Chapter 62
Chapter 62
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: The Will to Die as a Human
-----------------------------------------------------------------
After Jang Chaeyeon pinned Yoo Daon to the floor, the three of us—who seemed to still be in our right minds—gathered for an emergency meeting.
"Hey, what the hell just happened?"
Song Arin stood beside me, frowning as she stared at Yoo Daon with a puzzled expression.
"You got swept away by seawater too, right, Song Arin?"
"You think it was just me? Everyone got swept away."
She clicked her tongue in response.
"The door shattered, seawater flooded in, and I thought we were done for, trapped and drowning. What is all this?"
"The door? Not the theater?"
"Yeah."
I shared the rest of the details with Song Arin.
"So you had the same dream too, Song Arin."
"I don't know if it was a dream, reality, or some mass hallucination, but yeah, pretty much."
"Then..."
Our eyes turned to Yoo Daon, still wriggling on the floor.
"Jaeheon?"
Yoo Daon, collapsed on the ground, lifted her head slightly to look at me.
"It's uncomfortable. Tell them to let me go quick."
"..."
Her oddly calm voice sent a chill of unease through me.
"Something's off with her. Brainwashed?"
"Want me to snap her neck real quick?"
"You all know Daon is your teammate, right?"
I glanced at the two seriously debating, then back at Yoo Daon.
"..."
Her name was still missing from above her head.
"Song Arin, can you use hypnosis to snap Daon out of it?"
"...I'll give it a shot."
Song Arin knelt down in front of the twitching Yoo Daon and locked eyes with her.
Yoo Daon's twitching eyes gradually relaxed, then suddenly widened open with a jerk.
"...Huh? Why am I lying here like this?"
"Did you manage to reverse it?"
I asked Song Arin as I watched Yoo Daon look around, but she shook her head.
"Nah. I just forcibly pulled out her deep subconscious while she was asleep. She's out for now, but she could slip back under any second."
"Me?"
"For now, let's keep a close eye. Daon, stay sharp."
"Oh, okay!"
Yoo Daon nodded with a clueless look on her face.
"So, where do we start fixing this mess?"
I sank into thought at Jang Chaeyeon's question.
Yeah, where do we even begin?
"First, we should track down the source."
"The source?"
"There has to be an origin for all this seawater flooding in."
"...Wasn't it right here? This isn't some play, is it?"
Song Arin pointed dumbly at the theater interior and stared at me.
"It doesn't seem like it's just causing one play phenomenon, at least."
No staff, no troupe, nothing remotely theatrical. And people aren't dropping dead on the spot.
A few things were nagging at me, though.
Song Arin let out a groan and sighed at my words.
"So where do we even look?"
"No idea."
"...Fine. Guess we'll have to brace for another seawater sweep or two."
Song Arin quickly accepted the situation and started scanning the surroundings.
"Let's split up."
I looked at the three of them.
"Song Arin, you and Daon check the area."
I paired them up in case Yoo Daon's hypnosis broke and someone needed to reapply it.
"Sure, whatever. You?"
"I'll go with Chaeyeon to question Management Bureau folks and civilians."
"Good call. If you just walk around holding the manual, they'll clock you as colleagues right away. Flaunt that manual."
"Got it."
"And White-hair, when you reveal your branch, say Containment Team, not HR Team."
"..."
Jang Chaeyeon stared blankly at Song Arin, who met her gaze and kept going.
"Even with the same abilities, a Gangdong Branch Containment Team white-hair carries more weight than a Gangseo Branch HR Team one."
According to the sunglassed guy, we're the Human and Containment Incident Response Team.
"Fine, we'll do that. Chaeyeon, you okay with it?"
"..."
Jang Chaeyeon nodded slowly.
"Yeah, we might have to take another seawater hit if things go south."
"We don't know anything yet."
"Looking at her state, it's early-stage mental contamination."
"Huh?"
Song Arin glanced at Yoo Daon, then at me.
"We've got maybe one or two more rounds before it gets bad. But let's make some real progress."
"...Agreed."
Song Arin nodded, and Yoo Daon bobbed her head too with a dazed wave.
"See you later! No idea what's going on, but good luck!"
"Hey, snap out of it."
"...Huh...?"
I left their conversation behind and stepped out of the theater with Jang Chaeyeon, lost in thought.
What did it feel like when the water hit?
"Chaeyeon, what'd it feel like getting swept up and, uh, turning into a fish?"
Jang Chaeyeon pondered my question for a moment before speaking.
"Thought I couldn't stay like this."
"That's it?"
"...Will."
"Will?"
"The will to die as a human, even if it kills me."
"Just those two?"
The will to die as a human, no matter what.
"It's one of the Containment Team's standard training drills."
"Why?"
"Taught that it's great against mental attacks."
"Why it works..."
"They told me to do it. That's it."
She shut her mouth like that was all she knew, staring blankly ahead with her usual expressionless face.
Classic Jang Chaeyeon answer.
Still, worth noting.
Outside, there were more murmuring people than before.
Had they just woken up? I scanned the crowd with Jang Chaeyeon, manuals in hand.
People huddled in small groups, looking anxious as they glanced around.
It didn't take long for someone to spot us.
"...That manual."
A plain-looking woman hurried over.
"Manage—"
Jang Chaeyeon quickly covered her mouth before she could finish.
"Somewhere else."
With her mouth covered, the woman nodded, and we moved to a quieter spot to talk.
"You really are from the Management Bureau."
She looked us over.
"I'm Lee Jeongyeon from the Gangbuk Branch Information Control Team, for now."
I stared at her as she spoke.
[Name: Lee Jeongyeon]
[Age: 36]
[Talents: None]
[Abilities: None]
[Background: She handles civilian info suppression for the Gangbuk Branch of the Management Bureau. Got this cruise trip as a reward for preventing a major incident ahead of time. Never dreamed she'd get dragged into another one here.]
[Weakness: She's just a regular person. Kill her, and she stays dead.]
Your standard civilian with no standout traits.
"I'm Kim Jaeheon from the Gangseo Branch HR Team, and this is..."
"Gangdong Branch Containment Team, Jang Chaeyeon."
Jang Chaeyeon introduced herself curtly, and relief washed over the woman's face.
"Containment Team...! Thank God... No big disaster then..."
"..."
The prestige of the Containment Team was no joke.
Her words came spilling out like a dam breaking.
"I was resting in my cabin for sure... Then out of nowhere, a wave hits from clear skies, window shatters, seawater pours in..."
Her account matched ours.
"Where'd you wake up?"
"On deck for me."
No major differences in wake-up spots.
"What were you thinking during the dream?"
"Hmm... Felt like if I stayed put, it was game over."
"Your colleagues?"
"Of the three I came with, one's fine, but another's acting weird, so I locked them in their room."
"Got it. Thanks."
I nodded and prepared to move on to others.
"Wait!"
"Yeah?"
She called us back as we turned to leave.
"And... I heard something weird."
"Weird sound?"
"Yeah. Heading down from deck, from the stern... Like waves crashing?"
I exchanged looks with Jang Chaeyeon.
"Anything else?"
"During the dream... I think I heard singing."
Singing, huh.
"We don't know what it is, but resist it as hard as you can. Nothing good comes from it."
"...I'll try."
She nodded.
Once she left, I pulled out the radio to contact Song Arin.
"Song Arin."
-What.
Her curt voice crackled through.
"Check out spots near the stern."
-Roger.
*
The surveys and searches continued until sunset.
"Common points are clear."
"Yeah."
Jang Chaeyeon nodded slowly as she sat across from me in the restaurant.
Were the staff hit too? Only canned drinks and packaged bread on offer.
I tore into some bread and started organizing the info.
"First, everyone dreams. All dreaming of turning into fish, and some heard super seductive sounds."
"Yeah."
"Wake-up spots vary by person."
I'd run into Song Arin and Yoo Daon midway, but they hadn't found anything yet.
"Too bad if those two don't turn up something."
I clicked my pen and jotted notes on paper.
Why the personal differences?
"Chaeyeon, does personal will play a big role in mental resistance?"
"Yeah."
She answered without a second thought and looked at me.
"Personal will matters a lot. Strong will means lower chance of getting eroded by the phenomenon."
"Gotcha."
So does Yoo Daon lack will? Nah.
"...Dies easy?"
A hypothesis bubbled up unconsciously.
Death isn't scary for Yoo Daon. Unlike us, she's theoretically got infinite lives.
Take a giant axe dropping on our necks—we'd dodge, block, do anything to survive.
But Yoo Daon? She'd take the chop, respawn, and think of plan B.
Fatal mindset in this situation.
"What's with the wave sounds from the stern?"
"...Might be something there."
"For now, wait for the others and—"
-Static crackle-!
Before I finished, the radio blared with Song Arin's urgent voice.
-Hear me?!
"Loud and clear!"
I snatched it up and replied, her voice bursting through.
-Listen close! Engine room! That massive thing in there...
-Static hiss!
-Destroy...! Somehow...! Never...!
"Song Arin!"
Static cut out, then one last line from her.
-Next time you find me, take me down.
-Thud!
The ship rocked once,
-Crash!
Windows shattered, seawater crashed over us.
A nauseating fishy stench engulfed us.
*
Plunged into water. Just like yesterday.
Lungs ripped out again, gills sprout, I try to scream but only bubbles escape.
Worst part? No pain. My body changed like it was natural.
Jang Chaeyeon's words echoed in my head.
The will to die as a human, even if it kills me.
To stifle screams, I bite down hard on my tongue with my teeth.
Red blood spreads in the water, sharp pain clearing my head.
I look down deep.
Unlike the sky above, the abyss shows nothing.
Pitch-black depths invisible—I swim down using fish fins.
A sound reaches my ears.
I have no ears, but a song caresses my soul.
No lyrics. Just monotonous humming.
Humming that makes you want to give up everything.
With each note, I feel myself melting away.
'Hang in there.'
Clinging to the voice amid fading thoughts, I steel my will and descend.
Something huge down there. A face—
Before seeing more, my consciousness snapped.
*
"...Cough! Cough!"
I bolt up coughing raggedly.
My cabin again.
Dawn light streamed from the sky.
Faint fishy smell lingered.
Quick self-check: fine. Others?
Radio calls to the rest: dead silence.
No way...
-Bang!
"Kim Jaeheon!"
Door flies open—Jang Chaeyeon rushes in.
"...Chaeyeon."
She eyes me worriedly.
I check her too.
Brief silence, then she speaks.
"You okay?"
"Still am."
"...Good."
She exhaled in relief.
"I... think I get it now."
"..."
Jang Chaeyeon nodded too.
It was about unbroken will. About not giving up.
"...Let's head straight to the engine room."
I stood, grabbing my gun.
"Time to see what's there."
From here, it's a race against time.
Day 3 of the cruise dawned.