Operation: Eelinum
Episode 5 – Looker
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“Isli reporting… Kurg, Venz, Gaolahn and… Dren. died in the line of duty.”
“… Damn it!”
Eelinum team leader reported the situation through his helmet with a sorrowful voice and face.
However, the only thing he heard back was a crackling sound.
The communication device on his helmet was broken from the impact after being kicked away by the Ompu earlier.
“Mine doesn’t work either….”
The female soldier said with a red nose and eyes. She tried to contact them but all she got was the same sound as her leader.
“He didn’t have to do that!”
The leader said in a sorrowful voice as he punched the wall of a building.
“The gun didn’t work… The only way was to use the suicide bomb… He died for us… We have to survive, captain.”
The female soldier wiped her nose before standing up from the stairs of the building and said with hope.
“… We won’t be able to continue. Mission aborted…”
The leader said as he shook his head slightly in despair.
.........
“Ugh….”
Inside a building. Wehng was kicked and flew through the window into a room that looked like a bedroom.
Whether it was luck or the armor he was wearing or the soft mattress he fell into, his body was not badly injured. Only his neck was in excruciating pain.
“Ahh…”
….
“Everyone… where are you?… I flew into… uhm, it looks like a house.”
He took out a long tube-like device and stabbed it into his neck.
The pain from the impact gradually disappeared, but he was still lying on the soft mattress.
He pressed the button on his helmet and sent a message to his teammates.
The room he was kicked into was a small room. There was a large bed, several pillows, and a large blanket.
In one corner of the room was a drawer that was as tall as his waist.
Large curtains were separating the room at the foot of the bed.
“… Angleh? Angleh? Can anyone hear me?…”
He tried calling out to his teammates again before contacting the operator.
….
After a while, he heard no response, he got up from the bed and walked straight towards the curtains to find a way out of the house.
"Cool doll….?”
On the way, he noticed a strange fat doll standing in the corner opposite the drawers.
The doll had a large grin that showed only its teeth. Wehng felt that this doll was too weird to be in this bedroom.
"What the?"
When he swiped the curtains away and walked out into a big hall, he noticed the same doll again on his right.
He felt that this house must really like this weird doll, that's why there were so many of them.
"Where's the exit?"
He thought to himself as he looked for the entrance of the house.
"Wait, why do I need to find a way out? Just go back where I came from…”
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"This medicine…. is it making me hallucinate or something? Hah."
Wehng suddenly recalled that the window he was kicked through could also be an exit, so he scolded himself inwardly before turning back towards the curtain.
"Oh? There's another one? These guys really weird."
He saw the weird doll again in the corner opposite to the right where he had looked at first. He didn't care much about it.
He stepped into the bedroom again and leaned his head out the shattered window. He found that this room was quite high from the ground, but he thought that even if he jumped down, it wouldn't hurt much.
"In case my leg got any internally injuries... better safe than sorry…”
He grabbed the large blanket and tied it to the bed leg. He threw the blanket through the window and slowly used it as a rope to land softly on the ground.
"... Huh?"
When he successfully got out of the house, he turned around and saw that there was the strange-looking doll standing next to a tree not far from him.
The sight in front of him was a large gate that could be opened and closed by sliding it left and right.
On the right side, there were countless pots and plants, and then there was an old, dry fountain.
On the left side, there were also many potted plants, piled up in a disorderly manner, no different from the right side.
That strange doll was standing there, behind the pile.
Wehng felt even more crept out when he saw that doll, so he quickly walked over and slid the door open and left the house.
.....
…
"What the fuck..."
After Wehng walked out of the house to the right, he found a crossroads not far away. He turned left in the direction he had flown from.
...
That fat gray doll again...
As soon as Wehng turned left, he saw the same big doll standing a little farther away from the corner.
It wasn't staring at him, but staring at the wall on the opposite direction.
"Or maybe it's not a doll?"
"I don't know. Let's try poking it first."
Wehng thought to himself before slowly walking towards it, pulling out the knife from his leg and poking at the doll's belly.
"Shit, did I lose the gun when I got kicked? Or did it fall in the house and I forgot?"
"Stupid fuck, you should have checked before getting out..."
As he lightly poked the doll with the knife, he felt its belly was elastic and couldn't be pierced.
However, his mind was instead thinking about his missing gun.
...
"Oh, the pistol is still here. I’m fucking idiot..."
"If you’d realized it sooner, Kurg would still be alive..."
Wehng suddenly remembered that he had a pistol tucked into his waist, so he cursed himself inwardly.
He put the knife back into its sheath before walking straight back to his friend.
...
After walking for a while, Wehng suddenly felt like the doll was staring at him from behind, so he slowly turned around.
But what he found was that the doll was still standing there, unmoving.
...
"How far did we fly..."
"Should we try shouting to call them-" "That's not good... assuming that big shit isn't dead, we'll definitely die instead. There's only one pistol..."
"There's the bomb."
"No, the important thing now is how long we've been unconscious." "The bomb..."
"If we've been unconscious for a long time, they might have gone somewhere else already..."
“Kurg... die... Dren... stop yapping.” “Chief... I agree with Dren....”
“What the hell is this...”
As he walked forward, many thoughts came to his mind. However, the strange thing was that he felt like there was another person in his head....
Two thoughts came to him at the same time, like a panic attack.
Wehng felt something was wrong and cursed softly to himself.
“....”
Speaking out loud to himself made him regain his senses a little. He blinked once to adjust his vision.
And what he saw far away to the right of the crossroads ahead...
That doll again...
He was a little shocked and couldn’t speak or think anything, but a thought quickly popped into his mind.
“It’s here again...”
“What is this?! haa... haa...”
He said out loud to himself when he realized that something was wrong with his body.
“Hallucination from the injury?! Or is it a side effect of the medicine…” “No, no, no. It’s not. How could there be anything wrong, we’re wearing the helmet?”
“Take off your helmet…” “You’re just imagining it…” “Didn’t you say you are so strong?”
Many thoughts started to pop up in his head again. However, this time, they were faster and more frequent.
His senses told him to take off his helmet and he did.
He tried to feel his head for any wounds or pain.
..
There were no wounds, fluids, or anything unusual…
“What are you afraid of? It’s just a weird doll.” “Are you afraid that you’re about to boo-hoo when your friends aren’t here?” “Are you afraid of the dark?”
“Or is it that doll?”
As Wehng put his helmet back on, a voice in his head mocked him.
He tried to ignore them and stared at the doll before increasing his paces towards it.
“Nightvision makes you brave.” “What can you do without the helmet?” “When will Dren grow up?” “That bomb is a disgrace to us. That's why all countries ban it." "If you're going to blow someone up, you have to blow yourself up too." "You moron. Loser. Coward."
Those voices kept ringing in his head as Wehng approached the doll.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
When Wehng got to a few meters away from the doll, he pulled out his pistol and fired at it.
However, the bullets didn't bounce off or damage the strange doll.
All bullets were absorbed into its body….
When he realized that his pistol couldn't do anything to the doll, Wehng acted on his instincts and ran back to the previous intersection without looking back.
"Scary as fuck." "Run." "Run quick." "Don't..." "Fuck…."
Wehng had completely forgotten about keeping his voice down...
...
The doll was still at the previous intersection...
However, this time it was in the middle of the intersection and facing toward him.
Wehng's breathing became faster and faster. His heart almost exploded.
He looked at the smile on the doll's face. It gave him goosebumps.
"Run." "Is it smiling at us?" "It's definitely not a doll."
He turned around and ran away towards the second intersection again...
“Nicel..." "It's gone..." "We're saved." "We have to run away quickly now."
When he returned to the road before the second intersection again, Wehng didn't see the doll anymore.
He felt relieved and ran through the intersection...
"Shit." "Shit." "Shit." "It's fooling us." "Don't fuck with me!"
However, when he ran through the intersection, he saw the same doll on the left, facing him and smiling at him as before.
He ignored it and ran straight ahead without looking at anything.
Everything he passed, intersections, light poles on the corner, shop's windows, glass doors in front of the building, or even bushes, Wehng felt that he was being watched by the doll.
He felt so scared that he didn't dare to scream out loud. He could only groan softly throughout the run....