Episode 405:
Just before the survivors escape from the other side of the world.
“Our rocks.”
“Huhuhhh…!”
“Hey, why are you so surprised?”
Noh Yeon-seok felt a sense of déjà vu.
“Huh huh huh…! What, where…!”
I was at ease because I hadn’t seen him for a while, but that snake-like police officer popped out of the bathroom again. Noh Yeon-seok had no choice but to cry because it was a phenomenon of the ghost itself that was clearly visible to my eyes but not reflected in the bathroom mirror.
The police officer laughed heartily as he looked at Noh Yeon-seok, who had become infinitely shriveled and did not match his large size and scary appearance.
“What can I do when I’m so scared? I don’t know how I got to the other side of the world last time. “He has a face that resembles that of a serial killer.”
“You’re the one who looks like a serial killer…! “At least he’s the manager… Mr. Lee, I’m a noble person!”
And because the serial killer he actually saw was just plain handsome, Noh Yeon-seok screamed. The moment when Song In-myeong’s true identity, whom he thought was just a college junior, was revealed was still a huge shock, so the sensitive word ‘serial killer’ gave even a scared stone the courage to face the ghost.
“How can you be a police officer with such cruel eyes in the first place? What on earth is this, really! In fact, he is a serial killer who surpasses Song In-myeong, but didn’t he just pick up a police uniform?!”
“There’s nothing I can’t say to this scared subject.”
Unlike last time, the policeman’s face became pale as he was fighting back and forth.
“I am a police officer.”
“Ugh, I can’t believe it….”
“Even though he was a corrupt police officer.”
“Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu…!!”
When I said with a creepy smile that he was a ‘corrupt police officer’, all kinds of heinous crimes came to mind. Did those bad cops from noir movies exist in real life? Noh Yeon-seok trembled and crumpled into a corner of the wall. It was to get away from scary ghosts.
The police officer, who made a calming gesture with both hands as if he was respecting such a large rock, smiled. Even though it was still suspicious because it was a snake statue, the atmosphere had eased.
“Don’t be so surprised, right? Thickly. “Even if it looks like this, I’m here to deliver good news.”
“Jojo good… news?”
“I don’t know what you were imagining to make your face turn so white, but don’t worry. “It would be really good news for Noh Yeon-seok.”
“…What is that…?”
“congratulations!”
Clap clap clap!
“Your colleagues made it back to reality safely!”
“Huh?”
“Honestly, I thought one or two people would die, but you’re buying this?”
The police officer, who praised Noh Yeon-seok and his colleagues with lively applause, narrowed his eyes and said,
“Well, if the situation is so twisted, it won’t be easy to die.”
“….”
Hiccup.
Noh Yeon-seok began to hiccup under that cold gaze. I had never thought of myself as weak in my entire life, but after learning about the existence of the other side, I felt like I had become particularly fragile. When I was receiving the ghost’s snake-like gaze, I felt like a rat in front of a snake.
Seeing Noh Yeon-seok like that, the police officer came back with a bright smile on his face.
“Were you this scared?”
“…What is the story about the situation going wrong…”
“Are you curious?”
“….”
“You look like you suddenly stopped being curious.”
The police officer, who laughed frivolously, continued.
“Please ask your returning colleagues directly for further details. “It’s been a while and a lot has happened in the underworld, so there’s a good chance I’ll tell you by now.”
“Well… uh…”
“Then, let’s go our separate ways. “You may have gotten a rough idea, but it will be difficult for me to show up when Lee Jae-heon returns to reality… so if we have a chance to see each other again, we’ll talk about it then.”
A mischievous laugh that matched his cool face strangely came out.
“I hope there will be progress in Noh Yeon-seok’s dating business then.”
“Huh…!”
Noh Yeon-seok’s face turned bright red.
“No, why did you do that…! Why that…!”
“Hmm, it’s so frustrating to just look at it. “I guess I realized once again that love shouldn’t be too pure… It should have a gripping taste, but there’s nothing like that.”
“Why are you watching that? Why!!”
“Yeonseok….”
the police officer said with a sad face.
“You wouldn’t be able to say something like that if you turned into a ghost.”
“…oh…?”
“Damn Lee Jae-heon… I wish I could hit him in the back of the head one day.”
“….”
“Oh no. “It’s not like it’s not there, but…”
He muttered softly, opening his lips as if he was thinking of someone, but then closing them tightly.
“….”
“….”
Noh Yeon-seok hesitantly stood up in the strange silence.
“Are you going?”
“…huh?”
“No, if it’s really a ghost… then… where…” “
….”
Seeing Noh Yeon-seok calm down a little, perhaps because he showed weakness, the police took a step closer and made eye contact with him. . It was clear that Noh Yeon-seok was taller, but for some reason, Noh Yeon-seok’s body, which had relaxed for a moment, stiffened again due to the cold and explicit gaze that made him feel like he was looking down on him.
“Why why why? “What did I do wrong…?”
“How can it be so soft?”
“yes…?”
“It’s really troublesome.”
Sigh.
The police officer raised his hand and stroked Noh Yeon-seok’s head.
“…?”
It was a gesture as if he was petting a dog, but Noh Yeon-seok noticed that it contained a warmth that was difficult to describe. I had no idea what he was thinking when he acted like this.
As I stiffened, the police continued speaking.
“I wish it had been a little more vicious and mean.”
“What…”
“If I had been stupid and selfish and self-righteous and could have bullied him as much as I wanted… I would have felt at ease. Then I wouldn’t have ended up like this.”
“….”
“So fucking sweet.”
A small crack appears in the police officer’s unique, eerie smile.
“You bastards ruined me.”
It also looked like the face of someone who wanted to cry.
“It’s all because of you.”
“….”
And suddenly Lee Jae-heon came to mind.
It had an expression similar to his.
“With Director Boo…”
I couldn’t hold back the question that came out at that moment.
“…What are you doing…?”
“….”
“…You spoke as if you knew….”
At those words, the police officer slowly removed his hand from Noh Yeon-seok’s head. The police officer, who had been quietly looking at Noh Yeon-seok with an unknown smile, slowly opened his mouth.
“…Didn’t I tell you this last time?”
“….”
“Lee Jae-heon is a guy created because of my failure. Don’t you get a feeling when you look at the people in this party group? Among those damn personalities, Jaeheon Lee was the one who could never be said to be as harsh as those guys. “It’s strange. There must be genes for personality, but only the youngest is like that.”
“…I do not understand.”
“Do you believe in God?”
When Noh Yeon-seok frowned at the pseudo-like words, he smiled slightly.
“I think you can trust me from now on.”
“You don’t want to explain it properly, do you?”
“I caught this.”
The police shrugged.
“But I can’t help it. I dare to rebel against my God and float in the air like this, but that doesn’t mean I betrayed her. “Even if I complain like this, I have no intention of interfering with the plan.”
“…Are you really a cult…?”
“Even if this bastard speaks at best.”
“No, it sounds exactly the same as the manager…”
“Hmm.”
The police officer, smiling slyly, pulled Noh Yeon-seok’s cheek.
“…! Ugh…!”
“Am I so easy now? “You’ve grown up and played funny pranks, right?”
“Huhhh…! “You’re messing with me…!”
“You have a taste for bullying.”
Knock knock.
The police officer tapped my red cheek a couple of times and lowered his hand.
“Anyway, it’s a bit disappointing that Lee Jae-heon is still alive.”
“Murder notice…?!”
“It’s okay, I don’t plan on killing you. Honestly, I wish he would die soon… but surviving like this until the end wouldn’t be such a bad thing. “At this point, I’m also curious about how Lee Jae-heon will end up.”
“What is it really? What is it really….”
“Just.”
The police laughed.
“It’s a struggle.”
“…Struggling?”
“I wanted to be happy too.”
“….”
“Oh, that’s right.”
The pitch-black and pale figure became blurred.
“Give my regards to Kyungjun.”
“…woah?”
who?
Gyeongjun?
“…Huh?”
Hong Gyeongjun?
“…Wait a minute, how do you know Detective Hong Gyeong-jun…!”
Noh Yeon-seok stretched out his hand to catch the police, but there was no way he could catch the ghost, who was so blurred that he could not be seen at all. In the end, Noh Yeon-seok, who was shaking the air, looked around busily in embarrassment that he could not calm down. There were no ghosts anywhere to be seen.
He was left alone in the bathroom again.
“….”
Noh Yeon-seok muttered in a daze.
“What is it really…?”
So, is it friend or foe?
My head is already aching as I don’t know how to explain this to my returning colleagues.
* * *
The sweetness of regaining one’s breath that had been blocked.
“….”
Kang Min-ah, who was staring blankly into space, lowered her head and looked at the clothes I was wearing.
Sleep pants and a loose-fitting t-shirt. When I reached up and felt around my empty neck, I found that the hair that had been gently flowing below my shoulders had been pulled up tightly. Kang Min-ah, who was gently smoothing her hair that had been fixed with clips, soon turned her gaze and looked around the room.
“…Haa….”
A faint breath escaped me at the sight of the familiar room.
“It’s home.”
A house where I lived alone, independent of my parents’ home. It was a not-so-big house decorated in pastel colors to suit Yeonhee’s taste, where she occasionally visited, saying she was scared of the mannequins in the mirror. This showed that Kang Min-ah had safely escaped from the underworld.
And I could well guess that there must have been a lot of sacrifices in the process.
‘Teacher Ha Seong-yoon’s expression was really bad the whole time he was in the secret world. Was it from the time when I collected medicine from the pharmacy with the manager?…’
Unlike Kang Min-ah, who does not have memories before returning unless she is the last survivor, Ha Seong-yoon was able to look at the memories of the previous episode with the glass-colored eyes that he said he received from the park. . In the case of Kang Min-ah, when Ha Seong-yoon’s condition, which was originally bad, suddenly deteriorated, she was able to notice, ‘Oh, he’s regressed again.’
“….”
Is it true that we all survived together?
Kang Min-ah reflexively picked up her cell phone and found a mannequin in the desk mirror.
“…Hmm.”
She groaned in disapproval and naturally lifted the clothes next to her phone to cover the mirror. The mannequin in the mirror, unlike the ones we often see in reality, has no eyes, nose, or mouth, but for some reason, it gave me the feeling that our eyes were constantly making eye contact. It was a very unpleasant feeling.
Kang Min-ah picked up her phone again and entered the group chat room.
[Did everyone get in safely?]
A few people came to their senses after hearing the short question and sent a message saying [Ugh, sister] and [Yes, I got in safely.] Judging by the fact that Jeong In-ho, who was part of the Eonhak High School exploration team, did not show any regrets, it seemed like he too completed the work without any casualties.
‘If it had lasted longer, it could have been dangerous, but fortunately there were no deaths on our side…’
As I exhaled a sigh of relief, wow. got a call.
“…ah.”
It was Noh Yeon-seok.
“Yeonseok.”
My heart was pounding.
For some reason, Kang Min-ah felt urgent and immediately received a call from Noh Yeon-seok.
“Yeonseok. Was it okay? We just got here…”
―….
“Hey Yeonseok? “Yeonseok.”
Not long after, a sobbing sound was heard through the cell phone.
“….”
―… Ugh. Ugh….
“Why are you crying….”
―I’m really alone. Really….
“You had a hard time.”
Kang Min-ah’s voice was also wet as she comforted Noh Yeon-seok, who was crying as if she had a lot to say.
Was it because I was with him when I first entered the secret world? Even when walking around Eonhak High School, Kang Min-ah often felt Noh Yeon-seok’s empty space. Although Vivian had put in a lot of effort, it was not strange for me to think of the person who was with me for the first time.
Noh Yeon-seok’s empty seat came to mind only briefly in a truly absurd situation.
“I… I wanted to eat the fish you grilled.”
―My me…?
“huh. There, we met Song In-myeong again, and Yeon-hee screamed… At that time, I couldn’t hear your voice, so I felt a little empty….”
―…Why do I still think of that….
“I really don’t know.”
Kang Min-ah felt something that made her cry.
“You would have been left alone… I was so worried…”
―I was also very worried. Everyone is a mannequin except me. Even the team leader turned into a mannequin, really.
“I’m sorry, Yeonseok. I’m really sorry.”
Kang Min-ah herself didn’t know what she was so sorry about. I felt sorry for leaving Noh Yeon-seok alone, and although going to the secret world together was not a better option, I also felt sorry for Noh Yeon-seok, who had to spend time with mannequins that resembled us at work. I just felt sorry.
As I was sniffling, I heard a hesitant voice coming from the other end of the phone.
―…It’s me.
“huh.”
―For letting me know where you lived last time. You took it with you.
“…my house?”
―…I know it’s gross, but… I’m so worried.
“….”
―That….
Kang Min-ah, who had been listening to Noh Yeon-seok in a daze, suddenly came to her senses and looked out the window.
“ah.”
Noh Yeon-seok was looking up at her in an alley flooded with lights on a dark night.
I looked at him for a while.
“….”
―I’m sorry. I know it’s rude to suddenly visit you like this, but I came here because I was really worried. Not a stalker. Are you Mr. No? No, but I’m really happy and I was wondering if it was really true that you came back… I was scared of that so I just…
“…Yeonseok.”
-yes yes!
Kang Min-ah, with tears in her eyes, smiled.
“Come up.”
-…yes?
“I was scared too.”
I couldn’t stop laughing.
I felt like my whole body was getting warm.
“Stay with me.”
-…yes.
That’s the face that nods as if you’re fascinated.
It was really cute.
* * *
Inside the mirror.
The police officer who was watching the fresh-faced young man and woman clicked his tongue.
“This secretly hurts my stomach…”
It was clear that he had become like a ghost half of his own will, but that did not mean that his love for Mana had cooled. I pushed it because I didn’t want to see it squirming around, but when I looked at the pink, warm air, I felt grumpy for no reason.
You still look like a fucking ghost. In the end, it will be absorbed as a memory or occupy an empty body, but even that is okay, so the police hoped that the day when everything will be decided will come soon.
“Anyone can beat me…please.”
I don’t know if my Kyungjun knows that I’m trying so hard.
“….”
I don’t fucking know.
What can I expect from you?
(Continued in the next part)
