Exit Station
The exploration of the subway continued in an atmosphere so warm, so companionable, it was almost impossible to believe they were currently probing a Gate.
"Our rookie's got talent, huh? I like you! If anything gives you trouble from here on out, you come to your senior. I'll help you no matter what!"
"Thank you, Team Leader Oh."
Mostly it went like this: whenever Kang Yul did anything at all, Team Leader Oh, walking ahead, would shower him with praise — "The rookie's incredible—!"
Huh... I actually like this kind of thing...?
The expectations sat a little heavy on Kang Yul, but at the same time something in him felt filled — satisfied, even. How to put it? It was a different flavor from the slightly unwholesome doting he'd received from Kim Chae-ryeong.
At any rate, the feeling wasn't a bad one, so he didn't try to stop her. And so the search continued in that warm, almost cheerful mood.
It didn't last.
"Rookie. I think we've seen everything there is to see in here. Let's move to the next car. About time we found Team Leader Myo, too."
There didn't seem to be any further anomalies worth finding in this cabin. If Team Leader Myo had come in with them, she'd be in one of the other cars. They decided to push on through the connecting door and keep searching.
"The lettering's all smeared. I can't even tell which car we're in."
"There's only one door we can go through, so we're either at the very back or the very front."
Which meant there was no chance of crossing paths with Team Leader Myo by going the wrong way. They opened the door leading to the adjacent car.
Rattle... clunk!
And in that instant—
Heaven, in its usual indifference, offered no warning.
They found themselves face-to-face with something standing motionless in the next car. Something that had been made in imitation of a human.
You have discovered Rush Hour Express (Conductor).
Exploration rate has increased.
Partial information on the Gate has been revealed.
"..."
"..."
Kang Yul and Team Leader Oh stopped all movement at once, as if they had rehearsed it — anything to avoid provoking the supernatural creature standing before them, a thing of swirling black smoke dressed in a conductor's uniform.
Clack.
Was it because Kang Yul and Team Leader Oh, facing it head-on, refused to move?
Clack.
The sound of dress shoes began drawing closer, carrying a will that seemed to say: If you will not come to me, then I will come to you.
Clack.
One step.
Clack.
And another.
Clack.
And then, with only a final step remaining — the moment the creature closed to a distance where a raised hand could have touched them —
The Conductor stopped.
As if that distance were the most appropriate one.
And then, immediately after—
: Currently determining whether you are a Guest or a Disruptive Passenger.
The Conductor stood without the slightest twitch, regarding Kang Yul and Team Leader Oh for a long, long time. "Regarding" was not quite the right word. Whether a being of rippling black smoke, standing there so utterly still, even possessed a sense called sight was an open question.
But Kang Yul judged that this thing, with a will of its own, was most certainly looking at them. Worm didn't have eyes either, and yet whenever it wriggled in Kang Yul's direction, he would feel the gaze and turn around all the same.
At any rate, that was the thought he held onto as the suffocating standoff stretched on.
Clack.
The Conductor took a single step back, then shifted its body onto a diagonal — as if making way.
A slow, gliding motion—
: Currently of the opinion that it is dangerous for a Guest to walk aboard a moving train.
Then it raised a white-gloved hand and pointed to a seat. The gesture was exactly that of a conductor urging a passenger to sit — it is dangerous to wander while the train is in motion; please take your seat.
Immediately after—
"...Let's go."
Team Leader Oh tipped her head in a small signal, her voice barely above a murmur. A great many things were written in the line of her back as she turned.
"..."
: Currently terrified of you.
: Hoping you will not do anything sudden.
: Hoping you will quietly take a seat.
: Desperately hoping you will recall the rules.
Kang Yul had a brief moment of Why is she scared of me...? — and then the rule surfaced in his memory.
➤ In the event of a disturbance inside the train — rioting, commotion, assault, vandalism, or any other disruption of order — the Conductor will intervene, and the offender will be processed as a missing person.
A reasonable inference followed at once: she was afraid that if the rookie panicked and caused an incident, she'd get dragged down with him.
I'm not that much of a washout, Team Leader Oh.
In any case, he did as she wanted. They went to the seats the Conductor had indicated and sat down in silence. The Conductor watched them for a beat, then passed through into the next car and vanished from sight.
"Haa... I thought I was going to suffocate."
Only once the Conductor was gone did Team Leader Oh let out a breath of relief. She rolled the stiffness from her shoulders and started grumbling.
"This is why I can't stand Rule-type Gates. Everything you do here comes with a restriction. You can barely do anything."
Kang Yul sat beside her and played along like a man working the room at the office — "Of course, absolutely, couldn't agree more" — and as he listened, a picture formed. Team Leader Oh was a typical firepower-type hunter, the kind who cleared Gates with magic.
"Rookie. This senior of yours can steamroll just about any Gate, you know? Even a godawful C-rank — if I charge in ready to die, I can clear it one way or another. But..."
She clicked her tongue, recalling the Conductor they had just met, as if the memory itself offended her.
"...Tsk. That thing just now wasn't something you handle by being ready to die. That's the kind of existence that accepts being bound by rules in exchange for the power to kill its target without fail."
"Which means...?"
"It means this Gate's threat level is B-rank at minimum. Ah — though with you cracking some of the rules, it might be down around C-rank now?"
Even as she said it, she muttered, "If this goes wrong, we could actually die..." and started rummaging through her inner pocket like an office worker who couldn't take the stress and needed a cigarette.
"Ugh, I need a sugar hit. Time for a lollipop."
What came out of the inner pocket, unexpectedly, was not a cigarette. It was a lollipop — and an expensive-looking one at that, giving off a refined, sweetly fragrant scent.
"Want one, Rookie?"
"I'd be grateful."
Kang Yul did not turn down food that was being offered. If it was something edible, and something sweet, still less so.
"Here. Have one. Oh — and for the record, I don't give these to just anyone. These are precious. I only hand them out to people who actually do their jobs."
She waved a brown lollipop that looked to be chocolate-flavored, adding, "I'm giving you this because you work hard~!"
So if I do good work, the candy's free?
Kang Yul interpreted her words a little differently. This was work he had to do anyway if he wanted the reward Team Leader Myo had promised. And they were throwing candy on top of that? If this wasn't a dream job, what was?
And so—
"If you put it that way, I suppose I have no choice but to prove my usefulness."
"Huh?"
"Give me a moment, please."
Kang Yul pulled the Goblin Club — currently in the form of a ballpoint pen — from his pocket. Then he began writing down in a pocket notebook the information he had learned from encountering the Conductor, information he hadn't had the presence of mind to record at the time.
A short while later—
Scratch, scratch, scratch—
Tap.
Riiip—!
"I'll take the candy as payment for the new information."
He held out the torn scrap of memo paper.
ㆍ Continuously patrols from one end of the train to the other.
ㆍ Possesses a grotesque appearance far removed from anything human.
ㆍ Places extreme importance on etiquette.
ㆍ Protects Guests, but immediately processes Disruptive Passengers.
※ To date, there have been no reported cases of the Conductor attacking a Guest first.
And then, in a motion that was very nearly snatching, he received the brown lollipop from Team Leader Oh's hand.
"...?"
: Currently terrified of you.
: Currently bewildered by your actions.
The look on Team Leader Oh's face at that moment was one of pure bafflement — What the hell is this monster doing...? — but Kang Yul was too busy enjoying the sweetness of a chocolate lollipop to notice.
Of course, this companionable mood was not going to last.
Our train will shortly arrive at Exit, Exit Station.
Guests whose destination is "Exit" are kindly asked to check once more that you have not left any belongings behind.
Guests unable to disembark at this station are asked to use another exit.
Should you experience any inconvenience during your ride, please request assistance from the Conductor currently patrolling the cars, and we will be happy to help.
We wish you a pleasant commute today.
And so, as the announcement that the train had arrived at its first station washed through the car and the doors slid open, the platform beyond came into view. They had no choice but to head for the next cabin in search of Team Leader Myo — as quickly as they could, but not so quickly as to violate the train's etiquette.
You have discovered Rush Hour Express (Exit Station).
Exploration rate has increased.
Partial information on the Gate has been revealed.
The moment the train came to a stop, Kang Yul and Team Leader Oh moved fast toward the next car.
Rattle... clunk!
They crossed into the first cabin. Team Leader Myo was not there. Without wasting a second, they picked up their pace again and opened the door to the next car.
Rattle... clunk!
The second cabin. Still no sign of Team Leader Myo. What Kang Yul did notice — and what sent a crawl of gooseflesh up his arms — was that the green-lit platform outside had not changed at all. They had clearly passed through two cars, and the view of the exit had not shifted in the slightest. That was proof, unambiguous, of an anomaly.
Rattle... clunk!
By the time they had come through the third cabin, Team Leader Myo was still nowhere to be seen. But then—
Rattle......... clunk...!
A door opening somewhere far ahead. Kang Yul narrowed his eyes and looked. In the distance, a black-haired woman with cat ears and a cat tail was coming into view.
And in that instant—
"Hey, you crazy bitch! You should've warned us about this—!!!"
Team Leader Oh, who had been walking ahead, suddenly exploded — a raw, nerve-frayed shout hurled straight at Team Leader Myo. Kang Yul was still processing the why is she doing that of it when a low voice drifted back from up ahead.
"I wasn't about to be the only one who had to suffer that."
In any case—
"You dog-ass bitch."
"I am a cat."
"You cat-ass bitch."
"? That is correct."
The two team leaders went on snarling at each other for a while, locked eye to eye, and as Kang Yul watched them, his gaze snagged on something in Team Leader Myo's hand. He asked about it.
"Team Leader Myo. That thing you're holding...?"
"Picked it up on the way."
She answered as briefly as someone who had found money on the sidewalk. Unfortunately, what she was holding was not money.
How could it be?
"A person...?"
What Team Leader Myo had in her hand was a person. More precisely: a living person, limbs severed, trailing blood in a thin continuous line, being dragged along behind her.