Chapter 3

Amid the hellish chaos of a ghost story where people were dying one after another, a single ticket to survival had appeared.

Just like in a movie.

And it wasn't an illusion, either.

'If you get off with the lost item described in the announcement, a station employee will escort you out of the station as soon as you meet them...’

It really was a ray of hope.

The problem was that the lost item just announced was unimaginably grotesque.

“What did it just say? An adult male in his twenties...?”

“The left eyeball of an adult male with type A blood.”

Go Youngeun lowered her head, looking haggard.

“Type A probably means... blood type, right?”

“Yes...”

A dreadful silence settled over us. They seemed frightened already.

'... Should I just let this pass?'

Everyone could survive if we got off at the right station anyway. Having one person escape ahead of the rest might only sour the mood and cause conflict.

But it wasn't going to be that simple.

“S-still, wouldn't it be better to find it?”

“Right. We don't know what might happen...”

The recruits had become so acutely conscious of the announcements that they couldn't possibly let this one pass.

'... Let's leave them to it for now.'

“May I ask how old you are...?”

“Oh, I'm in my thirties.”

“You look young for your age. Oh, and my blood type is B. I don't qualify.”

“Me neither...”

Everyone checked with one another to see whether anyone fit the description of an “adult male in his twenties with type A blood.”

But no one was an exact match, and eventually the question came around to me.

“What about you, Mr. Kim Soleum...?”

I gave a simple answer.

“I'm AB.”

That was a lie, actually.

I really was type A.

'But there's no need to announce that I qualify.'

If I could stand to benefit or suffer from this situation, they might mistake anything I said for self-interest, making it harder to persuade them later.

“I see. Then, Mr. Baek Saheon...”

“Wait a moment.”

Suddenly, the man sitting across from me raised his hand with a grim expression.

“Actually... I'm an exact match. For those criteria!”

“Oh!”

His tone was quite solemn, probably because he thought he might end up dying if things went wrong.

'He doesn't need to worry about that, though.'

And it was clear why he'd suddenly spoken up.

[“This stop is Anger, Anger Station.”]

The announcement had just informed us that we were arriving at a new station.

The station where an employee would be waiting to receive the lost item.

Tension clouded the face of the recruit who had volunteered.

“Is there no one else?”

“No... I don't think so.”

“Oh dear.”

Baek Saheon, who had been listening beside me, sighed and asked the man a question.

[“The doors will open on your right...”]

“You said you're type A?”

“Yes, yes.”

“Too bad.”

Then his fist flew.

“...?!”

His fist slammed mercilessly into the left eye of the recruit who had identified himself as type A and in his twenties, producing a sickening burst.

Baek Saheon had struck him with the corner of the smartphone clutched in his hand.

It was a blow delivered with almost no concern for whether it burst the man's eye.

“Urk,”

And just as the man toppled over, unable even to scream properly—

[“The platform screen doors are opening.”]

Baek Saheon nimbly leaped over the fallen man and stepped off the train.

“Wh-what just...”

“Aagh!!”

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

A moment too late, people cried out in horror.

Baek Saheon chuckled.

“You idiots. If one eye can get you out, you should jump at the chance!”

“...!”

“It said we could get off!”

Apparently, Baek Saheon had read between the lines of the announcement perfectly.

- Whoever finds the lost item, please disembark at the next station and deliver it to a station employee.

Even with the hint that we needed to pay attention to the announcements, that was an extraordinarily bold judgment.

“Then again... I guess that's too much to expect from people who make someone else take responsibility for their lives.”

“What?!”

Baek Saheon remained perfectly composed as he flung insults at us. He seemed certain that no one would dare follow him out.

And he was right.

We had all seen what happened when someone got off at a station they shouldn't.

“Th-that man...”

Go Youngeun's face had gone bright red, apparently with fury, but I also felt a sense of relief, as though something had finally clicked into place.

No wonder!

His nickname was Viper.

The way Baek Saheon was portrayed in the Records of Dark Exploration only made sense if this was the personality behind it.

I'd wondered whether he was still decent because he was a new recruit who hadn't yet been corrupted by society, but apparently he'd always been like this.

[“The doors are closing.”]

Meanwhile, Baek Saheon waved at those of us inside the train.

He seemed pleased with himself, thinking he'd managed to escape, at any rate.

Even if it meant giving up his left eye.

'Oh dear...'

But... about that.

'You didn't have to do that.'

While everyone was focused on Baek Saheon, I secretly reached up behind me to the luggage rack.

'I definitely... saw it earlier.'

I swept my hand deep inside and, almost miraculously, caught hold of something resting in a blind spot.

I drew my hand back to inspect it.

Inside something resembling a strange portable contact lens case was a single eyeball.

And a label.

[Type A / Female / 27 / R]

This was one of the potential lost items.

'A lost item isn't something of mine in the first place. It's something someone else lost.'

The announcement was actually a treasure hunt: you had to find the real lost item among several candidates in the luggage rack, then get off with the one that matched the description exactly.

Well, there were records of people escaping by handing over something they happened to possess themselves.

'Now Baek Saheon will be one of those cases.'

But how would he feel if he learned that he hadn't needed to “return” his own left eye?

The platform screen doors had already closed. Just before the train pulled away, my eyes briefly met Baek Saheon's as he turned toward the platform.

I raised the case containing the eyeball toward the doors, making sure he could see it clearly.

With the label covered, there would be only one thing he could make out.

The eyeball.

-...!!

Beyond the doors, Baek Saheon's expression changed as he recognized what it was.

But it was already too late.

[“The train is departing Anger Station.”]

The train pulled away.

I turned to the recruit Baek Saheon had attacked.

Given that he'd injured the man's left eye, Baek Saheon had been trying to eliminate another “correct lost item” besides his own.

'He must have been worried they'd only accept one lost item.'

I didn't think I could blame him for escaping alone. Everyone was trying to survive, after all. But... this had crossed the line.

I turned back toward the doors.

From far behind us came the sound of someone pounding hard on the platform screen doors several times.

And from the receding platform, I thought I faintly heard the distinctive scream of someone subjected to grotesque agony.

[“The lost item has been safely handed over to a station employee.”]