Chapter 169

“I had not realized editors were such a great profession.”

Cha Si-eon opened his mouth after a long while.

His attitude of finding me absurd was so clear that I too calmly nodded.

“All professions are great.”

“That is not what I meant.”

Cha Si-eon objected as if dumbfounded.

“Is that something you can simply write off with ‘because I am an editor’?”

Giving up on indirect digs, Cha Si-eon asked back.

At that, I nodded again and made Cha Si-eon’s frustration burst.

If I say that is how it is, what is he going to do about it?

Team Leader Cha got worked up again at my attitude, then suddenly called me with full seriousness.

“Mr. Seo Do-un.”

“Yes.”

“Have you read the response manual for isolation situations inside Special Zones?”

“I have read it.”

“People experience extreme mental depletion in isolated environments. That is why, when a citizen is discovered in an isolation situation, the principle is to check their mental state first.”

“But Team Leader, I am not a citizen.”

“Are you naturally an editor most of the time, and an agent only when you need to be?”

Ah…….

“If your editor self comes first, does that not mean your identity is still that of a civilian?”

There was no refuting this.

When I lost my words as I was, Cha Si-eon spoke again.

“So cooperate.”

“……How exactly am I supposed to cooperate?”

“Please explain, in a way I can understand, what your crisis response capability has to do with your identity as an editor.”

Only then did I realize why Cha Si-eon was acting like this.

Team Leader Cha, who was by-the-book and highly controlling.

He had tried to check my mental state according to the manual, but my state of mind had gone far beyond his expected range, so he seemed displeased.

After all, he was the type who had to grasp everything and place it in his hand before responding to a situation.

So in the end, he was demanding I make him understand.

Now that Team Leader Cha had gone this far, it would be difficult to dodge vaguely.

So after thinking for a moment, I opened my mouth.

“An editor is a profession that checks and reviews the causal relationships in a story. So as one reads many stories, the scope of one’s understanding of situations broadens as well. If one learns situations and causality that way, naturally, response capability also improves.”

“And?”

“And so, even when facing a crisis, I can judge more rationally from one step away. Because I have seen similar situations before. I can respond by thinking, ‘If I get scared here, I will die. If I get worked up there, I will die. And this is foreshadowing and buildup for ruin.’”

“Are you saying you are controlling your own actions by using the failures of characters in stories as examples?”

As expected, Team Leader Cha also had a talent for summarizing.

I nodded at Cha Si-eon’s clean arrangement.

To me, Cha Si-eon asked back,

“Leaving everything else aside, are stories and reality the same?”

It was a question he had tossed out unconsciously.

It was only a question thrown without knowing anything by a layman who did not seem very close to books, and who seemed unlikely to watch even films or comics, let alone read books.

So instead of asking, “Are you looking down on our industry?” I smiled calmly and explained.

“They are not different. Stories and reality are not different because stories reflect reality. Moreover, masterpieces with verisimilitude are almost no different from reality, and sometimes they reveal reality better than reality itself. That is why they are often more helpful than a few years of experience or a few human relationships. A truly well-written story has enough causality to apply perfectly well in reality, and this world overflows with outstanding stories humanity can use as lessons. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the tragedies of our world and humanity’s reading volume are inversely proportional.”

“…….”

“……Do not look at me as if I am strange after you are the one who made me talk.”

Because Cha Si-eon was looking at me with strangely wary eyes, I became a little irritated.

When I grew displeased, Cha Si-eon composed his expression and asked back,

“So your composure was secured through reading volume?”

I nodded again.

But Cha Si-eon’s face still said he did not understand, so I elaborated a little more.

“If I think of my life too as ultimately one story, I am not overwhelmed by situations. Only my choices in regard to the situation remain.”

“…….”

“As you said, I do feel fear too. But because it is not very helpful, I sort it out. ‘I might die here. People die anyway. Then it is all right even if I die. If that is the case, let us do what I want. Fighting.’ That is roughly the flow.”

“…….”

“And as the saying goes, if you seek life, you die; if you seek death, you live…….”

“I understand, so please stop.”

“Do you understand now?”

“It is an area I cannot understand, so I am moving on.”

Cha Si-eon, who had made someone else talk at length, was wearing a sour expression.

Feeling like, Then what was I supposed to do? I looked at Cha Si-eon.

Team Leader Cha thought about something on his own, then suddenly opened his mouth.

“Among my team members, there are sometimes people who do utterly absurd things or make absurd remarks. So when I ask what sort of mind made them do that, do you know how most of them respond?”

“I will correct it?”

“No. They ask back, ‘Wait, am I the only one who does this?’”

“…….”

“Mr. Seo Do-un is the first person to immediately explain a rational reason.”

I was at a loss for words despite myself.

Feeling as if I had been caught off guard, I was quite flustered, and Cha Si-eon glanced at me as he continued.

“In any case, it does not seem different from usual, so I will move on.”

Cha Si-eon’s voice as he said that was calm.

It was neither particularly sarcastic nor a tone of letting me off as if doing me a favor.

It was simply the tone of someone who had finished what he needed to do.

But as for me, I felt as if something had been exposed.

---

I saw an enormous pile of scrap metal.

A pile of scrap metal with rusted iron heaped wildly together.

That mountain-like thing was slowly approaching me.

Creeeak— creeeak—

Its form, which seemed as if it would pour down on me at any moment, was threatening.

Fortunately, it was not very fast, so if I wanted to avoid it, I could avoid it as much as I liked.

But as if nailed in place, I merely watched the pile of scrap metal approach me.

Then a man trapped beneath the pile of scrap metal entered my field of vision.

A person I could now say I knew.

He was Lee Seop.

-……

Lee Seop said something to me.

But I could not hear it well.

What is he saying?

I approached in order to hear that voice.

-……

The moment Lee Seop tried to speak again.

THOOM—!

A roar rang out.

Thinking the pile of scrap metal was collapsing, I flinched and looked up.

But that sound had not come from the dream.

THOOM—!

This was a sound from reality.

Startled by that sound, I woke from sleep.

“That is the sound.”

When my eyes opened with a flinch, Cha Si-eon spoke beside me.

“You may sleep 40 more minutes.”

“…….”

At Cha Si-eon’s added words, I calmed my surprise.

Then I buried my head inside my coat and closed my eyes again.

It had been 12 hours since we were isolated here.

To secure sleep time, we were taking night watch in shifts.

And that unknown roar had continued.

---

It had been 24 hours since we were isolated in the waiting hall of 「Railway Station」.

Cha Si-eon was entering a tunnel connected to a door and checking the inside.

Because of the continued vibrations, we had decided to secure an evacuation route.

If a bombing truly did fall, it would be the end.

So right now, we had opened a door close to the waiting hall and were scouting it.

The space being scouted was the relatively manageable “tunnel laid with rails,” but even that only looked manageable in form. It was just as oppressive.

It had been 15 minutes since Cha Si-eon entered with a wire tied to him.

But it seemed he still had not discovered the end of the tunnel.

Thanks to that, I was feeling the hopelessness of isolation throughout my entire body.

That was when it happened.

THOOM—!

A roar rang out in the distance.

And a vibration followed.

Again…….

“Phew…….”

I flinched at the roar, then sighed.

That sound rang out again whenever one had nearly forgotten it, without any set cycle.

That unpredictable pattern was quite stressful.

But since it was only a sound anyway.

……Just as I thought that.

ROAAAAAR—!

What is that?

Where did that sudden sound of water come from?

The sound of a waterfall suddenly came.

But from where I stood, I could not see anything.

Still, I could not recklessly leave the front of the door with Team Leader Cha inside, so I shouted toward the inside of the tunnel.

“Team Leader Cha!”

Afraid he might not hear my voice, I also pulled the wire a couple of times.

“Please come out! There is suddenly a sound of water!”

Then the wire began to wind back.

Had about 5 minutes passed like that? Cha Si-eon ran out from beyond the tunnel.

Then, without even asking me what was going on, he faintly frowned.

“Sound of water?”

With the tunnel door fixed open, we moved back to the center of the waiting hall.

Then we looked around for the sound of water.

Our search did not take long.

The floor beyond the corridor branching off from the waiting hall was soaked with water.

Moreover, that water was gradually pushing its way into the waiting hall.

It looked as if there had been a flood from torrential rain.

“What…….”

Stepping through the splashing water, we ran into the corridor.

And we came face-to-face with it.

ROAAAAAR—!

A massive amount of water pouring from a door.

What happened?

Did the door open when the roar rang out just now?

No, even if the door had opened, why was water suddenly pouring out?

All kinds of things had appeared beyond doors until now.

But those things had not invaded this area on their own.

Questions ran rampant, but there was no time to ponder comfortably.

“The door!”

Cha Si-eon shouted and ran, and I followed behind him.

We struggled with all our might to close the door.

But blocking the water pouring from an entire doorway with the strength of only two people was impossible.

“The water pressure is too strong!”

The water was literally pouring out like a waterfall.

Stopping it by force was impossible.

Then should we let the water fill this place and close the door?

It was impossible to oppose the water pressure, so it might be possible after the water level matched.

However, this was the waiting hall on the second floor above ground.

For water to fill this space, it would have to fill all the way down to the platform, which required going down stairs.

Because the space was wide, there was no worry of drowning immediately.

However, once the water filled like that, there would be no way for us to drain it back out.

If the water filled up, our movement route would become shorter by that much.

ROAAAAAR—!

Soaked completely with water, I looked around.

THOOM—!

A roar rang out again.

THUNK—!

Two more doors opened.

Water began pouring madly from them as well.

Feeling dizzy, we looked back at the other doors.

They were closed doors, but they looked as if they could open at any moment.

And if water poured from those doors too.

“…….”

Apparently, this space had decided our end would be a watery burial.