Chapter 493
Chapter 493
‘I’ll be both the Culprit and the Black Sheep!’
Once Park Moon-dae set his course, he moved without hesitation.
After the mid-term evaluation where he confirmed he had received the Sacrificial Bomb, the very first thing he did was…
Recruit Ryu Cheong-woo.
[Park Moon-dae: Hyung, I found a Gold.]
Of course, at this point, Ryu Cheong-woo already knew that Park Moon-dae had been handed the Sacrificial Bomb by the Detective, Seon A-hyun.
In other words, deceiving him was impossible!
An interview clip of Park Moon-dae was inserted.
[Park Moon-dae: Since he couldn't talk about his own role, I figured he had something to hide, so I planned to recruit him.]
[Park Moon-dae: But that wasn't the case.]
Following that narration, Ryu Cheong-woo’s response—smiling gently as he replied to the proposal—was shown.
[Ryu Cheong-woo: Moon-dae. Is it because the Sacrificial Mark appeared on your card during the mid-term evaluation and you’re trying to swap it?]
[Park Moon-dae: Pardon? What do you mean…?]
[Ryu Cheong-woo: Seeing your reaction, I must be right.]
The snickering reactions of the viewers overlapped with the screen showing Park Moon-dae narrowing his eyes.
[Park Moon-dae: Hyung.]
[Ryu Cheong-woo: Yeah?]
[Park Moon-dae: Why are you so sure?]
[Ryu Cheong-woo: It was just a guess.]
Park Moon-dae realized it at that point.
[Park Moon-dae: Is this your job ability, hyung? No wonder you couldn't reveal your role.]
[Ryu Cheong-woo: …….]
Another interview clip was inserted. There was no agitation on Park Moon-dae’s face as he nodded.
[Park Moon-dae: That’s when I changed my strategy.]
[Park Moon-dae: Ultimately, sincerity is what matters. Let’s speak with sincerity.]
Back on screen, Park Moon-dae really did charge in with "sincerity."
[Park Moon-dae: But hyung, actually, I have a proposal where you can benefit whether you win or lose against me.]
[Ryu Cheong-woo: Hmm?]
[Park Moon-dae: Listen.]
Park Moon-dae boldly laid out the outline of the plan he had devised.
The explanation of the Culprit and the Black Sheep, and even the benefits of both being the same person!
[Park Moon-dae: After that, it was easy.]
If Park Moon-dae and Ryu Cheong-woo weren't caught, the entertainment value of the genre variety show would skyrocket thanks to the massive trick.
And what if Park Moon-dae was caught?
‘The game can be cleared with minimum sacrifices.’
Either way, it was a fresh approach.
[Park Moon-dae: (Cheong-woo hyung) is surprisingly easy to win over with things like this.]
After Park Moon-dae’s interview played like a narration, Ryu Cheong-woo on the screen nodded as if he had heard it.
[Ryu Cheong-woo: The intent is good, and it sounds fun. Sure.]
And just like that, Ryu Cheong-woo joined as an ally!
Then, the two began to tangle their movements.
They intentionally performed another blatant exchange before and after their own secret swap.
Ryu Cheong-woo swapped with Bae Se-jin first, and Park Moon-dae swapped with Cha Yu-jin right before the end.
To ensure their own exchange went unnoticed, the quick-handed Ryu Cheong-woo approached the entrance alone.
He opened the door all the way to block the surrounding line of sight, pulling it to the periphery, and finished the process in just two or three seconds by tapping two cards and the Gold in succession.
No one saw it.
[Ryu Cheong-woo: Well, I probably wouldn't have agreed if Moon-dae had just said he’d die alone.]
[Ryu Cheong-woo: He wasn't just giving up easily; he was determined to pull off a trick. I liked that.]
Just as Ryu Cheong-woo said, it was a perfect trick where, aside from circumstantial evidence, not a single eyewitness account emerged, making everyone a potential suspect.
With only the weak circumstantial evidence Park Moon-dae had left behind, Seon A-hyun’s reasoning and the Sheriff Kim Rae-bin’s decisiveness dramatically clicked together, and he was finally caught!
[Park Moon-dae: Thanks to (the Sheriff) Rae-bin, Cheong-woo hyung survived too.]
[Park Moon-dae: Thanks. We really ended up with the minimum number of eliminations.]
Park Moon-dae, smiling during his interview, looked refreshed and confident, not at all like someone who had been eliminated.
The page was constantly refreshed with comments empathizing with that thrill.
On the screen, even though bizarre BGM blared from the speakers shouting about a burnt offering, Park Moon-dae said his goodbyes in a more cheerful atmosphere than before.
Then, he stepped into the coffin-shaped altar as lightly as if he were heading home after a productive day.
It was the moment the other members placed seven candles according to a grotesque pattern on top of it.
[Woooooo—]
Along with a howling sound, an explosion erupted!
Inside the dark and eerie room, real flames flared up over the terrifying blood-stained coffin Park Moon-dae had entered…!
[Bae Se-jin: Park Moon-dae!]
[Ryu Cheong-woo: Moon-dae, are you okay?!]
The fact that it was a low-temperature magic flame with only loud effects wasn't visible. Fans watched the violent and shocking cut with their hands over their mouths.
And after the fire went out.
When the members hurriedly opened the coffin on the altar…
The inside of the coffin was empty.
All that remained were five or six Golds, looking like coins for the afterlife.
In an instant, the atmosphere turned chilling again.
The members seemed shocked, but the game wasn't over.
As a dark, low bell tolled slowly, the narration whispered.
[Undertaker's Burnt Offering]
[Undertaker's Burnt Offering]
And it continued.
[A new Sacrificial Mark has been bestowed.]
[You can change the fate of the sacrifice through card exchange.]
[Also, from this game onward, exchanges are possible even without the opponent's card. You can select a role on the screen to pass it on.]
A new game had begun, along with new rules designed to incite conflict.
Inducing total immersion like that, the simultaneously broadcasted episodes 1 and 2 came to an end.
‘This is insane, seriously….’
The graduate student, who had finished the binge-watch without even breathing, swallowed hard and reflected on Moon-dae’s performance.
The reason Moon-dae was the most impressive in this episode wasn't just because she was a fan!
‘Ah, but it’s a shame Moon-dae got eliminated so early.’
Would he really not appear anymore?
Since she originally had no interest in this genre of variety shows, the fun would be cut in half if Moon-dae, the reason she was watching, didn't show up.
Just as the graduate student was absentmindedly watching the credits roll with a bit of disappointment…
[???: Someone just hurry up and die.]
Suddenly, a preview appeared.
“…?”
A walkie-talkie.
A cut showing sound crackling from the blood-stained walkie-talkie, whose use hadn't been revealed until now!
[Kim Rae-bin: Aaaah!]
[Bae Se-jin: What was that?!]
People went wild.
And on the screen, a pale hand with straight bones appeared, picking up the walkie-talkie….
And then.
[Seon A-hyun: Moon-dae…?]
Guessing the identity of the voice on the walkie-talkie, the preview ended!
“…….”
The graduate student immediately rewound the video and listened to the preview again carefully.
Then she went straight to her fan-account SNS.
‘I’m sure it’s Moon-dae!’
With firm trust that someone would have already enhanced the audio!
A few minutes later, her belief was rewarded through a post that had been shared over ten thousand times.
And episode 3, which aired a few days later.
The people who sat down with excitement, wondering about the purpose of the walkie-talkie…
They got a raw look at the infrared camera's view of Park Moon-dae inside the coffin.
People’s palms sweated as they watched Park Moon-dae listen intently to the sounds and press a button above his head.
And when the coffin actually moved downward, comments flooded in.
The place where Park Moon-dae arrived after being pulled down.
That place was…
[Park Moon-dae: …….]
[Park Moon-dae: The dorm?]
It was TeSTAR’s previous dorm.
In other words, it had the exact same layout as the floor above, but instead of a room set up like a cult altar, a coffin-like altar had suddenly sprouted in the middle of Lee Se-jin’s room.
Furthermore, the room was as dark as the inside of a coffin….
That much could have been expected, but there was a decisive difference.
Namely.
[Park Moon-dae: Blood….]
A thick, massive bloodstain, as if something had been dragged from the coffin, was connected all the way to the door.
-
And that bloodbath continued to the door, culminating in a bright red sheep skull pattern.
[Park Moon-dae: …….]
A few seconds of silence passed.
It was only then, the moment Park Moon-dae cautiously took a step toward that door.
BANG!
[Park Moon-dae: !!]
The coffin in the middle of the room went back up, and with a loud noise, the lights flickered briefly.
Then the room door opened automatically.
Creeeeeak—
On the living room floor revealed as the door opened… the bloodstain, as if something had been dragged, continued exactly as before.
Park Moon-dae, who had reached for the door, froze in that exact position.
[Park Moon-dae: …….]
[↑ Looks like he fainted while standing….]
It was supposed to be a funny caption, but the fans screamed even as they laughed.
Eventually, they started begging the Sheriff.
Fans who already knew Park Moon-dae was weak against horror were restless, but on the screen, Park Moon-dae moved his feet silently in his own way.
And then, in the living room hallway, right next to the floor where the bloodstain was dragged, he discovered an object.
[Park Moon-dae: …A walkie-talkie?]
Park Moon-dae slowly reached out and picked up the walkie-talkie.
And then, his ability was broadcast for the first time as an official profile, not just a rumor.
[Undertaker Job Ability: Can facilitate communication between the living and the dead.]
Park Moon-dae pressed the walkie-talkie.
Beep-beep-beep, the signal went through. And the moment Park Moon-dae put the walkie-talkie to his mouth…
[Park Moon-dae: If anyone can hear me over there,]
[Park Moon-dae: Someone just hurry up and die.]
The atmosphere lightened instantly at his desperate sincerity.
Park Moon-dae would have excused it by saying, ‘The situation has changed, hasn't it? I did it for a quick investigation,’ but his established coward image only made it look like a blunt, honest remark.
[Park Moon-dae: Just kidding.]
The viewers snickered.
However, at that moment, the atmosphere shifted completely.
[Park Moon-dae: …Remember this.]
The funny sound effects and captions vanished instantly.
Park Moon-dae gripped the walkie-talkie tightly and delivered his message quickly in a low, flat voice.
[Park Moon-dae: The locked bathroom. Don't go in there.]
A gloomy violin sound like the wind and an eerie drumbeat were laid down as BGM.
The music swelled.
Park Moon-dae looked up.
Following that movement, the scene changed as if the camera were turning with him.
The bloodstain on the floor.
It grew darker and turned into a bloodbath as it led to the bathroom.
And it was covering the bathroom door.
The real-time chat window was in an uproar with anticipation, a mix of curiosity, fear, and worry.
On the screen, the camera focused on Park Moon-dae again.
[Park Moon-dae: And the button in the coffin….]
[Park Moon-dae: …It cut off.]
He slowly lowered the walkie-talkie, which no longer caught a signal even when he pressed the button.
And as he took a deep breath and looked up again, his cut ended.
[LAMB]
The program's opening began with an intense performance, but viewers were still reeling from the shock.
People shocked by the existence of the afterlife(?) remained fully immersed and continued watching the program.
‘Did the other members receive Park Moon-dae’s transmission properly?’
And fortunately, a helping hand arrived not too late.
Thirty minutes into the program.
[A sound…?]
The coffin moved anew. And…
[Lee Se-jin: Moon-dae?]
[Bae Se-jin: Hey, Park Moon-dae!]
The ones who came down the altar as the next targets were… none other than the two Se-jins with the same name!
[Park Moon-dae: …!!]
It was the moment the signal flare for the program's climax was fired.