Transmigrated as the Side Top used as an Emotional Trash Can - Chapter 40.1
With my mind somewhat calmer, I stared at the blinking LED light.
Then it suddenly occurred to me that the world I was currently trapped in was a ‘creepypasta.’ A signal repeating in such a regular pattern couldn’t have been given for no reason, could it? Could it be Morse code…?
I counted out a steady rhythm in my head and analyzed the light’s repeated blinking.
– — .–. twice, and .—- once.
Decoded, that meant top twice and 1 once. Did it mean the top floor and the first floor?
“Guys, I’m alright now, so could you let me use my hands?”
If this was a creepypasta puzzle, we could escape from here.
I pressed the top-floor button twice and the first-floor button once.
Clunk-.
Whirrr-….
My guess had been crude, but perhaps it worked because the elevator began moving toward some floor.
I was grateful to the unit that had dragged me in without question and made me a signalman just because I had majored in computer engineering, forcing me to memorize Morse code, and to Sergeant Kim, who made me dance to girl group songs for thirty minutes in complete silence whenever I failed to memorize it. No, actually, I wasn’t grateful to Sergeant Kim. Why did he really do that to me back then?
The doors opened, revealing a hallway lined with guest rooms instead of the first floor. The others and I remained still, staring as we wondered whether we were supposed to get off here.
Clunk!
Then the elevator jolted as though shoving us from behind, and we realized we had no choice but to move forward.
“Should we move for now?”
I volunteered to take the lead.
Kim Jihwan and Cha Gwonhyeok followed behind me without complaint. I had never stayed at a hotel before, so I blindly searched for an emergency exit. If we kept following the wall, it would eventually end, and there would probably be an emergency exit there.
“It’s hot….”
The hotel’s hallways should have been cool with the air conditioner running, but at some point, sweat began gathering on my chin and dripping down. The end of the wall showed no sign of appearing, and we continued circling through the endless corridor.
“Hey, Baek Hanrim.”
At Kim Jihwan’s voice, I wiped away my sweat and turned around.
“Cha Gwonhyeok is gone.”
Only then did I realize that Cha Gwonhyeok, who had been following behind us, had disappeared.
“Since when has he been gone?”
“I don’t know. I turned around, and he wasn’t there.”
Was some part of the creepypasta unfolding right now? One where we disappeared one at a time like this.
I wondered whether I should wait until Kim Jihwan disappeared too, or whether we should keep walking together through this hopeless corridor.
Kim Jihwan would probably receive the protagonist’s protection like he had during the ‘Death Game’ and calmly find a way through the situation. Maybe, just like back then, he would find an exit himself and successfully escape from here. Once he left the building, he would probably return to the original world.
“Ah.”
I suddenly realized something.
During the ‘Zombie Apocalypse,’ the world transfer had only occurred within a radius of two hundred meters around me, but that hadn’t been the case with the ‘Omegaverse.’ The ‘Death Game’ had designated the school itself as its setting. This ‘Creepypasta’ was probably set within the hotel.
The closer the genre was to horror or thriller, the narrower its range became. The higher the possibility of people dying, the more dramatically limited the area was.
“What? Did you call me?”
“No, it was nothing.”
I had unknowingly made a sound aloud, so Kim Jihwan thought I had called him and asked. I neatly cleared the useless thoughts from my head. For now, I needed to focus on escaping from here.
“Jihwan-ah, should we split up and move separately?”
Wouldn’t that be the wiser choice, since staying away from me might be what kept you alive? If it weren’t for me, you never would have come here in the first place.
“Stop talking bullshit and keep walking.”
And my suggestion was rejected very firmly.
It was hot. Far too hot.
The moisture-laden air pressed down on my shoulders. Moving one step at a time was difficult, as though I were walking through a sticky trap.
“Fuck, this is fucking awful….”
Kim Jihwan, who had been following behind me, finally staggered and slid down onto the floor. Should I help him up, or should I sit down with him?
“Whew, I want some water.”
I sat down too. We caught our breath in silence. We hadn’t even been running, but the heat alone made it feel as though we had reached the limits of our stamina after sprinting at full speed.
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