Chapter: 49
“It’s just as I remember.”
Yujin looked around.
A silent corridor.
It resembled the hallways of a hotel or a resort.
A sinister crimson carpet stretched beneath his feet, as though it had been dyed with blood.
“And it still smells like shit.”
A foul stench assaulted his nose, like being trapped inside a pile of laundry that had been dried the wrong way.
Frowning, Yujin let out a sigh.
“I thought the second time around might be a little different.”
It was exactly the same place as during his first run.
If he had any luck, he had hoped he’d end up somewhere easier.
“Well, at least I know what’s going on from the start this time.”
It hadn’t been like this before.
Back then, it was as if he’d been suffering from amnesia.
He couldn’t remember anything.
Why he was in a place like this.
Who he was.
Or even what time it was.
Because of that, it had taken him an incredibly long time to clear this floor.
Among all the floors of the Tower, very few had taken him longer.
“Let’s get moving.”
Standing here any longer could end badly.
Scratching his head, Yujin immediately started walking.
“Room 444… Room 444… Room 444…”
Doors lined both sides of the corridor.
His eyes swept over the room numbers.
Every single one consisted entirely of the ominous number four.
Ignoring them, Yujin continued forward.
The corridor stretched so far that even with his superhuman eyesight, he couldn’t see its end.
He walked for what felt like forever.
Then—
“Found it.”
He stopped.
Room 4444.
It looked almost identical to the others, except for one extra tiny digit at the end—so small that most people would never notice it.
“The first time, I completely missed this and wasted a ridiculous amount of time.”
An unfamiliar place.
A confused mind.
An overwhelming atmosphere.
Under those circumstances, noticing such a tiny detail had been nearly impossible.
Even for Yujin.
But things were different now.
With an indifferent expression, he reached for the doorknob of Room 4444.
Click.
Locked.
“…Right. That’s how it was.”
Come to think of it, he’d needed a key to enter.
A key obtained by wandering the endless hallway, uncovering hidden clues, and solving countless puzzles.
Only then could the door be opened.
It had been so long that he’d forgotten.
“Tch.”
Yujin clicked his tongue.
It wasn’t something that could be finished in a day or two.
It would take months at the very least.
Compared to the time it had taken him to climb from the first to the fifth floor, it was absurdly long.
During that same amount of time, he could easily grind all the way to level fifty.
Repeating the exact same process again would be a complete waste.
So he decided on a different approach.
The fastest.
The simplest.
The one he had the most confidence in.
“I’ll just break it.”
He reached out and shoved his hand into Chunbae’s mouth.
“Kyaaaang!”
With a tiny cry, a long katana emerged.
『Sun Blade [D]』
It wasn’t exactly a weapon he was satisfied with, but for the time being, it would have to serve as his main weapon.
Hummm—
As he slowly circulated his mana, the 『Sun Blade [D]』 began to emit a faint glow.
Of course, despite its name, it wasn’t even remotely as brilliant as the real sun.
“This is more than enough.”
Enough to break through a single locked door on the sixth floor.
“『Heavy Strike E』.”
He activated the skill.
It was a common, low-grade attack skill that almost every player possessed.
But more important than a skill’s rank…
…was the person using it.
And Yujin was the greatest player of both the present and the future.
BOOOOOOOOOM!!
The door to Room 4444 exploded apart as though it had been struck by an artillery shell.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
Tens of thousands of fragments.
Aside from a few larger pieces, nothing remained recognizable.
“Not bad.”
The power was good enough to use as his primary attack for a while.
He didn’t remember it being this strong during his first run.
Looking at the destruction he had caused with his own hands, Yujin nodded in satisfaction.
“Hm.”
Beyond the doorway of Room 4444 lay absolute darkness.
It wasn’t merely a room with the lights turned off.
It felt as though a gigantic hole had been carved into space itself.
Step.
Yujin walked inside.
Silence.
His hearing became muffled, as though he had been submerged underwater.
His vision vanished into the darkness, and one by one, all five of his senses began to fail.
It’s fine.
Without panicking, Yujin continued walking in what he believed was forward.
Before long, even his sense of touch disappeared.
He could no longer feel the ground beneath his feet.
The first time, this was terrifying.
Anyone would feel fear after being abandoned alone in an unfamiliar place with every sense stripped away.
Even Yujin had.
The same held true now.
A creeping sense of dread slowly seeped from the depths of his heart.
It’s fine.
This darkness couldn’t harm him.
It was only a passing stage.
Like the night itself—
Something destined to end.
Repeating those thoughts, he steadied his heart.
How long had he walked?
Just as he felt he was nearing the end—
Flaaaash!
Every one of his senses returned at once.
“Mm…”
The first thing his restored vision captured was yellow wallpaper.
Then flickering fluorescent lights.
Then a damp carpet.
A place that was both deeply familiar…
…and strangely unfamiliar.
“The Backrooms.”
So he’d ended up here again.
“Seriously… this place is fucking awful.”
Meanwhile, Park Jihoo was wandering through a mountain swallowed by darkness.
It looked like any ordinary mountain behind a quiet neighborhood.
There was only one difference.
Its oppressive atmosphere.
The yin energy was so overwhelming that even seasoned shamans would have shuddered.
Jihoo ran through the forest as fast as he could.
There’s no way out.
It had already been about three hours since he’d opened his eyes in this strange place.
Where the hell am I?
He remembered nothing before arriving here.
Not where he’d been.
Not what he’d been doing.
Not how he’d gotten here.
The only memory remaining in his mind…
…was his own name.
I have to get out.
He felt uneasy.
More than that—
It was a premonition.
If he failed to leave this mountain…
…something terrible would happen.
Park Jihoo had spent his entire life reading people’s moods.
Because of that, his instincts were unusually accurate.
So he kept running without stopping.
It was strange that he wasn’t getting tired at all, but he didn’t have the luxury to question it.
Am I going the wrong way?
He was certain he was heading downhill.
Yet every time he looked around, he somehow found himself higher than before.
Judging by how much closer the summit had become.
But he couldn’t exactly run uphill instead.
Grinding his teeth, Jihoo sprinted downhill once again.
People always say to find water in situations like this.
If you followed the flow of a stream, you’d eventually leave the mountain.
He’d once heard something like that on MeTube.
Sharpening both his hearing and sense of smell, he searched for running water.
Then—
Trickle…
He froze.
A tiny sound.
To the left?
He focused.
Trickle… trickle…
Now it was unmistakable.
The sound of flowing water.
It’s close.
If he could hear it this clearly, it had to be nearby.
No farther than a hundred meters.
At his current speed, even on rough terrain, it would take less than twenty seconds.
Certain of that, Jihoo changed direction and ran toward the sound.
After running for a while—
“…What?”
There was no water.
Not after twenty seconds.
Not even after more than a minute.
Something was wrong.
Trickle…
The sound continued.
It was even clearer than before.
But no matter how far he ran toward it…
…he never got any closer.
It felt as though the stream retreated by exactly the same distance he advanced.
That’s impossible.
Even if most of his memories were gone, he hadn’t lost his common sense.
A stream that moved on its own?
Such a thing couldn’t exist.
Even if it somehow did, it would move over years, not seconds.
It wasn’t a living creature.
Jihoo stopped, disturbed by the growing sense that something was terribly wrong.
Then he opened all of his senses, not just his hearing.
…There’s no smell of water.
His senses were far sharper than any ordinary human’s.
Even his sense of smell surpassed that of a dog or cat.
He could detect the fragrance of tiny wildflowers blooming far away.
And yet…
There was no scent of water.
Only the sound.
Swallowing hard, Jihoo looked around.
Moonlight filtered through the branches, illuminating the forest.
Its pale blue glow was beautiful.
But even more than beautiful…
…it was eerie.
Trickle… trickle…
The sound came again.
This time he didn’t miss it.
He stared directly toward it, concentrating every ounce of his vision.
Rustle—
Something entered his sight.
A pure white figure.
The instant it noticed him looking, it slipped behind a massive tree with astonishing speed.
Gasp!
Jihoo involuntarily sucked in a breath.
Trickle…
He was sure now.
That mysterious white thing…
The sound of flowing water was coming from its mouth.
The moment he realized it, Jihoo turned and ran.
It’s not human.
Nor was it an animal.
It was something dead.
Something that didn’t belong in this world.
Forcing those thoughts aside, Jihoo focused only on putting as much distance between himself and it as possible.
But—
“Trickletrickletrickletrickletrickletrickletrickletrickletrickletrickletrickletrickletrickletrickletrickle… heehee… trickletrickletrickle… heeheehee… trickletrickletrickletrickletrickletrickletrickletrickletrickletrickletrickletrickletrickle… heehee… trickletrickletrickletrickletrickletrickletrickletrickletrickletrickletrickletrickletrickletrickle…”
It was following him.
The sound of water.
Faster than Jihoo could run.
The once faint trickling grew louder and louder.
The laughter mixed within it made his skin crawl.
Don’t let it catch you!
It was pure instinct.
If that thing caught him…
…nothing good would happen.
Yet the dreadful sensation crawling across the back of his neck forced him to look behind him.
It was right there.
Long strands of pure white fur.
A humanoid body.
Grotesquely elongated arms and legs.
And glowing crimson eyes.
“Trickletrickle!”
Inside its mouth, which mimicked the sound of flowing water, countless razor-sharp teeth gleamed.
Shreds of red flesh were wedged between them.
Every breath it exhaled carried the overwhelming stench of blood.
The creature was flying toward him at incredible speed, almost as if it were gliding through the air.
Jihoo had seen it before…
…on MeTube.
“The Jangsan Tiger.”
That…
…was the creature’s name.
