Chapter.7 Masquerade Ball (1)
***
The next morning.
The professor let out a heavy sigh as he watched the two people gather in the shelter and prepare to leave.
“….sorry.”
“Tsk. Under what circumstances does the person who deserves an apology apologize? do not worry. “I did it, so I will take responsibility even if I die.”
“No, no, I’m not being sarcastic, I’m truly apologizing. Maybe it’s because it’s been so long since I lived alone, but I was thinking wrong. Maybe it was because I was busy, but I was ignoring something so obvious. “Things that are familiar to me may be new knowledge to you.”
“After all, it was a mistake we made while you were away. The responsibility lies with us, to be precise, with me, who fired the gun first and provoked him. There are a few drops of my blood on the table over there and a letter with a biometric code and password written on it. If I make a mistake in this matter…”
“Oh, that. “I burned it as soon as I saw it in the morning.”
“what? why!”
“Why? Did you write a will thinking you were going there for something? “Unlucky.”
“Yesterday… didn’t you say you were going to take responsibility for provoking that monster? “Aren’t you going to catch that?”
“catch? Old picture? What can you do with a guy who doesn’t die even after being hit by a dozen anti-tank missiles? We can’t kill it, there’s no need to kill it. Looking at the bulletin board, it said that the dome was taking action, so I guess they would have roughly planned the situation. All we have to do is go there and calm him down.”
“Um… Hepburn? No matter how much I think about it, calming down that monster seems more difficult than catching and killing it… How do you calm it down?”
The professor spoke to Bex and Ian, who were full of doubts, tossing the box they had taken out from the corner of the shelter storage room last night.
“How long. “I guess I’ll have to go along with his delusions.”
The box the professor threw was full of old-fashioned, dusty clothing.
***
The professor, who heard the whole story from Bex while taking off his weapons and changing into old-fashioned clothes, had no choice but to admit that his own negligence was also largely involved in this matter.
First, the two read the guide to precautions for living in Area 47 given by the professor. The problem is that the professor’s guide, which was filled with tiny letters on a piece of paper the size of a palm, was seriously unreadable.
‘That’s because it’s a guide that I started making for myself to read in the early days of settling down in Area 47.’
Things have improved dramatically in the last few months, but the professor’s life was not very leisurely. There was a lot to remember, so there was a lot to write down, and it wasn’t easy to find a clean piece of paper in this damn wasteland.
As the years passed and life in the wasteland became more familiar, there was more and more information to be included in the guidebook. Instead of writing a new sheet of paper because I thought, ‘I’m the only one who will see it anyway,’ I wrote it down as an addition in the empty space between the large, neatly organized letters. was added.
‘Knowledge about the Type 3 variant was written down during the third overwrite. An explanation written like scribbles among neatly organized letters. ‘If you think that’s important and remember it, it’s even weirder.’ “
Ugh,
I’m sorry, Professor, but are there any pants in a larger size?”
“Of all the old-fashioned clothes we have at home, that’s the biggest one. There’s nothing we can do, so let’s just put it on and go. What about your side of the Vex? Does it fit well?”
“What am I? By the way, I’m really sorry, Hepburn. I thought I understood what I wrote after reading it several times, but after facing it…”
“I said you don’t have to apologize. “It’s worth it if it’s your first time seeing an old picture.”
Nevertheless, Bex seemed to have read all the scribble-like notes carefully. Because he knows the importance of information well. Since he had a very meticulous personality, he must have caught even the smallest details.
‘The problem is that knowledge about nonsensical things like type 3 variants does not come into your head just by learning it through writing. I was an individual survivor who stayed at home and lived off the surroundings, so I often used the community, but Ian was busy running a business and moving around, and Vex was a scavenger who didn’t have a connection at all. ‘I can’t help but think that since ‘the’ Old Picture was simply explained to them as ‘safe if not stimulated and they will act like old people’ to those who had relatively less knowledge about this variant than me, it must really be nothing.’
Perhaps the illusion of Area 47, which was rumored to be safe, also played a role in easing their tension.
But what? I heard that this is an area where gentle monsters roam, and I found out that there was a monster so terrible that even Satan would run away crying.
“…What did you ride when you first met Old Picture?”
“Um… I was just planning to look around, so I went out in a buggy that uses less gas.”
“I thought so. “He deserved my attention.”
To put it simply, the Old Picture’s appearance was like a monster straight out of cosmic horror.
A body made of huge pink flesh like baby skin is filled with shoes of various colors, wavy and wavy like scales as it walks. In front of the mass of shoe flesh, three dolls so elaborately made that they look like real people when viewed from a distance are waving their hands and feet. Above them, round eyes without eyelids and a mouth without lips flicker.
Who would remain sane when a guy like that is chasing them? Old pictures even spray out psychological waves that make people nearby feel uneasy.
We’re in a place we’ve never been before and we’re encountering a monster we’ve never seen before. This guy who looks like he just crawled out of hell is coming towards us?
From Bex and Ian’s perspective, it was difficult to accept that the Old Picture was safe. The guide clearly said it was safe. But [what if] he’s really upset today? What if two people’s lives are on the other side of the gambling scale?
For wasteland people, survival is an instinct. The appearance of the Old Picture is too ferocious to be reassured by the word ‘safe’, so when the world is destroyed and a mutant is encountered, the natural course of action is to put a bullet in the head first. As soon as the two people encounter the Old Picture, they go into survival mode. It was a natural thing.
“Let’s see… what do you think? “Do you look a bit old-fashioned?”
“You’re fine, but Bex needs to get changed.”
“why? Am I okay? Shouldn’t you change your clothes? Doesn’t it look a bit perverted with bulges here and there?”
The professor nodded, looking at Ian, who was wearing tight leather pants and a checkered shirt, and Bex, who was wearing denim jacket jeans. This is enough to pass. Although it was strange, he seemed like a strange old-timer.
The professor took out torn jeans, a shirt, and a leather jacket from the box with familiar skill. He tapped the shoulders of the two people who looked very uncomfortable and pushed them toward the entrance.
“Okay, if you’re ready, let’s go. “If it’s been a day or so, there’s still plenty of time, but there may be more variables that we don’t know about.”
“Well… can’t I be armed? “I understand that you are going to do something strange, but I feel very uneasy about going out without a gun on…”
“Don’t put it on, just put it next to the seat.”
“What kind of car should I use?”
The professor thought about Ian’s question for a moment, then snapped his fingers and said, as if a good idea came to him.
“You filled that armored truck with promotional items, right?”
“huh? Oh right. “It’s just like when the guy called Ezel came to inspect it.”
“Good. Let’s take that ride. There will be something to write about. “I’ll teach you the rest as I go.”
The professor thought as he handed out the smallest masks he had to the two people and then pushed them into the car. I will take this opportunity to make sure you know about the physiology of Area 47.
***
Buaaaaang-
“Turn left here. See that alley with the red flag over there? “Go in there and stop the car for a moment.”
“hmm? “Aren’t we going to the center?”
“We still have time, and since we’re dressed like this, let’s go learn a little about Area 47.”
Squeak –
The professor stopped the car and opened his mouth, pointing with his finger at the waving red flag.
“Now, I’ve emphasized this several times, but Area 47 is the safest area in this area. “In the case of our house, it is on the outskirts, so the impact is less, but as you get closer to the center, the safety is comparable to the inside of the dome.”
“Yeah, I read that in the guide you wrote.”
“Okay then, let’s think about it. Since it is a safe area, people in District 47 will live longer than people outside, right?”
“yes.”
“If I live for a long time in this world where this guy went, will I see a lot of good things or a lot of bad things?”
“Uh… won’t we see it a lot? Look bad? “I guess?”
The professor answered Bex’s answer right behind him! He said, snapping his fingers.
“That’s correct. Living long in the wasteland is not such a blessing. There are lucky people like us, but most of us struggle in loneliness and pain every day. So by the time they turn 40, most people either commit suicide or go completely crazy and become psycho gangsters. Thanks to this, District 47 has an overwhelming number of psycho gangs compared to other areas.”
This is a kind of side effect created by the special characteristics of safe areas and wastelands. As Area 47 becomes safer, the average life expectancy of people in the area increases. So, unlike other districts where people are usually killed before going crazy, there are many people in District 47 who survive until they go crazy, and as a result, many psycho gangsters, the ultimate in psychopaths, live there.
“That red flag indicates that a psycho gang lives in front of here.”
“what? You didn’t kill him, you just marked him? Are you a strong person? So much so that it cannot be removed from Area 47, which is controlled by the Dom?”
“No, I heard he knows how to fight quite well, but not to that degree. From now on, I’m going to show you why I kept the psycho gang [Human Meat Chef Chef Cook] alive, so follow me closely and don’t do anything. Don’t open your mouth and don’t react aggressively no matter what happens. Leave the gun.”
“Can’t a pistol work? I’m confident I won’t get caught.”
“You’re fully planning on shooting! Leave it right now!”
Sigh-
“Leave the Vex knife as well. “Just leave all your weapons behind.”
“The psycho gang I saw was one that only saw people as meat…”
“This guy is just as crazy, but in a different direction. From now on, don’t open your mouth and just roll your eyes. If there is a problem, show me this.”
The professor handed each of them a small, shiny piece of green paper and then entered the alley where the red flag was waving. At the end of a dirty alley, there was the only building with an electronic sign on. Because the front was made of glass, it was a store with an atmosphere detached from the surroundings, with people bustling around inside visible even from afar.
[Chef Cook’s Pizza House]
“Pizza…. House?”
“okay. From now on, we will not be wasteland survivors, but customers who came to buy pizza. “Let’s do some rehearsal before we go into the realm of old pictures.”
“Is that… perhaps a metaphorical expression? Something like cutting a person into pieces like a pizza or spattering red blood like tomato sauce?”
“No? That’s a real pizza place, isn’t it? It’s a very fancy place. It’s the type of place that not even the upper-class people in the dome can afford to buy. What’s unique about it is that it’s run by a psycho gang?”
“In this ruined world… there’s still a pizza place left? Is it like that?”
“So, you’re crazy. I’ll go and see where it is for more details and then I’ll tell you.”
The professor led the two, who were nervous in the gloomy atmosphere of the alley, and cheerfully opened the half-crooked door of the pizza house.
***
