Episode 249:
There are two cases in which a plaster monster is created.
First thing first. According to Rule 9, the body of a survivor who is trapped in one space for a certain period of time changes. It is important to unite with colleagues who are waiting outside or coming to the connected space before it is too late, but this may have been the case with Park Da-young and Park Da-hoon, who were locked in the auditorium in the last episode, when this was not possible.
‘I don’t know what happened to the body that looked like student Maeng Na-eun…’
Park Da-young was probably strangled to death by Park Da-hoon. They probably killed them before they turned into plaster monsters so as not to cause as much disadvantage to the survivors who would come looking for them. Considering that Park Da-young’s legs had turned into white plaster, it was almost certain.
“…Mr. Jeong In-ho.”
When Lee Jae-heon, who just peeked his head out of the elevator, called out Jeong In-ho, the other person answered in a calm and quiet tone.
“…That’s the plaster statue I told you about. It was very fast and strong, but even the manager couldn’t handle it. “I think we should avoid our eyes as much as possible.”
They were taking the elevator up to escape from a classroom with no school rules and rescue a student they had never seen before.
“Huh…”
Lee Jae-heon and Jeong In-ho closed the elevator door again, went inside, and sighed under their breath. The main character may have exhaled from tension, but Jaeheon Lee exhaled from frustration.
The second route where plaster monsters are created.
‘You were chosen by the teacher monster.’
This is the case when the teacher monster appoints a survivor as ‘class president’.
If you are attacked so severely that your bones are visible and your flesh falls off, and you are tied to a chair, it is obviously difficult to survive. The other students who had just entered the underworld and were attacked were probably already dead. However, even a student who was tied up like that could have been appointed by the teacher monster before he died.
‘I guess it hasn’t been that long since that bastard became a monster…’ Although it
was never described separately in the novel, Lee Jae-heon remembered Park Da-hoon, who had a lot to say for a plaster monster in the last episode. It didn’t even rush at the survivor as soon as it saw it. Lee Jae-heon judged that it was because Park Da-hoon’s body was less stiff enough to be able to endure it with his will. The plaster monsters in the novel could barely speak and their gestures were particularly elastic.
In that sense, the plaster monster I had just seen outside the elevator door was a little softer than the other monsters and was stuck in a corner. It seems like he’s muttering something. The speculation that it was definitely a less hardened plaster monster was given even more weight.
“You said the plaster monster was a survivor transformed.”
“Yes… Dahun was in that state. “It was the same for the other survivors in the warehouse.”
“How did that student end up like that?”
“…Manager….”
No, fuck. I didn’t say that because I felt sorry.
‘I’m really curious about why it happened like that.’
Seeing that his movements were smooth, it seemed clear that it was not the guy who had just been caught when he entered the underworld, but the guy who had stolen his jacket. However, I am curious as to what talent the guy who was arrested for not having a jacket was appointed to. Because teacher monsters don’t appoint all dogs or cows as class presidents.
For reference, in the novel, Garam Yoon receives an appointment offer, accepts it, and almost becomes a plaster monster. Jeong In-ho immediately cut off Yoon Gar-ram’s left hand, stopping the process and leaving her as a human…
“…”
“… Why do you look at me like that?”
“…If I were to tell you that when you turn into a plaster monster, you can survive by cutting off only the advanced parts, would you do that?”
“Is that really the only way? Then there is nothing we can do.”
“You disgusting bastard.”
“No, what… the manager is stronger than me.”
After all, the main character was the main character.
“I agree with Mr. Jeong In-ho’s opinion. “That is correct.”
“The doctor says so too.”
The doctor was also a doctor.
‘I really hate this combination.’
Writer, I want to go home.
Yes. Lee Jae-heon, Jeong In-ho, and Ha Seong-yoon were riding in an elevator that could accommodate only three people. It was a truly difficult combination for Lee Jae-heon, who recognized the ability of disgusting things but could not confirm their existence, but was able to defend himself by saying, ‘It is still better than Hong Gyeong-jun’s arrival.’ The students who saw it for the first time did the right thing by relying on the police and leaving it below.
“I don’t know how that monster came to be. “Seeing as it is made from survivors… there must be conditions.”
“Isn’t that because of Rule 9? Didn’t they say that when you’re locked in a room without someone waiting for you outside, the time limit appears on your wrist? “Isn’t it because the teacher was captured by the monster and locked in the classroom that he turned into such a monster?”
The protagonist, who was trying to answer Ha Seong-yoon’s question based on his memories from the previous episode, soon shook his head.
“…Um no. If that were the case, all the students captured by the teacher monster would have turned into such monsters. “Seeing that that student has changed so much, it seems clear that there are more conditions.”
In fact, Jaeheon Lee could have secretly told me the correct answer at this point. Because it is not difficult to create an experience that did not exist for ‘Lee Jae-heon’ and subtly expose it to him, as he has already done a few times.
‘But this method also has its limitations.’
As there is no story about other schools in the other side of the world in the novel, if it is assumed that all schools have similar rules, Lee Jae-heon will also run out of things to say later. Because I don’t know if that’s actually the case. Unless it was really urgent or there was a proper basis, this kind of lie should have been kept in moderation.
Therefore, Jaeheon Lee could not say, ‘That plaster monster is the student whose jacket we are looking for.’ They had no choice but to shovel.
“…What did you say that student’s name was? Kim Hee-chan?”
“Maybe so.”
“Unless it was simply trapped and created… I don’t think we can rule out the possibility that that monster is student Kim Hee-chan. “Of course he’s wearing a jacket.”
Yes, this was also one of the reasons why Lee Jae-heon could not push forward his opinion strongly.
‘Why do you have to wear a jacket?’
I couldn’t figure out why the guy who had been dragged away because he didn’t have a jacket was wearing it again.
It would have been better if it had been given to him by a monster teacher who appointed him as class president, but if he had cleverly taken it from dead students, the name on the jacket name tag would not have been ‘Kim Hee-chan’. Since it was difficult to confirm even with the monster’s name tag, we shouldn’t have insisted, ‘Oh, that’s that bastard.’ Because it may cause unnecessary confusion.
This meant that they had to go around the entire classroom on the 4th floor to find out whether student Kim Hee-chan was alive or dead.
“Text still doesn’t work? “I’m a little anxious because the phone can make noise…”
Ha Seong-yoon answered Jeong In-ho’s question in a characteristic, easy-going tone.
“The silent setting itself does not work in the first place. “Those monsters may be sensitive to sound, so the only way is to refrain from contacting them as much as possible.”
“But we still need someone to stay in the hallway while we rescue the student and go down to the third floor.”
“I wish I could use this elevator again, but it’s a shame.”
Lee Jae-heon nodded inwardly at Ha Seong-yoon’s words.
‘It’s a shame. ‘I wish I could just go down like this.’
I had a sweet fantasy of just going down to the second floor without saving the student, but that was too much of a stretch. The ‘not saving students’ part was not the problem. The problem is that ‘they just go down to the second floor’. One-time use tickets are gone once they go up or down.
The good news was that as long as I didn’t leave the elevator, there were no restrictions on opening and closing the doors. Lee Jae-heon, who stuttered to recall the number of classrooms on the fourth floor, opened his mouth.
“Since you said the plaster monster is that fast, I guess I should go into the classroom if possible.”
“Then you won’t be able to go outside after class. The students were able to come out of the classroom without anyone waiting for them because they had been in the classroom since they first came to the secret world, but after a while, they were no longer able to come and go as they pleased. “We’ve been at school for a while now, so we won’t be able to come out without someone waiting for us outside.”
“So one person will have to wait in the hallway outside. “Avoiding the eyes of the plaster monster…”
Jeong In-ho, who had just checked out the situation in the hallway with Lee Jae-heon, expressed his confusion.
“I think it will be difficult. Plaster is plaster, but there are also quite a few mannequin monsters wearing school uniforms. “They may harass us in some way, but they won’t just leave us alone.”
“…I was thinking about this while listening to Dayoung and Dahun’s story…”
Jaeheon Lee answered, wiping the corners of his mouth.
“Should I call it a rest area in front of the elevator? Isn’t there some space that is decorated? “There are chairs, bookshelves… and a model tree in the middle.”
“Yes?”
“I saw earlier that the chair was quite long. It was an all-in-one chair, but instead of the front and sides of the lower part being closed like a wall, the back was open. “There is a space that looks like a coffin with one wall open.”
“…At least one person could hide there.”
He nodded at Ha Seong-yoon’s words.
“Based on the story you told me, it sounds like the way plaster monsters find survivors is similar to humans. Rather, doesn’t it seem a bit dull? “I don’t think it will attack if you can’t see it with your eyes.”
“Well… it’s strange that we keep hiding in the elevator like this and can’t find it. I even opened and closed the door twice and didn’t notice. “The plaster monster that was Da-hoon must have relied heavily on his eyesight, as he went out of his way to turn on the lights in the auditorium.”
In response to Ha Seong-yoon’s words, Jae-heon Lee spoke, recalling the space of the school.
“When you think about it that way, there’s quite a bit of hiding space in the hallway.”
Starting with the chairs in the rest area, there are multiple grooves created by the pillars lined up in the middle of the hallway.
“And the bathroom… will be fine too. maybe.”
Jeong In-ho blinked at those words.
“If you go in, won’t you be trapped and can’t get out?”
“Toilets in public institutions generally had few restrictions. You can think of it as a kind of safety zone that is completely separate from the rules of the building itself. I guess there was usually a time limit. “The shortest time I remember was 10 minutes… but I don’t know what it’s like here.”
This was an actual setting, so it was easy to talk about. Most restrooms in public institutions in the underworld had soft restrictions in place, such as entering them and automatically exiting them after a certain period of time. Without any warning, you are instantly transported outside the bathroom door.
‘If I remember correctly… the bathroom at Eonhak High School would have lasted up to an hour.’
However, there are conditions here as well. The more people enter, the more limited time is divided by the number of people. If all three people went in, they would only be allowed about 20 minutes, not an hour.
“But since you never know what problems might arise, it would be better to use nearby equipment if possible. “There is no limit to the time you can hide under the chair.”
“…Couldn’t it be foolish to divide the hallway into sections and treat it as one space? “Even if you hide under a chair and wait, if it doesn’t work, you can’t come out of some classrooms, right?”
“If it had been that tight, students wouldn’t have been able to hide in classrooms without school rules. It may have been possible to relax rule number 9 by providing some convenience in the underworld at first, but… problems would have arisen when coming down to the third floor and walking through the hallways. “You would be stuck and not be able to move forward.”
“It certainly is.”
Ha Seong-yoon nodded, looked back at Lee Jae-heon and Jeong In-ho and asked.
“Then who would like to hide in the chair? “I saw it briefly earlier, but the space was quite wide and long, so hiding itself didn’t seem like a burden.”
“If it’s okay with you, Inho Jeong, please come in.”
The protagonist blinked at Lee Jae-heon’s words.
“…I…you mean? “Why?”
“Think about why we brought Ha Seong-yoon here. Even if we find a student whose jacket was stolen, there is a high probability that he or she is in bad condition, so a doctor is needed.”
“Has my expression become very bitter? I think so. The person I had questions about was not Ha Seong-yoon, but the manager. “Do you really think I should hide?”
“That’s right, I’ve been to the school once before, and at least out of all the people gathered here, I’m probably the quickest at reacting. “I don’t know what rules are left, so I think I should go.”
“…Boss.”
“What is it?”
At Lee Jae-heon’s words, Jeong In-ho was seen taking off his glasses and pressing them between his eyes. As I watched him doing this with a rather tired face, the protagonist, who had calmed down before he knew it, opened his mouth.
“Do you have any pain?”
“….”
“Your gait seemed a little strange.”
“…There is no pain…”
“If you really don’t have any pain, you won’t mind if I lift your clothes, right?”
Fuck.
“…Isn’t that crazy? Inho Jeong knows my walk because it’s been a while since he’s seen me. No, it wouldn’t have been that obvious in the first place, right?”
“It looks like you’re sick. If it were like before, I would have covered it up by being an old man or insisted somehow. “It’s so funny that I have to be confused by the fact that you acknowledge it so obediently.”
“You disgusting bastard.”
“I think Ha Seong-yoon also has something to say.”
“No…”
Ha Seong-yoon was staring at Lee Jae-heon with a look of betrayal.
In the end, it was Lee Jae-heon who decided to hide in the chair. There was nothing I could do because the wounds on my legs and abdomen were revealed and I was almost grabbed by the collar. If I had insisted a little more, I would have really been grabbed by the collar and nagged for 10 minutes.
As break time was coming to an end, they came out of the elevator and walked carefully.
“….”
“….”
Fortunately, the plaster monster was still loitering at the end of the hallway.
‘Teacher monsters are coming from the grade room.’
For reference, this teacher monster does not inform the plaster monster even if it encounters a survivor in the hallway. Jaeheon Lee headed to the classroom closest to the elevator and hid under a chair after seeing the two survivors entering the classroom just in time for the monster teacher to open the door.
I heard the classroom door slam shut.
“….”
What period was this?
‘It must have been about 6 or 7 periods…’
When you’re in the other side of the world, you definitely lose the concept of time. It was because I didn’t have the presence of mind to check the time, but at this school, I had to at least know what period it was. That way, I will be able to leave school within 1 minute after the 8th period ends.
So no matter how much I thought about it, escaping from school this episode was impossible.
‘How many classrooms are there on the 4th floor? Once you check all of that, you’ll have to plan for the next school dismissal time. Then, you’ve already lost all your mental energy in the classroom. How can you leave school in that state?’
Jaeheon Lee didn’t say he would go into the classroom for nothing. Perhaps the Park siblings had an unusual mentality and were able to endure it well, but the survivors who received classes in the classroom were set to suffer a mental blow. It is also a blow that reflects the individual survivor’s school days.
In this situation, you’re going to leave school after only two? Even though you don’t know all the rules?
‘It’s really unreasonable.’
Lee Jae-heon shook his head inwardly, hiding further inside his chair as the class bell rang cheerfully yet gloomily. I could hear the footsteps of monsters going here and there.
Besides, it wasn’t just about hiding like this. In order for Ha Seong-yoon and Jeong In-ho to be able to get out of the space they are trapped in at the right time, they have to go in the middle and allow them to come out. If possible, as the students said, I could have called and given permission. Either way was just as dangerous.
‘There’s no way I won’t be caught by the plaster monster even once.’
It’s really hard to make a living.
