Ch.47Potato Universe (2)

This time, I went to the storage room and tried some canned tuna.

It tastes like moist potatoes.

I found perfume in a box of miscellaneous items and sprayed it.

It smells like potatoes.

I opened the door to room 701, which we normally used as a meeting room.

Instead of stacks of paper documents with exploration records, potatoes are rolling around.

I spent some time wandering around the 7th floor with Yoon Daju.

Only one thing remained.

“Let’s try the elevator.”

Beep.

When I pressed the button, potatoes rolled out.

The elevator was completely filled with potatoes.

“Ueeeeeeek!”

Daju dry-heaved and muttered beside me, looking dazed.

“This isn’t real… This can’t be happening…”

I checked under the stairs.

Just one floor below was completely filled with potatoes.

“What is this?”

“We’re… going to die buried in potatoes…”

We had no choice but to return to the hallway.

Back in the 7th floor corridor.

Daju crouched down, hugging herself tightly and trembling.

“Potatoes are scary. I hate potatoes.”

What’s going on?

I assessed the situation.

I woke up from a short nap, and everything in the world is filling up with potatoes.

Now even the earthy smell from the potatoes is overwhelming.

“Daju. Can you stay here alone?”

“Take me with you. Don’t leave me…”

“Okay. Let’s go over there first.”

We returned to the elevator.

“Are you, are you planning to scoop out the potatoes? You’re not trying to clear the elevator so we can use it, right?”

“No.”

We couldn’t use the elevator, but there was something else to do.

I opened the fire hydrant attached to the wall next to the elevator.

Instead of a fire hose, there was a simple clockwork mechanism inside.

[Reality Anchor]

This is my first time seeing it directly.

I’ve been told countless times not to touch it because it’s extremely important.

It has a simple structure like a pencil sharpener from a stationery store. The exterior is made of transparent glass, allowing you to see all the interlocking gears rotating inside.

“Urghh.”

I examined the device while Daju continued dry-heaving behind me.

As I concentrated, I felt slightly dizzy.

/Anomaly Observed/

Suddenly, information flowed into my mind.

It’s a slightly different sensation from seeing with my eyes. But it still feels like I’m directly ‘seeing’ the text.

[Reality Anchor: Maintains normal space. Requires steady supply of hyperreal fuel to maintain effectiveness.]

This is exactly the same as when I first came to the 7th floor. It appears normal on the surface.

I concentrated a bit more.

[Charge Status: 76/100]

[Reality Index: 100]

What? It seems fine.

I bent down to make eye contact with Daju, who was still trembling.

“Daju. Have you charged this recently?”

“Huh? What?”

“That. The Reality Anchor. It needs to be charged with hyperreal fuel. Have you charged it recently?”

Daju pondered my question for a while before finally nodding.

“Yes… The man charged it about two weeks ago.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

The Reality Anchor is working properly.

That means nothing strange should be happening on the 7th floor.

‘Who brought all these potatoes?’

This is strange too.

Moving this many potatoes would inevitably make noise, no matter how careful someone was.

Both Daju and I would have definitely noticed something.

“Yoon Daju. Did anyone—”

“Ueeek!!!”

“Did you see anyone moving those famine relief crops?”

Daju wiped her mouth and barely managed to answer.

“No.”

Then there’s only one conclusion left.

“This is a dream.”

If I assume this is all a dream, the pieces start to fit together.

First, Daju mentioned she had stayed in a similar place before.

I recalled what Daju had told me earlier.

‘I stayed in a similar place before. But this is the 7th floor.’

‘7P12 floor. I was trapped there.’

Then, this might be Yoon Daju’s nightmare.

And I’ve entered someone else’s dream.

It might be a wild guess, but it’s not completely implausible.

Above all, there’s a precedent.

When I met Choi Serim in a dream.

The place and situation were different, but the similarity is that it felt real while having many incomprehensible aspects.

Thinking about it now, there are many strange points.

Why would I take the elevator alone without telling anyone?

And I don’t even know where the floor that looks like a library is. I might have seen it by chance while looking through exploration data compiled by others. But in the dream, I got into the elevator with complete confidence. I didn’t actually know enough to move with such certainty.

Yet it felt so real.

Choi Serim’s voice coming from nearby. Every subtle facial expression. The sensation of stepping down the spiral staircase, and the smell of wood and dust that tickled my nose. The sound of turning pages. Even the unpleasant feeling of ink wetting my hands at the end.

Something seems off.

I looked at the mechanical device inside the fire hydrant again.

[Reality Anchor]

[Charge Status: 76/100]

[Reality Index: 100]

…

[Reality Index: 6]

[Reality Index: 73]

[Reality Index: 2]

[Reality Index: -1]

[Reality Index: 11111111176]

The reality index, which had been maintaining 100 until just now, began to fluctuate wildly.

This change occurred simply because I suspected ‘this might be a dream.’

If that’s the case.

Could I wake up from here by my own will?

I was about to bend my finger but relaxed slightly.

I’ve been burned by this experience before.

Crack.

I bent it.

Along with the sound of the joint cracking, I felt a sharp pain, but my finger didn’t stop there.

It bent beyond the normal range of motion, almost touching the back of my hand.

This time, I decided to try breathing while holding my nose.

Hmmph.

“Wow. What is this?”

I couldn’t help but exclaim in amazement. I was clearly pinching my nostrils shut, yet I could breathe without difficulty.

“What are you doing?”

“Wait a moment. I think I’ve almost found the answer.”

I’m now certain this is a dream.

I’m in a state of “lucid dreaming,” aware that I’m dreaming.

According to information I picked up on the internet before, the method to wake up from a dream is simple.

‘I want to wake up.’

I thought strongly in my mind.

…Nothing happened.

“I want to wake up!”

Even shouting loudly didn’t work.

“Wake up! Wake up!”

I kicked the fire hydrant repeatedly and even tried banging my head against it, but I still couldn’t wake up.

“Why are you suddenly acting like this?”

Daju anxiously grabbed the hem of my clothes.

“Ah. Wait. This is a dream, okay?”

“A dream?”

“Yes! Does it make sense for this many potatoes to be rolling around on the 7th floor? Of course it’s a dream!”

That’s right.

Come to think of it, while I was thrashing around trying to wake up, Daju remained still.

Based on the circumstances, this is Yoon Daju’s dream. It’s a nightmare created by mixing her memories of being trapped on that 7P-something floor filled with potatoes and her experiences on the 7th floor.

If that’s the case, wouldn’t Yoon Daju be the one who can end this?

“Give me your hand.”

Daju, in her mentally weakened state, was easy to handle.

I grabbed one of her fingers and firmly bent it with a snap.

“Ah!”

“You need to wake up!”

“What is this…”

Sure enough, her finger bent until it almost touched the back of her hand.

Daju was shocked.

“Now try breathing with your nose blocked.”

“Is that possible?”

“It is because this is a dream.”

Daju did as I said. She was clearly blocking her nose, but her shoulders still moved up and down.

“Huh?”

“See? Now you know this is a dream, right?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s wake up now.”

“How do we do that?”

“Try strongly thinking in your mind that you want to wake up. If that doesn’t work, you can try shouting loudly.”

“…”

Daju closed her eyes and concentrated.

Then she opened her eyes and shouted loudly.

“I want to wake up!”

Again, nothing happened.

“This isn’t working.”

“…”

I silently looked at Daju.

She tilted her head in confusion, not knowing anything. A drop of cold sweat ran down her cheek.

I felt a bit sorry for her. But there was no choice. There was one last method to wake up from a dream.

The methods to wake up from a lucid dream are as follows:

First, in most cases, strongly thinking ‘I want to wake up!’ makes it relatively easy to wake up.

Even without that, lucid dreams can easily break from loud noises or small shocks.

So there’s usually no need to use the last method… according to what I read on Namuwiki.

But now we’re still trapped in the dream.

I slowly opened my mouth.

“Then there’s one last method.”

“What is it?”

“Giving a big shock to your consciousness. That will propel you back to reality.”

“A big shock?”

I didn’t answer. Instead, I hugged Daju tightly from behind.

“Stay still.”

“Huh?”

Daju looked up at me in confusion. Her face was so pale it was pitiful, but I had no intention of stopping.

Next, I pressed the elevator button.

With the announcement ‘Door opening,’ a few more potatoes rolled out of the elevator.

When we first opened it, it was completely filled with potatoes, but now there was a bit of empty space.

Finally, Daju realized what was happening.

“Wait a minute.”

“Daju.”

“Wait!”

I held the struggling Yoon Daju even tighter.

Daju shook her head vigorously with tears in her eyes.

“That’s not it. That’s really not it.”

“I’m sorry.”

Timing it with the closing door, I threw Daju into the elevator.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The sound of pounding on the door echoed throughout the 7th floor.

“Ah… Aaah…”

The elevator door wouldn’t open. The buttons inside were all covered with potatoes.

“Ueeeeeeek!!!”

***

With a thud, I opened my eyes.

Back to reality.

I touched the bed mattress, and there were no potato lumps.

“Phew.”

It must be dawn.

I carefully opened the door and went into the hallway, then knocked on Daju’s door.

Daju was standing behind the open door, holding the handle.

Her face was as white as a sheet.

“You had that dream too, right? The one with the potatoes—”

Instead of answering, Daju nodded repeatedly.

Then she immediately ran to the bathroom and continued vomiting.

“Urgh. Ueeeeek!”

I patted Daju’s back.

I wonder what happened in the past to make her hate potatoes this much. I want to ask, but that would only make things worse. I should ask Choi Serim later.

The real serious problem is that this has happened twice in a row. There’s a high chance similar dreams will continue.

I decided to tell the others right away tomorrow.

No.

I should wake everyone up now, right?

The others might also be trapped in dreams like this, and if I go back to sleep, I might get trapped again.

“Rest here.”

I left Daju and went to the front door.

Just as I grabbed the handle and opened the door.

“Huh?”

Someone was in the hallway.

It was Heo Yoon.

She must have rushed out, as her hair was a mess.

She was in pajamas, hastily slipping on slippers.

With a dazed expression, Heo Yoon caught her breath and looked at me.

“What? Dabin?”