Chapter 20. I Just… Have to Go
"So the main plot is that we, as employees of a company, fulfill a dying client's last wish through dreams so he can pass with no regrets?
Gotta say, that premise is pretty interesting."
[Indeed.
Let's not roast it for now; this game actually looks decent.]
[But isn't the old guy's wish a bit wild?
How is he still dreaming of being an astronaut at that age.]
[Old folks these days sure know how to have fun.]
[Maybe he misses Grandma's jelly, lol.]
Chat instantly filled with cheerful emotes.
The bedroom conversation also let them roughly understand the game.
According to Lily, Old John was a carpenter.
His wife passed away two years ago.
His wish to go to the moon might be related to her, though she wasn't sure.
Then Lily suggested the two doctors look around the house for clues, with the two kids showing them the way.
"Classic grunt work."
Muttering a complaint, Sirin found the two kids and quietly started doing the small tasks one by one.
The tasks weren't hard.
Soon they obtained the key to the basement—the place the kids called the "fun room."
Those usually dull puzzles didn't bore anyone here.
On the contrary, the amusing dialogue kept making people smile knowingly.
For example, when the kids deliberately asked for ten billion as payment in candy, many viewers laughed and joked that kids really understand psychology.
After a short round of puzzle-solving, Sirin let the two kids lead her to the villa's basement door, key in hand.
Then she used the key to open the long-sealed wooden door.
In an instant, the screen went pitch-black, with only a faint ray of light at the doorway where Sirin stood.
"This…"
Sirin hesitated.
It had been a lighthearted mood just now, so why did the BGM stop the moment she arrived here?
She fumbled for the switch and turned on the light.
When she saw the room's interior, Sirin's pupils shrank.
"Aaaah!!!!!!!"
A sepia filter washed over the whole scene.
A large number of brightly colored origami rabbits lay scattered across the floor.
At the same time, an eerie background track slowly rose.
Thump—like a hammer landing in Sirin's chest.
"Wait—
Is this actually a horror game?
That scared me!"
Sirin steadied her racing heart, her face still full of shock.
She pulled out her phone, ready to chew out Xander.
Remembering she was live on stream, she held back—for now.
This grudge, she took note!
The game still needed to move forward, so Sirin began to inspect the room.
It might be a pixel-art game, but the hazy style—which left plenty of room for imagination—only heightened the horror.
Looking at the floor full of paper rabbits, an image of obsessive madness quickly took shape in Sirin's mind.
The previously cheerful atmosphere turned subtly uneasy.
"Could he have gone crazy wanting to go to the moon and kept folding moon rabbits?"
Using self-talk to press down her fear, Sirin clicked on a conspicuous item on a chair.
An enlarged picture of an ugly plush popped up.
"A stuffed platypus."
The questions only piled higher.
This place was sealed off and clearly important to Old John.
Yet this bizarre scene did nothing to explain why he wanted to go to the moon.
If anything, it made people even more confused.
After leaving the basement, Sirin asked the two kids.
"Paper rabbits?
We know other places with paper rabbits~"
"They're in the abandoned lighthouse under the cliff."
"I have the key.
Want to go check it out together?"
"Hee-hee-hee-hee~"
The chilly piano notes under their alternating voices made everything feel uncanny.
It was the height of summer, yet Sirin tightened her clothes.
Then, wearing a stern face, she kept playing.
With the two kids leading the way, Sirin soon reached the lighthouse from the opening scene.
It stood beneath the moon, keeping a silent watch over everything around it in the white glow.
Before the lighthouse, a gravestone stood to the side.
"River Wyles."
This was probably Old John's wife's grave, Sirin quietly guessed.
A wish to go to the moon.
A wife's grave.
A lighthouse.
Paper rabbits.
And that strange platypus…
The sight before her made Sirin feel there had to be some connection, but a key clue was missing.
She still couldn't link these known pieces together.
It seemed the final answer would have to be found in Old John's dreams.
Following the staircase that spiraled up the lighthouse, she found the top floor covered in paper rabbits.
Among the many brightly colored rabbits, she discovered a single two-tone one—blue limbs and head, with a yellow belly.
As soon as she put the rabbit away, a call came in from the other doctor.
"Everything's ready.
We can depart."
White light flooded the screen.
Then a page like a yellowed old newspaper appeared.
It was still Old John's bedroom.
At the top of the screen stretched a long yellow progress bar.
That short bar contained all of Old John's life.
Infancy.
Childhood.
Adolescence.
Youth.
Middle age.
Old age.
Each stage had its corresponding icon.
"This is the earliest point we can reach.
Mute everyone except Old John.
Let's go.
Time to find a way to implant Old John's dream."
They walked through the empty room and soon found sheet music on the living-room piano.
"For River."
"Author: John Wyles."
"Wyles?
Isn't that the surname on the grave?
So this 'River' must be Old John's wife."
Finding a clue so quickly visibly lifted Sirin's mood.
That feeling of unraveling a mystery bit by bit was indeed fun.
Sirin left the villa and came to the lighthouse—clearly a place of special significance—where Old John and the maid Lily were at the moment.
After learning why Sirin and her partner had come, Old John fell silent, then slowly said, "Looks like my luck isn't so bad.
Can you take me to the moon?"
"We can't.
But you can."
"Why do you want to go there?" asked Dr. Watts, whom Sirin was controlling.
"I don't know."
"Huh?"
Not only Sirin outside the game, but even the chat was covered in "Huh?"
[Is this old guy out of his mind?
If he doesn't know, why does he want to go?]
[Makes no sense.
How are they supposed to do this.]
[Funny.]
Viewers who often worked as contractors empathized hard with the two doctors at that moment.
Running into a client like this—what rotten luck.
"You can't say you don't know.
There has to be a motive for wanting to go to the moon, right?
Fame, fortune—something.
That's the key that lets us help you."
"Sorry.
I really don't know."
Just then, the piano in the BGM grew gentle, and the sound of waves mixed in, washing the mood into something deep and faraway.
Old John was quiet for a moment, then said seriously, "I just… have to go."
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