Chapter 245: Ch 245: Want to give up?
Author’s note:
※ CAUTION ※
*This Chapter deals with the subject of suicide.
The corpse’s bluish, swollen-looking feet hung right above my head.
Though the body was clearly desiccated, the feet were strangely puffy, as if
swollen.
Sway.
It brushed against my cheek.
"..."
"Roe?"
"Yes."
I’m going insane.
Every nerve in my body wanted to curl up and shut down, but I couldn’t
bring myself to close my eyes.
’If anyone here dared to say they couldn’t handle this and started crying, I’d
almost admire them...’
No one—absolutely no one—looked scared. Everyone else was calm and
collected. Could I really be the only one losing my marbles here?
’It’s not like this is my first day exploring Darkness!’
And this is an annihilation-sanctioned Disaster, for god’s sake.
’I’ve got to pull my weight somehow... anything...!’
"Allow me to check."
Resisting the urge to cling to their pants and beg them to count me as a tag-
along deadweight if I offered up my wiki information as a bribe, I clenched
my teeth and reached out my hand.
I examined the corpse that had bumped into my head (wahh please, please).
The fact that I have to touch this is enough to make me faint, and just
remembering how I once sat calmly right next to a corpse with its eyes
gouged out back when I was 130666 makes me feel even closer to passing
out... but my mind still keeps working.
’...Cold.’
At least touching it didn’t trigger any malignant contagion, suicidal
impulses, or hallucinations.
"Just a corpse, huh."
"...Yes."
But there were far too many.
I saw a flicker of frustration cross Agent Choi’s face as he tried peering
through the fog.
"No good. The amulet’s completely ineffective, too. But... one thing’s
clear."
"..."
"You can’t see the end of it with the naked eye. ...These trees with bodies
hanging from them."
The dead spared no category. Men and women, young and old.
Countless people filled this forest...
Fear and quiet grief settled over our group.
"Think they’re real corpsess?"
"There’s a chance it’s all staged... but if this city truly suffered a Disaster,
it’s probable that they’re real."
"Our Bronze here is way too blunt with the civilian."
"It’s finee. What can we do? They’re already dead. We’ll just try not to end
up like that!"
I swallowed down nausea from the sheer scale and forced myself to move.
Most of the bodies’ clothes were dust-caked, as if years had passed.
’Any useful info...’
"Could we check their hands first? If they’re real corpses, there might be
clues about how they died."
"Already looking, Grapes. Hup."
Soon, we found something.
The hand of a corpse in a plaid shirt, glasses still perched crookedly.
"...It’s smudged, but there’s writing."
Words scrawled in pen across the palm.
NNoo oonnee iiss ccoommiinngg ttoo ssaavvee uuss
SSeevveenn tthhoouussaanndd aabbaannddoonneedd
WWee wwaanntt ttoo rruunn
BBuutt tthheerree
’’ss nnoo wwaayy oouutt
SSoo wwee wwiillll bbeeccoommee ttrreeeess iinnsstteeaadd
"..."
The dried pen strokes alone conjured the scene.
’...They realized rescue wasn’t coming.’
Phones dead, food gone, thousands trapped in the collapsed station.
Outside, some unspeakable catastrophe raging, making escape impossible.
No hope that anyone would come.
And so...
"Mm. Still, they chose a pretty quiet way, didn’t theyy. Instead of killing
and being killed, they all just died together, rightt?"
"They might’ve been influenced by the Darkness. Or the strangeness itself
could’ve been the seed for the Darkness."
"Aha."
The Daydream employee’s level tone contrasted sharply with the stiffer
expressions of the Disaster Management Bureau’s agents.
But, like veterans, their composure returned quickly.
"...Now that we know what kind of Disaster hit, let’s try to find the
information board."
"Yes."
After a moment’s debate, we decided not to disturb the hanging corpses
unnecessarily and moved on.
Seventeen minutes passed by my phone’s clock.
"Found it."
An information board emerged at last.
It was a typical public-institution information board. Neat blue letters set
between black and yellow borders, appearing damp with the moisture of the
fog...
The rules of this ghost story.
Sekwang Station (Forest of Final Moments) Etiquette
1- Please do not break any branches
2- If you stand too close to the screen doors, you will see strange things.
3- If you run near the ticket gates, an exit will appear.
4- Please do not get separated from your group
5- Please do not hang yourself from the trees
6- Those who cause a disturbance in the station are inside the fog.
7- The ■■-bound train no longer stops here.
"Hm. Quite spooky. Don’t you think so, Sir Highborn Geezer?"
"Geezer... Huu. Yes. A typical manual for a supernatural phenomenon."
Listening to the others, I started deducing the logic of these rules...
"It seems we can classify them by tone."
If you check whether or not each sentence ends with a period, a pattern
emerges.
"It can be divided into the forest and the subway station."
And the station side reads like instructions or signage, while the forest side
reads like direct prohibitions.
"Hm. Maybe there used to be an actual forest outside, and it fused with the
stationn?"
"Or the fact that a ’nearby forest’ affected this station’s identity. Darkness is
shaped by human perception, after all."
While saying this, Assistant Manager Eun Haje tapped the information
board lightly.
Thunk— A corpse that had been hanging behind the board slid down and
stopped right in front of my face.
"...!"
I nearly swore.
"Aigoo, Grapes must be really scared?"
But Assistant Manager Eun Haje snorted.
"Come on, Sir Highborn Civil Servant. You think Roe would be scared of
something like this? This punk’s been on a talk show where they literally
grind people up. Right?"
"..."
Ha.
I forced a faint smile at the assistant manager.
"Of course. ...It’s just a persona I built while infiltrating the Disaster
Management Bureau."
"Ohh, you little rascal. Still good at your job, huh."
"Thank you."
If only that were true...
Honestly, I want to confess the truth even now... But no, look at the mood
here.
Four hardened veterans inside an annihilation-sanctioned Disaster.
’If I said I’m scared now, it’d feel like trying to freeload off the group
project...’
Ha.
And meanwhile, someone is throwing a fit just because his talk show got
mentioned...
[Heavens. You dare speak of this Braun’s Late-Night Talk Show in such a
crude manner? Goodness, even if the public craves cheap thrills, this is too
far!]
[Still, though I can’t fathom why someone as sensitive as you, Mr. Roe
Deer, would keep company with such a person, I will respect your
judgment. Friend.]
Right, thanks... Somehow, I’m a little less scared now.
I glanced at Agent Choi.
He gave me a small, playful grin.
"Oh~ so Grapes is actually a cool-headed, fearless guy, huh?"
"..."
No, nobody ever said it’s up to that extent...!
"Gotcha. Okay. From now on Grapes is—"
He broke off mid-sentence and snapped his head around. Why—
"Get down."
I reflexively pushed down the shoulder of the person next to me and
dropped my head.
Fwick.
Something.
A taut twang and a weird brushing sensation grazed just above me. I silently
pressed flat against the floor, listening hard.
...
...
Then I noticed.
The shoulder I’d been pushing down was gone.
"..."
When I lifted my head.
I was alone.
Trees and fog.
Escalators and station signs.
Surrounded by a forest of countless hanged corpses, I was the only one
standing there.
’Ah.’
I didn’t scream. I didn’t call for anyone like an idiot.
I just stiffened up, then forced myself to move.
One step.
Two steps.
My pace quickened, fear fueling my urgency to find the others.
But even as I hurried, I thought, I’m not stupid. This is a supernatural zone.
I fixed my direction using one corpse as a marker so I wouldn’t get lost,
careful not to stray too far, turning my head...
Something caught my eye.
Something long.
Something jutting from a tree and hanging still.
"..."
I stepped closer, slowly.
A worn, tightly twisted brown rope, shaped into a loop to slip over
something.
A noose.
Dangling at perfect head height, extending from a thick branch above,
swaying right in front of me.
"...!"
I slowly stepped back.
The noose that had been hanging in the air faded, little by little, into the fog
and out of sight. I had no time to sigh in relief. I turned my head again and
forced my feet to move.
This time, something took shape as a silhouette in the mist. Hoping it might
be someone else, I hurried toward it, but what was there was...
Another noose.
"..."
Somehow.
The number of hanged corpses on the trees around me seemed to have
increased.
Or maybe I could just see them better now.
Corpses in shirts, tracksuits, dresses, suits, blouses, jumpers, people of
every kind, swaying as black silhouettes deeper in the fog where my sight
reached.
Sounds drifted in.
News reports.
– Another body has been discovered in the ■■■ Forest of Sekwang Special
Metropolitan City. The deceased, identified as Mr. Shin, 30s, is presumed to
have taken his own life due to personal despair...
I kept walking. I couldn’t bring myself to go between the corpses, so I tried
to head where there seemed to be fewer. And again, there it was...
A noose.
As if it had been prepared just for someone now alone.
– The ■■■ Forest, notorious as a so-called ’suicide hotspot’, is located in
Sekwang Special Metropolitan City. Photographs of bodies found hanging
from trees have circulated on social media, further fueling public
controversy...
– Experts have voiced concern over the negative impact of such exposure,
warning that it may encourage copycat behavior among citizens. Like this.
"..."
– Don’t you want to give up too?
Then it hit me.
’How did so many people even manage to hang themselves?’
Even if one wants to die, it takes preparation. For seven thousand people to
hang themselves, there would need to be enough rope, cord, something to
hold human weight.
So what if...
’This forest was already filled with hanging ropes from the start.’
– Don’t you want to give up too?
What if the forest itself provided the nooses?
For the sake of a quiet death.
This place was prepared for seven thousand people to hang themselves.
Because that’s how it existed in people’s minds.
"..."
Even if I turn and run, I keep coming back.
Those loops of rope.
[Oh, an inevitable progression.]
[It’s calling you toward the ending, Mr. Roe Deer. Rather like a black box
with arms outstretched, isn’t it?]
Of all the comparisons to make...!
I clenched my teeth. Don’t think about it. Don’t remember the state I was in
back then, what I became after...
More importantly.
’How did I deal with this before?’
I have to remember.
I’ve survived and broken through ghost stories even without being in the
state of 130666. I can still do something as a normal human being.
’Even if this is inside an annihilation-sanctioned Disaster, and that was the
outside world.’
This place’s phenomena might still have a way through.
Stay calm. Stay ca—
– Don’t you want to give up too?
Don’t touch the nooses.
’Damn it.’
I grabbed hold of my own strangely rising hands, stared at the ground to
avoid seeing the corpses above, and thought.
So, this place...
"..."
Right.
– It can be divided into the forest and the subway station.
’The subway structures haven’t changed.’
The information board, the walls. They’re the same.
It’s just that there are too many trees, the fog is thicker, the nooses keep
appearing, turning it into a maze-like forest.
Then I know one clear symbol of where fog and trees don’t reach.
Stairs.
’The platform...!’
I sprinted past the nooses.
Rummaging through my memory, I pieced together the layout of subway
fixtures to find the stairs.
Lighted ceiling, mirrors, information boards, escalators, tactile paving, fire
hydrants...
And then.
’Found it.’
I bolted down the stairs.
At that moment.
"Roe."
My shoulder was seized, and I realized I was standing at the very end of the
platform stairs.
Assistant Manager Eun Haje’s face, slick with cold sweat.
And the others had just escaped to the stairs, too, panting hard.
Their hands were holding all kinds of tools and items.
’So everyone got out using their items...’
What a relief.
I let out a long breath and tried to secretly wipe the cold sweat beading on
my forehead... then suddenly realized my hand felt heavier than it should.
There was a corpse in my grip.
"...!!"
Earlier, what I had thought was someone’s shoulder when I flung my hand
down... had been a hanged corpse.
’Fuck.’
And I had probably been staring all this time at the empty noose left behind
when that corpse disappeared.
’Ha...’
The moment I realized it, goosebumps swept across my whole body.
I couldn’t bring myself to throw it, so with trembling hands I managed to
lower it to the ground.
On the clean platform floor, the bloated, desiccated bluish corpse thudded
down.
The lingering feel of it made the hair on the back of my neck bristle.
"Are you alright?"
Agent Bronze hurried over and scanned me with whatever equipment still
worked, quickly checking for any sign of being ’possessed’. When none
showed, he let out a small sigh of relief and stepped back.
"The fog suddenly thickened so we couldn’t see anyone at all. We had to
find the stairs back just by following each other’s voices. Meanwhile, our
items kept cutting out, gave us a hard time. But..."
When everyone regrouped at the stairs, I hadn’t been there.
"Those guys were just saying we might have to go back out and search for
you. Lucky you made it back yourself."
Thank you...
I was grateful I’d managed to find the stairs and return before it was too
late.
"Seeing we all made it back alive, I get now why the company likes to hire
experienced people, huh."
"Haha..."
A weak laugh passed between us.
"At least now we know one thing. Staying too long in that forest makes the
fog thicker, and the hanged corpses can lure you, rightt?"
"It seems that way, yes."
I gave a full account of the empty nooses I’d seen.
Everyone went quiet.
"This is why I hate exploring without a manual. Everything’s a landmine."
"It’s a bit of a hassle, yess!"
"Hey, you government agents, got any way to deal with this? Feels spooky,
like ghosts or vengeful spirits, that sort of classic ghost-story danger."
"Oh, good guess. In that foggy forest I definitely felt something foul... in
technical terms, malevolent. We usually call that sagi, evil energy."
Agent Choi rubbed his chin.
"But I can’t tell if it’s from the forest itself or just from so many people
dying there."
"Oh, if you could pin it down, could you purify the place?"
The agent and I exchanged a look.
"...In theory, yes."
Agent Choi wiped sweat and gave a strained grin.
"If we have the right supplies."
But the truth was...
"Right now Bronze only has... what, three rounds left? Right?"
"...Yes. And they’re all for large spirits, not for an area-wide supernatural
phenomenon such as this. Besides,"
Agent Bronze pressed his furrowed brow.
"Either way, we’d need to borrow the power of a cooperating supernatural
being tied to the Disaster Management Bureau."
Exactly.
We’d need the aid of something sacred or powerful, like the Tiger General
or the Elder. But here in Sekwang Special City, any equipment or items that
draw power from outside sources seem to be rendered useless.
In short, we’re cornered and terrified.
’Unbelievable...’
And right then another realization hit me.
...Thirst.
’I’m thirsty.’
The others probably felt the same by now.
But with no water and no food, how long could we really hold out here?
’...Huu.’
Still, I forced myself to feel grateful—grateful that no one had died yet,
grateful we had a platform to retreat to.
’First, we should probably deal with that corpse somehow...’
I was just opening my mouth to say so when—
♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪
"...!!"
I whipped my head around.
Sound was coming from the platform speakers.
I’d never heard the melody before, but I instantly recognized its purpose.
It’s...
"...A subway chime?"
The train is approaching.
Whoosh.
If there’d been no platform screen doors, the gust would have slammed into
us.
From the far end of the tracks, a train came hurtling in at terrifying speed,
its headlights sweeping across the glass and the platform before it thundered
past in an instant.
An announcement followed.
Due to the absence of passengers, this train will pass through our station
without stopping...
"..."
"..."
The roar faded as the train disappeared into the darkness. We all stared
through the screen doors at its vanishing lights...
And then.
"People."
I met the eyes of the others.
"There were people on that train."
"...!"
And just like that, a new option appeared.
—Follow the tracks and pursue the train.