Chapter 215: Ch 215: Echoes of Rainwater
The Security Team members looked up.
A dark pantry.
From beneath the shadows, the sales representative had fallen to the floor
and was holding his breath. At that moment, he locked eyes with them as
they emerged through portable transport equipment.
"Little one... no."
The one wearing an animal mask drawn like a child’s crayon drawing, a
badger, suppressed his own triggered contamination.
Soon, a calm and businesslike voice followed.
"Employee from Sales Team 4."
"Y-Yes..."
"Identity confirmed. We will now begin calculating the fee."
The sales rep swallowed.
Clad head-to-toe in black uniforms, faces covered, equipped with all sorts
of strange devices, they themselves were like living ghost stories.
Supernatural, unmistakably assigned to special duties. Yet, for a moment,
their presence brought a sense of relief.
Of course, the very next moment, the incomprehensible situation flooded
him with fear again.
"Um, so, what am I supposed to do...?"
As he rolled his eyes, trying desperately to grasp the situation, the sales rep
spotted something.
The Security Team member who followed was carrying a black portable
carrier in his hand.
A metal carrier, seemingly for animal transport.
...Wait a minute.
"Y-You’re not going to put me in there and take me out, are you...?"
"No. Of course not."
Badger gently patted the carrier.
It was a moment of relief for the sales rep.
"There’s already someone inside."
"...Huh?"
"Don’t think too much about it."
The sales rep, who seemed half-crazed by this incomprehensible situation,
looked on as Badger gave a bittersweet smile inwardly.
And then...
"It’s cramped..."
Holding the carrier in one hand, J3 seemed to have little interest in the
situation itself.
Of course, it had been a very long time since he’d been ’out’ for ’work’ not
wearing his security guard uniform.
Though calling it ’out’ was a stretch, considering how cramped their current
location was.
In the meantime, Badger displayed an absurd level of courtesy for a
Security Team member like himself. He announced in a businesslike tone,
"All received details have been confirmed. We will now proceed to..."
"Who is it?"
"Who’s there?"
"...!"
Tadadadadadak.
A sound like raindrops hitting the door gnawed at their nerves.
Fingernails were scraping.
Ten fingertips scratched at the door.
"There’s someone else."
"There’s more."
The voices whispered, as if gasping for breath.
The sound was terrifyingly close. Because...
They were pressing their heads to the gap in the door, whispering through
it.
"Too late."
"It’s too late."
The couple was peering inside.
Into the very room they themselves had locked.
The sales rep felt frozen to the marrow of his bones.
But...
"Are they human?"
"Can’t say..."
The astonishingly calm conversation of the ’Security Team’ came from
right beside him.
"Maybe... they used to be?"
Out of habit, J3 reached to adjust his nonexistent security cap, and instead
patted his mask.
Something like the faded eyes of a beast flashed over it.
Then he carefully set the carrier down on the pantry floor.
Right next to the sales rep.
"Um... Can you wait here...?"
"Y, Yes?"
But it wasn’t directed at the sales rep.
"You alright...?"
...Tap.
The iron bars of the black carrier rattled softly.
As if the animal inside was responding.
"I’ll be... right back. Wait here..."
Tap.
Another response came.
J3 gently touched the carrier, then straightened up.
"Um... if you don’t want to get hurt... stick close to this side, over
here..."
This time, the words were for the sales rep.
"Absolutely... do not handle it carelessly."
"..."
The sales rep swallowed and nodded. And he pressed himself to the side of
the black carrier.
Sensing that this was a form of protection.
...A strange chill radiated from within the carrier.
"Then, we will begin."
Leaving the sales rep behind, the two Security Team members moved to the
pantry door and opened it with force.
"...!!"
Their bodies blocked the view, so he couldn’t see outside, but he heard the
rain get even louder. The sales rep shrank himself as small as possible. He
caught a glimpse of the Security Team members heading outside...
The door closed, and the sound of the rain faded.
Thud.
...
Screeeeech, screeech, scritch.
Something was being ripped apart, the noise was thunderous.
The sales rep, without realizing, gripped the carrier tightly. He did it to
avoid imagining what was happening outside.
The cold kept him alert.
Inside the carrier, something like strange smoke seemed to slither up and
rise...
After a single moment that felt endlessly long.
BOOM.
"...!"
The roaring stopped, and even the rain ceased.
The door opened.
And there were the two Security Team members, standing as if nothing had
happened, checking their equipment...
"Suppression complete."
"...!"
They’re fine.
A faint hope rose in the sales rep’s heart, nearly causing his legs to give out.
Then... can he leave now? The employee got to his feet and looked out the
door.
And in that instant, he understood what ’suppression’ meant.
"Ah— mmf."
He suppressed a scream.
The hallway was slick with moisture.
The wallpaper and floor were soaked, shining with a dark, clammy
reflection like spattered bodily fluids, almost like blood.
And directly opposite the door.
There was the bizarre form of the couple, their bodies twisted and fixed, all
their limbs bent backward and locked in place.
"...!"
As if determined to break and crush every possible means of movement, to
thoroughly prevent any resistance, the two were twisted into monstrous,
centipede-like shapes, each joint pinned in place with colored push pins,
like oversized tacks.
Overwhelming force and violence.
And alongside that, childish school supplies.
From every hole in their faces, fluid was running down, as if displayed on
the dark hallway wall.
Just like his dead superior.
No, even more inhuman.
"..."
"Ah... right. It was a collection job."
Collection?
"Starting with information gathering?"
"Mmh..."
The security team member, gaunt and slow-moving, approached what had
once been the ’couple’, whom he had smashed and pinned in place...
He pulled a push pin from the mouth.
"...!"
"Hey... is there... a child here?"
It was one of the things the sales rep had said into the pager.
A chill ran through his chest.
Even more horrifying, the couple’s mouth opened and began to answer.
"P-Please, help us. Please, help... hicc."
"Answer the question first."
Suddenly.
Tears streamed from their eyes.
"...!"
"The child, the child is in the bathroom."
"That poor child. Please, please help..."
"You’re already trapped, too. It’s too late... please help..."
"..."
The security team member called ’sergeant’ just stared at them.
"What’s upstairs?"
"There’s something evil. Don’t go up. No, you need to run away from
here."
"Maybe you can still escape. Somehow, to the outside..."
"Hmm..."
Pondering, the security team member raised a hand toward them.
And in the next moment.
"...Enough."
...Snap.
With a sound as clear as it was final, the couple’s necks were broken.
The skinny security officer, with one hand on each neck, crushed and
twisted the bones with such bizarre strength, spinning them backward.
With total nonchalance.
...
Did he just.
...
Kill them?
"Ah, we’ve confirmed everything we needed, then."
"Yeah."
"Understood. ...Mr. Caller, you should be all right now. Please hand over
what you’re holding."
His hands trembled.
Something was terribly wrong.
No human could do something like that...
"Mr. Caller?"
The sales rep forced himself to look down at his own hand.
He was holding the sketchbook paper.
And on it, new words appeared.
iM scAred
Truly.
mOnsTer
Suddenly.
The sales rep turned his head.
To the spot right beside the pantry.
The answer the paper had been hinting at all along.
...The place even the dead couple had mentioned.
bAthROom tub
The bathroom.
The sales rep ran—
"No can do."
"...!!"
His head was seized.
Gasping for air, the sales rep looked up and saw, covering his face, a
grotesque and enormous shape.
A beast’s forepaw with countless claws.
"Stay... right here..."
The sales rep blinked. The fear of death left him paralyzed...
He’s going to die.
"Teacher, let go of what’s in your hand! Listen to the rules your
colleague tells you. That’s how you can be the perfect teacher!"
His hand loosened. The sketchbook paper slipped away.
No.
"Should I read it...?"
"No. You’ll get contaminated if you read it, so later..."
The sales rep moved his eyes, the only thing he could control. Run. Where
should he run. Front door, living room, upstairs, window...
’Ah.’
Right.
He could escape through the window!
Why didn’t he think of that? Yes, if he died going out the front, he could go
out the window. He had to escape, escape right now... now!
He struggled, trying to crawl to the window, kicking, pushing at the beast’s
paw with his nails, but nothing worked. He couldn’t give u—
"If you go there... you’ll die."
...
Huh?
"Just stay still..."
"D, Die? Why..."
"Mm. Because... you get closer to the source...?"
The source?
He turned his head.
"You should remember. You said it yourself, Mr. Caller."
What?
"When you reported, you said it... this house felt strange now and then."
"..."
The employee stopped in his tracks.
He remembered what he’d yelled into the pager, the desperate plea for help.
What his superior had said.
"The rain..."
The sales rep looked at the window.
Outside, the rain fell in a steady drizzle...
...
"On rainy days... That’s right..."
The slow, apathetic voice crept chillingly into his ear.
"They say if you open a black umbrella inside the house while it’s still wet,
something will come in... If you leave wet shoes upside down, a ghost will
wear them..."
"Sergeant, is that true?"
"No..."
The sergeant glanced at Badger with eyes devoid of reflection, then
continued in a slow voice.
"Most of it’s just... nonsense..."
"Oh."
– That house feels a little off, especially when it rains.
"But... sometimes... they say things like that can actually cause it to
happen..."
Darkness.
The employee, who had once been a supervisor on the Field Exploration
Team, filled in the word the sergeant didn’t bother to add.
The sergeant’s explanation wasn’t finished.
"And... you know there’s that other story..."
"..."
"When you’re walking with an umbrella in the rain, and you hear a strange
whisper, a voice talking to you from somewhere beyond... Don’t
answer..."
...
"Because it’s not human..."
The sales rep met the sergeant’s eyes.
"Hey, did anyone keep trying to talk to you...?"
At that moment.
"Supervisor Lee?"
The sales rep froze.
"Supervisor Lee, are you there?"
A familiar voice came from the front door.
Knock, knock, knock.
Someone was knocking on the door.
"Supervisor Lee, open the door, will you? What’s going on in there?"
It was...
"Why aren’t you coming out?"
The voice of his dead superior.
Knock, knock, knock, knock.
The body of the assistant manager, whose neck had been twisted and left in
the entryway, had vanished.
Now, only the sound of someone knocking on the door from the other side
echoed beyond the rain...
Accompanied by the assistant manager’s voice.
"Open this up. You need to come out, too."
All strength left the sales rep’s body.
The sergeant released his grip on the employee’s head. With a thud, the
sales rep collapsed to the floor, looking dazed.
’Wow...’
Badger watched this, quietly impressed.
He realized the sergeant’s expertise in exploring Darknesses, concealed
behind that lifeless manner of speaking.
It was the kind of skill the clever youngest member of the D-squad might
have gained after a few more years on the Field Exploration Team...
...No, well. Since they were both now assigned to the Security Team, it was
a meaningless thought. Badger caught himself, thinking he’d almost been
rude.
Meanwhile, the voices multiplied.
"People! There’s people here. Are you alright?"
"Aigoo. This old woman here fell down... Could you help me?"
"...Wait a minute, the grandmother of this house died years ago... Don’t
listen. Something’s wrong here!"
Upstairs, the master bedroom, past the kitchen door...
Voices came from every direction, as if everyone who had ever been in the
house had suddenly regained consciousness after the blackout.
They drew closer and closer...
Along with the sound of rain.
"Where are you?"
"...! Don’t answer the voice from upstairs. There’s no one up there right
now...!"
"Be careful. I think there’s something wrong here..."
Footsteps.
And then.
"Ah, the door opened."
...
"I’m coming. Where are you?"
Even the dead assistant manager.
"...Ugh, huff."
What is this? What’s real?
Which of these is the real monster?
The sales rep tried to review what he’d heard to sort it out, but Badger
grabbed him.
"Ack!"
"Calm down. It’s alrigh— Sergeant?"
In a situation that would make anyone’s heart race with terror, the sergeant
calmly knelt down and spoke into the transport cage.
He addressed whatever was inside the cage.
"What do you think... Does it sound right...?"
Tap.
"Mm. Then... should I do it..."
Tap, tap.
"...Still."
Tap, tap.
"..."
The sergeant fiddled with his mask and reluctantly shuffled aside.
A single tap meant yes, two taps meant no.
Seeing this agreed-upon signal, Badger gave a wry smile beneath his
masked face.
Really, nothing had changed.
"...Then I’ll unlock it now."
Badger approached the transport cage and undid the lock.
Clank.
The metal bars fell away, and the door of the cage opened...
Smoke began to spread across the floor.
And from the hollow darkness of the cage, a whole leg stepped out.
"...!"
A black leg, wearing black work boots.
He knew it was the same uniform as the rest of the Security Team, but
stepping out of the cage, as if walking out through the thick black smoke,
was a bizarre figure with horns.
A tall man, impossible to believe had been crammed in that cage.
"Uh, uhhh..."
The sales rep’s trembling gaze met those yellow eyes.
Recommendation : Do not make eye contact
► Lower your head
► Close your eyes
The employee hurriedly dropped his gaze.
An instinct above panic.
’Don’t keep looking.’
Cold sweat ran down his neck.
But the letters made of smoke continued to follow him.
Recommendation : Do not make eye contact
► Lower your head ⋁ : Correct
► Close your eyes
As if in praise.
And then.
All around, the sound of tearing, like what he’d heard before, began to ring
out.
SCREEEEEECH!
The sound of bursting slime, the sound of wailing...
The Security Team was ’suppressing’ the things that were approaching.
"How is he telling the difference...?"
Between people and monsters.
Or maybe...
’Maybe that man’s not making a distinction at all.’
The sales rep curled up. His heart was pounding so hard it felt like it would
burst out of his chest. He thought he might die...
Just then, the letters in the smoke changed.
As if reacting to his muttered thoughts.
Select which of the following is dangerous.
► The couple
► The sketchbook paper
He want the sales rep to choose?
Reflexively, he opened his mouth.
"Th, The couple!"
Look at those things coming toward them, talking like mad—ghosts, or
whatever they are. That couple must’ve been ghosts too. Definitely!
► The couple ⋁ : Correct
Of course.
Ah, maybe anything that spoke to him in a human voice was dangerous all
along? Is that what it was?
’The couple was dangerous, so don’t be afraid of us, the ones ’subduing’
them...’
Is that what this man is trying to say?
If so, it makes sense. The sales rep, regaining some reason and composure
through this logic, remembered what he needed to do.
’I must’ve been trying to calm myself down after panicking...’
Anyway, these security staff were at least rational beings he could talk to.
If the ’Security Team’ really did come to save him, and if there truly was
another being trapped in this house... the ’younger child’... Then, it was
right to talk more specifically about that. It’s already been mentioned, so he
can do it.
About the writing on the paper that gave him advice.
The employee swallowed with a dry mouth and spoke up.
"Th-the sketchbook paper..."
At that moment.
► The sketchbook paper ⋁ : Correct
"..."
Huh?
But even after looking again, it didn’t change.
Select which of the following is dangerous.
► The couple ⋁ : Correct
► The sketchbook paper ⋁ : Correct
So what this means is...
"Dangerous..."
Both are dangerous.
"...Why?"
Same thing
Absentmindedly repeating that meaning in his head, the sales rep’s mouth
opened of its own accord.
"Then what was I supposed to trust? I mean... what was I supposed to
believe in?"
None.
"..."
On rainy days
Don’t respond carelessly
To unfamiliar voices
Ah.
Recommendation : Do not make eye contact Complete
The sales rep looked up.
But the dark man was no longer in front of him.
"..."
Only a wisp of black smoke remained, exchanging questions and answers
with him.
Almost as if distracting a child’s attention before giving them a shot,
diverting him somewhere else.
To cut off any sudden action.
"..."
Now, the tearing sounds had stopped, and the area was filled with bodies
’fixed’ by the security team, like the couple.
The only consolation was that it was so dark he couldn’t see them clearly.
And... the black smoke.
The sales rep absentmindedly watched the black smoke he’d been
conversing with vanish as if sucked away...
The smoke drifted down the hallway, toward a spot next to the pantry where
they had been trapped...
That was now the only place any noise was coming from.
The bathroom.
From inside, an endless series of horrible screams could be heard.
* * *
I looked at the bathtub in front of me.
Inside, rainwater was echoing as it filled up.
A transparent, deep pool, drawing in and swallowing victims who respond
to its call.
Letters scratched themselves into my mind...
========================
[Echoes of Rainwater]
: The superstition that whispers heard on rainy days are a
call from ghosts, modernized as a power of the Church of
the Luminous Unknown. It is under the Mimicry Sect.
On rainy days, it targets victims who approach the
rainwater pit, luring them by mimicking the appearance
and voices of those previously lost.
In addition, ’speaking’ is used in chillingly broad ways,
including letters, notes, or drawings.
It borrows the form of an either/or lost cause ghost story,
forcing victims to agonize over whom to believe, but in
truth, every option leads to ruin. The victims are toyed
with no matter what, stuck in a ditch.
It twists the human belief that picking the right person
means survival.
========================
However...
This ghost story was deleted for failing to meet wiki
registration standards due to the following reasons :
1- Insufficient connection to the affiliated organization
(Church of the Luminous Unknown).
2- Similar ghost stories already confirmed among
registered disasters under the Supernatural Disaster
Management Bureau.
A discarded ghost story, never formally registered on the wiki.
And my job... is to register this with Daydream Inc.
I looked down at the rainwater in the tub.
...
Still, is this really okay?