Chapter 4
Chapter 4
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: Gyeonggi Gwangju Station Horror (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Now, we've decided what to investigate next, right?"
Rule 3.
We nodded to each other.
At that moment, an announcement echoed from the ceiling speakers.
[The train bound for Pangyo Station is now arriving.]
[Passengers, please board quickly.]
Ordinary.
At least, for now—
"Let's hurry!"
The announcement mentioned a train pulling in.
It would probably take about 30 seconds for the subway to reach the platform.
I nodded at her urging.
Standing around here any longer, who knew what might happen.
In the previous loop, when I sat on that bench.
My vision turned red and flickered out.
And that lasted exactly until the train arrived and departed.
The announcement repeated.
[Passengers. The unmanned train will arrive shortly.]
[All lights in the station will turn off momentarily.]
The woman leading the way slowed her steps.
Sera had stopped, staring off to one side.
"...Do you see it now? The exit... it's visible."
At the end of her gaze.
What had clearly been a wall moments ago now had a brightly lit exit.
The outside world was visible.
Sunlight. People. Freedom.
It looked so natural that even I almost took a step forward.
"No."
The Gyeonggi Gwangju Station only had two exits to begin with.
There was no way an exit could appear in such an impossible spot.
I grabbed Sera's shoulder firmly.
At that instant, the announcement distorted again.
[Passengers, please board quickly.]
[Passengers, please board quickly.]
[Passengers, please board quickly.]
Everyone in the station turned their heads at once, staring at the illusory exit.
At the same time, they began moving toward it.
"...Fuck."
My grip tightened.
Not this time.
I seized her hand firmly and pushed through the crowd toward the turnstiles.
This wasn't mere illusion.
The station itself was trying to 'expel' people somehow.
And that end wasn't an exit.
'Donghwa.'
We finally reached the turnstiles.
I tapped my card quickly and passed through.
"...Medi... medi...cine... wh-where is it..."
The investigator couldn't pull herself together.
It meant even level 1 antigen offered no resistance.
"No time to waste!"
I threw out the concept, everything.
"Hurry, down below—"
...Wait a second.
Why was I trying to head to the basement level?
Gyeonggi Gwangju Station was a two-story structure with no underground levels to begin with.
Not down.
"...We need to go up."
My head cleared coldly.
My toes were already on the first step of the stairs.
I could see the subway pulling in ahead.
Countless people were lining up.
A station with no basement, yet where was this subway heading?
And all those people—
My body wanted to go up, but it couldn't.
The stair sign read 'B2'.
Going up, but descending.
The mirror-like walls on either side of the stairs reflected people descending in a line.
All of them expressionless.
Moving in the exact same steps as me.
Behind me, Sera was being swept down with the crowd like everyone else.
Her voice trembled.
"Wait... my body! This station, why... are the stairs so deep? We've already gone down three floors!"
At that moment, the announcement blared.
[Passengers. The subway toward Pangyo has arrived.]
[Please board quickly.]
"...From the start, it was all wrong."
And I had waited for a transfer, oblivious, aboard the subway.
If I had gotten off then, what would have happened?
A moving train underground.
The end was obvious.
Buried alive.
But more than that.
What truly terrified me now wasn't that.
The station's design.
It was malicious.
Simple words weren't enough.
A structure that toyed with human psychology.
Deceiving people into thinking the train was imminent, stimulating their subconscious.
Dulling and clouding their greatest weapon: rational judgment.
Forcing them to run.
Leaving no room for thoughts beyond boarding.
No chance for doubt.
A post from the gallery came to mind.
Come back.
The user who wrote that.
They had escaped unharmed, they said.
That meant they got off not on the surface, but underground.
"How... did they manage to write that post?"
Right in front of me, someone's footsteps halted.
Ah.
A death rattle escaped.
Couldn't board.
The train was already packed.
The station lights went out, and my vision blacked.
***
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Moving to the last save point.]
[The most recent save point is AUTO SAVE 0.]
[Gyeonggi Gwangju Station Horror]
[Death Type]: Crush.
[Tip]: The 'exit' does not exist. Once you start descending the stairs, it becomes a one-way passage.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
My vision flashed, light returning.
Everything around was bright again.
The noise, the pressure, the crowd's push—all gone.
A normal announcement flowed in my ears.
People passing by, fiddling with phones, dozing off.
Among them.
A woman in a black suit tilted her head, searching for someone.
As if nothing had happened.
Her words from the first loop came back to me.
—You know it too. There's... no exit here.
"Fuck. That's why she said there's no exit."
Then, a now-familiar voice rang out beside me.
"Could you be the person I'm supposed to meet here?"
She smiled brightly and extended her hand.
Kim Sera.
My throat tightened stiffly.
Just moments ago, she was writing in the rulebook, scribbling 'Level 2 - 2.5 Danger Grade' with trembling fingertips.
Until death, she stuck to her mission: completing the rulebook.
The sound of the unmanned train departing.
Drenched in sweat, she stayed with me to the end.
Now, her face showed no knowledge of it.
I slipped my subtly trembling fingertips into my pocket.
And recalled the rules I had desperately memorized before my memory reset.
As best I could.
Rule 3. Do not heed announcements or exits.
3-1. Do not let the announcements delude you and cloud your judgment. They create urgency and illusions in people.
3-2. There are only two exits. A third does not exist.
3-3. Remember the building's structure. This is an above-ground two-story subway station. No basement.
3-4. If led by illusion into descending with the crowd, do not board. Boarding the subway leads straight to 'Donghwa.' Better to meet death as a human.
I exhaled deeply.
Sera didn't remember the loop.
Only I inherited the memories.
"...Pleased to meet you. Alpha Agent."
***
I extended my hand to Sera.
She took it with a bright smile, as if nothing had happened.
As if the memory of dying crushed together just moments ago had never existed.
We didn't have much time to compile the rulebook.
This time, it went much faster than before.
The illusion on the bench that entranced people.
The repeating announcements that bewitched the ears.
The fake exit that tortured hope.
Overcoming it all, we passed the turnstiles and entered.
"Now, let's head down quick!"
Kim Sera appeared more confident than in the previous loop.
My competent yet taciturn agent persona seemed to have worked well.
I'd preempted every danger so far and shown keen insight in rule investigation.
I grabbed Sera's wrist as she moved quickly for the stairs.
"Alpha?"
"Did you investigate the building's structure before entering the station?"
Kim Sera nodded with a puzzled look.
"Yes, standard procedure. Of course. It's a two-story structure."
I replied lowly.
"Then you know this Gyeonggi Gwangju Station is a two-story above-ground building with no basement."
"...Obviously— Ah!"
She realized it too.
Her face paled as she backed away from the stairs.
We still had time.
At least 20 seconds, since we'd rushed in faster.
As she tried to step toward the opposite stairs, I grabbed her hand.
"If not down... then this way?"
I thought for a moment.
Considering it from their perspective.
Someone who designed something this malicious.
If I were behind this horror, would I clear a path for the crowd heading to the stairs?
The answer was obvious. No.
Time pressing.
Train arriving soon.
Announcements drilling into the ears.
In such situations, people always choose the 'simple option' over 'safety.'
The convenient, visible path.
The stairs.
The horror exploited that instinct meticulously.
So, no path?
No.
Rules exist because there's always a breakthrough, making the rulebook valid.
That meant not no exit, but we hadn't found it yet.
"...The path for us isn't the stairs."
I pointed to the other side with my finger.
Something that had been there all along.
Yet no one used it.
The elevator.