LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 203
The Branch Chief returned alone, wearing a solemn expression.
“Branch Chief?”
“…”
“Branch Chief.”
“Ah, yes.”
Only after I called him twice did the Branch Chief finally look at me.
“Is Chae Yeon okay?”
“…No.”
She slowly shook her head.
“…”
Song Ah Rin furrowed her brows for a moment before relaxing, and Aileen also closed her eyes tightly for a second before opening them again.
“…Branch Chief.”
Soon, Song Ah Rin stared intently at the Branch Chief.
It was a completely different expression from the one she had when looking at me, Yu Da On, or Jang Chae Yeon.
She was looking at the Branch Chief with genuine irritation.
“We’re alive when we come back, right?”
“Yes.”
Alive when we come back?
I also cast my gaze at the Branch Chief.
“…”
Upon catching my gaze, the Branch Chief muttered and opened his mouth.
“…Jang Chae Yeon probably died there. She knew it herself.”
“Didn’t you say something like that before?”
I was certain he had never said that to me before.
“I did say it.”
“Right.”
Aileen and Song Ah Rin replied in unison.
“…Come to think of it, that’s a term from the field, so you two probably didn’t know.”
With a puzzled expression, Yu Da On looked between the Branch Chief and me, and then Song Ah Rin sighed.
The Branch Chief’s expression hardened, and soon began to turn pale.
“I…didn’t know…”
Ignoring the muttering Branch Chief, Song Ah Rin looked at me.
“The white-haired one knew too. That’s why when you said you were going out, she went out first.”
“She’s not someone to back down,” Song Ah Rin muttered, clicking her tongue, and then turned her gaze back to the Branch Chief.
“You must have said she would survive because you had some confidence.”
“…It’s not confidence; I can assure you of that.”
The Branch Chief mumbled in response to Song Ah Rin’s gaze.
“If we can’t solve this incident, we’ll all die. Conversely, if we solve this incident, everything will return to how it was.”
“…Are you using a clock?”
At my words, everyone but the Branch Chief looked puzzled, and the Branch Chief slowly shook his head.
“No. It’s not about using a clock. Turning back time doesn’t mean returning to normal.”
“…Really?”
“Literally.”
The Branch Chief pointed to the lunar surface he was standing on.
“Everything that happens here will be treated as ‘nonexistent.'”
“…”
“Just like a dream.”
The Branch Chief muttered as he looked at the moon.
“We’re betting everything on a single chance. If we succeed, we can do anything and we will live. If we fail, no matter how hard we struggle, we will die.”
As if he heard this from someone, the Branch Chief murmured while gazing far away.
“…”
The Branch Chief looked at me.
“I’m sorry. I thought Kim Jae Heon would understand what that term meant.”
“I’m not from the field, you know.”
“You weren’t?”
Ignoring Aileen’s mumbling from behind, I looked at the Branch Chief, and she bowed her head toward me.
“I’m sorry.”
“It seems I’ve deceived Kim Jae Heon. I have no words to say.”
“…”
There were many things I wanted to say.
“…Let’s go for now.”
That was a problem for after we solved this incident.
Getting angry at her wouldn’t reduce Jang Chae Yeon’s suffering.
Rather, she had bought us time.
Our footsteps started to quicken.
For her sacrifice, we had to move even faster.
The Branch Chief walked alongside me, with three others following behind.
It felt even emptier than before.
“There are about two more left.”
The Branch Chief muttered, glancing back.
Our gazes met hers, and after looking at us, the Branch Chief bent at a ninety-degree angle.
“I’m sorry. I’ve dragged you into such an incident.”
Still bent over, she continued to speak.
“I know you have many things to say, but since Jang Chae Yeon has gone to the crater, we don’t have much time left. From now on, it’s a race against time, so let’s move quickly.”
“…”
“If necessary, feel free to hit me or shoot me.”
“Isn’t she saying that because she knows it won’t hurt and bullets won’t matter? She doesn’t feel pain at all.”
“…”
The Branch Chief stiffened.
“Da On. Shut your mouth for a second.”
“Uh, Jae Heon- Ugh!”
I covered Yu Da On’s mouth.
But upon reflection, she wasn’t wrong?
I removed my hand from her mouth.
“Go ahead.”
“Yeah, keep it up.”
“…Is the Human Resources Team always like this?”
As Song Ah Rin and I stepped up to support Yu Da On, Aileen looked at us in amazement.
“…”
“Why aren’t you talking?”
“It’s sudden to be told to talk…”
“Come on now. You were throwing everything at me.”
Yu Da On looked at us with a troubled expression, while Song Ah Rin looked at her in disbelief.
“…Anyway.”
Listening to Yu Da On’s words, the Branch Chief looked at us.
“I’ll do whatever you want. So, let’s just go.”
“If we can’t solve this, there’s nothing to offer anyway.”
Dying means all wishes and feelings are meaningless.
“Let’s hurry. Chae Yeon must be struggling right now.”
“…Right here.”
The Branch Chief pointed ahead after hearing my words.
There were stairs.
…Stairs?
“Stairs?”
It seemed I wasn’t the only one confused.
Song Ah Rin frowned and muttered while Aileen remained silent before looking at the Branch Chief.
“Looks like the inheritance left behind.”
“To be precise, it’s our entrance.”
In response to Aileen’s words, the Branch Chief replied while looking at us.
“Through here, we’re going to enter the moon.”
“…”
“But don’t think just because it’s an entrance that it’ll be safe.”
The Branch Chief murmured as she gazed at the stairs.
“They will probably come to stop us from the moon.”
“Weren’t you saying the moon won’t recognize us?”
Technically, it was that they wouldn’t care about us.
“That’s right. The moon isn’t actively stopping us.”
The Branch Chief nodded.
“But if we look at it simply…”
“…We’re like a virus.”
“Exactly.”
The Branch Chief nodded at my words.
“From their perspective, we are a virus. Therefore, the white blood cells in their bodies will try to fight us off.”
A virus and white blood cells. It sounds like the moon is alive.
“What exactly is going to happen?”
We need to know if we are to solve this problem or not.
“At the bottom of the stairs, there’s a door leading to the moon’s core. We completed this place exactly seventy years ago. Before that, you had to dig directly or enter through nearby craters.”
Usually, things didn’t end well. The Branch Chief murmured while looking at the stairs.
The iron stairs were rusty, a mixture of brown and gray.
“The door leading to the core can only be locked from the outside, not from the inside.”
“What does that mean?”
“Once you’re inside, it’s either death or success. One or the other.”
The Branch Chief looked at us.
“There are no other options.”
“…Why?”
“The moment you decide you can open the door, most ordinary people will run away.”
“…”
Her words left us all in silence.
“And, the outer door has to be closed, or else whatever is inside will come out.”
Of course, what comes from the outside is just as horrific, she murmured, walking down the stairs.
-Thud… Thud…
Following the Branch Chief, we walked down the stairs.
As we descended, the darkness thickened.
“…It’s cold.”
Song Ah Rin muttered, rubbing her arms.
She was right.
It was getting colder.
The faint moonlight had long disappeared, and we were now relying on old incandescent bulbs hanging from wires to make our way down the stairs.
Soon, the Branch Chief stopped.
“This is it.”
“…”
Under the flickering bulb, there was a steel door with a round handle like one you would see on a ship.
“I’m sorry to say…”
The Branch Chief opened her mouth.
“Someone has to stay here and make sure the door can’t be opened by anyone.”
“…”
“Someone who can purely hold out and secure the door.”
Our gazes fell on one person.
Receiving our gaze, Yu Da On smiled softly.
“Well… guess it has to be me, right?”
“I’m sorry, Yu Da On.”
The Branch Chief slightly bowed her head to Yu Da On, who waved her hand with a smile.
“That’s okay! If it’s needed, I’ll do it.”
“Da On.”
Hearing my voice, Yu Da On tilted her head and looked at me.
“Don’t worry, Jae Heon!”
She smiled brightly.
“I’m really good at holding out!”
With a cheerful shout, Yu Da On raised her fist.
“I’ll be back quickly.”
“You can take your time! I’m not going anywhere.”
Yu Da On smiled, and the Branch Chief grabbed the handle.
“I’m sorry. As much as I want to give you more time to talk, we need to go in quickly. They would have noticed we came down the stairs already.”
“They?”
-Creeeak!
The Branch Chief turned the handle, and with a dreadful sound of metal grinding, the door opened.
-Thud… Thud…
Something was coming down the stairs.
“Hurry.”
The Branch Chief held the door, and Aileen tapped Yu Da On’s shoulder as she stepped inside.
Song Ah Rin and I stayed behind, looking at Yu Da On.
“Hey, black-haired one.”
“What?”
“…Good luck.”
At Song Ah Rin’s words, Yu Da On smiled brightly.
“Of course!”
“Da On.”
“If you’re really worried, um.”
Yu Da On placed her finger on her chin, thinking for a moment before gesturing toward me.
“…”
As I approached her, she whispered softly in my ear.
“Let’s go see the moon together later.”
“…Of course.”
So she had heard what the Branch Chief said.
“I’m sorry, you two. We have to go quickly.”
The Branch Chief called us while Yu Da On waved goodbye as if she was visiting a friend’s house.
“Okay, then see you later!”
Song Ah Rin glanced back at Yu Da On and then stepped inside, while I lingered a bit longer before following her in.
-Creeeak… Slam!
As the door closed,
-Splash!
A horrific sound echoed from beyond the door, and blood began to seep out below.
“…Da On!”
“…I’m okay!”
Yu Da On’s bright voice rang in my ears.
“Let’s hurry.”
The Branch Chief started to pull my arm.
-Thud! Splash!
From beyond the door, it sounded as if something was relentlessly banging against it.
*
“…”
Now just four of us remained.
Even without agreement, we all hurriedly moved forward.
Sounds were echoing.
-Thump… Thump…
The sound of our heartbeats was ringing in our ears.
“…Ugh…”
Aileen, walking beside me, broke out in a cold sweat and leaned against the wall.
“Aileen?”
“We…we need to run.”
She murmured.
Soon, Aileen turned her body around.
“It’s locked.”
The Branch Chief’s calm words jolted her back to reality.
“Even so…!”
“Kim Jae Heon, please hold Aileen.”
At the Branch Chief’s words, I quickly grabbed Aileen’s shoulders.
“Ah, no! I don’t want to die here! I…I don’t want to…!”
“Aileen, get a grip! Ah Rin too—”
I looked at her.
She too was staring ahead with a pale face.
“Not here.”
“A Rin?”
“If we stay here, we’ll all die. We need to leave right now. Not here.”
She murmured,
“Keep it together.”
Immediately, the Branch Chief grabbed Song Ah Rin’s shoulders and locked eyes with her.
With eyes so red they seemed to penetrate her, Song Ah Rin flinched.
-Thump… Thump…
The sound similar to a heartbeat struck my eardrums.
I felt a little, no, a lot scared.
It felt like it was touching the very essence of human fear.
The emotion felt in the face of a massive existence one couldn’t deal with, back in the days before humankind was civilized, when they lived solely on instinct.
While the Branch Chief walked calmly, the other two looked like they could hardly take a step.
I could only barely move.
“A little more.”
The Branch Chief encouraged us as we kept moving forward.
She dragged Song Ah Rin, and I was also forcibly pulling Aileen along.
“Are you okay, Song Ah Rin?”
“Aileen…!”
Our voices echoed in unison.
-Thump… Thump…
The sounds were growing louder.
I too was drenched in a cold sweat, and Song Ah Rin and Aileen looked like they could barely breathe now.
“…We’re almost there.”
Only the Branch Chief looked unscathed as she kept moving forward.
“…Eek.”
Following her, Aileen raised her gaze, letting out a scream laced with terror.
I followed her gaze to where the Branch Chief was looking.
A massive hollow chamber, with something hanging above it.
Something resembling a child, or maybe a lizard, or even a toad.
Not a human. No, something that wanted to imitate a human, as if it were forcing itself into a human shape.
Or perhaps a bear, the sea, or the sky.
Fragmented thoughts and images rushed through my mind, and I found myself kneeling on the ground.
An incomprehensible sense of déjà vu overwhelmed me.
Before the translucent window appeared, the Branch Chief stood before us, pointing.
“…This is it.”
She muttered as she looked ahead.
“It’s something the Management Agency has been trying to block for decades, and in that process, countless people have died. A dangerous element similar to a wedge.”
She turned around to look at us.
“It’s the moon.”
-Hoo…
It exhaled.