should have been. He appeared to have stopped the bleeding somehow, but it was easy enough to guess what had happened.
He sneered.
“You’re quick-witted for a mere cleaner. I suppose I don’t need to tell you where the central display platform is.”
He probably wouldn’t answer even if I asked.
It was an unbelievable attitude for someone proposing what was closer to a favor than a deal, but there was nothing else we could do.
We would have to find it ourselves.
“You’ll know it the moment you see it. There’s no way you could miss it....”
Click.
Leaving behind the sound of Team Leader Jo lighting the cigarette between his lips, we ventured deeper into Exhibition Hall Three.
“If there are ‘feet’ and ‘arms,’ the other body parts are probably here too.”
“Considering that he told us to be quiet earlier, there’s likely a ‘face’ or ‘ears’ as well.”
“What do you think, Hyung?”
“Huh? No, you’re both making good points.”
The exhibition hall was larger than expected, yet it didn’t contain a single artwork.
The bare display stands lacked even glass cases or nameplates and stood completely empty.
Instead, other things wandered through that vast white space.
“...Just how many pieces did they divide them into?”
“Hanmu, keep your voice down.”
Jeong Dohan whispered as he squeezed my arm.
Wherever we looked, grotesque yet chillingly refined sculptures moved as if alive.
They were “clusters,” painted exclusively in a deep, matte black—perfectly dry and immaculately clean.
Patter, clack, clack.
A pillar-like mass formed from countless calves rolled across the exhibition floor. Beyond it, a cluster of shoulders roamed with heavy thumping sounds. In the air, a cluster of hair coiled like a snake glided smoothly past, sweeping the floor like a broom.
It was as though human bodies had been meticulously sorted by anatomical part, gathered into masses, and transformed into living, independent works of art.
Jeong Dohyeon whispered.
“At that angle, there’s no way the ‘hair’ didn’t see us. Don’t you think it might be unable to see?”
“If so, as long as we avoid physical contact, we only need to watch out for the eyes and ears.”
“Don’t relax too much. You saw what happened to Team Leader Jo.”
Right. If one of them caught us, it was over.
The cluster corresponding to that body part would tear ours away and make it part of itself.
After we had traveled for some time while carefully watching out for the “ears” and “eyes,” Jeong Dohan pointed ahead.
“There’s light coming from over there. I think that might be the central display platform.”
Team Leader Jo had been right.
There was no mistaking the central display platform.
In the middle of a wide, circular clearing stood a white marble disc illuminated by a single beam of light pouring from the ceiling. If this wasn’t the central display platform, what else could possibly deserve the name?
However, it had been split cleanly in two, as if struck by lightning.
“Hanmu, I found the whistle.”
“Are you sure that’s it?”
“I’m certain.”
The black whistle with a matching black cord looked like something that could be bought from any nearby stationery store.
“That was easier to find than I expected....”
Perhaps saying that was taboo after all.
My eyes met a cluster of “eyeballs.” Every one of them had its sclera painted black, leaving only its pupils glowing white.
“It’s only an eye! Let’s get out of here!”
“It’s dangerous, Dohyeon!”
Bam!
Something moved even faster than my warning—the cluster of “black arms” we had thought we’d shaken off long ago.
A massive blunt object formed from dozens of intertwined arms swallowed Jeong Dohyeon’s arm.
“Aaaaaaargh!”
“Get the hell off him!”
Jeong Dohan immediately lunged forward and kicked the “black arms” while simultaneously grabbing Jeong Dohyeon by the shoulder and wrenching him free.
Crack. Snap.
Although his arm had been caught for only an instant, it was twisted at an unnatural angle. Blood seeped through his uniform, suggesting that even his skin had torn.
When the hell did these things get here?
There was no time to assess the situation.
Pitch-black body parts began swarming out from the display platform’s blind spots, from behind pillars, and even from the darkness of the ceiling we had believed was empty.
Jeong Dohan took the whistle from Jeong Dohyeon and shoved it into his pocket.
“They seem to share their senses. Jeong Dohyeon, are you all right?”
“...Do I look all right?”
“Argue later. We need to run. We can’t head toward Team Leader Jo!”
If we rejoined Team Leader Jo now, we would bring this entire disaster down upon someone who could barely move.
Granted, he had discarded us as though he couldn’t care less whether we lived or died, but I didn’t want to become like him.
We fled in a frenzy, but our escape was anything but smooth.
“They’re coming from above too!”
At some point, a pair of “black ear” clusters had flown overhead. They fluttered around above us like grotesque black butterflies.
Were they broadcasting the sounds of our footsteps and breathing in real time?
“AAAAAAAHHHH!”
A cluster of “black mouths” burst from a pillar ahead and unleashed a shriek that sounded as though it would tear apart its own vocal cords.
Its target was my throat.
I pulled the folding mop from my bag to keep it from grabbing me.
Damn it, my ankle!
The ankle I had strained by forcing it into the loom’s mechanism in [Life and Death] gave way, causing me to lose my balance.
But that was what saved me.
Crunch!
With a dull snap, the mop’s supposedly stainless-steel handle broke like a child’s toy.
If I’d still been standing there... Urgh!
A fragment of the shattered mop sliced my cheek, and a charging cluster of “black shoulders” slammed into me.
Even so, I couldn’t stop.
Losing a body part in this situation would be disastrous!
I didn’t know how long we ran for our lives.
By the time we had circled through the exhibition hall and the corridor near the entrance came into view, the sounds of pursuit behind us had noticeably slowed.
“Haa, haa.... Why aren’t they following us?”
Bent over with his hands on his knees, Jeong Dohan looked back.
I was just as breathless. When I turned around uneasily, I witnessed a grotesque sight.
The clusters that had swarmed together in excessive numbers to capture us had become entangled with one another.
Hair, arms, legs, waists, and chests writhed in a chaotic knot as though they had merged into a single mass.
“I knew there were too many of them. Serves them right. Ah, my back....”
“Hyung, don’t tempt fate.”
“I agree.”
None of us had completely lost a body part, but we looked as though we had been brutally beaten by a mob.
On the bright side, our mad dash had swept all the roaming clusters out of the way, leaving the return route empty.
Team Leader Jo was waiting exactly where we had left him.
“I’m impressed you survived.”
“Dohan, give me the whistle.”
Ignoring Team Leader Jo’s mockery, I took the whistle from Jeong Dohan and tossed it at his feet.
“It’s time to keep your promise.”
“Fine. I will.”
Team Leader Jo snatched up the whistle without hesitation.
“Hanmu, stop him!”
“What?!”
But it was too late.
Team Leader Jo puffed out his cheeks and blew the whistle.
I expected a piercing blast, but no sound came.
Is it defective?
Then Team Leader Jo threw the whistle at the wall opposite the display stand.
The white marble wall rippled and melted like a rotting swamp where the piece of plastic struck it, transforming into a pitch-black doorway whose other side couldn’t be seen.
“Hey. Wake up.”
“...Team Leader.”
I hadn’t noticed because it was obscured by the shadows, but there was a lump of flesh shaped like a person beside Team Leader Jo.
Yet it looked nothing like a human being.
It was mutilated so severely that Team Leader Jo seemed fortunate to have lost only one arm.
“Is that... Seo Gitae?”
“Urgh, haa... Team Leader, please, save me. I... have something... I must... do.... Grrk, please....”
He had clearly been attacked by those scattered anomalies before we arrived.
Both his ears and eyes were gone. A fistful of his scalp had been ripped away, and the joints remaining on his attached limbs could be counted on one hand.
“Get lost.”
Team Leader Jo picked up Seo Gitae and hurled him through the doorway.