Episode 381:
On the way home from school, Woo Joo-young fell, unable to overcome the approaching monsters, and his ankle ligaments were slightly torn, but other than that accident, all members of the Eonhak High School exploration team escaped the school without any bleeding.
“I didn’t get an ankle brace…”
“I’m really fine, so please, what can you do with that body that’s shaking so hard to go to the pharmacy? Manager? “It’s not that bad and it will get better if you leave it alone.”
“Ankle sprains can turn into chronic diseases later if you don’t respond properly in the early stages….”
“They say that if you return to reality, the injuries will all be there for the first time.”
Woo Joo-young, who was rubbing his ankle, shuddered at the sight of Lee Jae-heon rummaging through his medicine bag, trying to find something like an anti-inflammatory. Just imagining Jaeheon Lee receiving medicine for an injury that was a little throbbing and damaged his intact ligaments made me curse.
“But I don’t even want to take it. “I’m not mentally strong like Yoon Garam…”
“Oh my, how reassuring Jooyoung is.”
“Oh yes, thank you, but I’m not as good as you.”
Woo Joo-young awkwardly smiled at Yoon Ga-ram’s cuteness that wasn’t cute and gave it away. At this point, Jaeheon Lee decided that he had fulfilled his duty as a colleague and stopped encouraging people to seek medical treatment.
Now, the discussion about the swimming pool took precedence.
“…Okay, for now…”
Inside the police station after returning from Eonhak High School’s first exploration. Jaeheon Lee looked at the faces of the survivors gathered in one place and opened his mouth.
“It seems possible.”
“What do you mean…?”
“I think I can kill the final boss.”
A sigh of relief came out among the survivors.
Even though something big happened in the apartment, they couldn’t return to reality because the combustible monster wasn’t the final boss. As the scale of the work was so large, I thought, ‘Perhaps?’ Survivors who had hoped to do so were left drooping in disappointment. Now, if I had been told that I couldn’t kill the final boss of Eonhak High School, I would have been even more disappointed.
“Of course, I’m not sure if that’s the final boss.”
“But I think it’s almost right.”
This time, Song In-myeong, who was recognized for his obedient cooperation and was allowed into the police station, intervened. He continued his explanation, clinking the handcuffs worn to prevent crime.
“I heard that the final boss is very strong? At Eonhak High School, Seong Dae-young, that is, the art teacher’s thoughts seemed very deep. It was as if the entire Unhak High School was created out of the art teacher’s thoughts. But Seong Dae-young is actually strong.”
“…Does being strong refer to combat ability?”
“I tend to do a lot of exercise for health purposes, such as gym, boxing, swimming, and running, but she is really strong in actual combat. “I don’t know where I learned it or how I learned it, but the last time I got into a fight, I got angry.”
Song In-myeong frowned.
“If there had been a place other than Eonhak High School where I could walk and see things, I would have gone somewhere else… I don’t really dislike it, but we don’t get along that well.”
“Anyway, how strong are you? “That art teacher named Seong Dae-young.”
“How can I tell you that? “It’s not like I’m wearing some kind of combat power meter.”
“…If you roughly compare me and police officer Kim Yeon-woo.”
Hong Gyeong-jun, who looked at the pouting Song In-myeong for a moment as if thinking, ‘Should I kill that?’ suggested a compromise, and Song In-myeong, who blinked a few times, soon gave an answer.
“…I don’t know how strong I am as a detective or police officer, but I’m still above the average in the police force, right? huh? “I’m sure it won’t be weaker than that.”
“I graduated at the top of my class. “Don’t worry.”
“You were the fucking chief? It’s so nice to meet you. I’m also a senior. Head of department.”
“….”
“….”
“…?”
“why.”
In the sudden silence, the survivors’ gaze shifted from Song In-myeong to Vivian.
Vivian, who had already been avoiding reality by covering her face with her hands from the moment Song In-myeong spoke, sighed and nodded.
“…you’re right. “That bastard was the chief.”
“…I’m sure the student Vivian last time was….”
“She’s the second chair.”
“Ah…”
After a moment of confusion, the story returned to the main topic.
“So what do you want to say? “Why did the police academy average come out that way?”
“I should have fought properly with our police officers. How do you know how strong the manna is when it just bounces around? Anyway, if you look at Detective Hong Gyeong-jun, who is stronger than average among police officers, he is stronger than that.”
“….”
“I must be very proud of that.”
Azalea muttered.
“oh my god.”
The slow-moving green algae monster in the park, which was created from some kind of thought, was so overwhelming, but it was actually a monster created by the thoughts of a person who was strong and aware of his own strength. It was a combination that made me wonder if my body would survive when I faced it.
Song In-myeong clinked the handcuffs and shrugged his shoulders.
“You mean I’m not the type of person who goes somewhere and gets beaten up?”
“I guess so.”
“I was beaten like that? Then you’re really strong. His strength is just average, but his skills are really good. My head works well too. “He has a perverted temperament and enjoys watching people suffer from the traps he has set… something like that.”
“aha.”
It was a remark that made it clear why the rules at Unhak High School were the way they were.
“He seemed a bit perverted.”
“Who is the art teacher?”
“No rules… But the art teacher seems to be a pervert too. “I was a bit harsh as usual.”
“Are you still calling that kid a teacher?…”
Leaving behind the high school students talking loudly, the adults took the conversation further.
“Surely, a monster created from such thoughts cannot be weak. The probability that the art teacher at Eonhak High School is the final boss has increased. Since it is difficult to find another place, I think it would be better to aim to kill it as much as possible…” “
I agree. Anyway, if it stays like this, the mood will just deteriorate like last time. “You might as well do something to get back to reality.”
Hong Gyeong-jun and Jeong In-ho nodded side by side.
Jeong In-ho explained Eonhak High School in advance to Hong Gyeong-jun, who had recently learned of the existence of the returnee. Since only those who knew the rules of Eonhak High School in advance and those with overall ability did the exploration, it would not have been strange that no one left the school without dying.
Jaeheon Lee, who was watching the exchange of glances between the two chicks, opened his mouth.
“Then can I tell you about the swimming pool?”
“Oh, it’s important.”
He continued speaking, encouraged by Han Do-yoon’s joke.
“Thanks to the plan going smoothly, the planned investigation team on the 4th floor… So, myself, Detective Hong Gyeong-jun, and Song In-myeong checked the swimming pool. “The inside of the pool was full of water, but it didn’t overflow even when the door was opened.”
“As can be seen from the fact that the door opened easily, there was no resistance characteristic of water.”
Afterwards, Lee Jae-heon and Hong Gyeong-jun confessed what they saw and felt at the swimming pool.
The water seemed to be not subject to the force of gravity, so the pool was full and had no resistance at all. Unlike regular water, it did not get wet and was dark in color. However, I couldn’t breathe because of the liquid.
It seems to vary from person to person, but if you go into the pool, you will experience the smell of a corpse, the sound of screams, and additional mental confusion.
When he said that, Da-hoon Park raised his hand and asked.
“Wait, there are individual differences?”
“Song In-myeong, handcuffed here, only felt a little stingy and did not experience any of the confusion that I or Lee Jae-heon felt. Even when comparing Jaeheon Lee and me, there was a difference in intensity. Accordingly, we assumed that there would be differences in the degree of confusion depending on personality level.”
“Ah….”
Lee Jae-heon said to Park Da-hoon, who looked like he understood.
“It seems that the area touched by water is proportional to the mental confusion. It is said that Hong Gyeong-jun, who was able to come to his senses when only his head was immersed in it, was shocked as if he had been burned when half of his body was submerged.”
“…It’s embarrassing, but it’s true. Although I could say it was mental confusion, it went beyond the limit and it felt like physical pain. “You can’t even breathe in that water, so if you struggle, you might end up struggling and drowning.”
“Even if it’s not that kind of mental damage, it’s already visual enough…”
“That’s right.”
Is the water itself black, or does the space itself look black because it is closed? Just seeing the corpses floating in the water, shimmering with a faint but eerie light, took a toll on my spirit. No one would want to go into that water.
Of course, Jaeheon Lee went in.
“After going inside and checking…”
“Where did you go in?”
“Did you think we just opened the pool door and came back? “Me and Song In-myeong went deep into it, checked the structure and rules, and then came out.”
Lee Jae-heon, who clicked his tongue at Ha Seong-yoon’s immediate reaction, continued his explanation.
“We have even confirmed that if you come into contact with a corpse in the swimming pool, you will be caught and have difficulty moving.”
“Got caught?”
“Questions and answers later. And by swimming pool, I don’t mean the space itself… Isn’t it really a space where you can swim? “This is the lane where we usually fill it with water and float a buoy.”
“Oh yeah.”
“Rather, there was no water there. It was as if a rectangle had been dug in the middle of the jelly… no black water could come into it. The buoy, which was supposed to float in the water, was sagging and was dry without the characteristic coolness of water, so it was probably empty. “I was able to breathe inside the empty lane.”
Song In-myeong intervened.
“About a minute.”
Kim Ki-jeong, one of the investigators who had not heard the explanation about the swimming pool properly because he came straight to the police station after escaping from school, frowned.
“1 min…?”
“When I tried to breathe any further, I started to suffocate and started to suffocate. Oh, it’s about that guy, not me. I didn’t really push you to go in first, so please don’t misunderstand. “I just got slapped on the back by the members of the exploration team for just watching.”
“….”
Kim Ki-jeong looked at Lee Jae-heon as if he couldn’t believe it.
“Jaeheon Lee?”
“I don’t think that’s important right now.”
“…No ah….”
“That’s not what’s important….”
“What’s important?”
“At least it doesn’t matter that I just couldn’t breathe. Anyway, I went to check how to fill that space with water.”
It was already known that art teachers disliked water, and Lee Jae-heon personally guessed that the most effective way to deal with art teachers would be to drown them.
‘That’s because I, a plaster monster, collapsed just because I got a little wet from the sprinkler.’
To show that the school’s plaster was weak to water, he even encouraged Yoon Garam.
“Ga-Ram Yoon was of great help in this regard.”
“It was nothing special.”
“They burned down the school as if it was no big deal.”
“What an embarrassment…”
Unlike before, Garam Yoon was reacting quite playfully to the results of my actions, and even though he was pretending, he was in good condition. In the end, if I hadn’t developed self-esteem in my abilities, I wouldn’t have been able to ask to ‘burn down the school’ like this.
Han Do-yoon explained to the survivors who were looking at him as if wondering what that meant.
“It would be best if we could just burn down the school itself and get everything done. “After checking the swimming pool, there was still time left until school was dismissed, so there was talk about whether President Yoon could pick up the school.”
Jaeheon Lee led the way for such a topic to come up.
“Since you came back to the apartment, you have been adjusting the lights neatly… “I asked them to burn just one floor so we wouldn’t have to worry about burning to death.”
“You told me to burn it, but did you really burn it?”
At student Kim Hee-chan’s surprise, Yoon Garam smiled with a happy face.
“I couldn’t miss this opportunity…”
“Oh, that’s right…”
“But no one was hurt by my fire. I think I know how to do that now. Even though I burned down an entire floor, I was confident I could put it back together.”
That means there was nothing to collect again.
“The broken plaster scattered in the hallways took some time, but it was all burning well anyway, but the teacher monsters tried to kill me, so I hid in the bathroom… but they still couldn’t put out the fire. But suddenly water came out of the sprinkler.”
Next was Jeong In-ho.
“Sprinklers were not activated only on the floor where the fire occurred. “It worked on all floors, and only then did we see that the plaster statues in the hallways were properly broken.”
“Oh, it didn’t break just because it got water on it. “Water seems to have the effect of weakening the plaster statue, and if it was already heated beforehand… if it is exposed to shock after being soaked in water, it will be damaged and cannot be recovered.”
“Anyway, we confirmed that water is the most important factor when dealing with plaster statues.”
The returnees had already mentioned that something called a ‘plaster monster’ could be born at Unhak High School, citing the school’s rules and missing records. Thanks to this, the survivors did not feel strange about their explanations that focused on ‘plaster’.
At that point, Jaeheon Lee intervened.
“I looked around to see if I could use that water to fight the final boss, but to my surprise, the pool lanes were filled with water as much as it came from the sprinklers.”
“Ah… are you talking about the center of the swimming pool where the black water doesn’t enter?”
“you’re right.”
He nodded at Kim Yeon-woo’s reaffirmation and continued.
“I know this because I saw the water rising in real time while the sprinklers were running. Of course, because it has depth and width, it can only fill the floor with a few minutes of operation… but I thought I could fill it up to a certain extent by repeating it a few more times.”
“Of course, the time you can breathe inside has become shorter. Even though the floor was full, it went down in less than a minute? “If it was full, of course, I felt like I wouldn’t be able to breathe at all.”
Kim Yeon-woo, who had been glaring at Song In-myeong for a moment, opened his mouth after a moment of contemplation.
“…If the final boss is vulnerable to water, lead him to the swimming pool….”
“Fill all the water with a sprinkler, then lead the final boss to the pool lane, soak it, and then beat him to death, or heat it up and then submerge him in the water. I thought it would be a good idea to proceed with soaking. “The plaster statues scattered around the school were damaged in that way… so the final boss who created them is likely to be similar.”
Lee Jae-heon, who had responded to Kim Yeon-woo’s words, wiped the corners of his mouth.
“But this also needs to go through several verification processes. “We will have to check if this is all or if there are more hidden traps.”
“Then the fourth floor again…?”
“Didn’t you confirm during this expedition that as long as you have good judgment, you won’t die by visiting the rover school? I think you can come to a conclusion after just two or three checks.”
And Lee Jae-heon had a good means of exploring the underworld.
‘Lee Jae-heon’ could not hide his fatigue.
“…After resting for a bit.”
I was planning to tour Unhak High School in a lucid dream.
(Continued in the next part)
