Of course, what lay before me was fundamentally different from Liam Moore. While it was clear this thing was the same that possessed Herschel, it didn’t feel like Liam at all. If I had to describe the difference… it was like the distinction between moving a real body and mimicking its appearance—a difference between real and fake.
This was not Liam Moore.
Upon reaching that conclusion, my heart began to pound wildly. Clutching the door handle, ready to leap from the carriage, I demanded, “Who are you?”
Its gaze landed on me.
Empty eyes devoid of emotion or soul, a pair of unfocused, glass-like eyes.
“Ja…ne…”
A warning voice, garbled and barely intelligible due to static, reached my ears. It was undoubtedly El’s voice.
I finally realised that the intermittent crackling sounds I had been hearing were all El’s warnings. From the moment I boarded the carriage, he had been trying to alert me.
The ring on my finger started to heat up. If only it had reacted sooner! I might have sensed something was wrong. It had meticulously hidden its presence while mimicking Liam Moore’s shell so perfectly that I truly believed it was him.
It continued to stare at me, an overwhelming sense of fear washing over me. I heard that drumbeat again, one I had thought forgotten, or believed I would never hear again.
Thud… Thud… Thud….
The carriage showed no signs of stopping. If anything, it was accelerating in time with the drumbeats. The rhythm of the drums quickened, now almost faster than my heartbeat.
Could horses even run this fast?
I turned to look outside. It was dark. It shouldn’t be; it was just after 3 PM, so the landscape shouldn’t look like this.
“Could it be…”
A foreboding thought crossed my mind.
“Driver! Stop the carriage! Right now!”
I half-leaned out of the window, shouting. But even after pounding on the carriage’s roof, there was no response. And then… I saw why the driver couldn’t respond.
A skeleton with no flesh hung limply in the driver’s seat, slowly disintegrating into the air. The horse leading us wasn’t even recognizable as such anymore. A beast with glowing red eyes ran madly down the street, foam frothing from its mouth.
An eerie silence blanketed the streets. This wasn’t the world I knew. It felt as if the whole world had been turned upside down. Misty London streets, empty and desolate, filled only with the sound of galloping hooves.
I distinctly remember seeing this scene before. When was it?
The thing that mimicked Liam Moore’s form didn’t stop me from doing anything but watched me intently with each move I made.
Snowflakes started to fall.
Ah, at the very beginning, the moment I was stabbed in the neck and died. I remembered that street devoid of any carriages.
Then, I felt my strength leaving my body. It was strange. Why was I so sleepy? I tried to fight it, but soon my knees buckled. My senses dulled. I felt something flowing through my veins.
I felt myself being caught and laid down by something. The figure in the carriage, that shape, quietly held my arm and looked into my face.
This dizziness and numbing sensation, the relentless sleepiness—I recognized this.
This was,
“Opi… um… tinct… ure…”
I forced the words out with a groan, peeling my lips apart.
The thing with Liam Moore’s form looked at me with an indifferent expression, seemingly intent on watching me lose consciousness.
My breathing slowed. Darkness encroached on my vision.
I couldn’t deny it. I lost consciousness.
＊ ＊ ＊
Regaining consciousness was a slow and painful process.
I wasn’t tolerant to drugs, so I had to lie there, helpless, until this dreadful feeling completely dissipated. It felt like I was being forcibly pulled back to awareness from a very deep place.
When my vision cleared, the first thing I saw was a stone ceiling.
‘Where am I?’
I saw stone walls with oil lamps embedded in them. The atmosphere felt like a tomb. Specifically, it felt like the catacombs I had seen in a travel magazine once. That kind of dampness hung in the air.
Despite the eerie silence, I wasn’t alone. I could hear countless breathing sounds around me. Wheezing breaths.
I struggled to sit up, feeling like a ragdoll.
The first thing I saw were countless stone beds. People lay on them, eyes closed, hands neatly placed on their chests as if dead. I was one of them, but for some reason, I was the only one who had woken up.
An incense burner stood in the middle of the hallway, continuously emitting smoke, preventing people from regaining consciousness. My head felt heavy. If I inhaled more of it, I would surely pass out again, so I rolled off the stone bed.
The floor seemed to undulate in layers. I dry-heaved for a while.
Where did I take that opium tincture? Although it was used medicinally until the early 19th century, by now its addictive and dangerous properties were well known, and it was no longer prescribed except for terminal illnesses.
No, no. This wasn’t the time to think about such things. I needed to get out of here. I steadied my mind and began to walk.
“I have to get out of here.”
I breathed desperately. The thought of escaping sharpened my focus. I quickly searched my pockets and pulled out my notebook. It seemed my captors had confiscated all my belongings except this notebook, which fortunately stayed with me. It was my anchor to this world, a vital link.
Save. I checked the most recent save slot. This morning. The conversation with Liam Moore in the morning. I had to go back. I shouldn’t be here. My instincts screamed that getting involved in this place was dangerous.
[Loading….]
I opened my eyes.
That familiar scent filled my nose.
The first thing I saw was the stone ceiling.
A white error message flashed before my eyes.
[ERROR! Loading cannot be performed in this area.]
No way. That can’t be. It had never failed before. Why was this feature blocked now? Is this like a GPS signal? Does it not work indoors or underground?
‘Try again.’
I desperately wanted to believe it would work this time.
[ERROR! Loading cannot be performed in this area.]
[ERROR! Loading cannot be performed in this area.]
[ERROR! Loading cannot be performed in this area.]
In the end, I gave up relying on the system’s power.
If loading was impossible, I was in real danger. If I died here, I might die for real, without any chance of revival. What would happen if I died without seeing the end? I wasn’t particularly eager to find out.
I started walking, dragging my heavy body. There was a door at the end of the hallway. Perhaps thinking that the people inside wouldn’t regain consciousness, it wasn’t locked. A continuous black stone wall stretched out underground. I saw no more rooms.
“It’s okay.”
I muttered to myself several times, as if to reassure myself. It’s okay. This is just a game. It’ll be fine.
I began to walk cautiously. My breathing sounded too loud. It seemed I was scared.
About halfway through, the path split. On my way here, I hadn’t seen a single person, not even an insect. That was a bit strange. To kidnap so many people, they must have needed a lot of manpower.
‘If I can get to a place where I can use the notebook, that’d be good.’
If not, finding an exit would be my next goal.
I didn’t know how many hours had passed. Without my pocket watch, I had no way of telling the time. I kept walking.
The black stone walls turned into dirt walls, and at some point, they transformed into catacomb walls embedded with skulls. Those walls held grotesque stone carvings. Their expressions were desperate, as if trying to escape from the stone, their dynamic poses compelling my attention.
I didn’t know why it happened at that moment. Suddenly, a message appeared before my eyes.
[Run.]