Episode 367
Jeong In-ho told Hong Gyeong-jun the truth.
Everyone has come this far without knowing anything about how this world works, who died, how many times, and the terrible things that happened. We are in the process of repeating death and rebirth and continuously creating new cases.
“Do you understand up to this point?”
“….”
Fortunately, Hong Gyeong-jun did not treat Jeong In-ho’s absurd explanation as nonsense. Considering how much Hong Gyeong-jun distrusts Jeong In-ho, it was quite surprising.
“…yes.”
“is it so.”
“understand.”
“….”
“No one will die.”
Jeong In-ho thought Hong Gyeong-jun was crazy.
“Failure has become a thing of the past and only success remains…”
“…Is that so?”
“Yes. “There will always be a winner.”
“I never thought of this as a victory.”
“I apologize if this was a hasty assessment. But I just…”
“Just?”
“…well.”
Hong Gyeong-jun was smiling.
Even though I clumsily covered my mouth with one hand, the intense joy inside was clearly visible.
“feels good.”
It really seemed that way.
“I don’t think I should like it, but I like it….”
“….”
“I like it so much.”
Jeong In-ho blinked slowly at the soft tone of voice he did not usually use.
“…aha.”
It wasn’t an exclamation, a sarcasm, or anything else.
“You crazy bastard.”
I just wanted to swear a little.
Jeong In-ho felt his dazed brain gradually waking up from its sleep. Perhaps Jeong In-ho’s spirit may have been coming back to its rightful place a long time ago. It’s just that I was so intoxicated by the dreaminess that I wanted to do even a little more of that stupid thing. Inho Jeong assessed his condition that way.
As proof, Jung In-ho’s smile was quite neat right now.
“I’m almost jealous.”
Jeong In-ho felt like he wanted to keep the crazy guy in front of him alive until the end.
I wonder how this bastard will share my burden.
* * *
“―Mr. Inho!”
Jump up!
Garam Yoon opened the purple door.
“Detective, are you okay?!”
“Everyone, come out quickly! “Oh my god, look at all the injuries…!”
Do-yoon Han and Garam Yoon approached Jeong In-ho and Hong Gyeong-jun, who had just escaped from the trap. Inside the room in the picture, it had been exposed to fire for quite a long time, so it looked scorched and reddened here and there.
And Hong Gyeong-jun, seeing them like that, blinked and asked.
“…why?”
Why are they like this?
Do-yoon Han was carrying Kim Ki-jeong on his side, and Garam Yoon was carrying Woo Woo-young on his shoulder. Just like inside the trap, the burning 1201 was embarrassing, but the unexpected and funny appearance of his colleagues stimulated Hong Gyeong-jun’s lungs. An ambiguous laugh came out.
“Why are you carrying it like that?”
“Oh, if you get burned, it’s a big problem.”
“Mr. Garam Yoon was not affected by the fire, so even if that were the case, Mr. Han Do-yoon…”
“Because I am a firefighter.”
“It probably doesn’t have much to do with that.”
Jeong In-ho seemed to be tightening his lips as if he was in a similar mood as Hong Kyung-jun, but he ignored this strange sight by adjusting his glasses. Kim Ki-jeong and Woo Joo-young, who sounded like rice bags, were quiet as to whether they had accepted the reality or given up, but now Hong Kyung-jun was questioning them.
“I understand for now. “How are things going?”
“Then you should go to the bathroom first.”
“…I guess there’s no fire in the bathroom?”
“It’s not that it doesn’t come in at all, but it’s the slowest.”
“great.”
Fortunately, there was a bathroom right in front of the room where Hong Kyung-jun and Jeong In-ho came out, and hiding inside it to avoid the hot flames was no problem. Even though the restroom in the greatly altered world of the secret world felt a bit cramped due to the number of people…
Hong Gyeong-jun, who was told the general situation by Do-yoon Han inside, asked back with a strange expression.
“So, doesn’t that mean that only Ha Seong-yoon needs to come out now?”
With Jung In-ho and Hong Gyeong-jun appearing, there was only one chain left surrounding Lee Jae-heon’s doll. Even that was difficult for Hong Gyeong-jun, who knew how smart and good-acting Ha Seong-yoon was, to understand that Ha Seong-yoon was not doing anything inside the room or even burning.
He would have figured out immediately how to escape, but the fact that he still hasn’t come out was proof that Ha Seong-yoon didn’t want to leave the trap.
“Yes, that is… Detective, you are also out of the picture, so as you know, we cannot provide any help if the person inside the picture does not move. “At least you have to solve all the puzzles before you can draw the door with crayons or not.”
“But Ha Seong-yoon didn’t make any moves from the beginning.”
“…I don’t think he has any intention of coming out.”
At Han Do-yoon’s words, Jeong In-ho blinked slowly and opened his mouth.
“…He was in a bad mood from the moment he left the house.”
“If it’s a house….”
“Like the room 403 that Kim Ki-jeong stopped by, didn’t Ha Seong-yoon stop by the same place? My condition was bad long before I came to the apartment, and after visiting my childhood home, I couldn’t even manage my facial expressions. “I think it’s safe to say that we’ve almost reached our limit.”
Jeong In-ho muttered, remembering the doctor who was completely dumbfounded and wondering what on earth he was thinking.
“…But I wasn’t the type of person who would die just because I didn’t have energy.”
Just like me.
‘There was no sign of burnout.’
Jeong In-ho could hardly understand Ha Seong-yoon.
Unlike Kim Ki-jeong, who saw a house that reflected his childhood but had quite a few difficulties, Ha Seong-yoon solved all the puzzles with ease. The more he thought of something one by one, the worse he felt, but he didn’t act like he wanted to give up everything like Jeong In-ho.
Ha Seong-yoon was a person obsessed with being a doctor, and that obsession survived even though Ha Seong-yoon’s personality was pushed to its limits. Otherwise, even in a world like this, there was no way he would have suppressed his cold nature while caring for patients or making a distorted expression while checking out Azalea’s abilities. At least Ha Seong-yoon was not the kind of person who would give up on his life.
“….”
Then why are you acting so sluggishly?…
“…Hmm.”
“…Jung In-ho?”
“How can I get out of here?”
Hong Gyeong-jun also nodded and asked if he felt something from Jeong In-ho’s words.
“okay. Can all trapped survivors escape the trap? “Like the childhood homes of Kim Ki-jeong and Ha Seong-yoon, the front door is locked… so I’m asking whether escape is possible if special measures are taken.”
“Uh… first of all, the front door is locked. I assumed that it would only open when all survivors escaped the trap. “I don’t think the keyring monster would let that happen.”
“I guess the fire will remain after we leave?”
“I guess so…?”
“Jaeheon Lee’s doll and the fire monster will also be left behind.”
“…oh.”
Han Do-yoon, who had finally realized the blind spot in his guess or plan, opened his mouth. Well, if Ha Seong-yoon is pulled out of the trap as Han Do-yoon guessed, the front door may be unlocked and he can escape, but Lee Jae-heon’s doll is also in room 1201, where the fire remains.
“Wasn’t Lee Jae-heon’s doll only burned by the chain fire? “It’s a doll that has the shape of a monster, but it won’t burn in an ordinary fire, right?”
“…No, it just burns… in the fire.”
Do-yoon Han answered hesitantly, perhaps because he felt guilty for not being able to pay attention to Lee Jae-heon’s doll. His face was unusually depressed.
“It’s probably still taking a toll.”
At that time, Garam Yoon, who had been quietly listening to the story, opened his mouth.
“Then we have the answer.”
“yes?”
“I have to kill the monster.”
Anyone could tell that the owner of room 1201 in building 119 was a keyring, or rather, ignition monster. Unlike in the park, if you kill it, which is doing all kinds of tricks, there is a high chance that the crazy anomalies here will stop.
“If that happens, what good will all the traps and fire be? “Once we kill Master Teoju, Teacher Ha Seong-yoon will be able to escape, and we will be able to escape the apartment as well.”
“….”
“Before we all burn to death here….”
Yoon Garam trailed off for a moment.
“…Shouldn’t I go out?”
Hong Gyeong-jun frowned slightly as a strange smile seemed to appear on the face he was covering with one hand.
‘…Did I see it wrong?’
When Yoon Garam paused for a moment, she rolled her eyes as if she had imagined all her colleagues burning to death. The eyes, which were bright yellow like green dandelions, gave a feeling of strange repulsion rather than freshness. His intuition rang a weak alarm.
I’ve felt it before, but is it possible that Garam Yoon….
“Mr. Garam?”
“Oh yes Jooyoung.”
“Are you okay now?”
“It’s okay, um, thank you for your concern.”
“No, it’s just…”
It felt like I could hear a push-like sound of the wind falling.
In an instant, Hong Gyeong-jun looked at Woo Woo-young as Yoon Gar-ram’s eyes regained their original calm light and smiled shyly. She was looking around at Yoon Garam with a perplexed expression, as if she felt the same danger as Hong Gyeongjun, but the moment Woo Joo Young called Yoon Garam, the danger disappeared.
“….”
Hong Gyeong-jun thought.
“…You two will continue to travel together from now on.”
Those two are a set.
“yes yes?”
“It was originally planned to be like that.”
“Yes, I’m glad.”
I didn’t want to doubt my colleagues again like I did at the park. I didn’t even want to suppress it. Just a moment ago, Hong Gyeong-jun even scolded Jeong In-ho in the world of paintings. He was also not in good condition, so if there was a talent who could bring a dangerous molecule like Yoon Garam up to a safe level, it was right to utilize him.
Jeong In-ho must have been thinking the same thing as Hong Gyeong-jun, as he was looking at the two women with a similar expression.
“….”
“….”
At that moment, Hong Gyeong-jun and Jeong In-ho made eye contact and frowned at the same time. They turned their heads back to the front as if they didn’t want to see each other’s faces, but only the two of them knew that to others, their behavior was exactly the same.
Jeong In-ho, feeling Kim Ki-jeong’s strange gaze, asked.
“Why do you look at me like that?”
“…I guess you two have become close friends.”
“What did you say now?”
“…I made a mistake. “I’ll cancel.”
“It’s not that I’m angry, it’s just that it’s a little difficult to understand…”
“Yes, I guess so.”
Ignoring Jung In-ho’s nonsense and Hong Gyeong-jun’s stinging gaze, Kim Ki-jeong grumbled inwardly. These young elementary school kids. They seemed to be the only ones unaware that the distance between them had narrowed considerably, unlike before.
Of course, Kim Ki-jeong was not a kind enough person to convince me of that fact. He got away from this ridiculous topic and got back to the point.
“So… are you killing monsters? how?”
“Do you pour water on the radish?”
“We don’t have enough water to stop our breathing. Even in this shitty bathroom, there’s no water, firefighter.”
“Even if you look at me like that…”
Do-yoon Han was crushed by Kim Ki-jeong’s salty gaze.
“Even if I were to go out to the field, I had the equipment. Of course, I learned what to do in case there is no equipment, but it is difficult to put out a fire of this size without water or sand… I am much more accustomed to getting people out before the fire is out rather than putting out the fire and saving people….” “That…
” “I guess so.”
“Usually in apartments, especially in well-built apartments like this one, there are things that can be used in case of fire… You know the water cannons that firefighters use. There is such a thing. We can’t even go out the front door right now. “It is difficult to put out the fire itself.”
Yoon Garam intervened in Han Do-yoon’s words.
“There’s one more.”
“What? What…”
“One more thing besides water or sand.”
“….”
Do-yoon Han gaped at that.
“…no way?”
“yes.”
Garam Yoon said with a smile.
“Let’s go for a counter strategy.”
A face that looks happy.
It was a bright smile, a little different from Ha Seong-yoon’s.
(Continued in the next part)
