Chapter Text
[Our train will soon pass through a curved section which may cause noise and shaking.]
[Please remain seated to prevent accidents.]
“Welp. We better listen to them right?”
“I agree everybody should sit down.”
After Soleum words, Zacho left the conversation to sit down next to Wifies. And as for everybody else they followed his commands and sat down too.
The people who were originally wanting to leave the carts. Continue to follow their words. After the horrific site on both stations there's no way that anybody else would throw another tantrum.
But the people who were close to the front cart quickly noticed that they weren't following the announcement rules.
“The other...”
One of the employees from their car tried to approach the door.
Before they could get any closer, someone beside them grabbed their arm and pulled them back into their seat.
“Just sit down! Don't you remember what happened before?!”
[Entering curve section.]
The light went down and the train started to shake with a loud Rumble.
Aaackkk!
Aaaaahh-
Including the sound of multiple people screaming. The sound that came from the front car was disgusting.
Imagine an exploding gushing wet sound.
The only thing separating them from the scene was a door.
As soon as the lights went on, Zacho could see people covering their ears or covering their mouths from disgust.
The only thing that's visible from the front door was the bloody glass.
There was no more sound coming from the car and everybody knew..
They were all dead.
“I want to go home..”
“C-Can we even get out of here alive?”
At this point seeing their other coworkers die like that really impacted them a lot. For after the other two stations they no longer had many tears to cry and just shook in their seats not daring to move.
This isn't good at all.
How are they supposed to all survive if everybody gave up on the idea.
Zacho quickly spoke up to try to raise the mood.
“Guys he can't give up already we still have a-”
[Attention passengers, the abyss transpo is making an announcement to ensure a pleasant journey. Please listen carefully.]
As the sound of another announcement people started to panic once again.
“Not again..”
“I can't deal with this anymore!”
[There is a lost item.]
..?
[Those who find the lost item please disembark at the next station and hand it over to the station staff.]
Zacho stared in front of him and then slowly turned to Wifies. But he simply raised his shoulders.
Wifies whispers to you: Don't look at me I didn't even know there are special scenarios like this.
This was probably a rare occasion that happened inside this Darkness. They didn't even need to know this piece of information since the puzzle they solved was simply bare minimum.
But guessing probably means that if you find the missing item you can probably leave. But this is simply an educational guess.
But since this system stated “item” singular. That probably means only one person can leave.
[The last item is “the left eyeball of a type a male in his 20s.”]
A body part huh? Zacho rolled his eyes, how cliche.
As soon as the announcement ended people started murmuring to each other.
“A left eyeball of the type A male?”
Yeongeum lowered her head and thought.
“It probably refers to the blood type..”
“It's not a little too specific..? Does that mean somebody is on this train?”
As soon as Wifies stated that people started talking and trying to find people who had this exact description. But for him he simply just started looking around the storage rack. But nobody really paid attention to that.
“By any chance are you type A, Mr Kim Soleum?”
“I'm AB.”
As soon as Baek Saheon finishes interrogating the Soleum, not giving him a chance to respond and walk towards Zacho.
“What about you Mr Zacho, since you look like you're in your 20s what's your blood type?”
Zacho paused.
Hm..
“Well I'm AB. And this guy beside me is O.”
Wifies got up from searching and shook his head disappointedly.
“I could have just simply escaped if I had that blood type.”
“Ah, Really.. Well that's a little unfortunate for you.”
The way this guy was talking got on Zacho's nerves a little.
“What about you, are you-”
A person stood up from his seat and raised his hand.
“Actually.. I fit the criteria perfectly!”
As he spoke the announcement played again.
[This is Anger, Anger Station.]
Zacho glanced at Baek Saheon and you noticed the difficult expression on his face.
“Are you the only one?”
“It looks like that..”
“Is that so?”
[The doors are on your right…]
“That's too bad then.”
Saheon smiled as he threw his fist at him.
It hit directly on his left eye of the employee that revealed that he was a candidate and with a sickening thud fell onto the floor.
It looks like he had attacked him with the corner of his smartphone that he had in his hand, he looks like he didn't even care that he attacked somebody.
“Aah..”
The man on the floor didn't even bother getting up.
[The platform doors are closing.]
Saheon simply walked over the man and walked out of the door not even taking Second Glance at the others.
Everybody simply stared before actually realizing what just happened.
“Why did you do that?!”
“There was no reason to get violent!”
“We could have just talked..!”
Baek Saheon laughed in all of their faces.
“You damn fools if you can escape at a cost in an eye you should just do it immediately instead of just staring dumbly.”
After his words people actually started to figure out what the announcement really meant. You really did have to listen very closely to the announcement.
Looks like he was the only person to follow through with though.
“Well I suppose I can't reason with this type of person who can't decide to do stuff on their own.”
Wifies whispers to you: I agree with that.
You whisper to Wifies: Bro really? I just can't believe I found somebody doing a villain monologue irl.
After bluntly attacking people with his words he was certain that no one would dare follow him out because he was right everybody had already seen what happens when he got off of the wrong station.
Nobody was willing to die because they wanted revenge.
“Y-You..”
Go Yeongeum looks extremely angry at the simple Injustice that he just committed.
From the beginning they both knew this guy was trouble. Although hiding his personality like that was smart of him.
The Viper description truly matched his vicious personality.
[The doors are closing.]
The doors closed, and Saheon simply waved at the rest of them through the glass.
Kim Soleum immediately turned toward the luggage rack. He reached up, searching for something, but his expression quickly became confused.
“Are you looking for something, Kim Soleum?”
Wifies suddenly appeared beside him, Soleum flinched. That was something he wasn't expecting. Without saying anything, Wifies reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a small glass bottle.
Inside was a single eyeball floating in a clear liquid.
A label was attached to the bottle.
[Type A / Female / 28 / R]
Soleum stared at it as Wifies simply handed him the bottle.
“I found it while everyone was looking around.”
He then casually returned to his seat. What Wifies didn't expect was for Soleum to immediately hold the bottle up toward the window. Showing it off to Saheon.
What an interesting guy.
Well it wasn't his problem he built this bed.. Wifies looked away because he had better things to do like telling Zacho about the other…
…Really?
“Bro shouldn't have talked all that shit, if you were scared of losing an eye.”
He also didn't expect Zacho to start laughing while pointing his finger at Beak Saheon.
Kim Soleum seemed a little surprised at Zacho's actions. But Saheon stared back at them through the glass. His expression was combined with shock, anger and fear.
For somebody that had just punched a guy with his phone believing he had found the only item that could get him out. For the first time since they met him, the Viper looked completely caught off guard.
But before he could do anything else the train kept going on his way.
[Passengers who has disembarked, please wait a moment...]
Multiple machine like needles came the ceilings behind Baek Saheon. Each one of them slowly approaching him as the needles went around his eye
[A employee will assist you.]
Each one of them prying into it.
[Thank you sincerely for your cooperation.]
The sounds of his scream slowly passing.
Seems like the item has been returned.
—
After finding the teen girl, the agents decided to rest in a storage closet that wasn't too far where they found her. There really wasn't much in there, a few crates, some paintings on the wall and a bunch of rubbish.
The girl seemed to have been through a lot.
She hadn't eaten much since entering the facility, and whatever she had experienced had clearly left her traumatized. Judging by her condition, she had probably been trapped inside the factory for quite some time.
Lomedy, meanwhile, was running out of patience. It had been about thirty minutes since he sent Wifies that message.
Agent Choi had given her some of the rations that they always had on them while Agent Bronze kept watch.
Maybe something had happened to Wifies inside the Ghost Story. But knowing how competent Wifies was, Lomedy didn't want to believe that.
He was lazily lounging around the top of a crate before he finally got the message he was looking for.
“Finally..”
“Did you say something civilian?”
Lomedy nearly jumped.
Agent Bronze had appeared beside the crate without him noticing.
“Ah—sorry. I'm just... you know, talking to myself. Don't mind me!”
“Okay..”
He totally doesn't believe me!
Render seemed to be zoning out but he was probably reading the message he got from Wifies.
Render glanced over to Lomedy and met each other's eyes. Like they were telepathically connected.
Render casually walked over toward Agent Bronze.
“So, Agent Bronze... you said you were trained for this, right?”
Bronze turned toward him.
“Yes.”
“So what are supernatural phenomena that the other agent had mentioned before?”
As Render kept Bronze occupied, Lomedy quickly in his chat. He finally got what he was waiting for.
Wifies whispers to you: Sorry for the wait I had to deal with something. Let me tell you how to escape this place.
—
The only way both of them were getting out of here alive is to get out of the agent's line of view. Meaning they need to completely leave them.
Luckily, Lomedy had already gathered several useful items from the storage closet.
Now all he needed was a distraction.
Simple, right?
...Well, easier said than done.
With the limited items that they had on them causing a distraction would be a little difficult.
Lomedy looked around the room.
Think. Think. Think.
He needed something that would make the agents look away for just a few seconds.
Then he heard a strange noise behind him
What the hell is he doing?!
Render was standing beside a large stack of crates. He was holding a redstone torch. He swore wasn't in this room.
He lowered his voice, trying not to attract the agents' attention.
“...Render?”
Render looked back.
“Hey, Lomedy.”
“What are you doing?”
Render held up the torch.
“I know a few things about redstone.”
“Right..?”
“This place is full of jukeboxes.”
Ah..
And if the map followed normal Minecraft mechanics, they could use that to their advantage.
Render quickly put together a small redstone contraption using the materials they had collected.
Just enough to activate a jukebox after a short delay.
Once it was ready they simply lounged around the closet until the jukebox activated.
Music suddenly blasted inside the storage closet. The split second they were distracted they rushed the door and immediately locked it since it was an iron door.
“Sorry! I promise to get you out of here!”
Agent Bronze immediately turned toward the solvers and realized they had locked them in here..
“They really did what you said.”
Agent Choi didn't seem all that surprised by the sudden betrayal.
It was almost as if he had expected this from the beginning.
“As long as they know how to escape, we can too.”
He looked toward the locked door.
“But I do wonder if they will come back for us~”
When the agents of the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau first encountered the two “civilians,” they already knew that the two of them knew something about this Ghost Story.
After all, they had mentioned somebody named ■■■■.
Agent Choi couldn't quite understand the name they had said, but from the context, that name had to be connected to this place somehow.
There is a reason why they decided to rest inside this storage closet.
Not just because it was safe but because there was a different exit from the one that came from.
When Agent Choi first investigated this place he realized that you could go inside the paintings and come from the other side. Meaning if they were ever suddenly get trapped in here there was another way out.
“After a little bit I'll tail them and I'll come back when things are safe. Is that okay with you two?”
The teenage girl nodded, not wanting to go out into the factory. Agent Bronze decided to stay with the girl and looked back at this senior.
“You better come back.”
“Of course I will, I wouldn't let my juniors be alone!”
The agent ruffled both of their heads before leaving. Silence settled over the room. The people who had been doing most of the talking were gone now.
Agent Bronze looked toward the girl.
“What's your name?”
The girl with brown hair and black eyes, her sclera tinted red, looked up at him from the floor.
“People call me Cheon-baek-pal.”
Meanwhile, Lomedy and Render were running through the factory.
Their footsteps echoed through the metal hallway as they hurried farther away from the storage room.
“Render, I really don't feel good leaving them behind.”
“It's not like we're leaving them forever, we'll come back to get them.”
“After what we did there's no way they would trust us!”
“Yeah they totally won't.”
“Bro, that doesn't make me feel better at all..!”
The factory seemed much larger now that they were actually exploring it.
Deepslate walls surround them on both sides, with pipes running along the ceiling. Conveyor belts moving slowly through different parts of the facility carrying not moving clones.
Render tried not to look at them.
After all, they looked like his friend. He saw anomalies in his work, if mysteries on the internet can be considered that.
There was something else that bothered him, too.
He couldn't log out of the server.
Normally, if something went wrong, he could simply leave the game.
But when he opened the menu, there was no option to disconnect.
The only thing available was the advancement screen.
Render opened it again.
The familiar Minecraft menu appeared, but there was nothing else.
No Save and Quit to Title.
No way to leave.
Just the advancements.
“Lomedy...”
“Yeah?”
“I don't think we can leave.”
Lomedy slowed down slightly.
“What?”
“Bro just look.”
Lomedy glanced at the screen. His expression immediately felt more and more with dread as the time went on.
“Man why is everything so unstable..”
“No kidding.”
They continued walking, but neither of them said anything for a few seconds.
They finally reached a place that Wifies had mentioned in his message.
Render opened the chat again and reread it carefully.
—
Wifies whispers to you: I'm not sure exactly what's going on inside your Ghost Story, but I can tell you what I think will happen.
You need to go to the middle of the factory. You should notice the multitude of conveyor belts. There'll be many clones watching over this place. Some of them won't even notice you're there, while others will be very watchful.
If you look up you can see each distinct floor. There should be four of them. You'll need to do some parkour for the first floor. And the other three there should be stairs but to get there you need to get through the Clones.
Since you're already inside the factory, you don't need to solve any of the puzzles before this.
To get to where ■■■■ is, you need to get up to the Head Office, which should be at the 4th floor to the very top. Once you meet him you would need to.. beat him in a game. Any of your choosing but you need to make sure you can beat him.
The clone has a different purpose. You said before that there were clones of me chasing you, so he probably sees every movement you make.
The higher up you go, the scarier I guess the clones are.
Good luck. We'll meet up soon.
—
Render closed the chat and looked ahead.
The factory opened up into a massive central room. It basically looks like a mall if you stand from the bottom and look up to the sky light.
Several floors surrounded the room, connected by narrow metal bridges and walkways. Conveyor belts stretched across the lower levels, carrying rows of motionless Wifies clones through the factory.
“I don't like this at all..”
“Neither do I.”
They both looked toward the fourth floor.
At the very top of the factory there should be an office overlooking everything below. Even from this distance, they could imagine the figure behind everything.
Wifies whispers to you: You should be there by now.
The only way upward was through the platforms and bridges scattered throughout the factory. Lomedy grimaced at the height of the first floor while Render seemed to be kind of excited. But looking at his expression he slowly realized
“Looks like we're doing parkour. Nice. Oh Lomedy um I'll help you get up...”
Wifies whispers to you: I'm sorry, Lomedy, you should take your time. I know you're not very good at parkour.
“WOW, both of you?! Give me a bit of a chance, I'll show you how good I am at parkour!”
They quietly jumped onto a box and then they stepped onto the first platform.
A conveyor belt moved underneath them, carrying another group of clones toward the other side of the factory.
A small gap separated their platform from the next one.
Render jumped across and Lomedy followed.
Then another.
And another.
The platforms slowly became smaller and more farther to reach.
“Don't fall.”
Render said when he finally made it to the next platform when he turned around he couldn't see him.
“Ah..”
“Lomedy?”
“OH MY GOD. RENDER HELP!”
He looked down at the current platform he was on and saw him basically clinging on to it as one of the Clones clings to his legs. When he tried to jump a clone came rushing at him and basically tackled in mid-jump all he could do was grab at the platform.
Render immediately reached down and grabbed his arm. Lomedy kicked the clone off with his other foot making a big crash. They both stared down at the crumpled up engineering.
“Bro HOW did it even get there?”
“I don't know!”
Lomedy pulled himself completely onto the platform and took a moment to catch his breath.
The jumps weren't particularly difficult, but they had to be careful. But that one Club definitely made them more cautious. One mistake would send them falling onto the factory floor below.
They eventually reached the other side.
“S-See, I did it..”
Even though he was hyperventilating he's still very much doing it and alive at that.
“He said that some clones have different purposes. Do you think its purpose is to parkour?”
“Oh my god, I don't care, I almost died because of it!”
“Skill issue.”
“Bro.”
The clones were facing upward.
Toward them.
Neither of them had noticed when it happened. After a few agonizing seconds, the conveyor belts started moving again.
The clones slowly turned away and continued along with them as if nothing had happened.
Lomedy swallowed.
“Never mind man. Let's just keep moving.”
Now that they finally got to the first floor all they need to do is continue exploring the floor until they reach the very top.
“This floor gives me the creeps..”
They continued to explore the second floor; it was much darker than the first floor. When they finally saw the stairs at the end of a long corridor..
“Oh.”
“Render, why did you stop..”
Something had grabbed Render's ankle. As he looked down he saw Wifies clone was lying beneath the floor.
Its lower body was completely missing, exposing a mess of mechanical wiring beneath its torn clothes. Dark liquid had leaked across the metal floor.
The clone's head snapped backward with a metallic crack, and its fingers finally released his ankle as he stumbled backward.
Then another one crawled out from underneath the stairs.
Then another.
Then another…
“Uh... Render?”
“I see them.”
The clones weren't coming from one direction. They were coming from everywhere. Some crawled out from underneath conveyor belts. Others slowly emerged from dark maintenance tunnels. A few simply dropped from openings in the ceiling.
They were unfinished.
A mistake.
Some were missing arms. Some had twisted legs that dragged uselessly behind them.
Others had faces that looked as though someone had tried to recreate Wifies from memory and gotten every detail slightly wrong. One clone had three fingers on one hand. Another had no mouth. One had its head turned completely backward.
Yet they all had the same basic appearance.
The same clothes, the same hair, the same face.
Wifies.
Dozens of them and there were more appearing every second.
“Why are there so many?!”
“I don't know! JUST RUN!”
They sprinted down the walkway or in the way that they could.
One of the clones suddenly lunged. Render ducked. It flew over his head and slammed into the railing. The metal shook violently. He stood in shock for a little bit before Lomedy grabbed his sleeve.
“Quit daydreaming!”
Lomedy glanced behind him.
One of the damaged clones was running on all fours.
“WHY IS THAT ONE SO FAST?!”
“DON'T LOOK BACK!”
They turned a corner and slammed through a narrow passage between two conveyor belts.
A clone suddenly dropped from the ceiling.
“AH!”
Render barely dodged it.
It crashed into the conveyor belt behind them, its body getting caught between the moving machinery.
The other clones didn't even react. They simply kept coming. They weren't angry. They weren't screaming.
They weren't even trying to scare them. They were just doing their jobs. Whatever those jobs were.
The staircase got closer and closer as they ran.
“There!”
They ran toward it.
Just as Render reached the first step, a hand grabbed his shoulder.
He spun around.
A nearly complete Wifies clone was standing directly behind him.
“Wifies..?”
It looked completely normal, it wasn't wearing the outfit the other clones were wearing, this one was wearing a lab coat. He looked exactly like the person he knew except for his eyes. It was completely black with red sclera and wasn't the deep purple he remembered.
Render stared at it.
The clone stared back.
Then it smiled.
Render immediately punched it.
“NOPE!”
The clone staggered backward.
“Keep moving!”
They rushed up the stairs.
Behind them, dozens of broken clones gathered at the bottom.
None of them followed.
They simply stood there.
Looking. Watching.. until they simply gave up and disappeared beyond the stairs.
Lomedy slowed down. And looked ahead of him.
The first floor had been bright enough to see the entire factory and it wasn't too difficult.
The second floor was absolutely terrifying and it almost gave him a heart attack.
This third was different. It was a circle room with the stairs across from and with one empty mannequin in the middle. This room was full of light and it felt peaceful the only way to go up to the 4th floor where ■■■■ is to walk past it.
And when he got closer to the mannequin it changed. Brown hair, blue eyes and an ocelot hoodie.
Ah.. Him.
Lomedy looked to his left and saw the same type reaction on Render's face. But staring back at that boy.
How is he supposed to face him again..
—
“Woah did you hear that?”
“Was that him?”
One person escapes this ghost story but at the cost of his eye.
The other passengers of this train, usually filled with discussion and terrified, did not feel pity.
The trained apartment was filled with chaos of people checking up on the person that was brutally attacked by Baek Saheon.
[This stop is Hatred, Hatred station.]
“Ugh.”
“Hatred, what does this even mean..”
The announcement instantly gloomed over the remaining passengers. Go Yeongeum finished checking the new recruit and slowly pulled her hands away.
“I'm almost certain his corneas are damaged. I'm worried..”
Kim Soleum frowned.
“Were you perhaps a medical professional?”
Before Yeongeum could answer, Zacho looked around the cabin and walked over.
“Yes, I was going to ask you that too. I don't know a thing about medical stuff.”
“No,” Yeongeum replied. “I only went to university for it… but I changed my major.”
Zacho nodded.
“That’s still impressive, Miss Go Yeongeum.”
“Ah… thank you.”
During this whole situation, Wifies who is leaning against was completely still but only his eyes were moving.
During all of this, Wifies remained completely still as he leaned against the side of the train.
Only his eyes were moving. Zacho glanced at him a few times. But after her while he was honestly very curious and wanted to go check it out.
“I'm sorry I need to go check up on my friend, you too stay safe.”
Solemn glance at the both of them before nodding.
“Go ahead, don't let us keep you too long.”
Zacho finally turned toward Wifies and walked over, tapping him on the shoulder.
“What's up, what have you been doing this whole time?”
“Oh I'm just helping the others out.”
“The others..?”
Wifies stared at him blankly.
Then he suddenly realized.
He had completely forgotten to tell Zacho.
His eyes slowly widened.
“Oh, right. Ahm.. Zacho, I have something to tell you.”
…
“Bro what, you didn't tell me until now??”
—
Kim Soleum had been watching the two of them for quite a while now.
Of course, he had started a conversation with them partly to gather information.
Because there was something he couldn't understand.
Who the hell were they?
Nowhere in the Darkness Exploration Records were these people mentioned.
Considering how much they had already contributed to the current situation, Soleum found their absence strange.
Maybe they had died early during the exploration.
But he doubted it.
He had also reread the abyss transpo to see if he left out anything. But nothing new was popping up or anything that he remembered.
He had read enough records to know that people who entered these stories usually left something behind.
But these two?
Nothing.
Soleum looked back toward Wifies and Zacho.
They were still talking quietly.
He couldn't hear what they were saying.
Then the speakers above them suddenly crackled.
The entire cabin fell silent.
[Attention passengers, the abyss transpo is making an emergency announcement. Please listen carefully.]
[A child has been lost.]
[Those who found the lost child please disembark at the next station and return them to the station staff and mother.]
…
This was a scenario he hadn't seen before. This wasn't even written in the Wiki.
“Did anyone see a kid?”
“How would a kid even get here?”
Kim Soleum's expression hardened. None of this made any sense. Where did this new secret scenario appear in the wiki?
After a few minutes, some passengers simply gave up.
They had been hoping the announcement would provide another way to escape, but there was no child anywhere.
One by one, they returned to their seats.
Then the announcement came again.
[This is Grief, Grief Station.]
Well I'll except for one.
Zacho had his hands in his pocket and waited next to the door. Wifies was next to him talking.
[The doors are on your right…]
Zacho stood beside the doors with his hands in his pockets. Wifies was standing next to him, quietly talking to him.
The doors opened.
Nobody expected Zacho to walk out.
Soleum immediately stood up. He rushed toward the doors and looked at him.
Zacho was standing now inside the station near the railings, calmly looking back at him.
“What are you doing?”
“Hm?”
Zacho tilted his head.
“What do you mean? I'm going to return the child.”
Soleum froze.
“…Did you find them?”
The doors began to close.
[The platform doors are closing.]
Zacho reached into his pocket. And pulled out a small, thin rectangular piece of paper.
A sonogram.
Zacho looked at the photograph for a moment before looking back at him.
“Soleum. Oh can I even call you that?”
Soleum didn't answer.
“Anyways…”
He held up the sonogram.
“Lost could mean many things.”
[The doors are closing.]
Zacho smiled faintly.
“Couldn't it? It's all your interpretation. You should be able to escape this place with everybody.”
The doors closed.
Soleum stood frozen on the other side. Did that mean he knew how to escape the Abyss Station from the very beginning. Then why would he choose this route to escape instead of going with everybody else. He could have at least escaped with his friend-
“Wow, can't believe he just left me like that.”
“..!”
He almost died because of that jumpscare.
“You good?”
“Yeah.”
“You know I found a sonogram first and he just straight up took it from me. Whatever he cares about kids too much.
“What..”
[The child has been returned thank you for your cooperation.]
—
For the most part, Soleum had been the leader of the group.
He had been the one helping everyone stay calm, figuring out the announcements, and making decisions whenever nobody else knew what to do.
The passengers who had been following him were now looking between Wifies and Soleum, waiting to see whether they should get off at the next station.
Go Yeongeum glanced at Wifies with a concerned expression.
“Aren’t you a little concerned about your friend? I don’t know how these places work, but…”
Wifies glanced toward the doors Zacho had left through and then he shook his head.
“No. He should be fine. I trust him enough to know that his decision was smart.”
“I see.”
Yeongeum nodded before turning toward Soleum.
“Um… isn’t it a bit burdensome?”
“..?”
“The way everyone is relying on you.”
She looked around the cabin.
“I think everyone’s scared and anxious, so they naturally look toward whoever seems like they know what they’re doing. So I hope you don't feel disillusioned or think they're being shameless.”
“I tried to think of something myself, but..
“What are you thinking?”
“If it's a person's Final Destination could it be death?”
Wifies thought about her answer before adding his own thoughts.
“Well maybe, if you think about it a person's final destination would be death but it's purely based on your point of view.”
Kim Soleum pauses before smiling slightly.
“I agree with that, but to begin with, what is the destination?”
“If you look that up in the dictionary it says a destination refers to a place or goal someone intends to reach. I think the destination this train speaks of is ultimately to a state that the current “me” has not realized or reached.”
Looking back at the entries.
3.2 Exploration Records (up to 56 records)
1.Station names indicated by colors such as red, yellow, blue.
: 2 people succeeded in escaping (Attempt: Blue Station)
2.Station names indicated by body parts such as left Parm, cornea, heart.
: Failed to escape (Attempt: Cochlea Station)
3.Station names indicated by the names of serial killers.
:12 people succeeded in escaping (Attempt: [Redacted] Station)
4.Station names indicated by years such as 2008, 2012, 2016.
: Failed to escape (Attempt: Year 2024 Station)
5.Station names indicated by diseases such as asthma, stroke, glaucoma.
: 3 people succeeded in escaping (Attempt: Common Cold Station)
The reason why those people at the blue station survived was likely because they didn't have anything blue on them.
Which also means that there are so many escapes at the station named after a serial killer.
And the same logic goes for the other.
But if we apply it to the current situation we have right now.
It would be an emotion I don't have.
After hearing Kim Soleum words Wifies said what he was thinking of.
“We need to choose our motion that we currently don't have.”
“That's right.”
The announcement chimed once again.
[This is stop Serenity, Serenity Station.]
There's a lot of emotions that a human feels joy, anger, sadness.
But in a situation like this…
None of them felt calm. None of them felt at peace.
They were trapped inside a supernatural train, surrounded by people who had already been killed or injured.
If the station was named after an emotion they didn't currently possess…
“This is the correct station.”
Soleum spoke with confidence as he stood up.
“..!”
“Is that so, well it looks like we're getting off then.”
Wifies got up and walked towards the door.
Multiple people who were following him quickly were off guard and scrambled up to their feet.
Wifies watch as Soleum approaches the injured recruit and helps them stand up.As people started to walk towards the door the others followed.
[The platform doors are opening.]
When the door opened the sight in front of them or something made everybody hesitate.
The whole place was covered in blood.
Yeongeum approached Soleum.
“Mister Kim Soleum?”
A recruit walked up to him.
“Are you sure.. this is the right place..?”
“Yes”
There is a silence that now covers the train. The station looked absolutely terrifying and everybody's gut feeling we're telling them not to get off.
“I also think getting off of here is a good choice!”
“You've been leading us for the past hour and stayed calm while everybody was scared. I rather listen to the opinion of a good person so I'm getting off.”
Wifies stepped past him and onto the station platform without hesitation following Yeongeum's footsteps.
“Hm? What are you guys waiting for?”
This place looks like it has waivered over the years, rust and the smell of decay was everywhere.
“Don't worry about me, I believe in you too, let's go!”
The injured man who Soleum was supporting cheered him on. One by one, the passengers reluctantly followed.
[Wow! Congratulations, new recruits!]
Zacho who had been lounging in his seat looked to the left of him and saw Wifies.
“Bro, welcome back!”
“Thanks.”
A message appeared on the giant screen and next to the host.
<CON> Probationary Period Complete <GRATS>
:Congratulations. You've been officially hired by the Daydream company field exploration team.
[Now, it's time for the gift reward ceremony!]
…
Zacho was not listening to the words of the host. But when he glanced up and saw Soleum getting some sort of Sleek Square shaped paper bag. You must have been getting some sort of gift after completing that ghost story.
[Now, I will call the next rookie!]
[Next up, Oh Zach.]
The kind of sound is similar to his name but whatever.
[Congratulations, Mr Oh Zach!]
[The performance of finding that kid was spectacular, come and get your gift!]
…Me??
—
[You all receive your gift properly right?]
[The thing is.. this company doesn't hire all graduates who passed a probation test. No, It turns out there are always people who pass by mirror luck.]
[However, Daydream Inc is a company that never forgets the social value of fairness.]
[Such that temporary employees receive a huge penalty on the final evaluation.]
[Like I said any freeloader will be caught and disqualified.]
People that were once in the conference room began to melt their bodies becoming this sort of Liquid before ultimately disappearing.
Half the people from the train car had vanished; the only people who remaining was Kim Soleum, Baek Saheon, Go Yeongeum, Wifies, Zacho and the rookie that Baek Saheon attacked.
The host continued explaining that they could leave without repercussions or any penalties but that's when the host introduced the one thing everybody sought after.
The Wish Ticket.
The effects of the wish ticket is that if you drink it any wish you make will come true.
And the wish tickets friends the person's wish unconditionally they won't be any rules like some sort of Genie.
[Those who wished to quit can go out and receive the corresponding paperwork at the front desk]
[But those who plan to stay and make the most of the company they struggle to get in]
[You can put on the mask presented inside your gift bag.]
But nobody went to leave and everybody rumbled inside their bags to grab the mask and place it on their face.
Zacho placed his on his face. It was smooth and covered only the area around his eyes and nose. Two long, slender horns extended from the back. He reached behind his head and felt them.
“…What animal is this?”
“Oh, it's an oryx.”
Zacho looked toward Wifies.
Wifies had already put his mask on. His was longer, with strange corkscrew-shaped spirals extending from the sides.
“What's yours?”
“Well…”
Wifies touched the side of his mask.
“I think it's a kudu.”
“A what…?”
Wifies shrugged.
“A kudu.”
Zacho stared at him.
“Okay bro.”
—
The meeting quickly ended and everybody dispersed. He had his wallet with his ID and some credit cards but it all had some name.
Zacho stared at his work badge that he had received. He wasn't sure exactly when he took the photo but not sure was him. I mean if you take into account that the skulk isn't there then yeah.
“..I mean I guess that makes sense.”
He turned the badge over in his hand.
One of the benefits of joining Daydream Inc. was free housing. Although, considering everything else about this company, there was probably a catch. Free housing probably meant they could make you work overtime whenever they wanted. Or maybe they just expected you to be available at all times.
He had been staring at his own ID for an unusually long time.
“Wifies, you've been staring at your ID for a while now. It can't be that bad.”
Wifies didn't look up.
“Wi-Han.”
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Zacho blinked.
“…What?”
Wifies finally looked at him.
“This is a name your mother would like.”
"..."
"..."
“Alright, man.”