Episode 63
“Ji-ah?”
The sound of her calling me finally allowed me to tear my gaze away from the screen that had appeared before me.
“Yes?”
“What are you looking at with such a serious expression? There’s nothing there.”
She glanced in the direction I had been staring at and tilted her head in confusion.
Of course, there would be nothing there for her. The screen wouldn’t be visible.
To her, I must have looked like I was just staring blankly into the air. Fearing she might find me weird, I forced a smile and casually changed the subject as if it were nothing.
“By the way, can you say that again? I didn’t hear you.”
“Right, so… suddenly, the tanks all broke and water started pouring out. I thought it was dangerous and tried to go outside, but these strange monsters kept pulling at my feet from the water, blocking my way. So, I was trying to fight them off and move again to get out, but suddenly, a huge amount of water, like a tsunami, came rushing from the opposite corridor. I clung to a nearby pillar to avoid being swept away by the current. The height of the water was almost taller than me. I thought I was looking at a wave that you see while surfing in the ocean. That overwhelming pressure…”
“Then? You said you were holding onto a pillar, so how did you come all the way here…?”
“Ah, after that. I thought things had calmed down a bit after the first wave passed, so I tried to move again, but it started again. The water level kept rising, and the surface was turbulent. Those mermaid-like creatures were pulling from below. I thought I couldn’t stay there any longer, so I just dived and swam. Did you know? The water is calmer below the surface than above. The surface is rough because of the constant flow of water, but underneath it’s surprisingly peaceful. I didn’t know at first, but I learned that while learning to swim and surf.”
She swam here while underwater? Now that she mentioned it, she did jump out from beneath the water when she appeared just now.
“Didn’t you find it hard to breathe?”
“Whenever that happens, I just go up for a quick breath and come back down. It’s actually easier to move underwater because there’s less resistance. I can also deal with the monsters more easily.”
“Even so, isn’t it hard to hold your breath for so long? You said you fought the mermaids too.”
“Huh? I was fine. It’s because… I think it was in my first or second year of university, I took a swimming class as an elective. My classmates and I used to have a competition to see who could hold their breath the longest underwater. I kept losing at first, so I became their snack wallet. To make them throw up all the snack money I’d lost due to them, I practiced hard. At some point, the time I could hold my breath increased. After that, I always won and made them buy me snacks.”
As she recalled her memories, she had a satisfied smile on her face.
Wow… that’s really impressive.
Come to think of it, I had forgotten. She wasn’t just an ordinary person; she was a student with exceptional physical abilities, a sports-specialized student.
“…Noona?”
“Are you awake?”
I was momentarily speechless and let out a dry laugh. Jun-woo, who had been coughing up the water he had swallowed earlier, finally regained consciousness and slowly opened his eyes. When he saw Ga-eun holding him, his eyes widened in surprise.
“How did you get here? No, what about the monster…?”
“I did away with that monster that was clinging to you, don’t worry.”
She slightly raised one hand and shook it—it was holding a pipe. That was definitely the one she had picked up from the theater… No, more importantly, she had been holding onto it the whole time while swimming underwater?
It’s impressive that she managed to keep hold of it even while diving and swimming like that. Was it her mental strength that was extraordinary, or her grip strength…
“So, you dove into the water, swam hard and ended up here, just in time to save Jun-woo?”
“Right. It just sort of happened that way.”
“Diving…?”
Meanwhile, Jun-woo, who had just regained consciousness, looked back and forth between me and Ga-eun with a completely bewildered expression. Seeing this, I briefly explained how Ga-eun had ended up here and saved him.
“Wow… Noona, you’re amazing. I’m terrible at swimming– I sink like a rock…”
He gazed at Ga-eun with admiration in his eyes. In response, Ga-eun brushed it off, saying “anyone could do this with enough practice, it’s nothing big”, in her typical amicable demeanor.
I swallowed back a sigh of relief as I watched the two’s attitudes which seemed to be at ease, and tried to figure out our next move.
‘How far apart are we from Do-yoon now? I barely managed to regroup with Seo Ga-eun and Jun-woo, and now we’re separated from Do-yoon… Damn it. Why do we keep losing people one by one?’
At this point, I desperately wanted all four of us to stay together.
Still, Do-yoon was different from the others because of his ability. He could at least protect himself. I forced myself to push away my worries about him and refocused on Ga-eun and Jun-woo in front of me…
‘Wait—how is Seo Ga-eun even alive here? Or rather, why was she dead in the game?’
Suddenly, this question struck me. In the game, after you encountered the main zombie without reuniting with the scattered group, finding them always resulted in them being dead. But with skills like hers, shouldn’t she have survived alone? What’s going on…?
Could this too be a butterfly effect caused by my presence? But I don’t think I did anything that should’ve influenced this…
“Uh, uh… What’s this around us? Some kind of black thing…”
“Black things? Huh? There’s something in the water… Don’t tell me those monsters are back…”
“W-what?!”
At her words, the nervousness on Jun-woo’s expression was replaced by raw terror.
“Stay calm. They are monsters, but—”
“Monsters?!”
“No, more precisely, zombies—”
“AAAAH! S-something just touched me! It touched me! They’ll definitely drag me under again!”
He began thrashing wildly before even hearing me out. As a result, he sank again until Ga-eun pulled him back up. Now frozen stiff, he trembled like a leaf.
“They won’t attack unless provoked or if we bleed. They don’t initiate—”
“How would you know that? Erk…”
Hesitating because I couldn’t exactly answer that, I scrambled for a convincing remark:
“Fish work that way, right? Unless it’s a shark, most don’t attack first. Ever heard of fish hunting humans to eat them? No, right?”
Well, except for some rare cases—but I swallowed that part.
Curiously, this logic seemed to placate him. Then he calmed his excited body down and quieted, perhaps because he trusted my words. Still, he continued grimacing fearfully at the water.
Unfortunately, these creatures did eat humans—they were zombified fish, of course. But since like I said, they didn’t attack first unless you were bleeding or provoking them first, I kept that truth to myself.
More importantly, their presence here meant the main zombie was nearby. We needed to keep even more vigilant—there was no telling when it might strike.
The moment I thought so, a faint melody drifted from somewhere. A hum-like sound mixed with whistling echoed around us, one that felt terribly eerie.
“What’s that sound?”
“It sounds like… singing?”
“But… Gasp!”
Our confusion at the mysterious song lasted only moments. Without warning, Ga-eun suddenly vanished beneath the surface. Jun-woo and I startled, calling out:
“Noona! What just—”
Before he could finish, however, Jun-woo too was dragged under.
This wasn’t the main zombie’s doing. That thing didn’t attack like this. Which means…
“…!”
Damn it. These bastards again.
Something yanked me downward. Looking below, I saw the horrifying mermaid-zombie gripping my leg; I really couldn’t get used to its grotesque appearance no matter how many times I saw it.
These bastards kept pulling me under like some kind of water spirits. I’d almost prefer if they had proper mermaid tails instead of this disgusting hybrid form—not quite mermaid, not quite water spirits. What the hell was this abomination?
As I struggled to shake off its clawed hands, my traitorous eyes kept cataloging the underwater nightmare despite not wanting to:
Shredded, hole-ridden stingrays. Fish swimming with exposed bones. Turtles missing chunks of their shells. Not a single intact creature in sight.
The lack of air already had me near blackout and thinking I was going to die, but being surrounded by these monstrosities triggered full-body paralysis through sheer terror.
I suddenly remembered the disgusting zombies from Stage 3. Those seemed almost preferable compared to this. At least there I could stand on solid ground and move freely. Here? Every motion felt like a burden.
‘Ha, let go already, you damn mermaid bastard!’
After enduring and enduring until my oxygen reached its limit, I grabbed my cutter knife and swung it at it. Since the situation had changed from earlier, I really hadn’t wanted to use this, but there was no other choice at this moment.
The creature fell away from me, mouth gaping as it let out a silent scream. The more it thrashed, the more bubbles swirled around us, and the water began to turn red.
‘…!’
But it was brief. Small fish started gathering around it, one by one, until they surrounded it completely, obscuring its form entirely. Soon, all that would remain in that spot would be the creature’s bones, stripped entirely of flesh.
This is why I didn’t want to use the cutter…
Not wanting to witness such a grotesque sight, I backed away and tried to get to the surface.
When you think about it, mermaids and those zombie fish were technically allies, so it was revolting how ruthlessly they tore into it. Not that I’d ever believed such creatures could tell friend from foe, but I hadn’t wanted to see it firsthand.
‘Get a grip, Han Ji-ah. Now’s not the time to worry about this. You need to reach the surface. If this keeps up, you’ll really suffocate to death.’
But contrary to my logical mind, my body refused to cooperate. The more I struggled, the faster I sank instead of rising. Panic surged.
‘Damn it! How do I even get up?!’
I’d been able to shake off that mermaid form earlier and resurface because the water had been shallow enough for my feet to touch the ground. I’d floated upwards by clinging to walls or floating debris, but now, I could see nothing to hold on to.
The water had already risen to the building’s ceiling. How was I, someone who couldn’t even swim, supposed to reach the surface now…?!
Just as I thought, This is how I die, something passing by glinted at the edge of my vision.
In a life-or-death situation like this, I had no luxury to pay attention to some randomly shiny thing. With that thought, I ignored it, trying to focus on surviving—until a sudden realization struck.
‘Wait… Where’re my gems? I definitely put it in my pocket, but… Would they even stay there underwater?’
I frantically shoved my hand into my pocket, fumbling around. But…
‘Nothing. My gems… there’s not even one!’
My mind blanked. I twisted my body, peering downward. There, sinking deeper into the murk, was a red gem.
No. My gem! If it sinks all the way…
I stretched my arm as far as I could. If I was doomed to drown anyway, I might as well grab it.
The moment my fingertips brushed the gem, I clutched it tightly.
‘Got you!’
But my relief upon catching it disappeared instantly as reality crashed back. My face twisted.
Was I really going to die like this?
The distance to the surface already felt impossibly far. If anything, I was closer to the bottom now. My lungs screamed—I’d held my breath past the breaking point. Tears burned my eyes, but since I was underwater, I couldn’t tell if I was crying. My ears clogged, my vision blurred. Even as my lungs shriveled, on the verge of collapse, I instinctively gasped for air, even though there was only water all around me.
Then—something brushed my lips. Then, the oxygen I’d so desired flooded in.
Was I above water? No… I was sinking—
Perhaps because oxygen entered my body, the haze in my mind began to lift. And as my vision cleared, the first thing I saw was…
Lee Do-yoon…?
His face filled my sight.
Huh? Wait. Wha—What?
Sensation returned slowly. Piece by piece, I grasped what was happening.
The soft, plush press of lips against mine. A hand cupping my cheeks. His face that looked serene with closed eyes.
Then, slowly, his eyelids lifted, and our gazes locked.
And only one thought crossed my mind:
Crazy.
First kiss lets goooo (I’ll take what I can get)
