Chapter 24

Chapter 24. Crash Landing (2)

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"You really can't see this?"

As soon as they arrived at Su-myeon's place, he turned on his computer.

The many games of <UTC>.

He pulled up the original game that the Happy Ellis Hotel was based on and showed it proudly to the group.

If he could show them this and they understood, everything he needed to explain from here would become much easier.

But Su-myeon was met with reactions he hadn't anticipated.

"…Is there something we're supposed to be seeing?"

"You're just… clicking on the desktop."

Su-myeon grabbed his forehead at Han-su's and Ju-hee's responses.

"Seriously, none of you can see any of this? There's so much right here."

Su-myeon opened the many documents he'd saved related to UTG games.

But the files stored only on his computer seemed completely invisible to them.

"It's just an empty folder, Su-myeon."

"What are we supposed to be looking at? Wait — was there something here? Did it get deleted?"

The bewilderment wasn't Su-myeon's alone — the others seemed equally baffled.

Everyone was frustrated.

'What the hell is this?'

Everything related to UTC was simply imperceptible to them, as if only he could see it.

"This is insane. If you can't see this, then where do I even begin explaining…."

Everything he'd demonstrated in the hotel. The reasoning he was doing now.

How was he supposed to explain any of it without the games and their settings? His head throbbed.

Watching Su-myeon struggle, Young-cheol spoke carefully.

"You can just tell us what you need to, in whatever way is comfortable. We can trust you even without all that background."

Background? What are you talking about? Seriously?

Young-cheol's inexplicable certainty made Su-myeon feel even more like he was losing his mind.

The man was clearly operating under some kind of misunderstanding, but with no way to show proof, there was no way to clear it up.

"I understand that you may not be able to tell us the full truth."

Apparently this doctor had cracked his skull in that hotel.

But trying to explain further to people who couldn't see the evidence was genuinely a pointless exercise.

In the end, Su-myeon couldn't explain the source of his knowledge.

Cutting that part entirely, he moved straight into his theory about their current situation.

"The Red Queen's words in the hotel, does everyone remember?"

The story she'd told about the layers of a sandwich.

The scene had been shocking enough that no one could forget.

As the group nodded, Su-myeon continued slowly.

"She said: when you step outside, you'll see a new world, but beyond that is yet another outside. That's exactly what she said."

And upon leaving the hotel — a reality where parts of the people around them had been cut away.

On top of that, the many UTG games on his computer were perceptible only to him.

Drawing together these seemingly different but connected phenomena, Su-myeon added in a tone approaching certainty.

"I think we'll have to solve multiple locations like that — like urban legends — before we truly make it out."

Just as Ellis Hotel had been, weren't there people trapped in the many UTG games he possessed?

Groans and sighs erupted from every direction at Su-myeon's words.

It was too plausible to deny, and their reality was clearly fractured.

Han-su asked without hesitation.

"Are you saying we need to personally go into those anomalies and find the people trapped inside?"

"……Yes. I think that's the only way to bring back the people who've disappeared."

Su-myeon nodded at Han-su's question, then scrubbed his face with both hands.

These disappearances were clearly connected to the urban legends inside UTG games.

But saying it was one thing — doing it was another.

The horrible things they'd witnessed and endured in Ellis Hotel were still vivid in his mind.

Su-myeon's voice trembled slightly.

"Of course, just living like this is also……."

……Goddamn it.

Looking the other way and settling for things as they were might be an answer too.

Su-myeon had been about to say that, but he bit back the thought with a silent curse.

Sitting in an empty house, telling this unreal story to people who were essentially strangers.

That was his reality now.

How could anyone settle for this?

With even his family's existence erased — there was no way he could make that choice and sleep in peace.

He might manage to pretend for a day or two, but could he really keep it up for weeks? Months?

"That's not an option."

Ju-hee, apparently thinking along the same lines, spoke with a deeply somber expression.

"Someone has been taken from me. I can't just pretend this never happened. I have to get my reality back, no matter what."

Someone important to Ju-hee had vanished too.

Others nodded in agreement with her words.

"We all feel the same way. Let's look for a solution together. Su-myeon, can I use your computer?"

When Su-myeon stepped aside at Ha-min's request, the boy carefully took hold of the mouse.

He navigated to an internet portal and rolled up his sleeves, diving in with determination.

"If these are urban legends, should we look for them on the internet?"

Everyone was motivated to reclaim their own worlds.

They couldn't live on after losing the people who mattered most to them.

If they'd lost them to death, at least they could mourn and hold onto the memories.

But this — they couldn't even be sure if the missing were alive or dead, and if their memories faded, they'd lose every last trace of those people.

"Do things like the Jangsan Tiger or the Red Mask count…?"

Ha-min had taken the computer with gusto, but there was only so much he could find.

Su-myeon watched him work and thought.

Ellis Hotel had been nearly identical to the game he'd played.

Many things had changed due to his own involvement, but the broad strokes were the same.

"I'll track down some specific locations and let you know."

So hunting down and navigating other urban legends should work the same way — by following the settings in the games he possessed.

At least he wasn't alone. What a relief that was.

Taking comfort in that, Su-myeon made up his mind and asked.

"When is everyone available?"

"Ah, I'll probably have the least free time…."

Ha-min said cautiously.

As a high school baseball player, between school and practice, he had virtually no free time.

But the lifelong rival and friend who'd disappeared — now, Ha-min was desperate to get his reality back too.

"I'll join whenever I can!"

"I'm free outside work hours."

"Same here — as long as it's not during my shift, count me in!"

Ju-hee and Du-pal stated their availability firmly.

Han-su and Young-cheol followed.

"Mine is… irregular."

"Same here, to be honest."

A detective and a surgeon weren't exactly professions with abundant spare time.

Once everyone had shared their schedules, Su-myeon furrowed his brow slightly.

"I'm…… unemployed, so I just… always have time."

Young-cheol nodded at Su-myeon's words.

"Ah, so that's the cover story."

Su-myeon had no idea why everyone was nodding along with Young-cheol instead of correcting him.

Too tired to fight the misunderstanding anymore, Su-myeon just nodded along too.

***

From then on, the group chased down every urban legend Su-myeon brought to them.

They traveled across the country, investigating locations based on UTG titles set in schools, hospitals, abandoned factories, and more.

But the vast majority turned out to be just ordinary buildings.

[Ju-hee: It just felt like a haunted house dare.]

[Du-pal: Nothing even scares me anymore!]

[Ju-hee: (video)]

The group had set up a group chat while investigating the phenomena.

Riding the subway with Han-su, Su-myeon checked the video Ju-hee had uploaded to the chat.

Two people had entered the basement of an abandoned factory to show Su-myeon the conditions on-site, carefully picking their way through the dark.

A cold, damp, decrepit building — you could practically feel the chill and moisture just watching.

As the two crept through the silent basement, something startled them. Screaming, they bolted upstairs — then stopped.

On screen was an adorable kitten.

[Ha-min: Ahjussi, you were SO scared though]

[Du-pal: When did you even record that?]

[Ju-hee: You and Han-su said you're heading to Sadang Station today, right?]

Su-myeon checked the route for a moment.

The next stop was Sadang Station.

[Yeah. Almost there.]

True to Sadang Station's reputation for crowds, the platform was busy even at an awkward midafternoon hour on a weekday.

-----
Title: Anyone else unable to get out of Sadang Station Exit 4?
Author: Anonymous

I had a weird experience at Sadang Station Exit 4 last winter.

I was drunk and arrived at Sadang on the last train, so I was kinda out of it.

Followed the signs to Exit 4, but the stairs just wouldn't appear.

The sign above clearly said Exit 4 and I was following it.

But going that direction just led to another corridor, then another connecting passage.

I swear I went in circles like 50 times. Alone in an underground passage with not a single person around — my own footsteps were ringing in my ears. But like, it's not normal for Sadang Station to be THAT empty, right?

I was so scared I was basically running, and then out of nowhere I heard flute music.

Not a recorder or anything…. Just a sound I'd literally never heard before in my life.

Last train was gone, no people, all the CCTV cameras felt like they were turned away — total chills.

Checked my phone for the time: 12:40, 12:40, 12:40…

Time wasn't moving. Battery kept draining, but the clock stayed the same.

Eventually while wandering around. I don't remember how I got out.

Just woke up collapsed at the bus stop in front of the station.

Checked my phone — it was 2 PM the next day. A day and a half just gone.

Everyone around me had no idea what I was talking about.

I still won't go anywhere near Sadang Station.

└ You probably just passed out drunk on the street and slept a day lol

└ Whoa, I feel like I've seen a post like this before.

└ That place is famous. The Exit 4 flute sound.

└ I heard someone actually disappeared permanently — just became a cold case.
-----

Su-myeon and Han-su reread the internet post about the urban legend as they stepped off the train.

It was an account of an unusual experience, but nothing seemed particularly special.

But if he was being honest, the fact that he'd found it on the internet at all had given Su-myeon chills.

He knew for certain that this content had originated as script from a fan-made game called <UTG: Sadang Station Exit 4>.

'And yet when I searched for it, it came up as a real post….'

Han-su's voice broke through Su-myeon's thoughts.

"There were a few more similar accounts. The key detail seems to be the flute sound at Exit 4."

Su-myeon nodded and they exited the platform.

Walking through the sizable, lengthy underground corridor, Su-myeon and Han-su didn't make much small talk.

Neither of them was the chatty, sociable type.

And with both of them straining to hear the flute that might sound at any moment, the silence came naturally.

"……."

Then Han-su grabbed Su-myeon's arm.

"…?"

They were almost at Exit 4.

The stairs going up should appear any moment — so why stop now?

In that instant, Su-myeon felt a chill crawl up the back of his skull and stopped walking.

"Why……."

Why is there nobody around?

Only the two of them remained.

The moment that wrongness registered,

Fweeee.

A high-pitched flute sound — like a whistle — drifted in from somewhere.

And simultaneously, both of them looked at the phones in their hands.

"……."

The all-too-familiar, unwelcome heart symbol.

On the back of their phones, now bearing a lone heart, a set of rules they'd never wanted to see again was loading.