Chapter 27: What is a Mermaid
"Can you really do it?" King Chen asked, his voice laced with a healthy dose of skepticism.
"Don't worry," Kaguya declared, waving a dismissive hand. "It's just fixing a video player. A piece of cake!"
Without another word, she grabbed a screwdriver and began to dismantle the machine. Casing parts were soon scattered across the table, only to be haphazardly reassembled. Whenever she encountered a part that wouldn't quite fit, Kaguya simply picked up a small hammer and began to "bang, bang, bang" it into place with brute force. The sight made everyone's hearts leap into their throats, a cold dread seeping into their bones.
It's over.
It's completely scrapped now.
Gazing at the video player, which now resembled an unrecognizable heap of junk, a collective sense of sorrow washed over the group.
To their utter astonishment, however, Kaguya pushed the barely-held-together contraption forward and clapped her hands, a triumphant look on her face.
"Done. It should be fine for temporary use."
Under a barrage of doubtful stares, she pressed the play button.
The player first emitted a piercing, metallic screech. The screen flickered violently a few times before, against all odds, a blurry black-and-white image materialized. It was, indeed, the promotional video for the Mermaid Pension.
Just as they had anticipated, the footage showed a mermaid performing inside a giant, transparent fish tank.
No.
That couldn't be called a mermaid at all.
From a distance, it might have fooled the eye, but as the camera zoomed in, everyone couldn't help but gasp. It was clearly a monster, a human being who had been artificially twisted and deformed.
Its eyes were swollen and protuberant, like those of a dead fish. Its legs had been fused together into a grotesque mockery of a fishtail. Its arms had been surgically sewn to the sides of its waist, pinned tightly against its body. The creature's entire form was a flushed, raw red; the so-called fishtail was just skin—long, trailing flaps of skin that drifted limply in the water.
It was a bizarre, horrifying spectacle.
The sight was even more shocking than the skinless corpse they had discovered at the guesthouse entrance. A wave of nausea rolled through the room. The newcomer from before couldn't help but dry heave again, his stomach empty and convulsing.
"A bunch of perverts!" King Chen suddenly slammed his fist on the table, his face contorted with rage as he watched the excited expressions of the audience in the video.
Haruto spoke faintly, his voice a calm counterpoint to the group's horror. "They were willing to come all the way out to this remote little guesthouse. Nine times out of ten, it was specifically for this freak show. You couldn't expect them to be normal people."
"Then aren't they afraid of divine retribution?"
"Retribution?" Haruto scoffed lightly. "Even if there are gods watching from on high, even if the Underworld really has a Yama to judge the injustices of the human world, even if they truly face punishment in their next life... do you think they would believe it?"
Haruto was fairly certain there was no Underworld in this world. At the very least, it definitely wasn't connected to the one he knew.
If it were...
Given Shikieiki's personality, she would never allow ghosts and monsters to plague the mortal realm, let alone permit them to linger in one place for so long that their resentment festered into something this deep.
The rest of the video was even more grotesque.
Since it was a performance, it couldn't just be about watching a "mermaid" struggle to swim in circles. In the footage, excited tourists would occasionally toss live fish into the tank. They would watch as the mermaid was forced to hunt them down and eat them raw—blood, entrails, and all—just like a real fish.
At the slightest hint of disobedience, a whip covered in sharp thorns would lash out, tearing cruelly into its skinless flesh. The creature would twitch and writhe in the water, its silent agony a source of entertainment for the crowd.
Haruto's brow furrowed tightly. Even through the grainy screen, he could clearly perceive the deep, bottomless resentment burning in the mermaid's eyes.
Could those tourists not see it?
No. It wasn't that they couldn't see it.
It was that they didn't care. They didn't care about a mere plaything at all.
The video skipped to a new scene.
This time, the setting was a pitch-black room. The mermaid was crawling on the ground, gazing "affectionately" at a storybook as the camera zoomed in.
It was a children's book about mermaids. The cover was wrinkled and old, with a piece missing from the bottom right corner. It had clearly been flipped through countless times, yet the warm, vibrant colors were still visible beneath the grime.
A fairy tale?
Everyone's attention was immediately drawn to the book, their eyes burning with a sudden intensity.
Without a doubt, this was the key to breaking the curse. Ghostly entities were almost always formed from the lingering obsessions they held in life. Even if they possessed intelligence, they often found it impossible to break away from that core concept.
If they could find that storybook, their chances of survival would increase tenfold.
"Young man," King Chen said, turning to look at Haruto. "Have you seen this book?"
"No." Haruto's gaze slowly swept over everyone present, finally landing on Liu Cangzhen, the man who had been so argumentative earlier.
The other man's face was a blank mask, as if he were deliberately suppressing any and all emotion. Noticing Haruto's stare, he couldn't help but snap.
"What are you looking at me for? I didn't provoke you, did I?"
"Nothing," Haruto replied, his tone as casual as if he were discussing what to have for dinner. "I just feel like beating you up."
He then gently pushed Yotsuya Miko forward.
"Go! Miko! Give him a beating!"
Miko stumbled a few steps, coming to a halt exactly five paces from Liu Cangzhen. At some point, a reddish-brown brick had been shoved into her hand.
She looked back at Haruto in utter disbelief, pointing at herself with wide eyes that screamed, 'Are you serious?'
Haruto simply nodded, giving her an encouraging look.
Seeing this, Liu Cangzhen actually felt a wave of relief. When he first heard the guy wanted to beat him up, he had been genuinely startled. Whether it was Haruto or that pretty girl in the princess dress, they were both certifiable psychos. But this girl in front of him... she seemed normal.
Liu Cangzhen had no intention of fighting; getting injured now would drastically decrease his chances of survival. He silently retreated behind Liu Wensong.
Liu Wensong looked at Haruto, his expression awkward. "Isn't it a bit much to have internal strife right now? This is a team game. Let's talk about everything else once we find a way out and confirm our safety."
The others all nodded in agreement, and even King Chen spoke up to persuade him. Seeing the consensus, Haruto didn't persist. After all, he had only intended to scare the guy a bit.
"Except for the abnormalities in the water room, we've basically searched the entire first floor. There's only a small area left unchecked."
"Then, did you find any food?" King Chen inquired.
"No. Even if there was, unless it was something like canned goods that can be preserved long-term, it would have gone bad after more than a decade. What about you guys upstairs?"
"Nothing on the second or third floors either." King Chen looked somewhat disappointed. "Let's head to the beach, then. But we need to leave a few people to finish searching the remaining areas and guard this place, just in case."
"Should we find something to cover that well in the water room?" someone suggested.
Liu Wensong immediately countered, "Since the mermaid can move around the guesthouse, it won't necessarily only come in through the well. If covering a well could stop a ghost, this would be too simple. That's absolutely impossible." After a moment's thought, he added, "However, there's no harm in covering it, so let's do it. There's no need to block the door; even if we do, it can still come in through the windows."
King Chen nodded. "Let's do that then. Who wants to stay?"
"I will," Liu Cangzhen was the first to speak. Immediately after, the tall woman from King Chen's team raised her hand.
Haruto glanced at Kaguya. The moment their eyes met, she raised her hand without a second's hesitation.
"Good, three people are enough," King Chen said, finalizing the arrangements. "The rest of us will go to the beach to see if we can get some seafood to stave off our hunger."
The remaining people had no objections.
The seven people heading out were divided into three groups. Every two people carried a bucket as they walked toward the beach together.
Perhaps because it was daytime, the sea didn't look as eerie as it had the previous night. Waves gently lapped against the shore, and the occasional cry of a seagull made the scene feel almost peaceful and serene.
"I used to watch those streamers catching crabs, hauling in octopuses, and sprinkling salt to catch razor clams every day. I never expected I'd actually get to experience it myself..." Haruto sighed with emotion, walking at the front of the group and looking around.
Yotsuya Miko followed close behind, occasionally responding. Her gaze was constantly scanning the beach, and whenever she saw something alive, she would quickly scoop it into their bucket.
"Why didn't Kaguya-san come with us? Is she worried someone might secretly hide clues?" Miko felt that the guesthouse wasn't any safer than the beach. Leaving only three people behind might actually make them easier targets.
"Yes, but that's not all." Haruto moved a large rock, and several crabs scurried out from underneath. He excitedly threw them into the bucket one by one.
Yotsuya Miko thought for a moment and asked, "Haruto-san, are you saying... that fairy tale book from the video is actually in that guy's hands?"
She connected Haruto's bizarre action of pushing her forward earlier with the current situation. A spark of understanding lit up her golden eyes, quickly followed by a rush of excitement.
"He volunteered to stay because he knows where the fairy tale book is hidden. Kaguya-san stayed to keep an eye on him, and when you pushed me out earlier, you were actually indirectly reminding everyone that he's a problem and is hoarding a key item."
Yotsuya Miko's eyes grew brighter and brighter. The more she pieced it together, the more she felt that Haruto was simply amazing.
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