Ch.25Vending Machine

※ Vintage/Industrial.

A popular interior design genre these days. Let’s create the feeling of being in an industrial-era factory by exposing steel structures and concrete elements. You can add accents with wooden and metal decorative items, which can also create a trendy atmosphere.

◎ Caution: Dust during construction can be lethal. Metal structures periodically discharge red liquid. It’s just harmless rust water, so please carefully wipe it with a dry cloth. Cleaning cycle is 6 months to 1 year.

Dr. Wong Industrial, <Complete Interior Design Encyclopedia from 1 to 100>, Art and Life Publishing Co.

Though the only lighting comes from a few rays of sunlight through the windows, the indoor atmosphere is bright and warm. It’s the magic created by the afternoon sun.

Heo Yoon loosened her bag strap a bit, and Choi Serim gently stroked the concrete wall beneath the window.

“Nice. It’s warm.”

Apartment 3rd floor.

The exposed concrete and steel beams give a raw feeling, but it’s not messy. Some cafes have this kind of interior design.

I moved my gaze along the glossy gray tiled floor.

Is this another endless corridor like the 11th floor?

On one side, there’s a row of windows. The black iron window frames, seemingly influenced by Gothic style, were impressive and matched well with the “industrial era” atmosphere.

On the opposite wall, vending machines are lined up. These have typical vending machine designs. But perhaps because they’re made of metal, they don’t seem out of place.

“What are you doing?”

“Just looking around. The interior design is interesting.”

Choi Serim nods with a faint smile.

“Ah… Dabin, you said you draw, right? You must know something about architectural interiors.”

“I only know what I’ve picked up in passing. I’ve looked into art movements and such. Just scratched the surface, really.”

“I see.”

She murmurs and then lets down her hair that was tied back. The sunlight hits her glossy hair and scatters in multiple directions.

Purple striped long-sleeve shirt with black tights.

…She’s pretty.

I guess I’m still a man after all. My body may have become female, but right. I’ve lived as a man for over 20 years, and that can’t change in an instant.

If I ever return to being male, how would I… with her… just… ugh. Let’s not go there.

“……”

Something stirs in my heart.

This is a thought I just had. You know how the same words can have different meanings? How should I put it? Different textures of thought? I really hate to admit it, but it’s somewhat different. Rather than wanting to go touch, it’s more like wanting to quietly observe? If anything, I seem to focus more on the colors of clothes or the cozy feeling of sunlight than on the person. But there’s also this growing feeling that these are thoughts I shouldn’t be having? Ah. I don’t know how to explain this well, but anyway, that’s how it is.

“Dabin! Is this the vending machine you mentioned?”

“Ah! Just a moment. Let me check.”

I shook off these strange thoughts and ran over to Heo Yoon.

“Hey. How is it that this vending machine can’t be trusted at all?”

She’d been examining the vending machine intently for a while, but it seems she hasn’t had much success.

“Look. I put in a coin and pressed a button, but it just eats the money?”

Yoon inserts another coin. She presses a drink button, but the vending machine shows no reaction.

Thump! Thump!

Frustrated, Heo Yoon kicks the vending machine repeatedly.

“That won’t make it work. Probably.”

The information I got from the smartphone AI – which we’ve decided to just call “AI” from now on – is as follows:

1. There are vending machines lined up on the 3rd floor of this apartment.

2. You can purchase drinks from the vending machines. The text on the drink buttons/labels is always true.

3. The vending machines come from different regions, dimensions, and timelines.

4. However, the plain silver vending machine with no decorations is always present. You can purchase “amnestics” from it.

With this in mind, the chances of it recognizing Korean money are slim to none.

Just on Earth alone, how many countries are there? And if you consider different times and dimensions, it would be a miracle if it accepted Korean money.

“It doesn’t work with money? Then what do we use?”

“Probably this.”

I took out a black lump from my pocket. It’s the object that appeared automatically after we defeated the monster with the gas explosion on the 11th floor. When I place it on my palm, a cool energy ripples around it.

“I can’t see it, but I think I know what it is. That’s the thing you get from defeating monsters, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“But how do you use it?”

“Give me one of your remaining coins.”

Heo Yoon handed over a 500-won coin.

“One is enough.”

I then bring the coin and the black lump into contact and wait a moment.

■■>>■Value Recognition

Conversion■<<<■

The next moment, the ordinary 500-won coin transformed into a sleek black button.

Unknown characters are engraved on its surface.

“It worked.”

“How did you know to do that?”

“The smartphone. There’s quite a lot of information left on the network server.”

“I didn’t know that. And we’ve explored so much on our own.”

“…I’ll get a drink now.”

Passing by Heo Yoon with her gloomy expression, I inserted the coin into the vending machine.

Click-

Amount inserted: ■★※＠＃

[Enjoy it cold~~]

[■■ㅏ■ㄷ Level 4 Amnestic]

■★※

[■>>>Thought Accelerator>

■Warning: ■■@#!@#■■]

■※

[Protein.]

■★

[■■■]

■■■ ■■■■■ ■■ ■■■■■■■■★

※

[Purchase unavailable]

The amnestic is on the first button.

But before pressing the button now, it might be good to look at the other drinks as well.

“Yoon, please catch me if I fall. Looking at this for too long makes me dizzy.”

Concentrating a bit more, the hidden letters take shape.

[Level 4 Amnestic]

– Effective against memetic hazard exposure within the last 24 hours.

[Thought Accelerator]

– Warning: Causes severe addiction and dependency.

[Protein – Physical Enhancement]

– Causes fatal muscle dissolution if abused.

……

The two drinks at the bottom… it’s probably best not to touch them. Just looking at the names, they seem like they might be useful, but the effects aren’t clearly stated. Meanwhile, the side effects are all described in detail as serious.

[Level 4 Amnestic]

Clank.

I pressed the button and picked up the cool drink can.

“Here you go.”

“Are you okay? You said you were dizzy.”

“I finished before that happened. Let’s go now.”

Heo Yoon was putting the can in her bag when she suddenly looked up.

“Where’s Serim? She was with you just now.”

“Huh?”

Come to think of it, Choi Serim is nowhere to be seen.

She was definitely standing by the window earlier…

“Looking for me?”

“Ah!”

“Hey, Choi Serim. Where did you go? What’s that in your hand? Did you get a drink!?”

“Yes.”

Choi Serim takes a sip of cola.

“…You’re drinking it all yourself.”

Heo Yoon snatches it and takes a swig.

“Here.”

I took it and had a sip too.

It’s a refreshing carbonated taste, but different from the cola I imagined. It’s not just sweet; it has a rich flavor. And somehow my head feels a bit floaty. It tastes good, but is this really cola?

Choi Serim, who took back the cola can, smiles subtly.

“That’s right. This is supposedly a very old cola. The vending machine was so old that I just hit it and a drink came out.”

I see.

I thought it was interesting for a moment, but then a piece of trivia I’d heard before crossed my mind.

Wait. Old cola? Then that floaty feeling… could it be?

“Does it have cocaine in it?”

“What? That’s a drug! Why are you drinking that?!”

Heo Yoon shouts loudly.

“Well… because I was curious?”

“Hey, Choi Serim. I told you before. If you get addicted to something here.”

“Come on. I’m joking, obviously.”

Regardless of whether the other person is serious or not, Choi Serim quietly continues with what she wants to say.

“It’s not that old of a cola, actually it’s made in Mexico. The different taste is because they use raw cane sugar instead of regular sugar.”

“Sigh… okay. That’s a relief. I’ll say it again, you can’t get addicted to anything here. Whether it’s cigarettes, drugs, or whatever, if you get addicted, you die. Got it?”

“Yes.”

After a brief response, Choi Serim elegantly turns around and presses the elevator button.

“Hey. No matter what joke she makes, she’s serious! Lim Dabin, you heard too. Don’t do anything that could be addictive. Especially not here. Understand?”

“I never smoked anyway.”

“Good. That’s fortunate.”

Seeing her react like that, something must have happened in the past. I don’t particularly want to ask about it though.

Swoosh.

Ding-

The elevator doors open.

I had forgotten for a moment.

The two of them because of the cola commotion. Me because I’ve become too accustomed to this situation.

We just came down in that elevator.

There’s no reason to wait for it.

Unless someone else pressed the button, the elevator shouldn’t move.

What was truly unexpected was that

the first to react wasn’t me or Heo Yoon, but Choi Serim.

“Get back!”

Whoosh-

Before the doors fully open, a weapon draws an arc in the air.

A familiar metallic gleam.

Inside the elevator, I lock eyes with Park Sungjin’s pale face.

“……”

A crowbar dripping with blood.

Choi Serim shouts and roughly grabs my wrist.

The scene I glimpsed in that moment was something I desperately didn’t want to believe.

Inside the elevator, corpses with shattered heads lay.

Red liquid flows abundantly from between three or four bodies piled on top of each other.

“Unnie! Run deeper inside!!!”

In terror that made it feel like my legs would give out at any moment, we dashed back into the depths of the 3rd floor.