Ch.85Panic

“I’ve returned……”

I muttered those words as I slumped to the floor.

I’ve been through worse, but this time was truly, truly terrifying.

Enough to drain every ounce of strength from my body once it was over.

The inverted standards of reality.

My anomalous resistance that wouldn’t work because of it.

But the biggest reason was that, above all, I was alone.

My surroundings are a normal-looking home.

There are dishes and furniture scattered about as if something had attacked here too, but at least it’s reality.

“Unni! Dabin oppa is awake!”

Of course, Yoon Daju was the first to notice my condition.

“Oppa, are you okay? Can you get up now?”

“Yeah.”

I nodded and got to my feet.

The most surprising thing was that my memory remained intact.

Even though I had drunk the amnestic.

The chaos that broke out on the seventh floor.

Taking the elevator down.

Getting trapped on the fourth floor.

Finally obtaining the amnestic on the third floor.

All my memories remain perfectly intact.

…No, that’s not right.

I can’t remember ‘why’ all of this happened.

Is this also part of my anomalous resistance?

Either way, it’s fortunate.

It means the harmless memories were preserved, but the cause was erased from my mind.

My head feels foggy, as if I’ve just woken up from sleep.

Actually, it’s not that strange.

Just as everyone except me had fallen into a dream earlier, over here, I alone must have been floundering in the dream world.

While I’m still dazed, Heo Yoon exchanges words with Yoon Daju.

“Dabin’s awake?”

“Yes. Just now.”

“Thank goodness……”

A sense of relief warmly enveloped the room.

The thoroughly disheveled house.

Heo Yoon explained the situation up until now.

“It was complete chaos until you woke up. A monster appeared and ransacked the place. And meanwhile, you and that one wouldn’t wake up.”

She pointed at the AI while speaking.

The AI guy, as if he doesn’t remember anything, just nods indifferently.

“Ah. Really?”

“Yeah. But then the monster suddenly disappeared at some point? I don’t know why.”

“I went through a lot too. In the dream.”

“Oh, really? So it was you who did it?”

“Yes.”

“Wow, Lim Dabin~ You actually pulled it off.”

Heo Yoon laughs freely and pats my shoulder.

“I’m glad everyone’s safe.”

“Well, we were all just worried about you.”

Yoon Daju, Choi Serim, and the others who remained in this reality must have been struggling desperately.

So strange things happened here too.

Anyway, we’re safe now.

All incidents have been resolved.

“But Lim Dabin, your clothes are all wet? When did that happen?”

“What?”

Seok Hyunmin asks, looking elsewhere and glancing sideways.

“Huh?”

Only then did I look down at myself.

Drip. Drip.

Water droplets falling from my clothes had already formed a puddle on the floor.

“How long have I been like this?”

“I don’t know either. I just noticed it now.”

Seok Hyunmin still answers while looking elsewhere.

Come to think of it, Jung Haewon seems to be doing the same thing. Deliberately averting his gaze.

Why are they acting like that? Is there some reason?

Since only the men are behaving this way, there must be something going on.

After all, men have better anomalous observation abilities.

Just to be sure, I checked where the two were looking, but there was only a wall there.

But that’s not what’s important.

Going to the third floor to get the amnestic was clearly something that happened in the dream.

Yet somehow my clothes were soaking wet again.

It’s hard to dismiss it as just a dream when it clearly had effects on reality.

“Ugh……”

The unpleasant feeling of wet fabric clinging to my body.

What’s worse, I’m wearing a white t-shirt, so when it’s wet, everything underneath is visible.

The curves of my body exposed as if I were completely undressed.

The color of my underwear visible through the thin fabric.

Seok Hyunmin is looking elsewhere while simultaneously checking Heo Yoon’s reaction.

Uh…?

Is that why? They were? Acting like that?

My face suddenly feels hot.

Others might think I’m being stupid. I genuinely hadn’t thought about this until now.

More than embarrassment, it’s mortifying.

I’m a man. It doesn’t make sense that I’d end up in this situation just because I got a little wet.

“Dabin. Come here.”

Choi Serim came over and tried to shield me, but that made it even more embarrassing.

I barely managed to speak in a shrinking voice.

“Um.”

“Hmm? Dabin, what’s wrong?”

“Y-you don’t have to do this.”

“Reeeally?”

Choi Serim draws out her words teasingly.

It feels like I’ve lost the upper hand again.

Choi Serim’s ability to control thoughts.

After it stopped working on me, I thought I’d always have the upper hand.

But in situations like this, our relationship flips again.

“Then is it okay if I move over there?”

As Choi Serim was about to step aside, I hastily corrected myself.

“No! Just. Just stay here, noona.”

“Okay. I will.”

Somehow I feel cold again. Staying like this is embarrassing.

‘It doesn’t matter because I’m a man.’

This isn’t something I can brush off that way.

Even I have to admit that my outward appearance is female.

Above all.

More frightening than the men who avert their gazes and check the situation is Yoon Daju, who’s openly staring at me.

“I’ll go change.”

I hurriedly tried to leave the house.

But my exhausted body wouldn’t move as I wanted.

Wobble-

My legs suddenly gave out, and I had to lean against the wall to stand up.

A familiar voice caught me.

“I’ll go with you!”

Yoon Daju seized the opportunity and rushed over.

If I could, I’d like to push her away saying “Get lost.”

But I can’t do that.

Because of a vague fear.

What if water pours over my head again when I’m alone?

What if I get trapped in a small room?

What if I meet… that thing again?

The effects of whatever had broken through my anomalous resistance still remained vivid.

The memory of sitting on the floor, gasping for breath.

I was too scared to even think about moving. I was restless, not knowing what to do. Tears kept flowing.

‘I don’t want to be alone.’

This creates an internal conflict.

I don’t want to be alone.

But having Yoon Daju next to me while I wash? That doesn’t seem right.

Instead, I tried to persuade her.

“Daju. We don’t have time for this.”

“What? Why?”

“We need to check the end of the hallway. In front of the elevator.”

“Oh. You mean that reality generator thing?”

“Yeah.”

The reality generator.

A precious device that had maintained the seventh floor as a normal space in an apartment full of anomalous phenomena.

When I mentioned it, everyone in the room stirred.

“Why? Did something happen to it?”

Seok Hyunmin asks, adjusting his glasses.

“Yes. In the dream, it was completely destroyed.”

“Then is it still broken now? This is reality, not a dream.”

“That’s what I’m not sure about.”

“So you’re saying we need to check.”

Seok Hyunmin nods with a grave expression.

“But why was the generator destroyed?”

This time it’s Jung Haewon.

“I destroyed it.”

“What?”

“As dreams and reality switched places, the generator was working to firmly anchor the dream. That’s why monsters and anomalous phenomena kept appearing on the seventh floor. So, in the end, I destroyed it.”

“Ah……”

Everyone has a serious expression. Except for the AI, who remains expressionless.

Without the reality generator, the safety of the seventh floor can’t be guaranteed.

The settled daily life will disappear, and we’ll have to go back to riding the elevator in search of livable places, just like before.

“Well, Dabin, you go wash up first. We’ll check on the generator.”

Heo Yoon organizes the situation.

She grabs Seok Hyunmin’s arm and moves toward the front door.

If the reality generator is really broken, it’s an urgent situation. We need to check immediately.

Jung Haewon follows behind the two.

“I’ll go with you.”

“Haewon? Sure? Come along.”

Heo Yoon leaves one last comment before disappearing through the door.

“Girls, take care of Dabin!”

Now only two people remain.

Choi Serim. And Yoon Daju.

The seriousness doesn’t last long.

Yoon Daju approaches me with a mischievous face.

The more she does, the more I back away, until I’m now hiding behind Choi Serim.

“Daju…?”

“Yes, oppa.”

“Shouldn’t you go check too?”

“Why should I?”

“W-well… Because it’s interesting?”

“I can’t see that stuff anyway. You know I lack observation aptitude, oppa.”

I tried to divert her attention by appealing to her curiosity, but it was in vain.

Daju approaches me with a smile.

This time I cling to Choi Serim.

“Noona. Please get her away from me.”

“Hmm? Dabin. What should I do?”

“Please.”

I really don’t have the strength to move anymore.

I just lean against the wall, waiting for what comes next.

“But you still need to wash up. You can’t even move by yourself right now.”

“I’d rather have noona than her.”

“What?”

“If someone has to wash with me… I’d prefer noona over Daju.”

So now I have no choice but to say this.

Anything but Yoon Daju.

That was genuinely my only thought, but noona’s response was unexpected.

“Dabin, you pervert.”

“No, that’s not what I meant, it’s because of Daju……”

Whatever I say doesn’t matter.

Choi Serim smiles mischievously as she gently presses down on my shoulder.

Like she’s handling someone much younger than herself.

The height difference actually makes it look that way.

“Just go with Daju~”

Choi Serim waves her hand with a sweet smile, speaking in her usual gentle, quiet voice.

This noona has a playful side too.

As if she’d been waiting for this, Daju comes to support me.

She ducks under my shoulder to lift me up, asking as if she’s having the time of her life.

“Are we washing at your place, oppa?”

“…Yeah.”

“Then let’s hurry. You can’t walk alone, right?”

With her support, I looked back one last time.

But noona just covered her mouth and laughed.

“Sorry, Dabin.”

I had no choice but to be dragged away helplessly.

Choi Serim spoke to my mind again just as I was about to step through the front door.

This might be the last time we spend our daily life like this.

***

“How long can it last?”

“Probably not even a week.”

At the end of the hallway, in front of the reality maintenance device.

Heo Yoon and Seok Hyunmin exchanged words with bitter expressions.

Seok Hyunmin continued while wiping his glasses with the edge of his clothes.

“Then, is there no way to fix this?”

A protruding gear rolled at Jung Haewon’s feet.

They ranged from small ones the size of a fingernail to ones larger than the machine’s main body.

“No. We never really understood how it worked in the first place.”

When Jung Haewon asked, Heo Yoon drove the final nail into the situation.

At the end of the hallway.

The device before the three people’s eyes.

The reality generator had been destroyed beyond repair.

Seok Hyunmin put on his cleaned glasses.

“The seventh floor won’t go crazy right away. There’s inertia from what we’ve built up.”

“Then how long will it last? A month? A week?”

“Three days. Maybe less.”

One of the gears rises about 10 centimeters from the floor.

Without any force applied to it. Just on its own.

Heo Yoon quietly watched the scene alone.

The floating gear continues its futile rotation outside the machine.

A fragment of reality floating on a sea of anomalies.

The reality that had lost its anchor was making creaking sounds.