Re-entering the Segwang City Subway.
"This way."
"Yep!"
I was walking along the tracks with Deputy Lee Seong-hae, holding a flashlight.
There was enough space to stand to the side if a subway approached, and even if I were hit and killed, I would just wake up outside, so my steps were calm.
However, while keeping my ears pricked for any unexpected situations, I struck up a conversation with Deputy Lee Seong-hae.
Thanks to the sleep I'd gotten, my mind was clearer than before.
Even when I replayed my conversation with Agent Choi.
I realized it clearly.
'…He never believed me from the start.'
—So, you're saying you think you got caught up in a Supernatural Disaster and ended up here. The world suddenly changed, and you got some equipment.
Previously.
When I told Agent Choi I was from another world and wanted to go back, I had been relieved by his calm reaction.
I thought he had accepted my situation.
But it wasn't acceptance....
'It was just… caution.'
Had he already decided back then that I couldn't be trusted?
'…Why?'
He had definitely seen children from other worlds at the Mermaid Tomb… and at the Sparkling Dragon Palace.
Things like parallel worlds aren't such a strange concept in this world of ghost stories.
Couldn't he have at least… believed that much?
"..."
For some reason, my mind felt dazed.
Into that haze, Deputy Lee Seong-hae's distinct voice rang out cleanly.
"Have you been well?"
Ah.
"I heard you fell from the Train Shelter onto the city and didn't wake up, but you still saved people even then!"
I managed a faint smile.
"That was, well, more Ms. Goral and Bronze's doing than mine."
"Huh? The three of you saved them together!"
Up to this point, the atmosphere was heartwarming.
"But those people from the shelter didn't seem that nice…. Hmm, it would've been better if a few of the mean ones from there had died instead."
"...Pardon?"
"I heard Bronze hasn't woken up yet either. It just feels a bit unfair! I wish we could change it, even now."
Wow.
The shock snapped my dazed mind to attention.
Right, this is who Deputy Lee Seong-hae was….
I barely managed to reply.
"…There was no way to do that. And, the people from the Train Shelter… most of them can't be called particularly bad people."
I added a final thought.
"People tend to act irrationally in extreme situations."
As I said that, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
I wonder if I looked that way too?
Every time I said I wanted to go home....
"That's true!"
As if in response, Deputy Lee Seong-hae said.
"But even when one is under psychological pressure and makes a choice that makes you go, no! ... with some people, even the wrong choices they make are kindhearted ones."[1]
"..."
"Like you, Mr. Roe Deer."
"Me? …I don't think so."
"No. You were a really good person even when you were Mascot. Even at times when you didn't need to be good."
"..."
"That's truly amazing."
"…Thank you."
Her strangely subjective and firm words were oddly comforting.
"Anyway, Mascot's shop is doing fine, so I wasn't actually that worried while you were missing!"
"That's… a real relief."
I felt a sense of ease for some reason.
There was, strangely enough, a comfort in her extremism.
I'd broken into a cold sweat before, thinking she might stab me if I got on her bad side and she decided I was a bad person, but now I found her clarity refreshing.
In the way she gave unhesitating answers to any question.
That's why I ended up asking this.
A question I hadn't been able to ask before because it was sensitive and related to me.
"Um, may I ask what Dolphin's wish is?"
"Mine?"
"Yes. The wish you want to make if you get a Wish Ticket."
A smile spread across Deputy Lee Seong-hae's lips.
A peculiar one.
"Should I be honest with you?"
"…I'd appreciate that."
"Okay…."
She moved closer and whispered in my ear.
"I've actually already saved up all the points for a Wish Ticket."
'...!!'
"500,000 points. All of them."
I turned to look at Deputy Lee Seong-hae with eyes full of astonishment.
Her mouth was still smiling.
"The others have contracts to receive a Wish Ticket if this project succeeds, right? I just asked to be paid in points based on the grade of the Dream Essence Liquid we get."
Plus, she said she gathered them faster because she entered so many high-grade ghost stories for her regular duties.
And so, the points she had relentlessly collected surpassed 500,000 just a week ago….
"..."
"Oh, Deputy Manager Butterfly has probably almost saved up enough too, you know? She might have earned more points than me, but it seems she spends a lot on this company's special painkillers!"
"Then…"
I swallowed.
"Why… haven't you resigned?"
"..."
Deputy Lee Seong-hae, who had been talking as if her thoughts were flowing elsewhere, stopped and stared at me.
"I haven't decided on my wish yet."
What does that mean?
"…Didn't you join the company because you had a wish?"
"Weeell, I mean, I have a wish in my heart, but I'm still thinking about how to make it come true."
Ah.
"Because you have to make the wish in a single sentence?"
"Yep! And I want the actual world to change. Not for me to just go to a world where my wish has come true."
"That, I think, will be difficult."
"Right! That's what I'm worried about!"
Deputy Lee Seong-hae, walking unhesitatingly along the tracks, spoke just as unhesitatingly.
Her wish was….
"I wish only good people were left in the world."
"...!"
"So I thought about it, and it seemed kind of unfair for bad people to become good without any price… so originally, I was going to wish for all the bad people to disappear."
Cold sweat trickled down my back.
"Um, by any chance, the standard for a bad person is…."
"You know, the immoral and unethical people! The ones who push others in the Darkness to save themselves? I think it's about half the population!"
"…If, if you make that wish, all those people will disappear?"
"Yep!"
It felt almost like madness.
I wondered if this was how I sounded when I said I wanted to go home.
Utterly sincere to myself, but sounding like a madman's ravings to an outsider?
Is– is it that bad?
No, that seems rude to Deputy Lee Seong-hae, but then again, is it okay to be rude to someone who was about to wish away half of humanity without a second thought….
"But just going to a world where bad people are gone is kind of lame. I want the bad people who are here now to die."
Wow.
"…How about a wish to clean up the environment? Like, the development of sustainable energy resources…."
"Oh, that's good! Then it would be beneficial for the Earth in the long run, too."
Yes....
But Deputy Lee Seong-hae didn't say, 'I'll make that my wish.'
I don't think I'll ever be able to forget that fact….
'Hah….'
[Oh, my friend certainly has a talent for interviewing! What will you ask next?]
I'm not going to talk about that anymore….
I swallowed quietly and walked along the tracks.
"A train is coming."
And after letting a few trains coming from behind us pass.
"..."
"Is that it over there?"
"Yes."
I finally found the cursed subway zone connected to the line leading to the 'maintenance track' that the Train Shelter had escaped through.
Unlike the cursed zones in other stations, I could see a familiar feature.
For instance, when I shone my flashlight far beyond where the tracks connected, I could see something at the very end.
Safety First During Maintenance
Workers Must Form Pairs
Through that passage, the Train Shelter had escaped to the surface of Segwang Metropolitan City….
"..."
I glanced at Deputy Lee Seong-hae.
It seemed she had only heard a summarized version of what the outside of Segwang Metropolitan City was really like….
"Then shall we go in and check the route before we go for real?"
I shook my head.
"I'll go alone. I don't know from what point it counts as 'outside,' so I'll be very careful…."
"Huh? If we're going to be careful anyway, let's do it together!"
And Deputy Lee Seong-hae began to stride toward the maintenance track.
No….
I was about to say something, but in the end, I gave up and hurriedly followed her.
I had no confidence I could persuade her…. I'll just have to watch carefully and notice any signs.
And so we walked the straight track, up the inclined path.
Thanks to the grooves in the tracks, we could plant our feet securely and walk upwards.
"This is actually kind of nice. We don't have to worry about trains coming from behind anymore."
"...Yes."
Thump, thump.
Our footsteps echoed in the dark track.
Upward, ever upward.
Toward the surface.
"..."
To shake off the pressure, I asked slowly.
"So, how have you been with the new project team?"
"I've been great! There were a lot of familiar faces, so it wasn't awkward or anything. But it was a shame that a lot of the good people were gone."
Hmm.
"Oh! I eat a lot of snacks with the Security Chief! And Badger… hmm, he really only talks to me when we're in the subway."
Deputy Lee Seong-hae, in a bright voice, gave me news of the Security Team and Team A.
"You can probably take people from Team A if you want this time, Mr. Roe Deer. Director Ho said they must cooperate."
"…I see."
It seemed most of the people I knew were doing well.
Of course, she wasn't just sharing bright stories in her bright voice….
"Oh, Assistant Manager Pony is doing well too, but she keeps hanging around the reopened Body Casino. I don't think she's going to live long!"
"…Yes."
You don't mean you're going to make that happen yourself, do you?
In any case, hearing about their daily lives had the effect of returning my sunken mental state to its original track.
I continued to talk as I walked the dark railway.
And then….
At some point, after walking up for a long time.
"..."
"..."
"I don't think we need the flashlight."
Sunlight shone on my head.
An exit was visible at the far end of the straight track.
The point where the underground ended.
Goosebumps rose on my skin as the natural light, piercing through from there, shone down the underground track and reached my eyes….
'…That's it.'
I knew instinctively.
That exit was the dividing line between the surface and the underground of Segwang Metropolitan City.
However.
"Why don't we need the flashlight?"
"…Pardon?"
I heard Deputy Lee Seong-hae's voice.
I raised my hand and pointed slightly at the exit where sunlight was pouring in.
"…Can you see it?"
"Hmm…."
Waving her flashlight, Deputy Lee Seong-hae shrugged.
"A pitch-black exit? I see something like that."
"..."
It seemed the sunlight was visible only to me.
'Is it because… I've been to the surface once before?'
I had a feeling that was it.
Because I had once belonged to the 'outside,' my senses were probably open to perceiving it….
"Shall we go?"
"Wait a minute!"
I managed to frantically grab the shoulder of Deputy Lee Seong-hae, who was about to forge ahead again, but—no, why is she so strong?
"Let's go together. Slowly and carefully."
"Yep!"
I walked forward.
I kept the flashlight on, just in case.
"..."
The closer I got to the exit, the more I felt a strange pull and an impulse.
'…I feel like I'm going to be sucked in.'
Was it calling to me, the one who had escaped the blockade?
"Hmm, it doesn't look like there's anything there…. Do you see something beyond it?"
"To me, yes."
It seemed that due to the blockade's influence, the surface outside felt like 'nothing' to Deputy Lee Seong-hae.
A state of Cognitive Impairment.
'Hoo.'
My hand gripping the flashlight grew sweaty with tension.
"…Dolphin. If things go wrong, can you pull me back?"
"Of course!"
I slowly took one step at a time, checking to make sure no sudden incidents occurred.
Thump, thump.
Only my height's worth of distance remained to the exit.
Then, the exit, which had only shown sunlight, began to shimmer….
'…Ah.'
It was a strangely distorted and obscured view of the outside.
Just like when I looked out the window from the Train Shelter after escaping to the surface, I could see the scenery beyond the track's exit.
But it was fainter than before.
It looked like I could almost see it.
It seemed to be… churning, somehow….
'…Is it because the blockade is being lifted?'
I suppressed the urge to jump in and finished my inspection in front of it.
'If I go out, it will definitely be the surface of Segwang Metropolitan City….'
That's it.
I was about to pull back when it happened.
Something began to appear in the churning scenery outside the exit.
"…!"
I stopped in my tracks.
My eyes, now accustomed to seeing the 'outside,' had distinguished a silhouette in the middle of the distorted view.
A person.
The silhouette of a large, familiar person.
"…Manager?"
Section Chief Lee Jaheon.
The leader of Team D, Lizard, was standing stock-still in front of the passage.
"…!!"
Wait, why is he here….?
I wondered if I was hallucinating, but the silhouette became clearer the more I stared.
And I was able to make out the silhouettes of two people behind him as well.
Wait, if there are two people….
'…The Deputy Manager and Agent!'
At their predicted identities, I almost succumbed to the urge to go outside the exit.
Don't!
"Yap!"[2]
…I turned to look at Deputy Lee Seong-hae, who had pulled me back, and barely managed to speak.
"Thank you."
"Yep! Oh, is there something outside?"
"…Yes."
I clenched my fists and stepped back. Then I took a deep breath and thought.
Is there a way to communicate? I can't hear them, and I can't read their lips... Ah!
I took out a pen and paper and wrote.
~Roe Deer is here.~
"..."
Then I crumpled the paper and threw it out, beyond the sunlight.
[1] thank you kirinkirinki from tumblr
[2] "yap!" (*This is a cutesy sound effect you make when you're making a sudden appearance, doing a magic trick, etc) thank you kirinkirinki