Chapter 396
Chapter 396
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Someone Is Watching Me
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"Ugh..."
My entire body ached.
For a moment, I groaned from the crushing pain, but then I snapped to my senses and looked around. Jang Chaeyeon and Song Arin were both lying there, completely motionless.
"Chaeyeon. Arin."
I called their names, but they remained lying there without responding.
I crawled over on my knees and gently tapped their cheeks, but neither moved, as if they'd completely lost consciousness.
I looked around.
-Hiss...
Nearby, gas was leaking out with a hissing sound, and countless pipes stretched out everywhere.
Pipes...?
I looked up, and an impossibly high ceiling came into view.
Roughly eight stories high.
...
How did we survive falling from here?
Did Jang Chaeyeon help? No, then Song Arin should be fine too.
I had no idea what was going on.
But.
"Hey. Wake up."
As I shook her while thinking that,
"Jaeheon."
Yoo Daon's voice came from behind me.
Wait, Yoo Daon's voice?
"Daon!"
I whipped around and saw Yoo Daon, who gave an awkward smile at my gaze.
Blood was splattered all over her neck area, so she clearly wasn't unscathed.
"Daon, that blood..."
"Oh, this..."
Yoo Daon scratched her cheek at my question.
"I fell down with you guys."
"You... let that happen?"
As far as I remembered, Yoo Daon hadn't fallen with us.
To be precise, her parents had dropped just us, making sure she didn't fall.
They wouldn't have let her drop so easily. How did she manage it?
Seeming to read the meaning in my gaze, Yoo Daon shook her head with an "Ah."
"No, no, nothing like that. They were trying to do something up there, so I stabbed an awl into my neck!"
Yoo Daon grinned and showed me the bloodied awl.
"...Pardon?"
The explanation was too short.
I pressed my temples and asked her to explain again.
...
After hearing the full story, a bitter taste filled my mouth once more.
That must have hurt.
"I'm fine."
She smiled, reading my gaze.
"Don't worry about me, Jaeheon... Let's figure out how to get out of here!"
She beamed brightly, and I had no choice but to nod.
"You're right. ...For now, how about we carry one each?"
"Ah, then I'll take Chaeyeon..."
"No, Chaeyeon is heavier... Daon, you carry Arin on your back."
Yoo Daon nodded as if she understood and expertly hoisted Song Arin onto her back.
I did the same with Jang Chaeyeon.
...
Compared to the feel of her, she was surprisingly light.
No, this wasn't the time for such thoughts.
"Let's go, then."
With that, we started walking, each carrying one of them.
Silently, without a word, Yoo Daon and I moved forward.
I wasn't sure what to say.
Not because I was worried about Yoo Daon...
"Jaeheon."
"Yeah?"
"Your face is red. Is Chaeyeon too heavy? She seems like she'd weigh a fair bit..."
"...Not that."
"Then what?"
"Uh, um. Just... something like that."
I trailed off vaguely, and Yoo Daon...
Embarrassed.
I'd just put on all sorts of airs talking to her, and now my mood felt off.
No, more precisely, I felt incredibly embarrassed.
As we walked in that awkward silence,
"...Jaeheon."
Yoo Daon spoke to me first.
"Yeah, Daon."
"I heard something weird earlier."
"Weird?"
What did she mean?
I gave her a puzzled look, and she met my eyes as she continued.
"Actually, I got hit with a mental attack earlier."
"Yeah?"
That didn't seem like something to say so lightly.
As I stared at her with that thought, she waved it off with a smile.
"It's fine now. Arin hit me with a mental attack of her own."
I still didn't follow, but I nodded for now.
"I, I see."
"So it's okay."
Yoo Daon looked at me with a kind smile, and I could only nod awkwardly in response.
"Anyway. That's when I realized."
"Yeah?"
What? I looked at her quizzically, and she went on.
"I thought I kept getting hit by mental attacks because my mind was weak."
"Yeah."
I nodded, and she continued.
"But no. My parents said something... Like they were hiding something from me."
Hiding?
I looked at her confused, and she explained further.
After the three of us fell, the two of them signaled something to Yoo Daon, and her body wouldn't obey her.
So she'd stabbed the awl into her neck to force a fall and escape.
...
I sank into thought as I listened.
So the reason Yoo Daon was vulnerable to mental attacks now was some kind of device her parents had implanted in her head...?
How to fix that...
...
Suddenly, something clicked in my mind.
The increased Critical, and my heightened understanding of Yoo Daon.
Why had my understanding of Yoo Daon suddenly risen, and why the Critical?
I hadn't had any sudden insight about her, much less a reason for Critical.
That made me even more uneasy.
From what I knew, Critical always stemmed from clearly grasping a situation or deeply understanding someone, but this felt like it had just appeared out of nowhere.
Was I missing something?
...
I closed my eyes and racked my brain, but nothing definitive came to mind.
Surely it wasn't given for a time like this.
...
I shook my head to clear the thoughts and continued.
Should I ask Yoo Daon?
"Daon."
"Yeah?"
"Have you ever felt like you suddenly understood me better, and then your stats went up... or, uh, you got dramatically stronger... something like that?"
"Dramatically..."
Yoo Daon closed her eyes thoughtfully at my question, then opened them.
"Hm, not dramatically, but... when I think about you, Jaeheon, my thoughts get sharper, I guess."
That didn't seem like a huge change.
As I thought that and looked at her, I opened my mouth.
"Daon. What if I were to tell you..."
"Sure."
"I haven't said anything yet."
I stared at her in bewilderment, and she continued as if it were obvious.
"Doesn't matter what it is."
...
"So let's go."
Groaning a little, Yoo Daon shifted Song Arin on her back and started walking.
...
With Jang Chaeyeon on mine, I deftly opened the Manual.
"Where are we now? Guide me."
After a brief—no, a long silence, the Manual finally opened.
-Flip!
[Office Manual]
[98th Floor - Underground]
1. The underground is always dangerous.
2. Survival rates are extremely low, and survivors have testified as follows: [I feel like something is constantly watching me.]
3. No underground containment objects or anomalies have been properly identified yet. Please exercise caution.
4. The underground structure is basically a dark, maze-like area with pipes hanging everywhere.
5. Occasionally, bizarre things emerge from inside the pipes, so stay alert.
6. As for exits, nothing is confirmed, but according to survivors, it's where the most pipes converge.
So even it doesn't know.
I nodded, closed the Manual, and looked at Yoo Daon.
"Let's stick to the paths with the most pipes."
"Yeah!"
Yoo Daon smiled at my words, and we all slowly began to move.
It was obvious by eye which paths had the most pipes.
...
...
We walked on, carrying the two of them.
I didn't forget to stay vigilant.
I kept scanning our surroundings, and Yoo Daon did the same, sniffing the air.
"No weird smells yet or anything?"
"Nope."
She shook her head at my question.
"More like every smell mixed together..."
"Every smell?"
"Yeah."
What did that mean? I looked at Yoo Daon, but she tilted her head as if unsure herself.
"What kind of smells?"
"Oh, uh. Well..."
Yoo Daon closed her eyes and sniffed.
"Super... spicy smell, but also acrid... sulfur..."
...
She kept sniffing with her eyes closed, then looked at me.
"Like that?"
...
No clue.
I stared at her in confusion, and she gave an awkward smile.
"Oh, and... when this... acrid smell gets closer..."
Yoo Daon's voice trailed off,
I turned to look at her, and suddenly she was breaking out in cold sweat as she stared at me.
"...Jaeheon."
"...Yeah."
"Walk quietly. No talking."
...
It was a rare sight—Yoo Daon's face and voice filled with fear.
She took the lead as she said it, and I followed behind her.
What the hell—
In that instant, a chill ran down my spine, and I felt like something was watching me.
I hurriedly looked back, but
Nothing was there.
Just pipes sprawling like spiderwebs in the darkness.
...
2. Survival rates are extremely low, and survivors have testified as follows: [I feel like something is constantly watching me.]
This didn't feel good at all.