Chapter 170

THUNK—! THUNK—!

SPLAAAASH—!

Two doors opened one after another.

Then water poured out violently, as if a dam had been opened.

The water quickly rose to our knees.

SPLASH—!

Against the overwhelming current, we helplessly lost our balance.

“Out!”

Cha Si-eon shouted.

We crawled along the floor as if swimming and escaped back into the waiting hall.

Most of the floor of the wide waiting hall was still dry.

But the water flowing from beyond the corridor was pushing out at a rapid pace.

On top of that…….

THUNK—! THUNK—! THUNK—!

SPLAAAASH—!

Doors began opening here and there, and water started pouring out.

Damn it, are they really opening floodgates?

“First, to the tunnel……!”

“Wait!”

Cha Si-eon proposed taking refuge in the tunnel, but I looked around the waiting hall, leaving him behind.

In the meantime, a few more doors opened and water poured out.

Feeling as if we would lose the initiative at this rate, I ran toward a door that was still closed.

Then I pulled that door open.

“Mr. Seo Do-un!”

Cha Si-eon’s warning-laced shout.

And beyond the door I opened, what spread out was the high, high sky.

“Team Leader, we have to open the doors! Before the doors pour out water, we have to open the doors first!”

Only then did Cha Si-eon realize my intention.

From that moment on, we ran around the waiting hall and opened every door we could.

Drip—

When we opened the door to make the sky appear, the water gathered on the floor naturally flowed outside.

Seeing that, I shouted again.

“Set the spaces to the sky!”

Until now, the rate at which the sky appeared when we opened doors was about 40%.

So setting the spaces to the sky was not all that difficult.

The problem, however, was the unknown force opening doors and pouring out water as if competing with us, spurring itself on.

THUNK—! THUNK—! THUNK—!

SPLAAAAASH—!

At last, all the doors in the waiting hall were open.

But the score was disastrous.

There were about three times more doors pouring out water than doors connected to the sky.

Now, it was only a matter of time before the water rose.

---

It had been 26 hours since we were isolated in the waiting hall of 「Railway Station」.

The first floor of the waiting hall was soaked with water, so we moved to the second floor.

And among those places, we opened one door and scouted the “broad field.”

“How is it?”

I asked Cha Si-eon after he came back from looking around the field.

But it did not seem there was any particular need to hear the answer.

Team Leader Cha’s stiff expression already said everything.

“There is no end. It does not seem to be a proper space.”

“…….”

It had now been two hours since the water began pouring out.

The force of the falling water had not lessened in the slightest.

And that water was steadily filling from the platform beneath the waiting hall.

How long would it take for the water level to rise all the way here?

I could not even estimate it.

If it was short, a few hours; if long, a few days.

Among the choices we had, the most suitable place to avoid submersion was the “broad field.”

Spaces with ceilings, like tunnels or stalactite caves, guaranteed death if they filled with water.

But we could not exactly hang from the high, high sky either.

However, the “broad field,” which looked plausible on the surface, had no answer all the same.

“Still, since we do not know for sure, let us leave this door open.”

If I had to choose between drowning like this when the water rose to the second floor, and being isolated again in an endless field, the latter was better after all.

“You said you had a dream earlier.”

But Cha Si-eon suddenly asked me.

“That Senior Lee Seop told us to wait.”

“……It is not certain. It only felt as if I had that kind of dream, and even if my memory is correct, it may have been nothing but a simple dream.”

Cha Si-eon nodded at my explanation.

His face looked full of thoughts.

After fixing the door leading to the “broad field” open, we went and sat in a spot where the first floor of the waiting hall could be seen well.

There, while eating a meal that could not be defined as breakfast, lunch, or dinner, I opened my mouth.

“What did Agent Lee Seop originally do?”

We no longer hid Lee Seop’s name.

Since this place was already Railway Station, there seemed to be no point in playing it safe.

Perhaps having similar thoughts, Cha Si-eon answered without hesitation.

“He was a veterinarian.”

Thus, an unexpected identity was revealed.

“That was why, when someone was hurt, he would do simple surgeries on-site.”

“……?”

No, well. Right.

People are animals too.

It must have been an urgent situation.

So this was not a violation of medical law, but first aid. Yes.

“What kind of person was he?”

“A rarely seen person of character. Especially in the Bureau.”

Since this was the answer I had expected, I nodded.

Then, reading between the lines of what Team Leader Cha had said, I flinched.

“Then what about Manager Kwon?”

“…….”

Team Leader Cha did not lie, though he might shut his mouth.

“Then what happens to Manager Kwon Mu-seop’s character?”

“There is much to learn from Manager Kwon.”

“Does that include his character?”

“If you mean his current character, more or less.”

“What about his past character?”

“I will refrain from evaluating it.”

As expected of Team Leader Cha.

Even if he died, he would not say empty flattery.

Well, even in my eyes, Manager Kwon Mu-seop was especially strict with Team Leader Cha.

But to think even this was an improvement compared to before. Just how had Manager Kwon treated Team Leader Cha?

No, even without hearing it, I felt like I roughly knew.

If a man a little under 2m tall had been given the pitying nickname Kongjwi, then that said everything.

I laughed dryly and chewed over what Cha Si-eon had said.

Then I muttered without thinking,

“……He must have been a good father to Lee Sol too.”

“If he had been beside his family, he would have been a better father than anyone.”

Was this an affirmation or a denial?

Since the result was closer to a denial, I quietly took Lee Seop’s side.

“He did not leave on his own.”

“…….”

“That much should make him a good father.”

The Lee Seop I had seen through dreams had always wept and begged.

To save her.

To save Lee Sol, not himself.

If that was not merely some empty dream like an illusion, then Lee Seop was clearly a good father.

And if what I had heard in the dream truly was Lee Seop’s voice, we would have to wait here.

In this space where the water was rising higher and higher.

---

Hour 48 of isolation.

ROAAAAAR—!

The first floor of the waiting hall eventually sank underwater too.

And as the doors pouring out water and the doors draining water were submerged, an unexpected phenomenon occurred.

A cool whirlpool arose in the water filling the waiting hall.

The water rising by itself was already maddening, yet now even waves had appeared like this was a water park.

In about three or four hours, that water would rise to the second floor.

But that was something that would happen only after three or four hours.

Right now, completing the bingo board in front of me came first.

“Yoon U-jeong.”

“Kim U-in.”

“Ha Yu-ju.”

“Kwak Jae-gyeom. Three bingos complete.”

I declared victory and showed Cha Si-eon my notebook.

It might seem absurd to ask why we were playing bingo in the middle of this, but this was far better than doing nothing.

Blankly watching the water level rise felt like mentally preparing oneself before being subjected to water torture.

To endure that stress, we had drawn lines in the notebook again.

“Team Leader.”

“Go ahead.”

“Do you not regret coming back to catch me?”

“Seven to three.”

“Regret 7, acceptance 3?”

“I have to take that thing out of here 7, that thing is talking nonsense again 3.”

Was it because we had been isolated together for two full days?

He had no hesitation about referring to me as “that thing.”

Equally dumbfounded by Cha Si-eon’s vocabulary and statement, I asked back,

“Team Leader, is there anything you are afraid of?”

At my question, Cha Si-eon stopped the hand that had been moving his pen.

After thinking for a moment, Cha Si-eon spoke in an even lower voice.

“I hate watching while unable to do anything. To the point that I would rather die.”

I looked at Cha Si-eon briefly, then lowered my gaze back to the bingo board.

As I filled words into the bingo board, this time, Cha Si-eon opened his mouth.

“Mr. Seo Do-un.”

“Yes.”

“What did you write in your will?”

“Phew…….”

I had barely managed to forget about that.

“I just wrote whatever words came to mind.”

“Is it content that would socially bury you?”

“It is not…….”

What kind of person do you take me for, Team Leader Cha?

“Then what are you worried about?”

The overall contents of what I had written.

But even explaining that specifically was difficult, so I just replied shortly.

“It is too long and detailed.”

“Mr. Seo Do-un is always long and detailed.”

“…….”

I got worked up and looked at Cha Si-eon, and for some reason, Cha Si-eon obediently avoided my gaze.

Come to think of it, this bastard was the one who told me to write a shameful will.

Does he feel even the slightest responsibility?

Right, if things go wrong here, Team Leader Cha’s will will be revealed too.

……Should I take comfort in the fact that I will not be alone?

THOOM—!

Just as I tried to console myself.

THUD—! BOOM—!

The roars came again.

We stopped what we were doing and pricked up all our senses.

But…….

“Does the sound seem closer than before, or is it just me?”

“I feel the same.”

Is something approaching?

At that moment, a sound that seemed to tear the eardrums rang out.

SCREEEEEECH—!

“……!”

I reflexively covered my ears, then forced my hands away.

Isn’t this 「Big Cat」’s cry?

Perhaps thinking similarly to me, Team Leader Cha took out the tablet.

Then he began recording.

BOOM—! THOOM—!

The roars and vibrations continued.

「Big Cat」 also seemed to be making some kind of sound, but the sound of the water was too loud, so it was difficult to hear.

We concentrated on that sound for some time.

SCREE— SCREE-SCREE-SCREE—!

CRASH—!

Along with a grotesque sound, the glass ceiling collapsed with a crash.

SPLAAAAASH—!

As if it had been waiting, water bombs poured madly from the hole in the ceiling.

“……!”

It was an amount of water incomparable to what was coming from the doors.

As water fell like a waterfall, the water that had risen beneath it stirred into an even fiercer torrent and churned around.

At this rate, far from three or four hours, it looked like we would drown within one hour.

“If we are going to the hill, we must go now.”

Cha Si-eon spoke in an urgent tone.

The door connected to the “broad field” we had secured.

That door would soon be submerged as well.

So if we were going to leave, we had to leave now, but…….

I looked back and forth between the ceiling pouring water and the door showing the field, then asked Cha Si-eon,

“What about the words telling us to wait?”

“I will follow Mr. Seo Do-un’s decision.”

Damn it, that means he has already decided.

Suddenly handed the choice, I thought frantically.

Something is coming.

The water is rising.

Lee Seop told us to wait.

That may only be a dream.

I hate watching while unable to do anything.

I would rather die.

Lee Seop is a good father.

“……I will wait here.”

In the end, I said words I would regret.

And one hour later.

Hour 49 of isolation.

The water had risen all the way to the ceiling.

We were hanging from the steel frames beneath the glass ceiling, enduring the torrent with our whole bodies.

And perhaps because I was on the verge of losing my breath.

I suddenly wanted to confess.

That what I had said earlier about being an editor had actually been an excuse.