Chapter 116

“You said the door to Car 1 opened?”

“Yes!”

I immediately headed for Car 2 with the others. Baek Saheon hurried out to meet us, looking triumphant.

“I did everything I could to persuade the people in Car 1 to open the door. Oh, with all the other passengers’ help, of course, ...‘ Forerunner’!”

“I see. Thank you for your hard work.”

Apparently, at the start of every loop, they had gone to Car 1’s door, knocked, and shouted for the people inside to come out because there was a way to resolve this.

[“And no doubt they excitedly regaled them with tales of your exploits, Mr. Roe Deer!”]

[“Ah, I wish I could have been here to hear those fascinating stories... But fear not. A Good Friend always chooses to stay with his friend!”]

Yes. Thank you, legendary Host...

In any case, actively keeping Car 1 informed about what was happening outside did seem to have worked.

Because the wiki had definitely described it like this:

All of this repeated dozens of times.

Blood and madness ran rampant in every loop.

Those two sentences, I remembered very clearly...

‘The door to Car 1 definitely didn’t open until after all those loops.’

In fact, I had been planning to just break in around loop twenty.

‘Fourteen is definitely pretty good.’

Baek Saheon wasn’t nicknamed the Field Exploration Team’s Viper on the wiki for nothing. Acknowledging that in my own way, I nodded.

“Then let’s go have a tal—”

“Um, but!”

Baek Saheon hastily stopped me.

Surely not...

“Th-the door. It’s closed again.”

“...”

“No, to be precise, we did make contact. Look at this!”

Baek Saheon hurriedly held something out.

A dirty, crumpled piece of paper.

Large letters were written across it...

LetsJustEndureSevenTimes

... Dark-red clumps of filth had stained the paper around the crooked, heavily pressed letters.

“Ugh.”

“Th-that... looks like the rotten stuff in the tunnel...”

Murmurs spread through the crowd.

“W-wait. What if all of Car 1 has turned into some kind of hellhole? Like that tunnel!”

“Exactly! They locked themselves in and refused to follow the Forerunner, and now something terrible has happened to them!”

P-please calm down.

I hastily shook my head to settle the atmosphere aboard the train, which was genuinely one step away from turning into a cult.

“I doubt that’s what happened. They just seem to be in a great deal of pain... One moment.”

I went straight to the connecting passage in Car 2 and knocked on Car 1’s firmly shut door.

KNOCK, KNOCK.

“Is anyone there?”

“It’s no use. I’ve tried so many—”

“Hello. Um, it’s a little embarrassing, but I’m the person they call the ‘Forerunner.’ Could we talk?”

I kept calling out.

“There are hundreds of passengers behind me. More than three hundred in all. We have more than enough people to help you.”

“Hello?”

“We’re here to help!”

“I told you, it’s no u—”

CLICK.

“...!”

The lock released.

Ignoring Baek Saheon’s dumbfounded expression, I turned and calmly addressed the crowd.

“... I’ll go in alone.”

“N-no, you can’t!”

“Forerunner! What if something happens to you?”

I smiled reassuringly.

“I think the people in Car 1 would be frightened and startled if a whole crowd rushed in. Besides, what’s the worst that can happen? We’ll go back to the beginning. I’ll be fine.”

“B-but you should at least have enough protection to defend yourself...”

Thank you. That’s what I was waiting to hear...!

“Hmm, in that case... I’ll ask my colleagues.”

I looked at my two Elite Team superiors and my fellow recruit.

The three of them, with whom I’d already discussed this, nodded immediately. And with that, our alliance of Daydream Inc. employees was ready to enter Car 1.

‘Good.’

It was a tremendous relief, since Deputy Jin Nasol’s eyes were starting to show signs that her patience had run out.

“Be careful, Forerunner!”

When I asked them to wait in Car 2 until I called for them, just to be safe, the passengers obediently withdrew despite their concern.

That was another relief.

‘Whew.’

... It was getting harder and harder to keep everyone under control.

‘At some point, they’ll start veering off in directions I can’t predict.’

The only reason things had stayed relatively peaceful this long was that people had listened carefully to me.

I felt the presence of the little badge that would still be attached inside my suit jacket’s inner pocket.

The Silver Heart Badge’s power was frightening. Without a doubt.

I took a deep breath.

“Then I’ll open the door.”

That was when it happened.

... I could feel Deputy Jin Nasol staring coldly at me.

“Isn’t this taking too long?”

“...”

“I don’t see why we had to get to fourteen.”

“Yes.”

I answered calmly.

“A safe clear matters too. We’ve minimized the variables and verified the escape method by collecting accounts of people’s experiences at the altars.”

All we had to do now was escape.

“So this train ride will be our last.”

“...”

Jin Nasol folded her arms, tacitly permitting my actions once more.

... Probably for the last time.

“We’re ready, so let’s hurry up and get inside.”

“Yes.”

As Baek Saheon, a new recruit with no say in the matter, hastily followed us, I watched Supervisor Dolphin open the door...

CLICK.

A pungent, bloody stench wafted through the open doorway.

“...”

The smell from the altars.

And...

“I’m scared! I’m scared! I’m scared! I’m scared!”

“Ghhhhh, hrrrgh!”

“Hic, sob, sob...”

The sound of wailing.

“Go in.”

I stared blankly at the scene beyond the open door.

Car 1 itself was contaminated.

More than fifty people were writhing inside, laughing maniacally, rolling on the floor, or howling.

The floor was filthy with what looked like vomited blood and chunks.

... And a small banner lay sprawled in the aisle, stained with blood and filth.

[Blue Photography Club’s 17th Regular Photo Outing]

That was right.

The people in Car 1 were one large group of passengers...

A group who had booked their tickets through a travel agency, who already knew one another and were close.

The reason they had ended up like this...

“It looks like they kept taking turns throwing one another out the windows... Or maybe they went in a set order?”

“What? All fifty-three look insane. What are you talking about? Even if they threw one person out each time, that would only be fourteen.”

“You’re right. In that case... was there really a ‘person of interest,’ just as Supervisor Kim deduced?”

Exactly.

Unless every one of them had been thrown out, there was only one way this could have happened.

Someone among the contaminated could exert an extraordinarily powerful influence.

Someone wearing equipment that inspired tremendous persuasiveness and a sense of solidarity... in a group whose members, of all things, were already close.

“Employee.”

“...!”

“What I asked you to do.”

Baek Saheon startled, then lowered his eye patch and began scanning his surroundings.

His purple eye with its inverted colors darted busily about, and then he sucked in a breath.

He extended a hand.

“Over there.”

Right behind me, of all places.

I slowly turned to look at the person Baek Saheon was pointing at...

“...”

A figure lay on their back, having lost their grip on the handle of the door leading to Car 2.

Someone I probably would have passed on the street thinking they looked like a pleasant middle-aged person.

... Had their entire body not been contorted and convulsing on the spot.

“W-weeee...”

Dark-red filth streamed from their mouth. Veins bulged all the way to their temples. Their body was covered in places where their fingernails had torn away flesh. And...

“We can, we ca...”

“S-seven times, seeeven times...”

I slowly approached the person mumbling into empty space.

Their struggles caused their top to ride up, and I checked the end of the belt it exposed.

A small, gleaming silver badge.

Found it.

“Is this your person of interest?”

“... Yes.”

The person of interest in the ‘Tamna-Bound High-Speed Train Incident.’

‘The Silver Heart Badge holder.’

“H-help...”

Now I just had to confirm it.

“Excuse me.”

I crouched in front of them, bringing us to eye level.

Then I whispered into their ear, too softly for the others behind me to hear.

“You read the stub article, didn’t you?”

“...!”

“The government-registered stub article about the ‘Peach Blossom Paradise Test.’”

A little reason suddenly returned to the vacant eyes above that slack, open mouth.

“H-howww...!”

“One moment.”

So I’d been right.

‘In that case...’

After a moment’s consideration, I took a Happy Maker out of my jacket.

[“Ah, preparing for a new interview?”]

‘... Yes.’

I absolutely had to talk to this person.

To give myself a pretext.

... To smoothly conceal the suspicious fact that I had known about all of this from the start.

I plunged the powerful painkiller into the back of the Silver Heart Badge holder’s hand.

“Haaah!”

The contaminated body’s convulsions stopped all at once. The middle-aged person slid limply to the floor with a thud...

And then.

“Hiiic! Hic! Sob...”

They began weeping and drooling on the floor...

“What? What’s wrong with them?”

“... They’ve fallen at the altars too many times.”

This person seemed to have fallen at least five times.

Happy Maker was a painkiller, not a restorative, so it couldn’t bring back a mind that had already collapsed.

Still, conversation was more possible than before.

“I can’t... I c-can’t do it anymore...!”

“... Yes.”

That was what mattered.

Fortunately, they began providing information quite effectively.

The moment our eyes met, the tearful Silver Heart Badge holder lunged at me, seized my shoulders, and began speaking, spittle flying.

“You! You know!”

The hands gripping my shoulders were desperate.

“Seven times! We just have to endure seven times! W-we can do it...”

“... Endure what, exactly?”

“The altars!!”

Then they spoke earnestly.

“I know. This is, um, managed by the government! You, um, th-there’s a department that manages things like this, and they had this there.”

“...”

“I read it! I-I worked th—”

I heard the Elite Team members talking behind me.

“Oh, a retired Bureau employee?”

“Hmm... I wonder if they have any equipment.”

Correct.

I continued questioning the Silver Heart Badge holder.

“I see. Then what sort of supernatural phenomenon is this?”

The passenger, a retired low-level clerical worker from the Disaster Management Bureau, was spilling scraps of the Bureau’s secrets, half out of their mind.

“Uh, so, th-this supernatural phenomenon, um, if you endure the altars seven times, endure them, it ends, it’s a dream... Uh, so our club...”

“...”

Then they looked around with unfocused eyes.

At the Blue Photography Club members rolling around Car 1, insane with pain.

... I knew why these people had ended up like this.

‘The Silver Heart Badge holder must have persuaded them...’

To all sacrifice themselves just once, so they could reach the seventh altar.

But not everyone could be as good-hearted and brave as the Silver Heart Badge holder.

Objections, discussions, people who promised but were too frightened to jump. Amid all those circumstances, the Silver Heart Badge holder would jump out the window again and again to set an example.

‘And their shattered mental state and contamination affect all of Car 1 through the Silver Heart Badge...’

That was how everyone in Car 1 lost their minds amid pain and contamination.

Eventually, at some point, they would all jump out the windows, their minds collapsing completely...

Then they would unlock the door and rush into the other cars.

‘And that’s where things get even more horrific.’

That was why I couldn’t force Car 1’s door open along the way.

We could end up becoming outright enemies of the firmly convicted Silver Heart Badge holder, already half-mad from being offered as a sacrifice, and send the situation spiraling out of control.

‘That’s why I had to wait.’

Until the right moment came.

The Silver Heart Badge holder wasn’t a god, either.

At some point, even amid madness, confusion, and the collapse of their sense of self, that passenger had felt a desperate need to seek help from the other passengers.

But by then, it was too late.

Because even more horrific things were happening in the other cars...

When that tormented moment came, when they gave up and decided to accept help from the other cars, things outside Car 1 had to be peaceful, with another solution apparently available.

Enough to make them unlock the door even with their shattered mind.

... Loop fourteen. Though Car 1 was already hell at this point.

“I-I’m sorry, e-everyone, it h-hurts so much... Sob...”

“...”

This was driving me crazy.

The overwhelming impact of facing the tragedy in person, rather than as prose on a wiki, was immense...

‘All the more reason to escape quickly.’

Barely managing to grit my teeth, I asked the question that would supply the decisive clue.

“Excuse me, but exactly what train did you read about? Are you sure it was this one?”

“Sob, yes. It’s this one, bound for Iksan! The Iksan-bound train...”

Supervisor Dolphin tilted her head.

“Iksan? That’s odd. This train is bound for Mokpo...”

Baek Saheon promptly interjected.

“Um, it does pass through Iksan Station, Supervisor.”

“Oh, I see. Iksan Station is an intermediate stop?”

“That’s right.”

Rather than take Baek Saheon’s word for it, Supervisor Dolphin went to check for herself.

She moved briskly through the aisle of Car 1, a mess of filth and wailing, and pulled something out at one of the seats.

A booklet provided in the seat pocket.

After confirming the fact in its pages, she nodded.

“Aha. You’re right!”

“Really? Then we just follow the Bureau employee’s testimony.”

“Yep. They said we only have to do it seven times, right? Then twenty-eight people... Oh. Wait.”

She stopped short.

“Seven times?”

“...”

Ah.

She’d noticed.

“Um, Supervisor Roe Deer.”

“Yes.”

“Did you know? Most train routes get extended over time.”

“I imagine so.”

“So perhaps this train used to have a shorter route. Short enough... that Iksan Station was its terminus.”

“...”

“Enough that it was labeled Iksan-bound.”

Correct.

To be precise, this route had been extended in the mid-2010s.

From Iksan to Mokpo.

“And another thing.”

Supervisor Dolphin’s hand stopped at one spot as she scanned the guidebook.

“From Seoul to Iksan, if you count the local stops... there are exactly seven stations along the way.”

“...”

“So the altars were probably stations.”

Yes.

“And following that same logic...”

The pages rustled.

“Unlike the old Iksan-bound train, this train passes through... nine stations on its way to its terminus at Mokpo Station.”

Supervisor Dolphin snapped the booklet shut.

“So the altars we have to pass don’t end at seven... There are nine.”

“...”

“We have to offer a total of forty-five people by the ninth altar.”

It was a chillingly perfect answer.

‘An Elite Team member, all right.’

And that answer was also why the passengers of Car 1 had suffered a complete mental collapse...

Loop ■■:

After passing the seventh altar, an eighth altar appears.

The answer the Silver Heart Badge holder had provided had been their one ray of hope, and now even that was gone.

In the end, everyone in Car 1 would lose their minds completely, consumed by anger, terror, and panic...

‘... Thank goodness we didn’t get that far.’

I wasn’t confident I could handle it, or even bear to see it.

I was silently letting out a faint sigh of relief when it happened.

“But...”

Supervisor Dolphin turned to me.

“You only have eleven painkillers, Supervisor, don’t you?”

“...”

“And this time, you’ve already used one. Which means...”

“Forty-five people have to fall, but there are only enough painkillers for ten?”