Chapter 335

Se-gwang Special City, my studio.

I stared blankly at the human hand that suddenly thrust out from inside the blanket with the white lizard pattern.

Watching something that was realistically impossible, I felt a deep shock—and relief.

Without even knowing why I was feeling it.

"Noru."

Someone inside the blanket spoke to me.

I didn’t know why I was being called Noru.

But my mouth opened.

"...Do you know me?"

"Yes."

"Who... what kind of section chief are you? Why am I calling you Section Chief?"

"It isn’t important."

A black-gloved hand, pulled out from the blanket, spoke.

I swallowed.

"...Why am I trapped on May 4? What is this... situation?"

"This is the situation you wanted."

What?

"No, that can’t be...! That can’t be!"

Just what are you saying—when I think about how many times, how many times I’ve repeated May 4, it feels like my mind is going to snap!

It’s almost impressive I haven’t gone insane. The only thing that lets me endure at all is that May 4 is genuinely peaceful and a good day....

.......

A good day.

A good daily life.

"Does May 4 have a special meaning to me—a good day?"

"I don’t know."

"Am I obsessed with May 4 and unable to get out?"

"No."

"Then what, exactly, is this situation?"

"Do you want an inference?"

"...Yes."

From inside the blanket came a dry, calm male voice.

"This place is where your wish to go home is being projected."

......!!

"I don’t understand what you mean—"

Why was I shocked?

"Because your wish is to go home, Noru, I infer that desire is what has been projected."

.......

What are you talking about.

If I want to go home, then I should go back to my parents’ place in Bundang.

Yeah—back to weekends where I sometimes helped out at my younger sibling’s dessert café, back to that kind of life. Why would I wish to return to today, living alone in a different region?

That, that....

.......

"In reality."

I swallowed.

"What state am I in?"

There was no answer.

"What state am I in, that this state is... to the point I’d wish for this day—May 4—to repeat forever...?"

"Noru."

"Why am I Noru?"

That unfamiliar form of address called me. For the first time, fear rose in me.

What state am I in?

I....

"Calm down."

"......."

"Do you want my inference?"

"...Yes."

The calm in his voice made the fear subside.

"This day being repeated is another mechanism."

"..."

"Your wish has been influenced by the Se-gwang Special City disaster, and re-created in a special way."

Disaster.

That word made me strangely frantic, cold sweat beading at my temples.

"I inferred that it interacted with your wish and produced this phenomenon."

Wish.

In that instant, a word flashed through my mind.

Children’s Paradise Syrup.

The original form of a wish voucher—“medicine that grants wishes.”

A laboratory that tried to use it for a Se-gwang Special City project, and the horrific disaster that seemed to have happened there.

.......

What are you saying.

What is this knowledge?

Where did it come from?

"Urk."

I held back the sourness rising up.

A head pickled in 612 repetitions of calm made a bizarre noise as it turned.

And, and......

"Section Chief."

Panting, I looked at the blanket.

"...Your arm seems to have come farther out of the blanket."

"Yes."

It was getting longer.

Now it had come out so far that I could almost see the shoulder.

It had been stretched out without even twitching, just hanging there—yet before I knew it.

There shouldn’t have been any space between the nightstand and the blanket, but it was as if someone had hidden their body between the blanket’s gaps and was slipping out.

Or as if the blanket itself was mutating.

"Is that... good?"

"No."

The flat voice echoed from inside the blanket.

"It means the time you have to leave this place is shrinking—through the alien discomfort called a blanket."

...!!

"Then, then I’ll leave right now! It’ll be dangerous—"

But.

"No."

"...No?"

"Yes."

I stared blankly at the right arm that had nearly fully escaped the blanket.

"What does that mean?"

"Considering the traumatic situation you will soon experience in reality, there is also a probability that remaining here is safer."

"......"

"If you choose to remain, leave the blanket as it is. 10 minutes 32 seconds remain."

I stared blankly at the hand that had come out of the blanket.

"You’re saying it might be safer here."

"Yes."

I turned around.

A pleasant spring day—the scenery of Se-gwang Special City on May 4, a day off yesterday and tomorrow—spread beyond the living room’s full-height window....

Forever.

"...Can you tell me exactly what is happening in reality?"

"Impossible."

"...Can you tell me what situation you’re in right now? The situation we’re in."

"Impossible."

......Then.

My mouth opened slowly....

"I’m going out anyway."

It wasn’t only because staying here any longer felt like I’d go insane, a simple and certain reason.

"I want to know what kind of situation this is."

Stifling frustration.

A drive to pursue the truth of the situation and its solution.

That motivation—strong to the point of being a little strange—locked into a firm direction inside me.

And lastly, one more thing.

Sweating cold, I grinned.

"If I keep staying like this without knowing, I think I’ll be even more scared."

.......

"Confirmed."

The replying voice was just as flat.

But somehow, it felt like the snout of the white lizard character on the blanket had curved.

"Then prepare yourself."

Prepare?

"What do I do?"

"Gather what you will take with you."

I sprang up. Then I looked around my familiar studio and spotted the rabbit doll on the bed.

The one that had been in my pocket for hundreds of runs.

"Um—can I take it with me?"

"Not recommended."

Without thinking, I glanced at the rabbit doll as if reading its mood.

"7 minutes 24 seconds remain."

Damn it. I hesitated only briefly, then picked up the rabbit doll and spoke.

Even if he didn’t recommend it, wasn’t there a reason this doll had stayed with me the whole time?

And besides.

"Um... originally... does the rabbit doll speak?"

"No."

......Whew.

What was I expecting. Of course—talking to a rabbit doll is a stupid thing to do....

"Stuffed dolls cannot speak."

"No, I mean—normally dolls, sure, but... I meant specifically this rabbit doll... whether this doll can speak...."

"I see."

And the plain answer came.

"Yes."

......!

I looked at the rabbit doll.

Those jet-black eyes like pebbles.

"Is it talking... even now?"

"Yes."

"Why can’t I hear it?"

"I infer that is an inevitable premise required to implement your wish, Noru."

"......"

I don’t understand what that means.

But in a trembling voice, I asked.

"What... is it saying? If you can hear it, can you tell me?"

"Yes."

"Friend, this Brown is fine."

Brown.

"...Brown."

I called the rabbit doll carefully.

There was no reply. But I held onto the rabbit doll carefully... and this time, I put it in my front pocket instead of my pocket.

I felt steadier.

"Um—does this coin have some meaning? Every time I repeat May 4, it’s getting blacker. And it pricks, too."

"I don’t know. Do you want an inference?"

"...Yes."

"Discoloration is a common sign when an amulet takes on contamination in your place."

An amulet?

"Also, the pricking is inferred to be a stimulus that creates alien discomfort in you. It is also possible someone else is sending you a signal through the coin."

"......"

Someone else?

But isn’t it only me here? I experienced today dozens—no, maybe hundreds of times......

.......

Somehow, anxiety swells. A restless urgency that makes me feel I need to confirm something quickly.

What am I forgetting?

"5 minutes 14 seconds remain."

"I’m ready!"

I went straight to the blanket.

The alien thing I’d noticed—the human arm—had now come out from within the blanket past the shoulder, almost exposing the upper body.

At last, beneath a single blanket, even the faint outline of a head could be seen....

.......

A human jawline.

Was it... always shaped like that? It felt like it had been more avant-garde somehow.

"Grab it."

After a deep breath, I grabbed the arm without hesitation.

Then, with terrifying force, I began to be dragged into the blanket.

"......!"

Thud—my head jammed into the blanket, the fabric rippling as it covered my face.

Like sleep paralysis.

Hup!

That uniquely soft texture wrapped around my head, but only for a moment—soon it sealed over every opening on my face without a gap.

Wait—

I can’t breathe. In suffocating panic, I reached my hand toward the blanket, but I couldn’t grasp anything. Pressure, blocked vision, the instant I tried to struggle—

All sensation vanished.

"......"

No smell, no sight, no sound.

Inside the blanket.

The beautiful May 4 day I’d experienced—so that no matter how I reached or thrashed, I could not touch it—vanished from my senses.

Now it was gone.

At that fact, not relief but a strange surge rose up in me.

But I was still there, and I soon realized.

My consciousness, my emotions.

And a self-awareness like sensation, returning in a flood.

Ah.

I realized why I was called Noru.

A nickname I’d gotten while working at Daydream Inc.

And Daydream Inc. was the urban-legend company from .

One day, I was sucked into this urban-legend universe. I met all kinds of people—people who appeared on the wiki, and people who didn’t.

All of that pain and happiness.

A sense of purpose.

And after going around and around, my wish was... still to go home.

Yes.

...I told that story to Section Chief Lizard once.

I knew the identity of the hand that had come out of the blanket.

Field Exploration Team D, Team Leader.

Section Chief Lee Jaheon.

"......"

I opened my eyes.

Pain, agony, and the familiar head of a white lizard.

That reptilian alien was gripping my body as if pulling me out from somewhere.

What is this.

Even through the pain, I feel like laughing.

Thanks to him, I lived again. Whew. Looks like I’d been caught in a loop-type urban legend where a day repeats.

How many times did it repeat? ...612? 613? Wait—just thinking about it makes it go distant. I tried my hardest to write it off as a dream. I can’t let my mind get sucked back into that.

Get it together.

I shook my head. Now I should match Section Chief Lee Jaheon’s pace and get out. Then we can assess the situation.

I looked at Section Chief Lee Jaheon’s movement....

.......

He isn’t moving.

"...Section Chief?"

I lowered my head.

Nothing.

Below Section Chief Lee Jaheon’s waist, there was nothing.

"Huh."

I twisted my body.

The hand that had been holding me fell away.

Section Chief Lee Jaheon’s torso—only the upper body left—dropped down.

Thud.

With a short, cruel sound.

.......

Huh?

Huhh??

Just now—

What happened?

This is weird. Section Chief Lee Jaheon—Employee D—shouldn’t die like this. He even becomes a team leader. So—

Huh?

What is it? I reached out to gather up that torso and started to stand

but I realize it’s impossible because I almost don’t have arms and legs either. My body is attached to a gigantic sphere and screaming, together with other mouths making the same sound

The end has come!

There is paradise!

We have failed!

This

Wh-what is this what is this what is this what is this what is this what state am I in right now? I stare into empty air

A train is coming from far away a train! the train comes running and brushes over us and brushes over that head above us and goes far away outside

Why?

The end has come!

There is paradise!

We have failed!

My body is being sucked into the sphere. Pulled in deeper.

No! No!

I twisted my body. As the rolling mass crushed my remaining lower half, it split off and fell away in an instant. Splat—my body hits the ground.

I start crawling through the ruins.

The bleeding gets severe. My mind goes faint. The pain turns dull. there is something behind behind behind behind I have to dodge it if I get stuck back on there again I hate it I’m still

Still

[Noru.]

[This is as far as we go.]

I died.

***

"Ugh, huuhk!"

I lifted my head.

The familiar department store lobby came into view—no, no! No!

I’m back! To May 4! I wish it had been a dream—no, staggering, I got up from the chair and tried to run to my studio—

[Oh my, friend! Are you all right?]

.......

Ah.

[Now, I’m here. Hurry and check your front pocket!]

I lowered my head.

I rummaged through my pockets. Reflexively, I pulled my hand out of my pants pocket and moved it to my front pocket. Then....

"Brown...."

A soft rabbit doll was in my front pocket.

Along with a pleasant host’s voice.

[Your friend Brown is right here!]

[Your good friend—an entertainer of the age—who endured a tedious and obvious, repeating scene that lasted 613 days without skipping even a single one, is with you!]

"......"

Yes.

Yes.......

I steadied my breathing.

I have to get it together.

The situation I’m in.

I drag the experience from what feels like hundreds of days ago out of my head, barely.

I fell from a train.

From a subway train cutting across Se-gwang Special City and heading outward, the side door beside the Driver’s Cab opened, and I fell down into the city below.

Exposed directly to a catastrophic disaster, and now, inside it.......

"Did I... return to May 4 again?"

[First, it would be best to check the differences and the similarities, Noru!]

I immediately began checking my condition.

My clothes....

Not a suit.

The outfit I wore on the train to pass as Agent Podo. The state with glasses.

Different.

My mind calms.

But there is also a difference that makes my mind turn cold.

...The silver coin was gone.

The coin with the selfhood of a counselor inside it.

...It had turned black.

It felt bad.

But I didn’t have time to linger on that.

Bzzzzzzzzing!!

My smartphone began to ring.

More precisely, every person’s smartphone in the department store lobby—everyone who had been side-eyeing my insane behavior—rang all at once.

Gooseflesh rose all over me.

Sensing something, I opened my smartphone.

[Se-gwang Special City] Boundary Alert issued. A suspected terror explosion has occurred near City Hall. Presumed to be a bio-chemical weapon lethal to the human body.

Since there are signs of a chain of explosions, citizens are advised to prepare to evacuate according to instructions and absolutely do not go outside.

"......"

That was when I understood.

This really is May 4.

But it is not the peaceful, beautiful May 4 I experienced.

-May. The day right before Children’s Day.

-First period was starting, and then a disaster text came. A terror attack happened at City Hall.

The day of the disaster.

This is the day the catastrophic disaster occurred in Se-gwang Special City.

But how?

I fell from the train and died. And this is clearly a day from years ago—so how...?

......!

-"Wishing for May 4 to repeat is another mechanism."

-"Your wish has been influenced by the Se-gwang Special City disaster, and re-created in a special way."

My wish would have been “my peaceful home without urban legends.” If so, then in the repeating May 4 I experienced, being influenced by the Se-gwang Special City disaster means....

...The repetition of the day.

I arrive at a new proposition.

"Aaaah!"

"What is that?"

Faint screams began somewhere outside the department store. But frozen, I put the realization into words.

Se-gwang Special City.

Inside this sealed city, today was repeating endlessly.

The day of the disaster, hundreds and thousands of times.

Forever.

And now I’m trapped inside it.

"......"

A chill climbed up my entire body.

No.

What am I supposed to do in this situation?

Wait—wait....

Tattoos!

Right. When I returned to my original body, I got tattoos. First, I have to take two people out. In a panic, I shoved my hand into the tattoo.

There’s no way the two of them endured inside this for 612 days raw, right? No way.......

.......

Nothing.

Neither Bronze Agent nor Deputy Eun Haje.

Nothing.

Inside the tattoo, the space that could hold two people was empty.

"......"

My mind feels like it’s going foggy—.

No!

I have to get it together. Get it together....

I also just died and then came back to my senses.

Here, in the morning-time department store.

Assume other people are in a similar situation. Maybe the people who were inside the tattoo were appropriately placed within this day of disaster.

Bronze Agent, too. Deputy Eun Haje, too....

Section Chief Lee Jaheon, too.

Then what I have to do right now is....

Find them.

"Aaaah!"

I looked toward the department store doors outside, where things were starting to get loud.

And I dashed out.

Into May 4 in Se-gwang Special City, where the catastrophic disaster had just begun.