Episode 5 is
different.
And I don’t know why.
* * *
The reason Lee Jae-heon asked for a name pen was to leave a mark on the wall
. The world behind the scenes became more and more evil as time passed, but to put it another way, it was at least benign at the beginning.
At least if you leave a mark on the wall, it doesn’t disappear.
Above all, the name pen was a tool mentioned by the main character in the novel.
As the twisted hallway progressed, new paths appeared, and the protagonist, who thought only the appearance had changed, finally realized that this place had become a maze.
However, even if he knew that, there were few things Assistant Manager Jeong In-ho could do.
You could do things like gather your companions as much as possible to keep them from scattering or walk with your hands on the wall, but due to the poor information, you couldn’t go back to the office they came from.
Since we didn’t have any tools to leave any visible marks, we just remembered the route we took as best as we could.
However, Lee Jae-heon already had no intention of letting go of his strength.
Anyway, when I left the office and entered the park, the sun would start to set, and there was no need to overexert my mental power if I wanted to survive the monsters that would appear in the park.
Jaeheon Lee walked through the maze holding a pipe in one hand and a pen in the other.
A black line continued along the road they passed.
The chief, who was watching this with a busy gaze, opened his mouth.
“Um… why are you doing this?”
It was a stupid question, but Lee Jae-heon, who didn’t want to waste his emotions, answered obediently.
“I don’t know what it was, but the building was distorted. “It appears that only a small number of people were in the office, so it appears that he fell into a different space. Shouldn’t we at least mark the way back?”
“So is this a maze?”
“I don’t know, I’m crazy so stop asking.”
It wasn’t just a brat, it was sincere.
Manager Kang Min-ah is not a bad person, but she is curious and has slow judgment, so she was the perfect type of person to get the job done in the current situation.
Moreover, Lee Jae-heon couldn’t tell him everything he knew about the current situation.
If he speaks as if he knows everything, it could lead to misunderstandings, and the main character right behind him is staring at him as if he knows everything.
It wasn’t his taste to mess things up.
Chief Kang Min-ah seemed intimidated, perhaps thinking she had made a mistake.
It seemed like he wasn’t trying to show it, but Lee Jae-heon sighed because his true feelings were visible even when he pretended.
He said, passing the pen to Director Kang right behind him.
“You’ve probably seen me do it by now. “Just follow along and leave a mark on the wall.”
“…Ah yes? Oh me? Ah yes.”
The biggest reason I felt intimidated was because I thought I was the most useless of all of them.
The intern and Assistant Manager Jeong are obviously strong guys, so my body may be in good health, but I guess I don’t have the confidence to do so.
However, I felt intimidated because I thought I had made a mistake with my words.
However, Lee Jae-heon knew that low self-esteem in the hidden world was a very bad situation.
He continued as he watched Director Kang place a pen on the wall.
“Chief Kang, you have a good memory, right?”
“Oh me? yes? Ah yes.”
“If you can, remember the route.”
Lee Jae-heon sighed and said at the crossroads in front of him.
“It’s really like a maze.”
Is this the same?
I thought about what I would do if the content was different from the novel because of the variable of recalling my past life, but the content has not changed yet.
And it was a very fortunate thing among many misfortunes.
Lee Jae-heon asked the most cold-hearted protagonist among them.
“Deputy Jeong, was there originally a fork in the road here?”
“From what I remember, it wasn’t there.”
“Then you’re saying it happened, damn it.”
Lee Jae-heon blinked, muttering something he already knew.
Originally, there was an elevator at this location.
And instead of the elevator disappearing, two distant intersections were created.
The main character in the novel chose the right path.
There was no particular reason; it was because there was an emergency exit there originally.
So, although it is not described in the novel what the path on the left was, they actually found a staircase on that path and went down safely to the first floor.
“….”
No, not safely.
“…Shall we decide by majority vote?”
He suddenly became very tired of being the leader.
Originally, this position was supposed to belong to intern Noh Yeon-seok or the main character.
Of course, he also made this choice for better survival, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t tired.
Above all, if the suspicious protagonist takes his time, he will have many doubts about him.
Why does this situation seem familiar? Why he was the calmest among us. Why did you suddenly grab a weapon like a pipe?
Besides that, there were a lot of things the protagonist had to ask Lee Jae-heon.
Of course, Lee Jae-heon had no intention of simply answering those numerous questions.
“Does anyone remember what was on the left here?”
“Uh… there was a vending machine, right?”
“The emergency exit was on the right. “I think it reflects our company in its own way. So wouldn’t you have to turn right to get to another floor?”
“Then let’s go to the right first.”
Lee Jae-heon gave Director Kang a glance, and Director Kang understood it and taped the pen to the wall again.
Of the two intersections, the one where their traces remained was on the right.
The group frowned and trembled at the strange sensation that grew stronger as they walked.
The former was the reaction of Assistant Manager Lee Jae-heon and Jeong In-ho, and the latter was the reaction of Director Kang and intern Noh Yeon-seok.
Lee Jae-heon then recalled that the reason why Noh Yeon-seok took the lead in the novel was entirely due to the old man’s insistence.
When we encountered a blocked road about three times, Assistant Manager Jeong In-ho turned his head in one direction and opened his mouth.
“…I could hear the wind.”
“wind?”
In response to intern Noh Yeon-seok’s question, Lee Jae-heon thought of a novel.
Originally, their company had walls made of glass so they could clearly see the entire landscape, but in the company behind the scenes, everything except the office walls was opaque. In the same sense, there are no windows and no place for the wind to come in.
So, as a matter of course, they would think of an exit…
Lee Jae-heon muttered.
“It’s strange.”
It was an extremely intentional muttering.
‘Because that’s not the sound of the wind.’
What Assistant Manager Jeong In-ho heard was not a natural sound, but a cry made by a monster to prey on the survivors of the original world.
As proof, the only one who heard that sound was the protagonist.
He was the most shallow person among the current group. Of course, the word ‘thought’ has many meanings, but in the world behind it, it was convenient to roughly think of it as a negative thought.
As the main character of the novel, In-ho Jeong was very good at maintaining his cool despite the current situation.
And Lee Jae-heon himself seemed to have been traumatized, as he did not hear the sound.
‘But I don’t plan on being stupid.’
He shrugged his shoulders at Assistant Manager Jeong, who was looking at him with pitch-black eyes.
“I just tried it. “It was a tight fit, but I heard a sound, so it was a reflex.”
“…yes.”
The protagonist probably wasn’t happy with Lee Jae-heon’s excuse.
If you think about the image of the old manager, you might have thought it was a pointless nitpick. Because it’s always been like that.
“If you hear the wind in the bar… isn’t it the exit? “You see it in movies.”
“Isn’t it more of an emergency exit than an exit? “This place is completely blocked…. But there is still a hole for the wind to come in.”
“If the sound can be heard up to here, it will be enough for people to come and go.”
Yeah no.
‘If you go there, you’ll die.’
I’ll say it again, the current wind noise is all the sound of monsters, and in the novel, the river manager was caught by this and died.
It’s fortunate that the rest survived somehow, but this caused the whole group to suffer a mental breakdown.
We fell into a strange world and screamed at every ounce of air that they were going to kill us, but it never occurred to us that someone could die.
Or maybe it was because what I knew subconsciously was confirmed right in front of my eyes.
Lee Jae-heon knew that, so he even said, ‘That’s strange,’ and aroused a slight sense of hostility.
If it was the only right answer when everyone else was wrong, you would follow the person who was right no matter how mentally weak you were.
Of course, I had no intention of letting Chief Kang die.
“…Then let’s go where the sound comes from. Can you still hear it, Assistant Manager Jeong?”
“yes? “Yes, I can hear you.”
“Go that way. “Chief Kang keeps drawing the pen.”
It was none of his business that Director Kang died and other people’s mental health went down, but the problem was that the main character hated Lee Jae-heon and even distrusted him.
I had no intention of saying something ridiculous like I was hurt there.
However, Jaeheon Lee wanted to become one of the main characters, and for that to happen, he had to build at least a level of trust.
At least to the point where he doesn’t pamper the old manager until he’s on the verge of death.
So, it would be nice if we could take this opportunity to resolve that issue.
Lee Jae-heon thought like that and walked forward.
* * *
Perhaps it was because of the thought of being able to go outside. As time passed, the rest of the group also heard the sound of the wind.
The only one who couldn’t hear him was Lee Jae-heon, but he didn’t bother to reveal that fact.
And when the sound of the wind got closer, Lee Jae-heon stopped at a figure crouching in the hallway.
“Who is it?”
“iced coffee!”
A woman holding onto the corner of the wall turned her head towards the group.
“what what what. “No, hello…?”
“…Where does it hurt?”
“No no no!”
A familiar-looking employee ID card hung around the woman’s neck as she shook her head.
Judging by the fact that he was still wearing that childish necklace, his rank seemed not to be very high.
And Lee Jae-heon knew the identity of that woman.
“I think it was someone from the marketing department, am I right?”
Yeonhee Kwon, an employee of the Marketing Department.
He was an employee of another department that the group encountered in the novel.
Of course, it was strange to know all the employees of this large company, so Jaeheon Lee gave it a vague answer.
It wasn’t the best timing to wait for the other person to introduce themselves.
“Ah, this is Yeonhee Kwon from the marketing department! Please take care of me. No, it’s not this….”
“I didn’t know there were other people?”
Following Lee Jae-heon’s words, Chief Kang, who was standing right behind him, opened his mouth.
“Perhaps other departments… also came together. “Like our department.”
That was correct.
The only people who fell into the secret world were the planning team and marketing team that the protagonist belonged to.
It’s because they’re all going to die anyway.
The employee across from me also seemed to have similar thoughts, and his expression fell.
“Ah, is that department okay? When it comes to marketing, people are all crazy…!”
“It seemed like we were crazy too.”
“I heard they were planning to kill each other! Just swinging a sword…!”
“….”
You’re probably thinking, ‘Oh, that’s a bit much.’
‘Come to think of it… ‘Did the marketing break down like that just last week?’
The underworld reacts very carefully to the stress of survivors.
Since their already vulnerable minds were subjected to such an attack, it was not strange for them to try to kill each other.
Lee Jae-heon pondered whether this description appeared in the novel, but soon gave up.
This was because I didn’t remember it in such detail in the first place, and I could feel the mental power of the group members lowering in real time after hearing what Employee Kwon said.
I had already fallen into a strange world, but when I heard that they were killing each other, it was an inevitable reaction.
However, for Lee Jae-heon, who knew what was ahead, it did not seem like a very good situation.
He seemed embarrassed and opened his mouth before the main character, who was about to ask more.
“First of all, only the four most sane people got out. Are you going to come with us?”
“…Where?”
“I came out to assess the situation and am looking for a way out.”
Jaeheon Lee pointed toward the curved hallway with his finger.
“Then I heard the sound of the wind and came here.”
“Ah…”
The other person probably had similar thoughts.
I was confused by the killing party being held by the employees of the same department and wandered outside. I guess I ended up here because I thought the place where the wind was blowing was the exit.
“may I?”
“I’m fine, I don’t know what other people think.”
“I’m fine too.”
In this situation, ‘Huh? There was no great person who would come forward and say, ‘I don’t like it?’
Like it or not, as the number of new companions increased, the protagonist seemed to have more thoughts.
Given his personality, he doesn’t think he’ll be bothered by the burden, and he probably thinks he should lead the group as safely as possible.
In that respect, it certainly seemed more relaxed than a novel.
At that time, I remember being quieter and quieter than I am now because I was putting all my nerves into making cool decisions.
Lee Jae-heon looked at Director Kang, who seemed happy that Dong-seong’s group had increased, then turned his head and looked toward the curved hallway.
“…Huh.”
Still he couldn’t hear the wind.
Lee Jae-heon tried to use this as a basis to tell people that this was not the sound of the wind, but soon gave up.
He was very distrustful of the main character, and as an old man, he was secretly hated by the group. Even if I told him, he would enter without being convinced.
Lee Jae-heon, who was looking at the dark hallway for a moment, glanced at the main character.
“….”
“….”
A pitch-black gaze stares at him.
Lee Jae-heon blinked once.
You probably don’t know exactly what the gesture was, but it was enough to at least get Assistant Manager Jeong In-ho’s attention.
And the moment he stepped into the curved hallway,
he exclaimed,
“…”
Something resembling a spider’s leg stabbed his shoulder.
Lee Jae-heon, with his eyes wide open in surprise, took a step back, and at that moment, the long thing stuck in his shoulder fell out.
I reflexively pressed my hand on the wounded area, but it did not stop bleeding.
When I suddenly felt that my left arm was having a hard time moving, Lee Jae-heon hit the spider’s leg facing behind me hard with the pipe.
“hey.”
Quack!
A disgusting sound rang out as if a large insect was being trampled.
The shiny outer shell, like that of a cockroach, was harder than a pipe, so it broke and the inside was filled with a hideous blue slime.
No matter how you looked at it, it wasn’t human, but the shattered spider leg had a distinct smell of blood.
Lee Jae-heon, who held his stiff shoulder again, spoke quietly as he looked at the people who were pale as if they had finally understood the situation.
“Bounce.”
Countless bridges sprouted behind him.
