Editor’s Survival Guide - Chapter 152

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Editor’s Survival Rules, Episode 152

ep21. Fog-Shrouded Bridge (2)
Glub-glub-glub—!
For reasons unknown, I was exhaling underwater.
“……!”
The moment the river’s metallic tang spread across my mouth, I came to my senses and went limp.
Then I swam in the direction my body wanted to rise, following the current rather than fighting it.
Soon enough, I broke the surface.
Splash—!
“Gasp!”
I thrust my head above the water and drew a sharp breath.
Then I wiped my wet face and looked around.
Was this the Han River?
Had the Train Station ejected me here?
The fog was so thick I couldn’t make out anything.
All I could see was mist and water.
I checked my Smartwatch first.
The display lit up, but there was no signal.
I was still inside the Special Zone, in an area where communications didn’t reach.
Was that a blessing or a curse?
It seemed the Train Station hadn’t reset yet.
I scanned my surroundings once more.
Still just fog and water.
The endless vista sent a chill of dread through me.
Splash—!
I swallowed my panic and kept swimming.
I pushed through the water, praying this bleak scene was some optical illusion.
Surely there had to be something besides water.
Damn it, if land was too far, even a buoy would do.
I would’ve been grateful for anything—anything at all—to crack this surreal landscape.
Splash, splash—!
But no matter how far I swam, I remained suspended in fog and water.
What’s more, the moment I paused, I lost all sense of which direction I’d come from.
I couldn’t even be sure I’d moved at all.
“Ha…….”
When I realized my sense of direction had completely failed, my heart sank.
What do I do? Where am I?
“Team Leader Cha! Team Leader Cha Si-eon!”
I remembered him grabbing me and called out.
“Baek Sa-ra! Agent Jung!”
I called out to the others who’d been nearby.
But my voice simply echoed into the void, reaching nothing.
“Gasp, gasp…….”
My breathing grew ragged as panic threatened to set in.
My breaths were coming shorter and shorter when it happened.
Flutter—
From the corner of my eye, I saw something falling.
I spun around quickly.
A single black feather floated on the river’s surface.
A feather?
Splash—!
I swam over and grabbed it urgently.
But the feather dissolved like cotton candy and vanished.
Instead, I looked up at the sky.
A black bird crossed the fog-shrouded heavens.
I swam after it.
Splash, splash—!
But the bird was too fast.
Catching it seemed impossible, but I kept swimming anyway—grasping at straws.
Eventually, the bird vanished from my sight.
But in its place, an enormous column appeared.
Several columns rising from the river’s surface through the mist.
And above them, a bridge.
The moment I saw it, I understood where I was.
This was a Type 1 Special Zone.
The Fog-Shrouded Bridge.
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The Fog-Shrouded Bridge: A Missing Person’s Survival Manual
You are currently located at the Fog-Shrouded Bridge, under the management of the Government of South Korea.
Life-threatening danger may arise; please familiarize yourself with the survival rules below and evacuate promptly.
■ General Precautions
First: Do not forget that you are human.
Only humans can escape this place.
Second: Abide by South Korea’s social norms.
Criminal acts are not permitted, even within the Special Management Zone.
Third: Absolutely refrain from consuming, drinking, or absorbing anything in the Zone.
Such actions may cause severe damage to your body and mind.
■ Escape Protocol for the Fog-Shrouded Bridge
The Fog-Shrouded Bridge is a bridge-type Special Zone characterized by extremely dense fog.
Visibility here is less than 10 meters—sight lines are severely limited.
Furthermore, the bridge’s length varies from a minimum of 1 kilometer to a maximum of 28 kilometers.
Cross the bridge.
That is the only way to escape this place.
—
What on earth…….
Had everyone from the Train Station been wiped out?
Is that why Raven evacuated only me here?
No, wait. No, that doesn’t make sense.
If that were true, Cha Si-eon should be here with me.
After all, he was the one holding on to me at the end.
Right. I shouldn’t jump to despair yet.
Get a grip and deal with the situation at hand.
First, I needed to get up onto the bridge.
But climbing the column with bare hands was impossible.
It was a smooth brick cylinder.
There were no handholds or footholds of any kind.
What do I do? Check another column?
Or just keep swimming until I reach the end of the bridge?
Damn it. That workaround might not even work, and I’m not sure my stamina will hold out.
That’s when it happened.
Bang—!
A loud noise suddenly rang out.
It seemed to come from the bridge above.
What was that?
I flinched momentarily, then shouted in urgency.
“Is anyone up there?!”
If I stayed pressed against the column, whoever was above wouldn’t see me.
So I swam out from under the bridge and called again.
“I’m Seo Do-un! I’ve fallen in the water!”
I cried out desperately, searching the bridge above.
But the fog was too thick—I couldn’t even make out the guardrail clearly.
Was there no one there?
Just as disappointment began to settle over me, a blurred shape emerged from the mist.
A shadow draped over the guardrail.
It called my name.
“Seo Do-un?”
It was Cha Si-eon’s voice.
“Team Leader!”
I recognized his voice and called out happily.
“Team Leader! Pull me up!”
I’d been in the cold water too long.
My body was growing heavier by the moment—I was struggling to keep myself afloat.
So I pleaded urgently, but Cha Si-eon was cautious.
“State the codeword.”
“I don’t have a codeword!”
“Field.”
“I’m telling you, I don’t have one! Team Leader, please pull me up……!”
As I cried out in desperation, something dropped from above.
Splash—!
I summoned what little strength I had left and swam toward it.
When I reached it, I found a wire with a loop attached, dangling down from the bridge like a fishing line.
I looped it around my waist and gripped the wire.
But Cha Si-eon didn’t pull me up right away—he asked again.
“Prove you are Seo Do-un.”
“The Survival Swimming you taught me came in handy!”
The wire began to pull my body upward.
Whoosh—!
Water cascaded off me as I rose into the air.
I swung out an arm and grabbed the guardrail while hanging from the wire.
Cha Si-eon pulled me by the shoulders, and I was dragged helplessly across the bridge until I collapsed flat.
The rough asphalt scraped my cheek, but it felt infinitely better than being submerged in that cold water.
“Phew…….”
I caught my breath first, then asked him.
“What was that loud noise earlier?”
“Nothing happened.”
“……?”
That sound had been loud enough to hear from under the bridge.
Yet he was saying nothing had occurred.
I looked around, puzzled by his flat denial.
The guardrail separating the road from the pedestrian path just beside us was slightly dented.
……Had he kicked it?
As I studied the guardrail, Cha Si-eon removed the loop from my waist and spoke.
“Remove the water and dry off.”
Instead of securing the wire, Cha Si-eon threw it out over the bridge’s edge.
Splash—!
Then he switched on a Searchlight and fixed it to the guardrail, raising his Rifle and firing into the air.
Bang—!
I wrung out my clothes, startled by the gunshot.
“Is it alright to make noise this loud?”
“Better than letting someone drown.”
His tone was cold.
No—it was more bitter, I thought.
In that moment, I felt the weight of what had happened.
The operation had failed right on the edge of success.
An entirely new situation had begun.
We’d attempted a reckless operation, and in the end, it had put the team in danger.
Cha Si-eon was alone with that crushing responsibility, and I couldn’t escape it either.
That’s when it happened.
Bang—!
A gunshot from somewhere else.
Unable to determine the direction, we looked around—and saw a beam of light flickering.
A Searchlight beam, identical to the one Cha Si-eon had turned on.
But the position of that light seemed strange.
Why was it so high up?
Impossibly, the beam flickered far above our heads, at a dizzying height.
I was trying to make sense of it when—
Bang—!
Another gunshot rang out.
Though I still couldn’t pinpoint the direction, I could tell it came from a different location than the last.
Soon, more lights switched on in other places.
“Seo Do-un, move a bit away and turn on your Searchlight.”
He was trying to get a count of personnel.
I stepped back the requested distance and switched on my Searchlight.
Through the pallid fog, more beams of light appeared.
One, two, three…….
Including ours, twelve beams of light now shone through the haze.
Why twelve?
“Baek Sa-ra doesn’t have a light,” Cha Si-eon said.
He spoke as I counted anxiously.
Right—Sa-ra had minimized her gear to move quickly.
That was fortunate.
If only Sa-ra was safe, everyone was alive.
But the real problem was the positions of those lights.
“Why are the other lights positioned like that?”
This was the Bridge.
It was a structure that extended in a straight line.
Yet the lights glowing through the fog were at varying heights.
First, we were the lowest.
The other beams shone from higher up, arranged in a circle around and above us—like the rails of a roller coaster or the seats of a Ferris wheel, spinning in all directions.
What in the world? Were those people suspended in midair?
That’s when a thought suddenly struck me.
“Right now, we’re at the Fog-Shrouded Bridge.”
“Yes.”
“And the Bridge’s original form is the Han River Bridge.”
“Correct.”
“And what I came down from looked like Nodeul Island.”
“I’m of the same assessment.”
“If you take the Han River Bridge north from Nodeul Island, you reach Yongsan Station.”
“…….”
“If you fold this space like a paper map so that Yongsan Station and Nodeul Island touch, what happens to the Han River Bridge between them?”
“It would fold with them, or form a loop.”
Cha Si-eon and I stared at each other for a moment, then looked up again.
That was it.
The lights we’d illuminated were forming a ring.
Cha Si-eon lowered his head and pressed his palm to his forehead.
Then, pinching his temples with his thumb and middle finger, he exhaled deeply.
I knew what that gesture meant.
Cha Si-eon was very angry right now.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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