Editor’s Survival Guide — Chapter 9
Chapter 9. Episode 2. I Thought I Had Escaped (4)
The interior of a modern building came into view.
The space was vast, and blue sky showed through the high glass ceiling.
It was the same sight I had seen in the 「Railway Station Where the Siren Wails」.
Why?
Then people passed beside me as I stood frozen in a daze.
At the sight of them, I sucked in another startled breath.
Was this…… reality?
I watched the people walking around normally, then checked an information board.
I could read the writing without difficulty.
……Thank goodness. I must have been mistaken for a moment.
I rubbed my startled chest and stepped into the waiting hall.
But what was this?
The sights that followed were far too familiar for it to have been a mere mistake.
This was my first visit to Yongsan Station, yet every part of its layout was familiar.
Still unable to believe it, I searched for the ticket counter.
It was identical.
That ticket counter had the same shape and occupied the same position as the one inside the 「Railway Station Where the Siren Wails」.
No. No.
It was still too early to draw a conclusion.
Railway stations naturally looked similar.
I turned away and searched for the path up to the second floor of the waiting hall.
When I found the escalator a short while later, another groan escaped me.
In front of it stood an enormous celadon vase placed there as decoration.
I had seen that too inside the 「Railway Station Where the Siren Wails」.
From then on, I ran frantically through the station, checking its interior.
The lockers, the Lost and Found Center, and the Armed Forces Personnel Lounge.
“This is insane…….”
They were identical.
Every last one, without exception.
This place and the 「Railway Station Where the Siren Wails」 were perfectly identical locations.
The moment I confirmed it, nightmarish memories exploded inside my head.
The woman whose head had flown off in front of the ticket counter.
The man crushed to death behind the pillar.
And the black shapes that had swarmed us so horrifically.
“Uhp……!”
As the space stirred those memories, I clapped a hand over my mouth.
Then I ran blindly toward the exit.
I felt that I had to get out of here first.
Yet when I finally stood before the exit, my legs froze.
I had remembered it.
The thing beyond the collapsed ceiling.
The thing whose mere sight made me surrender my will to live.
Cold sweat ran from my forehead down the back of my neck.
This was not that grotesque railway station.
This was reality, functioning normally.
My mind knew it, but my body would not obey.
As though it had been dragged back to that place, my body refused to go outside.
Because it might be beyond this door.
Because it might be there.
Because it was there.
It was there.
It.
It.
It.
It…….
Tap—
Then someone lightly touched my shoulder.
“Editor……?”
A small voice roused me.
My vision, which had been flickering black, grew bright again.
“Are you all right?”
Drawing a breath, I turned my head.
Beside me, a woman as small as her voice was looking up at me.
She had a young face that made her look about college age.
Her short hair was roughly tousled into a disheveled mess.
Her loose clothing valued comfort over individuality.
And then there was the vacant expression that made her look easy prey for a street solicitor.
She was someone I knew well.
“……Hello, Author.”
I forced a smile as I greeted her.
At that, the woman—Author Na Bit, whom I had arranged to meet today—also smiled faintly and nodded.
* * *
I returned to our table with an Americano and a bubble tea.
I handed the bubble tea to Author Na Bit, who had been waiting in her seat, and asked,
“This is the first time we’ve met around here. Did you move?”
“No, I came to do field research…….”
Author Na Bit spoke with the straw between her lips.
So I smiled gently.
It was to swallow the words, *You write science fiction, so why would you conduct field research in a place like this?*
“Is work on the manuscript going well?”
“If the work were going well…… I’d be working, wouldn’t I……?”
The author hesitantly confessed the truth, and I had no choice but to smile again.
Then Author Na Bit said in a fading voice,
“You can condemn me…….”
“Condemn you? Author, what are you talking about?”
“I think I might feel better if someone at least condemned me…….”
Though I responded with my professional smile, the author nearly sobbed as she sucked down her bubble tea.
Ah, our flagship author was frail as ever today.
Her appearance might not have been impressive, but Author Na Bit was, in fact, quite an extraordinary person.
A mid-career author in her tenth year who had established a distinct literary world at a young age.
She primarily wrote horror-tinged science fiction and was acclaimed for her meticulous imagination and singular insight into humanity.
She had never produced a commercial failure; besides overseas translations, several of her works were even being developed into films.
In short, she was our publishing house’s primary source of income.
Someone with achievements like that might reasonably strut around with pride, but Author Na Bit never did.
Not because she was humble, but because she had an almost nonexistent sense of self-worth and a psyche made of glass.
“I’m sorry every time…… I’m sorry I can’t do anything properly…… I’m sorry I missed the deadline…… I’m irredeemable garbage…….”
“Ahaha……. Even so, calling yourself garbage is going rather far.”
As expected.
Author Na Bit, whom I had not seen in some time, was rolling around at the bottom of a pit of despair.
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Of course, I had known this would happen.
On the day she had promised to send the manuscript, she sent a long message about how terribly sorry she was instead, then disappeared.
I had coaxed and soothed her until I finally managed to arrange this meeting.
A fragile psyche combined with avoidant tendencies.
One could say she was quite the complete package, but I did not dislike Author Na Bit.
Quite the opposite.
The truth was, I had been a fan of this author for years.
Of course, I had no intention whatsoever of revealing that while I remained her assigned editor.
“It’s all right, Author. Writing was never easy to begin with. You’ve gone well past the deadline, but schedules can be adjusted, and I’ll find a way to make it work, so please don’t put too much pressure on yourself.”
“Sob…….”
“It truly is all right. You’ve done well all this time. You’ll do well again this time too. Just don’t avoid my calls; please answer them. I can easily understand a reply arriving a day or two late.”
“I-I’m sorry…….”
“It’s all right. It’s all right. I know the success of your previous works places you under a great deal of pressure. So please don’t rush yourself too much. Just write something good at your usual pace. That’s what your readers would prefer too.”
“Yes…….”
Under my carrot and stick, Author Na Bit nodded, looking even more tattered than before.
Ah, this was an awful thing to have to do too.
To think I had to treat an author I respected this way.
She might only look young, but she was even older than I was.
Nevertheless, extracting a manuscript from this timid person was the supreme command entrusted to me.
I badgered the author a little longer and secured a new deadline along with several promises.
Then, before she could crumble again, I discreetly changed the subject.
“By the way, what field research were you doing here?”
“Ah, well…… did you know this area was once bombed?”
“Bombed?”
“It happened during the Korean War. Apparently, Yongsan Station and the surrounding area were once devastated by bombing.”
I hadn’t known.
When I reacted as though it were entirely new to me, Author Na Bit—who had been dispirited until then—suddenly lit up.
“So this entire area was either a sea of fire or ruins. But now there’s a huge station like this, department stores and office buildings, and a bustling district full of traffic. Isn’t it incredible that the same space can look so different depending on the era?”
“Ah, yes……. It is interesting.”
I agreed out of courtesy, but I didn’t know what was so incredible about it.
After all, even mountains and rivers changed in ten years.
“Which means that in this very place where we’re sitting across from each other drinking tea, someone might once have screamed while flames engulfed their entire body.”
“It sounds rather eerie when you put it that way.”
“Right? If a higher-dimensional being than humans existed—one capable of unfolding time like space—how would this street look to it? Flames would soar beside people peacefully drinking tea, a child’s bicycle would pass next to someone burned black and dead, and shopping-mall music, exploding artillery shells, and the sound of sirens would all mingle together. It would be tremendously chaotic and colorful, wouldn’t it?”
I listened closely to the author, then flinched in surprise.
Wait.
Sirens? And bombing?
The bizarre phenomena I had seen in the 「Railway Station Where the Siren Wails」 abruptly came to mind.
The inexplicable crushing deaths that occurred after the siren sounded.
The “Something Wearing an Old-Style Uniform” that had wanted burn medication.
The station building that burned into ruins.
The black shapes that gave off an acrid, gamey stench.
And even the layout, perfectly identical to Yongsan Station.
Was it all merely a coincidence?
If not, then could it be……?
I recoiled silently at the pieces fitting together inside my head.
Author Na Bit seemed to misunderstand my reaction and hesitated.
“Ah, I started saying strange things by myself again, didn’t I……?”
“Oh, no. I was listening with interest.”
I quickly came to my senses and explained.
But Author Na Bit was already wilting.
She truly required a great deal of care.
“I was thinking it was fortunate. All sorts of things must have happened from prehistoric times until now, and I wondered whether the human brain could endure seeing all of it. So I was thinking that it’s fortunate we’re human and can only see the present. Something like that.”
At the excuse I hurriedly offered, Author Na Bit’s expression brightened again.
“Exactly. Perhaps that’s why they call oblivion a blessing from God. No matter what happens to humans, we quickly forget and go on living.”
Author Na Bit spoke cheerfully.
But I barely heard her.
The only thing filling my head was the connection between the 「Railway Station Where the Siren Wails」 and Yongsan Station, which had once been bombed.
* * *
“It’s true…….”
I murmured while looking at the photographs and videos I had found with ease.
Everything Author Na Bit had said during the day was true.
On July 16, 1950, Yongsan Station and the surrounding area had been bombed.
Even though a war had been raging, it was rather unexpected that such a thing had happened in the middle of Seoul.
That did not mean I found it wondrous, as Author Na Bit did, that buildings now stood there and cars drove over the same ground.
Only one thought had circled my mind ever since our conversation.
The true nature of the 「Railway Station Where the Siren Wails」.
Was it really Yongsan Station?
Then were the monsters lurking there victims of the bombing?
No, that made no sense.
The bombing had happened roughly eighty years ago, while that railway station was a modern building.
Of course, that was hardly the only thing that made no sense.
I had stumbled across an unexpected clue, but still could not find the answer alone.
By now, however, that no longer mattered.
The fear I had felt at the exit of Yongsan Station earlier remained vivid.
That dizzying sensation reminded me once more.
Of how desperately I had struggled to escape the 「Railway Station Where the Siren Wails」.
So I decided to stop thinking about it.
After escaping with such difficulty, remaining obsessed with the place seemed far too great a loss.
Of course, I was still curious about Lee Sol’s well-being.
And about what punishment had befallen the bastards Sol mentioned—the people who killed others and shoved them into the locker.
But with time, I would gradually forget those things too.
After all, oblivion was a blessing from God.
So I should cherish the daily life I had recovered after so long.
With that thought, I put down my phone.
Then I buried myself in bed and tried to sleep.
I had barely fallen into a light doze when
a cold chill woke me.
I tried to pull up my blanket, but my hand grasped nothing.
Wondering what was happening, I sat up.
“Mm……?”
Where was I?
I had unquestionably been asleep in my room.
But now I had been abandoned alone in an empty hospital room.
Was this a dream?
I wished it were.
But it was far too cold to be a dream.
Did God exist?
Even if God did, it seemed God was not on my side.