HEO 50

“What…?”

Silver, who had asked the question, realized with a start. Words strung together in his mind. Distortion. Unkindness. Rules.

So this is all… ?

An indescribable ominousness permeated his body. Silver stared into the empty air before freezing. He saw ‘it’. High in the sky, at a distance so vast it was barely visible. The skeleton wearing a girl’s face like a mask sat atop a three-headed dog, and haughtily looked down on them.

Silver couldn’t move a finger. It was the first time since he’d learned his name that the mere act of seeing something had him overcome with fear.

How long has that monster been here?

“Silver! What are you doing?!”

A fierce voice rang out. He turned to see Black Weasel waving from a distance. He looked like he was ready to devour someone. Beside him stood the woman with the eye patch, clutching her crutch to the ground and gasping for breath.

“Silver, what are you doing? Do you think this is a game? To the prince and his servant…”

[Sir! Ma’am!]

Wolf raised his voice. Black Weasel and the woman with the eye patch flinched.

[Don’t fall for the trick! The voice and the fairies didn’t say ‘run’!]

Black Weasel’s lower eyelid twitched. Red Eagle’s eyes widened as he stared at Wolf. Black Weasel and the woman with the eye patch exchanged glances and turned toward them. Unlike Black Weasel, who sprinted toward them, the woman walked slowly. Her stamina was at its limit.

Silver clenched his fists and took a deep breath. Wolf was right. The fairies and the voice had never once said, ‘Run.’ They had only said, ‘Go home.’

Black Weasel, now close, aimed his axe at Wolf.

[Well, explain yourself. If you can’t convince me, your head rolls.]

[It’s a clever manipulation of people. A psychological distortion.]

Wolf retorted without hesitation.

[You know it too. The skeleton isn’t friendly. It doesn’t tell you important rules or punishments.]

[So you’re saying we have to go back to snail’s pace? And that way we can reach the door? When exactly? When my magnificent beard grows another two inches? Or while a loaf of bread bakes?]

Black Weasel’s axe touched Wolf’s Adam’s apple. The latter lowered his eyes.

[I don’t know about that far… But considering cause and effect, the skeleton evil spirit gave us extra food because this task is physically demanding…]

[Ahhh!]

Suddenly, Red Eagle screamed.

[The door…! The door…!]

Silver turned around, his whole body went cold. It felt like ice water was flowing through his veins. The door was farther away. Just moments ago, it was reachable within twenty breaths while running.

Though it wasn’t far. This time, it was a distance reachable in forty breaths. The warriors stopped in their tracks. Several warriors staggered and fell to the ground. Everyone looked shocked by the sudden distance from the door.

[Ha!]

Red Eagle gasped. The door had suddenly grown closer again. Now it was within ten breaths.

“Damn it!”

“Are you kidding us?!”

Curses erupted from all around. Even so, some warriors started running again. Those who had briefly collapsed staggered to their feet. The fox fairies followed the warriors while clapping their front paws.

〔Cheer up! You’ll see your family!〕

〔The door’s right there! You can go home!〕

Only then did the woman arrive on this side. Her face was drenched in sweat.

[I can’t run anymore. Those warrior bastards might be able to run day and night for a day or two, but I’m just an old beggar.]

[…Alright. Let’s just walk.]

Black Weasel lowered his axe from Wolf’s neck. By then, all the warriors had started running again. Only, their formation was a mess. Their running speeds varied too. Some ran as if their lives depended on it. Others ran while carefully taking deep breaths. Some walked slightly faster, seemingly resolved to just hold out until the hourglass turned over three times.

Black Weasel stepped forward.

[Then we’ll go at a snail’s pace like before. Ah, if anything, taking a break wouldn’t be bad either…]

His words were abruptly cut off. Silver blinked in surprise. What was that?

The flat illustration of Black Weasel suddenly transformed into a human. His shadow reappeared. Before there was time to react, the ground beneath them began to bulge and writhe. Before fear could fully register, cracks spread across the floor. A single thin line. Then a very brief silence, followed by a piercing zzzzzz.

Countless hairline cracks rippled across the floor like shockwaves. Screams erupted from all directions. Red Eagle collapsed toward Silver. Wolf fell, his head smashed into Black Weasel’s waist. The woman with the eye patch clutched her crutches and rolled backward. It felt like a giant was swinging a hammer beneath the floor.

Bang! A deafening roar, like thousands of thunderclaps striking simultaneously, echoed. The floor shattered into countless fragments, each about the width of a person lying fully stretched out. The gaps between the pieces were just over five or six steps wide. It resembled hundreds of thin rods laid out at regular intervals.

No other word came to mind for this bizarre formation except ‘rock pillars’. The pillars began to tilt. All at once, to the left. Their angle steepened in an instant.

[Silver!]

Red Eagle grabbed the hem of Silver’s robe. Silver pressed his body flat against the rock pillar floor.

[Hold on tight to the edge of the floor!]

The rock pillars abruptly changed direction. To the Right. They paused for an instant, then swung left again. Repeated. It felt like being dangled from a spinning windmill. Even amidst this, Silver surveyed the surroundings. Where was Bingapsu? Where was Wolf? They were nowhere to be seen. Only the woman stood alone on a rock pillar slightly to the left. She flipped off the skeleton and spat at it.

“Take this!”

Then she drew her dagger and plunged it into her own carotid artery. Blood gushed out. A crutch fell from the woman’s side. The corpse plummeted beneath the rock pillars. It was a silent fall.

He felt a burst of heat. Memories of drunkenly singing arm-in-arm stabbed his mind like blades. His mourning for his comrade was short-lived. A shiver ran through Silver’s entire body. Below, devouring the woman…

Only bottomless darkness. It seemed like no matter how far you fell, you would never reach the end.

“Save me!”

“No!”

The screams brought Silver back to his senses. He saw how the rock pillars moved, how warriors who had been far away now were close. They resembled screaming sailors on a sinking ship. Unable to hold on, they fell one by one.

“W-Waaah!”

“Aaah!”

The rock pillars moved in rapid succession. Collision. Spin. Flip. One warrior was flung from a pillar, spun once in the air, and vanished into the darkness. Another warrior was squeezed between two pillars, his body crushed flat. Yet another warrior let go of the pillar and jumped to his death.

[Wolf! Wolf!]

Red Eagle desperately shouted as he hugged a rock pillar. Silver gritted his teeth and once again looked around. Neither Black Weasel nor Wolf was anywhere to be seen. Shit, could it be both…

“Silver!”

Black Weasel’s call flew over. Silver raised his head. In the direction the voice came from, only dense rock pillars were visible.

“Silver! Silver!”

Black Weasel again. The voice sounded fainter than before. The rock pillar he was clinging to was moving away from here.

[Silver! Your Highness!]

This time it was Wolf. Red Eagle abruptly raised his head.

[Wolf! Wolf! I’m here!]

Like a baby searching for his mother, the prince desperately called for his attendant. But there was no reply. Given Wolf’s temperament, he should be shouting ‘Your Highness!’ but it was silent. Either he had fallen, or the rock pillar had moved far away.

[Wolf… Waaah!]

The rock pillars flew upward. They soared at an incredible speed before plummeting. Silver’s vision blurred. It felt like the dreadful sensation of endlessly falling would never stop, even until the day he died.

A loud bang rang out. Silver lost consciousness.