Episode 347
While Kang Min-ah went to the garden to tell the survivors about the current situation.
“Hey, Mr. Lee Jae-heon…?”
“I am here.”
“ah.”
Kim Yeon-woo was out of her mind.
“Dead, dead… thank goodness there are no people.”
The proof was that she kept holding Jaeheon Lee’s hand and yet she kept looking for him.
Of course, she was brave enough to volunteer and continue to explore the surroundings, but even considering that, this was such a sudden and disconcerting event. She had searched the same place several times before, but this situation had never happened before.
“under….”
Besides, aren’t humans beings who live with their feet on the ground? The fact that the seemingly sturdy floor suddenly collapsed was a surprising event even for Kim Yeon-woo, who had a strong spirit.
“No, it’s surprising that he didn’t die even after falling from that height.”
“It’s definitely tall.”
“I think this is easily comparable to the many sinkholes that have appeared in the news. Sinkholes of this size are not common even overseas.”
Kim Yeon-woo, who was still talking nonsense as if she hadn’t come to her senses yet, looked up with an embarrassed expression.
“Falling from this height….”
It was impossible to tell exactly how high they were because the entrance to the hole that had caught them was blocked right after they fell, but thanks to the light sources floating in the air here and there, they could roughly estimate their height.
“Even if I can’t do it, I can still make it as high as a 15-story apartment building.”
“Oh, I see you had similar thoughts to me.”
Lee Jae-heon reacted to Kim Yeon-woo’s words.
“Coincidentally, this apartment complex consists of a total of 15 floors.”
“…ah?”
“The number of floors increases as you go towards the back of the building, and the highest floor is probably the 17th floor. As you probably know, Mr. Kim Yeon-woo, most buildings are 15 stories.”
“… I remembered.”
Kim Yeon-woo nodded and examined the sinkhole.
“And when I think about it that way, it makes me feel a little uneasy. Why would it be a sinkhole as deep as an apartment building?”
“Even now the hole is blocked.”
“Since only the entrance is thinly blocked, can’t the survivors outside dig the entrance?”
“It looks thin when we look at it from afar, but we don’t know if it’s thin when we look at it up close. If it gets blocked on its own, it means there’s a system that automatically recovers… Even if you try hard, it could get blocked again.”
“Even if we were to open the entrance again, getting up there would be a problem.”
The sinkhole’s walls were as rough as a rocky cliff. Lee Jae-heon or Kim Yeon-woo, who were physically fit, could easily climb up the walls, but even so, there was a limit. Kim Yeon-woo and Lee Jae-heon were not strong enough to climb up the 15th floor of an apartment building or higher.
“Besides, to think that simply….”
Kim Yeon-woo glanced at Lee Jae-heon.
“Is Mr. Lee Jae-heon still injured?”
“There’s nothing we can do about it, as it’s an injury that can’t be cured without returning to reality.”
“Even if the two of us were in the best condition, it’s okay because it’s impossible to get back up to where we fell. It doesn’t seem like there’s no other way.”
Kim Yeon-woo said, looking at the door next to the large empty lot where they had fallen.
“It looks like a trap to anyone, so it’s a bit unsettling.”
Compared to the sinkhole that was made up of nature itself, the clean and neat white wooden door gave off a strangely rough feeling. It was as if it was trying to look so neat and clean.
‘It’s just like a lanternfly tempting its prey.’
The deep-sea anglerfish uses the light source at the end of its tentacles to catch and eat fish that come running towards it. It was infuriating that they didn’t even try to hide the fact that the flashing light was a trap, but it was also true that things wouldn’t get better if they just stayed in the open space.
If the sinkhole walls were all dirt, he would have dug a new hole or made stairs to climb up, even if it meant tearing his hands. That’s how much the pure white door gave Kim Yeon-woo an inexplicable sense of rejection.
“Do we really have to go there?”
“Didn’t you just say that that could be a path too?”
“I’m sorry for not having a backbone. The more I look at it, the more it makes me feel bad, so I’ll stop….”
“…Is that all?”
“yes?”
Lee Jae-heon blinked slowly at Kim Yeon-woo’s question.
“I don’t feel that strange.”
“… Well then, um.”
Lee Jae-heon was an excellent veteran with a long history of surviving in the other world, and Kim Yeon-woo had no intention of taking his words lightly. Kim Yeon-woo, who had been fiddling with her lips with her fingers, opened her mouth.
“Men, women… police, civilians… .”
“Are you looking for the differences between us? That’s clever.”
As Lee Jae-heon said, Kim Yeon-woo was looking for the differences between herself and Lee Jae-heon. If the two of them fell into the same sinkhole and looked at the same door, but felt different things, then there must be something different among the conditions they had.
“Maybe it’s the difference in injuries. I have injuries on my stomach and legs, but you don’t.”
“It could be a matter of condition… I also got injured while falling, and if we’re going to be specific, it means that Lee Jae-heon’s mental strength isn’t all that great right now. What do you think?”
“… Then this can’t be it either. My mental strength… Of course I can’t say it’s good, but I don’t think it’s to the point where I can’t feel anything even when I see a door that clearly looks like a trap.”
“Actually, Mr. Lee Jae-heon’s claim is not that credible.”
“I’m not particularly sure about my condition, but I have to keep an open mind. If it’s not just that I can’t feel it, but that there’s something different between the two of us, then I could get into trouble later.”
“You are right.”
Kim Yeon-woo nodded.
“I’ll keep that in mind for now, because I’m not sure exactly what causes this difference.”
“There were too few clues.”
Lee Jae-heon looked around and said.
“Then how about taking a look around? It’s just an empty lot, but for what it is, it’s actually quite well-maintained.”
As Jaeheon Lee said, it was difficult to call this place a simple ’empty lot’.
“… Hmm… .”
Kim Yeon-woo also looked around following Lee Jae-heon.
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Ivy vines growing from the ground up, light sources resembling fireflies floating in the air, and rectangular windows regularly and densely placed on the walls.
“… … .”
“… The story we talked about earlier, that 15th floor, comes to mind.”
“It almost looks like the apartment is upside down.”
“I feel strangely uneasy.”
Kim Yeon-woo frowned without realizing it.
“But can you move? I bet you’ve felt some shock from the fall.”
I don’t know what the principle is, but even though they fell at the same speed as in reality, Lee Jae-heon and Kim Yeon-woo were alive and well. However, they did not suffer any major injuries, such as a broken neck or a broken limb, but both Lee Jae-heon and Kim Yeon-woo suffered basic injuries from falling.
“It smells like blood.”
Kim Yeon-woo continued speaking while looking at Lee Jae-heon’s abdomen covered with a black polarity.
“It looks like the wound has burst.”
“…maybe.”
“I learned basic first aid, but….”
“… … .”
“I think I need to get a refund first.”
“Yes, I will do it.”
Lee Jae-heon lifted his clothes with a tone that seemed to be swallowing a sigh. When I thought that the pitch-black clothes were somehow shiny, Kim Yeon-woo let out an exclamation after checking Lee Jae-heon’s abdomen with his clothes lifted.
“Isn’t the bleeding… a bit… severe?”
“It’s a wound that can’t be healed, so it’s impossible for it to stop bleeding. It just burst for a moment.”
“I think we need to block something.”
“I agree. Do you have any bandages… no, even cloths?”
“Just in case, I have received something from Professor Ha Seong-yoon in advance.”
As the person who had been conducting the most explorations recently, Kim Yeon-woo had already received a bandage from Ha Seong-yoon. He wanted to be careful as this was a world where traps that weren’t traps were sometimes dug.
Kim Yeon-woo said while looking at the refund.
“The wound is deep, so I think I’ll need to put a bandage inside….”
If it was a shallow wound, it might be okay, but if the affected area was deep, it wouldn’t be resolved by just putting a bandage on it or wrapping it on the outside. Just sticking the skin tissue on top of it wouldn’t make the blood gushing out from the inside disappear. Rather, there was a possibility that the accumulated blood would cause new problems, so measures had to be taken inside.
Of course, in such an unclean situation, and with a not-so-clean bandage, stopping the bleeding in that way raises concerns about the risk of infection by another pathogen… .
“…Can we trust Mr. Lee Jae-heon’s mental strength?”
As of now, there was no other way.
There is no other way than to believe in the other world where the mental power of the individual survivors is embodied and exerts a direct influence, and to believe in the mental power of Jae-heon Lee who can overcome the pain. The other world is a barren place where there is no other way.
“I haven’t gone back to reality and done nothing. I haven’t studied how to build a house like Vivian, but I have studied how to deal with some emergencies. I’m confident that I can stop the bleeding quickly.”
“You don’t have to make such a desperate offer.”
Lee Jae-heon said with a hollow laugh.
“I used to do this on my own often, so why would I complain about it now?”
“Wait a minute… You said you did it alone? Often??”
“… Anyway, it’s okay.”
“… … .”
“are you okay.”
Kim Yeon-woo, who had her expression of bewilderment erased, soon nodded with a sigh.
“…I’m sorry there’s nothing else I can do for you.”
Lee Jae-heon shrugged his shoulders without saying anything.
That’s why Kim Yeon-woo thought he was a really pitiful person.
* * *
Hong Kyung-jun came to a conclusion after hearing the story from Kang Min-ah.
“Let’s form a team.”
“Team?”
“Since two people have fallen behind, we’ll need a search team. The search team shouldn’t just go to the sinkhole, but a separate team that will head straight for the sinkhole. There should be a separate team that will check if there are any other triggers within the apartment complex.”
Hong Kyung-jun consoled the confused survivors and helped them understand and accept the situation.
“Currently, Mr. Lee Jae-heon and Officer Kim Yeon-woo have fallen into a sinkhole, and Vivian and Han Do-yoon have confirmed that they are alive. The hole that the stragglers fell into has been closed again, so… if we’re not going to dig the ground to find them, someone will have to go to the other sinkhole in the center and check.”
“Would you be able to find the two of you if you went to that sinkhole?”
Hong Kyung-jun nodded to Kim Ki-jung’s question.
“I think it’s the most likely. The fact that they survived without dying immediately despite falling into that deep of a hole means that the other world or the complex itself took some action, meaning they have no immediate plans to kill them. And the only terrain they can descend that deep into is the sinkhole in the center of the complex right now. If they were planning to use Lee Jae-heon and Officer Kim Yeon-woo as bait, they wouldn’t stop us from moving to the sinkhole in the complex itself. So we have no choice but to send an exploration team there, go down, and look for the stragglers who fell into the sinkhole near the security office.”
Hong Kyung-jun continued speaking, snapping his fingers.
“After looking around a few times, I confirmed that there is a spiral staircase attached to the side of the sinkhole. It may take some time to find it because its location changes frequently, but it shouldn’t be difficult to get down to the central sinkhole via the stairs. However, since it’s a space that hasn’t been properly searched yet, it would be good to leave a sign so that people don’t get lost… I think it would be good if the sinkhole that Officer Kim Yeon-woo and Mr. Lee Jae-heon fell into and the sinkhole in the center of the complex were connected.”
If Kim Yeon-woo had been by his side, she would have noticed that Hong Kyung-joon was quite anxious and would have calmed him down so that he wouldn’t act emotionally. However, the only people who were quick-witted by him were those who were busy taking care of their own lives, so it could be said to be Hong Kyung-joon’s misfortune.
Hong Kyung-jun, who had finished speaking like a machine gun, hesitated and continued.
“And, the feeling is… .”
“Come to think of it, I heard from Kim Yeon-woo that Hong Kyung-jun’s intuition is trustworthy. Is that really something I can trust?”
“… Please don’t believe it, but I would appreciate it if you just consider it as a possibility.”
Hong Kyung-jun, who had barely come to his senses, nodded.
“I think I should leave the garden for now.”
“Even though monsters don’t come in here?”
“The apartment complex that caught Officer Kim Yeon-woo and Mr. Lee Jae-heon is connected to this garden. The scarecrows’ behavior also seems to have changed a bit. It would be best to get out before something happens.”
“ah….”
At those words, the survivors looked at the scarecrows dripping with blood. They usually didn’t come out of their own territory except for two specific times, morning and afternoon, but now, for some reason, they were floating in the air along the ditch.
Ha Seong-yoon nodded.
“I understand what you’re saying. I have nothing to say about this. Then, I think it would be best to make sure that the kindergarteners, high school students, and even Jindallae are all in a safe place…”
“Yes, if it’s okay, I’d like to take you to the police station inside the shopping mall.”
“Of all the places we’ve checked so far, this is the safest.”
The police station was not even approached by the monsters in the shopping district, and if Hong Kyung-joon or Kim Yeon-woo were there, they could have entered. And the police mannequins inside the police station were evaluated as not threatening to the survivors even without Hong Kyung-joon and Kim Yeon-woo.
“The only problem is that the food supply is difficult… but that can be done by taking the food from here.”
“That’s right. For now, I think it would be a good idea for some survivors, including myself, to take the students and Jindallae to the police station, and for the rest of us to start searching.”
“All right.”
“… … .”
“… Mr. Hong Kyung-jun?”
Hong Kyung-jun, who was silent for a moment, looked at Han Do-yoon and asked.
“Have you seen the keyring monster?”
In the past few days, the Keyring Monster from the back mountain had come and settled down in the garden where the survivors were staying. It had been sitting on the border of the garden for a while, staring at the survivors, but for some reason, it was no longer visible.
Han Do-yoon also noticed it and his face turned pale.
“…uh?”
It’s because I realized something was wrong.
(Continued in the next episode)
