episode_0095

The elevator kept moving.

Strangely enough, it continues.

The first to move was, of course, Heo Yun.

“Let’s stop at the elevator first. How about it?”

“I do that.”

“Of course.”

First, Heo Yoon seeks consent from other survivors.

I also quietly nodded.

“I’ll press the 11th floor. You guys have no complaints, right?”

“Yes.”

“Press?”

Hold.

Heo Yoon pressed the number 11.

When this happens, the elevator stops moving and changes its destination to a floor with an ordinary number.

It was the so-called elevator hierarchy.

Layers containing alphabets cannot take precedence over numeric layers.

It rattled. It rattled.

“What is it? You pressed it right?”

Seok Hyeon-min looks embarrassed.

Choi Se-rim also asks in an anxious voice.

“Sister?”

” Stay. Are you sure you pressed it? There’s a red light here too!”

Heo Yoon cleans himself up and shows the elevator wall.

The border of the button with the number 11 on it is clearly lit.

“Then why is it like that?”

Da-ju Yoon has a serious face again.

Jeong Hae-won also offers a word of support from the side.

“Are we trapped here?”

“I’m not trapped. When you arrive at your original destination, the door will open.”

Heo Yoon answered calmly, but it seemed like she also didn’t understand the situation properly.

“Where is your original destination?”

“Jung Hae-won, you pressed it.”

“I pressed the button?”

“What is it? Wasn’t it? Is it someone else? Why can’t I remember?”

Everyone’s memories are conflicting. First, we need to sort out certain things.

“The button was clearly pressed by Haewon.”

“Right?”

“Yes.”

“Then, perhaps the floor you clicked on before had higher priority?”

Choi Se-rim tries to reason in a quiet voice.

I don’t know the details, but it’s a reasonable guess.

“The numeric layer is higher than the alphabet layer.”

“There may be exceptions.”

Seok Hyun-min is lost in thought and Choi Se-rim immediately refutes.

As two brainy people, their conversation continues sparsely, leaving time to think between words.

“What is the possibility that Haewon just pressed numbers?”

This time, Jeong Hae-won came forward.

Since it’s his job, he knows best.

“That’s definitely not true. I think I mixed up the alphabet after pressing the numbers.”

“What is it? He said he didn’t even remember pressing the button before!”

Jeong Hae-won, embarrassed by Da-joo Yoon’s comment, scratches the back of his head for no reason.

” As we were talking, I remembered this. I clearly pressed the alphabet.”

My memory was definitely like that too.

Although all my memories were blurry, I could recall them vaguely.

“Or you may be mistaken.”

“Dabin. What do you mean by that?”

“We are all seeing the illusion that we are trapped in an elevator and it keeps going down.”

“Huh.”

“Is it an illusion again?”

Heo Yoon bursts into laughter and Seok Hyeon-min adjusts his glasses.

“There are no potatoes, right?”

Daju’s unexpected worry about potatoes is a bonus.

The elevator kept moving.

“If we keep doing this, we can’t get out of here, right?”

“Ah, no way.”

“That could be true. I heard that the travel time is different for each floor. So, which floor is… … . It may take decades or hundreds of years to reach it.”

“There was no such layer in the exploration records.”

“You know. Records aren’t that helpful.”

Everyone fell silent at Jeong Hae-won’s unlucky words.

Normally, Daju would have stepped forward and silenced her.

Daju Yoon is squatting in the corner like a sick puppy.

“Hey, Daju Yoon. Where does it hurt?”

“Oppa… … .”

As I approach, Daju lifts his head weakly.

Her blue lips were trembling.

“What should I do if potatoes come out…? … . Or, a laboratory… … . Injection device… … . It could be a laboratory that injects potatoes into the brain.”

“What?”

Daju starts talking nonsense again.

Potatoes. Wouldn’t it be cannibalism if you eat a person made of potatoes? What is the difference between a potato cloned in a laboratory, a sweet potato injected with potato memories, and a potato dug up from the field?

“Daju. There is no such laboratory.”

“No. It will be there. It comes to mind so clearly that I can’t help but think about it. What should I do, brother?”

Even if you look at it, it doesn’t look in good condition.

The elevator keeps moving.

No stimulation or change comes from outside.

I and other people gradually became strange.

It was so natural that it seemed as if it had been that way from the beginning.

“No. no… … !”

Heo Yoon leans against the elevator door and sheds tears.

“Hayul, no. Hayul is not strange. I’m sorry mom… … .”

Heo Yoon, the main singer, is singing Seok Ha-yul.

The child he had with Seok Hyeon-min. But it was not a human child; it was nothing more than a terrible demon’s clone.

I’m sure that memory would have been erased.

Was there a trace left in a corner of my heart?

People were scared for different reasons.

“Fuck, I didn’t do it. I didn’t steal it. It’s real! Why am I leaving the house!”

“I want to get out of here. Foundation server? Why am I here?”

“I hate potatoes. I’m scared.”

“Hayul! Hayul ah.”

“Sister… … . Hayul seems strange… … . But you can’t say that.”

And Choi Se-rim.

Lying like a doll with empty eyes, just shedding tears.

Even if you grab hold of other people and shake them, they are all lost in their own reminiscences. No answer comes back.

Each person is reflecting on their own trauma.

I’m the only one who’s okay.

Actually, that’s not the case. I also had tears in my eyes constantly. If I lose my mind even a little, I feel like I will collapse on the floor and cry.

– sorry. We have checked all the submitted manuscripts, but after discussion with the editorial department, serialization on our platform has become difficult. However, in terms of drawing with solid basics and scenario… … The parts that are done are impressive… …

I look forward to meeting you next time for a better opportunity.

– Mom is sitting in the living room.

Dabin. You’ve already done enough painting. You probably know best that you have no talent. My dad said he was going to find me a job at a company he knows this time.

please… … .

– Come to your senses and throw away your regrets. On the contrary, we can say things like this because we are friends.

I definitely know the reason why this happened.

Something around here is having a profound effect on the creatures in the elevator.

But I don’t remember anything.

The elevator continues down.

In the elevator that was filled with tears, I was the only one lost in thought.

“Potato… … I’m so scared… … . I hate the lab too… … .”

“I’m sorry, Daju.”

I pushed Daju away, who was covered in tears and snot.

For a moment, I thought it was too much, but there was nothing I could do about it.

Again, one by one.

Let’s start by summarizing what I clearly remember.

I am not normal now.

The proof is that unpleasant memories keep coming back to me.

There is someone outside the door.

“Electrical inspection!”

I quickly moved the box. We brought the freshly moved luggage and piled it in front of the door.

My arms kept shaking, but I couldn’t stop.

There was a strange girl in the mirror, and an even stranger figure lingered outside the door. He kept pounding on the door and yelling for it to be opened.

“Open the door. Open the door. open it. open it. Open.”

… … Only suffering rises to the surface.

Nothing comes to mind anymore.

I stared blankly into space, and this time my eyes landed on the mirror.

ah.

I am now a woman.

So does that mean he was originally a man?

Why did it become like this?

little bit more.

Stretch out your thoughts.

I don’t remember why I became a woman, but I was glad I did.

The surroundings are full of dangerous beings. Things that immediately eat away at your body with just a touch of your fingertips.

To fight against them, you need anomalous resistance.

Women have stronger tolerance than men.

Thanks to becoming a woman, I belong to the group with very strong introspection.

no.

To say that the resistance is very strong is not enough.

You could nullify almost anything.

But I’m not normal.

That means the anomalous resistance didn’t work properly.

I wiped away my tears with my hand.

Why is that so?

There was a gap somewhere.

If you open this gap and look inside, this vague mystery will also be solved.

I’m going to die.

People, live well. Live with the things you have achieved by chance without knowing failure, without knowing frustration, desperation, or pain.

I crushed the beer can.

I threw it on top of the drawing notebooks lying around.

I wake up cursing the spray of alcohol.

My back, every single joint of my distorted spine screamed.

“Shut up.”

clears away the fog

I’ve been stuck in an elevator.

The door fell off, and he escaped outside and returned.

Between the elevator and the stairs.

A long, narrow passageway where elevators come and go.

There was a guy in that abyss.

Originally, he wouldn’t have been able to target me.

But things were a little different.

The seed of fear that he planted in me back then has now grown into a hideously overgrown weed.

Getting out of the situation is simple.

The fear that is firmly entrenched in your heart must be uprooted, even if it is painful.

Coogung.

Coogung.

An elevator that continues to move. Inertial system.

There’s a guy right above this ceiling.

It must have been a mistake to say I was left out.

I got up.

He walked up to the door and kicked one side of the door hard.

Quaaaang!

If he had been a man, his much smaller body would not have been enough.

I don’t have enough strength or weight to put on my toes.

In that case, there is no choice but to do this.

After taking a deep breath.

I took a few steps back. Until your back touches the opposite wall.

Tadadat-

I rushed forward with all my might and hit the door with my shoulder.

The dark pleasure of breaking something.

A collapsing metal plate.

With a roar echoing through the narrow, dark space, the cool, dry outside air enveloped me.

bang.

I crashed.

With the elevator door falling off.

Shootaaa-

I can hear the sound of water above my head that I had never heard before.

My abyss.

Now let’s finish talking about what we couldn’t say.

***

Heo Yoon opened his eyes.

The damp fatigue after crying for a long time permeated every part of my body.

I was a little dazed, but I soon came to my senses.

“How did it go? We were all crazy. Huh!?”

Heo Yoon’s voice rings loudly in the already narrow elevator.

Heo Yoon grabbed the shoulder he saw first and asked,

“Ugh… … .”

Seok Hyeon-min, who was next to him, just closed his eyes and waved his hand.

“Is everyone safe? Do you know what happened?”

“I don’t know.”

Surprisingly, it was Da-ju Yoon who gave a clear answer.

“The elevator has stopped.”

As soon as he heard those words, Heo Yoon shifted his gaze.

One side of the elevator door had fallen off, and Daju Yoon was talking, staring blankly into the abyss below.

“Sister.”

It’s an unusual voice.

That alone made Heo Yoon feel uneasy.

He speaks in a calm voice, as if in a monologue.

“Water on the floor. Can you see it?”

“Huh? Water?”

I hadn’t noticed it at all until just now, but there was a lot of water inside the elevator.

Even if I moved my feet even a little, it would snap.

“It must have kept pouring from the ceiling.”

“… … We didn’t know that all along.”

“Yes.”

“Sister.”

“… … Yes.”

“I think there was something down there. Or above. It could be both.”

“What do you mean?”

“I think it distorted our memories, erased them, and scared us.”

Behind Heo Yun, who stood blankly, not knowing what to say, people who had woken up gradually gathered together.

Seok Hyun-min, Choi Se-rim, Jeong Hae-won and AI.

But everyone was just silent.

Only Daju Yoon monologued.

With your eyes fixed downwards.

“But I’m fine now. Do you know what that means?”

“… … .”

Heo Yoon and others too.

I had already noticed.

“Dabin oppa is not there.”