Bailonz Street 13-Chapter 238.2

……

I released my smoke.

The head rolled to the ground.

Lee Seoyu’s body, separated from the head, collapsed over there. My brain felt like it was being pulped. My mind clumsy and numb, barely functioning…

[Oh dear. Let’s shake our head a little, Mr. Roe Deer.]

Head…?

……

Bell chimes.

Chimes, ringing.

They piece me back together.

Jingle.

I sucked in a deep breath and snapped back to my senses.

‘Thanks.’

[Think nothing of it, Friend!]

At my side, Ho Yoowon clapped his hands.

“Wow. That was fast!”

……

I ignored Ho Yoowon and looked at Assistant Manager Eun Haje.

“Let’s go.”

Yes.

I know where the exit is.

We just need to move now.

“Immediately.”

Already near the exit, Assistant Manager Eun Haje darted into action.

We slipped out behind the coffins.

Kicking aside the harsh liquor now flooding even into the central chamber, pushing through to the far end.

Soon, footsteps matched mine. Ho Yoowon was falling in step beside me.

Predictable, of course, but still…

“He’s following.”

The younger twin.

He was walking toward us, leaving his sister behind, blinking as if he couldn’t quite process the scene.

Ripples spread across the surface of the liquid pooled in the chamber.

……

‘We need to neutralize him.’

Can’t be helped.

Since I’ve already used it once, one more time won’t hurt.

‘And then I’ll report this to the Disaster Management Bureau…’

They’ll be able to contain the converts too. And the bureau will get valuable intel from this. Resolving so, I turned my body to face him.

Of course, he won’t go down easily either.

‘I think he was tied to some serial-killer ghost story.’

…I thought I could hear ragged breathing from somewhere.

The younger twin was already nearly at the center of the chamber.

He was passing by the black corpse-processing boxes, one of the drowned bodies drifting toward a box and bumping it.

Then.

Thunk.

One of the soaked boxes opened by itself.

There were numbers on the lid.

三

……

Wait a second.

[Oh? Something special happening, Mr. Roe Deer?]

“How far is he going… huh?”

The one playing the younger twin brother turned his head just as he stepped in front of the box.

And vanished.

Like a lie.

“……”

Then.

三

二

From the pitch-black hollow inside the opened black box, two hands emerged.

Palms up, pressing flat against the ground.

……

Ah.

Escape

I grabbed Assistant Manager Eun Haje and bolted for the exit.

“Roe?!”

I know what that box is.

That’s…

‘Not something from the Happy Ending Sect.’

It’s far older than that.

A remnant from the early ghost stories that were once posted to the wiki back when the Church of the Luminous Unknown was just beginning.

A ghost story that used to surge to the top with overwhelming upvotes.

The Quota Worship ghost story.

Ascetic in the Box

No good.

In the early days of the Church of the Luminous Unknown, many sought to grasp the true meaning of this world. Among them, a devout few selected the path of long and arduous meditation and ascetic practice.

To suppress madness, they sealed themselves inside temple bells, attempting to maintain clarity of mind without the use of drugs or hallucinogens, relying solely on the intense pain caused by the striking of the bell.

Several years passed in this state.

Of the many bells, only one contained a surviving adherent, and that individual would finally declare that they had come to understand certain aspects of the Will of Ireum-nim.

The meaning is as follows.

I ran.

Toward the exit I found.

Ireum-nim desires suffering.

The brief comfort, tranquility, and joy granted to the components of this world exist only as arrangements to prepare for greater shock and fear.

Even this realization itself is madness and pain. Yet it cannot be anything but the right answer.

Still, the pursuit of enlightenment does not cease. Those who follow this realization sealed themselves within various vessels, seeking their own understanding. And soon, within pain, they understood.

Ireum-nim places little value on pain that can be counted and charted in numbers. He values most the special and unique suffering of each individual.

The more harrowing, slow, and detailed the suffering, the better.

Thus, they too resolved to praise the Will of Ireum-nim by exhibiting long and extended suffering.

That is…

Quota Worship Sect

This sect believes that, rather than narratives with countless casualties, records detailing a few selected characters enduring prolonged and extreme fear and suffering can bring joy to Ireum-nim.

They worship the quota, the fixed number.

A story with a predetermined cast, the exact quota[1] needed to transform agony into narrative.

A ghost story that inflicts relentless agony upon its characters.

Especially, that thing. No, that being…

Ascetic in the Box

An Authority of the Church of the Luminous Unknown, featured in the Dark Exploration Records. It is a 6th-level Authority under the Quota Worship Sect.

Following Quota Worship’s scripture, it severed its own legs and, through endless meditation and ascetic torment inside a sealed box, awakened its power, and became a creature within the box that secretes digestive fluid.

Quota Worshippers are those who focus on the most primal form of suffering.

Once it devours the number of victims designated on the lid, the closed box never opens until its chosen prey are dead.

Those who touch the fluid inside are bound to the Quota Worship Sect and become ascetics.

The ascetics remain alive and aware while being slowly and painfully dissolved. Quota Worship speaks their pain into their minds, refining and recording it. The longer, slower, and more detailed the suffering, the more doctrinally correct it is.

An ascetic cannot die until fully dissolved.

The average digestion period is twenty-seven years.

When the display of suffering ends, the creature enters a period of rest, feeding on large amounts of textile.

When that rest ends.

When a new victim enters, the ascetic ends their meditation.

The ascetic will then extend their hands to gather the required number and begin displaying their pain.

You cannot refuse these hands.

Do not approach them.

Your suffering shall begin.

“……”

We stopped in our tracks.

At some point, there was a box by the bunker’s exit.

Both hands were extended outward, posed in a gesture of offering by Quota Worship.

二

The number was declared.

‘……’

Request : Method of crossing without passing the exit

“If it’s an immediate escape tool for use in Darknesses, I know a few… but I don’t have any now.”

Damn it.

Then there’s only one option left.

Request : Fall

I spread my smoke.

…Thankfully, I didn’t feel overwhelming fear. Without the terror of losing my rationality, I could act right away.

‘I have to.’

Confuse the Quota Worship as much as possible, force the exit open—

Knock, knock.

……

“Anyone home?”

A sound from the exit door.

A voice… that’s oddly familiar.

And then.

“Oh, heree.”

BOOM—

The exit door burst open from the outside.

Air rushed in, replacing the reek of alcohol with the surface’s breath, and beyond the doorway a figure appeared.

“Ah. Mr. Employee, finally found youu!”

…Assistant Manager Lee Seonghae?

‘How the hell did she find this place?’

“Good to see you! And, well, there are some folks here who were really eager to meet you…”

Assistant Manager Lee Seonghae stepped to the side.

…and I realized who was standing behind her.

“Ack. Come see over heree, Mr. Agents!”

Disaster Management Bureau agents.

Black-Tortoise Team 1.

Note/s:

[1] Quota Worship Sect (정원찬양사) – Had to pivot on this one. The KR name by itself could be translated literally as Garden Worship Sect, however BDS-nim gave the hanja for 정원 in this chapter, and instead of garden it actually means ‘fixed number’ or ‘quota’. ↵

*Also, I should do a better job differentiating Lee Songhae’s speech patterns lol it’s actually quite unique compared to the rest

Lee Songhae mostly uses -여 (-yeo) instead of 요 (-yo), putting ㅇ (-ng sound) at the end of words, or ㅜ(ooh) instead of ㅗ(oh), etc. Generally comes across cutesy.

If she uses this peculiarity in dialogue, words will be emphasized. If not, then she’ll just be speaking normally. Not all instances though, it might get too distracting in English.

I’ll try to edit past chapters, but later down the line……. when i have more time on my hands….. (doubt)

Salt Goblin

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