Episode 495
A total of 12 rooms arranged in a circle along the performance hall.
Among these, there were only six rooms that Lee Jae-heon and Jeong Eun-woo could enter.
You can obtain 7 keys through rooms 1 to 3, and 6 locks from rooms 4 to 6. They could be matched by the degree of corrosion and the color of the material obtained.
So what do you use these six sets of keys and locks for?
“It’s working as expected.”
I put the least corroded lock on the doorknob of room 1 and used the cleanest key, and the original pool was replaced with a new room. We will call this room 1-2.
The same was true for the remaining five rooms. By using the lock and key in the correct order, it was possible to move to the second room. Lee Jae-heon smiled neatly and spoke to Jeong Eun-woo.
“Stay here.”
“yes.”
“Why do you listen so well?”
Room 1-2.
The theme seems to be ‘the underwater world’.
“….”
Lee Jae-heon, who went inside, held his breath and looked around.
You can see chunks of flesh trapped in glass boxes throughout the large room filled with water.
It felt more like slime made of flesh rather than a dismembered body. An apricot-colored slime that resembles human skin and slowly moves as if it is alive and breathing. Even the veins seemed to be visible through the thin skin.
Although it is visually inconvenient, it is not threatening as it is enclosed in a glass box. However, even though I was holding my breath, the finger-sized fish poking me from all directions was a bit annoying.
“….”
Lee Jae-heon folded his arms without even swatting away the fish.
The first theme zone, ‘Underwater World’, was a simple breath-holding contest without any description of this kind, but I wondered if Lee Jae-heon was reacting this way because he was bleeding.
‘It doesn’t look like there are separate pillars to breathe like the actual theme zone in front of it.’
Although the atmosphere was quite similar to the ‘underwater world’ of the underworld, it was not completely the same. As for the overall structure, above all else, there were no glass boxes with such chunks of flesh trapped in the ‘underwater world’.
“….”
Some boxes often had marks that looked as if they had been roughly scratched by something. It was as if someone was struggling to open a glass box. There were some minor scratches that looked like they had been scratched with fingernails.
These were all traces left on the outside of the box.
“…?”
However, there was a glass box that was the only one without any flesh.
‘…I’m in this position as if to show off…’
The empty box was placed in the exact center of a room filled with water. Of course, attention was bound to be focused.
The glass box was just the right size to fit one person and was rectangular with long sides, like a coffin.
Inside the box, which had an open top lid, was a common silver key and a piece of paper.
“….”
Lee Jae-heon, who was slowly out of breath, grabbed them and left the room.
Wow! Jaeheon Lee left the room filled with water and vomited out the water that had entered his respiratory tract.
“Cough kek….”
Jeong Eun-woo, who was waiting outside the room, asked.
“Are you okay?”
“This…”
I handed the paper to Jeong Eun-woo.
“Read it?”
Jaeheon Lee, who was busy catching his breath, nodded and Eunwoo Jeong looked at the paper. Even though the paper was brought out from a room full of water, it was not wet.
Thanks to this, it was easy to check the contents.
“…’If you found this second room, I believe you have the will to escape.’…And… ‘Coffins of people who died in the underwater world. I’m sorry if you found your child here, but there’s no way to bring him back. You will probably find a key under the corpse, so please move to the next room.’…”
Jeong Eun-woo, who had read the entire article, asked as if he was surprised by that.
“Was there a body?”
“There was none.”
“I’m glad I didn’t see anyone’s face there.”
From this, I learned at least one thing.
“It looks like these six rooms are connected to the aquarium’s theme zones, right?”
“The underwater world, the streamside friends, the food corner, the Amazon of the world, the ocean treasure hall, the undersea tunnel… If you look at it this way, there are 6 of them. This is funny. Are the people who die there moving this way? “I think we need to check that further.”
“Do you want to move to the next room?”
“Of course.”
I don’t know what the end of this key and lock usage area is, but seeing the flow leading to moving to the next room, there seemed to be no harm in continuing.
Lee Jae-heon immediately moved to the second room, and the use of the keys obtained in rooms 1 and 2 was quickly revealed.
“Oh, there it is.”
Room 2-2 seems to have a ‘Friends by the Stream’ theme.
There are a lot of glass boxes filled with chunks of flesh piled on both sides. As I had seen in the previous room, I saw a glass box with an openable lid that was locked with a silver lock.
“I think I can open it with this…”
A pure white waterway shining with fluorescence. Although he couldn’t see the bottom, the water was ankle-deep, so without hesitation, Lee Jae-heon headed toward the glass box.
Quad, quack, quack! I heard the sound of something violently tearing at my feet and ankles, but I ignored it. There was a deep bottom that often sank in, but I was able to get to the front of the glass box without any major problems.
The keys to rooms 1 and 2 that were used turned into water and scattered.
“Hmm.”
As expected, the box was empty, only a piece of paper and a key were visible.
I tried to read the sound of the fish tearing their flesh as my friend, but for some reason I was so distracted that I couldn’t read the text. Jaeheon Lee left the room holding the paper and key number 2-2.
“….”
Jeong Eun-woo looked at Lee Jae-heon’s ankle with a bored look, but ignored it. Instead, he held out a piece of paper and gave an order.
“What is it about?”
“…’Coffins of the dead in Friends by the creek. ‘If you found your child here’… It’s similar to before. “The context is that dead people cannot be revived and you have to find the key and move to the next room.”
“Then let’s move.”
All subsequent rooms were similar.
In room 3-2, which was themed as a food corner, Lee Jae-heon’s right hand was sacrificed as food to make him quiet and then the key was taken. In room 4-2, which was themed around the Amazons of the world, he moved quickly to retrieve the key before he was killed by monsters. I brought it out.
And room 5-2 with the theme of ‘Sea Treasure Hall’.
“…?”
Because his entire field of vision was filled with water, for a moment he thought he had returned to room 1-2, the ‘underwater world’, but soon Jaeheon Lee let out an exclamation.
“ah.”
This was the ‘Sea Treasure Hall’.
There were glass walls on both sides of the room, wide enough for an adult male to pass through. The ceiling was so high that you couldn’t see the end.
“It’s a room that almost feels claustrophobic.”
The sides were tightly closed, so I had to look up to feel comfortable.
When Lee Jae-heon gave up his thoughts and entered the room, he saw a pile of flesh lined up behind the glass wall. It was as if they were looking at Lee Jae-heon in the water tank, but even so, it was impossible to tell whether he was alive or dead.
‘What is the caliber?’
Lee Jae-heon walked down the street without hiding his bright smile.
The glass box I found at the end of the road was…
“…”
There was still nothing inside.
Except a piece of paper and a key.
“….”
There was no body.
Lee Jae-heon, who was watching this with a smile, opened the box with his left hand and took the paper and key inside.
The way back was quite long, but it wasn’t as frustrating or difficult as I thought. I was just out of breath because I couldn’t run.
When he came out, Eunwoo Jeong welcomed him with a constant smile.
“Thank you for your effort.”
“Have there been any changes in the content?”
“Yes, it’s still the same.”
“Let’s go to the next room.”
The last room, number 6-2, also had nothing special.
It felt like it had a similar structure to room 5-2 just before. Except for the path where an adult male can pass, everything is covered with glass, and beyond the water, chunks of flesh are floating and shaking with the current.
“Huh.”
It was bizarre… and beautiful.
“I’m crazy.”
Lee Jae-heon, smiling brightly, took a step forward.
This road felt a little long. I don’t know if it was actually long or just felt that way, but it didn’t feel good.
Feeling so stuffy and itchy that it was difficult to breathe, Jaeheon Lee scratched his neck and felt a strange sensation.
“….”
As I touched my neck again, the thin, wide, raised skin touched my fingertips.
“…oh my god.”
It felt like gills that had just come to life.
“I need to leave quickly.”
I didn’t know when this started sprouting.
Jaeheon Lee consciously tried not to scratch his neck, so there was no way to check. Although I instinctively felt that the whole process of finding the key was turning me into a monster.
Anyway, my situation wasn’t all that funny. It felt like I was turning into a fish.
“Let’s see…”
When I reached the end of the street like that.
“….”
This time, there was only a piece of paper and no key.
Even at a glance with the naked eye, the contents seemed a bit different from before, so Jaeheon Lee scratched his neck with an inexplicable itch and opened the box and took out the paper inside.
My vision was blurry and unreadable, as if scales had appeared on my pupils.
“It’s useless.”
Jaeheon Lee muttered and raised his head and looked at the wall beyond the glass box.
In the middle of the wall marking the end of room 6-2 was a safe, with a red and blue rusty lock that was almost shapeless.
Since it looked like a perfect match for key number 7, which he had not been able to use yet, Jaeheon Lee turned around and left room 6-2 to find Eunwoo Jeong.
“Can you give me key number 7?”
Although it was unintentional, it seemed like they had found a way to open a souvenir shop.
If possible, I wanted to stop by the room that appeared in the original and get some information, but if I could open a souvenir shop with an exit, that wouldn’t be a bad result either. Because it meant that the chicks would have a place to escape to in case something went wrong.
Jung Eun-woo took out key number 7 and answered with a smile.
“Here it is. Would you like to read what you brought out this time?”
“It’s good. “My eyes are melting.”
“understand.”
Eunwoo Jeong read the contents of the paper Jaeheon Lee brought.
“…’Coffins of people who died in an undersea tunnel. I’m sorry if you found your child here, but there’s no way to bring him back. There will probably be no key under the corpse, but if you have a rusty key that you couldn’t use, insert it into the lock beyond the chest. You will be able to run away now. Congratulations.’….”
“….”
“From then on, ‘Congratulations’ is all that’s written on it. Well, I repeated that 12 times.”
“Thank you for the explanation.”
Lee Jae-heon entered room 6-2 again and climbed over the now empty glass box to the safe embedded in the wall. A lock that looked exactly like the key he was holding was hanging from the joint between the wall and the safe door.
When I inserted the number 7 key, a small door opened.
“….”
An ordinary silver key was placed inside it, just like the one seen in the previous rooms.
Lee Jae-heon, who took it and left room 6-2, approached Eun-woo Jeong and said.
“I think it’s the key to the souvenir shop. I understood? Please open it. “I don’t have hands…”
“I understand.”
“kind.”
Jaeheon Lee handed over the keys and stroked Eunwoo Jeong’s head with his free hand.
It was a strange sight, stroking the head of a man of similar height, but Jeong Eun-woo just stayed still, and it was only later that Lee Jae-heon realized what they were up to.
Lee Jae-heon blinked and said.
“…Isn’t this it?”
“I guess I’m not a good person to be petted.”
I asked a question that suddenly occurred to me.
“Who were you?”
“Could it be your junior?”
“Is that possible?”
“well.”
“You were dead…” “
….”
“Then will I die soon too? “I guess so.”
Jaeheon Lee smiled brightly.
“Nice to meet you, junior. “It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other, right?”
“I guess so.”
“Then go and work. The captain’s hand hurts right now, so he can’t open the door. “Even a bastard who doesn’t listen to us can do this?”
“of course.”
After saying that, the junior walked straight ahead and fiddled with the lock on the large iron door that was blocking entry into what appeared to be a souvenir shop. When I inserted the key I was holding and turned it, the heavy-looking lock fell to the floor.
Was there a clanking sound?
“….”
It didn’t really matter.
As I approached my junior who unlocked the lock and opened the iron window wide,
he leaned back so that he could easily observe the inside of the souvenir shop. Despite the junior’s consideration, almost nothing was visible inside the pitch-black souvenir shop.
As I was just watching, my junior asked.
“Will I be outside this time too?”
“That’s right. That way, our junior will help the chicks that will come to visit later….”
“….”
“Oh.”
Junior and chick should not appear in the same sentence.
Jaeheon Lee turned his head and saw the man smiling.
“What was your name?”
“This is Jeong Eun-woo, manager.”
“Oh, that’s right.”
I forgot for a moment.
(Continued in the next part)
