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I dash past Jang Chae Yeon and the corridor.

Sometimes, the moans coming from beyond the wall remind me that something has progressed compared to yesterday, amplifying my anxiety even more.

Occasionally, I see several people in the corridor, staring blankly around or at the walls, and among them were some showing signs of physical change, just like I had seen in the theater.

“Well, it seems okay for now,” I say.

Jang Chae Yeon nods at my words and quickens her pace.

“We need to do this ourselves.”

I think of the other two.

Song Ah Rin, who told us not to look for her, and Yu Da On, who had been contaminated from the start.

“…”

I sneak a glance at Jang Chae Yeon, but she hurriedly walks beside me as if nothing is wrong.

“You said it’s the engine room,” I remark.

“Yeah.”

How am I supposed to find the engine room without even a map of the ship?

Fortunately, my worries were resolved faster than expected.

As soon as we stepped into the lobby, a loud sound reverberated.

—Ooooo… Ooooo…

Is this the sound Song Ah Rin mentioned?

A low sound like a trumpet being blown. And to that sound, people with blank expressions were walking in a set direction.

As if they were under some kind of hypnosis, they walked with vacant looks, and among them, I could see familiar faces, including the management agency staff we had spoken to yesterday.

Sometimes, sane individuals would try to stop others from getting too close, but everyone seemed to ignore their calls and continue walking.

And among them, I spot a familiar face.

It was Yu Da On.

[Name: Yu Da On]

[Age: 23]

[Specialty: Immortality]

[Talent: Regeneration (Undecided)]

[Background: She is already lost to herself and is now drifting into that sea.]

[Weakness: It’s physically impossible to kill her. Destroy the link that corrupts her mind or crush her psyche.]

She too was just blankly moving among the throng of people.

“Da On!”

I called her name, but there was no response.

“Don’t worry,” Jang Chae Yeon said, pulling my arm.

“We’ll be fine as long as we solve this.”

“How can you be so confident?”

“With experience and instinct.”

She answered without a hint of doubt and began to walk without hesitation.

We navigated through the luxurious lobby, weaving through people towards the way that continued onward.

The back office was the same as last time, with paint peeling off and rusted metal floors ahead.

Some people were moving slowly, while others walked hunched over, twisted in shape or bearing barnacle-like growths.

I passed by a person with tentacles sprouting from their face.

—Ooooo! Ooooo!

The sound grows louder as we follow the crowd.

Soon, we encountered a steel staircase, and a heavy heat wafted toward us.

I couldn’t tell if it was the heat from the engine or something beyond my imagination, but I pushed past the people and descended the stairs.

—Thud, thud, thud…

The thumping sound echoed oddly with every step we took.

Before long, the engine room came into view.

“…Ugh…”

Jang Chae Yeon cringed, pinching her nose with her sleeve, and I had no choice but to follow her lead and pinch mine as well.

The stench was horrendous.

It felt like stepping into a warehouse where countless fish had been left to rot for days.

A terrible smell was making my head throb, but more than that, my gaze was drawn to what lay before me.

In the very center of the engine was a gigantic mouth.

The engine was alive.

Not in a mechanical sense, but biologically.

Where the engine should have been, a round mouth had replaced it.

Other parts looked more like living organisms than machines.

Some had gills sprouting, while others resembled festering boils emitting strange gases.

I focused my gaze on the gigantic mouth before me.

It wasn’t a human mouth.

From the gaping, black maw emanated a horrific odor, and inside, rows of sharp teeth were tightly packed.

“Ahh…”

A voice emerged from behind me.

Someone was staring at the mouth with an entranced look, and they immediately threw themselves toward it.

“Chae Yeon!”

Before I finished my shout, Jang Chae Yeon swung her hand, sending the person hurtling away from that open mouth.

I took a quick glance at the monster.

[Name: Mouth]

[Age: Created 3000 years ago]

[Specialty: Reconstruction]

[Talent: Theft of Reason]

[Background: This creature has lived since humankind began and is one of the main reasons people fear the sea and why humanity has yet to fully conquer it.]

[Weakness: This is merely a part of the giant. You will either need to find the main body or give it wrong food.]

Wrong food? A part of a giant? Reconstruction?

As I wildly pondered, I gazed back at the staircase.

People were plunging into the mouth, Reconstruction, Theft of Reason.

Those words collaborated to conjure one thought in my mind.

Could it be—

—Splash!

The mouth gargled, then ejected something.

Enveloped in slime was something resembling fish eggs.

A thin membrane wriggled, and suddenly a long blade burst forth, tearing through the membrane.

—Swaaargh!

What emerged from the ripped membrane was a creature with half its face shaped like an octopus’s tentacle, gripping what looked like a sharp claw or knife.

Immediately, information appeared above its head.

[Name: X]

[Age: Created moments ago]

[Specialty: X]

[Talent: X]

[Background: Humans created from the deep sea are bound to be horrific.]

[Weakness: It has extremely high durability, requiring great strength to deal with.]

The moment I saw the creature grotesquely standing up, I pulled out my gun and shot it right between the eyes.

—Bang!

The creature’s head jerked back, but undeterred, it lunged toward me, swinging its sharp arm.

“Gah…!”

I quickly rolled backward and grabbed the butane gas I had prepared to shake and open the lid.

—Fwoosh!

“Grah!”

Flames engulfed the creature, and while it screamed, I shouted quickly at Jang Chae Yeon.

“Chae Yeon! Block the staircase for now!”

With urgency, Jang Chae Yeon clenched her fist and extended her arm, and the staircase morphed to trap the people.

Watching the thrashing creature engulfed in flames, I half affirmed my deduction.

The people were losing their minds. And that newly born human-like monster just spat it out.

If my reasoning was correct, what the mouth had expelled was once a human. We couldn’t let more people enter.

—Whoosh!

The flaming creature swung its arm violently, and I quickly dodged back, but a long gash marked my left arm.

“Ugh…!”

Blood splattered as sharp pain shot through my arm.

—Thud!

The monster crashed beyond, and Jang Chae Yeon rushed to my side, checking on me.

“Are you okay?!”

“I’m fine.”

Left arm’s fine—it’s not one I need to use much.

Before we could check on each other, the round mouth opened, revealing its sharp teeth, and it spat out slime.

Jang Chae Yeon hurriedly stretched out her hand to block the slime.

I glanced over at the window.

[Critical: 0]

“Chae Yeon.”

“Yeah.”

With my back to Jang Chae Yeon, I whispered, “I can’t take that mouth down with just one hit.”

“…So the amazing thing you sometimes show won’t work?”

It might seem magical to her.

“That’s right.”

“Then I’ll handle both.”

“No.”

With butane gas in my left hand and a gun in my right, I faced forward.

It’s a fire ban in the engine room, but I suppose it doesn’t matter if it’s something that isn’t technically an engine.

As it approached us, I continued, “I’ll hold the monster; Chae Yeon, you tear that mouth apart.”

“Okay. I’ll tear it apart quickly.”

Buying time was all we needed.

I took aim at the legs of the monster advancing toward me and fired.

—Bang! Bang!

The bullets hit its legs, but the monster showed no reaction and kept coming.

—Whoosh!

I barely dodged the oncoming arm and shot at its torso.

My goal wasn’t to deal damage but to distract it for as long as possible.

I had to keep its attention on me until Jang Chae Yeon could tear its mouth apart.

—Click!

Confirming my last bullet had fallen, I twisted the butane gas canister’s lid and pressed it against the creature’s body, igniting a fire as its body began to burn.

In the meantime, I quickly loaded a new magazine.

—Clink!

A sharp pain throbbed in my left arm, but I ignored it and backed away again, aiming for the monster’s forehead with my gun, firing three shots.

Three bullets sank into its forehead.

Yet, the monster merely twitched and continued advancing towards me.

—Sizzle!

In that moment, something tore, and the head of the monster was sunk into the ground.

—Crash!

“Yikes!”

“I’m done.”

Jang Chae Yeon stood beside me, bleeding from the nose.

“Already?”

“I have a lot of strength.”

“Good. Then…”

“Show me.”

Jang Chae Yeon closed her eyes, and I looked at the monster.

[Coordinates Tear: 3 attempts remaining]

A graph paper unfolded before me, and my gaze turned toward its waist.

There was no need for our conversation.

Jang Chae Yeon stood beside me, clutching her hands, spreading them open as if she were unveiling something.

“Ki… ik…!”

I could see the air compressing. At that moment, her power twisted the space into a spectacular illusion.

—Swaaargh!

The monster’s waist split in two, and green liquid splattered everywhere.

“Ugh… ugh…”

Jang Chae Yeon gasped for breath, her face pale.

Blood dripped from the pool of blood she’d shed on the floor.

“Are you alright?”

“I… used too much strength.”

She seemed dizzy, wobbling but managed to regain her stance.

“I’m okay. Just a bit of rest… and I’ll be fine.”

She paused to catch her breath, and I began wrapping my left arm, which had been grazed, with torn cloth.

This is going to leave a scar.

“…Is it over?”

“I hope so…”

I lifted my gaze to the staircase.

Countless people stared at us with emotionless eyes.

Eyes looking not at us but at our backs.

We both turned to see where their attention lay.

—Splash… splash…

The sound of crashing waves echoed.

From beyond the torn mouth, literally, ‘the sea was visible.’

“…What…”

It felt like gazing at a beach through a window.

And then, I heard a song.

—Creeeak! Creeeak!

The only difference was that it wasn’t the sweet melody I had heard in my dreams but a horrifying sound that penetrated my eardrums.

“Gahhh…!”

“Gah…!”

Jang Chae Yeon covered her ears, and I did the same as we gazed towards the beach.

—Splash!

The tide rolled in,

and once again, the water inundated us.

In the moment of plunging underwater, the howls I had heard earlier echoed like a sweet melody from my dreams.

Even while knowing that this song was the same as the horrifying howl I’d just heard, my body, my soul was irresistibly drawn toward it.

Yeah. Just one more time. Just once more.

As I thought this, a manual floated before my eyes in the water.

[Manual for Office Staff]

[Snap your fingers right now!]

Snap my fingers? Why?

As I pondered this for a moment,

—Crack!

My left pinky bent at a bizarre angle.

“…!”

A horrendous pain surged through me as my bone snapped.

The shock pulled my focus back, and I quickly turned my gaze to the source of pain.

Jang Chae Yeon was reaching out, looking at me.

Her left pinky was also bent at an odd angle.

With fierce determination in her eyes, she looked at me, and I nodded in response.

Soon, her figure seemed to fade away from my sight.

Even if I die, I will die as a human.

My gills sprout, and my lungs vanish.

I was just a fish.

Something was calling me from down below.

I bit my tongue again.

Blood gushed out as if I had managed to fail in controlling my strength, but thanks to that, my mind straightened.

Now it was time to descend, using the fin that was getting a bit familiar.

Because there are things I need to discover.