Chapter 3
A single survival ticket appeared in the midst of the horrific chaos where people were dying.
Just like in a movie.
And it wasn’t an illusion.
If you get off with the announced lost item, you’ll be guided outside the station as soon as you meet the staff…
It was indeed a ray of hope.
The problem was that the lost item announced just now was unbelievably grotesque.
“What did it just say? Adult male in his 20s…?”
“Left eyeball of an adult male with blood type A.”
Ko Young-eun dropped her head with a hollow expression.
“Type A probably… refers to blood type.”
“Yes……”
A heavy silence fell. Everyone seemed already frightened.
…Should I just let this pass?
Anyway, if we get off at the right station, everyone can survive. There’s no need to stir up trouble by having one person escape early and create discord.
But things didn’t go that smoothly.
“Still, wouldn’t it be better to find it?”
“Right. You never know what might happen…”
These new employees had become so intensely aware of the announcements that they simply couldn’t let it go.
…Let’s leave it for now.
“By any chance, your age…?”
“Ah, I’m in my 30s.”
“You look young. Ah, I’m type B. Doesn’t apply to me.”
“Me neither…”
Everyone checked whether they fit the description of “adult male in his 20s with blood type A.”
But no one perfectly matched, and eventually the question came to me.
“By any chance, Kim Soleum-ssi…?”
I answered simply.
“Type AB.”
Actually, that was a lie.
I’m type A.
But there’s no need to reveal that I’m the target.
If I become a beneficiary in this situation, people might misunderstand that I’m saying it for my own gain, and it could make persuasion harder later.
“I see. Then Baek Sa-heon-ssi, are you…”
“Wait.”
Suddenly, a person sitting across from me raised their hand with a solemn expression.
“Actually… I match exactly. All the criteria!”
“Oh!”
He spoke with a quite solemn toneāprobably because he thought he might end up dying.
You don’t need to worry about that, though.
And the reason he suddenly revealed this was obvious.
[This stop is Wrath, Wrath Station.]
The announcement had come that we’d arrived at a new station.
The station where the station staff would be waiting to receive the lost item.
Tension colored the face of the new employee who had volunteered.
“Is there anyone else?”
“No… it seems not.”
“Oh dear.”
Baek Sa-heon, sitting next to me, sighed after hearing the conversation and asked the other person.
[The doors will open on the right….]
“You said you’re type A?”
“Yes, yes.”
“Too bad.”
And a fist flew.
“…?!”
A brutal punch landed on the left eye of the new employee who had identified himself as a type-A 20-something, accompanied by a horrible tearing sound.
Baek Sa-heon had struck him with the corner of his smartphone in his hand.
It was an attack as if he didn’t care if the eye burst.
“Ugh,”
And as the person fell without even properly screamingā
[The screen doors are opening.]
Baek Sa-heon lightly leaped over the fallen person and stepped outside the train.
“Wh-what just…”
“Aaaah!!”
“What are you?!”
People cried out in shock a beat too late.
Baek Sa-heon chuckled.
“Idiots. If you can escape with just one eye, you do it!”
“…!”
“It said you can get off!”
It seemed Baek Sa-heon had accurately understood the subtext of the announcement.
If you have found the lost item, please get off at the next station and hand it over to the station staff.
There was a hint that we should pay attention to the announcements, but it was still a remarkably bold judgment.
“Though… I guess you can’t expect that from someone who puts their own life in someone else’s hands.”
“Huh?!”
And while spouting harsh words, Baek Sa-heon remained perfectly calm. As if certain that no one would dare follow him.
And he was right.
Everyone had already seen what happens when you get off at a station you shouldn’t.
“Th-that person…”
Ko Young-eun’s face turned red with anger, but I finally felt a sense of things clicking into place.
No wonder!
Alias: Venomous Snake.
The way Baek Sa-heon was described inĀ <Darkness Exploration Records>āit all made sense now that I saw this personality.
I’d thought he seemed decent because he was a new employee not yet tainted by society, but apparently he was just like that originally.
[The doors are closing.]
In the meantime, Baek Sa-heon waved his hand toward the train.
He seemed in a good mood, having succeeded in escaping.
Even at the cost of giving up his left eye.
That’s…
But… here’s the thing.
He didn’t need to do that.
Taking advantage of everyone’s attention being on Baek Sa-heon, I secretly reached my hand into the luggage rack from behind.
I definitely saw it earlier.
And as I swept my hand deep inside, as if by magic, I caught hold of something lying in an invisible blind spot.
I pulled my hand back and checked the item.
Inside a strange portable lens case, there was an eyeball.
And a label.
[Type A / Female / 27 / R]
This was, in fact, a lost item candidate.
The lost item is something someone else lost, not mine to begin with.
Actually, this announcement was a treasure hunt of sortsāyou had to find the real lost item among several candidates in the luggage rack that exactly matched the description, and get off with it.
Though there were occasional cases where someone happened to use their own possession and escaped.
Now Baek Sa-heon would qualify for that.
But what if he found out he didn’t actually need to ‘surrender’ his own left eye?
The screen doors were already closed. So, just before the train departed, as Baek Sa-heon turned his body toward the platform, our eyes met for a moment.
I raised the lens case with the eyeball toward the door, making it clearly visible.
I covered the label, so only one thing would be clearly seen.
The eyeball.
-…!!
Beyond the door, Baek Sa-heon’s expression changed as he recognized what it was.
But it was already too late.
[The train is departing from Wrath Station.]
The train moved away.
I looked back at the new employee who had been attacked by Baek Sa-heon.
Given that his left eye was injured, Baek Sa-heon had been trying to eliminate any other ‘correct answer lost items’ besides the one he possessed.
He probably did it in case only one lost item would be recognized.
I don’t condemn the act of escaping aloneāeveryone’s trying to survive. But… this crossed the line.
I turned my head back toward the door.
From behind, I heard a few loud thuds against the screen door.
And then, faintly, I thought I heard the distinctive scream of someone suffering a grotesque fate on the receding platform.
[The lost item has been safely handed over to the station staff.]
