BATTER 37

By the time even the sound of his own breathing began to feel awkward, Bijou finally came to a halt. After a faint tapping sound, a dim green light flickered to life near eye level. Thanks to that hazy glow, Baron could just barely make out a thick iron door blocking the path and a touch pad for entering a passcode. Bijou drew a half-flipped figure eight on the dimly lit pad. It was the simplified symbol of a Möbius strip.

Immediately after, the door, which had stood firm as a wall, slowly slid aside. The yellowish light seeping through the opening was low and murky. When they paused without entering, perhaps due to an infrared motion sensor, the light flickered off. Baron took a step forward, waving his hand to trigger it. The dim overhead light came back on once more.

“You’ve got this place locked down tight. Where exactly are we going, man?”

“It’s our home.”

Bijou advanced with light steps. Beyond the door, a tunnel or a shaft, looking as though it had been only partially excavated, stretched onward. Baron maintained a supple smile but didn’t let his guard down. The slight chill made the hair on his arms stand up. He felt a faint draft, suggesting oxygen was being supplied from somewhere.

“I thought you said you didn’t really have a place to stay? But you have a home?”

“Because it is ‘our’ home. I don’t stay here long.”

There was a peculiar emphasis on his possessive pronoun. Baron pulled his eyebrows into a lopsided slant.

“You’re not planning on tossing me into some pit down here and leaving, are you?”

“Rest assured. I’ve already filled in all the pits that posed a high risk of falling accidents.”

“Well, that’s certainly a relief.”

Bijou gave a proud smile. Apparently, he’d done the shoveling himself. It was a suspicious-looking route for a supposed home, but it was too late to back out now. The lights turned on one by one, following his steps. The asymmetrical smile revealed under the lights—which flickered on and off in sequence—hinted at a definite sense of anticipation. They delved deeper into the tunnel, that strange expectation growing clearer the further they went.

The end of his field of vision began to brighten gradually. The underground passage, which felt like it might stretch to the other side of the continent, finally ended at a sunken cliff. However, the light was beginning from right beneath that cliff. It was a much more concentrated and powerful light source, distinct from the sensor lights used to illuminate the path.

As if excitement had nested within the machine’s processing unit, Bijou grabbed Baron’s hand firmly and pulled him toward the edge of the cliff. He moved with a quick pace. On the cliff wall, an old-fashioned elevator made of double-sided wire mesh had been installed. There were only two buttons: up and down.

As soon as Baron boarded the elevator, the down button was pressed. Letting out an eerie metallic groan, the elevator carried the two of them toward the light at the bottom of the cliff. Sound, temperature, light, touch—everything became vividly clear in an instant. As the pale golden image took on a sharp and distinct form, Baron’s eyelids flew wide open.

“This is…”

A cool, golden wind seeped through his parted lips. Freely mixed natural rock walls and man-made structures had grown together like a single stalactite, forming dozens of buildings. Ground water that had yet to dry flowed between the walls, with bridges and pipes crisscrossing over it.

The metaphysical and irregular architectural style resembled an unrealistic ruin where forge-dwelling dwarves or earth spirits might have lived, yet a dense sense of daily life clung to the colorful clothes hanging in the window frames and the motorboats painted with character drawings. A strange vitality throbbed from every corner. It was a secret, massive ‘home,’ one not marked on any map.

Baron, who had been leaning close to the wire mesh, turned his head. Bijou was still smiling brightly, clutching his hand tightly.

“Welcome to our home.”

Different from the sun but clearly warm, lights hung at every section of the buildings and bridges to illuminate the darkness. Baron hooked his fingers through the elevator’s wire mesh and gazed at the mysterious scenery of the village. Before long, the elevator passed between layers of interconnected pipes and bridges.

An old man and a boy crossing a bridge on the opposite side suddenly looked up. They recognized Bijou in the elevator and were the first to wave. A deep sense of intimacy rushed in from those gentle gestures, like willow branches swaying by the water. Their attitude was as if they were welcoming family. The boy, who was waving enthusiastically, shouted something toward one of the buildings.

“Master Bijou is back!”

“Master” Bijou? Baron’s eyebrows twitched up at the unfamiliar honorific attached to the name. Simultaneously, heads began to pop out of the building windows one by one. It was like squirrels or forest birds poking their heads out of knotholes in a tree. The tranquil underground village was instantly filled with life. As the boy changed direction to chase after the elevator, Baron looked back at Bijou with a slight frown.

“Down here, it’s ‘Master’ Bijou, is it?”

“I’ve asked them not to call me that, but they keep doing it…”

Even though it wasn’t exactly a compliment, Bijou lowered his head and acted bashful. Baron let out a short sigh and looked out at the view beyond the wire mesh. Bijou’s home extended deeper than it looked, like a tower driven upside down into the earth. Finally, the elevator reached the very bottom. No sooner had the flimsy elevator door opened than a group running from a distance cried out.

“It’s been almost a month since you were last here, Master Bijou!”

“You have no idea how much our little brother missed you.”

“You aren’t hurt anywhere, are you?”

They were breathless from running in such a hurry, yet busy saying their piece. They stood right in front of the narrow elevator door and wouldn’t move, making it hard for Baron to even breathe. Bijou, appearing perfectly used to such a welcome, waved them off with a soft, swaying smile.

“I told you, there’s no need to greet me like this every time.”

“But it’s so hard to see you often.”

The young man who spoke was holding wet laundry, as if he’d rushed out while hanging it to dry. They rattled off a word each, heedless of their voices overlapping, and only after several seconds did they notice the massive man standing beside Bijou. One might expect them to be wary of an outsider with such an imposing physique, but their eyes merely sparkled with pure curiosity. It would be fitting to say they were like dodo birds lingering fearlessly in front of an armed Homo sapien. One young man spoke in a bright, happy voice.

“Is this sir going to be a new member of the family?”

“He’s hurt quite badly; shall we take him straight to Dr. Harry’s place?”

“He’s really handsome, though. How can he look this good even with a hole in his face?”

Someone rejoiced, someone worried, and someone else smiled playfully. While being scrutinized down to the last detail, Baron donned a layer of his own cheeky smile and rolled his eyes. Needless to say, their genders and races were all different—and some had more than half their bodies replaced by machinery—but they all resembled Bijou in some way, enough that the mention of ‘family’ didn’t seem laughable. It was the pure, innocent gaze in their eyes that made a man covered in dark motives feel uncomfortable looking at them directly.