Memorize - Episode 25
25 The City of Traps
"Of course I'm against it. If you compare the forest and here, the answer is obvious, right? I don't want to risk my life on oppa's uncertain predictions. I don't think it's necessary to take risks like yesterday by leaving this city."
I had a glimmer of hope, but it wasn't to be. Lee Yoo-jung cast a vote against, and now there was one vote for and one vote against. My mouth felt a bit dry, but I decided to quietly watch the results for now.
After Lee Yoo-jung, it was Kim Han-byeol's turn. Interest naturally focused on her, as there would be hope to aim for if at least Kim Han-byeol cast a vote in favor. She stared at my face for a moment, then opened her mouth in her usual calm voice.
"I don't particularly want to leave either. But based on my own judgment of this person, I don't think he has any bad intentions. In fact, he has always made good judgments so far. While there may not be enough cases to prove what he said, I think it functions as a basis. I can't choose for or against. So I'll abstain."
Kim Han-byeol chose to abstain. In a way, it could be seen as the most neutral choice. Lee Yoo-jung seemed certain that we would stay. Her face was beaming with a smile. I prepared for unexpected results. If worst comes to worst, even if a boss monster appears, I can just defeat it. The problem would be doing it without being discovered.
The remaining people were Ahn Hyun and Ahn Sol. Ahn Hyun briefly glanced at his sister, then stroked her head and spoke to her.
"Sol."
"Yes?"
"What do you want to do?"
At Ahn Hyun's words, Ahn Sol's face became thoughtful for a moment. She was folding and unfolding her fingers, seemingly counting the votes cast so far. Then our eyes met briefly, and she suddenly startled, her face turning red as she quickly averted her gaze. As she kept glancing at me from the corner of her eye, I wondered if she might be feeling unwell.
"Sol is obviously against it, right~? Right? It's safe and comfortable here. If we go outside, scary monsters will come swarming in again!"
Lee Yoo-jung was now treating Ahn Sol completely like a child. Ahn Sol seemed to sense this, and when Lee Yoo-jung tried to scare her with an exaggerated face, she puffed out her cheeks, pouted her lips, and gently shook her head. She glanced at me once more and then opened her mouth in a careful voice.
"I... I want to agree with Su-hyun oppa."
Oh ho.
"Of course! Naturally agree~! Huh? What did you say? You agree?"
Lee Yoo-jung nodded with an excited face, but when she heard the word 'agree', her expression immediately changed and she lunged at Ahn Sol as if to devour her. Ahn Sol quickly hid in Ahn Hyun's arms. Both Ahn Hyun and Kim Han-byeol were quite surprised, all staring at her with wide eyes. Ahn Sol seemed uncomfortable with the attention and mumbled for a while before slowly starting to speak.
"Yes. I agree."
"Why! Why on earth!"
"Heeeng..."
Ahn Hyun, fending off Lee Yoo-jung who was glaring with a ferocious face, comforted the frightened Ahn Sol and gently asked for her reason.
"Sol. You need to tell everyone why you agree."
"Um... It's... Just because. I just have that feeling. Because..."
The moment he heard the word 'feeling', Ahn Hyun's expression changed drastically. It was brief, but I could see it clearly. Why on earth was he reacting like that?
"Hey! How can you do this based on just a feeling..."
"Be quiet!"
Seeing Ahn Hyun suddenly raise his voice, Lee Yoo-jung quickly shut her mouth. Ahn Hyun's face was more than just serious. He was frowning and looking at Ahn Sol with a grave expression. Ahn Sol, seemingly unaware of his gaze, nodded blankly and pointed at me with her slender finger.
"Before, it just felt vague... But today while I was sleeping, I had a dream about Su-hyun oppa."
"Everyone, please be quiet for a moment. Sol, continue talking until the end."
"We were all sleeping in this room when a huge monster appeared. Like an alien monster. That monster came exactly to the building where we were... and put everyone in danger. It seemed like we were all going to die helplessly, or rather, I think I saw us definitely die. But suddenly the content of the dream changed."
"How did it change?"
"As if rewinding a spring, the dream went back to the beginning, and suddenly Su-hyun oppa appeared. And when that monster appeared, this time it was different. Su-hyun oppa said he would stop this monster and told us all to run away. I was in oppa's arms, frantically escaping the city, when I suddenly became worried about oppa and was about to look back, and that's when the dream ended."
"Don't you remember anything else?"
"At the very end, I think I heard some kind of terrible roar? Scream? Anyway, some kind of sound... I'm not sure."
We were all listening to her story with bated breath. And I, for the first time since returning to the past, looked at her with sincere eyes. To be honest, even though it was a field I didn't know about, I couldn't understand it.
Her ability scores were 75 points in magic and 100 points in luck. My 96 magic points are not just any points. It's an ability score that would be considered top-tier even upon entering the Hollow Plane. Even I, with such ability, could barely manage to see the past for just 1 second using the power of the Third Eye, yet she had seen the past and future, albeit vaguely, through the power of dreams.
Of course, there was a clear difference between me and Ahn Sol. I can see what actually happened in the past and can manifest my power at will. However, she couldn't be sure whether it was due to interference or if it actually happened, and it seemed to manifest randomly. Perhaps due to her extremely high luck points, it seemed to be quite accurate.
Anyway, I felt like one of the questions I had at the beginning was being answered. The reason I couldn't see them during my time as a first-run user was clear. They must have gathered for some reason and come to this city back then. And it seemed they had fallen victim to a boss monster after exceeding two days. Ahn Sol was probably the only survivor of that city at that time.
"Haah..."
I heard Ahn Hyun's deep sigh from the front. Ahn Sol, having finished her story, was anxiously glancing around. Ahn Hyun tapped his fingers on the living room floor, lost in thought, then opened his mouth towards everyone with a troubled face.
"I also agree with Su-hyun hyung's opinion."
"Why you too? Didn't you say you didn't want to leave...! Are you taking your sister's side now?"
Lee Yoo-jung immediately challenged him with a displeased face. Ahn Hyun looked at Lee Yoo-jung apologetically for a moment before speaking.
"I'm not taking sides. It might sound a bit funny, but..."
Ahn Hyun slightly bowed his head and continued, pointing at Ahn Sol in his arms.
"I've lived with Sol for over 19 years. And we've been through a lot. Every time, I felt that she has a really good sense for things."
Of course. With 100 luck points, obtaining intuition or clairvoyance makes even future prediction possible. Although the rank needs to support it to some extent. As I was thinking various things inwardly, Lee Yoo-jung frowned and spoke as if lamenting.
"That damned sense, sense, sense. I'm sick of it."
"This is not a lie, it's certain. Actually, when Sol feels uneasy, bad things always happen. It's rare for her to talk about dreams, but... Anyway, with 3 votes in favor, 1 against, and 1 abstention, we'll decide to leave. As we agreed from the start, I hope everyone follows the conclusion. Let's all get up. Let's act right away."
"Are we leaving right now?"
"After Sol had such a dream, I feel more comfortable leaving as soon as possible. Let's all pack only the essentials. Hyung, please keep watch just in case."
"Ok. I'll do that. Call me when you're done."
I smiled with satisfaction at Ahn Hyun's different demeanor from yesterday. After attaching the crossbow to my left arm, I stood up, dusting off my seat.
Although subtle, Ahn Hyun had definitely changed. The fact that he went on patrol alone this morning, and his unusually proactive attitude, showed this. Of course, it was unreasonable to expect a complete change in his inner mindset just from the few words we exchanged yesterday. However, seeing that he had at least changed his outward attitude, it seemed he was trying his best to do what he could after listening to my words. Since it was obviously a positive change, I hummed a tune while surveying the surroundings.
As Ahn Hyun said, if we were to leave, now would be the best time. It was absolutely something to avoid, dawdling and delaying only to set out in the afternoon and wander around at night. It would be much better to start in the morning and find a place to rest around afternoon. There seemed to be quite a busy commotion from the lower floor, probably intending to take as much as possible.
Breathing in the air that still held a chill, I felt my head clearing. If it had been just people like Park Dong-geol, Lee Bo-rim, or Lee Shin-woo, they probably would have insisted on staying, but things had turned out quite well. This is why it's convenient to have a group of high-level users. A moment of silence for Park Dong-geol's group.
We had survived the forest interior and outskirts, considered the highest physical difficulty of the Trial of Passage, and we had also overcome the psychological trap of the Trap Point. Now, if we were careful about boss monsters that could appear randomly and other survivors, the path to the central gate could be considered relatively easy. Surely, other monsters that appear...
"Excuse me..."
Just as I was about to think about other monsters that appear more frequently towards the center, I heard someone calling me. Turning at the presence, I saw Kim Han-byeol standing there. With a small bag on her back, it seemed she was almost ready.
"Yes. Are you all done preparing?"
"I'm finished. The others are still getting ready."
"I see. Then I'll need to keep watch a bit longer."
"...Can we talk for a moment?"
I was puzzled by her sudden request to talk, but I nodded and replied.
"Of course."
She slowly approached my side, looking slightly nervous. I was curious about what she might say. Kim Han-byeol, uncharacteristically, kept glancing at me for a while before finally opening her mouth in a careful voice.
"Did you... hear anything from Yoo-jung unni or Ahn Hyun oppa?"
"About you and Yoo-jung fighting?"
"That too... and anything else?"
Since I hadn't heard anything particularly about Kim Han-byeol, I shook my head.
"I see. Actually..."
Her following story was nothing special. It was just about her opposing when Lee Yoo-jung said we should leave. Honestly, I couldn't help but smile bitterly when she said at the end that the living should live, but knowing it wasn't her true feelings, I was able to brush it off gently. At this point, feeling hurt about it would only make me look petty, so it seemed better to just accept it openly. It wasn't even something to get angry about, as it was a common occurrence in the Hollow Plane.
"...I'm sorry. I was just in such an angry state at that time. If I put myself in your shoes, I can imagine how unpleasant it must have been..."
It was the first time I had seen her usually calm voice sound so dejected. It seemed her relationship with Lee Yoo-jung was still strained, but that was a bit difficult for me to interfere with. I looked at her with a slight smile and opened my mouth.
"No, I'm not offended. Rather, I think you did well."
"..."
"Really. You made a cool-headed judgment of the situation. If we had left right then as you said, not only would we have failed to find me, but Yoo-jung and Hyun would have been 100% caught too. I don't think you have anything to apologize for."
"Still..."
"I was a bit worried because Yoo-jung is too hot-tempered, but I'm glad you were there. If it happens again, please do the same. I think that would be better."
"...Thank you."
When we finished speaking, our eyes met. And for the first time, I could see her smiling face again. It was just a slight smile that lasted for a moment, but her appearance was definitely beautiful.
Suddenly... 'She' from the Hollow Plane flashed through my mind.