Chapter 730 – Room 302, The Cursed Chamber – ‘Brave New World’ (8)
—
– Miro
According to Ahri, South Korea had good public safety in most loops.
She even mentioned that this characteristic is common among Northeast Asian countries.
Not only Korea and Japan but even China had comparatively decent safety when looking at the GDP per capita.
There are various reasons for this, but one thing is clear.
— Kyaaah! Help me!
— This crazy bastard! Get that guy!
“…”
The fact that safety was generally good in most loops implies there were exceptions.
Room 302 is one such exception.
*
Three days had passed since I entered.
In that time, I understood what Ahri meant when she said crime rates in Korea looked like they were on par with countries in civil war.
— Crash! Aaah!
Just a little walk in downtown Seoul and I could hear screams and sounds of fighting from every direction. It truly felt like hell.
It was comparable to the shantytowns of the Third World I’d only seen in movies.
The only consolation is that guns aren’t as rampant in Korea as they are in America.
Even if a criminal threatens me, they’re unlikely to pull a gun right away.
“What’s up? You a foreigner? Hey, a pretty girl like you shouldn’t be wandering around—”
“You didn’t see anything.”
With a little bit of vocal power, I could easily slip away.
On the first day, our conversation went like this.
‘What kind of state is Seungyub in?’
‘That’s precisely what you need to figure out from now on.’
Since then, I learned a few things while gathering information about Seungyub.
1. The house Seungyub lived in was rebuilt 11 years ago.
2. The school Seungyub attended has been a no-go zone for 11 years and is under the administration bureau’s control.
In short, everything related to “Park Seungyub” vanished from the world after 11 years.
What on earth happened 11 years ago?
I scoured the internet diligently, but with the administration bureau censoring information, I couldn’t find a thing.
Later, during my second summon with Ahri, our conversation went like this.
*
“Hmmm… I think you should visit the neighborhood where Seungyub used to live.”
“But what if I can’t find anything?”
“As someone who used to be an operative, I shouldn’t say this, but Seoul has a very high population density. It’s not uncommon for a small district to have about 500,000 residents.”
“And?”
“It’s hard to erase the memories of that many people. Also, the effects of memory erasure often weaken after about ten years. More importantly…”
“More importantly?”
Ahri tapped her ears, looking significantly at me.
“Do what you want. It keeps echoing.”
“… I hear it too.”
“Given the state of the world, the administration bureau might not have enough resources. There should be some gaps. If you go to Banpo-dong, there might be residents who remember Seungyub.”
When I nodded, saying I understood, Ahri suddenly hugged me.
“Eek! Why, why suddenly—”
“Miro.”
“Yeah?”
“Be careful. The safety doesn’t seem very good. Only move around when you can use the time rental device. Got it?”
“Okay, I got it.”
“If you do find Seungyub, don’t go getting involved. Just know the state he’s in.”
*
Gathering information locally is not easy.
The country even trains people to specialize in such matters.
When I expressed my unease about this, Ahri’s response was simple.
“Oh, Ahri! I’ve never received operatives training!”
“You have to be precise. It’s not that you’ve never had operative training—it’s that you’ve never had any training at all. You only graduated from elementary school, didn’t you?”
“…”
Looking back, Ahri was more worried about my safety than whether I would gather information.
There was no need for her to worry about that.
Even without formal training, she had an innate power that couldn’t be acquired through any training.
When I actually tried it, it turned out to be pretty easy.
I just went to a shop near the closed Bangbae Middle School and asked the merchants.
“Does anyone here know what happened at Bangbae Middle School 11 years ago?”
At first, they flinched and backed away as if hearing something terrifying.
Oddly enough, this reaction gave me confidence.
As Ahri said, among the local residents, there were people who vaguely remembered the past.
Perhaps the administration bureau didn’t have the resources to erase those memories, or they had erased them in the past but clumsily remembered after more than ten years had passed.
So I subtly added more strength to my voice.
“Tell me what happened at Bangbae Middle School 11 years ago, as far as you know.”
I held nothing back with my vocal power and even summoned Cha Jinchul halfway through.
— Boom!
“Come on, these people are being way too tight-lipped. Are you scared of the administration bureau? My fist isn’t scary?”
Jinchul glanced over at me.
“Is this enough?”
“… You just acted like a real thug.”
“You’ve been acting like a real witch since earlier.”
One by one, after three hours of pressing them, they finally started opening up.
“So, you were the PE teacher at Bangbae Middle School ten years ago?”
“Y-yes.”
“Do you know Seungyub?”
“His name sounds a bit familiar—”
“His height wasn’t too tall, his hair was black. His face was—”
Jinchul added from the side.
“He had slightly rounded shoulders; his gaze was kinda dazed.”
“Rounded shoulders? I didn’t notice that.”
“Miro, the Seungyub you saw is quite different now.”
“Oh really?”
“He looked a bit… frail at first. He couldn’t even keep his head up.”
The person who said he used to be Bangbae Middle School’s PE teacher cautiously muttered.
“From what I’ve heard, it seems to be the student I know. Ah, I remember. He was almost always late.”
“… Always late?”
“He was late every day and probably got scolded. Being kids, they probably just stayed up playing games all night—”
“Yeah, that’s Seungyub.”
What a pathetic life description.
It’s 100% Seungyub.
“So, what happened back then?”
“…”
Once again, the people lowered their eyes.
It seemed the fear of the administration bureau came rushing back.
At this point, Jinchul swung his fist lightly.
— Boom!
“Ah! Hurry up and wrap it up.”
In a world where safety has collapsed and madmen impulsively kill people, the fear of a hulking guy like Jinchul is unimaginable.
In truth, I’m a bit scared he might get excited.
“… Just don’t go getting all worked up, okay?”
“How many times do I have to hear you say that? I’m an ex-operative too, you know!”
Finally, the ex-teacher-turned-current-tteokbokki shop owner spoke up.
“It’s quite a long story. So, um, to get to the point.”
“To the point? Sounds good. We love that.”
“A lot of kids went missing. Parents, teachers… everyone hated the administration bureau.”
“Whoa, that escalated quickly… so tell me.”
“… At the end, a bureau employee said something like this.”
“What did they say?”
“We didn’t hurt your kids to save the world.”
“What?”
At that moment, the man’s eyes glimmered weirdly.
As if he was recalling a memory he would never forget.
“It was the opposite. We protected your innocent children and gave up the world. So you should be grateful to us.”
*
– Park Seungyub
The next day, at school.
“Yawn~!”
“Park Seungyub! Are you not concentrating?”
“I’m so sorryyyy…”
“Hey, at least pretend to be sorry.”
I spent a boring time. The teachers have been watching me closely since I skipped class yesterday, making it hard for me to do anything.
It wasn’t until lunch that Soyeon appeared.
“Did you do anything yesterday?”
“Well, sort of. I worked hard.”
“‘Worked hard’? At what?”
Looking at her flowing brown hair and white collar, I felt a hint of danger and mumbled.
“… Every time I meet you, my nonexistent boyfriend shows up.”
“Eh?!”
“Every time I meet you, my nonexistent boyfriend shows up.”
As I kept recalling the shocking words Soyeon had said to me, my mood chilled down.
Soon, Soyeon puffed her cheeks slightly and said.
“Why do you only remember those words?”
“They’re too shocking.”
“Come on, I said good things too! Anyway! What did you do? You made it sound like you were going to do something and then just went home.”
I couldn’t just tell her outright, so I slightly embellished the story.
“I had some heart-to-heart conversations with several people.”
“… What does that even mean?”
At this moment, as I tried to change the subject as best as I could, Soyeon suddenly said, looking curious.
“You seem to have changed a lot in the past few days.”
“…”
That doesn’t sound good.
If I want to think of my first wish, I can’t be too different from how I was before.
“You mean, um…”
It sounded like she was trying to choose her words carefully.
Anyway, it felt like she was worried about slipping up again.
“What do you want to say? Just let it out.”
“… You used to get bullied by boys, right?”
“Um… I guess that’s true?”
At this moment, I felt genuine admiration.
It was a pure realization that I had completely forgotten about it until Soyeon pointed it out.
The main reason was that I had forgotten a lot while rolling around in the hotel.
The second reason is that I’m not experiencing it right now.
“That’s odd. That guy—what was his name? Jiho? It should be about time he hit me on the head.”
At that moment, Soyeon muttered as if it just occurred to her.
“I can guarantee he won’t do that anymore.”
“Why?”
“Bullied kids have a certain vibe. You… well, it feels like you’re not that kind of vibe anymore. They probably feel it too.”
“What kind of vibe? Weak?”
Middle schoolers are immature teenagers, emotionally unrefined kids.
They’re more impulsive than adults and are kind of animalistic at that age.
When African beasts meet each other’s gaze, they check if the other is above or below them. If the latter, they’ll eat them; if the former, they’ll back off.
Such things happen on a daily basis in middle schools and high schools.
Kids at this age have a developed instinct for judging ‘who’s above and who’s below.’
A natural realization dawned on me.
To some delinquent kids, I probably don’t feel below them anymore.
If I say something like this out loud, I’d probably get questions back like:
“Don’t you feel good about being above these kids since you’re a hotel participant?”
I would proudly reply:
“Yep, it feels great.”
Being Park Seungyub, the top of the hierarchy at Bangbae Middle School is a really nice feeling!
“Uh-oh, looks like you’re having some strange thoughts again.”
“I’m not thinking anything strange!”
“Liar. You really can’t lie.”
“…”
As we chatted and passed time, an unexpected incident occurred.
— Come out!
“Huh?”
“What’s going on outside—”
— Hey, Park Seungyub!
“Isn’t that you they’re calling?”
“There could be other Park Seungyubs in school.”
— Park Seungyub from 2nd year, class 8, you little jerk!
“No, that’s definitely for you.”
Just as I was about to lose my words, the situation was confirmed by the closing statement.
— I’m Han namdongji Jonjed! Come out, you jerk!
“… The security guard will stop them.”
— Hey! This is a school for kids! Who are you?!
At this point, Soyeon was looking at me with her mouth half-open.
“Seungyub.”
“…”
“Is what you did yesterday, uh, bullying people in the game?”
“That’s a misunderstanding.”
“Misunderstanding? That’s totally you! Seriously, have you both gone crazy? What on earth did you do to make that uncle come to school?”
“No—”
“Is every gamer really like this? This is just insane! Are you out of your mind?!”
“Seriously, it wasn’t that big of a deal. I just pounded the keyboard a lot, but it’s the first time a psycho comes to school—”
As I clumsily defended myself, Soyeon seemed even more shocked by what I said.
“You pounded the keyboard a lot? Were you fighting daily?”
I felt exasperation for Soyeon, who didn’t understand the rift.
“Ugh… I told you it’s not a big deal. It’s all part of the Rift. Just ordinary life. Anyway!”
“Anyway? The more I hear, the more ridiculous it sounds—”
“Look, that guy’s being weird. Just because I had a chat does that mean he’s coming to school? —Whoa!”
Just then, the truly ridiculous happened.
When I realized the bizarre situation, my first action was to cover Soyeon’s eyes.
“Eek! What? Why are you suddenly doing this? Get your hand off!”
“… Soyeon.”
“Get your hand off me! Why are you—”
“Let’s run!”
In the Rift, asking how each other’s parents are doing isn’t a big deal.
I didn’t think that it would constitute a problem either.
However, I know that sometimes, people who lack patience can’t stand it and want to throw down in real life.
I only encountered such stories on the internet occasionally, but…
“Wait, why are we running suddenly—Eek!”
“Run!”
What was happening outside looked like something straight out of a wild, exaggerated story I’d never seen even on the craziest parts of the internet.
… An uncle here to settle a fight suddenly pulled out a knife and stabbed the security guard.
— Park Seungyub, where the hell are you? Show yourself! You said to come out! I’m a high school dropout with a knife!
“What the hell did you say to that guy?!”
“… Death is like the wind. It’s always by my side.”
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