Clearing the Game at the End of the World

The next morning.

Looking at the two men who were preparing to leave the shelter, Gyosu let out a deep sigh.

“…Sorry.”

“Tch. Is that meant to be some kind of sarcastic joke? Don’t worry. I caused this mess, so I’ll take responsibility even if it means I’ll die doing so.”

“No, no, I’m not being sarcastic. It’s a genuine apology. I’ve lived by myself for so long that I was thinking completely wrong. Information that’s familiar to me could be completely new to you guys. I want to use my busy schedule as an excuse, but I forgot that obvious truth.”

“Whatever the reason, it’s still a fact that we made a mistake while you were gone. We hold the responsibility, me specifically, for shooting the guy in the first place. A letter on the table with a few drops of my blood, a bio-identification code, and a password. If something goes wrong…”

“Oh, that. I burned that this morning.”

“What? Why?!”

“What do you mean, why? What did you think we were doing, going to write a will? That’s bad juju.”

“Didn’t you say… we would take responsibility for triggering the monster? Aren’t we going to kill it?”

“Kill? The Old Picture? How will we kill a guy who doesn’t go down even with a dozen anti-tank missiles? We can’t kill it, and we don’t have to. It said on the Community that the Dome would take action, so they’ll have everything somewhat set up. We just need to calm down the guy.”

“Uh… Hepburn? I think calming that monster down is much harder than killing it… How in the world are we going to do that?”

To Vex and Ian’s questioning looks, Gyosu threw them a box he took from the corner of the shelter’s storage and spoke.

“We’ll have to play along with its delusions.”

Inside the box, Gyosu threw a bunch of dusty clothes from the old times.

And so, while they took off their firearms and changed into the old clothes, Gyosu listened to the whole situation from Vex and realized that he also had a large part in this situation as well.

Actually, the two had read the Area 47 guidebook that Gyosu gave them. The problem was that the guide Gyosu had made was written on paper the size of his palm and was filled to the brim with tiny lettering, making it incredibly difficult to read.

‘That was the guide I made during my early Area 47 days, after all.’

Things had improved in the past several months, but Gyosu originally hadn’t been living what you would call a leisurely lifestyle. He had a lot of things to write down and remember, but these damned Wastelands made it hard to get even a single clean sheet of paper.

As time passed and he got more accustomed to the Wasteland life, the amount of information he had to write down on the guide only increased, and under the assumption that he was going to be the only one reading it, he wrote the new notes in between the large, neat lettering on the previous notes instead of writing on a new paper.

‘It was my third time writing over it when I put in the information about the Type 3 mutants. It was probably written like scribbles between the larger print. It would have been weirder for them to think that was important.’

Squeeze—

“Ugh, Gyosu, do you happen to have bigger-sized pants?”

“Those are the largest sizes of old clothes we have here. We don’t have lots of options, just wear that. Vex, how about you? Does everything fit all right?”

“Yeah, it’s all good. By the way, I’m really sorry, Hepburn. I read that thing repeatedly, so I thought I understood everything, but after seeing it…”

“You absolutely do not need to apologize. It’s completely understandable to react that way if it’s your first time meeting Old Picture.”

Even with the state of the notes, Vex read the notes as thoroughly as possible. After all, he knows the importance of information. And with his attention to detail, he probably picked out the smaller notes too.

‘But the problem is that knowledge about Type 3 mutants isn’t something you can apply just by reading instructions. I was a solo survivor that usually stayed home and scavenged near my base, so there were a lot of chances for me to use the Community, but Ian was out busy doing business, and Vex was a Scavenger and didn’t even have a pod. It’s only natural for them to think it’s not that dangerous when the only description I wrote down for ‘The’ Old Picture is [Safe if not provoked, act like the Old Times].’

Their expectations of Area 47 being famous for being safe probably also played a part in loosening their guard.

But what? They came to this place after hearing that it had frolicking monsters, but instead, they met a monster that even the Devil would beg mercy for.

“….When you first met Old Picture, were you riding on something?”

“Um… We were just looking around, so we took the Buggy since it takes less gas.”

“I knew it. No wonder it was interested in you guys.”

The exterior of Old Picture, simply put, was a monster you would expect to see in a Lovecraftian horror film.

Countless pairs of shoes in all sorts of colors and sizes covered its massive lump of pale skin-like scales, and in front of that lump of flesh and shoes were three intricate-looking dolls that looked almost human, swinging their arms around and held by their heads, and above that were eyes without eyelids and a mouth without lips.

It would be impossible not to freak out when something like that is chasing after you. Not to mention, Old Picture shoots out something similar to psychic waves that make the people around it nervous.

They met this monster for the first time in a place they came to for the first time, and it happens to look like it took a detour on the way to hell.

It would have been difficult for Vex and Ian to believe that Old Picture was safe. Of course, the guide said they were safe. What if it was feeling grumpy today? What if the scale of faith was tipping toward their demise?

To a Wastelands person, survival is an instinct. Since Old Picture’s exterior was too grotesque to be relieved with one note that said ‘safe’, it was natural for the two people, who followed the motto “shot or get shot,” to turn on their survival mode the moment they faced Old Picture.

“Let’s see… How’s this? Do I look like an Old Times person now?”

“You look fine, but Vex should change.”

“What? I’m fine. Don’t you think you’re the one who needs to change, Jaw? You look like a pervert with all the lumpy parts around your body.”

Gyosu looked at Ian, who was wearing tight leather pants and a checkered shirt, and Vex, who wore a denim jacket with matching denim pants, and nodded.

This is good enough. It’s weird, but it’s weird in an Old Time way.

Gyosu took out some ripped jeans, a shirt, and a leather jacket with familiarity, then pushed the two men who looked slightly uncomfortable towards the entrance after putting them on.

“Let’s head out if everyone’s ready. If it’s just been a day, we still have some time left, but there might be an unknown factor.”

“Uh… Can’t we get armed too? I know we’re doing something different this time, but I’m a little nervous going out without taking a single gun…”

“You can take it and hide it under the seats, just don’t hold it out in the open.”

“Which car are we going to take?”

After thinking briefly about Ian’s question, Gyosu snapped his fingers as if he had just gotten a great idea.

“That armored truck, it’s full of your goods, right?”

“Huh? Ah, yeah. It’s exactly how we left it back when that Ezel guy came to inspect us.”

“Nice. Then let’s take that. It’ll be of use to us. I’ll tell you guys the rest on the way there.”

After giving the two the smallest masks he had, Gyosu pushed them into the car as he thought to himself. He’ll use this chance to teach these two how Area 47 operates properly.

Vrrrrrrrrrrm—

“Take a left here. Do you see the alleyway with the red flag? Go that way and park the car for a moment.”

“Hm? Weren’t we going towards the central area?”

“We still have some time, so we might as well use the chance we’re dressed like this to learn about Area 47.”

Skree—

After parking the car, Gyosu pointed at the red flag as he spoke.

“Now, like I said multiple times before, Area 47 is the safest Area around this region. Although my house is near the outskirts, so the effects feel weaker, the closer we get to the central area, its safety is almost like the inside of the Dome.”

“Yeah, I read that in the guide you wrote.”

“Good. Then think about this. Since this is a safe area, the people in Area 47 must live longer than the others, right?”

“Right.”

“Living in a hellhole like this, do you think living longer lets you see more good things or bad things?”

“Uh…. a lot more bad things? Probably?”

Gyosu clicked his finger at Vex’s small peep from the back.

“Correct. Living longer in the Wastelands isn’t as good as it sounds. Even lucky people like us are mostly battling through pain and loneliness daily. So once everyone reaches about 40 or so, almost everyone commits suicide or goes mad and joins the Psycho Gang. Because of that, Area 47 has overwhelmingly more members of the Psycho Gang compared to the other Areas.”

It was a sort of side effect of the combination of a safe area and the Wastelands’ nature. The more Area 47 became safer, the average lifespan of the people increased. So unlike other Areas where people died before they went crazy, many people in Area 47 survived until they went crazy, and as a result, there were many members of the Psycho Gang in the Area.

“That red flag is a sign that the Psycho Gang is living up ahead.”

“What? They just marked them instead of killing them? Are they strong? So much so that not even the Dome can get rid of them?”

“No, I heard they know how to fight, but not that much. I’ll show you why they left Psycho Gang’s [Cannibal Chef Chef Cook] alive, so follow along closely. But don’t do anything. Don’t even open your mouth, and don’t act aggressively no matter what. Leave the gun.”

“Not even a pistol? I won’t get caught.”

“You’re already thinking of using it! Go put it away right now!”

Rustle—

“Vex, leave your knife too. Just… leave all weapons here.”

“B—but the Psycho Gang I’ve seen just saw us as meat…”

“These guys are also pretty wacky, but in a little different way. Don’t talk from now on, and just move your eyes. If anything happens, show them this.”

After handing each of them a small, shiny piece of green paper, Gyosu walked towards the inner area of the alleyway with the flag. At the end of the dreary alley was a building with only a neon sign in the area. The entire restaurant let out a different aura than its surroundings, with the glass front wall enabling them to see the people inside moving busily about.

[Chef Cook’s Pizza House]

“Pizza… House?”

“Yeah. From now on, we aren’t Wasteland survivors but customers who came to order pizza. Think of it as practice before entering Old Picture’s territory.”

“Uh… Is that some kind of symbolic expression? Like how they will cut us up like pizza slices… or spray our blood out like pizza sauce?”

“Nope. That’s an actual pizza shop. And a famous one at that. Even the high-class Dome people always line up to get a taste of it. The unique thing about it is that the Psycho Gang runs it.”

“There’s still a pizza house… in this trash bin of a world? And a normal-looking one at that?”

“That’s why he’s crazy. I’ll tell you the details after you guys look around inside.”

Dragging the two anxious men through the dim alleyway, Gyosu brightly opened the crooked door to the pizza shop.