Chapter 268: Ch 268: What situation am I in?
What situation am I in.
My head, where dull pain and sharp pain alternate, wobbles without
immediately understanding the current surroundings.
Only the swaying scenery around me comes into blurry view.
Colorful bulb lights, yellow tactile paving tiles on the floor, exit number
signs, gray...
Stairs.
"Huuff."
In that moment, I realized it.
Go Yeongeun-ssi was desperately running down the stairs with me on her
back. A hand missing several fingers was gripping my arm as it swung over
her shoulder.
I barely opened my dry mouth.
"...Ms. Go, ral."
"...!"
Startled by my voice, she nearly missed a step and stumbled, but she
managed to regain her pace and continued running down the stairs.
All the way to the platform.
"..."
It must be heavy.
Go Yeongeun-ssi... her body isn’t even intact, so how is she carrying me
like this. I can’t tell what’s going on. I only feel the urgency of escape. I
can’t keep being carried. It must be heavy, and now that I’m conscious, I
should move on my own. I tried to tense my body and stretch my legs down
to the floor...
...
They’re gone.
Below my thighs, there’s nothing.
My left leg is missing the thigh entirely, and my right leg has been severed
from the joint down.
There are traces of bleeding that burst out, then strangely stopped.
’...The casino.’
In an instant, the memories from just before came flooding back as if my
head were about to burst.
The Casino of Corporeity, the VIP room, Russian roulette, Assistant
Manager Lee Seonghae, the chilling sensation of tearing her head off, the
body parts stolen from the rail, the euthanasia drug, the struggle, my hands
covering her nose and mouth...
Acts that caused massive damage to the casino’s assets.
’Were my legs... charged as costs?’
Given the circumstances, it seemed like a somewhat reasonable guess, even
if it was strange that losing just my legs could possibly cover damage that
severe.
But more than that.
’Why didn’t I die?’
I shot myself in the head with a revolver. So why am I still here. Why am I
conscious.
And...
Is Go Yeongeun-ssi trying to save me right now?
"Th...is place—"
"Shh."
After running down to the subway platform as if she might fall at any
moment, Go Yeongeun-ssi immediately sprinted toward the wall opposite
the screen doors.
Then she opened a fire hose cabinet.
"...!"
"Hurry...!"
The fire hose cabinet, which normally barely has enough space to cram in
the hose, was strangely quite spacious inside.
Enough for one person to lie down, and cramped but sufficient for two to
hide their bodies.
Go Yeongeun-ssi hurriedly but carefully pushed me into that darkness, then
climbed in herself.
Clang.
She closed the cabinet door. With the sound of metal striking metal, the
door shut lightly, and darkness fell.
All that was visible were faint bulb lights seeping in through the cracks, and
a red emergency light.
"..."
"..."
"I-I’m okay, huff, casino dealers don’t chase people outside, so if we just
avoid the addicts..."
She couldn’t finish the sentence and had to catch her breath again. Even so,
she leaned toward me as if trying to check my condition.
As I reflexively twitched my hand, wanting to pat her back.
"Aagh..."
Another light source appeared in the darkness.
A pale green glow.
Something at Go Yeongeun-ssi’s waist was emitting a very faint light. She
didn’t seem to notice due to the angle, but I knew exactly what it was.
’A Daydream C-grade regeneration potion.’
...
Something clicked.
Using the darkness as cover, I took the regeneration potion out of the pocket
of Go Yeongeun-ssi’s worn padded jacket and hid it in my own pocket.
Meanwhile, Go Yeongeun-ssi was finally calming her breathing.
"Ms. Goral."
"Huu, yes?"
"Did you save me? From the casino..."
"..."
"What happened?"
"I don’t really know. It just looked like the dealers were heading to the VIP
room, and when I looked inside, everyone was dead, and only you, Mr. Roe
Deer, were still breathing..."
So she carried me out and ran.
...She probably had help from some item or equipment too.
After spending half a year in Sekwang City, she must have prepared various
measures to survive...
"But still, I was a bit late... when I carried you out, your legs—"
"Don’t worry about that. ...Thank you."
The fact that I hadn’t died instantly was the worst possible outcome.
’...If it hadn’t been for Go Yeongeun-ssi’s help.’
Instead of Assistant Manager Lee Seonghae, I would have been completely
dismantled in the casino and turned into a dealer. Like some kind of baton
pass.
A chill ran down my spine.
"And since I didn’t have legs... I guess I was lighter."
"..."
"What a relief, right?"
"A relief?"
Go Yeongeun-ssi looked like she was about to burst out with curses, but she
swallowed them. I don’t know if she was worried about drawing attention
from outside, or if she simply didn’t have the energy...
My head is spinning, and I can feel the brief clarity I had coming back is
slowly dulling again...
I noticed that my head still hurts.
When I raise my hand to touch it, I can tell there’s a wound.
My skull... Whether it actually got pierced, I can’t confirm at all.
What’s certain is that I was shot.
’...Was there a problem with the firing.’
Or maybe the bullet happened to hit my brain in a way that made instant
death impossible, so I’m still alive.
They say the brain can’t feel pain, so I don’t even know how horrific my
condition really is.
And as Go Yeongeun-ssi watched me grope at my head, her shoulders jolted
as if she realized something, and she sat up.
"Ah!"
Then she started rummaging through her pockets.
"The potion, the one the section chief gave me...!"
"..."
Of course.
I knew she’d try to use it on me.
"Quickly, hurry..."
The regeneration potion.
I had secretly taken it into my own pocket. Go Yeongeun-ssi’s hands were
trembling as she searched her pockets for the one she’d received from
Section Chief Lee Jaheon.
...Guilt and heaviness seemed to seep through my body.
But I have no intention of giving it back right now.
Using it would only make the guilt worse.
"...It’s okay. I think the bullet just grazed me."
"W-What are you saying..."
"I mean... the lost body parts, cough, we can get those later... at the
casino."
"..."
"And if we can find the potion later, it’d be better if you take it, Ms. Goral.
It’ll be more... effective."
I just hope it’s too dark for her to properly see what I look like.
"My head wound... might’ve been a misfire, and for now... I’m getting
better."
That’s not true.
I’m probably going to die soon.
But using it on me here would be a complete waste. It has to be used by Go
Yeongeun-ssi.
"...We just need to get on the train. Once we get on the train, we’ll return to
our original state. Then we can take our time and retrieve things, and deal
with it..."
"Yes."
I probably won’t last until then.
But I nodded calmly. Go Yeongeun-ssi looked anxious, but she couldn’t
bring herself to fully open the fire hose cabinet and look at me under the
outside light.
Instead, she kept repeating it, as if trying to reassure both me and herself.
"Don’t worry. These fire hose cabinets... once those people are addicted,
they weirdly never try opening them..."
"I see..."
Fighting the dizziness, I gathered my words.
To divert Yeongeun-ssi’s attention.
"Is that also something you heard as a rumor?"
And... it was something I’d wanted to ask anyway.
"Ms. Goral, what exactly happened to you?"
"..."
Like before, Go Yeongeun-ssi didn’t answer for a while.
Then she suddenly started speaking.
"Do you remember? When I said I dropped out of med school."
"..."
"It was kind of a stretch from the start. I lived in the countryside, and my
family wasn’t well off. Tuition, living expenses, and after failing to get into
the dorms, paying rent... it was all a burden."
Her voice sounded disorganized, yet calm.
"Even with student loans, juggling part time work had its limits. Once you
get started with major subjects, it’s basically impossible..."
"..."
"And there were some things going on in the department too."
...
"But then, of all times, that’s when it happened. When my relationship with
my parents completely broke down."
Ah.
"We fought, and we completely lost contact."
She slightly hunched her shoulders.
"From then on, all support was cut off, and I guess I kind of lost my sense
of purpose too. So I naturally changed majors. I was a bit... burned out."
I listened silently.
"It’s nothing special, right? But..."
Her voice grew even smaller.
"It’s funny, but that’s why."
"...Why what?"
"Why I joined the company."
"..."
"I didn’t know how to reconnect with my family."
That wasn’t just about wanting to track down relatives through something
like a private investigator.
"I want to be on good terms again, but... I keep getting blocked right from
the start."
"..."
"If it grants any wish at all, I thought maybe I could wish for something like
that too."
And I know.
Go Yeongeun-ssi knows how to use a Wish Ticket ’properly’.
She figured out a way to fulfill Jang Heowoon-ssi’s wish by proxy, so the
same would apply to her own.
"When you handed the Wish Tickets to me... I thought about it."
Her voice sinks.
"I didn’t want to go to another world where my wish was already fulfilled. I
didn’t want to wake up and find that I never went to med school, or that I
became a doctor and was living with my family. So..."
So.
"I made this kind of wish."
"Give me a supernatural ability to gather information about my family."
...!!
"If I could get in touch with them through that, I thought I could understand
the situation and try to reconcile."
A wish asking for a specific ability for herself.
’It’s not excessive.’
Go Yeongeun-ssi calculated a wish that applied only to her personally, to a
frighteningly precise degree.
’Under normal circumstances, this should’ve worked. No matter what.’
But.
"When I made the wish and opened my eyes..."
...
"I woke up here."
In this bizarre subway station.
Beneath Sekwang Special Metropolitan City.
"And the moment I woke up, I realized something. I felt a kind of... doubt."
"Where did I live again?"
"Isn’t that strange? Who even introduces themselves as being from the
countryside without naming the region. You usually know exactly where
you’re from. But I’d never even had that question. And with my family
too..."
She gulps.
"I couldn’t remember why we stopped contacting each other."
A chill runs through me.
"It’s just this vague feeling of ’we fell out irreparably and cut off contact’.
And this formless resignation and aversion, like I’ll never be able to contact
them again..."
At that moment, I understood.
"What do you think this is?"
Go Yeongeun-ssi was originally from Sekwang City.
When the annihilation-sanctioned supernatural disaster occurred and the
area was sealed, while living on her own in Seoul, she alone was left
stranded in reality.
And the Wish Ticket created an environment where her wish, ’the ability to
hear news of her family’, could manifest.
By pushing her inside the sealed zone.
And.
"I gained a strange ability to perceive rumors circulating in the area."
And her family members were all...
"But then, but then I’ve never heard any news about my family."
...
"Maybe that’s only natural. This is inside a ghost story, right? In a place like
this, how would I even find news about my family. T-That’s how it is,
right...?"
"..."
"I thought the Wish Ticket didn’t work. Or that Director Ho scammed me.
That has to be it, right?"
Even if I couldn’t truly agree, I wanted to say yes.
I tried to.
"...Mr. Roe Deer?"
But no words came out.
"Mr. Roe Deer!"
I slumped against the fire hose cabinet wall.
There’s no strength in my limbs. Like something’s gone wrong with my
nervous system...
’Is this the end.’
It’s ending now.
Then...
The train is approaching.
"Can you hear it?"
I think Go Yeongeun-ssi is grabbing my shoulder.
She’s shaking.
"The train! The train’s coming in. That’s the one we need to take. This one,
this one is my shelter. We just need to get there, please..."
It’s getting harder and harder to respond.
Passengers are requested to board safely and observe proper etiquette.
Light pours in. It seems the fire hose cabinet has been opened.
I feel Go Yeongeun-ssi trying to drag me out.
"That train. G1572. If we just get on that one, just that one..."
Outside the cabinet, it seems like she’s trying to carry me again.
But I did everything I could to stop her.
"...Mr. Roe Deer?"
There’s no strength in my hand, so it barely means anything. I only manage
to rest my hand weakly on her arm.
I try to speak with my lips.
’Don’t worry.’
"What..."
’I’ll be back again.’
At the end, even my mouth doesn’t move anymore.
"Mr. Roe Deer, Mr. Roe—"
Along with the thunderous roar of the arriving train.
I died.
* * *
I opened my eyes.
"You’re awake, Roe Deer-nim!"
Ho Yoowon’s voice.
"Everyone was about ready to kill me because you wouldn’t wake up. It
was terrifying. How am I supposed to know Roe Deer-nim’s personal
circumstances..."
Plague-stricken eyes looking down at me.
"But I am curious."
His lips curve into a smile.
"You rescued the person you came to rescue, but don’t you still have
lingering attachments to Sekwang Special Metropolitan City?"
...
"Have you found a reason to go back in?"
Fuck.