Chapter 243.2 |
“Using this well won’t get your identity handed over to the bureau or anything like that. I swear on the dokkaebi.”
He could swear any which way he liked.
They weren’t going to use the well anyway.
‘…Did he catch on?’
It was possible. This damn hoobae had a filthy knack for catching on, and only at moments like this…
Really, he was born to be an agent.
‘Please.’
The way that director Ho just stood there also bothered him. He’d expected him to try something, to interfere, or pull some trick to take the company employee back. But strangely, he kept quiet and behaved.
And Assistant Manager Lee Seonghae following along didn’t feel great either.
Agent Choi moved with his nerves wound taut.
Behind him, Ryu Jaekwan would be getting his own makeshift Glass Prison ready.
‘Thanks, Jaekwan-ah.’
Some part of his heart broke seeing his hoobae—who had no talent for lying, and who had just now made it out alive—was moving fast to back him up however he could.
Agent Choi kept walking.
Step.
Step.
With the sound of footsteps, the well drew near…
“Here.”
Ryu Jaekwan quickly pried off the blocked top of the well.
…The trapped, damp air exhaled out and left a strange smell.
Drawing a breath, Agent Choi turned to 130666… No, to Kim Soleum, with a smile.
“…It’d be hard for you to go first, right? I’ll go in and show you it’s safe. See? There might be other things down there.”
The gas mask stared at him in silence.
Agent Choi flashed a grin and set a foot into the well.
‘The footholds… luckily, they’re still there.’
They hadn’t caved in.
Carefully wedging his feet against the well wall, he climbed down as fast as he could.
To lure the other in with no variables.
And when his feet finally touched the bottom…
“Oh! Looks like this’ll work! Come on down.”
At his shout, the horned one peered inside.
“…As soon as you’re down, I’ll try sending the transport signal.”
Please.
……
Tap.
Black work boots walked down the well wall, descending.
The smoke drifted down and pooled at the floor, but true to a supernatural phenomenon, 130666’s body arrived inside the well in a way that ignored physical norms.
‘Ha…’
A surge rose up Choi’s throat. Nausea or something else, he couldn’t tell. But right now, there was no time to dwell on it.
‘I have to do this.’
To make the act more convincing, he reached through the black smoke and set the dokkaebi lantern on the exact center of the well floor.
As if he were really about to send the transport signal.
In truth, it was a different, tacit signal.
One for Ryu Jaekwan.
“Alright, then…”
Jaekwan had to, right now, help him capture this thing.
But, at that moment.
Light burst out of the dokkaebi lantern on the floor.
“…!!”
Wait.
‘This is…’
Something you only saw when a transport signal actually activated at a true ley-line node.
Was this really going to transport them?
‘To where?’
And the strange things didn’t stop there.
Amid the black smoke, something akin to the lantern’s light gleamed from 130666’s body.
A small rectangle glowed inside an inner pocket.
“…?”
As if to check it himself, 130666 took it out.
It was… something in the form of an employee badge. But not Daydream’s.
The company name printed there was…
‘Cheerful Research Institute…?’
In that instant.
The light grew stronger.
“…!”
Those watching from above realized entirely what was happening.
‘Damn!’
Ryu Jaekwan hesitated for a beat, then gritted his teeth and hurled himself down into the well. He couldn’t let just those two be transported.
And peering in after them, Lee Seonghae did the same.
“Oh.”
Sensing the situation was unusual, and in order to ‘help’ good people, she jumped into the well.
She had taken a vacation day today, so she had plenty of time!
Thus, a moment later.
When Ho Yoowon quietly approached the well and looked down, he saw this.
“Ah.”
There was nothing in the well.
Hands tingling with rapture, Ho Yoowon gripped the stones at the well mouth tight.
* * *……
It’s dark.
Loud.
Muscle aches, bones sore from sleeping on something cold. Such sensations wore a person down.
I was definitely sprawled on a concrete floor… But I was so damned tired and heavy-lidded I couldn’t even open my eyes and—
Tired?
“…!!”
I snapped my eyes open.
Something clammy ran down the back of my neck, like from a goosebump-inducing dream. I wiped away the cold sweat with my hand and let out a breath.
“Huu.”
……
…Wait a second.
‘…My voice.’
I just… used my voice.
“…!!”
And my hands, my hands are bare. Fingernails and knuckles and fingerprints—my ordinary hands. I feel around with them. There’s hair, and cold sweat, and a face…
I lifted my head and looked around.
Right beside me, a silhouette reflected in a dark window.
“…Human.”
It was me.
I stared blankly at my human reflection in the glass.
I had no idea what on earth was going on.
So I realized a beat later,
That several familiar people were collapsed around me.
And that…
This place was a subway platform.
“……”
I staggered to my feet. The station name, hidden behind a column, slid into view…
Sekwang Transit Authority
SEKWANG STATION
“…!!”
And then I understood.
This place.
It’s the subway of Sekwang Special Metropolitan City.
goblin note:
I should have explained when it was first mentioned (oops) but the ‘special’ in Sekwang Special City is supposed to be one of a kind. In real-life Korea, only Seoul is called ‘Seoul Special City’ or ‘Seoul Special Metropolitan City’ because it’s the capital city. So for Sekwang to just go poof and disappear like that means a country’s entire capital city just vanished.
In Korean, it’s just called ‘Special City’, but the official designation in English (for Seoul) is Metropolitan City, so I kinda combined the two. From here on out, I might just call it simply Sekwang Special City or Sekwang City throughout the dialogues or narrative to keep things short.
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