What is happening to me.
My head, where a dull ache and a sharp pain repeated, couldn't immediately comprehend the current environment and just swayed.
Only the shaking scenery around me appeared blurry.
Colorful light bulbs, the yellow tactile tiles on the floor, an exit number sign, gray….
Stairs.
"Heuk."
In that moment, I realized.
Ms. Go Young-eun was desperately running down the stairs with me on her back. A hand with several fingers missing was holding my arm, which was dangling over her shoulder.
I barely managed to open my dry mouth.
"…Ms., Goral."
"…!"
Startled by my voice, she nearly tripped and fell, but she barely regained her speed and continued to run down the stairs.
All the way to the platform.
"..."
I must be heavy.
Ms. Go Young-eun… her body isn't even whole, so how is she carrying me. I couldn't understand what was happening. But I could feel a sense of urgency, as if we were running away. I can't stay on her back. I must be heavy, and now that I'm conscious, I should walk on my own feet. I put strength into my body and extended my legs toward the floor….
....
They're not there.
Below my thighs, there is nothing.
My left leg is missing from the thigh down, and my right leg is severed from the joint.
Traces of bleeding that had burst and then strangely stopped.
'…The casino!'
Instantly, the memories from just before came flooding back as if my head would explode.
The Body Casino, the VIP Room, Russian Roulette, Deputy Lee Seong-hae, the horrifying sensation of my head being torn off, the body parts stolen from the rail, the Euthanasia Pill, my struggles, my own hand covering my nose and mouth….
Acts that had caused immense damage to the casino's assets.
'Were my legs… charged as the cost?'
Given the circumstances, it seemed like a somewhat reasonable guess. Even if it was strange that the loss of my legs alone couldn't possibly cover the immense damage I had caused.
But in the first place.
'Why didn't I die?'
I had held a pistol to my head and fired. But why am I still here? Why am I conscious?
And….
Is Ms. Go Young-eun trying to save me?
"He, re is,"
"Shh."
Ms. Go Young-eun, who had run down to the subway platform as if she would fall, immediately ran to the wall on the opposite side of the platform screen door.
And she opened the Fire Hydrant.
"…!"
"Quickly…!"
The Fire Hydrant, which was originally just large enough to cram a hose into, was strangely quite spacious inside.
Enough for one person to lie down, or for two to hide, albeit cramped.
Ms. Go Young-eun hurriedly and carefully pushed me into the darkness, then came in herself.
Thud.
And she closed the Fire Hydrant door. With the sound of metal clashing, the door closed lightly, and darkness fell.
All I could see was the faint light of the light bulbs and the red emergency light coming through the crack.
"..."
"..."
"It's, it's al, huuk, right, the casino dealers, they don't chase you outside… just have to avoid the addicts."
But unable to continue, Yeongeun had to catch her breath more. Even so, she leaned toward me as if to check my condition.
The moment I reflexively flinched my hand to pat her back.
"Hu-eup…."
Another light source appeared in the darkness.
A light green glow.
Something from Ms. Go Young-eun's waist was emitting a very faint light. From her angle, she didn't seem to notice, but I knew what it was.
'Daydream C-Class Regeneration Potion.'
....
I realized something.
Using the darkness as cover, I took the regeneration potion from Ms. Go Young-eun's worn-out padded jacket pocket and hid it in my own.
Meanwhile, Ms. Go Young-eun was finally calming her breathing.
"Ms.Goral."
"Huu, yes?"
"Did you save me? From the casino…."
"..."
"What happened?"
"I don't know either. It just, seemed like the dealers were coming 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 and ran.
…She probably had help from items or equipment.
Having been in this Sekwang Special City for half a year, this colleague of mine must have prepared measures for survival….
"Still, I was a little late… and while carrying you out, your legs, Mr. Roe Deer,"
"Don't, worry, about that. …Thank you."
The fact that I hadn't died instantly was the worst-case scenario.
'…If it weren't for Ms. Go Young-eun's help.'
Instead of Deputy Lee Seong-hae, my body would have been completely dismantled in the casino, and I would have become a dealer. Like passing a baton.
A chill ran down my spine.
"And since I have no legs… I must have been less heavy."
"..."
"It's a relief, in a way."
"A relief, my,"
Ms. Go Young-eun looked like she was about to burst with indignation, as if she wanted to spew curses, but she swallowed her words. I don't know if she was worried about attracting attention from outside, or if she just had no energy....
My head is working, but I can feel the brief clarity of my thoughts gradually dulling….
I noted that my head still hurt.
Raising a hand to touch it, I could tell there was a wound.
Whether my skull… was pierced, I couldn't possibly check.
What's certain is that I was shot.
'…Was there a problem with the firing mechanism?'
Or did the bullet happen to hit my brain in a non-lethal way, leaving me alive?
They say the brain doesn't feel pain, so I have no idea what a wretched state I'm in.
And Ms. Go Young-eun, who was watching me fumble with my hands, shuddered and shot up as if she had realized something.
"Ah!"
And she started rummaging through her pockets.
"The potion, the one you got from the Manager…!"
"..."
As I thought.
I knew she would try to use it on me.
"Quickly, quickly…."
The regeneration potion.
The one I had secretly slipped into my own pocket. Ms. Go Young-eun's hands were trembling as she searched her pockets for the one she had received from Manager Lee Jaheon.
…Guilt and a heavy heart seemed to consume my body.
But I have no intention of returning it now.
Using it would have made me feel even more guilty.
"…It's alright. I think the bullet, grazed me."
"What, what are you…."
"So… the lost body parts, cough, later… I'll go to the casino and get them back."
"..."
"If we can find the potion later, it would be, more… effective for you to drink it, Ms.Goral."
I can only hope that it's too dark for her to see my face properly.
"The gunshot to my head… I think it was a misfire, and for now… my condition is getting better."
It's not.
I'm going to die soon.
But for me to use it here would be a total waste. Ms. Go Young-eun absolutely had to be the one to use it.
"…We just have to get on the train. Once we get on the train, we'll return to our original forms! Then we can take our time finding it, and take care of it…."
"Yes."
I probably won't last until then.
But I quietly agreed. Ms. Go Young-eun looked anxious, but she couldn't bring herself to fully open the Fire Hydrant and look at me in the outside light.
She just kept repeating it, as if to reassure both me and herself.
"Don't worry. The Fire Hydrant… uhm, when they get addicted, strangely, no one ever seems to open it…."
"I see…."
I gathered my thoughts, enduring the dizziness.
To divert Yeongeun's attention.
"Did you, hear that as a rumor too?"
And… because I wanted to ask anyway.
"Ms.Goral, what on earth happened to you?"
"..."
Like before, there was no answer from Ms. Go Young-eun for a while.
But then, the words began to spill out.
"Do you remember? When I said I dropped out of medical school."
"..."
"To be honest, it was a bit of a stretch from the beginning. I lived in the countryside, and my family wasn't that well-off. The tuition, living expenses, and paying rent after failing to get into the dorms… it was all a burden."
Ms. Go Young-eun's voice sounds rambling, yet calm.
"Even with student loans, there was a limit to what I could do while working part-time. In the main course, I felt it was almost impossible…."
"..."
"And there were some issues in my department, too."
....
"But it just had to be then. When my relationship with my parents completely fell apart."
Ah.
"We fought, and I completely lost contact with them."
Ms. Go Young-eun flinched her shoulders slightly.
"From then on, all support was cut off, and somehow, my sense of purpose faded… so I think I naturally changed my major. I was… a bit burnt out, too."
I listened in silence.
"It's nothing special, right? But…."
Ms. Go Young-eun's voice grew quieter.
"It's funny, but that's the reason."
"…What is, you mean?"
"Why I joined this company."
"..."
"I didn't know how to get back in touch with my family."
That didn't simply mean she wanted to find out her family's whereabouts through something like a private investigator.
"I want to be on good terms again… but I'm stuck from the very beginning."
"..."
"I thought if it could grant any wish, maybe it could grant something like this."
And I know.
That Ms. Go Young-eun knows how to 'properly' use a Wish Token.
Since she came up with a way to grant Jang Heo-un's wish by proxy, the same would apply to her own wish.
"When you… passed the Wish Token to me. I thought."
Her voice sinks.
"I didn't want to go to another world where my wish was granted. I didn't want to suddenly wake up and find that I hadn't gone to medical school, or that I was living with my family as a doctor. So…."
So.
"I made, this wish."
"Please give me a supernatural ability to gather news about my family."
…!!
"With that, if I could get in touch with my family, I was planning to figure out the situation and try to reconcile."
A wish for a specific ability for herself.
'It's not too excessive, either.'
Ms. Go Young-eun had calculated and extracted a wish that would apply strictly to herself, in a way that made me wonder how she'd even thought of it.
'Normally, this… should have worked without a doubt.'
But.
"When I made the wish and opened my eyes…."
....
"I woke up here."
In this bizarre subway station.
In the underground of Segwang Metropolitan City.
"And the moment I opened my eyes, I realized. That I had a certain… question."
"Where did I used to live?"
"Isn't that so strange? Who introduces themselves as being from the countryside in the first place. You know which region. But I, strangely, had never even had that question. And with my family, too…."
The sound of a gulp.
"I didn't know why we lost contact."
A shiver of dread.
"Just, the feeling that 'our relationship had soured irreparably and we lost contact' is all that remains. And only a vague sense of resignation and refusal that I'll never be able to contact them again…."
In that moment, I realized.
"What on earth is this?"
Ms. Go Young-eun was from Segwang Metropolitan City.
When the 'Extinction-class supernatural disaster' occurred and the city was sealed off, this colleague of mine, who had been living alone in Seoul, was left floating alone in reality.
And the Wish Token had also created the environment for the 'ability to hear news of her family' to manifest.
By pushing her into the sealed-off area.
And.
"I gained a strange ability to perceive the rumors circulating in the area."
And all of this colleague's family….
"But, but I've never heard any news about my family."
....
"Maybe it's obvious. This is inside a ghost story, isn't it? Right? How can I find news about my family in a ghost story like this. That, that's right…?"
"..."
"Either the Wish Token didn't work. Or Director Ho must have been a fraud. Right?"
Even if I couldn't agree, I wanted to tell her yes.
I was about to.
"…Mr. Roe Deer?"
But the words wouldn't come out.
"Mr. Roe Deer!"
I slumped against the wall of the Fire Hydrant.
There's no strength in my limbs. As if there's something wrong with my nervous system….
'Is this the end.'
The end is coming now.
And yet….
The train is now approaching.
"Can you hear that?"
I think Ms. Go Young-eun is grabbing my shoulder.
It's shaking.
"The train! The train is approaching. We just have to get on that one. The one coming now, the one coming now is my shelter. We just have to get there, please…."
It's getting harder and harder to answer.
We ask all passengers to board safely and mind their etiquette.
Light pours in. I think the Fire Hydrant door was opened.
I felt Ms. Go Young-eun trying to drag me out.
"It's that train. Train G1572, if we just get on that one, just that one…."
Out of the Fire Hydrant, Ms. Go Young-eun seemed to try to get me on her back again, but….
I, with all my might, stopped her.
"…Mr. Roe Deer?"
There's no strength in my hand, so it's meaningless. I just barely managed to place my hand on her arm.
I tried to mouth the words.
'Don't worry.'
"What…."
'I'll be back.'
At the end, even my mouth won't move.
"Mr. Roe Deer, Mr. Roe…."
With the roar of the approaching train.
I died.
I opened my eyes.
"You're awake, Mr. Noru!"
Ho Yuwon's voice.
"Everyone was trying to kill me, saying you weren't waking up. It was truly terrifying. As if I would know anything about your personal affairs, Mr. Noru…."
The eyes of the Plague looking down at me.
"But I'm curious, too."
His lips curve into a smile.
"You rescued the person you were meant to rescue, but do you not have any 'lingering attachments' left in Sekwang Special City?"
....
"Have you found a reason to go back in?"
Fuck.