Chapter 760 – Room 302, The Curse Room – ‘Brave New World’ (30)
—
– Kim Sanghyun
— Thunder rumbling!
The apocalyptic world is closing in.
There’s no better way to describe our current situation.
A dark aura spread across the entire world, and even the deer by the roadside seemed to huddle in fear.
“What now? What should we do?”
“Ugh! Just like that, everything’s ending!”
Both Mooksung and Eunsol’s voices were filled with anger and confusion. We definitely needed to stay calm, but talking is easy while executing it is hard.
I found myself feeling dizzy and instinctively closed my eyes.
Thankfully, there were no ordinary folks in the car.
Even in this chaos, Mooksung was still behind the wheel!
“Calm down. Cursing the stupid hotel isn’t gonna do us any good!”
“Y-Yeah!”
“Anyway, it doesn’t seem like the Earth is going to explode just yet, right?”
I agreed with Mooksung’s take on the situation.
“They say there’s a world after the apocalypse. It might be hellish, but at least it means there’s something left.”
“Let’s finish what we set out to do before it all goes down!”
The task in question referred to contacting the Pure Faction, a faction within the Administration Bureau denying the Son of Dawn.
“Let’s think positively.”
“Uh, what’s positive about this?”
“… Well, looking at it from a different angle, contacting the Pure Faction just got a lot easier.”
Mooksung chuckled at my words.
“Ha! You got a point there. We were supposed to have a big showdown with the Bureau’s pursuit team, but that’s probably off the table now.”
The world walked down the path of destruction.
The Administration Bureau no longer had the resources to send pursuit teams after us.
“Hang on tight; I’m stepping on the gas!”
— Vroom!
About 30 minutes passed, and I realized the atmosphere had completely shifted.
We were close to Houston, yet there were no signs of pursuers.
Under normal circumstances, some agents should’ve shown up by now and tried to stir things up.
And then, the world began to go mad.
— Whoosh!
Dark clouds engulfed the sky, making it seem like night in broad daylight.
Rain began to fall, but this wasn’t ordinary rain.
Sticky, fishy, and red droplets fell from the sky.
Blood rained down from the heavens.
— Squeak!
“What the hell! Why’d you stop in the middle of the road?”
“Just ignore it, Grandpa.”
“Hey, how can you ignore it with half the road blocked?”
As a result, driving got increasingly difficult.
Drivers on the road seemed completely dazed, stopping on the side and screaming.
“Wow! What kind of deer would dare come onto the road?!”
“… It seems they’ve lost their minds.”
A terrible atrocity unfolded before us, and not just the kids but even the beasts were aware of it.
The car had no choice but to veer off the pre-defined path repeatedly to avoid obstacles, and Mooksung had no choice but to keep asking me questions.
“Which way now?”
“Going straight is probably best—”
“Yikes! I can’t go that way! Where do I go?”
“Then let’s head that way, over the fence. We should avoid the crowded areas on Riverwood Street too, considering there are probably more out-of-their-minds folks there.”
As I explained to Mooksung, I was also trying hard to recall information from memory.
My aim was to make contact with the Pure Faction; where could I find them?
The clues I gathered so far held the answers.
Since the Pure Faction manages the ‘Brave New World’, if I head towards it, I should be able to find them.
But how on earth do I get to the ‘Brave New World’?
According to Ari’s view, the ‘Brave New World’ itself is closely linked to another dimension overlapping with the actual world.
However, the entrances connecting it seem to be scattered around the Earth.
Let’s reflect on memories from the first attempt.
*
“What’s the ‘Brave New World’ all about?”
“It’s confidential.”
“… Am I not qualified to know?”
…
“Alright. Johnny, clear your schedule for today.”
*
The Bureau had shown me the ‘Brave New World’ in just a short early morning time when I was still in Houston.
This meant there was an entrance to the ‘Brave New World’ not too far from here.
Most importantly, I had a blur of fragmented memories starting to solidify.
“Sanghyun, during the meeting, didn’t you say the entrance to ‘Brave New World’ was in some tall building?”
“Yes. I don’t know the exact building, but it has to be at least 50 floors—”
“What about that one over there?”
“Is it that one?”
A high-rise building gleamed a dark blue hue beneath the ominous clouds.
“… That seems right. Let’s go.”
— Thunder rumbling!
I could feel ruin creeping closer.
With limited time remaining, we needed to act before it was too late.
*
– Park Seungyub
Heavy clouds swallowed the night sky, accompanied by thunder booming ominously.
And when you add raindrops that felt unsettlingly like blood, it was a scene straight out of hell.
— Thud! Drip-drip!
The moment the hefty raindrops fell from the sky, Miro wore a disgusted expression.
“Again! More blood is falling!”
“…”
“What on earth could cause this? Are the dark clouds eating people?”
“That’s possible.”
“Hey! How do you even not know geography?”
“…”
“Ugh! You’ve lived in Banpo-dong your whole life!”
“The Banpo-dong I know is totally different from this!”
While I couldn’t have predicted being confused about geography while desperately running with Miro, I used to think I knew every corner around our school.
Until I realized too late.
The Banpo-dong I knew was a fake world inside the ‘Brave New World’, not the real Banpo-dong.
Restaurants, villas, and plenty of apartments I’d never seen before—it was all too new to grasp.
Things were getting more chaotic with the ordinary people around us.
“AHHH!”
“Where the hell is the Bureau? These fools boasting about their abilities!?”
“I-I called for help, but they don’t answer!”
“Please! Help! AHHHHH!”
Seeing the ordinary folks go berserk made me slightly annoyed, and Miro just stood there unbothered, looking a little too cool for the chaos.
“Wow…!”
“What’s up?”
“Now that I think about it, you’re a participant too.”
“What?”
“You’re the dumbest among the participants, but way calmer than the average person—”
“Hey! Don’t start again…! Ugh, what are we doing? Should we just hide?”
“Don’t we have to go into some building or something?”
“Don’t ask me, you idiot!”
“Then are you going to follow what I say?”
“… No.”
Wow… It’s a legendary ensemble we’ve got.
How did it end up just Miro and me left?
Usually, we’d leave the decision-making to our allies.
To be honest, I don’t trust my judgment that much either.
Miro probably trusts Kain or Ari more than himself as well.
But Kain and Ari aren’t here right now.
Objectively speaking, I’m smarter than Miro.
So it’s about time that someone with at least a modicum of intelligence comes up with a plan.
“I’ve thought about it—”
“I had a plan earlier—”
“…”
“…”
Miro, you’re not the one who usually talks about plans!
Could it be…? No way, right?
You’re thinking of making a plan just because you’re with me?
“… You start first.”
Let’s swap if we have overlapping ideas.
“… Let’s head to the shopping center. Remember I got some info there during the first attempt?”
“…”
“Ha! You wouldn’t remember, would you? I mentioned finding folks there who could identify you.”
“Do you think I’d remember that?”
“Ugh! Do you want me to repeat it again?”
“Let’s just head to the shopping center. Meeting someone who knows you could score us some info, and we might also find a place to hide there.”
After saying that, Miro slyly asked.
“What’s your plan? A~ A~ You don’t have to explain it in detail. I just want to know what you’re thinking.”
“I was contemplating the words Kain said.”
“…”
“Do you disregard what Kain said?”
“When did I say that?”
“Do you remember what he said?”
“…”
“Wow… You forgot already. I really miss Pero.”
“Hey! No more quizzes!”
“Soyeon—”
“I-I remember! Something about Soyeon’s biggest secret!”
“Pfft. So you finally recalled.”
“…”
“Last time you asked about me, so this time let’s inquire about Soyeon.”
Before disappearing, Kain shared a fact about understanding the scenario.
The reason I couldn’t recover my first wish memory.
How I kept running into roadblocks before reaching the final stage.
Was it because I faced the same reason and failed twice in a row?
The understanding of the scenario—or the Owl—had revealed specific keywords to Kain.
Soyeon possesses a significant secret.
Because I couldn’t uncover that secret, I’ve been unable to reach the end.
…
After arriving at the shopping center, it didn’t take long for Miro to locate someone he had interrogated in the previous iteration.
“There! That’s the guy!”
“Is that the dude praying on the ground?”
“Yeah. You really look terrified. Hey!”
Miro waltzed over and kicked the guy, which looked absolutely absurd since it appeared to be a teenage girl kicking a man in his fifties.
Of course, it wasn’t sensible to question the logic in a world like this.
“Hey! Wake up! Stand up!”
“Oh Heavenly Father, I pray you not forsake me. May your grace shine upon me for the rest of my life—”
“Ugh! Your father has been dead and buried for ages!”
“Please protect me from the illusion of this small demon before my eyes, and shield me from the evil that lurks above—”
As I cautiously approached, I spoke up.
“Sir.”
“…”
According to Miro, before being trapped in the ‘Brave New World’, I was a student at Bangbae Middle School in reality.
The man in front of me was supposedly my gym teacher from that time, but honestly, I couldn’t recall him at all.
“Um, you’re my PE teacher, right? I’m Seungyub—”
“C-Can this be?”
He recognized me immediately.
“How… How could this be? Years have passed…! Ah, this is all a work of the devil! Heavenly Father, grant me clarity—”
The gym teacher was paralyzed in shock and horror at the sight of me, a boy who used to be a student at Bangbae Middle School, now standing as I was ten years ago.
For an ordinary person, thinking of ghosts or demons was the only logical reaction.
Struggling with how to calm him down, Miro surprisingly managed to solve it.
“Hey! I’m with the Administration Bureau!”
A statement that was both a lie and the truth at the same time.
Ironically, the gym teacher didn’t doubt Miro’s words at all.
The surreal appearance of the girl who emerged from the shadows of doom was too far removed from the ordinary.
“Do you know what cryonics are? Cryonics.”
“I-I’ve heard of it.”
“Seungyub has been in cryonic suspension in a protective zone all this time. Therefore, he looks just like he did back then. Oh, by the way, I’m his assistant.”
“Oh! I see! I apologize for my earlier rudeness!”
Miro had explained everything succinctly with just four words, “cryonic suspension,” instead of a long-winded explanation about the ‘Brave New World.’
Wow… Miro’s actually smarter than I thought.
Shouldn’t he be thriving with someone like Ari or Kain around?
Anyway, it’s my turn to speak now.
“Sir, I know this is scary, but I have an important question, so please answer clearly.”
“I’ll answer as best I can, based on what I remember.”
“You remember a girl named Yu Soyeon, right?”
Since he could remember me, I was sure he would recall a pretty and famous girl like Soyeon.
“Yes?”
“She was a really beautiful girl. Same age, really big eyes, and brown hair—”
“What are you confessing or something?”
“Shut up. Anyway, tell me everything you know about Soyeon.”
“…”
The man had no response.
“Sir? We’re running out of time—”
His expression was full of disbelief and confusion.
“Dude! Can you not hear me? Answer me—”
The reply was unexpected.
“… Who? Yu Soyeon? That sounds like a name I’ve never heard before.”
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