Editor’s Survival Guide - Chapter 36

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Editor’s Survival Rules Episode 36

ep8. What Do You See?(1)

“Do-un!”

“Oh….”

The hospital room door burst open violently as Section Chief Kwon Mu-seop appeared.

For some reason, Kwon Mu-seop came running while panting heavily, heading straight for the hospital bed where I was sitting, and I froze stiff in my porridge-eating position.

“Are you okay? Are you conscious?”

“Yes, as you can see….”

“Thank goodness, really thank goodness….”

As I answered while swallowing my porridge, Section Chief Kwon Mu-seop let out a long breath.

Anyone would think he’s my real older brother.

I looked bewildered at Kwon Mu-seop, who was clutching his chest like someone who had aged ten years.

I had lost consciousness while escaping from the “Zombie Sports Stadium.”

But somehow I was rescued safely, and when I woke up, I was at the Management Bureau Medical Center.

That’s about all I understood of the current situation.

But what was this?

This strangely serious atmosphere.

Right now I was the only patient in the hospital room, but there were five other people here.

First, Baek Sa-ra, who had been here since before I woke up.

Kim Woo-in, who came over immediately when he heard I had regained consciousness.

Cha Si-eon and Kwak Jae-gyeom, who came running after.

And Section Chief Kwon Mu-seop, who had just arrived.

I could understand Team Leader Cha and Jae-gyeom coming, but wasn’t Section Chief Kwon Mu-seop coming a bit excessive?

As I stared blankly with these thoughts, Section Chief Kwon Mu-seop rubbed his face and asked me.

“I was so worried thinking something had happened to you… Why did you do that? Do you remember?”

“What?”

“Let’s feed him first, then talk about it later.”

Then Kim Woo-in interrupted and pulled Kwon Mu-seop’s shoulder.

Kwon Mu-seop glanced at Kim Woo-in for a moment, then quietly stepped back.

What was really going on?

Why did I do what? What did I do?

“If you want to hear the story, hurry up and finish eating. No, not hurry, slowly finish everything.”

Kim Woo-in also spoke to me as I had stopped moving my hand.

So I continued eating the white rice porridge that was almost like water, yet strangely wouldn’t go down.

When I finished emptying the porridge bowl, Kim Woo-in finally began to speak.

“Yesterday Team Leader Cha Si-eon wrote an incident report.”

“An incident report?”

“Because he made a reckless attempt within the Special Zone, and as a result, Do-un fell into unconsciousness.”

“What? No, that’s….”

I turned to look at Cha Si-eon in surprise.

Cha Si-eon looked as solid as always.

Right, he wasn’t the type to get discouraged over a single incident report.

But separately from that, I wondered if it was right to shift responsibility to him.

If the ‘reckless attempt’ Kim Woo-in mentioned was our last escape method, then I was the one who proposed it.

As if noticing my thoughts, Kim Woo-in added.

“Even if Do-un suggested it, Team Leader Cha was the one who approved it. The person in charge took responsibility.”

When he put it that way, I had nothing to say.

“What happened to the other people?”

“The citizens came out fine and everyone’s okay. Right now only Do-un is like this.”

Kim Woo-in sucked on his candy with a displeased expression.

If the citizens were fine, then Team Leader Cha really wrote the incident report because of me.

Why? Was I such a precious existence like glass?

I wasn’t particularly.

If they were going to make Cha Si-eon write an incident report, they should have done it from the “Warehouse-style Mart” incident.

My physical condition was much more battered then.

I couldn’t understand this sudden overprotectiveness at all.

So I turned to look at Section Chief Kwon Mu-seop.

If Cha Si-eon wrote an incident report, he would have submitted it to that person.

When our eyes met, Section Chief Kwon Mu-seop let out another long sigh.

Then he said this.

“Do-un, you just regained consciousness after three days.”

“Three days?”

“And during those three days, you were perfectly awake.”

“…What?”

It was a perfect contradiction.

How could someone who was perfectly awake for three days regain consciousness after three days?

My confusion deepened at the completely inconsistent statement.

So as I looked around at the faces of the people surrounding me, I finally saw it.

Cha Si-eon’s face, somehow haggard and pale.

* * *

“I was like this…?”

Cha Si-eon nodded at my question.

So I checked the video again in shock.

-Do-un, can you hear my voice?

Nod.

-What happened inside?

Shake shake.

-You don’t know?

Shake shake.

-You know but can’t speak?

Nod.

-Why can’t you speak? Can you tell us the reason?

Shake shake.

In the video, I was sitting in a chair with my head deeply bowed.

What could be heard from off-screen was Kim Woo-in’s voice.

I was only responding to his questions with head gestures.

It was a situation I couldn’t remember at all, not even a little bit.

Ah, so that’s why the atmosphere was like that…?

The kid was conscious but his mental state was completely shattered.

And he had been like this for three whole days.

An incident report was definitely warranted!

As I was silently horrified, Cha Si-eon sitting across from me asked.

“Seo Do-un, you said your last memory was being released into the air at the “Sports Stadium,” right?”

“Yes….”

“At that time, Jae-gyeom and the other missing people stayed in the air for about 7 seconds before returning to reality. However, Seo Do-un was caught by an entity presumed to be the “Judge Who Weighs” and remained in another space for 144 seconds before returning.”

“Another space?”

“From what we’ve determined, it was the “Fog-Shrouded Bridge,” “Blood-Raining Island,” “Golden Cave of Thousand-Armed Avalokiteśvara,” and “White Flower Columbarium.””

What Cha Si-eon just listed were all names of Special Zones.

“Fog-Shrouded Bridge” and “Blood-Raining Island” were Type 1.

“Golden Cave of Thousand-Armed Avalokiteśvara” was a Type 3 that I had never been to yet.

“White Flower Columbarium” is a Type 4 Special Zone that the Management Bureau has observed only once.

The common trait of these four places is that their exploration and survival rates are dismally low, in single digits.

In other words, they are places of death where internal observation has barely progressed.

But I had been there?

Moreover, what Cha Si-eon just said doesn’t make much sense either.

“You’re saying the place I was dragged to seems to be one of those four locations?”

“No. Seo Do-un, you were dragged to all four of those places.”

What does that mean, when it was only 144 seconds?

You’re saying I visited all four Special Zones in that short time?

So that giant hand carried me around to various places?

“Do you remember anything about what happened then?”

“Not at all.”

“What do you think your condition was like at that time?”

What kind of question is this?

When I stared at him in confusion, Cha Si-eon spoke again.

“Even speculation is fine. Please describe your condition.”

“…I was probably unconscious. Given that I don’t remember anything. I think I passed out when that hand grabbed me.”

I didn’t understand what this was about, but I answered anyway.

Then Cha Si-eon touched the tablet in front of me and said.

“This is the sound recorded through your smartwatch when you went missing.”

Chik- chijijiji-

Jjijik- jjijjijik- tseuseutseu-

Kkididik- kkidididik-

Unpleasant sounds leaked from the device.

Static from a radio tuned to the wrong frequency.

Noise from an old wooden building twisting and creaking.

The cries of a dying young animal.

It sounded like these noises were having a conversation with each other.

Chijijjik- chijijik-

Kkiii-! Kkkkkididididik-!

Aaaaak-!

Suddenly the sounds became intense.

And then a scream filled with pain.

What? Could this scream be from me?

I got goosebumps and looked at Cha Si-eon.

Cha Si-eon raised his index finger to his lips as if telling me to listen quietly.

After a moment.

Language I could understand flowed from the tablet.

-How did this happen…?

It felt like all the hair on my body was standing on end.

-Why couldn’t we… until now…

-…what exactly is… body…

-…four times… are you saying I already…?

A voice that seemed ready to collapse at any moment.

A voice struggling to continue despite enduring that.

This was none other than my own voice.

-Why now of all times?

I was asking someone in a desperate tone I had never heard from myself.

What kind of situation was this?

I said these things?

As I was shocked, Cha Si-eon asked me.

“Do you remember who you were talking to then?”

“Not at all… I don’t remember anything.”

“Then what about the wound on your left arm?”

Left arm?

I rolled up the loose sleeve of my patient gown.

…What is this now?

There was a palm-sized bandage stuck to the inside of my forearm.

As I realized this, the skin on my forearm began to throb with delayed pain.

I felt sharp pain as I peeled off the bandage.

Then a red, messy wound on my forearm was revealed.

It definitely wasn’t an accidental wound.

Because I could read that wound.

The dark red mark with dried scabs clearly formed the shape of the letter B.

“It’s a wound that Seo Do-un scratched with his fingernails.”

I didn’t even have the strength to be more surprised and looked at Cha Si-eon with a gloomy face.

“I did?”

“Yes. We confirmed skin tissue and blood traces under Seo Do-un’s right index fingernail.”

Right, looking at the direction, it is the direction I would have scratched myself.

“Do you remember or associate anything with this?”

“I’m not sure.”

“At that time, Seo Do-un, you must have known you would lose your memory.”

“I suppose so. Given that I left a mark on my arm.”

I spoke as if talking about someone else, feeling absurd.

This is really ridiculous.

Carving something like this on my arm must have meant for me to notice something when I came to my senses.

But what should I do?

It just hurts and I have no idea what it means.

What exactly am I supposed to interpret from this, my past self…

As I sighed repeatedly, Cha Si-eon closed the tablet and said.

“If you can’t remember anything right now, that’s fine. Let’s take it slow in recalling, and rest for today.”

I nodded while rubbing my tired eyes.

Then I remembered what I heard earlier and said to Cha Si-eon.

“You said you wrote an incident report.”

“It was a formal procedure. Since you’ve regained consciousness, it’s fine.”

“What happened to Ha Yu-ju and Jang Han-bin?”

“Ha Yu-ju finished surgery after two days and is currently recovering. Jang Han-bin’s contamination level was confirmed normal, so he went home the day of the rescue.”

“That’s good.”

I let out a sigh of relief.

Then I asked Cha Si-eon.

“Can I meet Jang Han-bin?”

I had promised to buy that cold high school student a meal.

My head is still complicated, but a promise is a promise.

I want to be an adult who takes responsibility for what he says, though I’m not sure if regulations allow it.

“Since it’s a promise, go ahead and meet him.”

Surprisingly, I got a readily agreeable answer.

“However, tomorrow you have other schedules all day.”

“Other schedules?”

“You’ll be meeting Analysis Team 5 regarding this incident.”

Analysis Team 5?

Right, there was a team like that too.

My workplace written on the employment contract.

Analysis Team 5, where in reality I don’t work there, but rather work as me.

I met that team a month and a week after signing the employment contract.

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