MCAG Chapter 60

Episode 60

“Do-yoon, let’s go too.”

Recalling their backs as they disappeared into the aquarium just now, I pulled him by the hand.

“Why did they have to go in there?”

“That’s not important right now. We’ll get separated at this rate. Hurry, let’s catch up to them.”

He reluctantly followed me into the aquarium as if he had no other choice.

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「Stage 5: Aquarium」

「Congratulations on entering the 5th Stage!」

 

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* * *

“…How far did two of them go?”

I frowned, feeling as if the gaze that had been following me from outside had continued to do so even after we entered this far inside.

“Do-yoon, do you have your phone with you?”

“Yes, here it is.”

Despite the unsettling feeling, my first priority was to reunite with them. This stage was in a timed-attack format, and if we didn’t find them quickly, we’d find them dead at the hands of zombies later. And by that point, our lives would be in danger too.

I dialed my number on the phone he gave me. This was a trick that couldn’t be used in the game. In the game, I didn’t exist, and no one else besides him had a phone, so there was no way to contact them. But now, it was different. They had taken my phone, so I could just call it to check where they were.

As I waited for them to pick up, I looked around.

Like any other aquarium, there were large tanks filled with water right from the entrance here. Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, there wasn’t a single fish in them, just water.

“…They’re not picking up. What the hell are they doing?”

“What should we do? If we go further in, we might miss them.”

“…But we still have to go in. We don’t have time.”

Just one hour. We had to find them, kill the main zombie, and get out of here within that time. Otherwise, we would slowly die here, being eaten by zombies in the water. Feeling burdened by this new progressive timed-attack format stage, my anxiety kept getting to me and making me distracted.

“Noona, calm down.”

“I am calm.”

“Yeah, sure you are.”

“I really am.”

His teasing words made me feel annoyed, but it helped me focus less on my unease, so I felt a little better.

Sigh… Yeah, it was already spilled water. I’d expected this to happen, so I tried to stay close to them and go in together. But I got distracted by that water spirit-like thing and that unsettling gaze and lost them in a minute. I still had hope because I thought it wasn’t too late now. They couldn’t have gone too far—if I ran now, I would probably be able to catch up to them.

“Let’s go. Don’t get separated from me, okay?”

“Okay.”

I kept calling them while running forward. At first, it was a straight path, so it was fine, but as we went further, it branched into many paths and even had different floors. It became harder and harder to find them. Moreover, they were distracted by the stolen car key, so they wouldn’t be able to retrace their steps after getting it. So, we had to meet them before going too deep.

I occasionally glanced sideways at him to make sure he was following me well, alternating my gaze between my phone and the front. As we went further in and still couldn’t see them, I became more anxious. Then, something caught my eye. At first, I thought I was mistaken and ignored it, but as it kept appearing at the edge of my vision, I felt a slight sense of fear.

“Something has been moving around us since earlier. Can’t you see it?”

“Don’t look to the side, just look ahead.”

Thinking he meant not to get distracted and fall behind, I decided to take a good look. Just as I was about to say something was definitely there, he spoke first.

“It’s better not to see it, so just look ahead.”

“What…?”

It was better not to see it? Saying that meant there was definitely something there.

What could it be? Was it a fish following us? But it seemed too big for that…

While thinking about it, we finally arrived at a crossroad, and I felt hopeless because I couldn’t find any trace of where they had gone.

“Damn it, they’re not picking up the phone. Where the hell did they go?”

“Let’s go to the center.”

“What?”

Before I could say anything, he grabbed my arm and headed towards the center path. I couldn’t hide my confusion. Why suddenly to the center… Was there some kind of trace?

Thinking he wouldn’t have chosen it without a reason, I focused on moving forward rather than questioning him.

“It’s already been 10 minutes. Damn it. I don’t want to end up like that…”

“What do you mean? You know something, right?”

“I don’t. No, that’s not important right now. Finding them is more…”

[Hello?]

At that moment, Jun-woo’s voice came from the phone. Just as I was about to yell ‘What the hell have you been doing so far that you’re only picking up the phone now?!’ at him, I barely managed to calm down and asked where he was now.

[That’s… I’m not sure. I just kept running ahead.]

“Ah, damn it. I knew this would happen. The two of you are together right now, right? Don’t move and stay there. I’ll come to you.”

[Wait. I’m alone right now.]

“What? Where’s Ga-eun?”

[I lost her in the middle because she was too fast.]

Damn it. I’m gonna go crazy.

“Okay. You just stay where you are for now. Don’t move.”

“Noona, tell me what’s going on.”

“…You said you could share your vision through the shadow you created, right? Use that to find the others.”

Honestly, I couldn’t solve this stage on my own with what I knew.

“It’s a timed-attack system. If we don’t get out of here within an hour, we’ll die.”

“An hour?”

“Yes, 1 hour. We need to find re-group and kill the main zombie within that!”

I was so anxious that I felt like I was going to go crazy, so I had no choice but to tell him everything.

“So, use your shadow to find the people first. Anyway, that zombie is…”

At that moment, I couldn’t continue my sentence. The thing that had been following me all this time was now visible in the tank behind him. Its flowing hair, perhaps because it was in the water, fluttered eerily. Lowering my gaze, I saw the same eyes I had seen in the pond earlier glaring at me. When I looked down further, I saw a tail with fins instead of legs. A mermaid— a creature with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a fish. It was in the tank.

Unlike the mermaids I once used to envision, however, this creature had pale, bluish-skin like a corpse’s, and a mouth that was torn to its ears. My eyes trembled violently at the sight.

A mermaid?! No way! That’s just a monster!

“Noona!”

While my mind was going numb at its shocking appearance, Do-yoon suddenly pulled me towards him. At that moment, I heard a loud thud from behind. I forced my stiff neck to turn and saw the monster I had just seen was also in the tank behind me. The creature was banging its body against the glass, trying to get to me. If it weren’t for the glass between us, it would have already been tearing into me.

“Hey, that… That’s what we saw in the pond earlier, right?”

“I think so. It’s been following us since earlier. There was one on each side of the fork, so I came to the center…”

No, where the hell did those mermaids even come from?! There wasn’t anything like that in the game! I’d rather see some creepy-looking fish that live in the deep sea!

“Can’t you create something like a shark or a whale? Can’t you make one in that tank to attack them?”

“I’ve been trying, but it’s not working well. Maybe because the image isn’t clear in my head…”

“Then leave that for now and find the others first. The tank’s there, so we should be fine for now…”

Then, the shadows beneath our feet split into several parts and transformed into the shape of dogs, running off in different directions. Seeing this, we also started running again. Staying in one place for too long seemed to attract more of those mermaid-like monsters. I didn’t know how many were in the building, but we had to run for now.

* * *

After that, we ran for another 15 minutes, but we still couldn’t find anyone. Anxious thoughts began to fill my mind, wondering if we would fail to clear the stage and die.

“I can’t see anyone. This place is much bigger than I thought.”

He had scattered shadows everywhere and shared their vision to survey the surroundings, but nothing changed.

Damn it. How far did they go that we can’t find them?!

It had been 25 minutes since the stage started, and we hadn’t found anyone. This was rare, happening maybe once in ten tries. Usually, you’d quickly find one person early on and then struggle to find the other, who was well hidden. But this time, both were hidden so well that we couldn’t seem to find either.

Ha… Should I give up? Should I just abandon them and prepare for the battle with the main zombie? As death loomed closer, my mind gradually leaned towards giving up.

“Aaah! Don’t come near me. Don’t come near me!”

At that moment, I heard a voice I had been searching for. I jumped up, grabbed Do-yoon, and headed towards the sound. Determined not to lose them this time, I ran as hard as I could until I finally spotted Jun-woo’s back. I called out to him.

“Park Jun-woo! Stop!”

“Heeek! you monster—Huh?!”

He was running frantically but stopped in his tracks at that moment and looked back. When our eyes met, I smiled brightly with relief. I had finally found at least one person.

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Ji-ah my girl I think we need to find a leash for Ga-eun atp