Episode 520
Song In-myeong wasn’t this tired from the beginning.
“Ah, this much is possible.”
“is that so?”
“Do you know how much experience I have in escape rooms? “I am the one who beat the famous mirror maze in 20 minutes.”
“What is an escape room and what is a mirror maze?”
“…There is such a thing, mister.”
Even before entering the souvenir shop and the maze, Song In-myeong was full of confidence.
The maze did not seem to be a very difficult problem for him, who had a keen sense of humor and an unusually sharp mind.
The problem was that this maze was a space made up of monsters.
“Fuck you!!”
It didn’t take long before Song In-myeong started screaming.
That’s because even though the darkness was lightened by the sacrifice of Lee Jae-heon’s hand, it did not mean that it had become completely bright. Limited vision and monsters that attack when you get close. There’s even a hidden monster trap…
“Are you okay?”
“It’s not okay at all! It’s not okay at all! “Please fucking save me!”
Song In-myeong’s specialty was chopping up people, not destroying monsters.
In the first place, Song In-myeong was a man with good spirits, good intelligence, and excellent physical ability. He was only injured enough to scream. If it had been anyone else, he would have died right away. It was that level of difficulty.
Lee Jae-heon reacted quickly to Song In-myeong’s words asking for his life.
“Then I will go in now.”
“Oh yeah… huh? uh? what?”
“I’m in.”
“Can’t you get out of there right now? “Where are you crawling with that body?”
“Yes, I’m out.”
At that moment, the monsters forming the wall shook and the entire terrain changed in the blink of an eye.
“….”
“I think I made a mistake. “I’m sorry about this.”
“Man, he’s really obnoxious right now.”
“I often hear that.”
“If I die, you have to save me next time…”
“I will keep this in mind.”
That’s how Song In-myeong got trapped in the maze.
It wasn’t just a reset, Song In-myeong’s location remained the same, only the locations of the monster walls changed. I didn’t confirm, but it seemed like the same would probably apply to monster traps.
“If the reset button is pressed like in a game, don’t I have to go back to the entrance of the souvenir shop?”
“I just returned to the entrance.”
“So, on my conscience, shouldn’t I, who is playing with him, go?”
“I didn’t think this was a very conscientious dungeon, but…”
“Well, I guess I was hoping for too much.”
Is it possible for there to be a conscience in the underworld?
“It’s like shit.”
Anyway, this is what happened.
“…Ha fuck… Still, it seemed like something was going on just now… If it resets like this, what the fuck am I supposed to do… Ah, what a shitty situation… Ah, a shitty maze….”
It wasn’t for no reason that Song In-myeong was confident and thought, ‘Oh, leave it to me.’
Without any hints, Song In-myeong was looking in the right direction to avoid the traps that attacked from nowhere in this terrible darkness.
Only then did Song In-myeong hear the sound of a humid wind blowing. My eyes found an invisible path in the dark walls of a maze, and my skin sensed danger and recognized traps.
“I thought it was half-hearted, but really….”
It seemed like he had reached more than halfway, but what Song In-myeong now saw in front of him was a dead end. The road that had been open until just a moment ago had become blocked.
‘…What should I do if this happens? Just like the typical way to solve a maze, blindly going around with your hand on the wall is unreasonable since it is a monster wall in the first place… Still, if you go around without using your head and leaving as many traces as possible, it seems like you can find your way again… .’
Song In-myeong came up with a solution even though he was going crazy and jumping up and down because of this injustice. His instinct to avoid danger and his head spinning naturally provided an answer and calmly guided him to his next action.
“….”
But it wasn’t the body.
“…Can I take a break and then go?”
“Are you very tired?”
“I’m just saying this because I’m tired and think I’ll just go to sleep.”
Although not as bad as Lee Jae-heon, Song In-myeong was also in tatters.
I was in a situation where I was trusting myself and finding my way through life.
This means that I personally experienced many dangers, such as traps that stick out from under my feet, grab my ankles and knock me down, traps that have thorns that sprout out and pierce my body, and traps that quietly wait in the dark with their mouths open.
“No matter how I am, I think this is a bit egregious.”
Since there was no way to stop the bleeding, it was natural for blood to drip onto the floor.
Song In-myeong sighed heavily and looked at the thick paper I was holding. Because of this situation, the map of Lee Jae-heon’s dojo that he was holding also became tattered.
“Even if it’s broken like this, you’ll still exchange the product…?”
“It just occurred to me that the person in question might have to go to give me the product.”
“Mister, do you have any enmity against me? “Amnesia, that’s all bullshit, right?”
Of course it wasn’t Gura. If Lee Jae-heon’s memory had been intact in the first place, there was no way he would have reacted as mildly as he did now. Although Lee Jae-heon now uses the same courtesy as then, his tone is quite soft.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so dumbfounded…”
Song In-myeong himself, who was finding his way harder thanks to that gentle response, also found it funny.
“Would you mind if I treated you like this on a regular basis? uh? “Do you like it?”
“What do you mean…?”
“I have suffered a lot of heartache from his discriminatory treatment of chicks.”
“I was disappointed that Inmyeong wasn’t a chick. “Do you want me to comfort you?”
“Oh, it’s okay, really. “It’s so fucking annoying.”
The tone that changed in an instant, as if he was changing something because he was disappointed, made Song In-myeong feel uncomfortable. He got angry for no reason, but soon calmed down.
“…Okay, I’ve come this far, so there’s no way I can look back.”
I’ve come to realize that this isn’t the end even if I die, but… If you don’t remember the last episode, Song In-myeong’s current death is not another beginning, but just a dog’s death.
I didn’t want to go through such an unpleasant experience.
“Are you going to keep standing there blankly?”
“Do you need any other help?”
“Oh, please talk a little more… No, I don’t need anything, but I’d like some support.”
“It’s not difficult.”
“It means don’t go anywhere and stay there.”
I didn’t want to die like a piece of meat without any value, which I didn’t intend. Coupled with the fatigue from the last episode, Song In-myeong felt that his sanity was becoming dull.
My brain felt numb and tingly, like when I ate something cold. I was dazed, like someone who had just woken up. There is no water anywhere in the souvenir shop, but why can I hear the sound of rushing water?…
“….”
Song In-myeong closed his eyes tightly and took another step.
Blood was leaking out from the soles of my feet that had been pierced by the trap, but I was able to endure it, perhaps because I was dazed. Wherever he walked, deep red blood stains remained.
“…I was looking for a path when I saw this…”
Now, the blood stains remaining on the floor were clouding Song In-myeong’s judgment.
Blood that did not stop bleeding was a good paint, and Song In-myeong left a trace on the floor with his flowing blood, marking it to avoid going down a blocked path. I was finding my way one by one like that, but now it’s all meaningless.
“If the wall is going to be reset, let’s reset the floor as well. What is this…? “So fucking distracting.”
In a situation where it was obvious that the blood stains overlapped and could not be displayed properly, Song In-myeong burst into laughter.
“Is he there?”
“Yes, it’s still at the entrance.”
“You can’t go anywhere without telling me.”
“of course.”
“…This isn’t an auditory hallucination, is it?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Yes, thank you very much.”
He finally understood the feelings of Park Da-young, who couldn’t even read a single sign.
“head hurts.”
I have a headache this bad, so how can I even see the text?
* * *
“This… isn’t going to work.”
Han Do-yoon smiled awkwardly and said.
“Kim Ki-jeong can never cross.”
“….”
“Look, it hurts my pride, but I think the same way, so I can’t refute it and just keep my mouth shut.”
“Mr. Han Do-yoon, are you doing this because you have some kind of hard feelings towards me?”
“But it’s true that you can’t cross….”
“….”
“Right?”
The place they were at was the beginning of ‘Friends by the Stream’, a corner beyond the ‘Water World’.
Through Hong Gyeong-jun, I heard from Park Da-young about how to cross ‘Friends by the Stream.’ The characteristics and rule precautions of this corner were the same. And Han Do-yoon and Kim Ki-jeong came to a conclusion.
“It’s a problem even across the road. I’m still nauseous because of the fishy smell. A feeding experience center? I heard there are monsters there too? I don’t know if Kim Ki-jeong can endure that. Of course, Mr. Kijeong’s hearing will be of great help in the dark monster’s lair, but that doesn’t mean he can kill people.”
Seo Jang-hwa and Jeong In-ho were convinced by Do-yoon Han’s words.
“Well, with that appearance….”
“It might be a bit difficult.”
This may have been the worst environment for Kim Ki-jeong, who was weak in many ways.
“No, it’s not that I’m weak… you’re too strong…”
“I say so.”
“I’m not saying that’s the case, but that’s what it is… Hangchwi.”
“You must catch a cold.”
“Khaengchwi.”
Kim Ki-jeong kept sneezing, perhaps because his body was so wet as he passed through the ‘Underwater World’. Not only was the significant drop in body temperature a problem, but Kim Ki-jeong’s unique mycorrhea also became a problem.
“Sniff here… what should I say? I feel strangely unpleasant and uncomfortable…”
“Do you feel dirty?”
“Yes, a little. It feels like 3-year-old stagnant water is all over the place. It felt like I was at an old fish market, perhaps because of the fish-like monsters…”
In addition, the humming sound in the enclosed space also contributed to his pain.
“Honestly, my ears are hurting now. Just the sound of water was enough to make me crazy, but I don’t know where the sound is coming from…” “
…Mr. Kim Ki-jeong?”
“….”
Kim Ki-jeong, who had been hesitant, continued speaking with a pale face, perhaps due to his body temperature.
“…It’s true.”
“yes?”
“I don’t know where the sound came from.”
“It’s the source, right?”
“This humming sound. It’s definitely not the sound of water… If it’s a sound hitting an enclosed wall, there has to be a source. “This is where this sound originated.”
“Ah yes. Yes.”
“I don’t know that.”
Seo Jang-hwa asked, tilting his head at his words.
“Isn’t it just the sound of water? “A humming sound is a sound that occurs anywhere in an enclosed space.”
“…In reality, such noises usually come from pipes or devices inside the walls of a building. Or it’s usually the sounds of people or animals that are transformed as they hit various places.”
“Aren’t we people?”
“We are doing this because the sound is not coming from us. Look, the room we’re in doesn’t have a lot of objects or bumps that would significantly alter the sound.”
Kim Ki-jeong’s ears were more sensitive than expected.
“In the first place, the location of the sound cannot be specified. “I even caught the footsteps of a monster 1km away… Where does this sound come from?”
“Maybe it’s because it’s too far away.”
“If it was a sound so far away that I couldn’t pinpoint it, I wouldn’t have heard it in the first place. I know the starting point of every sound I hear. I can hear it all. But now I don’t know.”
“….”
“…That’s that….”
Kim Ki-jeong’s voice trembled slightly.
“…No sound like this could exist in the world…”
He seemed to be in a mild panic.
“…Kim Ki-jeong, it would definitely be better for you to wait here.”
“…That would be better.”
Kim Ki-jeong’s ears were more sensitive than other survivors could imagine, and he himself had confidence in that. As his confidence was great, Kim Ki-jeong’s shock at the unknown noise seemed significant.
Jeong In-ho thought to himself.
‘Does it mean that the more you know, the greater your fear?’
Ordinary people, including Jeong In-ho, can easily understand and move on even if they hear a strange sound out of nowhere, but Kim Ki-jeong’s case was a little different.
He had a good ear and was even a music major who could understand the source of the sound. It had to be assumed that there were no sounds in the world that he didn’t know about.
So the sound that Kim Ki-jeong couldn’t guess from the beginning was a scary story in itself.
(Continued in the next part)
