A Survival Guide for a Counselor in the Apocalypse Chapter 40

Chapter 40

 

—

Yes, adventurer. I will give you six tickets.

—

 

Lee Hoin’s ticket came out first.

The ticket booth paused for a moment at my selection, then soon handed mine over.

 

—

Yes, adventurer… I will give you three tickets.

—

 

Three tickets.

Lee Hoin looked at me, frowning.

“What is it this time?”

“Something feels off. I think the correct answer is six. At least, since we’re not dead right now, it’s not an immediately fatal choice. But… what if there’s another correct answer?”

In the first place, this wasn’t a multiple-choice test with a single correct answer. If there was a better option, you just picked that.

Lee Hoin looked even more uneasy at my expression.

‘Even if you step on a landmine, the ones who survive will survive. The ones who die will die, even if they pick the option that avoids it.’

For now, there didn’t seem to be any disadvantage. I took the ticket and stepped forward. The ticket was shaped like a long bracelet, meant to be worn on the wrist.

Lee Hoin, now wearing six bracelets, and I, wearing three, stood side by side.

 

—

You may now proceed.

May fortune follow your path, adventurers.

—

 

At the same time, both our gazes turned toward the amusement park.

With a heavy creak, the massive gate opened, and beyond it…

“…What is this?”

A vast fantasy unfolded.

Six pairs of rainbows, a dazzling and radiant space, and massive lights that acted as six suns illuminated everything.

 

—

[A beautiful place.]

—

 

Even the narrator acknowledged it without resistance.

The citizens of ‘6’ looked at us and smiled brightly.

 

—

Welcome!

Welcome!

—

 

Most of them had six of something on their bodies. People with six noses, six eyes, six mouths, six arms, six legs…

In short, something was always in six.

“…This is kind of…”

They were the most grotesque things in what should have been a perfect, fantastical fairy-tale world.

 

—

[Perhaps even this could be considered aesthetics.]

[Standards of beauty differ by species and culture, after all.]

—

 

That wasn’t wrong. And that made it even more irritating.

 

—

Try this attraction!

Over here! This one is more fun!

—

 

Whatever the case, we had to ride the attractions. The citizens of ‘6’ stood at each doorway, waving.

Dozens… no, hundreds… of gazes were fixed on us.

I turned my head and searched for something familiar. The attractions that Sa Jaeheon had briefly mentioned.

‘The first one is.’

A simple attraction.

 

—

Oh! You’ve come here!

—

 

A citizen of ‘6’ with six ears stepped aside from the doorway, as if to show us the words written above it.

 

—

[House of the Traitor]

—

 

House of the Traitor.

We were in the right place.

This attraction was about finding the “traitor” hiding inside the house. And if you tore up the floor where the traitor was hiding, there would be a “mystery.”

‘The mystery here…’

It was a bit disgusting, but useful. Anyway, once you leave this place, the hallucination would break, and you’d be able to see it properly.

 

—

Our attraction is very simple!

This house belongs to a “traitor”…

A rebel who dared to defy the King….

Will you capture the rebel hiding deep inside?

Alive or dead… it doesn’t matter.

—

 

I nodded.

The citizen of ‘6’ smiled brightly and opened the door.

Inside was pitch black. So dark you couldn’t see an inch ahead.

 

—

It’s not very large. However, as you can see, it is quite dark.

We are used to the light of six suns and six moons, so we cannot see well in darkness like this.

Do you understand why they are a traitor?

They broke all the light bulbs; there should be at least six!

—

 

Lee Hoin frowned at the complete darkness.

“Is this okay?”

“Once our eyes adjust, we should be able to make things out.”

Maybe it only seemed pitch black because the outside was so bright.

That’s what I thought. Even Sa Jaeheon had navigated this place without any special abilities.

Slowly, I stepped inside.

 

—

Be careful not to be consumed by the darkness!

—

 

Lee Hoin followed in after me.

Click.

The door shut.

Total darkness.

Inside it, we wrapped the ends of a rope around each other’s wrists.

“Tell me what you feel. There’s a wooden wall here.”

“I don’t feel anything yet. Still moving forward.”

“Then I must be at the end of the wall.”

The rope suddenly pulled taut, and Lee Hoin stopped.

“It’s a wall.”

I nodded.

“Move forward slowly.”

I walked forward as well. My fingertips only felt the wooden wall.

Then suddenly, I touched something protruding… like a pillar.

“Wait. This is a pillar. Then… this might be the center of the house. If it’s the center after six steps…”

That meant the space was about twelve steps across for two adult men. Not very large.

“So there might be rooms.”

In a place like this, there definitely would be. Sa Jaeheon had found a room here, too. Somewhere in a room, he had found the traitor.

The problem was not knowing which room.

I kept moving along the wall. Then suddenly, the wall ended, and I touched something like a doorframe.

“There’s a door here.”

At the same time, Lee Hoin said:

“There’s a doorknob.”

I felt around and found one as well.

That meant there were two doors.

‘Our eyes should be adjusting by now…’

But the darkness was too deep. I couldn’t see anything at all. Whether intentional or just how this attraction worked, even the narrator’s window wasn’t visible.

Normally, it was so noisy.

I sighed.

“There’s a door here too.”

“Let’s go there.”

I nodded and gently tugged the rope. Lee Hoin followed it toward me.

“About six steps.”

“Really small.”

With adult strides, about 12 steps long and 6 steps wide.

“We’ll finish this quickly.”

I grabbed the doorknob and tried to open it, but it only rattled… it was locked.

Lee Hoin grabbed my arm, found the doorknob, and smashed it down with brute force.

Bang!

Creak…

This is why having a strong body matters. If your body’s strong, your head doesn’t have to work as hard.

Lee Hoin entered first, and I followed behind, feeling my way forward.

This room was even smaller than the previous space.

About five steps by five.

We searched thoroughly, but found nothing. Just furniture and the floor.

So we returned to the other door Lee Hoin had found.

That door was already open.

That room was also small. But unlike the previous one, it was filled with more objects.

Instead of beds and furniture, my hand touched something like a large jar.

Feeling around, I found a lid.

I opened it slightly and reached inside.

The moment my fingertips touched something, I frowned.

Something was…

“Lee Hoin, there’s something in here.”

“What?”

Holding the rope, Lee Hoin came over and rummaged inside without hesitation.

Soon, from inside a jar about the size of a large container. big enough to fit a person, he pulled his hand out.

“Hey, there’s something–”

“What is it?”

Before I could reach in, he put his hand back in and pulled something out.

Clatter. Rustling.

 

—

Please spare me, please spare me.

Don’t do this, please don’t.

Please spare me.

Don’t do this.

—

 

In the darkness, I carefully felt what Lee Hoin had grabbed.

A brief silence passed.

…It was a person.

Clearly moving their mouth as if speaking something, yet nothing could be heard, nothing seen.

 

—

The traitor of this land.

“…For now, hold onto this person.”

—

 

Saying that, I pushed the jar aside. Despite its size, it was surprisingly light.

I moved it and felt the floor beneath.

One part of the floor was sunken.

Amid sticky liquid, there was a small box.

I shook off my hand and picked up the box.

I felt around a bit more inside.

Nothing remained except the sticky liquid, slightly lower in level now.

Whatever it was, it smelled sour and metallic.

It didn’t feel pleasant.

In the end, we went outside.

The moment we stepped out, the narrator’s windows appeared in front of me, as if they had always been there.

 

—

[It’s dark! It seems the narrator can no longer be seen by the speaker….]

[Ah, nothing there? Nothing in the bedroom? Perhaps you should have searched more thoroughly? You might have gotten a sharp surprise?]

[The jar! How classic!]

[Hmm, what could this liquid be?]

—

 

Amid the flood of windows, a citizen of ‘6’ clapped their hands.

 

—

You weren’t consumed by the darkness!

Wonderful, thank you!

You’ve finally captured the traitor!

Ah, how hideous.

—

 

‘The traitor’ continued moving their mouth silently.

With three of their six eyes missing.