Episode 475
: This visit to the secret world was a little different from the previous two visits.
“….”
“…Oh.”
Because it was the weekend.
“Wow, I almost screwed up.”
At Vivian’s words, Seo Jang-hwa, who was holding Vivian’s collar, muttered while breaking into a cold sweat.
“I thought I was going to be alone this time, so I was so freaked out…”
“How did you know and catch me?”
The moment she was swallowed up by the secret world, Vivian was suddenly grabbed by Seo Jang-hwa, who was working next to her.
A million thoughts crossed my mind, like what on earth did I do so wrong, but I think it was Seo Jang-hwa’s struggle to not be left alone again. Even so, it is a little suspicious that he was grabbed by the collar rather than the shoulder or arm, which are the easiest to grab.
Seo Jang-hwa sighed in relief and let go of Vivian’s collar.
“Fuck, I don’t know. “I took it because you felt like you were blurring and the world was shaking.”
“Praise to your intuition.”
“Rather, praise my visual acuity.”
“Oh, Janghwa.”
Vivian, who was clapping, soon blinked. Something was strange.
“…? Was that something you could see with the naked eye?”
“Then what did I see for nothing?”
“I did it because it was interesting, Mr. Janghwa. “Please calm down your anger.”
Seo Jang-hwa’s statement that the moment of being consumed by the hidden world can be observed with the naked eye was surprising. But that was no reason to endure her friend’s wrath and her powerful smashes. Vivian, who was guilty of being fooled by Song In-myeong last time, cried in front of Seo Jang-hwa.
Seo Jang-hwa clicked his tongue and looked around.
“…It’s been such a long time.”
The sensation of your brain being eaten by a spoon and your cornea being broken. The feeling of my solar plexus becoming heavy as if I was tired was not something I was used to, but it was definitely a feeling that Seo Jang-hwa knew.
“Is the other side of the world like this wherever you go?”
“Probably so.”
This was Seo Jang-hwa’s first time in the other side of the world since the last time he was at the park.
Although Seo Jang-hwa frowned at the disgusting sensation of maggots crawling inside his ears, he regained his composure. These were things I had decided from the moment I decided to follow Vivian back to this world. I had no intention of losing my strength due to the hardship that had just begun.
She grumbled for no reason.
“Nara, I don’t know what the fuck you are doing. They won’t remove anything like this. “If a disaster occurs in the country, something has to be done.”
“You have to be aware of it to think about dealing with it. “Everyone who knows the other side of the world must have died.”
“That too.”
A room of just the right width where paintings on large and small canvases come alive and creep out, making strange noises. The place they were at was none other than the studio on the second floor of the Department of Western Painting at Hankuk University.
Looking at the shaking canvas, Seo Jang-hwa called his friend.
“Hey Gomtaengi.”
“Yes, Janghwa.”
“You left this building the last time you fell into the underworld.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Did you have any trouble getting out?”
“Not really…?”
Vivian rubbed the back of her neck.
“Even when I lifted something like a hammer out loud, there was no reaction. There were no rules blocking my path like there were at Unhak High School. “I was so out of my mind at the time that I didn’t pay attention to it…”
“Then what about those paintings?”
“How do I know that? I haven’t even touched it? Touch it knowing what will happen if you touch it. “I just remember the last time pictures flowed out of the canvas like that.”
“Well, it didn’t look like it would be okay to touch it.”
A large sunflower blooming with indistinguishable pistils and stamens, a gentleman cat creaking and twirling his cane, or a pregnant woman whose belly and flesh are so swollen that it is difficult to determine her shape.
The paintings on canvas that other classmates had drawn during class or during everyday life had come to the other side of the world, each one strangely transformed and moving. Seeing how it was slowly approaching us, it didn’t seem like anything good would happen if it reached us or caught us.
“Ugh, I hate it so much. Hey, get out, get out.”
“It was a good thing I left the door open.”
“I admit it was a wise decision.”
Fortunately, the two students, who were aware of the dangers of the underworld, left the studio door open in case of an unexpected situation. Since it was the weekend and there were no other students, there was no one to complain about leaving the door open.
It wasn’t that difficult to move around, as Vivian had assured.
“You said you took a hammer last time. Department of sculpture? “Did you say you got it from the sculpture department’s studio?”
“Eung-eung-eung.”
“Let’s take that too.”
“Good choice.”
Vivian came out of the building, holding a hammer and a saw, and opened her mouth.
“I think it’s because we are students at this school.”
“what. “Is it easy to get out?”
“I feel like I’m getting some convenience.”
“I’m paying that much tuition, so isn’t it natural to look after this much?”
“Since you say that, it seems like that too, Mr. Janghwa.”
Those who practice art, train your body. Their lung capacity and running speed were outstanding as they spent their high school and college years working with one mind and one purpose through their muscles. Two college students became closer to each other after talking about damn tuition and ended up leaving college.
If only there were survivors who easily moved to the agreed upon location like the last two visits to the secret world. On the contrary, there were survivors who were in trouble.
“This kid is crazy….”
Hamster Kwon Yeon-hee.
She was currently hiding in a convenience store.
“I’m sorry, I’ll be leaving soon. Should I buy something and leave?”
“….”
“Ah, why don’t you just buy anything and leave? thank you.”
Kwon Yeon-hee repeatedly lowered her head to the friendly part-time job mannequin shaking her head.
‘I didn’t mean to go out just because it was the weekend.’
A golden weekend for any office worker. Kwon Yeon-hee, who had called up her high school friends for the first time in a long time, went out to Gyeonggi-do to play, but was caught in the dark. It was a shame that I came alone because I didn’t have any friends in contact. If I had been rude, I would have been sorry for the rest of my life.
This situation happened on the way out after buying a drink at a convenience store, but the scared fearman was busy hiding while looking at the situation outside through the glass door of the convenience store. Still, I was glad that it wasn’t a grumpy mannequin that got angry for messing around in the convenience store.
If it had been real, he would have been a real guest.
“My cell phone doesn’t work…”
It was natural, but my cell phone still didn’t work.
Of course, even if we could contact them, the survivors in Seoul would not be able to provide much help. It would take more than a day to walk from the park, the meeting place, to where Kwon Yeon-hee was.
‘There will be monsters on the way, so it will take much longer than walking in real life. ‘It certainly would be unreasonable to ask others for help.’
Kwon Yeon-hee sighed deeply.
“I guess the answer is to wait until someone catches the final boss.”
Even though she was one of the early members, Kwon Yeon-hee’s fighting power was so weak that it was impossible for her to go all the way to Seoul alone. If I had a colleague to join forces with, I would have moved little by little to the meeting place, but it was clear that I would die before I could go even 3km alone.
‘But what’s the point of staying here? ‘I don’t know when my part-time job will kick me out.’
Loitering around inside a convenience store can be viewed as a strange customer, but a customer trying to make a living in a convenience store is a crime that goes beyond the truth.
If the convenience store was safe and stayed, the part-timer in the underworld, where reality’s thoughts are reflected, could have called the police.
And who knows what the police in the underworld will do to Kwon Yeon-hee? Before she left, she sacrificed her outer clothing to buy the largest wrench she could find.
“Deputy Jeong, please give me strength and courage…!”
It reminds me of the monkey wrench that In-ho Jeong carried around in the early days.
“…Ugh, I really can’t survive unless someone feeds me, puts me to sleep, and raises me…”
Even while crying, Yeonhee Kwon steadily set out to find a safe place for her to stay.
Fortunately, the place she came to visit was a park in Namyangju, Gyeonggi-do. Since I didn’t know when I would go to the other side, I chose a safe place to hang out with my friends. In my experience, places with lots of grass are best.
‘It’s a little unsettling because there are fewer trees than our company’s park, but it’s still enough to cover me…’
This place, called Mirinae Park, was famous for its wide flower garden and large lake centered on a well-maintained walking path. For Kwon Yeon-hee, the fact that the flowers grew in size and the number and height of the trees on the outskirts of the park increased as a result of becoming a double-sided flower was actually an advantage to Kwon Yeon-hee. It means that there is a place to hide.
Kwon Yeon-hee, who had managed to use her experience to build a shelter on top of a tree in a park full of flowers, surprisingly noticed that her cell phone was ringing.
She received the call in shock.
“Hello?!”
―Yeonhee Kwon.
“That’s right! “You’re Detective Ho Hong Gyeong-jun…!”
It was Hong Gyeong-jun who gave the call.
―Yes, that’s right. Is it possible to call?
“Yes yes yes it’s okay.”
I felt some of the strength loosen from my tense shoulders.
Even though I was trying to think of a way to survive by recalling old memories, that didn’t change the fact that I fell into this crazy world alone. Even in real life, it was the worst environment for Kwon Yeon-hee, who withered away when she was alone.
―Where are you now…
“Namyang, Gyeonggi-do… Mirinae’s garden… I went out to play with my friends…”
―Aha.
“I’m asking just in case, but I’m sure there are no survivors in Namyangju like me, right?”
Hong Gyeong-jun, who was silent for a moment, answered the question in vain.
―Unfortunately, yes. That’s right.
“I knew so. “I will try to survive on my own, so don’t worry too much and everyone stay in the park…” ―It’s
another unfortunate story, but not all of the survivors are in the park.
“yes?”
―Maybe because it was the weekend, there were people like Kwon Yeon-hee who went out to the outskirts. We haven’t contacted everyone yet and need to find out more, but a total of three people have been confirmed so far. If you include Yeonhee Kwon, there are four people.
“Three or three people…”
― Moon San-gun and Jin Dal-rae went to the Han River for an outing, and Ha Seong-yoon went mountain climbing with his co-workers and ended up in the other side of the world. Fortunately, I think I’ll be able to meet these three people if I do well…
“I’m glad. “It makes me sick to my stomach that everyone has company but me.”
-sorry.
“…I’m fine….”
Kwon Yeon-hee, who was trying to say she was fine, burst into tears again.
“Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu… What should I really do…”
―If you can wait, I will form a group including myself and Yeonwoo Kim and go find you. If you could just tell me the exact location.
“The bad side world. “The evil side world!”
―Please calm down. A monster may hear and come looking for you.
“The bad side world…!”
I lowered my voice to a whisper, but the crying sound was still there. Sensing Detective Hong Gyeong-jun’s confusion on the other end of the phone, Kwon Yeon-hee continued speaking without further delay.
“It’s okay, it’s okay… I’m not just saying this, I really mean it. How far is Namyangju? I’ll be lucky if no one dies along the way. “It seems like it will take a very long time.”
―Are you okay?
“I just tried whining. Oh really, my friend… I feel like I’m going crazy because I’m scared of being alone, but it’s not to the point where I get comfort at the expense of others. There’s a convenience store nearby where people can communicate well, and the place we went to play is a park, so the risk is probably low… Even now, I don’t see monsters very often. “It’s scary to see the flowers fluttering about as they please, but I don’t think they will attack.”
-The flowers are moving.
“Move. It feels like dancing. “It’s amazing.”
―Indeed…
Kwon Yeon-hee whimpered and composed herself.
“But really, really, it’s okay. We won’t know until evening, but there don’t seem to be any dangerous monsters, and there’s a lake nearby, so there’s water, food from a convenience store, and we’ve built a shelter. I was in a hurry so I made it roughly, but it was hard so I’m taking a break and I’ll make up for it. “I’m not saying this out of humility, it’s because I’m not really in that dangerous situation.”
-I understand what you mean.
“Just contact me more often. “I’m so scared because I’m alone…”
Kwon Yeon-hee, who was muttering despondently, asked.
“Oh, by the way, how did you get this phone call?”
-I’m at school.
“Uh… Unhakgo?”
-yes. It happened to be nearby so I stopped by.
“Is it okay to say ‘I stopped by for a moment’? “I guess this isn’t a school you can stop by for a moment?”
-You are correct.
“….”
Kwon Yeon-hee took the cell phone from her ear and looked at the call screen with embarrassment and absurdity. She said, putting the cell phone to her ear again.
“You know what? Detective, sometimes people get funny.”
―I hear this often.
“I hear it often…”
Kwon Yeon-hee gave up on understanding.
Well, this guy wasn’t in his right mind either.
(Continued in the next part)
