HACKED 61

The other bookshelves clearly looked like they weren’t actually in use. Each shelf was packed tight with something, but there were no traces of anything being taken out, and they were even covered in a thick layer of white dust. It felt like one of those trendy social media cafes that displays foreign magazines they can’t even read as props.

However, one particular bookshelf over on the opposite side was exceptionally clean. Looking closely, the material seemed a bit different… No, it’s just flat-out different.

It’s incredibly suspicious. This lighting, temperature, humidity. It makes me want to create and solve a mystery even where none exists.

“Chirpy.”

“Yes, Mr. Myeong.”

“Pop quiz. What do you call this kind of interior in five letters?”

In Chirpy’s black, round eyes, it was written: ‘Here we go again.’ Yeah. That is also five letters.

“I do not know.”

“The answer is ‘Room Escape Cafe’.”

“Doesn’t ‘cafe’ mean a tea house? They don’t sell drinks here.”

“Once upon a time in a certain country, there was a custom of attaching ‘cafe’ to everything.”

“Exactly which country was that?”

“A place to solve mystery puzzles was a Room Escape Cafe, a place to use massage chairs was a Healing Cafe, and an indoor playground was a Kids’ Cafe. They even called internet communities ‘cafes’.”

“Every time Mr. Myeong says such whimsical things, I simply don’t know how to respond… Ah, no. Surely there is a deep meaning that I cannot dare to fathom. I shall listen intently.”

Could that ‘bookshelf’ at the ‘back of the bookshelf’—the one that jerk No-an confessed to while drenched in a cold sweat like a man with a guilty conscience—be that one?

‘I wonder what’s back there that he worked so hard to hide it. Though for someone who hid it, he did spill everything with his own mouth.’

Since he appealed for me to find it so blatantly, I can’t just ignore it. What is the virtue of a gamer? It’s wandering into every corner of the map, trespassing into any house, smashing all the household goods, sweeping up everything valuable, and even stealing other people’s diaries and letters.

“That bookshelf. There’s definitely a hidden space behind it. The problem is I don’t know how to open it. It’s not an actual mystery game, so there’s no way that jerk left a hint… Wait, no. If he’s that stupid, he might have written the opening method somewhere?”

It was entirely possible. Even real-life office workers ignore company security regulations and stick things like groupware passwords next to their monitors, don’t they?

I approached the bookshelf. But before I could take more than a few steps, my arm was grabbed from behind.

“Boss.”

It was Hwarang. He was holding me with one hand and covering his own mouth with the other. His already pale face had lost all its color, making him look almost bluish.

“Can’t you just… not go?”

He steadied his ragged breath beneath the hand covering his mouth, then spoke one word at a time.

“Why?”

“I think we’ve taken everything we can from here. Do you really have to dig through a place like that?”

“You were fine with searching everywhere else on our way here. What’s the problem?”

“Everywhere else is fine, but not there.”

“You must have heard what that man said too. That the back of the bookshelf must not be discovered. There must be something important for him to say that, right? He practically fed me the clue on a silver platter; of course I have to check it.”

“It’s not a matter of that.”

His eyes wrinkled with frustration and agony. Since we were of similar height, our gazes met at almost the same level.

Hwarang’s black pupils. In contrast to the eyes of San Gun or the Gumiho, which showed they weren’t human at a glance, his eyes weren’t much different from mine.

But right now… For a very brief moment, I thought I saw a flame-like light flickering in one of his eyes. The word ‘Will-o’-the-wisp’ instinctively came to mind.

“No, just, a little.”

Before I could even think about what I had just seen, he pulled me into a tight embrace.

“Please just listen to me. We can just pretend we didn’t see it and go back. It’s not that difficult…”

“…”

“I’m doing this because I’m worried about you, Boss. Why would I say anything that would harm you? Can’t you just do this one thing for me?”

The arms hugging my back tightened.

“Okay, first, get off me. If you want to convince me, don’t just jump into a body slam; explain properly what’s going on… Ugh, get, off, I said.”

Instead of letting go, Hwarang buried his head right into the crook of my neck. When a guy who usually spends his time looking at me with contempt from a distance acts like this, I was just flustered beyond any situational awareness.

“Why are you being like this?”

Of course, no answer came from the person involved. I looked at Chirpy as if seeking help, but Chirpy also seemed to have no idea.

“Well, I’m not sure either.”

“Does Mr. San Gun know? Why he’s suddenly acting like this.”

This time I looked toward San Gun. He shrugged his shoulders with an indifferent expression.

“Roughly?”

“…Pardon?”

“But I don’t care. Do whatever you want, Myeong.”

In contrast to Hwarang, who seemed almost desperate, his attitude was as if it were no big deal. I became confused.

“You don’t care…?”

“If we just leave like this, you’re going to agonize over it alone again anyway. If you’re curious, go check it out.”

San Gun slowly massaged the back of his neck and tilted his head.

“Want me to open that bookshelf for you?”

“That would be great, but how are you going to open it? We don’t know anything about what kind of device is set up.”

“Just. Well.”

“…”

“Tada.”

“…”

‘Tada, my foot.’

It was a statement that inspired zero trust.

“I don’t care if it’s a device or whatever, we can just smash it. As long as it opens, right?”

If the owners of Room Escape Cafes nationwide had heard that, they would have wailed in grief. There’s something I feel every time I see him. It’s not ‘If the head is bad, the hands and feet suffer.’ It’s ‘If there is no strength in the hands and feet, the head suffers.’

I once saw a video on the internet. They put an animal at the entrance of a maze structure and placed food at the exit on the other side, and the animal just charged diagonally toward the food, smashing all the maze walls.

‘Well, anyway, all roads lead to Rome.’

“Yes, let’s open it.”

I was about to agree to his ignorant yet very simple and efficient plan. Until Hwarang’s sharp voice intervened.

“Are you serious? You’re spouting that kind of crap when you know exactly what’s in there? You crazy beast, I left you alone because the master seemed to cherish you, but you’ve finally truly gone mad.”

San Gun remained unfazed even at Hwarang’s malicious personal attack.

“The master says he’s curious; what right do I have to stop him?”

“Don’t use the master as an excuse. That’s not respect, it’s neglect. You’re not being considerate; you’re being fucking inconsiderate.”

Now he was flat-out using profanity. Why is he being so prickly? What on earth is behind that bookshelf? And how do those two know? This should be the first time they’ve been here, just like me.

“That human… When the human who was the owner of this library died with his head bursting. Do you know how the Boss was back then?”

A sinister murmur flowed from Hwarang, who had been resting his forehead almost against my shoulder. He gripped my shoulders with both hands and slowly straightened his upper body. The gap between us widened.

“Covered in blood from head to toe, frozen stiff, eyes open but unconscious… Do you know how scared I was while carrying you? Afraid that you would never return to your senses like this.”

One of his eyes was different from usual. The left eye—the right eye from my perspective. A flame of a bizarre color was burning in the center of the black pupil. As expected, what I saw earlier wasn’t a hallucination.

“I finally managed to snap someone out of it, someone who was just staring into space with unfocused eyes, and brought them to the bathroom. You want me to see that sight again?”

Was I that bad back then? I don’t really know. Actually, the memory isn’t clear. Since I saw someone die right in front of me and got blood on me, I was a bit shocked, so I think I just spaced out for a bit and then went to wash up.

“…Does that mean what’s behind that bookshelf will be that shocking to me?”

“…”

Hwarang, who had been staring at me obsessively as if he would pierce me with his gaze alone, avoided my eyes for the first time. The flame in one eye also subsided. He nodded slowly.

“Would you just be shocked? You might find us repulsive and come to resent us. You might say you don’t want to stay in this world for even another second. Just imagining that happening makes me, just, fuck. It’s horrible enough to make me want to die.”

Even with his face severely distorted, Hwarang gritted his teeth and continued his words clearly. However, that seemed more desperate than bursting into tears or getting angry. At least right now, it didn’t seem like he was lying to me.

My mind was a mess. While I hesitated, not knowing what to say, San Gun countered Hwarang’s words instead of me.

“You should know when to stop your struggling to avoid being hated. Just how long are you going to coddle him? He’s going to see many more gruesome things in the future. Are you going to cover the master’s eyes and plug his ears every time, leaving him knowing nothing?”

“Mr. Mountain Hero. You are being far too irresponsible. And insensitive. Oh, is it that this much is no big deal since you already have a prior record of murder? Or… does your conscience prick you?”

“…”

San Gun remained silent. Hwarang twisted his lips and drove the point home.

“I think the one who’s truly struggling because he doesn’t want to be hated is you.”