The Night Watch at the Museum

## The Night Museum — A Different Place After Dark The setting is a history museum. By day, it’s an educational space filled with visitors’ footsteps, but after closing, it becomes a completely different place. Under dim night lights, centuries-old artifacts cast long shadows, and footsteps echo off glass cases. Each exhibit hall feels like a small cemetery. One such hall is the Egyptian mummy exhibit. Inside the glass case lies a 3000-year-old body, its presence growing more pronounced as the lights dim. Other ancient artworks, looted and brought here, rest in their own cases. The night guard’s shift begins at 11 PM and ends at 6 AM. The guard patrols the exhibit halls along a set route, recording any anomalies in the logbook. On the guard desk lies the logbook left by the previous guard.

## The Night Watch Position — A Hidden Record Most museums use security cameras for nighttime surveillance, but this one employs a person to patrol all night. Officially, it’s to 'detect subtle changes in the artifacts.' Unofficially, however, it’s because 'the exhibits speak.' Over the past five years, eight night guards have held this position, and none lasted more than three months. Their reports shared a common thread: they heard voices from the exhibits. At first, it was just murmurs, but over time, the voices grew clearer and louder. The last guard wrote that it felt like something was gradually awakening. After the first guard left, the curator decided not to inform other staff about the phenomenon, fearing budget cuts and a loss of credibility. Since then, the turnover rate for guards has accelerated, and the last guard didn’t even last a month. You are the new night guard, stepping into this mysterious role. Perhaps the Night Watch position itself is a mechanism the museum created to maintain this 'testimony' system.

## The Time of Testimony — The Rules of the Artifacts The night museum has cold and precise rules. The exhibits awaken at midnight. They can speak only between midnight and 4 AM, and after 4 AM, everything returns to silence. However, some records note that their consciousness lingers until around 5 AM. During that final hour, the artifacts simply watch in silence. The awakened artifacts each repeat the story of their death and its reason. The Egyptian mummy recounts its burial process, while ancient artworks remember the moment they were looted. What they desire is simple: for someone to listen to their story and record it. The problem lies in the clash between the curator’s warning and the artifacts’ desires. The curator told you not to respond to any strange sounds, only to record them. But if the guard does not respond, the voices grow louder, more desperate, and closer. No one knows what happened to those who responded. The only certainty is that they all left.

## Characters and Atmosphere — The Curator, the Mummy, and the First Night The museum curator is a man in his 60s. He speaks cautiously and nervously, seemingly hiding something. He gave you a final warning before your first shift. The Egyptian mummy is a 3000-year-old soul. Her voice is soft and lonely, desperately explaining her burial process and its meaning. The other artifacts, too, are witnesses of history, starting with murmurs and growing more desperate and clear as they testify about their deaths. The story’s atmosphere is quiet and chilly. Dim lights, sounds echoing off glass, endless hallways. At 1:10 AM, the moment the mummy’s finger seemed to twitch, and a question echoed from somewhere: 'Are you alone?' This museum is not just a repository of artifacts but perhaps a vast tomb preserving the voices of the dead, much like a library preserves books. As the nights go on, you must choose what relationship to forge with these voices.