Chapter 261.1 |
Inside the train that departed from Sekwang City.
Tudududuk…
The sound of the train car running along the rails echoed, and the hand straps swayed with the vibration. It was a modern, ordinary space.
Only after we leapt in just before the screen doors closed did we finally lift our heads and properly take in our surroundings.
“……”
The inside of the train was clean.
As if it were a lie.
And…
Every seat was occupied.
On the typical subway seats stretching along both sides, people with ordinary appearances, dressed in everyday clothes, were packed in.
There wasn’t even the slightest sign of contamination.
Some wore earphones, others stared at their smartphones. The peaceful atmosphere was so convincing that for a moment, it almost made us think that by boarding the train, we had returned to reality.
But.
Tudududuk…
This suffocating silence.
‘…There’s no reaction.’
Even if five or six people wearing animal and character masks suddenly poured into the car, you’d expect at least a glance. Yet only silence flowed.
Those seated, and those standing while holding the straps.
All of them simply remained still, expressionless.
As if they had seen nothing at all.
“……”
“……”
The group exchanged looks and quietly stepped back.
‘To another car.’
Since we had jumped in through the train door right in front of the stairs, there was a high chance that the car we were currently in was especially crowded with passengers.
And in a ghost story, it’s a wise decision not to stumble into situations that would unnecessarily invite trouble.
‘Let’s not make contact.’
With an unspoken agreement to move to a car with fewer passengers, no one acted rashly as we moved into the adjacent car.
Taking extreme care not to brush against any of the passengers.
‘Huu.’
At the same time, I tried to grasp the peculiarities of the train.
The advertisement panels.
[Hmm. The color scheme is somewhat tacky, but they’re clean.]
That’s right.
‘Spot on.’
From a design standpoint, they weren’t entirely recent advertisements, yet strangely, there was no sense of time having passed.
However, since only names and numbers were chaotically tangled together or missing, it was impossible to guess the year or actually obtain any contact information…
As if it had been processed so that it couldn’t be consciously recognized.
“……”
And above the door opposite the advertisements, there was a massive image that filled the entire surface.
There wasn’t a single letter on the illuminated image, but its symbols and placement made it possible to guess what it was…
‘A subway route map?’
At that moment.
A faint vibration came from the smartphone in my pocket.
“…!”
For an instant, a chill ran down my spine at the realization that I hadn’t set it to silent, but none of the passengers reacted.
Letting out a sigh of relief only inwardly, I immediately checked the screen.
Newly Registered Page
(1) Sekwang Subway
‘…!’
Sekwang Subway
A public transportation system of Sekwang Special Metropolitan City that is composed of seven stations. It is a circular line that runs through the city’s major industrial and residential districts, and at present, the outer loop is out of service, with only the inner loop in operation.
Upon boarding this train, it appears that one’s outward condition is restored to the same state as when first entering the Sekwang City’s underground facilities on the day of the disaster.
‘Outward condition?’
I reflexively scanned the state of the group.
Just then, Section Chief Lee Jaheon raised his hand and grasped the door handle leading to the next car.
‘…! Wait.’
I gestured, asking Section Chief Lee Jaheon to hold his hand still for a moment.
And then I saw it.
The gloves that had been frayed and half-ruined from tearing apart countless corpses and nooses earlier had been restored, clean and whole, exactly as they were before.
Everyone saw it.
“……”
Only after we moved into a car with noticeably fewer passengers did we finally begin to talk about it.
Of course, with our voices lowered to an extreme.
After confirming that the passengers showed absolutely no reaction to coughing, footsteps, greetings, or conversation, we stood close to the door where there were no passengers.
“Section Chief, it looks like your glove has returned to its original state.”
“Yes.”
Keeping an eye on the emergency door release in case we needed to bolt at any moment was, indeed, typical of experienced people.
And, true to form, they also quickly caught on to this train’s gimmick.
“Looks like some kind of supernatural phenomenon is happening on this train where everything gets restored to its original state.”
“Yes.”
“Hm, if we compare it to a kids’ game, you could call it a recovery spot. But even so, something about it feels off…”
Assistant Manager Eun Haje rubbed her chin with an expression like she was craving a cigarette.
And she was right.
‘There’s no way a place that safe and comfortable would be sitting out in the open inside an annihilation-sanctioned ghost story.’
This train was, no matter how you looked at it, part of Sekwang Special Metropolitan City, and we hadn’t escaped.
I looked down at my smartphone…
“Grapes-ie. What have you been staring at this whole time?”
“…!”
Was I being too obvious?
On top of that, Agent Bronze immediately recognized the nature of the item attached to the back of my phone.
It was probably because it only differed in color from one of the devices distributed to agents by the Disaster Management Bureau.
“…A memorial popsocket?”
“It’s similar, but a bit different,” I replied.
Is now the right timing?
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