Episode 355:
A housing complex inside a sinkhole that looks as cute as if it were painted, but gives an odd and strange impression.
This was a place to deceive survivors.
“They always act like they are living a happy and harmonious life. “They say you don’t have to worry about anything here and you don’t have to experience any pain here…”
Kim Yeon-woo, who was dramatically saved by the search team, continued speaking as he cleaned up his body.
“But in reality, it is a den of killers who skin alive survivors who know their true identity. “I almost got skinned like that too.”
“Why on earth leather…?”
“You don’t necessarily need to understand the psychology of criminals, but since the subject was a monster, not a human, let me explain. Although it’s just my opinion, it seemed like they were trying to create a new doll. “They tried to take my organs for that.”
The monsters here lured the survivors and removed their hearts, brains, stems, etc. to create new dolls of this anthill. Kim Yeon-woo explained that it appears that the remaining human skin is used to make scarecrows in the garden, and the muscles and useless flesh are processed into fertilizer for the garden.
Vivian frowned at her words and asked.
“How did you know that?”
“Oh, it’s not like I found out because I colluded with a monster. “I am grateful to all of you who saved me, and I never used me as bait to throw you all further into the abyss.”
“Honestly, I was right in my suspicions, but I’m embarrassed that you denied it so bluntly.”
“I’m sorry if you were embarrassed. I think we should clear up any misunderstandings in advance… The reason I came to this assumption was because of the books and diaries inside the house that I checked on my way here.”
“book? diary? Do monsters write things like that?”
“Well, most of them have hard-to-read graffiti on them, but that doesn’t mean I read them. What I checked was what was written in it… um.”
Kim Yeon-woo continued speaking while rubbing his chin.
“It was a record from other survivors.”
“…another survivor.”
“Yes, you probably remember that the fertilizer in the garden was a by-product, including the organs of other survivors. “It looked like traces those people left behind before they died.”
They and the current team of survivors came prepared for the underworld from the beginning and were sufficiently wary of this apartment and garden. However, the former survivors, who had no idea what this world was like or what kind of traps or monsters existed, could not help but be taken by the comfort of the apartment.
“They say that as you sit in the garden, you become more and more covetous of a proper home, an apartment, and even if you don’t, you have a desire to make the apartment your home base. It seemed like the eyeball monster was catching anyone who frequently visited the apartment or seemed willing to move in. I fell into the trap when I was looking at the apartment with that intention. “Well, there was even a record of a completely possessed survivor who was dragged into a sinkhole and barely came to his senses.”
“Oh…”
If a person is dragged into a sinkhole like that and does not come to their senses, their skin and internal organs will be separated in an instant and used as fertilizer for the garden, and at the same time, they will become part of a new doll. Even if they come to their senses, they will all be in the same house. The monsters that were wandering around in the confusing terrain and watching them before they died also separated the skin and internal organs.
“They said the center of the sinkhole was also a problem. So, it is said that some of the survivors who were selected as ‘sacrifices’ were dragged and pushed down there. “It doesn’t go through a separate butchering process like I did just now.”
“Butcher…”
“It was a bit of a strange remark. What about disassembly work?”
“Something like that too.”
Vivian shook her head and asked again.
“But what if it’s the center of the sinkhole?”
“I’m talking about the sinkhole itself. “There is a space for people to walk in front of the residential area on each floor, and you can go down this large sinkhole through a spiral staircase on the wall… but in any case, isn’t it essentially a large pit called a sinkhole?”
Kim Yeon-woo’s explanation was as follows.
There are two ways to get inside the sinkhole in the middle of the apartment complex. One is by entering a sub-sinkhole that appears and disappears additionally, like Jae-heon Lee and Yeon-woo Kim. Another way is to descend directly through the spiral staircase on the main sinkhole wall like a straggler search team.
And far below this large main sinkhole. It is said that pitch-black hands live at the bottom of sinkholes where even the bottom cannot be seen.
“Did you not see it when you were coming down the stairs? Considering the location, I think you can see the center if you look down from the stairs…”
“Wait a minute.”
Vivian interrupted and asked.
“…Are you talking about the black hand that often protrudes from the wall here? “Those guys who keep talking about how happy they are.”
“I think it’s most likely the hand, but if the hand can be clearly seen in that big hole, it’s definitely bigger than the hand monster we’ve seen. Actually, the monsters here seem to be particularly good at finding us.”
Kim Yeon-woo, who said that, shrugged his shoulders.
“That doesn’t mean survivors like us are being monitored everywhere. I know there are a few places where you can relax and avoid the monsters. “If you stay there for a long time, you will notice monsters passing by.”
“No way, Kim Yeon-woo too….”
“Yes, I was hiding with Lee Jae-heon, but unfortunately, I was discovered by a monster passing by on the street. I broke up with Jaeheon Lee while running away, but I’m worried whether he’ll be okay. “I couldn’t help you because I was captured.”
“aha.”
Vivian let out an exclamation of boredom with her characteristic dull face. Didn’t Kim Yeon-woo just get caught by a doll and end up in a situation where his skin almost disintegrated alive? It’s not strange that I resent Lee Jae-heon for leaving me or that I feel helpless about my situation, but I can’t believe I’m worried about Lee Jae-heon. I was even more sick of it because it didn’t seem like it was pretense or a lie.
Kwon Yeon-hee, who was listening to their story, asked curiously.
“But the manager just left Yeonwoo obediently and ran away?”
“No, I kicked it and threw it away. Fortunately, there was a door on the side of the road, so there was no problem in getting it out with that simple method.”
“Wow.”
“For me, it was force majeure. He was so disobedient… Unlike me, Jaeheon Lee had serious injuries. The wounds on my abdomen and legs opened again due to the impact of falling from the sinkhole. “My ankle ligaments were a bit stretched, but my condition wasn’t as bad as Jaeheon Lee’s, so it was an inevitable choice.”
Kang Min-ah, who had been nervously listening to Kim Yeon-woo’s story until then, opened her mouth.
“Well then, manager…”
“I don’t know either. You said you were looking for me through one of the many doors on your way there, but we had never entered a house with that many doors in the first place. “I think those doors were probably some sort of fork in the road leading to this sinkhole.”
“Then should we go back to the house with those doors?”
“…? No, that would be… impossible.”
Kim Yeon-woo, who tilted his head for a moment, looked at Pompitz and nodded as if he understood.
“You may not have noticed because you have been following Pompitz forward until now, but once you pass through the door here, it disappears or changes to lead to a completely different place. Even if you move to the same place, I think it is unlikely that you will find a room with that many doors again.”
“Then what should I do?”
“I guess I’ll have to ask Mr. Pompitz again. “I was already wondering how to find Jaeheon Lee.”
Vivian looked at Kim Yeon-woo with strange eyes.
“You were on the verge of peeling off your skin, but when did you ever think of something like that?…” “
I thought that even if I died, I might meet the searchers who came to visit us during the dying process. “Then, I have to tell you about Lee Jae-heon’s whereabouts before I die, so I had to think about it in advance.”
“I see.”
I wonder if he doesn’t notice Vivian’s slightly averted gaze, or if he knows but is pretending not to notice. Kim Yeon-woo looked at Pompitz while stroking his bruised wrists from being tied up.
“Excuse me, Mr. Pompitz.”
“Are you sure what you are saying to the abandoned monster dog?”
“Oh, I don’t treat dogs in real life this way, but… aren’t there some monsters here whose intelligence is comparable to that of humans? From what I’ve heard, Pompitz seems to be as smart as a 10-year-old child. “Then I thought that he needed to be treated appropriately.”
“…Yes…”
Vivian nodded with a somewhat resigned look on her face.
‘I don’t think I’ve ever gone out to this extent before, but I guess the past four days have been difficult for me as well.’
Unlike his usual cold and expressionless face, Kim Yeon-woo was quick-witted and had sufficient common sense. This means that there was a mouth filter, which is essential for members of society, but for Kim Yeon-woo now, there was no such thing as a filter.
Vivian sighed inwardly, thinking she was probably just saying what was on her mind.
‘Mina doesn’t seem to be in her right mind… Yeonhee is so unreliable that I have no choice but to stay sane.’
Kim Yeon-woo, who did not know or pretended not to know Vivian, who was making a promise to herself, continued to talk to Pompitz.
“Could you please chase Lee Jae-heon out here too? “Pompitz said he knows the way out, so I think we can get out of the sinkhole safely as long as we find Jaeheon Lee.”
Ugh….
Pompitz slowly took a step back when Kim Yeon-woo made a polite request to him.
“Mr. Pompitz?”
“I think it would make Mr. Pompitz feel better if you just called him Pompitz.”
“Ah, then Pompitz. “Can I ask you a favor?”
Kim Yeon-woo quickly accepted Vivian’s opinion. However, Pompitz still fidgeted with his tail hanging down and then secretly looked up at Kang Min-ah.
“…why?”
Sigh.
“what’s the matter…? “Is it not possible?”
Kang Min-ah’s face, who believed in only Pompitz, turned white.
I didn’t feel like Lee Jae-heon was dead yet, but I was so anxious at the thought that he might die while we were chatting like this. If even Pompitz said no, Kang Mina might get angry.
Blaming others for your own lack of ability is truly a despicable act, but… Kang Min-ah was that desperate.
“really?”
If Kang Min-ah saw Lee Jae-heon’s corpse, she might go crazy.
“….”
“….”
After a strange silence, Pompitz stood up.
At the end of the walk, there was a long staircase leading downstairs.
* * *
“We should be arriving by now….”
Bang, boom, boom!
Lee Jae-heon blinked blankly, ignoring the noise beyond the door.
“When are you coming?”
I’m slowly getting tired of this.
Contrary to his carefree thoughts, Lee Jae-heon’s situation was not objectively peaceful enough to be boring.
He was waging a war of nerves with human-sized cotton doll monsters with a thin wooden door in the middle. Behind it was a large sinkhole that I often checked while exploring apartment complexes, and even though it was a dizzyingly deep hole, there were no railings to prevent people from falling into it.
Well, it’s natural. A ‘sacrificial’ had to go into that deep sinkhole, and that ‘sacrificial’ was a survivor. Since the monsters beyond the door were also trying to catch Lee Jae-heon in order to make a ‘sacrifice’, it was natural that there were no railings in the first place. If you make even the slightest mistake with this flimsy door without a lock, you will soon be attacked by monsters and fall into that pit.
‘But that’s a bit troublesome. Falling into the pit has to be after Kang Min-ah approaches this way to a certain extent.’
If things go according to Lee Jae-heon’s plan, Kang Min-ah and the survivors will probably arrive soon.
“Has Kim Ki-jeong’s side been resolved?”
Before they came, Lee Jae-heon decided to think about the other side.
It’s been about 4 days since I fell into the sinkhole. If so, Kim Ki-jeong, who fell into the apartment trap, would have been solved. Due to Hong Gyeong-jun’s personality, he will notice that the key ring monster is missing and form a team to find out the information, and Han Do-yoon, who was in charge of the key ring monster, will also be among them.
‘If Han Do-yoon goes, Kim Ki-jung will go. If Kim Ki-jeong goes, Woo Joo-young, who has been close with Kim Ki-jeong Han Do-yoon these days… If Woo Joo-young goes, Yoon Gar-ram, who wants to be close to her, will follow… Then, there are already 4 people, so there is no way it will increase from there.’
Hong Gyeong-jun cannot join the search team because he has to protect children and the elderly, and Ha Seong-yoon and Jung In-ho will stay on the standby team because they know that they are not in a good state these days. Then, the information search team is Kim Ki-jeong, Han Do-yoon, Woo Woo-young, and Yoon Gar-ram. With these members, it would take 3 to 4 days to escape the room, no matter how short it was, so it is highly likely that Hong Gyeong-jun and other spare personnel would have joined there.
‘Then I don’t have to worry about that, after all. There are 7 people, so even if the key ring monster causes trouble, we will be able to handle it. The one who wins the apartment trap will be Ha Seong-yoon, so he will get out of it in a day or so… In room 1201, after Kim Ki-jeong, Han Do-yoon and Yoon Gar-ram will be resolved.’
And before that, Kang Min-ah and the search team will come looking for Lee Jae-heon…
“…If there is a variable, is it a key ring monster?”
Jaeheon Lee let out a long breath as he felt the heat sizzling inside his clothes.
The keyring monster’s trigger is activated when the management office finds its information, and reaches its peak as the survivors who fell into the trap of Room 1201 solve the problem. And the strange change had already begun inside Lee Jae-heon’s body.
“It looks like we haven’t started a full-scale battle with the keyring monster yet…” If the
keyring monster, which acts as a trigger, had started a proper battle with Han Do-yoon, who was one of the stimulation points, Lee Jae-heon’s condition couldn’t have been at this level.
‘Because I have been recognized as the father of the key ring monster.’
I knew it from the start of the plan, but the person the Keyring Monster recognizes as his ‘father’ becomes a kind of spark. Or should I say it is a straw that is destined to burn. As the key ring monster did not appear in his lucid dreams, I am not sure yet what kind of problems it will cause to Lee Jae-heon, who is linked to it, if it dies or suffers from a status abnormality.
However, according to the information found in the management office and room 1201, if the key ring monster died, Lee Jae-heon would not die along with it.
‘There’s no way the keyring monster will let me die.’
Jaeheon Lee, who had been listening with his eyes closed, soon lifted his eyelids.
“…come.”
The sound of running was not coming from the door he was blocking, but from a door on the wall next to Lee Jae-heon, a little away. There is no sign of the cotton doll following behind, as if it had somehow escaped detection by other monsters. Jaeheon Lee burst out laughing at the amazing chicks who came looking for me, just as I expected.
When he heard footsteps just beyond the door next to him, he relaxed his hold on the door.
“….”
Kwasik!
The flimsy door breaks down and two stuffed monsters attack Lee Jae-heon.
“-Boss!!”
“…ah.”
Directly behind him is a distant cliff.
Lee Jae-heon made eye contact with the amazing chick and staggered back towards there. He acted as if he had no choice but to run away while avoiding the monster pouring out of the door.
“Kangmin.”
When I called the name of someone who saw me.
When I tripped like that and my body fell apart.
“Boss…!”
“….”
“…Ugh, manager….”
Lee Jae-heon blinked as Kang Min-ah held his hand.
“…under.”
how is it.
This is a familiar situation, right?
(Continued in the next part)
