Episode 545 Jeong
Eun-woo was not without an instinct for self-preservation.
“….”
He saw a thin film forming between my fingers.
Watching yourself truly become a monster was quite scary and unpleasant.
‘…If I keep going like this and turn into a complete monster, will I end up like the guy I saw at the exam hall?’
Eunwoo Jeong thought of a large, terrible monster with thin skin.
The monsters looked as if they had been clumsily put together from chunks of melted jelly. Could it be that I become such a monster?
That kind of future was never pleasant.
“…Then let’s go first.”
It wasn’t pleasant, but it was right.
Jung Eun-woo checked again to see if the ring was properly inserted and climbed over the thick glass wall.
‘Why do we need a wetsuit in this empty space… Do you understand now?’
This place, with treasure chests lined up in a row, looked like a huge rectangular tank. It is a tank where all the water has drained and the fish cannot survive, but only a few decorations that decorated the tank in the past remain like ruins. It felt such a strange emptiness.
Eunwoo Jeong felt like a fish jumping into a waterless tank. Very small fish.
Of course, he had completely human feet instead of a fish tail, but…
“…”
Anyway, fortunately, there was a ladder that allowed him to go down the large waterless tank.
It was a ladder that Jung Eun-woo could climb on, not a fish.
“Jung Eun-woo, be careful not to stumble.”
“Thank you for your concern.”
“I felt it when I came up this narrow waterway, but the wall is really very high…”
After hearing Seo Jang-hwa’s tongue-in-cheek greeting, Jeong Eun-woo stepped onto the ladder.
At that moment, I could feel something.
“….”
“Why? What’s strange? “Are you still not feeling well?”
“…No, I feel a little cool…”
“Cool?”
“It’s as refreshing as being in the water.”
I could feel this sensation whenever I put on a wetsuit and go into the sea.
My body feels strangely stuffy, my breathing is limited to just enough to breathe, and I hear the sound of water rippling all around. It all felt like I was diving.
“It’s an empty tank…”
Jeong Eun-woo was sinking.
“….”
“…Should I go in wearing a ring? “It could be that the reason why I’m not feeling well is because I’m scared of Jung Eun-woo.”
“No, it’s okay. In the first place, the sense of this tank and the ring seem to be separate issues. Besides, I only have the certification, right?”
“But…”
“I’d better go down to the bottom and check properly.”
In fact, Seo Jang-hwa, who has neither a license nor a ring, will not be of much help in the ‘Sea Treasure Hall’. I knew that for sure, but entrusting the job to Seo Jang-hwa was a ridiculous decision.
Nevertheless, the reason why room was left was because Seo Jang-hwa hoped to help Jeong Eun-woo.
Unfortunately, there was no further reason.
“So, I would appreciate it if you could wait a moment until I reach the bottom.”
“…Is there something that makes all the men who enter the secret world so upset?”
“Well, I’m not sure.”
“Are you smiling now?”
“Just a little…”
I did it because I felt like it was a special experience in many ways.
“…Let’s keep going.”
After saying that, Jung Eun-woo slowly climbed down the ladder.
Perhaps because I was going down looking through a glass wall full of water, the feeling of diving even though there was no water became even stronger. As water came into view, it seemed that not only our bodies but also our brains thought we were underwater.
I felt like I was a fish, perhaps because of the webbed feet on my hands.
“….”
If I don’t wear the ring, will I be unable to breathe at all?
‘I’m curious.’
As Jung Eun-woo climbed down the ladder, he felt that it was becoming more difficult to breathe due to the pressure.
Perhaps because my body was cool, it felt like water pressure, but it was ironic when I thought about how everything was fine on the other side of the water-filled wall. Feeling the water pressure in an empty water tank without the characteristic resistance of water.
“Whoa…”
Jeong Eun-woo slowly caught his breath.
And every time I exhaled, I felt like something inside my body was tickling and deteriorating. The blue color of the webbed feet seemed to be getting darker.
Jeong Eun-woo thought as he looked at his hands, which were turning as pale as a corpse.
‘It seems like this rapid mutation I’m seeing right now is a side effect of the wetsuit.’
It was so dreamy to see a diving suit that turns people into fish.
Did the saying ‘If you don’t gain trust in your wetsuit, you can’t use it properly’ mean these side effects? As of now, that seemed highly likely.
Well, I’m turning into a monster, and I don’t have the ability to use a diving suit or anything.
“….”
Jeong Eun-woo frowned at the feeling as if all the blood in his body had turned into bugs and was crawling around, but then he straightened it out again out of habit. It felt like breathing was becoming increasingly difficult.
Jung Eun-woo quickly climbed down the ladder and soon set foot on the floor.
“…Hmm….”
The well-finished and smooth floor was dark blue in color.
“Jung Eun-woo, are you okay?”
Seo Jang-hwa shouted from far above. Jeong Eun-woo raised his head and looked at her. Seo Jang-hwa was looking down at Jeong Eun-woo with his body half draped against the glass wall.
It may be hard to see his expression clearly because he is too far away, but Jeong Eun-woo happily smiles and answers. It was kind of a habit.
“Yes, it’s okay. There doesn’t seem to be any other problems other than the discomfort in breathing. I feel like I went down dozens of kilometers below the surface wearing a broken wetsuit. “I feel like my lungs are being compressed.”
“…Isn’t that the problem?!”
“But it doesn’t seem like there are any traps on the floor.”
As we spoke in a slightly louder voice, my vocal cords seemed to be throbbing a little.
“…Keuhum.”
Jeong Eun-woo, who was hanging his neck with his webbed hands, spoke again in a loud voice to Seo Jang-hwa.
“I will look around a little more. There is no problem getting down, but would you like to try climbing the ladder? “I don’t recommend it, but I won’t stop you if you want.”
“Talking makes people so fucking uncomfortable!”
Seo Jang-hwa, who raised his voice as if he was annoyed, hesitated and moved beyond the glass wall. It seemed like he was trying to climb down the ladder, but Seo Jang-hwa’s body was seen shaking greatly as he stepped towards the ladder.
“…Janghwa student?”
He called out to Seo Jang-hwa in a loud voice, but after shaking several times, Seo Jang-hwa covered his mouth with his hand and moved back to the water.
Seeing that his breathing seemed quite uncomfortable, Jeong Eun-woo urgently called Seo Jang-hwa once again.
“Is there a problem with Changhwa’s students?”
The answer came back a while later.
“…I can’t breathe.”
“yes?”
“When I went over to where Eunwoo Jeong was, I couldn’t breathe at all.”
“….”
“It’s not just that I’m suffocating… It’s like I’m drowning…”
Seo Jang-hwa’s voice, occasionally giggling, wasn’t as loud as before, so it was a bit unclear, but it wasn’t so much that I couldn’t understand what he was saying.
Jeong Eun-woo looked around.
“….”
So, it meant that it was a space where people would drown instantly if they did not use a wetsuit.
And that in just a few seconds, in a waterless space…
“…Now, even if I wanted to take off the ring, I wouldn’t be able to.”
Jeong Eun-woo laughed helplessly.
Because the walls of the tank were quite high, it took quite some time to climb down the ladder.
No matter how fast I climbed the ladder, it would take at least a few minutes, and if I took off the ring, I wouldn’t be able to survive that much and would drown.
“Then I guess I’m also subject to some kind of time limit.”
Like Park Da-hoon, trapped in a glass box waiting to drown.
Jeong Eun-woo, who muttered softly, took a deep breath and shouted loudly again to Seo Jang-hwa.
“I think it would be impossible to come down without a wetsuit, Student Janghwa…! “It would be better to go back to Dayoung Park and find out the information and hints we need for the Sea Treasure Hall together!”
Because he shouted quite loudly, Seo Jang-hwa seemed to understand Jeong Eun-woo’s words even though he was distracted.
Seo Jang-hwa, who was muttering a curse as if he was frustrated with the situation of not being able to help Jeong Eun-woo, soon answered.
“…Okay, so be as careful as possible! “I’ll find out something with Dayoung!”
“Yes please!”
“Oh, fucking be careful! “If you die while opening your treasure chest…”
Seo Jang-hwa, who seemed to be about to say something more, changed the subject.
“…No, it’s done. Anyway, be careful!”
After saying that, Seo Jang-hwa went back into the water without looking back and started swimming down to where the door was.
Jeong Eun-woo, who was looking at it as if it were a rare fish in an aquarium tank, soon turned his head and caught sight of the treasure box.
“….”
How many of those are there in total?
“…probably 29….”
That’s a fucking lot.
‘If only one of these were to win, wouldn’t the odds be too extreme?’
Jeong Eun-woo smiled tiredly and sighed.
He stepped carefully and observed the treasure chests.
“…There is no difference in appearance at all.”
The treasure chests lined up at regular intervals were all the same size and the same shape.
Even the scratches and broken pieces of wood were exactly the same, making it feel like something produced in a factory.
“hmm.”
After thinking for a moment, Jeong Eun-woo bent down and put his ear to the treasure chest and listened.
“….”
The sound of water rippling was heard.
I listened to all 29 boxes to see if there were any differences from other boxes, but the sounds were surprisingly consistent.
Jeong Eun-woo, who was reflecting on the sound of water, noticed one thing.
“…Is it similar to the sound of water heard everywhere in this aquarium?”
I don’t know if the sound originated from this box or if the sound of water in the aquarium was captured in the box, but it certainly seemed to be the same sound.
Jeong Eun-woo smiled slightly.
“It’s fun like this sometimes.”
It was truly a monster world full of humor.
“Then what should I do now…”
Jeong Eun-woo looked down at his hands.
His hands, which had begun to deform little by little, were no longer showing any trace of blood. The dense texture of their webbed feet was as if they were alive, tangled with each other and fluttering next to the ring on their finger.
Perhaps because of my mood, my fingernails seemed to have become a little darker.
“….”
If you leave it like this, your fingernails might become sharp like the monsters in classic movies.
“I’m not happy with either one.”
Jung Eun-woo did not want to become a monster.
I just thought that if I turned into a monster like that, I would become quite… ugly.
“…and I think I’m going to be stupid.”
To him, becoming a monster and losing his humanity was not that important. In some ways, it even felt like a fun joke. Jung Eun-woo was not a person who disliked change in any sense.
I just don’t want to become something ugly, like an underwater monster. For a person with a small buttocks, it was a very natural thing.
“Is it a little childish?”
However, Jung Eun-woo could not always have deep feelings.
Even if it was a matter related to one’s own safety, it was difficult to feel deep despair. It seemed that it probably came from a defect that Jung Eun-woo was born with.
“Hmm…”
When I touched my neck, I felt the thin skin that had risen.
It was a gill.
“….”
Jeong Eun-woo laughed.
“Then let’s get started.”
He reached out and opened the box.
I would blame myself if Jeong Eun-woo was gone when Seo Jang-hwa came back, but…
it wasn’t that scary.
* * *
Meanwhile, Hong Gyeong-jun thought.
“….”
Why do I feel so bad?
To some extent, it was as bad as when my senior had an accident and hid it for over a month.
(Continued in the next part)
