episode_0072

***

As I passed through the gap, a familiar Korean street unfolded.

Looking at the acrid smell of exhaust smoke and the trees lining the street, Lee Mi-na realized that she had escaped that hell.

After seeing with her eyes, feeling with her skin, and hearing with her ears things that she thought she would never feel again, she fell into sentiment for a moment.

10 seconds like that. Imina slapped her cheek hard.

match! There was a loud noise, and passers-by looked at her strangely.

“Why are you resting because you did a good job?”

She muttered quietly as if urging herself.

“I don’t deserve to rest.”

Looking at the small notification window that appeared in front of her, she walked somewhere.

The notification window that said ‘Level 4 Dimension’ disappeared with a gesture of her hand.

Lee Mi-na walked as if she had a decided destination, but there were no clues.

I just followed her senses, and more precisely, the direction in which her shadow stretched out.

If anyone had been observing her closely, they would have immediately noticed that the shadow waving beneath her feet looked strange.

Mina walked along the road as if she was on her familiar way to work.

From a crowded downtown area to a residential area with moderate crowds.

As we squeezed through the densely packed buildings, a secluded building appeared.

She went into the basement of the building without hesitation.

-Tongue

Her slender hand knocked on the iron door blocking her path.

A dull metallic sound echoed down the stairs.

“Um… Is it okay to do it like this?”

Tilting her head, she closed her eyes and stretched out her hand.

The shadow beneath her feet spread out like a spider’s web, engulfing the shadowy part of the building.

Like a food fighter shoving food down one’s throat, the shadow oscillated and gradually grew in size.

The shadow stopped expanding when it became about four times larger than its owner’s body.

Taking the shape of a giant hand, it emerged from Mina’s back and grabbed hold of the iron door.

– Noodling

With the sound of metal bending, the hinge flew off.

The screw that supported the hinge bulged out and headed towards Mina’s eyes, where a shadow snatched them away right before her eyes.

The shadow that broke the door did not carelessly throw away the thick iron item.

I don’t know if it was a reflection of the owner’s neat personality, but the shadow swallowed even that.

Mina took a quick glance at the inside, which seemed empty due to the darkness, and walked away.

When a wet, unpleasant smell hit her nose, she instinctively frowned.

– Tsuzuzuzuzu

As I fumbled to turn on the light in the semi-basement, dozens of cockroaches started moving around looking for a dark place.

Mina, seeing that scene, hesitated to take a step for the first time.

“Can you get rid of the bugs too?”

When Mina spoke to the shadow that was right next to her, the shadow stretched out thorn-like things in all directions, like a hedgehog.

The shadow stretched out to every corner, and Mina guessed that the shadow had killed the wheel.

“Ah… don’t absorb it.”

Mina cautioned, remembering how she swallowed the iron door.

The shadow trembled a few times, as if it was upset that its meal had been interrupted. Of course, Mina didn’t care about that.

Her foot, which had been stopped by a cockroach, came off again.

The stench grew stronger with each step she took, and she slowly walked around the house until she reached the room that was presumed to be the source of the odor.

– Squeeze

When the door was opened, the rotted corpses of a woman and a man were already lying there.

The man was tightly bound, and the woman was sitting at his feet.

The man’s face was unfamiliar. However, Mina was able to roughly guess who was inside that body.

The woman killed the man with a knife and appeared to have committed suicide.

“I didn’t die well.”

If it’s suicide, don’t you just slit your wrists?

She muttered as she looked at the knife marks all over her body, as if she had committed self-harm.

Mina carefully searched the woman’s arms.

I was hoping for something that could lead to this tragedy, but I didn’t get any particularly dramatic clues.

Just a wallet.

Mina looked at the ID card she took out of her wallet and recited the name of the dead woman.

“Lee… Hyejeong?”

It was the name of the woman who was the first to kill the man she loved.

“How many times did I kill In-ho?”

These were the words she blurted out as she looked around at the devastation that had unfolded in the semi-basement.

The words announcing the beginning of Lee Mi-na’s long, long journey seemed a bit strange.