Chapter 262.1 |
Midnight Station.
The place that the train announcement said had a casino was different from Sekwang Station, which had been spotless from the platform onward.
Red and yellow lights.
The moment we stepped onto the floor, we could see small lights like pea bulbs glittering, clustered densely on the ceiling and strung out in colorful lines.
Some of the bulbs were burnt out, broken, or part of severed strings, but that only created an even more bizarre atmosphere.
The feeling of an old, worn-down entertainment facility.
[Hmm. It doesn’t seem to be properly maintained.]
However, our attention to the facility lasted only a moment.
Because an even more shocking sight was spreading out around us.
The long-term missing persons who had spilled out of the train doors, forcing their way through, the moment they stepped onto the platform of Midnight Station after leaving the train…
Their true forms were revealed.
“…!!”
Worn and tattered clothes, decayed coats, hair completely disheveled and filthy, hollow eyes and gaunt bodies.
The appearance of people who had been isolated and abandoned for a long time.
Freed from the train’s effect of ‘showing the rider’s appearance as it was at first’, they clearly looked like long-term missing persons.
A chilling shock wrapped around the group.
Still, this level of horror might have been somewhat familiar to people who had entered all kinds of dangerous ghost stories.
What was truly shocking was something else. For example…
Their bodies were fragmented.
“……”
Arms, legs, sometimes hands, eyeballs, noses, ears, hair. All kinds of absences were visible on their bodies.
It wasn’t limited to a single part, nor was there any pattern. Some had reached the point where they couldn’t walk or even move properly.
They tried to move as they once had, only to keep falling over, crawling, or slamming into the screen doors with dull thuds.
And yet, they kept moving.
Up there.
Toward the stairs, trying to reach the concourse.
‘The exhibition…’
The sight before me reminded me of the Manor of the Blind, and the faces of both current and former Field Exploration Team members, who had nearly died there, tightened with recalled tension.
But there was a clear difference from the visitors and victims of that place.
The finish.
“…It’s too clean.”
As if pulled out of a doll or molded clay, the connection points where body parts were missing were unnaturally neat.
There were even sections that looked impossible to have been cut by any human tool, entire portions missing, so that when they moved, you could see empty air pressing into the silhouette of their clothes.
The strangeness that came from that.
That sight, which madly stimulated the uncanny valley, created an even more chilling scene in contrast to the long-term missing persons’ usual ragged, ruined appearance…
And the sense of foreboding.
‘…Why did they end up like that?’
What exactly was happening at this ‘casino’ station. All kinds of guesses and keywords brushed through my mind.
All the more so because we were experienced.
“……”
“……”
“Please wait for a moment.”
We responded with silent agreement.
As Section Chief Lee Jaheon, whose glove had once again returned in a worn state, changed into a spare, we stood quietly on the platform and waited.
We waited until the frenzied movement of the long-term missing persons subsided somewhat.
Then we slowly began to move.
Toward the stairs.
And the moment we stepped onto them, we realized it.
From above, a faintly lively sound was drifting down.
Piano, brass instruments, strings.
A melody that seemed to coax and entice.
[Ah, a cheap jazz recording. In the right time and place, it might be romantic in its own way, but right now, it only highlights the facility’s decline…]
“…Anyone feel like you’re paying more attention to the music, or feeling something strange? ……No. Okay. Let’s go.”
We moved upward slowly, careful not to collide with the ‘passengers’ who couldn’t climb the stairs properly and were flailing or tumbling down.
And finally, the concourse should have come into view, but…
“…!”
The space in front of the stairs was blocked by a wall.
A wall finished with tiles.
And attached to that wall were only a door and a small unmanned counter.
There were words written on the door…
Royal Casino
Open for Business
Enjoy a Fantastic Experience
“…Judging from the situation, it seems all the missing persons went in here.”
The music was coming from beyond it.
As if beckoning us in.
“If Assistant Manager Dolphin also got off at this station, there’s a high chance she’s inside.”
Huu.
Assistant Manager Eun Haje rubbed her own shoulder.
“Should we knock?”
“If we die doing that…”
“Then we just end the exploration early.”
Knock knock.
The assistant manager knocked on the door.
Then, from the small unmanned counter next to the door, a small sign with a pen attached popped out with a thud.
“…!”
I immediately turned my head to check it. It was…
“An unmanned pawnshop?”
It was a kind of usage guide.
※ We exchange body parts for casino coins. ※
Please indicate the body part you wish to exchange on the enclosed form to confirm the applicable rate.
Afterward, submit the form at the counter.
“…!”
“Fuck.”
That was how we roughly confirmed the system.
“…It’s a body-part trafficking casino.”
The wiki page updated.
Sekwang Subway Map
- Sekwang Station (Forest of Final Moments)
- Midnight Station (Casino of Corporeity)
- (Unregistered)
- (Unregistered)
- (Unregistered)
- (Unregistered)
- (Unregistered)
Casino of Corporeity.
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