180. Jukai Forest (5)
180. Jukai Forest (5)
It was before the Utopia Party entered the forest to rescue Jin Yu-ha.
It was when Im Ga-eul, having seen a movie, suggested spinning a top as a method to distinguish dreams from reality.
"Sunbae, I saw that movie too. You're talking about 'Inception,' right?"
When Lee Yu-ri asked, Im Ga-eul nodded.
After the Dreamcatcher, her voice rose with a sense of accomplishment at having pulled off another good idea.
"Right?! Isn't it a really good idea!?"
However, contrary to expectations, Lee Yu-ri shook her head, stroking her chin with a reluctant expression.
"Ah, no...?"
"It makes sense, but I don't think we can use that method. The people in that movie have a habit of constantly doubting and checking whether they're dreaming or awake. But we don't usually go around thinking like that. If we suddenly fell into a dream, could we even naturally come up with that kind of doubt?"
"But... if we keep repeating the doubt like brainwashing..."
As Lee Yu-ri dissected the idea point by point, Im Ga-eul retorted in a deflated voice.
"No, we don't have time for that. We're about to head into that dangerous place to find Jin Yu-ha right now. And there's the risk that we'd be distracted by those thoughts and miss any trace of him."
"...Then what should we do?"
Im Ga-eul said, a little miffed.
It was a challenge: if she had a better idea, she should spit it out.
At that, Lee Yu-ri looked around at the party members and spoke.
"Do any of you know which sense a sleeping person responds to most acutely?"
But the party members just tilted their heads, as if they didn't know. No one answered.
Or maybe they just didn't feel like answering.
"It's the sense of hearing."
Lee Yu-ri answered without hesitation.
"Hearing...?"
"Yeah, so when waking a deeply sleeping person, calling their name wakes them up faster than shaking them."
"Okay, suppose that's true. So how do you plan to use hearing? If we all fall asleep at the same time in there, no one's around to wake us up, so that method would be useless."
At Kang Do-hee's rebuttal, Lee Yu-ri pointed to her ear with a composed expression.
There, an elegant black earpiece was fitted.
It was the translation device they'd been wearing since coming from the academy to Japan.
"This translation device we've been wearing in our ears—it has recording and auto-playback functions."
"...Ahh!!"
Sofia clapped, having caught on to what Lee Yu-ri was getting at.
"If we set a timer so the recorded voice auto-plays some time after we enter...! Even if we get caught in a trap and fall into a dream, we can stimulate our hearing!!!"
"Yeah, that's right. Of course, it's best not to fall into a trap in the first place, but I figure a little precaution like this can't hurt."
At Lee Yu-ri's words, the Utopia Party looked at her with newfound respect.
Truthfully, they hadn't been too happy about wasting time at the entrance like this when they needed to rescue Jin Yu-ha right away.
But when they examined the items, deduced what traps might be hidden in the dungeon, and even came up with a countermeasure...
Now they couldn't help but acknowledge it.
That Jin Yu-ha had chosen Lee Yu-ri as vice-party leader because she had the qualifications for it.
And that acknowledgment soon led to active exchange of opinions among the party members.
"...In that case, instead of just calling a name, it'd be better to record something you'd have no choice but to wake up to."
"Oh, and! Since dreams are manifestations of the unconscious, I think it'd be better to record something unfamiliar rather than something you know. So how about we each record without the others knowing what we recorded!?"
"Hmm... So should we record something a bit provocative?"
"Shocking enough is sufficient."
"Sh-shocking...!? How harsh are you planning to be...?"
Im Ga-eul asked hesitantly, as if worried.
Swish─!
At that, Sofia snatched the translation device from Im Ga-eul's ear.
"Sunbae! I'll do the recording for you!"
"...S-Sofia...!?"
Gulp─
"Y-you won't say anything too harsh, right?"
Im Ga-eul asked, swallowing nervously.
"Just trust me!"
"...Right?"
"Heh heh heh heh heh..."
But Sofia didn't answer and just gave a meaningful smile.
* * *
As Im Ga-eul held Jin Yu-ha in her embrace, the area under her eyes trembled slightly.
'W-Winter? Incompetent...? What nonsense is that? Our kind Yu-ha hoobae would never say something like that to me!'
And hadn't she just rescued her hoobae from danger?
On top of that, he'd said she was an essential part of this dungeon.
Mm-hmm.
She must have misheard, surely.
Im Ga-eul nodded inwardly and smiled.
"Hoobae, what did you just say? I think I didn't hear it properly."
She asked again, but.
"Incompetent Winter sunbae."
He just repeated the same words with a cold expression.
Strangely, the voice coming from Jin Yu-ha's mouth was a woman's.
Even though it was clearly a dissonant situation, Im Ga-eul couldn't think of it as strange.
The situation simply felt horrifying to her: Jin Yu-ha was calling her by the wrong name and calling her incompetent.
"I'm not Winter! What's wrong with you! You know I'm Im Ga-eul! And incompetent?! You said I was the key to this strategy! What's that supposed to mean all of a sudden!"
"You have no presence, people can't even remember your name properly, and honestly... aren't you just a comic relief character, a mascot, rather than a Utopia Party member?"
"Wh-what the hell are you saying, hoobae!!"
Im Ga-eul shouted in a choked voice, but Jin Yu-ha continued as if he couldn't hear her.
"Im Winter sunbae—so you're a little, well, I hate to say it... a lazy freeloader who lies on a massage chair all day spilling potato chips. Without Magic Stones? You're nothing. Mm-hmm. You kind of feel like a Magic Stone launcher, where the stone is the real you."
"D-don't call me a Magic Stone launcher!!!"
"And a gambling addict, and the way you put on airs... Pfft! Squinting Mastermind, all that. Aren't you embarrassed to say stuff like that?"
"Stop!! Stop ittttttt!!!"
Hummm—
The moment she screamed, the Dreamcatcher hanging from her neck emitted light.
Flash─
And Im Ga-eul's slit eyes flew open wide.
Haa
Haa
Her heart pounded and her chest heaved wildly.
It was a terrible hallucination.
Because words she never wanted to hear had flowed from Jin Yu-ha's mouth.
Then she quickly grasped what had happened.
'Sofia!!! You recorded something like that?!'
Biting her lip at the betrayal, Im Ga-eul turned her head, but she soon had to wear a dumbfounded expression.
'...Huh?'
Because the surroundings were a mess from a brutal fight.
Monsters lay in tatters.
"ROOOOAR—!!!!"
Just then, a bull-headed monster let out a roar.
But soon.
Crunch─!!
Kang Do-hee's heel came crashing down from above, slamming the thing's head into the ground.
"..."
Maybe that monster was the last.
The thick cloud of dust settled.
And the figures of Kang Do-hee, Lee Yu-ri, and Sofia appeared, standing filthy and disheveled.
"W-Were you all awake...? If there was a fight, you could've woken me..."
Feeling awkward, Im Ga-eul scratched her head with an uncomfortable laugh.
"...Sunbae."
Lee Yu-ri, who had been checking for remaining monsters, turned to look at Im Ga-eul.
"Hmm?"
"We already woke you up several times."
"Y-you did?"
"Yeah, you didn't wake up at all. But more importantly, sunbae... was that how you really thought of me?"
She immediately understood what Lee Yu-ri was asking. After all, Im Ga-eul herself had been the one to record Lee Yu-ri's message.
"Ahahaha—well, you see... Did you fall into a dream too?"
"No, I didn't fall into a dream. I got a little dizzy though."
Lee Yu-ri stared at Im Ga-eul and pointed to her own ear.
"Still, thanks to the auto-playback, I heard the recording."
'...Uh, um. What did I say?'
They'd told her to say something harsh enough to shock... so definitely...
As Im Ga-eul briefly retraced her memory, her face instantly turned pale.
She had to make an excuse.
"Th-there, um, I definitely never thought that! It's true! That before you came to the academy, you ran a dungeon with Yu-ha hoobae and lucked into the childhood friend position, or that you're a shield one-tool who parachuted in, or that you gained fame by playing the poverty card!! I absolutely, absolutely never thought that!!! I-I just read that stuff straight from YouTube comments!"
Im Ga-eul hastily sputtered out an excuse in a panicked voice, but...
Her voice just echoed hollowly.
"...Uwah... S-Sunbae. I didn't think you were like that, but you're scary... Did you really say that...?"
Sofia backed away with a scared face.
"Just because you attended the academy an extra year doesn't mean you have a great character... Jealousy, is it? Hmph, this is rather ugly."
Kang Do-hee let out a dry laugh and shook her head.
"...I trusted you, sunbae. Sigh, anyway, since you're awake now, we'll resume the search."
Lee Yu-ri adjusted her grip on her shield and turned away, as if disappointed.
"Ah, I said that's not it!!! Juniors! Let's go together!!!"
Im Ga-eul desperately denied it, but everyone edged away from her slightly.
* * *
Meanwhile, Jin Yu-ha, who was fighting Ichika...
'Wow... Crazy. Tsk, could she transfer to our academy...?'
His eyes sparkled as he considered the possibility of recruiting a new party member.