Chapter 51
Chapter 51
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 51
Chapter Title: Subway (1)
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"It feels like a little energy is going into it... but it's using way more strength than energy."
"...I still can't distinguish them well..."
As I listened to her and kept throwing talismans, she said it was improving bit by bit.
I couldn't really tell myself.
Compared to the beginning, the talismans were definitely flying farther.
It felt like I was just hurling them with brute force...
Bora advised me not to get impatient and to steadily practice this talisman throwing first—the exact motion she'd demonstrated at the start.
She said it was the process of acquiring the most basic and essential sense for exorcism arts.
Even after getting home, I kept infusing my breaths into paper talismans and throwing them.
*Snap.*
Daeho and Leo were amiably snatching the talismans I'd thrown out of the air and chomping them down.
Thanks to that, it was hard to check how far they were flying.
"...You guys shouldn't eat them?"
"Grr."
"Grrr..."
The two cats were so focused on chewing the talismans that they ignored my words entirely.
...Maybe I should buy them some cat toys to play with?
Thinking about it, I'd been neglecting them in that department.
I should get them a scratching post or some cat toys.
Like that, after returning to my new place and wrestling with paper talismans until late at night, I dozed off. The next morning, I dragged my slightly more fatigued body than usual to the White Tiger company.
As I entered the temporary Team 10 office, the first thing that caught my eye was Park Cheolwoo—the former team leader I hadn't seen in a while. Or should I just call him Park Cheolwoo now?
But in my head, the title "Team Leader Park" wouldn't budge.
He was already prepared for our team's briefing, waiting for us with a serious expression.
"I'll brief you on this rescue mission."
Team Leader Park's voice filled the office air with a touch of tension.
He brought up the monitor screen in front of him and began the briefing.
"The rescue target is trapped inside a monster phenomenon occurring in the subway. Citizens are requesting help from a subway train heading to a nonexistent station called Hwamu Station."
The screen showed a photo of an empty subway car in a dark, eerie atmosphere.
At a glance, it looked like a normal subway, but the spot where the station name should be was filled only with "Hwamu Station," and the internal structure was slightly different from a regular subway.
"Fortunately, this Hwamu Station phenomenon has records of occurring several times in other regions in the past, so we've secured basic information on how to enter it and its internal structure."
Team Leader Park sent us the related files.
He looked around at us once more and said,
"Since this is a rescue mission, it could turn into a race against time, so this concludes the briefing. While moving, receive any additional info or real-time updates from Support Team's Han Sora via comms. And the Support Team has pre-selected and placed necessary items in the back seat of the transport vehicle."
It had been a while since I'd heard Team Leader Park's briefing.
It was more stable and polished than back when we were an Exploration Team.
When I asked what happened to the Support Team, Team Leader Park gave a faint smile.
"Honestly... it's nice."
Team Leader Park and I exchanged brief smiles, nodded to each other, and quickly began preparing for the mission.
Team 10 each swiftly checked the provided intel.
Finally, my first mission at White Tiger.
I hadn't expected a chance to tackle the main quest to come this soon.
"Let's go."
"Yeah."
After Team Leader Park finished the briefing, we headed straight to a quiet subway station in Incheon.
Upon arriving at the subway station, we immediately opened the item box from the vehicle trunk.
"These are..."
"The items we submitted."
They'd been inspected surprisingly quickly—familiar gear was there.
Among them, I gladly grabbed the Returning Sword and strapped it to my waist.
In addition to our items, there were extras: earpieces that looked like they enabled comms, and a large escape disk big enough for multiple people.
We packed all the items and walked into the subway station.
It was a weekday afternoon at a sparsely populated station in Incheon, so there were hardly any people around, and an eerie air hung in the place.
Park Sunja had an earpiece that seemed for comms plugged in and was continuously exchanging info with Support Team's Han Sora, guiding us.
"According to Han Sora, the way to enter this monster phenomenon is simpler than expected."
Park Sunja said, turning to us.
The method she explained was truly bizarre.
Before the subway arrives at the platform, stand behind the safety line facing away from the tracks—you absolutely must not look directly at the train coming in.
Then, when you hear the train arrive and the doors open, just back straight into the train.
"...That's really all?"
Bora asked, sounding incredulous, but Park Sunja nodded with a serious face.
It was simple, but something you could never do on your own without knowing the method.
I wondered how the first people trapped here had ever boarded the subway like this.
Following Park Sunja's instructions, we lined up side by side, turning our backs to the approaching subway.
A moment later, vibrations and noise from the train entering came from behind us.
With a hiss, we heard the doors open, and as if on cue, we all stepped backward into the train.
The moment the doors closed, the scenery inside the train was starkly different from the normal subway we knew.
pitch-black darkness outside the windows, and the interior lights flickered dimly and ominously.
Above all, there wasn't a single passenger besides us.
At that moment, a mechanical woman's voice flowed from the train's speakers.
Repeating the name of a nonexistent station, the train departed into the darkness at quite a fast speed.
And on the train's interior walls, instead of the usual ads, there were large notices that looked like rules.
[1. Remember everything in the current subway car without omission.]
[2. When moving to the next car, a car that differs from the current one is an 'anomalous car' and is extremely dangerous.]
[3. If you discover an anomalous car, immediately return to the previous car. If there are no anomalies, proceed forward.]
[4. Upon reaching the frontmost car, you can safely exit at the original boarding station.]
It was like rules for a spot-the-difference game.
Park Sunja kept communicating with Han Sora via earpiece, then told us,
"The Support Team says we must strictly follow these rules and proceed forward. They warn to be extra careful since we don't know what dangers lurk in anomalous cars."
We were stuck in this bizarre train, forced to play a life-or-death spot-the-difference game.
Amid the tension, I began etching every single thing in this first car into my eyes—not missing even the tiniest ad sticker.
"Look at this."
While I was meticulously memorizing the four rules written on the train's interior wall.
Park Sunja belatedly spotted a fifth rule in tiny print at the very bottom, barely noticeable.
Forcibly disembarked.
That phrase felt particularly ominous.
Being forcibly abandoned at the nonexistent Hwamu Station could only mean a bad end.
"Yellow magnets: 3 cars..."
"Do we have to memorize this sticker too?"
To perfectly engrave everything in this first car—faintly marked [10] on the wall, car 10—we focused all our nerves.
The number and colors of handholds, the patterns on the floor tiles, the tiny scratches on the windows, even the content and positions of the ad stickers on the walls.
Like a hidden object puzzle, we strained to memorize it all like taking photos.
It would've been great if we could use smartphones, but regrettably, our phones only showed black screens like dead batteries and wouldn't work.
"If there's anything hard to remember, tell me. The Support Team says they'll note it down for you."
Saying that, Park Sunja was relaying difficult-to-remember phrases or elements to the Support Team.
Having a Support Team was definitely helpful in this regard.
How much time passed.
When we judged we couldn't find anything new in this car, we cautiously moved to the door leading to the next car.
When the door opened and we entered the next car, at first glance, it looked identical to the car 10 we'd just left.
Same seat arrangement, same handholds, same ads.
"...Any differences?"
Shun muttered, furrowing his brow.
We couldn't relax prematurely.
We began meticulously comparing and inspecting everything again.
Finally, Bora let out a small gasp and pointed to one corner of the ceiling.
"There! The handholds... one handhold is missing!"
She was right.
In car 10, there had clearly been 8 handholds in a row on the ceiling, but in this car, one in the corner was missing, leaving only 7.
A very minor but unmistakable anomaly.
"Good, we found it. Per the rules, we should return to the previous car now."
I said, not letting my guard down.
We opened the door again and returned to the car we'd just come from.
But something was off.
The wall of the car we returned to clearly showed [9], not [10]. Despite going back, we'd actually advanced to the next numbered car.
In that moment, I vaguely realized the progression mechanic of this bizarre train.
By spotting the anomaly and returning to the previous car from the anomalous one, you actually moved forward to the next car.
We just had to do this all the way to the frontmost car 1.
Han Sora's celebratory voice came through the earpiece, following our smooth start.