Death Cast

01.19 | Grecia Bella Theatre

"It smells."

Noel's words came out of the blue as the two walked along the narrow path. They are walking down a narrow corridor that appears to be a little worn and dusty in comparison to the clean, carpeted hallway they had just passed through. Jaerim made a comparison between the two areas that looked like two worlds apart.

"What smell?" He asked Noel.

The air is slightly damp and humid as if someone had doused the entire area with water. He looked around for the source, but he couldn't find anything. It would be strange to discover leaking pipes in a place that had recently been renovated. However, he couldn't say why this place looked like it wasn't looked after.

"It smells like something burnt," Noel replied.

Jaerim sniffed the air but couldn't detect any burning scents. He gave Noel a thoughtful look.

"Fireworks are now used in the performance. Isn't that it?" He inquired.

Noel shook his head as he reflected on his words. They arrived at the rusty old door at the end of the corridor. It's made of wood with a small glass partition on the upper level, but because it's old, they couldn't see inside through it. Some parts of the door have a damp odor that is typical of decaying wood.

"Firecrackers have a distinct taste. The one I'm smelling is quite old."

"Old?"

"Uh-huh. The type that had been burned and left for an extended period of time."

Jaerim couldn't quite imagine what the other person was saying, but he didn't question Noel's words. The first instance could be regarded as a coincidence, the second as fate, and the third as a message. Jaerim believes that the burning odor Noel has been smelling has something to do with what is going to happen in the theatre in the future. He couldn't figure out why he couldn't detect it, however. Perhaps Noel simply has a highly sensitive nose?

The door wasn't locked. They were able to get into the room without any difficulty. The room was about the size of a gothic study, and it had an eerie feel to it. There are cabinets affixed to the walls, with several books neatly stacked within the shelves. A brown mahogany table is in the center, with an old typewriter atop it and a stack of brown to yellowish paper piled up beneath a paperweight. A fountain pen with a rusted nib was placed beside the typewriter, along with a dry ink container. There are numerous ink smears on the desk, indicating that the study room's owner enjoys writing.

The two exchanged glances as they made their way around the room. Every step they took made the floor creak. Near the shelves, a shorter and smaller table was placed, along with two leather sofas with pinned cushions. A wood lamp with a dark red shade cover stood erect above a bureau on which a couple of picture frames rested. There is dust all over the frame, which has obscured the images behind the glass.

Taking one of the picture frames in his hand, Jaerim wiped the surface with his palm. Noel trailed behind, his gaze fixed on the frame in front of him. They could see the people inside the picture after wiping for a long time. It's just that these people have no faces because they were torn apart.

Noel shivered in fear and hugged himself. There's nothing more terrifying than seeing pictures of people with their heads ripped off!

"Does such a cliched setup exist today?" Noel was livid.

Jaerim placed the picture frame back in its original spot. In the picture, there are only two people: a man and a small girl. He couldn't tell the color of their clothes because the picture was in black and white, but he could see that the man was wearing a hospital gown and a stethoscope around his neck. While the little girl is seated on a small tool, she is hugging a cute-looking bear with button eyes. He turned his head to look Noel in the eyes.

He said: "It's a cliché because it always works."

They went around the room looking for clues. Noel walked over to the shelves while Jaerim made his way to the center of the room. He inspected the wooden table and discovered a small compartment under it. Jaerim easily yanked on the compartment's handle, revealing a couple of documents. In addition, there are also plenty of stamps with crest symbols crammed together in the corner. He gathered all the documents and placed them on the table.

"It's in English," Noel said, after a brief pause. "It's incredible how everything in this world is written and spoken in English. Could you imagine if we were transported to a world where everyone spoke a foreign language?"

Jaerim went through each document one by one. The majority of the paper consisted of travel documents and accounting slips. He had no knowledge of bookkeeping, but he understood the fundamental profit and credit relationship. He could tell from the receipts that the theatre was doing well. No wonder they offered free admission to the performances for five days following the renovation. They have enough money to cover the costs.

After reading one document, he set it down, responding to Noel's question with a question. "What are the book's publication dates?"

"It's somewhere between seventeen and eighteen," Noel hummed.

"That early?" Jaerim mumbled something. "This world is advancing quite quickly."

There was not a lot of interesting stuff on the shelves, so Noel joined Jaerim in checking the documents. It took them an hour to finish reading the documents, but they didn't find anything suspicious. Jaerim pushed the chair away from the table to get a better look at the compartment. The stamps had rolled over to the inside corner, causing him to notice an envelope that had gotten stuck to the edge. He took out the envelope and held it up to the light.

"What is that?"

As he set the envelope down on the table, Jaerim pulled up a chair and sat in it. The letter was sealed with a rose crest stamped in black wax. Jaerim opened the envelope by slowly removing the adhesive with his bare hands, revealing the contents inside. Probably due to the passage of time, the wax was not firmly adhered to the paper and was easily removed without tearing it.

"Is it a love letter?" Noel was baffled when he saw the cursive writing on the letter when Jaerim opened it. From the way it was presented, it is safe to assume that it is a love letter. The contents were read aloud by Jaerim.

"I am glad to hear that you are doing well, Bella. I've been thinking about you all these years that we've been apart. I've heard a lot about you and your condition, and I'm sorry to hear about the results. But don't worry, my feelings for you haven't changed. I wish your father had already approved of me by the time you read this letter. I apologize for not seeing you the last time I saw you. I hope it didn't break your heart as much as it did mine..."

Jaerim's voice grew weaker and weaker until he ceased reading altogether. Noel crossed his arms as he read the remainder of the letter with his eyes, his lips quirked in a sneer. Jaerim gave the letter to Noel on his own. Noel looks like he's having a good time reading it. Gossip mongers have a keen interest in topics like this.

"Who would have guessed this is from a lover boy sending a letter to his beloved?" Noel said, flapping the paper in the air. "I received a letter that was beautifully decorated with flowers and scented, with lovely handwriting and poetic prose... If I hadn't read it, I wouldn't have known it was from a man."

Jaerim ignored the sexist remark and concentrated on the letter's content. The letter's receiver is named Bella, and the theatre's name is also Bella. The owner, a doctor, appears to have named the theatre after the child's name. Is it possible they're a father and a child?

"If we follow the storyline, perhaps it is another clichéd story of star-crossed lovers?" Jaerim spoke up.

Noel shrugged his shoulders. "You say it's a cliché because it always works."

It appears that they are revealing a portion of the story. The only clues they have now are an unknown lover and a girl named Bella. According to the letter, the two acquaintances parted ways for all sorts of reasons. Bella's father appears to be opposed to Bella's relationship with the sender.

"It's probably some Romeo and Juliet plot," Noel speculated. "In addition, we're in a theatre. Don't you think the concept is a good fit in so many ways?"

Jaerim thought things over. He said slowly, "I think that is not the case."

"What do you mean?"

Jaerim took the letter from Noel's hand and pointed to a certain phrase: I wish your father had already approved of me by the time you read this letter.

"Their relationship should not have been approved by their father at first. This phrase tells us that the lover had done something, or the father made a truce with the lover as a condition of accepting their relationship."

The way the sender wrote this sentence suggests that he succeeded.

"So, they made it?" Noel inquired.

Did they succeed? Jaerim shook his head. The answer is no. He restored the letter to its original state before they opened it. It had been sealed. The letter has not yet been opened. Even though the wax was easily removed, it was still sealed.

Bella was unable to read the letter.

Silence filled the air.

Noel suddenly sniffed. His face scrunched up distortedly as if he had inhaled something foul. Jaerim kept an eye on the person in question, curious as to what scent they had detected this time. As his face began to flush, Noel covered his nose with his hands.

"It's bad," Noel commented. "It's much more concentrated than before."

"What is it?" Jaerim asked.

"The smell of burnt objects. Now, I could smell the smoke."

Jaerim sniffed the air but found nothing. He looked around to see if there was any smoke or anything, but there wasn't. In fact, the room is quite damp. It is impossible for a place that is pretty wet to catch fire. He tilted his head and remembered a condition in which people could smell smoke even when none was present.

"Are you prone to Phantosmia?"

"Phantom-what?"

"It's an olfactory hallucination, the kind where you smell something that wasn't there," Jaerim explained as he crossed his arms. "Have you ever had an experience like this before?"

"No," Noel replied truthfully. "Do you not believe me?"

"Yes, I do."

Jaerim remembered the news clipping he had taken from the set the day before. He took it with him this morning when he went out. Jaerim handed Noel the old newspaper. After reading it, Noel looked at Jaerim with bright eyes.

"You think the burning smell I'm sensing is from the old theatre? But that doesn't make any sense."

The establishment had been refurbished. Every trace of the fire should have been cleaned up. Jaerim sighed, pointing to Noel.

"Can you remember where you first smelled it?"

Noel recalled. "Wasn't it just before we went into the theatre?"

Jaerim gave a nod. "Then you smelled it once more here. Of these two places, none of them look new to me."

From the outside, the theatre appeared to be modern and new, but the adjacent establishments were still quite old. It's safe to assume that at least a few of these businesses were damaged or destroyed in the fire. There's no doubt that some of the burns will still be present.

"This room, too, is unusual."

The room appeared to be old and unattended. It's impossible for a place to remain untouched unless it was purposefully left that way. The room is also located in the center of the establishment, which should have been affected during the renovation. Its current state makes no sense.

"It's a ghost," Jaerim explained. "We are trapped inside a simulation and have been assigned a mission in which we must solve the world's problems before we can escape. The fire is not present in the current timeline, but it was present previously. It's a phantom leftover from that event."

There are the characters, too. None of them had appeared before them, but he was sure they were still alive - yes, still alive.