Chapter 117

Without hesitation, they moved toward the pavilion. The path led them up stairs shrouded in thick brush and beneath massive trees that blocked out every sliver of light, but soon, stone lanterns began to appear at intervals to light the way, and stepping stones materialized on the ground.

Progress became much easier. Before long, they reached the pavilion, which sat atop a massive stone platform. They were momentarily lost for words at its majestic stature, but though they didn’t stop their stride, they froze just as they were about to step onto the platform.

A familiar structure stood at the corner of the stone base. It was an arched exit with a corridor stretching endlessly into the interior—exactly like the exit of the hallway they had just emerged from back at the courtyard.

“I guess this path was connected to the right-side route…” Noquia muttered softly.

The group turned to look back at the path they had traveled. The courtyard was no longer visible, but the exit they had used was easily mapped in their minds.

Blaine, turning his gaze back to the hallway exit, seemed to remember something and lightly tugged on Theo’s hand. Caught by the movement, Theo looked at him. Meeting those upturned eyes, Blaine leaned in slightly and whispered:

“Then… that piece of cloth must have come this way, too, right?”

Theo’s shoulders gave a visible flinch. His tense gaze shifted away from Blaine and toward the pavilion.

The massive building, shaped like a whale’s back, seemed to loom over him. At that moment creeeak the firmly closed doors of the pavilion swung open. A pitch-black abyss sat there, mouth agape, waiting to swallow them whole. Despite the gloomy, eerie atmosphere making him want to stay far away, there was no other choice but to press on.

The only way to end this dungeon was to go forward.

The five of them swallowed hard and stepped inside.

Unlike the total darkness they had seen from the entrance, the interior was dotted with hanging lanterns. They checked to see if they could be detached and carried, but they were fixed in place.

“Wow, seriously. They should at least give us as many lanterns as there are people,” Holanghee grumbled, huddling close to Father, who held the single lantern. Father and Holanghee led the way, Theo and Blaine were in the middle, and Noquia walked alone in the rear.

After walking for a bit, they found a room. A faint, flickering light danced behind the sliding paper doors. Father cautiously reached out and slid the door open, revealing a long, narrow room.

At the far end of the room stood a folding screen. In front of it was a floor mattress and a small desk, with a floor lamp sitting beside the desk. The lamp’s flame flickered irregularly, dimly illuminating the interior.

They stepped inside, looking around. They didn’t forget to leave the door open. Just as they were about to split up to search for clues, the sound of floorboards groaning, creak, creak began to echo from somewhere.

“?”

Everyone froze and strained their ears. The sound was drawing closer. They all had a gut feeling that the owner of those footsteps was dangerous. Warning lights went off in everyone’s heads.

Silently and with synchronized precision, they moved. Some ducked behind the door, others behind the folding screen. Having scattered to every available hiding spot, they waited for the source of the sound. Soon, the figure appeared before the room.

The first thing they saw was a red bridal robe. Then a floral crown, long ribbons, and the red wedding spots on her cheeks and brow. It was a bride, her face pale and devoid of life.

With her arms hanging limply at her sides and her eyes closed, the bride glided forward without a hint of movement in her upper body, yet she could not hide the sound of the wooden floorboards beneath her feet. She came to a halt right in front of the wide-open sliding door.

Everyone held their breath. They waited in a tense standoff, wondering if the bride outside the door had noticed them. Their eyes darted around, searching for an escape route.

However, after standing there for a moment, the bride began making that creak, creak sound again and passed the room by. Relieved but startled, they focused on the sound of her retreating footsteps. Even after the noise faded into the distance and disappeared, they couldn’t bring themselves to move for a long time.

Noquia was the first to act. Creeping out from behind the folding screen, she whispered while scanning the room.

“Is she gone? She’s gone, right?”

Following Noquia, Holanghee and Father also emerged from behind the screen. As the three began to move, Blaine, who had been pressed against the wall by the door with Theo, cautiously peeked outside.

Theo, clutching Blaine’s waist from behind, asked, “Is she gone?” Blaine nodded back at him. Theo let out a long, heavy sigh of relief and muttered:

“What on earth was that?”

It was a rhetorical question, but Father shook her head with a stiff expression and checked the hallway once more. There was no movement in the dimly lit passage outside. It was a relief, but also unnerving.

Father turned to the group and asked:

“She was walking… so is she ‘the living’?”

At the question, which was laden with anxiety, Noquia frowned and retorted:

“Does that face look like it’s living to you? That’s 100% ‘the dead’.”

At Noquia’s words, Holanghee asked:

“Then do the dead walk, too?”

“…….”

Noquia couldn’t answer. The living walk, and the rotten crawl. But they hadn’t found the answer for the dead yet.

A short silence followed. Rather than agonizing over an answer that wouldn’t come, it was more important to find another clue. Father settled the matter by suggesting they search the room, and everyone scattered without a word.

Just as they were about to scatter, everyone’s eyes fell on the desk. A single sheet of paper lay upon it. The group congregated around the desk, and Theo picked up the note.

[For the sake of the rotten, do not step on the floor.]

[Do not answer anything that is not human.]

Theo read the two sentences to himself, murmuring as he recalled the inscription he had seen on the corridor wall.

“For the living, do not close the door; for the rotten, do not step on the floor?”

“What on earth is that supposed to mean?”

Noquia seemed thoroughly irritated. She added, voice laced with disbelief, “Do not step on the floor? Then how are we supposed to move? By flying?”

“Maybe it’s a method of avoidance?” Theo suggested.

“Avoidance?”

As Noquia questioned him, Theo nodded and looked at the paper again.

“There are living things, dead things, and rotten things in this dungeon. I think they’ve written hints throughout the place on how to distinguish them and how to avoid them. There’s even a warning at the bottom not to answer anything that isn’t human.”

Father, who had been listening quietly to Theo, rested her chin in her hand and asked, “If what you say is true, how do we distinguish something that isn’t human?”

“Is there a need to distinguish them specifically? We just shouldn’t answer anything other than each other.”

It was a simple, clear answer. Everyone had an “ah” moment of realization. Vowing not to reply to anything else, they stepped out of the room.

They searched a few more rooms after that, but no significant clues turned up. Moreover, the interior of the pavilion was like a maze, making them wonder if they were even heading in the right direction. Since there were no markers to leave behind, it was impossible to tell if they were walking down a path they had already traversed or entering a new one.

As they wandered aimlessly, something peculiar appeared ahead. The ceiling was densely packed with straw ropes intertwined with five-colored fabrics, and colorful pouches hung in clusters from the ropes.

It was a suspicious sight by any standard. Hesitant to take another step, they scrutinized the ceiling, floor, and pouches, but they couldn’t tell what the danger was just by looking.

Glancing back and forth between the path draped with pouches and the path they had come from, they decided they had no choice but to press on. They could turn back and look for another route, but there was no telling how long that would take. Besides, they were curious about what lay on the other side.

They decided to move forward, but the thought of touching the pouches felt inherently repelling. Everyone moved with extreme caution, twisting their bodies or ducking low to avoid the hanging bags.

Father, Holanghee, and Noquia—being relatively smaller in height and frame—could navigate through with ease, but the same couldn’t be said for Theo and Blaine. Especially Blaine.

“Ah.”

At Blaine’s small gasp, everyone ahead turned around. A pouch lay fallen at Blaine’s feet. From the limp, open bag, something had spilled out in a heap, and the contents were also dusted across Blaine’s shoulder.

With a look of discomfort, Blaine took a couple of steps back and looked down at the fallen pouch. A pile of white powder had spilled out from within.

“What is this?”

Theo, being the closest, approached and asked. Blaine only shook his head with an anxious expression. Theo looked up to check on Blaine’s condition and saw the white powder on his shoulder. Frowning, Theo pulled his sleeve over his hand to hide his skin and brushed the powder off for him.

“Are you guys okay?”

Father had approached them at some point and asked. Theo and Blaine forced a nod, and Father crouched down in front of the spilled pouch.

“What is this?”

Father instinctively reached for the powder, but Theo blocked her hand. He shook his head, signaling her not to touch it.

It was an unidentified powder. Furthermore, Blaine—and perhaps even himself—had already been exposed; they couldn’t afford to have Father exposed as well.

Father nodded in understanding, stood up, and began to lead the way again, saying, “Let’s move carefully.”

Once the path of pouches ended, a small altar-like structure appeared at a dead end. Surrounded by dozens of candles and several layers of silk banners, the altar looked suspicious to anyone’s eyes. As they drew closer, they saw a string-like object resting upon it.

Everyone looked back and forth between the altar and one another. Eventually, Father stepped forward and reached for the string. Simultaneously, an interaction window popped up with information.

《Seojodae》 ¹

“Huh?”

“What is it?”

At Father’s exclamation, Theo asked back. Father replied, looking flustered.

“This is an item.”

“An item?”

“Yeah, a Seojodae…? It says it’s a Seojodae. I guess we’re supposed to take it.”²