Ch.48Dream Interpretation

“So I had this dream where I met the others.”

Dawn. The house where Yoon Daju was staying.

Heo Yoon sits at the table explaining the situation while Daju and I listen.

“Seok Hyunmin and Choi Serim. You two weren’t there.”

“…Yes.”

Daju nods with a grim expression.

I silently listened to the explanation.

This isn’t just a strange dream; it’s somehow affecting reality.

“I remembered it so vividly that I talked to Hyunmin about it. And he remembered it too.”

“Oh? We had the same experience! Me and Dabin oppa.”

“You too?”

I answered Heo Yoon’s question.

“Yes. It seems like multiple people’s dreams are merging together.”

“So that’s why you were all gathered. I thought something was strange.”

After speaking, Heo Yoon slowly organizes her thoughts.

When we first met, she was rambling so much that I had to ask her to start from the beginning. Now she seems a bit calmer, speaking more coherently.

“Where was the location? The library?”

“No. It was just the 7th floor here, but it was filled with potatoes.”

When I mention potatoes, Daju dry heaves slightly.

Anyway.

“Library?”

“Yes. Dabin, do you know something?”

“Actually, I took a short nap today and dreamed about meeting Serim noona in a library. I thought it was just a dream then, but thinking about it now, it wasn’t.”

“I see…”

“So what’s the conclusion?”

“Choi Serim is missing. She probably left through the elevator. Hyunmin is up looking around the opposite corridor and the storage room.”

When Yoon speaks in a serious voice, Daju is startled.

“Serim unni?!”

“I know! She’s not the type to suddenly go out. Was she brainwashed or something?”

“This is bad…”

Daju mumbles with her head down.

I bit my lip tightly.

“Then, if Choi Serim noona isn’t here, she’s probably on the library floor.”

“That’s right.”

After answering, Heo Yoon lets out a long sigh.

Daju’s condition has worsened; she’s now trembling. Heo Yoon looks better than before but still seems flustered.

Everyone is mentally unstable.

I need to organize the situation.

“What did you see in your dream, noona?”

“There was a library, and I met Seok Hyunmin there first.”

“Yes.”

“We were wandering around wondering where we were, and between the bookshelves, this strange liquid monster started oozing out. Pitch black.”

“So you were chased by that liquid monster?”

“Yes. We were running between bookshelves and got cornered, but then Choi Serim appeared and told us to run this way. The thing was chasing us like crazy from behind.”

“Then what happened?”

“I woke up.”

“…”

I silently thought about this absurd situation.

Thinking her explanation was insufficient, Heo Yoon continued.

“I think it happened right after meeting Serim. We didn’t find an escape route; I just heard Serim shouting and thought, ‘Ah, I should go that way,’ but then I just woke up from the dream. Hyunmin said the same thing happened to him.”

I’ve had two dreams.

In the first one, I met Choi Serim in the library. After wandering around an empty library, I met Choi Serim. I read a book she handed me. The book suddenly became soaked with ink, and then I woke up.

The second was the dream I just had with Daju. The floor was filled with potatoes, and when Daju was mentally shocked, we were able to wake up.

And Daju had a very bad experience with potatoes in the past.

It seems like Daju was having a nightmare, and I entered it.

If so, could other dreams be interpreted this way?

Maybe Heo Yoon could tell me.

“Noona.”

“Yes…”

Heo Yoon answers weakly.

I asked about the dream she mentioned.

“You said a liquid monster appeared in the library in your dream. Have you ever seen something like that in real life?”

“What? A liquid monster?”

“Yes. That monster. Not the ones they sell at stationery stores.”

“Yes, I have.”

Heo Yoon nods immediately.

So was this Heo Yoon’s nightmare? I needed to be more certain, so I decided to ask more questions.

“Did you see it alone or with others? No, let me rephrase. Did you see it with Hyunmin and Serim noona, or when you were alone?”

“…Is that important?”

“Yes, it’s important.”

After hesitating briefly, Heo Yoon slowly begins to speak.

“It was when I first came to this apartment. I had just finished work at the hospital and was so tired that I confused my apartment. I’m sure I entered the door code and went to bed, but when I came to my senses, I was in a completely different building.”

“That was here, right?”

“Yes. So I was wandering around this apartment trying to get out when I encountered that thing.”

Heo Yoon shivers as if she doesn’t want to remember.

“I stepped in a black puddle in some corridor, and it grabbed my ankle. It gradually wrapped around my body until I couldn’t move at all. And then… and then it… that bastard…!”

Yoon squeezes her eyes shut and trembles. Tears well up in her eyes.

I calmly spoke.

“You can stop now.”

“So, huff… that remained vivid in my memory. I barely escaped, but I almost died.”

The pieces are falling into place.

Tap. Tap.

I tapped the table with my fingertips as I spoke.

“I think my theory is correct.”

“What is it?”

“When someone has a nightmare, others get pulled into it.”

“But the background was different. I said it was a library.”

“I think the consciousness of the person being pulled in also has an influence.”

I stood up and placed my hand on Daju’s shoulder.

My small hand barely covered Daju’s shoulder, but it was enough to convey warmth.

“Yoon Daju. Pull yourself together.”

“Oppa…”

If I had my original male voice, it would have sounded cool.

My voice is too timid and soft to lead everyone who’s anxious.

“We need to go find Choi Serim noona together.”

“Yes. You’re right…”

“Yoon noona, get ready too. I remember where the library floor is. When Hyunmin returns, let’s go together. Oh, and let’s leave Haewon sleeping.”

Everyone nods.

Jung Haewon hasn’t been here long. It would be too much to force him to come rescue Choi Serim. Above all, though no one said it out loud, if we all die, there will be no one left to remember us.

But Heo Yoon looks anxious.

“What if it’s a trap? What then?”

“We’ve survived well so far. Like when we went looking for the vending machine.”

I move toward the front door.

Without hesitation, I open the door to find Seok Hyunmin right in front.

“Lim Dabin.”

“Yes, hyung.”

“Did you hear everything from noona?”

“Yes.”

I conveyed what I had learned and what I had deduced to Seok Hyunmin.

“I understand.”

Seok Hyunmin nods. I spoke in the most resolute tone I could manage.

“Let’s go find Serim noona right away. We probably don’t have much time.”

“Right. Of course we should go.”

I thought he might refuse because it’s dangerous, but this time Seok Hyunmin complies readily.

“Did you pack equipment?”

“Not yet.”

“Let’s pack some basic supplies first. And noona, were you crying?”

“…No.”

Seok Hyunmin has already moved next to Heo Yoon. The way he puts his arm on her shoulder looks quite affectionate.

Then I should take care of Daju. I firmly grabbed Daju’s fidgeting hand and said we should leave right away.

Dawn.

We stepped out of the front door and headed toward the storage room.

[4A11]

A floor that looks like a library.

Seok Hyunmin, Heo Yoon, and Yoon Daju all say they never knew about it. They’ve never been there, and certainly never recorded it in any documents.

We pressed the button and waited for the elevator to move.

It’s the same scene I saw in my dream, but the background is different.

Daju is sitting leaning against a corner, looking at the floor, and Heo Yoon is patting her.

Seok Hyunmin is rubbing his hands together nervously.

I looked in the mirror.

My hair is sticking to my lips, making me look really disheveled. I smoothed my hair and stared at myself in the mirror.

The light returns to my previously unfocused eyes.

“You need to fix your hair.”

Heo Yoon casually remarks.

“I know.”

I tilt my head in response.

Meanwhile, the elevator continues to descend, making clanking noises.

As if hesitating, like we’re going to a place we’ve never been before.

“Hey. Is this really okay?”

Seok Hyunmin asks, looking into his bag.

“Probably not okay? Maybe?”

I answer jokingly.

“But we have to survive somehow. All of us together.”

I don’t know how long we’ve been in here. I’ve changed a lot during that time.

Both physically and mentally.

I’m not just talking about becoming a woman.

My strength and stamina have weakened considerably, but I feel stronger in some way. My previously damaged back has healed completely, which is also very comfortable.

What I’m thinking is that my attitude has changed.

I looked ahead again.

The girl in the mirror smiled resolutely.

Clank!

“…I’m really pretty.”

“What?”

When I mumble, Seok Hyunmin laughs as if he can’t believe what he’s hearing.

Heo Yoon also snickers.

It was something I just threw out there, but since it seems to be working, I continued.

“When we get out of here, I might try webtoons again. Show my face. Do some Instagram too.”

“Hey. Comics should be about skill.”

Seok Hyunmin says reproachfully. I answer with a bright smile.

“Marketing is also a skill. Even if I draw moderately well, my webtoon could be a huge hit.”

“You’ve been corrupted by lookism.”

While Heo Yoon laughs, Daju’s face also brightens.

“So you’re giving up on going back to being a man?”

“Who knows?”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“I’m just saying. To help everyone relax.”

“But you sounded really sincere just now. Like, ‘I’ve become the top beauty in the province! This is what I live for!’ That kind of thought was visible.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Yes, you did.”

Yoon Daju has returned to her normal self with this.

Right. Whether I’m a man or a woman doesn’t matter if we die anyway.

Let’s relax and all make it back alive together. Including Choi Serim.

Clank!

The elevator announces that we’ve arrived at our destination.

The doors open, and the dry air characteristic of libraries rushes in.

The scene is exactly as I saw in my dream.

Daju tugs at my clothes. With her other hand, she points inside the library.

“Oppa. Look over there.”

Where Daju is pointing, Choi Serim was standing.

In a completely different outfit from usual. Wearing a robe with the hood pulled all the way down. Choi Serim holding a candle in one hand and a book in the other.

Seok Hyunmin raised his hand to stop Yoon Daju from calling out to her sister.

“…Wait.”

There’s a completely different atmosphere from usual.

My hands automatically sweat, and I keep feeling like my strength is draining.

Though we clearly made noise, Choi Serim just keeps looking at her book.

“Dabin.”

I flinched. She’s calling me. The situation, the atmosphere, the place—everything is different, but her voice is no different from usual. That’s where the sense of dissonance comes from.

Is that really Choi Serim standing there?

“What are you doing there? Aren’t you coming here?”

I roughly shook off the restraining hands and walked out of the elevator.

My heart is racing, and I can’t even think properly.

I just couldn’t disobey the voice coming from in front of me.

“Hur-ry.”

“Come here.”

“Now.”