Episode 246:
In the secret world where communication itself is almost impossible, there is a space where calls can be made. It is a space called a school, and Park Da-young and Park Da-hoon are probably inside it. I will go in first and assess the situation before contacting you, so keep an eye on your phone.
How did the people who heard this feel when they first got the call?
“I got a phone call!”
“Everyone, be quiet…!”
Amazing that there is a place where you can actually make phone calls. The joy and relief of receiving a call while waiting in anxiety. I don’t know under what circumstances I made the call, but I have hope that things will get better than now when I was just waiting quietly.
“…Boss?”
And a strange feeling of nervousness.
“Boss? Are you okay?”
―….
“….”
The tension created by the shallow and strange silence.
―What should I have done?…!!
Even though it is a voice I clearly recognize, it is a distorted voice that gives me goosebumps all over my body. The sound of running. The sound of breaking. A screaming-like breathing sound and the sound of something being hit.
The sound of a dying person.
-The man will come.
-Cough huh.
-It’s okay, let’s wait.
―…Ugh…!
―Park Da-young, please. no.
The survivors were agitated by Park Da-hoon’s voice, which was constant and repetitive as if he was playing back a recording, and Lee Jae-heon’s moans as he could not breathe properly. Some people looked pale and couldn’t open their mouths, some continued to let out exclamations, and some urgently grabbed their weapons.
What is certain is that no one could step away from that spot.
―2nd floor auditorium…! Wow, monster…!
-It’ll be okay.
―Inside the car… Huh, warehouse survivor…
A monster and a person’s voices continue in the confusion.
-no.
―….
―Please.
―…Da hun….
―No, please.
-I don’t want to kill you.
―…Dahun. ah.
-It’s okay, it’s okay. It’s okay….
The survivors held their breath as Lee Jae-heon’s voice gradually faded.
―…It’s okay….
―….
“….”
It was the first death for the survivors and a familiar death for Jeong In-ho.
“…What is this…”
A faint buzzing voice could be heard from the uninterrupted phone line.
‘Storage room in the second floor auditorium. The survivor within.’
It was probably the sound made by people hiding in a warehouse to avoid monsters.
One of the survivors who could not calm down stared at the glass window of the school hallway in the distance. Azalea muttered as she looked at the school hallway beyond the window with her two children wrapped around her.
“…I’m going crazy again.”
Compared to other survivors, In-ho Jeong has been through the underworld more times. Therefore, I knew very well that the death of a survivor causes excitement in the underworld. The object of ‘going crazy’ that Azalea said was something white running around like crazy in the hallway.
Jeong In-ho had to make a choice. Should I go in and rescue other survivors, or…
“….”
…You son of a bitch.
“Mr. Kang Min-ah.”
“I… I’m ready. can go.”
“Kim Yeon-woo, let’s go together.”
“…of course.”
“I hope Vivian will protect the remaining people.”
“Are you going to be okay?”
Jeong In-ho looked at Vivian, who was blinking. I now know that that dull-looking face was made up. Vivian scratched her forehead and opened her mouth again.
“The fact that you called at that timing doesn’t mean you have to make a choice. Should I go inside and save the remaining people, or should I run away like this?”
“So you’re the one who doesn’t want to go in?”
“The idea is to think more carefully. I looked at it now, and it seems like the monsters inside are getting more excited… So that means the difficulty level has become much higher…”
“That’s true.”
“There were other people on the search team who had cell phones other than Jaeheon Lee.”
As soon as those words were finished, Jeong In-ho’s cell phone rang as if it had been planned.
“…Detective?”
-Don’t come.
“….”
―Don’t come, no. It’s already too late.
“…Detective, is this you?”
In response to Jeong In-ho’s question, a hollow laugh could be heard through the cell phone.
―I don’t know what it is either… Ha. Damn it. If you don’t want to come, don’t come, understand? Just go back like this. I’d rather go back to the park.
“Hong Gyeong-jun.”
-I guarantee you that you will regret it if you come. We’re all going to die, and if anyone else comes in, it’s going to be the same thing. This isn’t even a spider’s web… Does the underworld also learn multi-level programming?
“yes? What are you talking about? Calm down and explain the situation…”
―Remember, we are all going to die. This means that even if we come in now, we will all be dead.
“….”
―…It wasn’t the knife I brought for this purpose.
With those words, the call ended. It seemed like Hong Kyung-jun hung up the phone. Jeong In-ho stood blankly for a long time, staring at his phone.
Nevertheless, Jeong In-ho had to go to school.
“…Kang Min-ah changed her mind.”
“…Mr. Inho?”
“I will go in alone.”
I had to be that way because I was the ‘main character’.
“We have to go in and… find out something.”
Wouldn’t that help us do better next time?
* * *
“…So.”
Jaeheon Lee asked with a shocked expression.
“Are you saying that everything is finally over?”
The protagonist nodded to that question. It was a pretty normal face.
“I died at school, and the other survivors, led by Kang Min-ah, said that they were killed by monsters on the streets because they could not find a proper place to live in the evening. “They said the last person to survive was Kang Min-ah.”
“Huh…”
As a result, it was a regression so to speak. This was when even Yoon Garam had gathered and was waiting in front of the park.
‘This time it’s me, Jung In-ho, and Kang Min-ah.’
In addition to this, there was also Mr. Ha Seong-yoon, who although it was a very ambiguous case, had strange eyes. This time, like the protagonist or Kang Min-ah, he didn’t have direct memories, but he seemed to see situations he couldn’t possibly have experienced. He was covering his eyes with his hands as if he was in pain.
“What on earth is this total mess? Why am I looking at this….”
“If you don’t like it, you shouldn’t have looked at it.”
“Don’t cross the line, Jeong In-ho.”
Ha Seong-yoon squeezed his eyes shut and said, pushing back his mousse hair.
“It looks like you don’t remember anything, Manager, so I’ll explain. “Jung In-ho seems to have roughly understood the situation inside the school, but he probably doesn’t know the circumstances at the time.”
“I guess the rules are tricky. After sharing and organizing as much information as possible, we go back to school. “I think it would be good to proceed as quickly as possible.”
“I’ll answer as I remember. “I’m not sure how helpful it will be since it’s not inside the school but surrounding it… but I do remember a good shelter location.”
Since it is said that every three years of a Seodang’s life, the harvest moon is recited, I thought the chicks could come up with a fairly efficient plan. Lee Jae-heon was secretly happy that he was able to move on without hearing excessive nagging like before. Now I will give you the title of heavy chick.
‘As expected, people must have composure in their hearts.’
With Lee Jae-heon, the three middle-class chicks each began exchanging information.
“There was a story about ‘school rules’ in Dahoon’s cell phone notepad. It seems like everything written in each classroom is different, but I heard that if you don’t follow it in school, you will be attacked. “After ensuring the safety of students, we need to check what the school rules are.”
“Once you enter a certain space, it seems difficult to leave again. The detective tried to open the door to the auditorium and leave, but the door didn’t even rattle as if it were decoration. I think if you are trapped like that, after a certain period of time, you turn into a monster. A time limit appears on your wrist… and when time is up, you’ll turn into a plaster statue. “It felt like my inner self was still alive and not dying, but only my body was turning into a monster.”
“The commercial area next to the school had a lot of mannequin monsters. If you go into an alley, they become particularly aggressive. Rather, there was a mountain behind the school, so it seemed better to go there. It was okay in the park, and I think it would be similar in the mountains. Otherwise, there was a vegetable garden in an apartment complex that you could walk to in about 10 minutes. I don’t remember the details, but I don’t think monsters came that way. “I’m not sure about this.”
“And it seemed like there were a few students who were dragged into the underworld with Dayoung and Dahun. Considering that the plaster monster was also human, there were about three people…”
To summarize, it was like this.
☆Jeong In-ho☆
: After ensuring the safety of students, it is necessary to check the school rules in order to escape without casualties. I couldn’t see it properly, but I confirmed that a lot of it was organized in Park Da-hoon’s notepad. There will be at least 3 and up to 5 survivors including the Park siblings, so quickly go to the school, get information from the surviving children, and escape safely.
☆Ha Seong-yoon☆
: When you are trapped in a random space when there is no one waiting outside the space, a time limit appears on your wrist, so I guess one of the rules is ‘You are trapped in a room you cannot leave and after a certain period of time, you turn into a monster.’ . The survivor’s ego exists within the plaster monster, but it is unclear whether it can return to being human. These plaster monsters are too fast and strong for survivors to handle, so be careful not to create another monster.
☆Kang Min-ah☆
: Most areas close to schools are dangerous. The safest places are the mountain behind the school, the vegetable garden of an apartment complex 10 minutes away, and the area around the police station. In the case of the police station, we did not go inside, but we confirmed that monster attacks were significantly reduced even if we were just nearby. Since it is judged that a mountain would be the best place to live, it seems a good idea for the waiting group to set up a rest area there.
“Then what we need right now…”
“I guess it’s to gather the survivors and move to the school as quickly as possible.”
“That’s it.”
Immediately after that, the heavy chicks, who were eagerly discussing their opinions among themselves, quickly moved to find the survivors who had not yet smoked and dragged them to the front of the park. In the case of Choi Min-hong, the child who was first caught for being unsteady, he was frozen with his eyes wide open.
Lee Jae-heon, who was hugging and patting Choi Min-hong, who had turned into a surprised rabbit, secretly looked at Ha Seong-yoon.
“…So, you came pretty quickly considering you got out of the hospital?”
Ha Seong-yoon, who arrived last time, came to the front of the park this time after Yoon Gar-ram. Ha Seong-yoon smiled his characteristic soft smile at Lee Jae-heon’s words.
“There was some good bait.”
“…? “Are you really a person?”
“No, it was trash.”
“….”
“He was a friend who would benefit the medical community and the world if he disappeared.”
Jaeheon Lee decided not to ask any more questions. In real life, he didn’t act like he was that crazy, but he really seemed like he wasn’t, so he was like a ‘doctor’ crazy guy. Ha Seong-yoon truly did not treat the doctor like a human being. To him, I thought doctors were a kind of race and a third gender.
After quickly restoring their team, they exchanged glances with each other and began to appeal in voices full of emotion.
“I don’t know what hardships Dayoung and Dahun are going through…! You can’t leave those little kids alone. “One o’clock may be an urgent situation!”
“That is correct. I don’t know how Unhak High School became a secret globalization, but I don’t think it would be dangerous. We need to move quickly and help…”
The atmosphere heated up by the so-called returners’ tricks was enough to make the survivors move quickly. Lee Jae-heon quickly moved to school, hugging Choi Min-hong, who was clinging to him. It really felt like I was eating stir-fried beans in the heat of lightning, but I brushed it off, thinking that a good thing is a good thing.
Honestly, I was quite satisfied.
‘First of all, we have to go to school before the Park siblings die, right?’
Even so, the Park siblings are the most intelligent among the survivors. They were very perceptive and shrewd, so they must have been able to survive somehow despite going through difficult times. The conclusion was that the sooner we arrived, the more likely the students would be alive.
Lee Jae-heon, who finally arrived at the school’s main gate, glanced at the sky.
“….”
Unlike last time, there was still white light in the sky.
“Would you like to go in with me, Manager?”
“…Why do you make that look when you make a suggestion?”
“I’m asking because I don’t know that… I guess you don’t know.”
Jeong In-ho sighed and carefully picked up the hammer he got from Vivian. Apparently, the hammer introduced in the first session as ‘used to trim the edges of the frame’ was borrowed from the Department of Art and Design, and it was quite large and long. This means that no matter how you look at it, it does not appear to be ‘for trimming the edges’.
Although it would be better in the current situation.
“Everyone is keeping quiet, but the manager did something… kind of stupid last time.”
“I think you have a misunderstanding, but I always focus on efficiency.”
“You have a bad habit of throwing yourself away when something goes wrong. I know.”
“What on earth do you know?”
“That’s why I really don’t want to take you there. I just hate myself. ”
“…what did I do….”
“Chief.”
The eyes of the main character, who seemed quite human, instantly turned pitch black.
“Are you hiding something from me?”
“what…?”
“Mr. Ha Seong-yoon said that the manager lost his footing. That’s why I couldn’t go into the warehouse. But the manager has the best physical ability among us. That person lost his footing? There were no other obstacles in the auditorium? Why did I stumble on the bare floor? “I didn’t understand that.”
“….”
“…I ask you again, are you really not hiding anything?”
His gaze landed on Hong Gyeong-jun and then back to Lee Jae-heon.
“For example… there are injuries that we don’t know about.”
“….”
I think this needs to be said.
‘If we get caught later, aren’t we really going to tie them up somewhere…?’
Jeong In-ho’s eyes were staring at the black gloves that had been covering his hands recently.
Since the gloves and polar T-shirt are particularly characteristic pieces of clothing, they have already been discovered, but the injuries to the abdomen and calves have not yet been reported. I kept my mouth shut because I was afraid that if I revealed this, Lee Jae-heon would be removed from the search team due to ridiculous overprotection, but honestly, at this point, I felt like I had to consider the repercussions of being found out later.
‘I can’t help it.’
By the time Jaeheon Lee, who had answered inwardly, hesitated, opened his lips.
“…Uh huh?”
“? uh? “Uh, there.”
“Director, over there…!”
The survivors were excited.
“What…”
The gaze of Jeong In-ho and Lee Jae-heon, who were talking a little away from them, moved towards where the survivors were looking. It was a glass window in the hallway surrounding the strangely curved exterior wall of the school, and a familiar face was waving inside.
The survivors began to murmur.
“…Aren’t you shouting something right now? “There must be a monster?”
“No, it looks like I’m just pouting, but…”
“Oh, that… Oh, that’s a dangerous place. “Oh my gosh, don’t hide anywhere.”
What made even the taciturn Azalea click her tongue were Park Da-young and Park Da-hoon, who were waving their hands loudly with bright faces. Next to them, students they had never seen before were looking at the siblings with strange eyes. It was hard to see because they were far away, but it seemed like that.
Lee Jae-heon muttered as he counted the floors of the building.
“…3rd Floor.”
There were no monsters until the third floor.
