Chapter 3

In the midst of a horror story where people were dying one after another in utter chaos, a ticket to survival had appeared.

Just like in a movie.

And it wasn’t an illusion, either.

‘If you get off while carrying the lost item mentioned in the announcement, the moment you meet a station employee, they’ll escort you outside the station….’

It really was a ray of hope.

The problem was that the lost item announced just now was unbelievably grotesque.

“What did they just say? An adult male in his twenties…?”

“The left eyeball of an adult male with blood type A.”

Go Yeong-eun lowered her head, her face haggard.

“A-type is probably… the blood type, right?”

“Yes….”

A dreadful silence descended.

They already seemed frightened.

‘Should I just let this go?’

After all, if everyone got off at the correct station, everyone could survive.

If someone escaped early for no reason, wouldn’t that make things awkward and possibly cause conflict?

But things didn’t proceed that easily.

“W-wouldn’t it still be better to look for it?”

“Yeah. We don’t know what might happen….”

The new employees had become so intensely conscious of the announcements that they simply couldn’t ignore them.

‘…Let’s leave it for now.’

“Excuse me, how old are you…?”

“Ah, I’m in my thirties.”

“You look younger than you are. Oh, I’m B-type, by the way. So it doesn’t apply to me.”

“Me too….”

Everyone began checking with one another to see whether they fit the description of an “adult male in his twenties with blood type A.”

But no one exactly matched the conditions, and eventually the question came around to me.

“Mr. Kim Sol-eum, by any chance…?”

I answered simply.

“AB-type.”

It was actually a lie.

I was A-type.

‘But there’s no reason for me to reveal that I’m the target.’

If I were the beneficiary of this situation and also the victim, people might misunderstand my words as something I was saying for my own benefit.

That could make it harder to convince them later.

“I see. Then what about Mr. Baek Sa-heon….”

“Wait.”

Suddenly, the person sitting across from me raised his hand with a solemn expression.

“Actually…… I fit the description perfectly. That criteria!”

“Ah!”

He had spoken in quite a grave tone, but apparently he was worried that he might die if he admitted it.

‘You don’t need to worry about that.’

And there was an obvious reason why he had suddenly revealed himself.

[This station is Anger Station, Anger Station.]

An announcement came that we had arrived at a new station.

The station where an employee would presumably be waiting to receive the lost item.

Tension spread across the face of the new employee who had volunteered himself.

“Is there no one else?”

“No… I don’t think so.”

“Oh dear.”

Baek Sa-heon, who had been sitting beside me and listening to the conversation, let out a sigh and asked the man:

[The doors will open on the right….]

“You’re Type A?”

“Yes, yes.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

And then his fist flew.

“…?!”

A fist brutally slammed into the left eye of the new employee who had just revealed that he was an A-type man in his twenties, accompanied by a horrifying cracking sound.

Baek Sa-heon had struck him with the corner of the smartphone he was holding.

He had hit him with enough force to make it seem like he didn’t care whether the man’s eye exploded.

“Urgh.”

And just as the man collapsed without even being able to properly scream—

[The platform screen doors are opening.]

Baek Sa-heon casually stepped over the fallen man and exited the train.

“J-just now….”

“Aaagh!!”

“What the hell are you?”

The others cried out in shock a moment too late.

Baek Sa-heon chuckled.

“You idiots. If you can escape with just one eye, you should do it as soon as possible!”

“…!”

“They said we could get off!”

Apparently, Baek Sa-heon had understood the hidden implication of the announcement perfectly.

—Passengers who have found the lost item are requested to disembark at the next station and hand the lost item over to a station employee.

There had been a hint telling us to pay attention to the announcements, but his ability to make such a bold judgment was impressive.

“Then again… I suppose you can’t expect something like that from someone who tells other people to take responsibility for his life.”

“Huh?!”

What’s more, Baek Sa-heon remained completely calm while throwing out insults.

He seemed certain that nobody would dare follow him out.

And he was right.

Everyone had already seen what happened when someone got off at a station they weren’t supposed to.

“That man….”

Go Yeong-eun’s face had turned bright red, apparently furious.

But at the same time, I finally felt as though the pieces were falling into place.

So that’s why!

His nickname was Viper.

The way Baek Sa-heon was portrayed in Dark Exploration Records only made sense if he really had that kind of personality.

I’d thought he might be okay because he was still a new employee and hadn’t yet been tainted by the harshness of society.

Apparently, this was simply what he was like by nature.

[The doors are closing.]

Meanwhile, Baek Sa-heon waved toward us from outside the train.

He seemed pleased at the thought that he’d successfully escaped.

Even if it meant sacrificing his left eye.

‘That poor guy….’

But… about that.

‘You didn’t need to do that.’

Taking advantage of everyone focusing their attention on Baek Sa-heon, I quietly placed my hand on the luggage rack behind me.

‘I definitely saw it earlier….’

Then I slowly swept my hand across it.

And, as though by magic, I felt something hidden in a blind spot where it couldn’t normally be seen.

I pulled my hand back and examined the object.

Inside something resembling a strange portable contact-lens case was a single eyeball.

And there was a label.

[Type A / Female / 27 / R]

What was this?

It was a candidate for the lost item.

‘After all, a lost item is something someone else lost. It’s not mine.’

In fact, this announcement worked like a treasure hunt.

Among several candidate lost items in the luggage rack, you had to take the one that exactly matched the description and get off with it.

Apparently, there had even been cases where someone happened to use something they already possessed and escaped.

‘Now Baek Sa-heon will fall into this category.’

But what would happen if he found out that he hadn’t needed to surrender his own left eye?

The platform screen doors had already closed.

And so, just before the train departed, when Baek Sa-heon turned toward the platform, our eyes briefly met.

I raised the contact-lens case containing the eyeball toward the door so that it would be clearly visible.

I covered the label, so only one thing would be obvious.

The eyeball.

—…!!

Through the doors, Baek Sa-heon’s expression changed the instant he realized what it was.

But it was already too late.

[The train is departing from Anger Station.]

The train began to leave.

I turned toward the new employee Baek Sa-heon had attacked.

Judging by the fact that he had injured the man’s left eye, Baek Sa-heon had intended to eliminate any other possible “correct lost item.”

‘He probably did it because he was worried that there might only be one item recognized as the lost item.’

I don’t think there was anything wrong with trying to escape alone.

Everyone was simply trying to survive.

But… this had crossed the line.

I turned my head back toward the door.

From behind me came the sound of someone repeatedly pounding hard against the platform screen doors.

And from the platform growing farther and farther away, I thought I could faintly hear the peculiar screams of someone suffering through unimaginable pain.

[The lost item has been safely handed over to the station employee.]