In the hellish chaos of a Ghost Story where people were dying left and right, a single survival ticket appeared.
Just like in a movie.
And it wasn't an illusion, either.
'If you get off carrying the broadcast lost property, then the moment you meet a crew member, they'll guide you out of the station….'
It really was a ray of hope.
The problem was that the lost property mentioned in the announcement just now was absurdly grotesque.
"What did it say just now? A man in his twenties…?"
"The left eyeball of an adult male with type A blood."
Go Youngeun lowered her head, her face hollow.
"Type A is probably… blood type, right?"
"Yes..."
A dreadful silence settled over us. It looked like everyone was already frightened.
'…Should I just let this pass?'
If we got off at the correct station anyway, all of us could survive. If one person escaped first for no reason, the mood could turn strange and a conflict might break out.
But it didn't go that easily.
"S-still, wouldn't it be better if we looked for it?"
"That's right. We don't know what might happen…."
These new employees had become so fixated on the announcement that there was no way they could simply let it go.
'…For now, let's leave it be.'
"Could I ask your age…?"
"Ah, I'm in my thirties."
"You look young for your age. Ah, and I'm type B, so it doesn't apply to me."
"Me neither…."
Everyone checked one another to see whether anyone matched "an adult male in his twenties with type A blood."
But no one came up who fit the conditions exactly, and before long, the question came around to me as well.
"Mr. Kim Soleum, by any chance…?"
I answered simply.
"I'm type AB."
That was actually a lie.
I was type A.
'But there's no need to go out of my way to reveal that I'm the target.'
If it turned out that I could be either the beneficiary or the victim in this situation, people might misunderstand me and think I was saying things for personal gain, which could make it harder to persuade them later.
"I see. Then Mr. Baek Saheon is…."
"Wait a second."
Suddenly, the person sitting across from me raised his hand with a grave expression.
"The truth is... I'm an exact match. For those criteria!"
"Ah!"
He spoke in a fairly grim tone, probably because he thought that if things went wrong, he might die.
'There's no need to worry about that, though.'
And the reason he revealed it so abruptly was obvious.
[This stop is Anger, Anger Station.]
Because the announcement had just said we'd arrived at a new station.
The station where a crew member would be waiting to receive the lost property.
Tension stained the face of the new employee who had volunteered the information.
"There really isn't anyone else?"
"Yes… I don't think so."
"Oh, man."
Baek Saheon, sitting next to me, let out a sigh as he listened, then asked the man:
[The doors on your right will open….]
"You said you're type A?"
"Yes, yes."
"That's rough."
And then a fist flew.
"…?!"
His fist slammed mercilessly into the left eye of the new employee who had just confessed to being a man in his twenties with type A blood, and a horrifying bursting sound rang out.
Baek Saheon had struck him with the corner of the smartphone still in his hand.
It was the kind of blow that looked like he wouldn't have cared if the eye burst.
"Ugh—"
And the moment the man, unable even to scream properly, collapsed—
[The platform screen doors are opening.]
Baek Saheon lightly leaped over the fallen man and went out of the train.
"D-did he just…."
"Ahhh!!"
"What the hell are you?"
A beat late, people cried out in shock.
Baek Saheon snickered.
"You idiots. If you can escape with just one eye, then you should do it right away!"
"…!"
"They said you could get off!"
It seemed Baek Saheon had accurately grasped the subtext of the announcement.
—If you have found the lost property, please disembark at the next station and hand the lost property over to a station employee.
Even though there had been a hint that we needed to pay attention to the announcement, it was still an extremely bold call.
"Then again… maybe it's too much to expect that from someone who wants other people to take responsibility for his life."
"Huh?!"
On top of that, Baek Saheon remained perfectly calm while spraying verbal abuse. It was as though he was certain no one 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.
"T-that guy…."
Ms. Go Youngeun's face turned bright red, apparently furious, but only now did I start to feel a strange sense of satisfaction, as if something had finally clicked into place.
No wonder!
His nickname was Viper.
The descriptions of Baek Saheon in Darkness Exploration Record only really made sense once you saw a personality like that.
I'd thought maybe he was okay because he was still a new employee and hadn't yet been tainted by society, but apparently that was just what he'd always been like.
[The doors are closing.]
Even in the middle of all that, Baek Saheon waved toward the inside of the train.
He seemed to be in a good mood at the thought that he'd managed to escape, at any rate.
Even if it meant giving up his left eye.
'Seriously....'
But… about that.
'There was no need for that.'
While everyone else's attention was fixed on Baek Saheon, I quietly reached up to the luggage rack behind me.
'I definitely saw it earlier….'
Then, when I swept my hand deep inside, I grabbed something that had been sitting in a blind spot where it was almost impossible to see.
I pulled it out and checked the item.
Inside a strange portable lens case, there was an eyeball.
And a label.
[A / Female / 27 / R]
What this was, was a lost property candidate.
'To begin with, lost property isn't my own stuff—it's something someone else lost.'
In truth, this announcement was a scavenger-hunt setup: you had to get off carrying the real lost property that matched the description exactly from among several candidates in the luggage rack.
Sure, there had even been cases where someone happened to hand over something they personally had and escaped.
'Now Baek Saheon would probably fall under that.'
But what would happen if he found out he hadn't actually needed to "turn in" his own left eye?
The platform screen doors had already closed. So, just before the train started moving, Baek Saheon turned toward the platform—and for a brief moment, our eyes met.
I raised the lens case holding the eyeball toward the door so it would be clearly visible.
I covered the label, so only one thing would stand out.
The eyeball.
—…!!
Beyond the door, the moment Baek Saheon recognized what it was, his expression changed.
But it was already too late.
[The train is departing Anger Station.]
The train pulled away.
I turned to look at the new employee Baek Saheon had attacked.
Given that he'd injured the man's left eye, Baek Saheon had clearly been trying to eliminate any other possible "correct lost property" besides what he himself possessed.
'He probably thought there might be only one thing that would be recognized as the lost property.'
I thought that escaping alone itself wasn't something you could really condemn—everyone was trying to survive, after all. But… this had crossed the line.
I turned my head back toward the door.
From behind us, I could hear the sound of someone pounding violently on the platform screen doors several times.
And from the receding platform, it seemed as though I could faintly hear the kind of scream unique to someone undergoing grotesque pain.
[The lost property has been safely handed over to station staff.]