Episode 522
『I will call this the [Examination Center].
It was originally written as a testing center. In very small letters next to the sign that says ‘Experience Corner’. I think it was written as a feeding experience corner in real life…
It looks like a slightly larger pond. It’s too small to be called a lake, so it’s probably a pond. It is large enough to measure 30 adult men like me if they spread their arms. It’s not narrow, but it’s not very wide either.
There is no level difference between the water surface and the floor of the test room. It’s very dark here, so if I just walk or run without paying attention, I think I’ll fall into it without even realizing it. The water is a little darker than the blue floor of the test room. Is it sodomy? But I’m still confused.
The testing room here is too dark. So it is dangerous, but it is also fortunate. It seems that the monsters roaming around outside the test site have difficulty hearing. It doesn’t chase after loud noises, but it runs at the sight of people, so it’s probably just that its eyes are bright.
The appearance of the monster.
Blob fish? I had skin like jelly. Looks like a blob fish. It looks a lot creepier than that, but maybe not? It’s not moving fast. The stride length is very large. If you run hard, you can run away, but if you let your guard down, you’ll be in big trouble.
addition.
It swallows a person in one mouthful and then chews the cud. …is repeatedly going in and out of the monster’s stomach alive. The monster’s mouth seems to have many teeth. Blood flows steadily. scary.
Please kill me quickly.
The screaming is too loud.
It’s getting smaller.
I think I can hear … crying. Horrible. It’s so terrible. How can you do this? Isn’t that too much? Why are you eating so cruelly? The monster’s stomach still seems to be churning.
Are you really still alive? Even though he ended up like that, he didn’t survive and was trapped in there, right? I believe not. There is no sound. The monster’s belly fluttering means
there can’t be anyone in there. They must all be dead. It makes no sense to be still alive. too bad. I
wrote this
here
and this is the testing site. I have to take a test.
The monsters make loud moving noises because they are large. Although it is very dark and difficult to see, you can escape danger if you pay attention to your steps and listen.
There are tables and chairs here and there in the dark. The monster is so big that it cannot be seen if it hides under the table. If you can’t avoid it because you can’t hear the sound, hiding under the table seems to be a good idea. Just like I do now.
addition.
If you continue, you will be caught. The monster located a little away seems to be able to see under the table. A person was captured. It’s a good idea to hide briefly only when monsters are nearby. That would be nice.
The employee was in the pond at the testing site. He asked me if I wanted to take the test. Was it an auditory hallucination? The employee was speechless. beautiful. It’s so beautiful that I’m writing this now. Come to your senses. It’s
done
. I received the card. Certificate card.
What can I do with this?
Please guide me properly. I’m going to cry.
In fact, I’ve already cried
…』
-Survivor’s Record 4-
* * *
I walked around carefully in the dark with Jung Eun-woo for about 10 minutes to find the employee.
“oh my god.”
Eunwoo Jeong said, pushing Dayoung Park back.
“There’s a mermaid here too.”
“…Crazy….”
The two approached the pond to avoid the monsters moving around making watery noises. As they approached the water, they heard a pop inside! I was able to find a mermaid sticking out.
“It’s so nice to see you like this.”
The young-faced mermaid waved her hands and showed joy to them.
“You don’t have a mouth this time.”
Unlike the mermaids at the concert hall who had no eyes, this was a mermaid with only eyes and no mouth.
Park Da-young seemed scared, so Jung Eun-woo hid her behind him a little longer. I felt Park Da-young, who obediently received his consideration, cling to my back.
Jeong Eun-woo smiled slightly.
“You are surprisingly timid.”
“I’m managing it so that my mentality doesn’t go out.”
“The eyeless mermaids took a good look at it.”
“I think I’m going to go crazy like this.”
“That’s it…”
Phuuk.
Jeong Eun-woo muttered as if he was sorry, took off his coat and covered it over Park Da-young’s head.
“…? what?”
“If I had an eye patch, I would have given it to you, but since I didn’t have one, I gave you a substitute. “Isn’t it necessary?”
“…No, thank you.”
Park Da-young did not refuse Jung Eun-woo’s help this time either. She, wrapped in a brown knit cardigan, put her head behind Jeong Eun-woo again.
“It looks exactly like that.”
“If you’re going to say something outrageous again, don’t do it.”
“….”
“…I’m curious as to what kind of upset you were preparing for, so I’ll tell you.”
“It’s like the arrested criminal you see on the news.”
“I expected it, but I asked for no reason.”
Still, Park Da-young steadfastly put on her outer clothes.
I was already so tired that I didn’t want to go mental just because I saw a mermaid. I thought it would be better to take care of it myself before I lost my mind.
Jeong Eun-woo, who was maintaining eye contact with the mermaid, spoke to Park Da-young, who was hiding behind him.
“It’s amazing, I feel like I’m making sense.”
“…I’m sorry to ask this, but are you crazy right now? You’re not hearing hallucinations, are you? “Do I have to run away now?”
“It seems like you are asking out of genuine concern, so I feel sorry. You seem very anxious, but don’t worry. It’s not crazy, but it seems to be this mermaid’s ability. “I think it might be some kind of telepathy.”
“Telepathy…?”
Because I also had similar abilities, Park Da-young, out of curiosity, sneakily came out from behind Jeong Eun-woo’s back. As soon as she appeared, the mermaid who was looking at her gently waved her hand again.
The gently curved eyes that seemed to be happy to see me were impressive.
“….”
“I don’t think he’s a very bad person.”
“…Ah yes….”
She really was a mermaid with kind-looking eyes.
“So what do you say?”
“They asked me if I would take the test.”
“If it’s a test….”
“Maybe it’s a certification test?”
The mermaid nodded at those words. Then, she tilted her head once, as if she was asking, ‘So are you going to do it or not?’ and Park Da-young’s expression became subtle.
‘…is this a monster you can communicate with?’
Here, ‘being able to communicate well’ was not simply a matter of whether communication was possible. This refers to whether a gentle interaction is possible, like the Pompitz monster from the neighborhood that Jaeheon Lee half-adopted.
When you think about it that way, the mermaid in front of you looks really gentle. Of course, I don’t know if those gentle eyes and calm behavior are meant to stab the survivors…
“!”
Then the mermaid flapped her hands.
“hmm?”
“what?”
“aha.”
Eunwoo Jeong translated Mermaid Language.
“You want me to follow you?”
“…Where in the water?”
“No, over there.”
The mermaid was moving to the side of the pond as if showing off. The two walked along as it seemed to be a path that humans could easily walk on and there were no monsters. Park Da-young was still attached to Jung Eun-woo.
After walking for a while, they came back to the mermaid and realized why she had moved us.
“….”
“….”
Grumble. Churruk.
“…sigh…”
This was because a large biological slime appeared in the place where they were just moments ago.
It stood blankly in one place and only moved after about 3 minutes. As she watched the back of the monster disappearing into another darkness, Park Da-young finally exhaled.
“…Have you not seen us?”
“I guess so. “It looks like you can’t see it from here.”
Eunwoo Jeong continued his speculation.
“That would mean that those monsters are much more blind than us humans. To be precise, even though it is the same darkness, that monster seems to feel darker than us. “We could see that monster, but the monster couldn’t see us at the same distance.”
“Uh…”
“That can’t be considered a vision problem. So, you still have to be careful because the darkness may temporarily brighten or you may be attacked if you get too close.”
Jeong Eun-woo, who said that, smiled slightly.
“I guess we could say we avoided the prize thanks to mermaid powder.”
“…I don’t want to give the award in a place like this….”
“Me too. Still, I think it’s true that this mermaid helped me. What do you think?”
“Can I be honest?”
“sure.”
“How can you trust a monster…?”
Jeong Eun-woo nodded.
“That too.”
The mermaid lowered her head sullenly, but soon recovered, flapping her hands and asking.
“That’s why I’m asking you to quickly decide whether to take the test or not. “They say they don’t want another person to die here and the water to become dirty.”
“…Even though it’s scary stuff, why can’t I hear that?”
“Isn’t there individual difference? “You’re avoiding eye contact in the first place.”
“Ah…”
Convinced, Park Da-young looked back at Jeong Eun-woo.
“Are you okay? “I’m going to kill myself here.”
“I thought you would. “The reason the director assigned me to student Park Da-young in the first place was to take on the dirty work on behalf of the student, so now you don’t have to worry about it.”
“Wow, this is a way of speaking that really makes me nervous.”
But Park Da-young was steadfast.
“Go in instead. “Because I don’t want to die.”
“You are indeed strong. All right.”
The mermaid, who had been watching the two’s story with a subtle look, thinking, ‘This is a conversation about what to do,’ opened her hands wide and flapped them as if to welcome them when a certain conclusion was reached. It seemed like a sign that if you were going to do it, do it quickly.
Jeong Eun-woo, who nodded, bent down and asked the mermaid.
“Is there a monster inside too?”
Nod.
“Can you tell me how many there are in total and what monsters they are?”
Doridori.
“Then do you give me guidance when taking the test?”
Nod.
“I heard you can use a wetsuit after taking the test here. Is that correct?”
Nod.
“Okay, I understand.”
It seems that the mermaid was really waiting for the ‘test’ that the survivors who come here would take. The way he responded obediently and the quality of the information he gave revealed that.
Park Da-young felt a little strange when she saw the mermaid waving her hands as if to come in.
“…Don’t you look like you’re around the same age as me?”
“Then, before she became a mermaid, she could have been as big a survivor as Park Da-young.”
“….”
“Ah, you weren’t expecting this when you asked?”
“…I was a bit expecting this when I asked, but…”
However, hearing this speculation from someone else’s mouth made me feel bad again. Park Da-young, who was looking at the jet-black hair of a mermaid waving in the half-submerged water, said to Jeong Eun-woo with difficulty avoiding her gaze.
“Have a safe trip.”
“Yes, don’t worry. And…”
“Yes?”
“If you think a monster is coming, it would be okay to hide under the table over there. This is the table we checked earlier. There is no need to wait for me, so please be careful to avoid the unfortunate event of being attacked by monsters.”
“You are… No, yes, I will.”
After checking the temperature of the water, Eunwoo Jeong left the watch he was wearing with Dayoung Park and went into the pond. Then, he followed the mermaid and dived, but the darkness of the water was so thick that Jung Eun-woo’s seal could not be seen immediately.
‘…I guess that means it’s that deep.’
While Jeong Eun-woo was barely visible, the mermaid disappeared as soon as she entered the water, which seemed to be one of the abilities of the mermaids living here. No matter how much Park Da-young concentrated, the mermaid, who had completely assimilated into the water, could not be seen.
That was when Dayoung Park was blinking.
“….”
Pong.
“…? what.”
A mermaid approached Park Da-young.
The mermaid with curving hair like Park Da-young was clearly different from the mermaid who went down with Jeong Eun-woo earlier. The curly-haired mermaid came close to Park Da-young, made eye contact, and asked.
“Are you going to take the test?”
“….”
Park Da-young stopped breathing at the voice she heard as soon as she made eye contact.
“Aren’t you going to hit it?”
…Her head rolled.
In fact, there are several mermaids living in this pond.
‘And when those mermaids go deep into the water, they can’t be seen from the outside. If you don’t come to the surface first, there is no way to check the mermaid inside from outside the water.’
And the fact that the monsters were able to completely hide themselves in this way also meant that they were ready to stab the survivors at any time. At least in the underworld.
“…And you said there were monsters in the pond…”
Just then, the monster in the pond was in front of her. Mermaids with kind eyes. A monster that can only be talked to through eye contact.
Park Da-young, who was crouching, burst out in admiration.
“You’re crazy.”
Could it be that they are the ‘monsters in the water’ that the first mermaid just mentioned?
“….”
It would be nice if that weren’t the case, but I don’t know.
The other side of the world is so bad that it fits well.
* * *
『….
Addition.
I will call this [Snow Mermaid].
The test is recommended to survivors who live in the test site and come there to take the test. They do not have mouths, but communicate with their chosen humans through their eyes. In other words, it appears that you can only talk to one person at a time.
They see humans as prey and want to eat them, but they have forgotten that they have no mouths. So you can kill it, but you can’t eat it. Unable to satisfy their hunger no matter what they do, they instinctively want to become better monsters. To that end, I take on the role of ‘examiner’.
The mermaid, who plays the role of ‘examiner’, turns into a monster resembling a blob fish the moment a test taker she is in charge of passes the test. A mouth is formed. edible. As soon as the test taker passes the test, he or she must run out of the pond to avoid the monster. Let’s not get eaten.
The mermaid, who has turned into an ugly monster, cannot immediately chase the examinee outside the pond. This is because they know the fate of those who go out of the water, but they are scared and live in the examination hall with disfigured faces, waiting for new test takers to come in. Because I have a mouth. now.
And along with the snow mermaids who rush in to eat the test taker, they bite the test taker. Because I’m hungry. Of course, very few people enter the pond, so they always suffer from hunger.
But they will make a decision soon. Because they’re so hungry, they’ll come out of the water and hover around the test site looking even more disgusting. The monster that comes out like that gradually begins to melt its skin.
Therefore, blob fish monsters with jellied skin now begin to eat people not because they are hungry, but to survive. Monsters that do not eat people or escape the vicinity of the test site melt and become completely water.
It’s so sad
to think that
they were all human
in the beginning .
I’m sorry.』
-Survivor’s Record 4-
(Continued in the next part)
