Chapter 62
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 62
Chapter Title: Subway Dream (4)
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My consciousness returned to the darkness. Dayeon was holding my wounded hand tightly.
“...What are you doing.”
“First aid.”
At her words, I looked around. I wondered where I was, and it was the nurse's office.
Ah, so this is when it saved.
Dayeon was in the middle of treating my hand, which had been cut by a kitchen knife.
It seemed applying the disinfectant was treated as a handshake, triggering an autosave.
I stared blankly at the treatment process. The disinfectant seeped into the wound. Before, it hurt so much I screamed pathetically.
But now, I received the treatment calmly. The shock from earlier hadn't faded yet.
What just happened?
My mind was filled with confusion.
Maybe it was because too many things happened at once, but my brain felt overloaded.
As I sat there, Dayeon looked at me with a curious expression.
“Doesn't it hurt?”
“It's bearable...”
Suddenly, the scene from before came to mind. Dayeon had plunged a box cutter into my neck. I didn't feel any pain, but the shock was vivid.
“There, all done.”
Dayeon tied the bandage tightly and patted my head. Even then, my mind was off in Andromeda.
As expected, I couldn't do this alone. I desperately needed someone else's help.
Looking at Dayeon, who was placing a lollipop in my hand, I spoke quietly.
“So, I just died a moment ago...”
I explained the experience from earlier, rambling on without missing a single detail. Dayeon propped her chin on her hand, looking intrigued, and hummed.
“Huh, interesting.”
“Interesting or not, this is reality...”
To think she could maintain such a languid attitude even in this situation.
Unlike someone whose mind was in turmoil, she was completely relaxed.
“So, what was the reason for killing me?”
“How should I know? Ask the other Dayeon.”
Dayeon shrugged, feigning ignorance.
Was she saying that because it was a different timeline, it had nothing to do with her?
“But you can still guess, can't you?”
“Hmm, to save Ju-hee?”
To save Ju-hee.
As I thought, there was no other reason. If I died, time would rewind along with me.
Besides, I didn't have the guts to kill myself.
Like jumping off the roof.
An act like hanging myself was something a coward like me could never do.
So it seems Dayeon killed me for my sake. ...Her knowing me too well is the problem.
“What are you going to do now?”
“Well.”
After a peaceful weekend, Ju-hee was murdered. Horribly, at that.
And the progression rate rose by 5%. The circumstances up to this point suggested one hypothesis.
Chapter 2 has begun.
Not for us, of course, but for Ju-hee.
“Damn it...”
Why?
It was the same during One-man Hide-and-seek, why Ju-hee and not us?
Ju-hee, who was perfectly fine just this morning, died because of a supernatural phenomenon.
Her body split in two, torn into an upper and lower half.
An indescribable sense of guilt stuck in my throat as I swallowed.
Ju-hee's death is all my fault. Thinking that, I lowered my head.
“Snap out of it.”
Then, Dayeon shoved the lollipop into my mouth. A faint sweetness spread across the tip of my tongue, and my mind cleared.
“Sweet?”
“...A little.”
“Let me have a taste.”
“No way.”
I barely managed to stop her hand from slyly reaching for the lollipop.
“Greedy.”
“Think what you want.”
I mumbled my reply nonchalantly while sucking on the candy. Thanks to Dayeon, I regained my composure.
I thought it over rationally and coolly. What was the best I could do?
First, saving Ju-hee from the supernatural phenomenon was the top priority. Chapter 2 and everything else could wait.
Just as I brushed myself off and steeled my resolve, the nurse's office door burst open.
“Is it true?!”
I wondered who it was, and it was Do-yeon. Just like in the last playthrough, she was making a fuss and shouting.
I nodded silently. The conversation that followed went similarly to last time.
“So... want to go visit her in the hospital together?”
Do-yeon suggested we visit Ju-hee. In the last playthrough, I didn't refuse and went with her.
But I couldn't do that now. Ju-hee was currently caught up in a supernatural phenomenon.
I didn't want to drag Do-yeon into this and create another victim. I felt bad, but I firmly expressed my refusal.
“I don't think I can today.”
“Really...? Okay, I guess I'll just go alone then...”
Do-yeon left, her shoulders slumped, looking dejected. It was a 180-degree turn from her usual self, which felt dissonant.
On one hand, I felt sorry for her, but this was all for her sake.
Because the supernatural phenomena should be limited to just us.
But that wasn't the case for Ju-hee.
It wasn't enough that she got caught up in One-man Hide-and-seek because of my mistake; now Unreality had started to interfere as well.
Guilt kept piercing my heart. I would never repeat this tragedy.
I made a firm resolve. I had been living with too lax a mindset.
To get through Unreality, I had to discard that lazy and foolish state of mind.
This wasn't just about me, was it?
There's Dayeon, there's Ju-hee. The lives of others were also in my hands.
This wasn't the time to relax just because the day felt peaceful.
From now on, I steeled myself to face the supernatural phenomena.
Dayeon asked, bewildered.
“Do you have a plan?”
“First, I have to meet Ju-hee.”
It was time for us to step up.
**
“Ju-hee...!”
“I told you, I'm fine now...”
Ju-hee barely managed to pull away a tearful Do-yeon who was clinging to her.
Still, a part of her was grateful. The fact that a friend who would cry for her was by her side was touching.
Overcome with emotion, she almost burst into tears but managed to hold them back.
And so, Ju-hee welcomed the visit from her best friend Do-yeon and they chatted about this and that.
How much time had passed?
Only after waving goodbye to a puffy-eyed Do-yeon did she finally have some time to herself.
A heavy silence filled the hospital room. Suddenly, Ju-hee remembered the dream she had yesterday.
An unidentified subway, going who knows where. And people dying mercilessly...
Just imagining it gave her goosebumps. She never wanted to experience that dream again.
Ju-hee recalled how she had trembled in fear. She had definitely called out someone's name desperately then.
“I-I don't know!”
Ju-hee's face turned red as a beet. She told herself she must have been possessed by a ghost and tried to clear her head.
She didn't know what to do with herself from the shame. Burying her face in the pillow, she muttered quietly.
“Lee Hyeon...”
Just then, the sound of an incomprehensible conversation echoed from beyond the hospital room door.
“We've been caught.”
“...How did she know?”
“Because you weren't careful.”
“I tried my best to be...”
“Clumsy.”
“How am I clumsy?”
Outside the door, a man and a woman started talking. For some reason, their voices sounded familiar.
“W-Who's there!”
Ju-hee shouted urgently. In response, they continued their conversation in whispers.
“What now?”
“Well, is there any other way? We'll just have to barge in.”
“That wasn't the original plan.”
“You think I expected this...?”
“Clumsy.”
“I told you I'm not clumsy.”
“Slowpoke.”
“...Whatever, I'm going in, so get ready.”
Soon, the hospital room door was flung open, and someone appeared.
Ju-hee was flustered to see their faces.
“W-Why are you two here...?!”
Dayeon and Lee Hyeon strode into the room. They spoke at the same time.
“Are you okay.”
“Hi?”
**
This wasn't the original plan.
I'd planned to use my head and approach Ju-hee casually...
I don't know when, but Ju-hee had figured out who I was. So I scrapped the original plan and just barged in haphazardly.
“W-Why are you two here...?!”
Ju-hee looked completely dumbfounded. In a way, it was a perfectly normal reaction.
I tried to act cool and wracked my brain for an answer.
“Heard you were hospitalized, so I came to check if you're okay. Got a problem with that?”
“Is that how someone visiting a patient is supposed to act?!”
Ju-hee retorted fiercely.
When I thought about it, she had a point, so I couldn't argue and shut my mouth.
“Hmph.”
In times like this, ignoring her was the best policy. I plugged my ears and continued what I had to say.
“Have you had sleep paralysis recently?”
“W-Why are you suddenly asking that!”
“Just answer the question.”
When I acted a little forcefully like last time, Ju-hee's shoulders shrank slightly.
As expected, Ju-hee was weak to threats and intimidation. It seemed like I could just push forward like this.
This makes me feel like some kind of weird pervert, but that's just my imagination, right?
I brushed aside the useless thought and asked forcefully. Ju-hee hesitated for a moment before obediently spilling the secret.
“Actually, I just had sleep paralysis... But that's it. It's no big deal, so don't worry about it.”
I've already died and come back once.
I instantly sensed that Ju-hee's sleep paralysis wasn't a simple phenomenon.
I couldn't just dismiss it as nothing. I needed to dig deeper.
“Did you have a nightmare or something?”
“...Something like that.”
“What kind of dream was it? As detailed as possible.”
“I mean, why do you keep prying about stuff like that—”
“Tell me.”
She was being frustratingly evasive, so I came on a bit strong. Ju-hee seemed a little taken aback, but she soon began to speak obediently.
And I heard the shocking details.
“A subway?”
“Yeah, I'm not lying...”
The subway dream.
The nightmare Ju-hee had was a rather absurd and cruel dream.
An unidentified subway line and passengers who were all strange in one way or another.
...And even dwarves who brutally killed people.
It was too bizarre to be a simple nightmare. Such a grotesque and cruel setting could only be seen as a supernatural phenomenon.
A supernatural phenomenon.
‘No way!’
For a moment, an idea flashed in my mind. I immediately opened the Omake Mode to check the progress.
...Just as I thought,
【Unreality Progression - 24%】
The progression rate had increased by 2%. I wasn't seeing things. The rate had definitely changed.
This change in progression hammered the nail in the coffin for my theory.
Only then did my suspicion turn into certainty.
The progression rate that had suddenly risen over the weekend wasn't some kind of display error.
Chapter 2 had been progressing on its own, without me. And it was happening in Ju-hee's dream.
That's right. Chapter 2 was unfolding right in the middle of Ju-hee's dream.
To think I only just realized that.
I hit myself on the head to snap out of it. My head felt a little clearer.
“A dream...”
Dayeon, who seemed to have realized it too, fell into deep thought. Then she asked a fundamental, yet unexpected question.
“So what should we do?”
“I don't know... Is there a way to enter a dream?”
I'd hit a wall.
Even knowing that Chapter 2 was progressing in Ju-hee's dream, there was no way to get into it.
I rummaged through the Omake Mode just in case, but I couldn't find any useful items.
And I couldn't just hope to get a dream-related ability from the ability gacha.
“What should we do...”
“Should we ask someone else?”
“...You think that'll work?”
As if grabbing a random passing nurse and asking how to enter a dream would get us an answer.
They'd obviously mistake me for a mental patient.
It was better not to even attempt such a useless act.
‘Wait, a person?’
I couldn't imagine getting a good answer from asking a person.
But what if the one I ask isn't a person?
Naturally, one figure... no, one object came to mind.
That thing might know a way.
“Take out Nabi.”
I gestured, and Dayeon, understanding my intention, opened her bag. She pulled out the object that had been stuffed deep inside.
[Puhah! How dare you stuff me in there? I swear in the devil's name, I will curse you!]
The cat doll, the key to this incident, meowed nonstop.
“I'm counting on you.”
“Leave it to me.”
I slyly took a step back. I left what was to come to Dayeon.
[Y-You two...! What are you scheming...]
Nabi chattered on for a while before sensing something ominous and growing noticeably quieter.
Then it resisted, shouting urgently.
[D-Don't come any closer! Do you really know who I am to be doing this...]
But Dayeon paid it no mind, spreading her slender fingers and stroking Nabi's belly.
[D-Don't come...! Please don't...]
Nabi twitched and shivered.
Now, it was time to begin the interrogation.