I Returned, and Now I See Strange Things-Chapter 33: Hands Up!

When Hyesung and Hyeyeon looked at Ayun with vaguely twisted expressions, Ayun tilted her head, then chuckled as if something had clicked.

"Literally, I mean we just go to sleep together. So... like, we lie on the floor here, head-to-head, and fall asleep like that."

"You should’ve said that from the start!"

"...Y-yeah, right?"

As Ayun laughed and looked at them, Hyeyeon lowered her head, her face turning red, and Hyesung scratched the back of his head awkwardly, looking away.

"You two are suspiciously alike. Must be the sibling thing, huh?"

"As if that’s even possible!"

"Me!? With him!?"

Both of them exploded.

Realizing the tension had eased, they let out deep sighs at the same time.

"...You did that on purpose, didn’t you?"

"Hm?"

"Never mind..."

Seeing Ayun’s innocent expression, Hyeyeon shook her head.

Watching this, Hyesung, looking a bit more relaxed than before, asked Ayun:

"...So what does sleeping head-to-head even do?"

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Now that Hyesung had calmed down, Ayun answered quietly.

"I’m planning to enter your dream."

"...Y-you’re coming into my dream?"

"Is that even possible?"

To their questions, Ayun nodded with full confidence.

Then Hyeyeon, face full of curiosity, said to Ayun:

"C-can I... come too...?"

"No. You wait outside."

"...Okay."

It wasn’t something to argue over, so Hyeyeon regretfully backed off.

Hyesung looked at Ayun with skepticism.

Ayun nodded as if she understood.

She didn’t deny it—it was a hard story to believe.

Seeing that, Hyesung wanted to think he had nothing to lose by trying, but the last scene he remembered kept looping in his head.

Screams filled with agony, and bursts of flesh and blood.

He shook his head, trying to shake off the lingering images.

‘...It’s not like I have anywhere else to ask for help.’

In that case, he had no choice but to pin his hopes on the one thing that seemed even a little possible.

The ideal scenario would be that it was all just a stupid dream, and nothing ever happened...

But Hyesung’s gut told him otherwise.

Something was definitely going to happen.

In the end, he could only plead.

"...Please take care of me."

"Just trust me."

Still, seeing Ayun’s confident expression brought him... a bit of comfort.

And with that, the last of his tension released, and Hyesung’s eyelids grew heavy. He blinked slowly.

Sensing it was time to act before it was too late, Ayun spoke.

"Let’s start right away."

"Okay..."

"What should I do?" asked Hyeyeon with determined eyes.

Ayun scratched her head, troubled by Hyeyeon’s overflowing enthusiasm, then offered an answer after a moment of thought.

"...Pray?"

"I’ll give it my all."

"...Sure."

Meanwhile, Hyesung, already lying on the floor, had closed his eyes.

He must have been completely exhausted—it looked like he fell asleep the instant his eyes shut.

Ayun quickly lay down beside him.

They lay with their heads touching, and she closed her eyes.

Then she clenched the black stone in her pocket tightly.

Before long, Ayun was breathing evenly too.

Once she confirmed they were both asleep, Hyeyeon sat at their heads and hesitated for a moment—then abruptly stood up and walked off somewhere.

As she stepped out of the room,

only the sound of their even breathing remained in the lit space.

Soon, Hyesung let out a pained groan.

***

Hyesung, who had fallen asleep like collapsing, felt a floating sensation—and realized he had entered the same dream again.

From the wrecked interior of the train came the strong smell of rusted iron.

‘...Did it smell like this before?’

Hyesung searched his memory.

He didn’t think he had ever smelled anything before.

Maybe his memory was hazy and he’d forgotten.

That’s what he told himself. That it was fine.

But his body, sensing something clearly wrong, had already begun to tremble.

‘...Noona’s going to save me.’

Clutching his shaking body, Hyesung looked around the train, thinking of Ayun, who would be coming soon.

Now... there were truly only a few people left.

They still stood there, blank and lifeless.

Just what were they?

People of all ages and backgrounds, without a single unifying trait.

There was no way to guess what they were.

After some thought, Hyesung gave up and leaned his body into the space between two connected train cars, as far from the doors as possible.

Soon, the familiar male voice rang out again.

–Next stop: "Flame." Please make sure not to disembark at the wrong station.

Along with the screeching halt of the train.

The doors opened, just like before.

The few remaining passengers—

fell into the flames.

"Aaaaagh!!!!"

"It—it hurts!!! Agh, aaagh!!"

"T-the fire... it won’t go out!!!"

And then, like someone had flipped a switch,

the frozen humans began to melt.

Just like the smell in the damp train—

the stench of burning protein wafted in through the open doors.

"Ugh..."

Hyesung plugged his nose with his hands.

But plugging his nose inevitably meant he couldn’t block his ears.

So the horrific screams filled them without resistance.

"..."

Even while trembling, Hyesung didn’t close his eyes. He believed he had to keep them open to be ready for whatever came next.

He hoped the dream would just end and he could return to normal life.

He desperately wished for this hellish scene to be over.

‘...When’s noona coming?’

Ayun, who had promised to come, still hadn’t shown up.

As he lay there holding his breath, Hyesung suddenly felt hot.

He figured it was only natural, with the outside of the train in flames—but that thought didn’t last long.

Something black began to appear in the doorway.

It reflected the environment, with bright red flames flickering behind its back.

Hyesung could feel the heat radiating from that.

The creature leaned in and looked around, as if searching for any remaining passengers.

"..."

Hyesung stopped breathing.

Yes, he was startled—but more than that, it was the memory of something he’d once heard that floated to the surface.

‘If you hold your breath, ghosts can’t find you.’

He couldn’t remember where or from whom he’d heard it.

But—

whatever that thing was, ghost or not, it hadn’t noticed him yet, so maybe there was some truth to it.

Sssrrrk.

The creature slid its black mass into the train.

The heat in the car intensified.

Hyesung felt his lungs ache as the breath caught at the top of his throat, but he forced himself to hold it.

‘Come on come on come on...’

Sssssssk...

Its movement was like molten lava crawling forward.

The creature oozed along, and at last, slithered past Hyesung.

The heat it radiated made it even harder to hold his breath—but when it confirmed there was no one left in the car, it passed into the next one.

Where it touched the metal, it glowed red, then quickly cooled.

An unreal sight.

The blackened trail it left behind slowly receded.

‘...It—it’s gone.’

Seeing that the creature had disappeared into the distance, Hyesung exhaled carefully.

‘...I’m alive?’

He wiped the sweat dripping down his face and let out a faint laugh.

See? Wasn’t so bad—

Then his vision flipped.

It didn’t take long for him to realize he’d been slammed to the ground.

The filthy floor was right in front of his face.

At the same time, he felt a burning pain on his ankle.

He jerked his head up and saw—it. That same creature, twisted face and all, staring right at him.

"F-fuck."

His heart pounded, and his mind spun wildly.

He gripped anything nearby to avoid being dragged out, forgetting even the pain.

Pointless resistance.

The burning sensation in his ankle was creeping up the rest of his body.

Tears welled in his eyes.

Partly from the pain.

Partly from the unfairness of it all.

What had he even done ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) to deserve this?

All he’d done... was get on the wrong train in a dream.

His grip on the metal bar weakened.

The pain reached his waist.

His sweaty hands kept slipping again and again.

And finally, with one hard yank—

Hyesung’s hand slipped.

His body, barely holding on, floated completely into the air.

He squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for the pain to engulf him—

But it didn’t come.

Instead, he felt something cold in his hand.

He cautiously opened his eyes.

And there, before him, was the face he had so desperately wanted to see—the face he had almost forgotten.

"Sorry I’m late."

Ayun said this, and kicked toward the thing outside.

She was wearing black armor over her foot.

With a sharp kick, she knocked the creature off of Hyesung.

The pain began to vanish, and Hyesung whispered, trembling:

"...Why’d you come so late?"

"You fell asleep first. That’s why I was late."

"..."

Then tell me not to fall asleep first next time.

Hyesung swallowed the words that rose to his throat.

Ayun helped him to his feet. He took a moment to catch his breath and check his body.

For all the fire-like pain he’d felt, he was surprisingly okay.

And... he looked at Ayun, who had come for him.

She looked just like she had before they fell asleep—except now, the black armor that had been on her foot was shaped like a gauntlet on her hand.

‘...What’s that now.’

He was too tired to even be surprised.

Ayun scanned the area, then looked back at Hyesung.

"So now... what are you going to do?" he asked.

"Those things outside will probably swarm us soon."

"...Seriously? That wasn’t the end?"

"Of course not."

As Ayun shrugged, Hyesung’s face turned pale.

Seeing that, Ayun giggled and said:

"Which means we have to run before that."

"H-how?"

After thinking a moment—

Ayun spoke like it was nothing.

"I’m going to hijack this train."

"...Huh?"

Hyesung stared blankly, but Ayun just shrugged like it was no big deal.