Chapter 116
Chapter 116
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 116
Chapter Title: Even If I Fall Into a Ghost Story, I Have to Go to Work
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"You said the door to car one has opened?"
"Yes!"
I immediately moved to car two with the others. Baek Saheon rushed out, beaming with pride.
"I did my absolute best to persuade the people in car one to open the door. Ah, of course, with all the passengers together... 'Trailblazer'!"
"I see. Good work."
He must have gone to the door of car one at the start of every round, knocked, and shouted for them to come out since there was a solution.
Yes. Thank you, legendary emcee...
In any case, actively communicating the outside situation to car one had clearly been effective.
The wiki had described it exactly like this.
Those two sentences were etched firmly in my memory...
'The door to car one only opened after all those rounds.'
So honestly, around round 20, I was planning to just pry the door open myself.
'Round 14 is definitely acceptable.'
Baek Saheon's nickname on the wiki—Field Exploration Team Viper—wasn't for nothing. I nodded, acknowledging it in my own way.
"Then let's discuss how to proceed..."
"Um, but!"
Baek Saheon hurriedly stopped me.
No way...
"Th-the door. It closed again."
"......"
"No, we did communicate. Look at this!"
Baek Saheon hastily held something out.
A crumpled, filthy piece of paper.
Large letters scrawled across it...
......Dark red filth smeared around the crooked, heavily pressed letters.
"Ugh."
"Th-that... looks like the rotten stuff from the tunnel..."
Murmurs spread through the crowd.
"W-wait a minute. What if car one has all turned into ghouls? Like that tunnel!"
"Yeah! They locked themselves in, refused to follow the Trailblazer, and met a gruesome end!"
C-calm down.
I hurriedly shook my head to soothe the train's atmosphere, on the verge of turning into a cult.
"That won't have happened. They just seem to be in a lot of pain... One moment."
I headed straight to the connector between car two and car one.
Then knocked on the firmly shut door of car one.
Knock knock.
"Anyone there?"
"It's no use. I've tried so many times..."
"Hello. Um, this might be embarrassing, but I'm the one they call the 'Trailblazer.' Can we talk?"
I kept calling out.
"There are hundreds of passengers behind me. Over three hundred in total. We can definitely help."
"Hey?"
"We're here to help!"
"Like I said, it's no..."
Click.
"...!"
The lock disengaged.
I ignored Baek Saheon's stunned expression, turned to the crowd, and spoke calmly.
"...I'll go in alone."
"N-no!"
"Trailblazer! What if something happens?!"
I smiled to reassure them.
"I figured the people in car one would be startled and scared if a crowd rushed in. And worst case, we just loop back to the start, right? It'll be fine."
"St-still, at least take some self-defense..."
Thank you. I've been waiting for you to say that...!
"Hmm, in that case... I'll ask my coworkers."
I looked at my two elite team superiors and one colleague.
The three who were already in on it nodded immediately, forming the Daydream Corporation employee alliance entering car one.
'Perfect.'
It was a huge relief, as signs of Deputy Manager Jinna Sol's patience running out were showing in her eyes.
"Be careful, Trailblazer!"
After asking them to wait in car two until requested—just in case—the passengers retreated reluctantly.
That was fortunate too.
'Phew.'
...Leading people is getting harder and harder.
'At some point, it'll start veering off in unpredictable directions.'
That we'd maintained a mild atmosphere so far was thanks to them listening to me.
I felt the presence of the small badge still pinned to my suit jacket pocket.
The power of the Silver Heart was terrifying. Indeed.
I took a deep breath.
"Then I'll open the door."
That was when.
...I sensed Deputy Manager Jinna Sol staring at me coldly.
"This is taking too long."
"......"
"Do we really need to go to 14?"
"Yes."
I replied calmly.
"A safe clear is important too. I've minimized variables and verified the escape method by collecting altar experiences."
Now we just need to escape.
"So this train will be the last."
"......"
Jinna Sol crossed her arms, silently permitting my actions once more.
...Probably the last time.
"We're ready, so get in already."
"Yes."
As the powerless newbie Baek Saheon scrambled after me, I watched Dolphin Junior Manager open the door...
Clunk.
A fishy stench assaulted my nose through the open door.
"......"
The smell from the altar.
And...
"Scary! Scary! Scary! Scary!"
"Kkiiieeeuk, keuueeuk!"
"H-hic, h-huhuhic..."
Wails of anguish.
"Go in."
I stared blankly at the scene inside the open door.
Car one was contaminated through and through.
Over fifty people writhed, laughed maniacally, rolled on the floor, and howled.
The floor was a mess of vomit-like blood and chunks.
...And a small banner lay in the aisle, stained with blood and filth.
That's right.
The people in car one were a large group of passengers...
Friends who already knew each other, having booked through a travel agency.
The reason they'd ended up like this...
"These folks must've been taking turns throwing themselves out the windows... or by rotation?"
"What? All 53 look insane. Even throwing one per round, that's only 14."
"Good point. So... as Junior Manager Kim deduced, there was a 'person of interest'?"
Yes.
Unless everyone had jumped, there was only one possibility.
Someone in a tight-knit group, wielding equipment that exerted powerful persuasion and groupthink.
"Employee."
"...!"
"What we discussed."
Baek Saheon startled, then lowered his eyepatch and scanned the surroundings.
His purple evil eye darted busily, then he gasped.
And pointed.
"Over there."
Right behind me, of all places.
I slowly turned to see the person Baek Saheon indicated...
"......"
A figure slumped against the door handle to car two, fallen backward.
Someone I'd have passed as a kindly middle-aged man on the street.
...If his entire body weren't twisted in spasms.
"O-our famiiiilyyy......"
Black-red filth drooling from his mouth, veins bulging to his temples. Flesh torn by his own nails littered his body. And...
"We can do it, we caaan......"
"Se-seven, seven tiiimes......"
I slowly approached the man muttering to the air.
Then confirmed the belt end exposed as his shirt rode up during his thrashing.
A faintly glowing silver badge.
Found it.
"Is this the person of interest?"
"...Yes."
The person of interest in the 'Tamla Express Train Incident.'
'Silver Heart owner.'
"He-help......"
Now just to confirm.
"Sir."
I knelt to meet his eyes.
Then whispered in his ear, low enough the others couldn't hear.
"You read the memo, right."
"...!"
"The memo registered with the government about the 'Muryeongdo Test.'"
A flicker of sanity returned to his vacant, slack-jawed eyes.
"Wh-wha-whaa...!"
"One moment."
It matched after all.
'Then...'
I hesitated briefly, then pulled a 'Happy Maker' from my pocket.
'...Yes.'
I had to talk to this man.
For plausible deniability.
...To softly cover my suspicious foreknowledge of the entire incident.
Pfshk.
The strong painkiller plunged into the Silver Heart owner's hand.
"Huuuugh!"
His convulsing body froze instantly. Slump, thud. The middle-aged man collapsed to the floor...
And.
"H-heeuk! Hik! H-huhuhic..."
Started drooling and sobbing on the floor...
"What? Why's he like that?"
"...He's fallen too many times at the altar."
This man had fallen at least five times.
Happy Maker was a painkiller, not a restorative, so his shattered mind wouldn't recover.
But conversation was possible now.
"Can't... can't do it anymore, no more...!"
"......Yes."
That was key.
Fortunately, he began providing information splendidly.
The Silver Heart owner, tears streaming, lunged at me upon eye contact, gripped my shoulders desperately, and spat as he spoke.
"You! You know!"
His hands clutched earnestly.
"Seven times! Just endure seven times! We can do it..."
"......What exactly are we supposed to endure?"
"The altar!!"
And pleaded earnestly.
"I know! This is managed by the government! You guys, that department handling this stuff, they had this."
"......"
"I read it! I-I worked there..."
Voices from the elite team behind.
"Ah, a retiree from the Bureau?"
"Hmm... wonder if he has any gear."
Correct.
I continued questioning the Silver Heart owner.
"I see. Then what kind of supernatural phenomenon is this?"
The low-level clerical retiree from the Disaster Management Bureau spilled scraps of secrets in his half-lost mind.
"Uh, so, this supernatural thing, uh, endure the foundation seven times, and it ends, it's a dream... s-so our club......"
"......"
Then he looked around with hazy eyes.
At the Blue Photo Club members rolling mad with pain in car one.
...I know why they ended up like this.
'The Silver Heart owner persuaded them...'
Just once, everyone sacrifice, to reach the seventh altar.
But not everyone could be as noble and brave as the Silver Heart owner.
Resistance, debates, promises broken by fear. In every scenario, the owner made examples by jumping out windows repeatedly.
'The resulting mental collapse and contamination spread through the Silver Heart to all of car one...'
Thus, immersed in pain and filth, everyone in car one went insane.
Eventually, they all jumped out, minds fully broken...
And unlocked the door to flee to other cars.
'That's when even worse horrors unfold.'
Forcing open car one's door midway was impossible.
The half-mad, zealous Silver Heart owner as an enemy would turn things insane.
'So we had to wait.'
Until the right timing.
The Silver Heart owner wasn't a god.
Eventually, even he, in madness, chaos, and ego collapse, would desperately crave help from other passengers.
But by then, it was too late.
Worse atrocities were unfolding elsewhere...
When the owner relented, accepting help from other cars in a moment of anguish.
The outside had to seem peaceful, with other solutions available.
Enough for his broken mind to unlock the door.
...Round 14. Car one was already hell now.
"S-sorry, kids, it huuuurts too much... h-huhic......"
"......"
I'm going mad.
The wiki's prose paled against the overwhelming reality of this tragedy...
'That's why we need to escape faster.'
I gritted my teeth and asked the decisive question.
The one to give the crucial hint.
"Sir, what train did you see? Is this the one?"
"H-hic, yes. This is it, Iksan line! Iksan train..."
Dolphin Junior Manager tilted her head.
"Iksan? That's weird. This train's to Mokpo..."
Baek Saheon jumped in.
"It does pass Iksan Station, Junior Manager."
"Oh, right. Is Iksan an intermediate stop?"
"Yes."
Instead of trusting Baek Saheon, Dolphin Junior Manager moved herself.
She skimmed the filthy, wailing aisle of car one, pulling a booklet from a seat pocket.
Confirmed the fact in the booklet, then nodded.
"Aha. Yes!"
"Really? Then we can go with the Bureau testimony."
"Yep. He said just seven times? That's 28 people... Ah. Hold on."
She stopped abruptly.
"Seven?"
"......"
Ah.
She caught on.
"Hey, Junior Manager Deer."
"Yes."
"You know how trains extend routes over time?"
"Sure."
"So maybe this train used to have a shorter route. Like... Iksan as the terminus."
"......"
"Enough to be labeled 'Iksan line.'"
Correct.
Precisely, this line extended in the mid-2010s.
From Iksan to Mokpo.
"And."
Dolphin Junior Manager's hand paused on the guidebook.
"Seoul to Iksan, local train... passes exactly 7 stations."
"......"
"So the altars were stations."
Yes.
"And following that logic."
Flip.
"Unlike the old Iksan train, to Mokpo terminus... 9 stations."
Dolphin Junior Manager snapped the booklet shut.
"So the altars we pass aren't 7... but 9."
"......"
"We need to offer 45 people total to the 9th altar."
A perfect answer that sent chills down my spine.
'Elite team indeed.'
And that answer was why car one's passengers fully broke down...
The Silver Heart owner's sliver of hope vanished.
Ultimately, everyone in car one succumbed to rage, fear, and panic, minds shattered...
'...Good thing we didn't reach that point.'
I couldn't bear to witness or fix it.
As I inwardly sighed in relief.
"But."
Dolphin Junior Manager turned to me.
"You only have 11 painkillers left, Junior Manager."
"......"
"We already used one this time. So..."
"We need 45 sacrifices, but only 10 painkillers?"