GSGW c268
Chapter 268
What situation was I in?
My head, throbbing dully and sharply in turns, couldn’t immediately process my surroundings.
Only the swaying scenery came into view.
Colorful bulbs, yellow tactile paving on the floor, exit signs, gray…
Stairs.
"Heuk."
In that moment, I realized.
Go Yeongeun was running down the stairs desperately, carrying me on her back. Her hand—missing several fingers—gripped my arm as it dangled over her shoulder.
I barely managed to open my dry mouth.
“…Ms. Goral.”
“...!"
Startled by my voice, she almost lost her footing, but regained her balance and continued down the stairs.
All the way to the platform.
"......"
I must’ve been heavy.
Go Yeongeun… her body wasn’t even whole—how was she carrying me? I didn’t understand the situation. But I could feel the urgency. We were running. I couldn’t just stay on her back. Now that I was conscious, I should move on my own. I tried to push myself down, extending my legs toward the ground—
……
They weren’t there.
Below my thighs—nothing.
My left leg was gone entirely from the thigh. My right leg was severed at the joint.
The bleeding had erupted, then stopped in an unnatural way.
‘…The casino!’
In an instant, my memory surged back.
The Body Casino, the VIP room, russian roulette, Assistant Manager Lee Seonghae, the sickening sensation of tearing off her head, the body parts stolen from the rail, the euthanasia pill, her struggling, my hands forcing her mouth and nose shut—everything.
All the damage done to the casino’s assets.
‘…Did they charge my legs as the cost?’
It seemed like a plausible explanation. Even if losing just my legs didn’t seem nearly enough to cover that level of destruction.
But more importantly—
‘Why didn’t I die?’
I had shot myself in the head. So why was I still here? Why was I conscious?
And…
Was Go Yeongeun trying to save me?
“Wh-where…”
“Shh.”
After nearly stumbling down to the platform, Go Yeongeun ran straight toward the wall opposite the screen doors.
Then she opened a fire hose cabinet.
"...!"
“Quickly…!”
The cabinet, which should barely have space for a hose, was strangely wide inside.
Enough for one person to lie down. Two, if cramped, could hide.
She hurriedly pushed me inside the darkness, then climbed in herself.
Clang.
The door shut. With the dull sound of metal closing, darkness swallowed us.
Only faint light seeped through the cracks—dim bulbs and a red emergency glow.
“......"
“......"
“I-it’s okay… huff… casino dealers don’t chase outside… just avoid the addicts…”
But she couldn’t finish her sentence, struggling to catch her breath. Even then, she leaned toward me, as if checking my condition.
I instinctively moved my hand, trying to pat her back—
“—Huh…”
Another faint light appeared in the darkness.
A pale green glow.
Something at her waist was emitting a weak light. She didn’t seem to notice due to the angle. But I knew what it was.
‘A C-grade regeneration potion from Daydream Inc.’
……
I realized something.
Using the darkness, I slipped the potion out of her worn padded jacket pocket and tucked it into my own.
By then, she was finally calming her breathing.
“Ms. Goral.”
“…Huff, yes?”
“Did you save me? From the casino…”
“......"
“What happened?”
“I don’t know either. I just saw the dealers heading to the VIP room, and when I looked inside… everyone was dead, and you were the only one still breathing…”
So she carried me and ran.
…She probably used items or equipment to help.
After half a year in Segwang Special City, she must’ve prepared ways to survive.
“Still… I was late… and when I carried you out… your legs…”
“Don’t… worry about that. …Thank you.”
Not dying instantly had been the worst-case scenario.
‘…If Go Yeongeun hadn’t helped me.’
Instead of Assistant Manager Lee Seonghae—I would’ve been dismantled completely and turned into a dealer. Like some kind of baton passing.
A chill ran down my spine.
“And without your legs… you were lighter…”
“...….."
“In a way… that’s fortunate.”
“Fortunate—”
She looked like she was about to curse, her face tightening, but swallowed the words. Maybe she didn’t want to draw attention. Or maybe she simply lacked the energy.
My mind was still working—but I could feel it slowing down again.
The pain in my head remained.
I raised a hand and touched it. There was definitely a wound.
Whether my skull had been pierced—I couldn’t tell.
But one thing was certain. I had been shot.
‘…Was there a misfire?’
Or had the bullet struck in a way that didn’t kill me instantly?
The brain wasn’t supposed to feel pain—so I had no idea how bad I really looked.
Watching me fumble at my head, Go Yeongeun suddenly stiffened, as if realizing something, and straightened up.
“Ah!”
She began searching her pockets frantically.
“The potion… the one Section Chief gave me…!”
“ ...... "
As expected.
She was going to use it on me.
“Quickly, quickly…”
The regeneration potion.
The one I had just taken. Her hands trembled as she rummaged throug her pockes, trying to find the item she got from Section Chief Lee Jaheon.
Guilt and unease crept into me.
But I had no intention of giving it back.
If I used it, I’d only feel worse.
“…It’s okay. I think… the bullet grazed me.”
“What—what are you saying—”
“So… my missing limbs… cough… we can retrieve them later at the casino.”
“......."
“And the potion too… if we can find more later… it’ll be more useful if you drink it.”
I could only hope the darkness hid how bad I looked.
“My head wound… might’ve been a misfire… for now… I’m getting better.”
That wasn’t true.
I was going to die soon.
But using it on me now would be a complete waste. She had to use it.
“…We just need to get on the train. Once we’re on, we return to normal! Then we can take our time and fix things…”
“Yes.”
I probably wouldn’t last until then.
But I nodded anyway. Go Yeongeun looked anxious, yet she couldn’t bring herself to open the cabinet fully and expose me to the light.
Instead, she just kept repeating it—as if trying to reassure both of us.
“Don’t worry. Fire hose cabinets… when people get addicted, strangely, no one ever tries to open them…”
“I see…”
I steadied my voice, forcing down the dizziness.
To distract her.
“And that too… did you hear it as a rumor?”
And also… because I genuinely wanted to ask.
“Ms. Goral, what exactly happened to you?”
“......"
Like before, Go Yeongeun stayed silent for a while.
But then, suddenly—
“Do you remember? I told you I dropped out of med school.”
"......"
“Honestly, it was a bit of a stretch from the start. I lived in the provinces, and my family wasn’t well-off. Tuition, living expenses, dorm fees… even rent—it was all a burden.”
Her voice sounded disorganized, yet calm.
“Even with student loans, balancing part-time work had its limits. Once I got into the main program, it felt basically impossible…”
"......"
“And there were some issues in my department too.”
……
“But it just so happened to be around that time… that things completely fell apart with my parents.”
Ah.
“We fought, and then we lost contact entirely.”
Her shoulders shrank slightly.
“From then on, all support was cut off, and… I kind of lost my sense of purpose. So I naturally switched majors. I think I burned out, too.”
I listened quietly.
“Not much of a story, right? But…”
Her voice grew softer.
“It’s funny, but that’s the reason.”
“…For what?”
“For joining this company.”
“......"
“I didn’t know how to reconnect with my family.”
It wasn’t just about tracking them down like hiring a private investigator.
“I wanted to be on good terms again… but it was already ruined from the start.”
"......."
“So if any wish could be granted… I thought maybe I could wish for something like that.”
And I knew.
She knew how to use a Wish Ticket properly.
She had figured out how to fulfill someone else’s wish—so her own would be no different.
“When you gave me the Wish Ticket… I thought about it.”
Her voice sank.
“I didn’t want to go to some other world where my wish had already come true. I didn’t want to wake up suddenly and find that I never went to med school, or that I had become a doctor and was living happily with my family. So…”
So—
“I made this wish.”
“Give me a supernatural ability that lets me gather information about my family.”
…!!
“So that if I could find out about them, I could understand the situation and try to reconcile.”
A wish for a specific ability.
‘Not excessive.’
She had calculated it precisely—something that applied only to herself.
‘Normally… this should have worked.’
But—
“When I made the wish and opened my eyes…”
……
“I woke up here.”
In this bizarre subway station.
Beneath Segwang Special City.
“And the moment I woke up, I realized something… strange.”
“Where did I use to live?”
“Isn’t that weird? Who introduces themselves as ‘from the provinces’ without knowing where? But somehow… I never even questioned it. And with my family…”
She swallowed.
“I don’t know why we lost contact.”
A chill.
“All that’s left is the feeling that ‘our relationship broke beyond repair.’ And this vague resignation and reluctance… like I can never contact them again…”
At that moment, I understood.
“What do you think this is?”
Go Yeongeun had been from Segwang Special City.
When a 'Catastrophe-Level supernatural disaster' had occurred, sealing off the city, she had been living alone in Seoul and was the only one left behind in reality.
And the Wish Ticket—Had created the conditions for the 'ability to hear news about her family' to activate.
By pushing her inside the sealed zone.
And—
“I gained this strange ability to perceive rumors circulating in an area.”
And her family…
“But I’ve never once heard anything about them.”
……
“Maybe that’s obvious. This is inside a ghost story, right? How could I find news about my family in a place like this? R-right…?”
"......"
“I thought the Wish Ticket didn’t work. Or that Director Ho scammed me. That has to be it, right?”
Even if I couldn’t agree—I wanted to tell her yes.
I tried to.
“…Mr. Roe Deer?”
But no words came out.
“Mr. Roe Deer!”
My body slumped against the cabinet wall.
I couldn’t feel strength in my limbs. As if my nervous system was shutting down…
‘Is this the end?’
It was. The end was coming.
But then—
The train is arriving.
“Do you hear that?”
I felt her grabbing my shoulders.
Her hands were shaking.
“The train! It’s coming. We just need to get on it. This one—this one is my shelter. We just have to make it there, please…”
It became harder to respond.
Passengers are requested to board safely while observing proper etiquette.
Light poured in. The cabinet must have been opened.
I felt her dragging me out.
“That’s the train. Train G1572—if we just get on that one…”
Outside the cabinet, she tried to lift me onto her back again—
But I stopped her.
“…Mr. Roe Deer?”
My hand barely had any strength. I could only rest it weakly on her arm.
I tried to form words.
'Don’t worry.'
“What…?”
'I’ll come back.'
At the end, even my lips wouldn’t move.
“Mr. Roe Deer, Mr. Roe—”
As the roar of the arriving train filled the station—
I died.
***
I opened my eyes.
“You’re awake, Mr. Roe Deer!”
Ho Yuwon’s voice.
“They were all about to kill me because you wouldn’t wake up. It was terrifying. As if I would know your personal circumstances…”
The eyes of pestilence looked down at me.
“But I’m curious too.”
A smile curved his lips.
“You saved the person you needed to save… but do you have any lingering attachments to Segwang Special City?”
…….
“Do you now have a reason… to go back?”
…Damn it.
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