Episode 64 When I
opened my eyes,
I saw a tree watching me.
“….”
It was a tree blocking the sky.
Not a single sound of animals or insects could be heard in my ears, and the entire world took on dull colors, like a poorly edited photo.
It was as if a color photo had been messed up in a clumsy attempt to convert it to black and white. The eyes, which seemed to have been drawn by delicate touches of flame, moved quietly and touched me, and the hundreds and thousands of eyes embedded in the tree looked in countless directions. Watching the eyes crawling like glass at fast and slow speeds, it felt like I had fallen down a rabbit hole in Wonderland.
I suddenly realize that none of those rough and delicate things reach my ears.
“…Huh.”
He was caught in a dream again.
‘If it wasn’t a dream, it wouldn’t be this quiet.’
Jaeheon Lee raised one eyebrow and then lowered it. Actually, it wasn’t that difficult to guess since what I saw right before falling asleep was the main character preparing to stand guard.
Even though the underworld reflects human thoughts, it is a space where a basic ecosystem exists. The main character in the novel described the world as being quiet several times, but that means that he was unable to hear because his mental capacity was low, and it did not mean that there was really no sound.
In fact, Lee Jae-heon, who had heard the noise of animals and insects several times in the park in the other world, knew that this was a dream due to the extreme silence and the moving eyes as if they were alive, unlike outside the dream. It was a vivid enough scene to be annoying, but Jaeheon Lee knew how to distinguish between dreams and reality.
By just looking, he was able to figure out where he was standing.
“…This is the same.”
It was the second nest they moved to and settled down in.
Considering that the dream I had last time also started here, it seems that the dream probably started from the place where Lee Jae-heon was sleeping.
“I’m not sure, but it’s highly likely.”
So, I’m curious as to where the standards start and what actions are applied in reality, but I haven’t been able to find out clearly yet. Later, if the situation allows for more time, various experiments will produce results, but for now, Lee Jae-heon’s role in maintaining the group’s mentality is important. He once again looked forward to meeting the survivors, led by Detective Hong Gyeong-jun.
And just as he had decided before going to sleep, Jaeheon Lee moved towards the green algae lake.
‘Drowning feels bad, but it can’t be helped.’
The feeling of spitting out bright red lake water was more unpleasant than I imagined, but there was no other way. For now, all I had to do was proceed with the work as previously planned and take action when I felt like I was losing my temper.
He continued to look around as he moved around. As I knew nothing about this mysterious lucid dream, I had to find out as much information as possible once I entered the dream.
That’s the first thing I found out.
“As expected, there is nothing alive.”
Animals, bugs, and even the monsters they often see. The green algae monster, the king of the park episodes, is said to remain in my dreams for some reason, but other than that, I rarely see anything else.
Then second.
“…Then why can there be mannequins?”
The mannequin that resembled Kim Yeon-woo, who appeared in a dream I had right after meeting Police Officer Kim for the first time, was clearly talking and moving. This means that the mannequin monster has something different from other monsters.
As Jaeheon Lee carefully looked around, he recalled the description in the novel.
‘Well, they have a different area than regular monsters.’
Like moderately good mannequins that were clumsily modeled after an individual, those that made people feel uncomfortable were not monsters that could be encountered in the underworld.
“The mannequin monster…”
It was a monster that could be encountered when outside the world, not inside.
In fact, the main character, who accidentally escaped from the other world, also has a mental breakdown due to this mannequin monster. Although it was not described properly, the other survivors except him were probably in a similar situation. Although they never attack directly, they have a knack for making mental attacks.
And the second half rather than the third.
“…In the end, the mannequin and the final boss appear in his dreams…” There
seemed to be a difference between these two monsters and other moving things that he was unaware of.
Of course, it was not very important information at the moment. The information he wanted was not in the ecosystem inside this lucid dream, but in its source and destruction law. I knew I couldn’t solve it right away anyway, so I made a plan that included this lucid dream, but I really wanted to get rid of it if possible.
From the beginning, Lee Jae-heon’s spirit also had limitations.
Fortunately, the great trauma had not subsided since I left the closed, dark building, but in the end, my mind would return if I went back into the concrete building. Unlike at the time when I was just devoured by the underworld, isn’t even my mental strength much lower now? Maybe it’s a given, but even if I went back to work and encountered the spider monsters, I didn’t think I would be able to hear the sound of the wind they made.
But every time I fall asleep, I have a lucid dream and I have to die to wake up. In the latter case, it would be embarrassing if he got it wrong, but there was no time to experiment with it right away. It was a very bleak situation when I thought about my mental strength, which was being eroded without notice as time passed.
And other information….
“I need a little more experience.”
To find out the identity of this dream that did not even appear in the novel.
Lee Jae-heon unconsciously limped, but soon realized that the pain was not that great and changed to walking normally.
In front of him was the green algae lake that had drowned him last time. Lee Jae-heon sighed as he looked at the green algae lake, whose surface was so full of green algae that he could not see the inside at all.
Although it was already our third meeting, it was something that made me sigh spontaneously. If I had to express it, I would say it felt like seeing mint chocolate whipped cream on top of Ssanghwa tea. He even wondered how he got to this point when he had to go inside and drown. Where are the wealth and glory that I had built so generously in my past life?
Recalling the end of his relatively peaceful life, Jaeheon Lee approached the lake.
“….”
…To be honest, he didn’t like water.
Now that he’s been honest, to be even more honest, Lee Jae-heon was afraid of water. I hate angular darkness. I hate buildings where you can’t see the outside. I hate it even more when my ankles are tied, and it goes without saying if someone threatens my life and peace.
But since he was an adult, there were many things he could do.
“…Whew.”
Clap.
Green algae surrounds my feet as they touch the lake. It felt heavy, almost like shackles.
“….”
Feet.
Next is the ankle bone.
Ankle Calf Thigh.
And by the time the solar plexus was submerged in the lake, nothing could touch the bottom of the shoe.
You can feel that big empty hole even without seeing it, and immediately it becomes submerged as if you are being sucked in.
Splash – Jae
-heon Lee took in the inside of the lake as he slowly calmed down his body, which had no intention of floating, contrary to reality, and opened his eyes that were closing in on the thick current.
A bright red hole with shades of orange and black was staring at him.
“….”
I’m out of breath.
The body pointed endlessly downward as if it had thick rocks attached to its feet, and when I took my gaze away from the sinkhole-like hole and looked to the side, what I saw were none other than pieces of marble.
‘…an old castle.’
It resembled an old castle that sometimes appears in Western fantasy movies. Is it the same as Atlantis, which is said to be an age-old legend under the sea? That said, it was extremely dark red and covered in green algae and moss, which was bizarre.
So, if the long castle had been turned upside down, would it have looked like this? So how can we explain this emptiness that is empty at the center?
There wasn’t a single fish here, no seaweed growing like the sea, and it wasn’t a blue world that sparkled in the light or swayed with the texture. It was full of a strange fishy smell, as if it had been made by mixing the blood of everyone living on Earth with molten glass.
It eats away at your nose and mouth, eats your ears, and eats away at your throat, stomach, and lungs. At that point, one’s mind tends to become blurry, but seeing as he was clear up to this point, I was able to see Lee Jae-heon’s mental state.
And the hands wrapping around my neck and waist.
“…!”
Kuruk.
Every remaining air bubble was expelled.
As I was out of breath for a while, my vision naturally began to blink.
I tried to trace it with my hand to see if it was a vine in the park, but no. No matter how insane he was, this was clearly the hand of a human being. It wasn’t as hard as the mannequin’s.
‘what?’
why? who? why?
Feeling unfamiliar fear and shallow panic, Lee Jae-heon tried to take deep breaths as a habit, but of course it had the opposite effect as he was drowning. Without even thinking about how his actions would be revealed in real life, he pulled his hand down as if squeezing his neck.
The moment he managed to turn around, a faint figure appeared between his eyes.
“….”
That’s an incredibly familiar face.
A friendly auditory hallucination rang in my ears.
* * *
“…cough. “Kek!”
To conclude, Jaeheon Lee failed to drown.
“You bastard…!”
It was because the green algae monster saved him. He still hadn’t woken up from his dream.
I was wondering where on earth that fat monster bastard went when he left my house, but I didn’t know it would turn out to be such a curveball. I never even thought it would hit me in the back of the head, really.
No, aside from being upset about not being able to die, it was so absurd.
‘Why did that thing save my life?’
How many times have you killed me so far?
Of course, I only killed him once in real life, but didn’t I already have a record of killing Lee Jae-heon in my dreams? The difference between the inside and outside of the dream was simply absurd.
Even though it was a dream, Jaeheon Lee was horrified by the vivid sensations and vomited up water from the lake. When I went inside and looked at it, it was quite transparent, but when I went in and came out, it turned into an opaque red with orange and black tints, like any other blood clot.
It was only after a while that Jaeheon Lee was able to stand upright and look at the other person.
“…what the heck.”
“….”
“What the hell?”
Of course, the green algae monster did not respond.
‘…Of course it’s because I don’t have a mouth…!’
I had a headache.
It roughly looked like a person with limbs on a head wrapped in moss-like green algae, but in the end, it was a monster. While there were mannequin monsters with elaborate shapes that closely resembled specific individuals, the shape of the green algae monster was not that surprising.
Therefore, the most urgent thing that Lee Jae-heon thought about in his panicked brain was not the failed drowning or the reason why the monster saved his life.
“Why do people’s arms…”
My pounding heart deafened my ears.
I felt like throwing up.
A heart that beats unpleasantly, a bitter gut. I was so out of it that I wanted to spit out my worn-out esophagus and the cochlea deep inside my ear. The sound of thumping along with the fast beat consumes the entire body.
What Jaeheon Lee saw in the green algae monster in front of him at the lake was its shape.
“…Why…” Because
he resembles someone who should never be here.
“….”
It was clearly a human arm wrapped around my body in the lake.
It’s long and thin, and the bones are very thin. An arm so soft that Jaeheon Lee could break it into several pieces if he wanted to.
Lee Jae-heon got goosebumps at the feel of that soft skin. In fact, it was still like that.
So it’s like…
“…Hmm.”
is not it?
‘I saw it wrong… Was it?’
okay.
I was a bit surprised.
It seems like it was a hallucination that everyone experiences right before they die.
“…I’m so fucking surprised.”
The noise that was ringing in my brain gradually subsided.
I felt like I was witnessing a sudden explosion in a horror movie that I had seen in a movie theater sometime in my life. The feeling of suffocation and anxiety was so unpleasant that Lee Jae-heon pressed his heart, which gradually calmed down, with one hand.
At about that time, another question occurred to me.
‘Why did he save me?’
Not even trying to kill him again. No.
Rather…
“….”
“….”
Jaeheon Lee approached the green algae monster.
It was a slow approach, as if it was not trying to run or attack, but was outright trying to grab my head. Even if you take a 10-year-old child and try to stop it, you can do it.
However, it only moved its head along Lee Jae-heon in what seemed to be the front of his face and did not attack or extend its vines in any way. It did not shed any toothy vines or open its mouth. No matter how you look at it, the aggression seemed to have been almost neutered.
But when I tried to pass by that monster and go towards the lake, I thought,
“….”
“…What?”
block it
I tried to strangle him just in case.
“….”
“What the fuck?”
block it
‘What are we going to do?’
For a moment, my head felt dizzy.
Lee Jae-heon saw a green algae monster that was much taller than an average adult man, grabbing both of his wrists with its broad hands. I didn’t squeeze it so hard that I thought it would break, but it was just as painful as the pain felt when a habitual thief is subdued by the police and his wrists are handcuffed.
When I tried to get out of there, they wouldn’t let me go. Even when I move my legs, my heavy body doesn’t shake, and even though I kicked it with all my might several times out of fear that it would kill me if I provoked it, there was no reaction at all. It made me wonder if he might have died standing like this. At that point, even Lee Jae-heon, who had been bullied by the monster in front of him, couldn’t tell what the situation was.
He could not hide his bewilderment at the absurdity that was more intense than the monster’s instinctive discomfort.
No, wow. I really don’t think so.
“…Let go of this, you bastard…!”
I wonder if this is crazy and is preventing me from escaping this world.
If you’re not going to take responsibility for my current life, then please get out of here, you bastard.
* * *
Three days passed like that.
