Agent Bronze and I stared at each other as if we'd been struck by lightning.
The Train Shelter.
Its true value was revealed from under the engineer's seat.
'An Escape talisman…!'
But after the thrill passed, an urgent question filled my mind.
"Wait a minute. But if you could have left with that talisman in the first place, wouldn't you have left long ago?"
"...!"
There was no reason to hold out as the agents died one by one. Why on earth….
-He just kept saying there was something else he needed in this train and kept going out to find it!
Ah.
'There was something missing.'
What was it? What was missing?
At that moment, someone burst open the door to the engineer's compartment from outside.
"Roe Deer…."
"Ms. Goral!"
The moment I saw Ms. Go Young-eun's face, a certain phrase flew out of my mouth before any explanation for avoiding her or for the current situation.
"I've found a trace of an escape attempt."
"…!!"
I quickly called everyone into the engineer's compartment, then watched as Manager Lee Jaheon closed the door and leaned against it as if standing guard.
It seemed the two of them had brought Ms. Go Young-eun with them.
The small engineer's compartment was so packed it was difficult for anyone to even sit down, but no one cared about that right now.
"If this train were placed on high-speed railway tracks, do you think it could run?"
"On the tracks?"
Instead of asking 'Why do you ask?', Ms. Go Young-eun, as if she'd caught on to something, asked back in shock.
"Wait a minute. Don't tell me you're thinking of running this subway train on a high-speed railway?"
"It's not our idea."
"What…."
Soon, Ms. Go Young-eun's gaze followed mine and Agent Bronze's, landing on the talisman under the overturned chair.
"The agents who made this Train Shelter seem to have planned to use this train for escape from the very beginning."
"...Wait, just a moment…."
Ms. Go Young-eun took a few breaths in and out as if to digest the flood of information, then spoke quickly in a calm voice.
"Mr. Roe Deer."
"Yes?"
"Why on earth did you think I would know about this subway train's compatibility with high-speed railways…."
"..."
I've received so much informational help from her so far… I just asked reflexively in case she knew, but if I've burdened you, I'm sorry….
"But I do know."
"…!"
"…Living here, I tried to hear as much as I could from my aunt. Knowledge about subways and railways."
Because she was trapped in a subway.
"And I've also heard stories about the subway through 'rumors'."
I looked at the person who must have desperately gathered rumors and information to adapt to the situation of suddenly being thrown into a group of survivors in an extreme situation.
"Then, would it be all right to ask for an answer?"
"Yes."
Ms. Go Young-eun said with a frown.
"As far as I know… the track gauge should be the same. Meaning, it should fit and stand on the tracks normally."
"…!"
"Wait. But subways and high-speed trains have different speeds to begin with… don't they operate on different principles?"
"That's right. The electric currents will be different."
Ms. Go Young-eun nodded at Assistant Manager Eun Haje's words.
"She said subways usually use direct current, and high-speed trains use alternating current. To put it simply, the high-speed train uses a much higher voltage."
"Is that not compatible?"
"I don't know about other places, but I know that at least this Segwang Special City Subway is not compatible."
"..."
Ms. Go Young-eun had found out this information through a Q&A with her aunt, who worked in a related field.
'If so, the agents could have figured it out too.'
If they had reached the same conclusion as us.
-He just kept saying there was something else he needed in this train and kept going out to find it!
"I think that was it."
"Pardon?"
"The reason why the agents who made this Train Shelter couldn't attempt an immediate escape and went searching for supplies."
The electric current.
The fuel, or power, to make this train run…!
That was....
"Will-o'-the-wisp."
I looked back at Agent Bronze.
"If we have a will-o'-the-wisp, isn't it possible?"
If we use a supernatural being as a power source instead of electricity.
"It is possible."
"...!!"
Right. Then everything connects.
"But at the time, the agents on this train didn't have that will-o'-the-wisp."
If they had a will-o'-the-wisp, they would have surely left a 'trace that an agent could recognize if they touched it,' like at the Hanbit Library….
"That's why they kept going out to the stations."
"…To find the possessor!"
"Yes."
I nodded.
"They were clearly looking for other agents who had entered with a will-o'-the-wisp."
But in the process, far from finding another agent, they were worn down until finally….
....
We naturally swallowed the rest of our words.
"...Then if we get a will-o'-the-wisp, we can try this escape method right away."
For a moment, hope flashed in Ms. Go Young-eun's eyes, but.
"Wait a minute! If it's possible to escape by physically running out like that, it seems like many people who were already outside the subway would have escaped, but they couldn't."
The person, whose hopes of escape had been dashed several times, tried to remain as calm as possible and continue assessing the situation.
"You have a point."
"Or it could be a viable method, but everyone outside is already dead, so no one could even try."
"..."
"Well, that's just my guess."
Assistant Manager Eun Haje's words were hopeful for our situation and incredibly despairing for the situation in Segwang Metropolitan City.
But I had other doubts.
'The lockdown of Segwang Metropolitan City isn't just on a level that prevents ghost stories from getting out.'
It was a Sealing Ritual structured to sacrifice the residents of Segwang Metropolitan City for that purpose. So it was only natural that civilians couldn't get out easily.
Could we really escape with a high-speed train? Just how far did the agents of this Train Shelter foresee and prepare?
'First… I need to bring Agent Choi and Agent Haegeum.'
I absolutely wanted to confirm the opinions of veteran agents who knew Segwang Metropolitan City.
If someone died because we touched it rashly, it would be irreversible.
I nodded.
"It won't be too late to try after we prepare and check slowly and surely."
"…Yes."
Ms. Go Young-eun's expression settled calmly.
And then she smoothed her expression, as if trying not to get her hopes up again.
Through the silence, the faint, joyful voices of the boisterous people in the Train Shelter echoed.
"..."
"..."
"Um, by the way."
Ms. Go Young-eun's face became strangely sour.
"Mr. Roe Deer. Don't tell me that what you said a few days ago about the number of rabbit lovers in the train increasing… was referring to… that ceremony happening outside right now."
Ah.
"It wasn't… intentional."
Ms. Go Young-eun's expression soured even more.
"How can you predict that the number of Rabbit Doll lovers will increase if it's not intentional?"
"..."
"..."
"I'm sorry. I was looking for a chance to search the engineer's compartment…. I'll… take care of it."
The stares are incredibly piercing….
Receiving the gazes of the Train Shelter residents and Manager Lee Jaheon (why?), I quietly bowed my head.
Ms. Go Young-eun's sour voice was heard.
"Still, I think this is the first time I've seen everyone in this shelter having fun together. It feels a bit… like the World Cup."
Yes….
'What a relief….'
It was when I let out a sigh of relief.
"But don't you feel like… it's been strangely quiet for a while now?"
"Pardon?"
"No, I know it's very noisy outside…. But it's strange."
'Why?' muttering, Ms. Go Young-eun kept glancing at the car outside the engineer's compartment window.
The nearly empty Car 1 was quiet, but it was bustling with the sounds coming from the cars beyond it.
'What does she mean?'
"What do you mean by quiet?"
"I don't know. Me too… it, it feels empty?"
Empty?
'Like something is missing?'
It meant feeling like something that was there is now gone. But something auditory in the train that would feel that way….
....
Ah.
The announcements weren't playing.
"..."
"Right now, about how many minutes have we been talking?"
"5 minutes? 10 minutes…."
"11 minutes and 12 seconds."
Wait a minute.
Hearing Section Chief Lee Jaheon's voice, I slowly turned my head….
"The interval between stations on the Segwang Subway is,"
"About 8 to 10 minutes, but…."
An announcement should have played at least once by now.
'No, if I add the time I was discussing the talisman with Agent Bronze….'
Right now, this was a strange situation.
"The train isn't arriving at a station…."
....
...!!
"Agent!"
Agent Bronze and I, almost simultaneously, flipped the chair back over to check the talisman. Those strokes made of ash water were….
Burning, turning black as if boiling.
"..."
Wait, wait a minute!
"Is this… is the talisman activated right now?"
"What??"
"No, why all of a sudden??"
"Agent Bronze, is this Item the type that activates when discovered by others?"
"No! If the talisman was used that way, it couldn't look like this…."
But Agent Bronze's face turned deathly pale.
"…However, it is taking effect."
Damn it!
I immediately started to look out the front window of the cockpit.
To be precise, I pressed my head against the glass and looked back at the section we had already passed.
'It's unfamiliar.'
Something is off. I've seen the subway's running environment out the window a few times, but it was definitely…
less dark than this.
"..."
I took the Smartphone out of my pocket, turned on the flashlight function, held it to the window, and tried to see behind the train.
The light source was useless. The rear was not visible.
But I saw a passing sign.
Safety First During Maintenance
2-Person Teams Mandatory for Work
…This track is not a regular subway line.
A maintenance area.
A line that leads to the outskirts.
'The train… is running in a straight line.'
The track no longer curves in a loop.
We had passed it without noticing.
The track switch.
The talisman, 'after some accidental incident that triggered the track switch,' had changed this train's destination.
"…The train has left the subway loop line."
"Wait a minute."
"Then this destination is…."
Section Chief Lee Jaheon, who had been quietly looking up, declared.
"The altitude is rising."
"...!"
We were heading to the surface.
"From now on, do not stare too intently ahead. We are exiting the underground space."
"..."
"This team is now entering an unexplored Darkness."
And outside this subway is the space of an Extinction-class supernatural disaster.
The train was running toward the high-speed railway outside!
"We have to stop the train."
"Mr. Roe Deer…!"
"We are not ready yet."
No, there's no time to persuade. Damn it! I quickly tried to go to the cockpit and press the emergency stop button….
"Don't! The talisman is already in effect. Interfering could make things go wrong in a more unexpected way!"
Damn it!
"Agent, even if this doesn't go wrong and we escape safely, it's still a problem!"
If, if this train was really a way to escape Segwang Metropolitan City, and even if the escape succeeds like this….
Those two will die.
Because they're already dead.
If they get out, they'll just become something dead, contaminated by a ghost story, and moving.
'No.'
An alternative!
I shook off Agent Bronze's hand gripping my shoulder and immediately grabbed the side door of the engineer's compartment.
"Hey!"
"Agent! Assistant Manager! I'm going to open the door, so get off! Get off and walk down along the tracks!"
It won't open. Damn it! I frantically scanned the cockpit. The door release for the engineer's compartment, the release…!
'Where is it!'
There were no hints a layman could find. Damn it, damn it….
"Manager! Just break the lock on the engineer's compartment door…."
"Stop."
"..."
"We'll all die from breaking the train trying to save the two of us. Come on, Noruya."
I turned my head.
Assistant Manager Eun Haje was smiling bitterly.
"…It's already too late. Look."
Ah.
I turned my head.
Bright light was pouring in from beyond the engineer's compartment window.
The surface.
Segwang Metropolitan City appeared.