Chapter 396
The ventilation duct leading out of the containment zone, now a scene of utter pandemonium.
Thump, thump.
Inside the ventilation passage, only the soundless vibrations of people gritting their teeth echoed.
No, to be precise, our legs and feet must have been striking the floor of the passage, ringing hollowly without pause, but we couldn’t hear any of it.
It seemed to be thanks to the earplugs Baek Saheon had given me.
They were blocking out sound almost completely.
‘Is this an Item?’
The earplugs seem pretty effective….
Hooo—
…….
A faint sound slips through the earplugs, like wind, like the scrape of metal.
Ho hoo—
A whistling burst of sound.
A clear resonance, as though someone had strangely narrowed their vocal cords to imitate a wind instrument with exquisite precision, with a faint, soft breathiness mixed into it.
The instant I recognize it, it becomes clearer, burrowing directly into my brain—a beautiful…
Musical sound.
Ho-hoo hoho-hoo-ho ho-ho hoo hooho-ho ho hoho—
Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Hoho-ho-hoo ho-ho hoo hoho-ho
Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha
A duet.
“~!”
I grit my teeth and keep moving forward.
Hoho-ho-hoo ho-ho hoo hoho-ho
Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha
But, but… strangely, a vivid image appears in my mind.
Of exactly how that melody is being made!
Twenty-four ribs had spread wide open, spiraling outward to form the body of an instrument like a flower bud in which air pooled. And from within that ivory-colored framework, a round, crystalline sound rang out.
Among the hoho-ho-hoo, the higher notes were wind-instrument sounds that passed through the mouth…