Chapter 37 - Velora Art Museum [2]
There was nothing at first.
For the first few seconds, the painting appeared completely normal. The silence around me deepened as I focused on the lady in white, standing at the center of the canvas, her umbrella obscuring her face.
Without a doubt, she was the key to this scenario.
She was the key to this. I just needed to resist a little longer, gather every shred of information I could, and prepare for whatever came next.
I took a slow, steady breath.
I can do this.
I can do this.
I can...
"....!?"
"Hihihihi~"
The giggling echoed through the room, soft and cheerful, like the laugh of a little girl. The sound shattered the silence, making my heart race and my focus sharpen.
I kept my eyes fixed on the painting. Nothing had changed, not yet.
But I knew I wasn't imagining it. Without realizing it, my palm began to tense, fingers curling as I held my breath.
"Hihihihi~"
The giggling continued, closer now. It made my stomach churn.
I didn't move. I kept my gaze steady, trying to ignore the noise.
But—
"Hihihihi~"
The giggle was right next to me now. My body went stiff as the hair on the back of my neck stood up.
No, more than that...
'I feel someone standing next to me!'
Creak—
The floor creaked at the weight of its presence.
"Hihihi~"
My hands shook at the realization. Almost by instinct, I turned my head in the direction of the giggle, but I just barely managed to resist the temptation as my ears tickled and the giggle grew closer to my ear, almost whispering into them.
My grip tightened around my phone.
"...Are you not going to look?"
A voice, soft and quiet, whispered in my ear. My whole body froze.
I felt like puking in that moment, and as my eyes turned slightly in the direction of the presence next to me, I felt a change coming from the painting.
It took everything I had to keep my eyes on the painting. But just for half a second, my eyes turned in the direction of the presence.
That was when it happened.
The woman in white, who had been still and distant, suddenly moved. She dashed toward me, impossibly fast, her hand reaching out toward me as the painting itself began to warp, bending in the shape of her outstretched hand.
"....!?"
I gasped, nearly leaping back. But just as I shifted my gaze back to the painting, the hand froze, hovering inches from my face. Every part of me trembled, locked in place as a wave of fear surged through me.
What... was happening?
"Hihihihi~"
The giggling echoed again, now on my left. I felt something brush my cheek.
It was cold.
"Why won't you look at me?"
My heart pounded, my eyes stinging as I fought not to look away.
'How much time has passed?'
Every second dragged on, each one more agonizing than the last. I could now see why this was rated as a 'Second Order' quest.
This was a clear step up from what I had previously experienced, besides the first trial.
"Just give me a little bit of attention. It's hot outside. I don't like the heat. I want to stay inside and play. Just like now~"
The voice continued to whisper in my ear, the sound growing softer with each second.
Though fear had completely gripped my body, my mind was still able to think.
I listened to her voice and every word.
I knew that the clues were all there.
"...You're not a mean person, right? You will play with me, right?"
The seconds ticked, and the voice grew softer and softer.
In the meantime, I moved my attention away from the hand and towards the lady in the painting.
'Lady?'
Taking a closer look now, I finally saw that it wasn't a lady. With the umbrella no longer covering her face, I could see her features.
It was, in fact, a little girl. Her face was deathly pale as her deep obsidian eyes stared at me hollowly. Her features were picture-perfect, seemingly looking like a doll. Her hair was disheveled, and as I stared at her, my eyes fell on her neck.
There, on her neck, a clear rope mark.
No...
BANG!
A sudden bang snapped me out of my thoughts, jolting me with its loudness. My heart raced as I felt something crash nearby, the sound echoing through the silence.
For a moment, my eyes shook, nearly moving away from the painting.
...And though it was only for a brief moment, the hand moved closer, now just a hair's breadth away from my eyeball.
My breath left my body. The stinging in my eyes was unbearable, but I couldn't blink.
Not yet.
But as if things weren't bad enough...
BANG!
"Why aren't you answering?!"
A shriek pierced my ear, followed by a sharp pain on my arm—nails, scraping against skin. I wanted to flinch, but I held still.
'Focus!'
"You're just like them! You're just like them! You only care about my appearance!"
BANG!
Another crashing sound echoed, this time louder than before.
I ignored it, but the more I did, the more restless it became.
'Focus. Focus!'
BANG!
I didn't know what was happening, but it was loud. Did no one outside hear a thing?
I licked my lips. Just a little bit more time.
Just a little...
And then it happened.
"—!"
I gasped as hands, cold and long, locked around my neck, tightening with intense pressure. The air was sucked from my lungs, and I fought to breathe.
"Die! You have to die!"
The voice screeched in my ear as I gasped for air, panic rising in my chest.
The feeling of having someone scream at the top of their lungs while my throat was being squeezed by invisible hands was hard to describe.
However, I still couldn't stop staring at the painting.
I had to resist for a little bit longer.
"Die! Die—!"
The air was practically gone, and my entire body tingled as I desperately sought air.
Time continued to tick, and my toes curled.
'No, I can't resist any longer!'
Feeling the darkness trying to swallow up my body, I moved my finger, trying to press onto the recording when—
"You want to do that again?"
A cold hand reached for my arm, stopping me.
I froze completely, my mind going blank. It... knew?!
"....!?"
The hand latched onto my wrist, squeezing tightly as I started to lose grip of my phone.
No! No!
I desperately screamed in my mind, feeling the darkness starting to swallow my vision.
And just as things were starting to become extremely desperate for me...
Ding! Ding!
The alarm rang. The loud ding cutting through the haze, and I jerked back, kicking at the air in front of me.
Swoosh!
But as expected, I kicked nothing as I stumbled back and crashed against the wall behind me.
"Haa... Haa..."
With one heavy gulp of air, I looked around me, sweat pooling down from my face as I tried to see the damage that the room had sustained.
But—
"Eh?"
Nothing.
The room was completely untouched.
It was the same as it was before. As if the noise from before had all been my imagination. Even the painting in front of me looked no different than it was before.
'No...'
Taking a closer look, the young girl.
She was closer again.
"Hoo."
Taking another breath, I slid down against the wall and caught my breath. There were many things that I wanted to do in that moment, but before anything else, I needed to process all the information I had received.
Then...
A theory formed in my mind.
'The young girl in the painting was most likely abused by whoever had been taking care of her. Driven by despair, she tried to hang herself, but somehow failed, resulting in her living. This painting was probably taken a few days after her attempt.'
I took another deep breath before leaning back.
These were all the clues that I had managed to get so far.
...And the key to solving this quest.