Chapter 25
“That’s exactly the same as the guidelines I received. Are you feeling unwell, by any chance?”
“No. Just in case.”
11:30 p.m., after a few practice rounds and a short rest.
By now, I should have been hearing the cries of the night-active friends.
The hut’s surroundings were filled with silence, as if something there allowed no voices other than mine and Kang Chaeyoung’s.
“Haa.”
In the end, I failed to get my senior to recognize the entity called Old Man.
The biggest problem was that the word “Old Man” wouldn’t come out of my mouth.
More precisely, I should say I went silent the moment I tried to mention the third entity.
As a last resort, I showed the senior the guidelines with the wriggling letters, but that failed too.
To make matters worse, even our respected Administration Bureau staff don’t know the Old Man.
[Anyone know about the entity called Old Man?]
Author : GallerySurfingIsEasy
[Photo of a black screen with noise]
I have attached the response guidelines, so please reply.
The booklet I received contains writing that you can’t see.
There was nothing strange about the sections on Unnyeoni and Dotgabi, since you already knew about them too, but,
‘Old Man’ is a name I’ve never heard before.
If anyone knows anything, please let me know.
Also, I’ve read the notice left by the Gatekeeper over and over, but I can’t make heads or tails of it.
I can’t tell whether it’s just me or whether it was written to be hard to understand from the start.
[Comments]
EntityFreak : First I’ve heard of it? Don’t know, but was there an entity called Old Man in the village?
ManagementManager : Now even the photo attachments aren’t working properly.
ChargeAtMe : Old Man? A woman?
AutoSaveIsMandatory : If it’s only in the Gatekeeper info and not the entity report, then it’s an entity that’s never appeared before.
SettingTweaker : If it’s making a mess even in the gallery, that thing is hard to even call Level 3.
White Hacker : Newbie, check the guestbook. I’m not asking for your account number.
An entity unknown even to people who’ve been through everything.
I wish I had more money luck instead of this.
Come to think of it, I only ended up here because I got tangled up with a stock-rigging crook.
At this rate, I was starting to wonder if this had been passed down through the bloodline.
20 minutes left.
I had to finish the remaining preparations.
[GallerySurfingIsEasy’s Guestbook]
Hey, look at this, please - White Hacker (NEW)
Newbie, give me your account number -White Hacker
[Hey, look at this, please]
Author : White Hacker
I looked into the database of derivative entities for the Village Where Time Stopped,
but there isn’t an entity called Old Man. This is really the first time it’s come up.
But if even the senior can’t see it, then it clearly has business with you, right?
No data, but judging by the entity name, it’s probably the village elder—in other words, the oldest person there.
Be polite, mind your manners, don’t talk back, and think of it as hosting those damn troublesome old geezers or whatever.
I did request support from the field response team, but I suspect it’ll be more about preventing casualties than helping you. Sorry.
Still, even if you mess up, it won’t cause casualties, so don’t stress too much.
Sorry I can’t protect your life, either.
[Comments]
A support request was made. By a dead person, no less.
It was the same with the Backrooms. A dead person bought a NewTube account and uploaded videos.
I remembered what the head mod had written in the guestbook.
‘Most of the people staying in the gallery are already dead.’
Most of them already are.
A dead person can’t manage a NewTube account or request support from the Administration Bureau.
In other words, White Hacker was one of the few living people in the gallery.
And not even a newbie, but someone with enough tenure to send support requests.
Are you on your phone again? There’s no internet here, so what’s so good on there that you’re sitting there looking at it by yourself!
It’s a habit, a habit. I told Senior Yuna about it, but I forgot to mention it to you, senior.
Tsk tsk~. These days you boys are addicted to smartphones, addicted! Let’s start getting ready now.
11:55 p.m.
There was no time to dwell on the new bait.
In the first place, White Hacker’s identity only mattered if I survived this mission.
I stuffed my things into the room, then sat with Kang Chaeyoung on the chairs placed in front of the hut.
Before long, midnight arrived.
From now on, we can’t use English even among ourselves.
Understood, senior.
With no way of knowing when an entity might show up, the senior and I kept silent.
Partly to reduce even the chance of using English, but also because
‘If you go to a civil servant for directions and they’re just messing around among themselves, some people get their feelings hurt.’
That was what Kang Chaeyoung had said.
It wasn’t something a Level 1 would normally say, but entities aren’t always within the expected range.
I passed the time reading the entity report and the gallery.
Maybe an hour had passed.
Kang Chaeyoung spoke up.
“What are you looking at, oppa?”
“I was looking over the things I’d recorded...”
No, I thought Kang Chaeyoung had spoken to me.
When I looked up, a brightly dressed little girl was quietly staring up at me.
“What record? What did you record?”
If this weren’t the Village Where Time Stopped, I’d have smiled and gladly answered the child in front of me.
++++
[Entity Report]
Unnyeoni
Rank: Level 1
Classification: Entity-Type
Unnyeoni is one of the entities that manifest in the Village Where Time Stopped.
She appears as a young girl in a hanbok and, after appearing, asks the target a few questions before disappearing on her own.
According to confirmed cases, Unnyeoni seems to approach solely to talk, and it is rare for her to demand any compensation or cause direct harm.
However, if you use honorific speech while talking to Unnyeoni, a severe anomaly occurs.
Every victim without exception had their tongue removed, and once Unnyeoni disappears, the severed tongue appears inside the hut.
She seems to find it strange when a child like herself is spoken to with honorifics.
Most of Unnyeoni’s questions seem to come from simple curiosity, and no cases have been confirmed where the answers later led to an anomaly.
Unnyeoni is classified as an entity that does not directly affect the outside world.
Responding personnel are advised to avoid unnecessary wariness or hostility, answer faithfully, and wait until the entity leaves on its own.
[This information cannot be seen by support mission assistants.]
++++
I thought it was Kang Chaeyoung just from the dialect.
“That oppa always writes in his diary every night~.”
Kang Chaeyoung answered Unnyeoni’s question.
Unnyeoni’s gaze turned toward Kang Chaeyoung.
“Kyah~! Blond unnie, why are you here after so long!”
“It’s been a while, Unnyeoni.”
“Have you got a boyfriend yet? Where did the oppa who came with you last time go? Is he still here today?”
Kang Chaeyoung greeted her as if they weren’t meeting for the first time.
And Unnyeoni, with a delighted face, rattled off questions one after another.
But soon Unnyeoni’s expression darkened.
“Ah. Unnie, what do I do... I asked all my questions... Grandpa told me to come back after only four.”
“Did Grandpa tell you to ask only four this time?”
“Yeah.... Last time I played with unnie all day, and the other old men couldn’t come out, so Grandpa scolded me.”
“Is that so~. Then shall we go to the hut and talk a little before you head off, unnie?”
“Really?”
“Of course~. But you can’t ask any more questions, okay~.”
“Mm-hmm!”
After patting Unnyeoni’s head a few times, Kang Chaeyoung came over to me.
It’ll take about an hour to send her off. As for Dotgabi, if you just follow the cautions in the guidelines, he’s easier than Unnyeoni is.
“…Is that part censored?”
That’s right. Unnyeoni is just too excited. Still, Dotgabi isn’t dangerous, so that’s actually better. Just don’t say anything too harsh.
I nodded.
“Then shall we talk about what Unnyeoni asked while we eat yakgwa in the room?”
“Yakgwa, yakgwa, I love yakgwa!”
Kang Chaeyoung walked into the room alone, and the door closed.
At some point, Unnyeoni’s figure had disappeared.
A little later, only Kang Chaeyoung’s voice—talking to herself, laughing, and chattering like a child—leaked out from inside the room.
Should I call it possession or something? I’ll ask after everything’s over.
If only the guidelines weren’t filtered, I’d worry less.
Even if it was only Level 1, not knowing what was happening inside only deepened the unease in my heart.
No matter that I’d only met her today, she was still my senior.
But just then, as if to tell me that this wasn’t the time to worry about that.
“Hwahahahaha! Who’s there!”
A furry blue-skinned man with a large horn on his forehead came up before me.
++++
[Entity Report]
Entity Name : Dotgabi
Rank: Level 1
Classification: Entity-Type
Dotgabi is one of the entities that manifest in the Village Where Time Stopped.
It is presumed to be derived from the dokkaebi concept that appears in Korean folklore, and appears as a middle-aged man covered in a great deal of body hair.
According to confirmed cases, Dotgabi’s behavioral patterns vary greatly depending on skin color.
Red-Type Entity
If its skin is red, Dotgabi challenges the target to a physical contest.
The contests usually take the form of pure strength contests, such as ssireum, arm wrestling, and chicken fights.
To date, no Administration Bureau employee has ever won one of these contests.
Employees who lost suffered injuries such as fractures, dislocations, and muscle tears, but no fatalities have been confirmed.
Once the contest ends, Dotgabi leaves the scene looking satisfied regardless of win or loss.
Blue-Type Entity
If its skin is blue, Dotgabi presents a specific topic and then asks the target a series of questions.
The questions mostly assume situations meant to inconvenience or screw someone over, and Dotgabi has been confirmed to prefer answers that include such intentions.
Observations have confirmed that answers given in conversation with Dotgabi later affect reality to a certain degree.
However, the effects confirmed so far have remained minor, and no case has led to direct loss of life.
Responding personnel must maintain a balance between enough mischief to satisfy Dotgabi’s intent and answers that minimize the impact on reality.
Caution
Dotgabi seems to value the other person’s honesty.
According to observations so far, anyone who lied while talking with Dotgabi was, without exception, treated as a hostile target.
In the case of the red entity, it only meant a little more force in the contest, but the blue entity immediately turns red when it detects a lie and then demands a forced contest.
In this state, Dotgabi becomes markedly more aggressive than usual, and the survival of responding personnel cannot be guaranteed.
Therefore, you must never lie when talking to Dotgabi.
Below is an observation record of what happened when an employee lied.
[This information is not visible to support mission assistants.]
Absolutely. Don’t ask about me.
++++
“Good to meet you, Dotgabi-nim.”
“Oh, a face I’ve never seen before! I thought there were always two of you guarding this place?”
Dotgabi stroked his beard a few times and looked toward the hut.
“So Unnyeoni was over there!”
“That’s right.”
But I hadn’t heard any voices.
Dotgabi continued with a smile, as if he could clearly see what was happening inside the hut.
“Well, isn’t that a relief. Last time I couldn’t get out because I ended up holding both of them all by myself, right? Sounds like the Old Man really did chew me out.”
The word Old Man came out of Dotgabi’s mouth.
If not for the warning in the entity report, I would have asked about the Old Man.
“What brings you here?”
The blue-skinned Dotgabi was said to ask questions. And if you answered them well, he’d back off.
“I came today because I had something to ask.”
“Yes, I’ll answer as best I can from what I know.”
Dotgabi paused for a moment, then rummaged inside his robe.
Each time the front of his clothes parted, the hairs densely embedded in his blue skin rustled.
“Do you like books?”
Dotgabi pulled several yellowed books from his robe.
“Yes. I read them often whenever I have the time.”
“Good. If you were a reader, what would an author have to do to make you the angriest?”
“From a reader’s point of view?”
“Exactly. Enough to send you into qi deviation!”
From a reader’s point of view. Oh no, I’m a real bookworm.
“Could you give me a moment? For the best answer, I’d like to hear the opinions of some other book-loving friends too.”
“Hmm? Sure, of course! It’s not like anyone else besides Unnyeoni and me comes out today anyway, hahahaha!”
After getting Dotgabi’s permission, I opened the gallery and gathered opinions.
[Webnovel Readers Assemble]
Author : GallerySurfingIsEasy
A blue Dotgabi asked, ‘When do you get the most angry while reading a novel?’
But thinking it over, the only thing that comes to mind is the author suddenly disappearing without a trace.
Other than that, nothing really comes to mind.
So if anyone knows, please share your thoughts.
Please refrain from anything too extreme.
Please save me.
[Comments]
Before long, quite a few comments had piled up.
Wow, you demon bastards.
“From your expression, it seems your friends gave you an answer?”
“Yes, I brought a variety of opinions.”
“Which one do you think is the best among them?”
Dotgabi looked at me with an expectant face.
His snorting was so forceful I could see his mustache rising and falling.
I mustn’t lie.
I chose the comment that shook me the most and read it aloud exactly as it was.
“At the hardest-to-put-down part of the book, you throw in a development that’s completely opposite the opening, blow the readers’ minds, then excuse it by saying it was the best choice for the work. After that, you keep pushing back the release date of the next volume, and when the time comes you rush out a limp, anticlimactic ending without paying off any of the foreshadowing you laid down, then switch your pen name.”
The chosen answer belonged to the head mod, ManagementManager.
What on earth does this person usually think about? No, what did they think about when they were alive?
Dozens of seconds passed after I spoke, but Dotgabi said nothing.
No, more accurately, Dotgabi’s skin was turning red and blue, changing colors back and forth.
What? The guidelines didn’t cover a case like this.
After changing colors for another 30 seconds or so, Dotgabi finally opened his mouth.
His skin was purple.
You... that’s a bit too harsh, isn’t it?
“Pardon?”
“I know you’re not lying, so tone it down a little. How can humans be so frightening...”
The dead head mod beat the living Dotgabi.