Descent (5)
The explorers were currently looking around the department store. They seemed hesitant to exchange their votes.
Unless they were at the very top of the rankings, spending too many votes now would leave them short later. In truth, votes would prove incredibly useful down the line.
I strolled through the lobby. The first floor was mostly filled with luxury boutiques.
In other words, I had no use for it.
“…….”
I paused mid-stride.
[ A pristine, snow-covered field. Spend a peaceful moment in a place where nothing else exists! ]
An advertising panel hanging on the department store wall. A white landscape stretched out endlessly.
They did say hints would be scattered all over the place.
“Whoa! This is Hermenean!”
A loud voice rang out. It was Seo Ji-woo and Yun Hwa-rim. The two of them had apparently grown close already, standing together in front of the Hermenean boutique.
“What's Hermenean?” Ji-woo asked Hwa-rim.
“The ultimate luxury brand! This bag alone is thirty thousand dollars.”
“What?!”
Ji-woo's eyes went wide.
“That's insane. Are they crazy? For this tiny little handbag?”
Ji-woo lifted the bag with trembling fingers.
Honestly, that surprised me too. How could a bag barely the size of three wrapping cloths cost thirty thousand dollars?
“But what's even more shocking... Ji-woo,” Hwa-rim covered her mouth and whispered conspiratorially, “is that it only costs three thousand coins here.”
“Three thousand coins?! Is it a knockoff? A fake?”
It wasn't a knockoff. They were all genuine.
“Come on. This is all PPL. It's definitely the real deal.”
“…Really?”
“Yeah. Ji-woo, do you own any designer bags?”
“No, not a single one.”
“Reeeally?”
With a sly grin, Hwa-rim picked up the Hermenean bag.
“Then take this chance to treat yourself~”
“W-what are you talking about? What would I even do with something like this?”
“Oh, come on. You should have at least one bag for important occasions. Besides, it's practically free. You must have gotten a ton of votes, Ji-woo.”
“…That's true.”
Ji-woo was at the very top. Her vote count had probably already accumulated into the hundreds of thousands.
“Wait. If you think about it, wouldn't it be a huge profit just to resell it later?” Ji-woo muttered, her face showing she was already half-convinced.
“Of course~! But once you use it, you'll never want to sell it.”
“…H-hem.”
A smile twitched at the corners of her mouth.
“Here you go~”
Hwa-rim slipped the Hermenean bag onto Ji-woo's finger. Ji-woo swallowed hard, pretending to reluctantly accept it.
“Then... should I buy just one? J-just one?”
“Buy it!”
“Just buy one?!”
“Buy it!”
“Do it?!”
“Buy it!”
“I mean, it would be nice to have one of these. It's not wasting money, it's basically free, right?”
“Right~? Wow, your very first designer bag is a Hermenean? Our Ji-woo is in big trouble now~~”
“Hehehe~”
“Big trouble~”
“Hehehe~”
Hwa-rim clapped her hands, and Ji-woo posed this way and that like a performing bear.
I walked past them as they made absolute fools of themselves.
I took the escalator up to the second floor, heading to the travel goods section.
First, I picked out a suitcase.
“Hyung!”
Someone called out to me from behind.
“Man, I've been looking everywhere for you. You're so tall, how were you so hard to find?”
It was Im Hae-jun. He already had a fistful of churros in his hand.
“Hyung, listen.”
“What.”
“I've been thinking...” Hae-jun glanced around before whispering quietly, “I think it'd be great if we teamed up.”
“You saw the promotional still cuts, didn't you?”
“…….”
Hae-jun's pupils dilated. He looked like a man who had just been hit dead center.
“N-no, it's not like that! I just feel like we have great chemistry, you know? And two people can draw in more votes than one... Wait, Hyung, are you buying a suitcase?” Hae-jun quickly changed the subject.
“Yeah.”
“Ah~ because we're going on a trip?”
I picked out a suitcase. One that was as sturdy and spacious as possible.
“What the? Hyung, isn't that a bit much?”
“What's too much about it?”
“The suitcase is so ug—ah, right, everything here is PPL. But even for PPL, isn't that way too big?”
“It's fine.”
I checked the price. 30 coins. Excellent value for the money.
“…Ugh. Hyung, by the way.” Hae-jun shivered as he looked around the department store. “Doesn't it feel kind of cold in here?”
“…….”
I nodded silently. It wasn't his imagination; it really was cold. Even though we were indoors, our breath was on the verge of turning to mist.
This, too, was a hint.
“I should buy some clothes first.”
“You get a suitcase too.” I pointed at the suitcases.
“Nah, I'm a backpacker at heart. I don't really like dragging suitcases around...”
“Buy one.”
I stared down at Hae-jun. He blinked a few times, then nodded.
“…Yes, sir.”
Reading the room, he picked up a suitcase. It was a mini-suitcase barely reaching his thigh.
“Bigger.”
“This is plenty for me, though?”
“I said, buy a bigger one.”
Hae-jun frowned in protest. “What gives? Hyung, why are you micromanaging me? This style suits me way better.”
I just looked at him. I didn't say a word. I simply glared.
“…….”
Hae-jun quietly put it back and chose another suitcase. It was the exact same model as mine.
“Seriously, why is it so huge? What am I even going to put in here? Having too much luggage is just a hassle.”
“Food.”
“…Huh? Hyung, do you even know what a vacation is?”
There was no grand reason why I was bothering to give this guy a hint. He was someone who had climbed from the top 50 to the top 10.
Which meant he was highly popular.
Standing next to someone with high public recognition would boost my own. Since we were on the same team in the previous labyrinth, we could expect a solid synergy effect.
There was no other reason.
“Hyung, did you watch Cast Away or read Robinson Crusoe yesterday or something? There's no way they're sending us to an uninhabited island, right?”
We weren't going to an uninhabited island.
We were going somewhere much worse.
* * *
Hae-jun and I began shopping in earnest.
First, all kinds of useful tools: hand axes, saw blades, hammers, and screwdrivers. Emergency rations, including canned goods and MREs. Vacuum-seal freezer bags capable of holding up to five kilograms of meat. On top of that, high-end winter parkas with plenty of pockets and storage space.
We packed our suitcases to the brim.
“But seriously, Hyung, why are you going so overboard?” Hae-jun asked, chewing on a churro. He had bought the exact same clothes as me and packed plenty of food, but most of his stash consisted of snacks: chips, chocolates, almond chocolates, Dubai chocolates, and the like. Still, high-calorie snacks with low volume weren't a bad choice.
“Let's go pay.”
“Ah~ I didn't plan on buying this much. Hyung, our votes aren't just numbers. Our viewers shed blood, sweat, and tears to—”
“Quiet.”
“…You always tell me to be quiet,” Hae-jun pouted. I found it absurd.
“I said it once. Just now.”
“You only said it once out loud, but you're always saying it with your eyes.”
“So what.”
At any rate, we headed back down to the first floor together.
Beep— Beep— Beep—
The barcode scanners at the first-floor registers were chirping constantly. The explorers were scanning their own items.
Beep—
Just now, Kang Hyun had pointed the scanner's red laser directly at his own forehead. He was holding it upside down. Lee Jong-su walked over and turned it the right way for him.
“Hyung, a spot opened up.”
“Yeah.”
I stepped up to a register.
Beep— Beep— Beep— Beep— Beep— Beep— Beep— Beep— Beep— Beep— Beep— Beep— Beep—
At the endless barrage of beeps, the other explorers glanced in my direction.
A suitcase packed to the brim with items essential for survival.
Total: 3,035 coins.
“Your turn.”
“Okay.”
Hae-jun grabbed the scanner with his sugar-coated fingers.
“Ji-woo~ you look so pretty~”
Just then, that familiar, sing-song voice drifted over. It was the duo of Yun Hwa-rim and Seo Ji-woo.
Miss Seo Ji-woo had somehow transformed herself, covered from head to toe in designer brands.
“How do you feel~?”
“Well... I can't say I feel bad~ Haha, hahahaha!”
She certainly looked different compared to when she was in her uniform. I guess that was the power of luxury brands.
As I stole a glance, my eyes met Ji-woo's.
Ji-woo lifted her chin with supreme confidence.
“Hey. What are you looking at?”
“Oh? Spellcaster Ha-woon.” Hwa-rim spotted me too. She looked back and forth between Ji-woo and me, raising her eyebrows suggestively. “What do you think~? Isn't Ji-woo pretty~? Heheh.”
Ironically, Hwa-rim herself was dressed quite warmly. She even had a thick backpack slung over her shoulders. Meanwhile, Ji-woo... only had a single Hermenean handbag.
I let out a sigh.
Ji-woo knitted her brows.
“A sigh? What's that sigh for?”
I just felt like sighing. I get that you're having fun in a department store, but you're being incredibly foolish.
I grabbed a duffel bag. I stuffed it with whatever caught my eye—emergency rations, chocolate, a box of matches, gloves, a portable stove—and tossed it to Ji-woo.
“Ah! Hyung! That chocolate, those chocolates are mine!!”
While Hae-jun wailed, Ji-woo caught the bag in a daze. She looked back and forth between the bag and me.
“What... what is this for?” She shrugged, genuinely clueless.
“…It's cold outside.”
I left it at that and turned away. Hae-jun nudged my shoulder.
“Those chocolates were mine, Hyung! They were cream chocolates!”
“Then buy another one.”
“No, but...”
Hae-jun grabbed my sleeve and tugged on it like a whining child, but then, as if a sudden realization struck him, a sly grin crept onto his face. He instantly transformed from a cute Pomeranian into a scheming middle-aged man.
“…Hehehe. Hyung, you like Ji-woo, don't you?”
“Quiet.”
If anyone asked whether I liked or disliked Seo Ji-woo as a person, my answer would be the exact opposite.
I disliked her.
Extremely so.
“Aw, come on~ Stop lying~”
“I told you to be quiet.”
* * *
“Ji-woo. Don't they look like penguins over there?” Hwa-rim pointed toward Seol Ha-woon and Im Hae-jun walking in the distance. “Daddy penguin and baby penguin.”
Dressed in the exact same bulky winter clothes and dragging identical suitcases, the way they waddled side-by-side made them look just like penguins. The taller one even had an actual limp.
“Oh. Daddy penguin just disciplined baby penguin.”
Smack. The daddy penguin smacked the back of the baby penguin's head. Did the baby penguin say something bad? I wonder.
Ji-woo watched their retreating figures before asking Hwa-rim.
“Hwa-rim. Do you know Seol Ha-woon well?”
“Of course. We were on the same team. Honestly, at first, I suspected him of being a troll, but...” Hwa-rim shook her head, as if she didn't even want to recall it. “Turns out I was the troll. He was incredibly skilled.”
“…Well, he's ex-military. There's no way he'd be useless.”
There's no way he'd be useless, but...
Ji-woo tilted her head, looking down at the bag. She couldn't for the life of her figure out why he had given this to her.
Hwa-rim nudged Ji-woo in the ribs.
“Ji-woo, does he have a crush on you?”
“Don't be ridiculous...”
Only then did Ji-woo notice Hwa-rim's outfit. It was a thick, puffy down parka. In fact, everyone else was dressed similarly.
They must all be assuming the destination is somewhere cold.
“…Hwa-rim, wait here. I'm going to buy a few more things.”
A sudden wave of anxiety washed over her.
Was it because of Ha-woon's words, “It's cold outside”? She felt like she absolutely needed at least one warm coat.
“Sure~ We only have five minutes left, so hurry. You should be able to find some on the third floor.”
“Got it. Wait for me.”
Ji-woo dashed toward the escalator.