Seeing the two people preparing to leave at the shelter entrance, the professor let out a heavy sigh.
"....I'm sorry."
"Tsk. What kind of situation is it when the one who should be receiving the apology is the one giving it? Don't worry. Since I caused this, I'll take responsibility, even if it costs me my life."
"No, no, I'm not being sarcastic. I really am apologizing. I've been living alone for too long, I guess. I was thinking wrong. Maybe because I've been so busy, I ignored the obvious. What might be familiar to me could be completely new knowledge to you."
"Still, this is our mistake while you were away. The responsibility lies with us, more specifically, with me for shooting first and provoking it. There's a letter on the table with a few drops of my blood, a biometric code, and a password. If anything happens to me this time...."
"Ah, that. I burned it as soon as I saw it this morning."
"What? Why!"
"Why not? Did you think I was going to write a will or something? How ridiculous."
"Yesterday.... You said you were going to take responsibility for provoking that monster, right? You're not going to try to capture it?"
"Capture? The Old Picture? How could we possibly do that? It can survive a dozen anti-tank missiles. We can't kill it, and we don't need to. I saw on the bulletin board that the dome is taking action. They'll probably have the situation under control by the time we get there. We just need to calm it down."
"Hey.... Haebeon? Even if I think about it, calming that monster down seems harder than killing it.... How do you plan to calm it down?"
The professor, who had been listening to Vex's account while changing into old-fashioned clothes, threw a box he had retrieved from the corner of the shelter's warehouse the previous night and said:
"How? We need to play along with its delusions."
The box the professor threw was filled with old, dusty clothes.
***
As they changed out of their gear and into the old-fashioned clothes, the professor, who had heard the whole story from Vex, had to admit that he was partly to blame.
First, the two of them read the 47th District Living Guide that the professor had given them. The problem was that the professor's guide, written in tiny letters on a piece of paper the size of a palm, was extremely difficult to read.
'This guide was something I started making for myself when I first settled in the 47th District, just to read it myself.'
Although things had improved dramatically in the past few months, the professor had never been someone with a lot of leisure time. With so much to remember, he had a lot to write, but in this desolate wasteland, even getting a clean sheet of paper was no easy task.
As the days went by and life in the wasteland became more familiar, the content of the guide grew more and more extensive. Thinking 'I'll be the only one reading it anyway,' he added notes in the empty spaces between the neatly written text instead of using new paper.
'The knowledge about the Type 3 mutant was written when I was covering it for the third time. The description written like graffiti among the neat letters. It would be strange to consider and remember such things as important.'
Quack-
"Ugh, Professor, sorry, but do you have a bigger size of pants?"
"That's the biggest size among the old clothes I have. We'll just have to make do. Vex, how about you? Do they fit well?"
"I'm fine. Still, I'm really sorry, Haebeon. I thought I had read and understood what you wrote, but when I faced it...."
"You don't need to apologize. It's understandable to be shocked the first time you meet the Old Picture."
Still, Vex had read even the scribbled notes thoroughly. He was a meticulous person who understood the importance of information and wouldn't miss any small details.
'The problem is, knowledge about something as absurd as a Type 3 mutant isn't something you can just learn from reading. I was a homebody who survived by scavenging, so I often used the community. Ian was a busy trader, and Vex was a Skavenger without a terminal. So, when I simply told them [don't provoke it, act like an old person], they probably thought it was no big deal, especially since the 47th District is known for being safe.'
The illusion of the 47th District being safe probably also contributed to their relaxed attitude.
But what a surprise? When they came to a district known for having tame monsters, they found a terrifying creature that could make even Satan cry and run away?
"....When you first met the Old Picture, what did you ride in?"
"Well.... I just wanted to look around, so I took a buggy that doesn't use much fuel."
"I figured. It probably caught its interest."
The appearance of the Old Picture, simply put, was a monster straight out of cosmic horror.
Its body was made of a giant, pink, baby-like flesh, covered with various shoes that rippled like scales. The front of this mass of walking, squirming flesh had three dolls with intricate details that could pass for real people from a distance, and above them, a round eye without eyelids and a mouth without lips gleamed white.
Who could keep their wits about them when chased by such a creature? Moreover, the Old Picture could also emit something like a psychic wave that made nearby people feel uneasy.
In a place they had never been before, encountering a monster they had never seen, and seeing a creature that looked like it had just crawled out of hell approaching them, it was only natural for Vex and Ian to enter survival mode.
"Let's see.... How do I look? Do I look like an old-fashioned person?"
"You look fine, but Vex needs to change."
"Why? I look fine. Shouldn't you be the one to change, Professor? You look a bit perverted with those bulges everywhere."
The professor nodded, looking at Ian in tight leather pants and a checkered shirt, and Vex in a blue jacket and blue jeans. This was good enough. They looked strange, but like strange old-fashioned people.
With the familiar skill, the professor took out torn jeans, a shirt, and a leather jacket from the box and put them on. He then patted the shoulders of the two uncomfortable people and pushed them towards the entrance.
"Alright, let's go if you're ready. We still have some time, but there might be other variables we don't know about."
"Can we at least arm ourselves? I understand we're going to do something unusual, but it feels really unsafe to go outside without even a gun...."
"Don't carry it, just stash it loosely beside the seat."
"What kind of car should we take?"
After thinking for a moment, the professor snapped his fingers as if he had a good idea.
"That armed truck, wasn't it full of promotional items?"
"Oh, right. It's still like that since Azel came to inspect it."
"Perfect. Let's take that one. We'll need it. I'll teach you the rest on the way."
The professor gave the smallest masks he had to the two and, while pushing the hesitant pair into the car, thought to himself that he would use this opportunity to firmly impress upon them the nature of the 47th District.
***
Vroom-
"Turn left here. See that alley with the red flag? Pull over and stop the car for a moment."
"Huh? Weren't we heading to the center?"
"We still have time, and since we're dressed like this, let's learn a bit about the 47th District."
Screech-
The professor stopped the car, pointed to the fluttering red flag, and said:
"Alright, as I've emphasized many times, the 47th District is the safest area around here. My house is on the outskirts, so it's less affected, but the closer you get to the center, the safer it becomes, almost as safe as inside the dome."
"Yeah, I read that in the guide you gave us."
"Good, then think about this. Since it's a safe area, people in the 47th District live longer than those outside, right?"
"Right."
"In this messed-up world, do people who live longer see more good things or more bad things?"
"Um.... Probably more bad things? I guess?"
The professor snapped his fingers at Vex's answer.
"Correct. Living long in the wasteland isn't exactly a blessing. Some people are lucky like us, but most struggle through each day in loneliness and pain. So, by the time they reach their forties, most either commit suicide or go completely insane and become psycho gangs. As a result, the 47th District has an overwhelmingly higher number of psycho gangs compared to other areas."
This is a kind of side effect created by the special characteristics of the safe zone and the wasteland. The safer the 47th District becomes, the longer the average lifespan of its residents. Unlike other districts where people are usually killed before they go insane, many in the 47th District survive until they become insane, leading to a higher number of psycho gangs.
"That red flag indicates that a psycho gang lives here."
"What? You just mark it without killing them? Is it a particularly strong one? One that the dome can't remove from the 47th District?"
"No, I've heard they can fight pretty well, but it's not that extreme. I'll show you why we keep the psycho gang [Chef Cook] alive here. Follow me closely, and absolutely do not do anything. Don't even open your mouth, and don't react aggressively no matter what happens. Leave your guns behind."
"Can't I at least bring a pistol? I'm confident I won't be noticed."
"You're full of thoughts to shoot! Leave it behind right now!"
Swish-
"Vex, leave your knife behind too. Just leave all weapons behind."
"The psycho gangs I've seen only see people as meat...."
"This one is also insane, but in a different way. From now on, don't open your mouth, just roll your eyes. If any problems arise, show them this."
The professor gave each of them a small, shiny green piece of paper and entered the alley where the red flag was fluttering. At the end of the eerie alley was a building with the only lit sign. Thanks to its glass front, you could see people moving busily inside from a distance, a shop with a distinctly different atmosphere from its surroundings.
[Chef Cook's Pizza House]
"Pizza.... House?"
"Right. We're going to pretend we're not wasteland survivors but customers buying pizza. Let's do a practice run before we enter the Old Picture's territory."
"Is.... Is this a metaphor? Like, cutting people into pieces like pizza, or splattering red blood like tomato sauce?"
"No, it's a real pizza place. A very famous one, in fact. Even the upper class in the dome can't get their hands on its pizzas. The only unusual thing is that it's run by a psycho gang."
"In this ruined world.... There's still a pizza place? And it looks normal?"
"That's why he's insane. I'll show you what kind of place it is, and then I'll explain more."
Leading the two, who were tense from the eerie alley, the professor cheerfully opened the crooked door of the pizza house.