Episode 523
“…Huh.”
Song In-myeong muttered, blood dripping from his head.
“Am I out now?”
He slowly looked around.
There is no monster blocking the ground next to me. The strangely realistic-sized monsters, like dolls, were just staring at Song In-myeong, who was far away from us. Only then did I understand the situation.
“Fuck you. “It’s finally over now.”
Song In-myeong stroked my head. Well done, kid.
“I want to report it… but even if I shout loudly, it won’t be heard well. “It will only attract the attention of monsters.”
I wanted to tell Lee Jae-heon that we had arrived, but unfortunately the distance between them was too far. In addition, Song In-myeong, who learned for himself about halfway through the film that there are monsters that react to loud noises, decided to just do his job.
Fortunately, the exit of the maze and the souvenir shop counter were not far away.
“…Ugh.”
Stop.
Song In-myeong, standing at the counter, was shocked for a moment.
“It’s a joke, really. How can it be so big…?”
It was a fact that I knew from the time I saw it from afar, but the counter employee, who seemed to be nearly 3 meters tall, was a threat to Song In-myeong as well. Even more so if it is a giant bipedal fish monster.
‘I didn’t realize it when I saw it from a distance, but it wasn’t just one.’
Song In-myeong glanced at the other side. There was also a fish man at the window of the sign that said ‘information’. It was smaller than the 3m monster in front of me, so I didn’t seem to see it when passing through the maze.
“Uh…”
Song In-myeong, who had been rolling his tongue for a moment at the monsters’ bizarre appearance, regained his senses.
He said, handing me a blood-soaked and crumpled map.
“Hey, can this be exchanged?”
He even used polite expressions.
Among the monsters in the underworld, monsters with a certain profession, like mannequins, were dangerous if treated carelessly. These fish people were probably of a similar family.
In response to Song In-myeong’s question, the fish monster opened its mouth with teeth sticking out.
“Yes you can.”
“….”
“However, there is only one product available at the moment, so exchanges other than that are not possible. Do you still want to exchange it?”
“…Oh, well… I see…”
…I was so fucking surprised.
‘Why is your voice so good?’
Surprisingly, the fish man was of a beautiful voice.
His pronunciation was so clear that I strangely liked him. Thanks to this, Song In-myeong was able to be sure that he was definitely not in his right mind.
Anyway, it didn’t matter as long as it wasn’t an auditory hallucination.
“Here is the product.”
After waiting a moment, the fish man handed me a very small box with his large webbed hands.
“…oh.”
No, actually it wasn’t that small of a box.
A cube slightly larger than Song In-myeong’s palm. It was a light blue box wrapped with a gold ribbon with lots of cute pictures of fish on it.
I wanted to untie the ribbon to check its contents, but for some reason it wouldn’t undo.
“…?”
“You are not the owner of the map.”
“…Then why not?”
As soon as the fish man realized that Song In-myeong was not the owner of the dojo map, Song In-myeong measured the angle of the bounce, but fortunately, the opponent did not pounce or attack. He still spoke in a casual tone.
“No, it doesn’t matter. However, the exchange product will not be opened because it belongs to the map owner.”
“okay?”
“I don’t know if it will be what you want, but I am sure that the customer will need it.”
“I’m confident, it’s amazing.”
“Because all our guests have done that.”
“….”
The conclusive tone strangely hurt Song In-myeong’s mood.
“…Anyway, I have to go back to the entrance. “Can’t I just go back to life?”
“….”
“…Hey? “Can’t you hear me?”
“….”
“What are we going to do?”
Song In-myeong wrinkled his face. The fish-man, who had been speaking well just a moment ago, suddenly closed his mouth without moving a single word. Since he didn’t speak, the conversation we just had felt like an auditory hallucination.
‘What are the conditions?’
There was something in sight that made Song In-myeong roll his eyes.
“….”
An information desk with an employee who is shorter than a 3m monster.
“…Are you sure you can’t be that flexible?”
While muttering that, Song In-myeong steadily walked to the front of the information counter.
This monster is approximately 2 meters long, based on my guess. It looked strangely different from the monster just before.
‘Well, it’s still a fish.’
Song In-myeong asked the 2m monster, which was as motionless as a doll.
“…I’m about to go back to the entrance of the souvenir shop….”
“Do you need a broadcast for Mia?”
Fortunately or frustratingly, the other person responded right away.
‘Oh, that’s right, I only do counter work.’
As expected, I was oddly annoyed that I asked an employee who wasn’t in charge of guiding and didn’t answer.
‘No and… Mia’s broadcast?’
missing child? broadcast?
“…Is it possible that I am lost?”
“Are you not lost?”
“In a broad sense, it is true that I lost it, but wouldn’t it be a bit weird to think of it as a lost child? “How many people can avoid getting lost in a maze as huge as the Pacific Ocean?”
“So far, I know there are 191 people.”
“…Oh yeah….”
There are so many, damn.
‘What happened to all those bastards now?’
Anyway, I’m sure it wasn’t a hopeful ending.
Song In-myeong asked, pointing at his bald head.
“That Mia… If I do this broadcast, can I go back to that entrance?”
“Wouldn’t your guardian come pick you up?”
“Then what are you doing for me?”
“I can broadcast Mia.”
“What on earth are you doing so that I can get back to the entrance?”
“I can call your guardian.”
“Wow…”
For some reason, I feel like I’ve been having a lot of trouble lately. Is it because of my mood?
‘I’m having a conversation, but I can’t understand anything. We speak the same language, but we’re not communicating right now. ‘Is it because I want something so big that communication is not possible?’
Song In-myeong asked, quickly calming the confusion that had hit his brain hard.
“…Is there any other way besides broadcasting Mia?”
I was afraid of what would happen if the only thing that could be done through broadcasting was to bring in a guardian.
Who is the guardian in the first place? Could it be Lee Jae-heon? Then how did Lee Jae-heon get here?
‘Do you want to teleport? Or is it something that created a strong impulse in Lee Jae-heon and brought him here? In the first place, I can’t ask
you to say that that’s what Mia broadcast is.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand why you can’t go back.”
“And can I get paid?”
“The entrance you want is visible right away, so why are you wandering around?…” “
….”
Song In-myeong, who was about to swear openly, noticed something strange. It was because the other person seemed to be curious with truly pure intentions.
‘…Doesn’t that maze look like a maze to them?’
What doesn’t make much sense is that these walls were all made of monsters. From the same monster’s point of view, it may not have been recognized as a maze, but as just a group of people.
After thinking for a moment, Song In-myeong opened his mouth.
“…Can you draw some medicine?”
“…Are you talking about medicine?”
“Tell me where I need to go to get to the entrance safely, including all the creatures and objects in this souvenir shop.”
“I can do that if you need it.”
Song In-myeong was able to obtain directions from the fish man. It was not a ‘just drawn map’, it was as fast as a 3m monster exchanging goods, but I still had faith in it when I saw that the maze was drawn properly.
And that belief was broken after just 10 seconds.
“…is this correct? Is this right?”
“If you have any inconveniences, please contact customer service.”
“No, is this correct?”
The directions were overly simple.
That’s not to say that a maze made up of monster walls wasn’t drawn. It was clearly drawn, however clumsily, and hidden monsters presumed to be traps were also marked.
The problem was that the path guided by the 2m monster passed through the wall.
“Why are you doing this to me? “Didn’t you just recommend a quick suicide?”
“Please report any inconveniences to customer service.”
“Oh, is there a customer service center? I see, customer service center… Mr. Ha, it’s still too early for me to die… I’m so young and beautiful… But really…”
Song In-myeong, who had been thinking for a while, soon stood in front of the starting point marked on the map.
The monsters forming the wall were looking at each other as if asking, ‘What is this guy?’, but Song In-myeong just ignored them and slowly took a deep breath. He kept saying it, but he didn’t want to die here.
“….”
Song In-myeong nodded, holding a box and a map in one hand instead of a map.
“…I’ll pass by.”
Saying that, Song In-myeong moved closer to break through the monster wall.
Up until now, I had been attacked when I got close to the wall, so I reflexively frowned, but surprisingly, nothing happened.
“…?”
Does this work?
‘Why is this happening?’
The downside was that my entire body became wet with a strange slime as I whined past the monsters, but fortunately I was not attacked. Half of Song In-myeong’s absurdity flew away.
“…What was there a shortcut?”
A vein appeared on Song In-myeong’s temple.
I don’t know if this was possible after receiving the directions, or if there was a hidden shortcut originally, but a strange feeling of irritation slowly rose up. What on earth will become of me, who has worked so hard and made my way through this maze?
“I need to know that the secret world was so cruel…”
Although grumbling, Song In-myeong, holding the map in his hand carefully, steadily took the shortcut. It was quite a distance to the entrance, but thanks to the extremely shortened route, I was able to leave the souvenir shop shortly.
Song In-myeong, who was in tatters, held the product box and made a confident request like General Kaesong.
“Give me a compliment.”
Jaeheon Lee, who was waiting, smiled brightly and answered.
“Thank you for your effort.”
“Give me more.”
“You did very well. I thought it would be inevitable if I gave up midway, but I can’t help but be impressed by the fact that the results were better than I expected. Thanks, it was a great help. I couldn’t help you due to my bad condition, but thank you for persevering in carrying out your mission. “I can’t give you anything right now, but I hope that even this meager compliment will make you feel better.”
“….”
“This is a fair evaluation of you for your excellent performance. Thank you for your hard work and strength. “It must have been difficult to move because you were injured, so it’s really amazing that you did this all by yourself.”
“…Stop that….”
Song In-myeong, who looked a little pale, handed over a light blue box. This meant that I should quickly shut up after receiving this. Jaeheon Lee willingly granted his teammate’s wish. He untied the ribbon on the light blue box.
Inside were two not-so-big dolls.
“What was inside?”
“They are dolls.”
“…It’s back to being polite again….”
Lee Jae-heon opened his mouth, ignoring Song In-myeong, who was making a fuss.
“You look like someone.”
Who is this?
‘…First of all, it’s Lee Jae-heon.’
For some reason, Lee Jae-heon turned his gaze away from the old black-haired doll and looked at the other one.
Slightly curly hair and half-moon shaped eyes. Black aviator jumper and gray hoodie. And black pants and sneakers. Although it was scaled down, it was distinctive enough to know who it was modeled after.
“Let’s see…”
Lee Jae-heon raised his head and saw a student trapped in the fish tank.
The student, whose clothes looked exactly like the doll he was holding, was looking down at me with anxious eyes. Lee Jae-heon read both trust and anxiety in his gaze.
Lee Jae-heon, who was looking up, immediately put his ear to the doll’s body.
“….”
My heart is pounding.
The sound of a fast beating heart.
“…aha.”
Jaeheon Lee smiled deeply.
It was a pretty good product.
(Continued in the next part)
