Chapter 55
Chapter 55
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: Subway (4)
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There was no need for him to warn me not to touch the walls.
It was obvious at a glance that they weren't meant to be touched. I furrowed my brow at the dark red walls that looked like they had lumps of muscle attached to them. And they were wriggling.
Scattered amid the wriggling walls were mouths lined with teeth.
What a truly spectacular sight.
The good news was that the floor was relatively intact, and the walls weren't launching any particular attacks. They just looked awful, but nothing was actually happening.
A strange fishy smell hung in the air.
In any case, grateful that my sight had returned, I followed behind the Senior.
The Senior didn't stop and kept running.
We raced along the bizarrely narrow tracks. I furrowed my brow again, feeling the passage narrowing as we went. The ceiling was thickening too. Mouths attached to the ceiling smacked open and dripped saliva onto the tracks.
This was the worst.
"This way."
Just as I spotted artificial light, screen doors appeared.
Unlike the previous station, all the screen doors here were wide open. The Senior leaped swiftly onto the platform. I hurried after him.
The walls here were a bit cleaner?
Once more, the scene resembled a subway at dawn. An endlessly long corridor. Lights that palely illuminated the empty hallway. The rhythmic sound of our footsteps echoed through the corridor.
I chased after the Senior for quite a while.
Until another sound mixed in.
Ching.
It was a clear sound.
It came from behind. Despite the Senior's earlier advice, I nearly stopped in my tracks. The moment that bell-like chime rang out, it felt like all other sounds vanished.
It's right behind me...
But I didn't stop. I had to keep running. There were pursuers coming after us. I continued following the Senior, who didn't look back.
Ching.
It was getting closer.
The sound was louder than before. Once again, all surrounding noises were wiped away. I clamped my mouth shut and struggled not to stop.
He told me not to follow the bell sound, but he didn't say anything about the bell following me. What happens if it catches up?
Should I glance back for a second?
I debated whether to call out to the Senior running ahead or turn around.
Then, I slightly tilted my head to the right.
Ching.
Nothing was there.
The corridor was empty. The bell sound clearly echoed just a few footsteps behind us, yet the spot where it originated was vacant. The pale subway we'd passed through. Beyond the gaping screen doors, dark red Creatures were visible, but the corridor where the bell chimed held nothing.
Not even a fly.
The nape of my neck prickled.
"Hey!"
The Senior's sharp shout snapped me out of my stare into the empty corridor.
"Get a grip!"
When did I stop?
I'd only turned my head slightly; I had no memory of stopping my feet. I blinked and stared at the Senior sprinting toward me in a single stride. I knew I should run to him, but for some reason, my feet wouldn't move.
The Senior grabbed my arm.
"A number of Badgers have been devoured by that sound."
He started dragging me along as we ran.
His voice carried hatred and fear.
"Don't listen to it. Focus on other sounds. Or sing a song, talk to me—anything."
"What does 'devoured' mean? There's nothing around."
"I don't know. No one's ever seen what makes that sound."
Does that even make sense?
I couldn't comprehend being devoured by something without a physical form. Nor could I grasp how a sound could emanate without a source. It was definitely coming from right behind me.
In any case, thanks to him, my mind cleared up. With my arm in his grip, I matched his pace as we ran.
I tried my best not to hear the bell sound starting up again.
I should keep the conversation going.
"What does 'devoured' mean exactly? Do they just vanish?"
"No. They're found as dried-up, shriveled corpses drained of moisture."
"What?"
"Usually, they lose their minds like you did and chase after the bell sound. Like they've been enchanted by the Pied Piper. If you catch them in time and snap them out of it, they survive, but the Badgers who get away and disappear are all found as empty husks."
Now I understood why we weren't supposed to enter the subway.
The two-story-tall Creature firing electricity seemed preferable by comparison. I even missed the Pigs I'd encountered in the Library of Beginnings basement. Those, at least, you could just beat, stab, dodge, and chop off limbs.
Ching.
A clear, pure sound.
The Senior must have heard it too; he gripped my arm harder.
"Ask questions. Keep asking."
He said through gritted teeth.
I didn't refuse.
"How much do you know about me? What am I?"
"Not much. I only heard what I needed to from them."
"From my former comrades who say I betrayed them?"
"Yeah."
"What did they say?"
The Senior rolled his eyes and met my gaze as we ran side by side.
I matched his look and observed the deserter once more. Deep green eyes and blond hair nearly white. His features, revealed after shaving his beard, were soft.
The man's voice drowned out the bell.
"Copper skin, bright yellow eyes. Over 180 cm tall. Snow-white hair. They said it used to reach down to his waist. Distinct, refreshing features. He'd be carrying a sword."
"...Is that what they said?"
"Yeah. They told me to bring back whoever matches that description. They even gave a rough location. The moment I saw you struggling up on that mold, I knew you were the traitor they meant."
"How did I betray them?"
The answer didn't come right away.
Stairs appeared. We bounded up them. A ticket gate came into view. Without hesitation, we leaped over to the one opposite and dashed through the gap between gates, then down the next stairs.
Would the bell sound follow us here?
The moment I thought that, a flat lump of leather came into view at the bottom of the stairs.
"They didn't say in detail."
The Senior replied as he leaped over the mystery leather lump.
"Just that you betrayed your own kind, that you got too attached to humans and forgot who you are. So they said they'd drag you back and kill you."
"Why not just kill me right away?"
"They said they wouldn't let you die easy."
"This is insane. I don't even remember what I did wrong."
"I wanted to hear it from you too, but damn. What the hell did you do?"
Screen doors appeared again. This time, they were all shut tight. And behind them sat a train. The Senior, still holding my arm, charged toward the doors.
He jabbed at something repeatedly.
Whirr. The screen door slid open.
The tall train loomed ahead. The Senior wrenched the train door open by hand.
We leaped into the dark interior.
"We're good now, right?"
"Don't let your guard down until we leave the station."
The Senior strode forward through the dark train without releasing my arm.
I furrowed my brow and nodded. I carefully stepped over the random debris on the floor and let him lead me along. The floor was littered with unknowns: planks, cabinets, small chairs.
We soon reached the cockpit.
"Senior."
By now, nothing surprised me about this man knowing how to drive a train.
I watched him finally release my arm and prepare for departure. He let out a hum, then busily fiddled with the controls.
The control panel began glowing in various colors in the darkness.
I gazed at his profile as he concentrated.
"Why did you desert?"
The Senior didn't look at me for a long while.
Clunk. The train started moving. The hum of power coursing through the engine.
This train, surely unused for passengers in ages, began racing along the tracks. I took in the tracks flashing by swiftly behind us.
Would we outrun them, or would they catch up?
The answer came slowly.
"A long time ago..."
I waited quietly for him to continue.
"Sophia once pointed a gun at Ye-hyeon."
Who was Sophia?
I wasn't so oblivious as to ask. It was something that didn't need explaining, so he'd skipped it. The man was sharp. Even after just hours together, his quick wit was evident.
The silence didn't last long.
"Her lover became a sacrificial lamb in an operation. It was on Ye-hyeon's orders, but it wasn't his fault. A string of unforeseeable events happened. Even thinking it over a hundred times, Ye-hyeon's command back then was appropriate. If one sacrifice could save everyone, then one had to be sacrificed."
"Right."
Someone had to make that call.
Someone had to bear that weight. A position where you had to tally lives, even if they couldn't be quantified. Ye-hyeon was the one who'd gained power in exchange for carrying that burden.
I pitied Ye-hyeon, who back then had to send one of his subordinates to their death. The choice was simple, but the outcome wouldn't have been. It must have been agonizing.
He was someone bound by good intentions.
"I was one of the people who stood in Sophia's way back then."
Fatigue seeped into the Senior's voice.
"Never imagining that years later, I'd be swept up in the same impulse."
"I'm sorry."
"In the end, I turned out worse than Sophia."
The Senior seemed not to hear me.
I took in the sight of him slumped in the cockpit, staring ahead. He muttered a self-mocking scoff, as if lost in thought.
"Sophia eventually lowered her gun and turned away, continuing to serve faithfully afterward. But I couldn't overcome my grief and hatred, so I deserted."
"Do you hate Ye-hyeon?"
"I pity him while hating him. I tried not to hate him, but it was no use."
The man buried his face in his hands.
His body curled up. It was as if the sorrow he'd shoved aside had finally come crashing down heavily.
I listened to the train rumbling along the tracks for a long time, waiting for him to crawl out of his despair. I knew no words would help. A switch inside him had flipped. The Senior was back in that moment now.
He lifted his head only after the train passed through a gently curving tunnel.
"What's your name?"
...What?
No, you don't know my name? You know I'm not human, you know I'm a traitor?
Stunned, I stared at him before answering.
"Hildebert Talib. Call me Hilde."
"My name is Jin."
He looked up, met my eyes, and gave a faint smile.
"Jin Silver."
"...Nice to meet you."
"Tell the HR Director something for me."
I didn't understand.
As I blinked, Jin suddenly stood from his seat. His face was clear, as if he'd never been sad. He turned and strode to the cockpit door, flinging it open.
Eyes wide, I watched the Senior move into the train car.
Are you leaving?
Leaving me on this moving train and heading back to base yourself?
Well, he'd helped me plenty already.
Still, wanting to ask his true intentions, I turned and followed.
Jin had already reached the end of the first car.
The Senior opened the door to the second car.
I called out loudly.
"Jin!"
"Tell Joo I'm sorry."
Jin turned his head at the threshold and flashed a wry smile.
A smile so heartbreaking it made my heart sink.
"I couldn't overcome it in the end. He really tried to lift me up."
BOOM!
The train exploded.
More precisely, the rear car exploded. A deafening roar that tore at my eardrums. A blast of hot wind rushing in. Through the open door, the carnage unfolded: the severed car, crashing into the tracks and erupting in gray flames.
Fortunately, the car we stood in was unharmed.
But beyond the severed section, the tracks raced by clearly.
And what had severed it.
Standing at the end of the remaining train.
It was a person.
With sclera blackened like charred coal.
"I'll buy time, so run, Hildebert."
Jin, blocking the threshold, drew a gun from his waistband.
Then he looked at me again and smiled purely, without a trace of cloudiness.
"You're on the humans' side again this time, right?"
"Wait—"
"Their leader woke up a few months ago. He came to me and said just catch you."
Jin's faded hair whipped wildly in the wind.
Something in the station closing the distance. It crossed the second car slowly, claws extended. I gritted my teeth and stepped back, while Jin moved into the second car.
His gun barrel trained on the threshold.
"Be Ye-hyeon's winning card. Hilde."
Bang!
The train decoupled.
I lunged, but missed him by a hair. Prostrated in the first car, I frantically called his name. But no reply came.
Regrettably, the train didn't stop. As it curved, he and everything else vanished from sight.
My cheek grew wet.
Darkness descended, and the sounds faded.
I wept silently.