# 056. Day and Night (10)
I frantically set off fireworks. It seemed like I used up all the remaining fireworks until the monster stopped moving.
When the monster’s massive body finally went limp, and what I thought was its mouth and the tentacles inside stopped moving, only then did I sigh and slump down.
Click
There was a clicking sound, followed by a humming as the electricity came on.
“Ha… what is this really? What a mess.”
Looking at everything under the bright light, it was quite a spectacle. It was such a disaster that I wondered if this was even allowed. The walls inside where the fireworks had flown and hit were covered with black soot stains everywhere.
I stared at the limp monster in front of me.
The massive monster became flabby like a deflated balloon after it collapsed.
What kind of creature could this possibly be? Its reddish body and blackish mouth gave me chills even in the bright light.
It was somewhat embarrassing to call it an intense battle, but I comforted myself with the thought that I had won, so that’s what mattered.
Anyway, this was the first time I defeated something on my own, wasn’t it?
While thinking this, my thoughts turned to Woo Jeongwoo.
That’s right! Woo Jeongwoo!
I rushed over to Jeongwoo. Jeongwoo, whom I had pushed to the door, was still unconscious.
“Jeongwoo, Jeongwoo! Are you okay?”
Jeongwoo was still unconscious, but fortunately, he wasn’t injured anywhere. When I was throwing the fireworks, I aimed at the opposite direction from where Jeongwoo was, and it seemed to have been effective as Jeongwoo looked unharmed.
“Huff, seriously… Woo Jeongwoo. If you’re going to be like this, you could at least give me some of your height or build.”
I grunted as I lifted Jeongwoo onto my back. It seemed that even with an Awakened One’s enhanced body, it was difficult to overcome the difference in physique. Still, I didn’t want to stay in the subway with that monster’s corpse any longer. With Jeongwoo on my back, I opened the door using the emergency exit device and went outside.
Even outside, things were still bizarre. There were no people anywhere, and there was no sign indicating which station this was. It was like a subway station set made specifically as a movie prop.
Since carrying Jeongwoo for a long distance would be impossible, I struggled to lay him down on a bench.
Even though I had only moved a few steps, sweat was pouring down like rain.
“Phew… Jeongwoo. I absolutely can’t go anywhere with you like this. Just wait here for a moment. I’ll look around briefly and come back.”
When I laid Jeongwoo on the bench, his legs dangled off the edge. Seeing that made me smirk. I wanted to lay him down properly, but it was too difficult to lift his legs up.
In the end, I left him in that ridiculous position and started looking around.
I looked around wondering if there was a way to get outside, but I couldn’t go up. There were stairs leading up, but when I tried to ascend them, they became hazy and disappeared.
It was absurd, but there was nothing I could do. After exploring the surroundings, I returned. Jeongwoo was still lying there in that funny position.
“Sigh, Jeongwoo. I really don’t know anymore. What to do. Please wake up.”
Even after waiting for a long time, nothing changed. As if it were a paused world, nothing changed at all.
I eventually took out a sleeping bag and a lunchbox from my inventory.
With much effort, I moved Jeongwoo, who was lying uncomfortably, onto the sleeping bag and opened the lunchbox.
To be honest, I had never been interested in camping before, nor had I had the opportunity to try it. My father was busy, and I wasn’t particularly interested in outdoor activities.
But now I looked like quite the professional camper. I briefly considered setting up a tent but decided against it since I didn’t know how long we would be here, and we weren’t outdoors, so it didn’t seem necessary.
After taking a few spoonfuls, I put down the lunchbox. It seemed like I had enjoyed eating when we were together, but eating alone was really unappetizing.
Even though the taste shouldn’t have changed since it was stored in my inventory, the presence or absence of one person made such a big difference.
It was when I was staring blankly at Jeongwoo with his eyes closed, with nothing more to do or that I could do.
I heard a ringing sound. At first, I was so dazed that I didn’t recognize what the sound was.
But when the ring, ring sound continued, I was startled.
The fact that there was a sound was the first change in this place since the monster had appeared, where nothing had changed.
Looking around, the sound was coming from an emergency phone.
Were there such phones in the subway?
The phone kept ringing as I wondered about this.
Looking around, there was still no one except me and Jeongwoo.
I eventually answered the phone.
“Hello.”
“Hello? Oh my! Why didn’t you answer the phone! I’ve been calling for so long.”
For a moment, I was dumbfounded. The voice was so familiar that I checked the phone again. I wondered if somehow I was answering my own cell phone. But this was clearly the emergency telephone in the subway station.
“M-Mother?”
“Jaehee. Yeong-i has been begging to call her oppa. Sorry to bother you. Can you talk to Yeong-i for a moment?”
“Y-Yeong-i?”
“Yes. She’s still clutching my leg, making a fuss about wanting to call her oppa. I wonder how she can like you so much. What will our Yeong-i do when you get married? She’ll probably cry and throw a tantrum. By the way, is it okay to put her on? If you’re busy now, it’s okay to say no.”
I looked around again. Looking once more, it was still the same boring place where I had been sitting for hours. During that time, I had tried calling on my cell phone several times, hoping for a connection. But all of them showed ‘Out of Service Area,’ so what was going on here?
“No, it’s fine. I happen to be free. Please put Yeong-i on.”
“Oh, I’m really sorry, Jaehee. Yeong-i! It’s oppa, oppa. Jaehee oppa. You’ve been begging me all day to call him!”
“Hello.”
After hearing the whining baby voice and my stepmother’s voice, I heard Yeong-i’s voice.
“Yeong-i. Did you want to call oppa?”
“Oppa.”
“Yes.”
“Oppa. You shouldn’t be like that.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Jeongwoo oppa went ‘owie,’ remember? Pretty oppa told me to tell Jaehee oppa.”
“Yeong-i…? What are you saying? What did you say? Pretty oppa…?”
“Right now, Jeongwoo oppa is going ‘owie, owie.’ If you do it wrong, he’ll keep going ‘owie’ and won’t be able to get up.”
I suddenly got goosebumps. I unconsciously looked around again. But nothing had changed.
If she was talking about ‘pretty oppa,’ it was a Constellation that knew Jeongwoo. I didn’t know the details because Jeongwoo hadn’t told me, but I was guessing that ‘pretty oppa’ might be Jeongwoo’s contracted Constellation.
Whatever might happen later, for now, it seemed that the Constellation whom Yeong-i called ‘pretty oppa’ wouldn’t harm Jeongwoo.
“Yeong-i, then, did pretty oppa also tell you how to wake Jeongwoo oppa up?”
“Ummmm…”
Yeong-i couldn’t answer easily. Yeong-i was still not good at conveying difficult words or long sentences, so it was unclear if it was because of that or because there was no way for Jeongwoo to wake up.
Just then, there was a loud ringing sound. Wondering what it was, I looked around and saw lights flashing, indicating a train was arriving.
“Yeong-i! Tell me quickly!”
I didn’t know whether I should board the incoming train or not, but since it was the first change that had occurred since we had been here, I needed to check it out anyway.
I stomped my feet, unable to hang up the phone or miss the train.
“Oppa.”
“Huh? Yes! Yeong-i! Did you remember?”
“Oppa, you don’t know even that?”
“Wh-what?”
“Oppa, we watched it together last time. How do you wake up a princess?”
“What?”
“You kiss, kiss!”
“Huh? What did you say?”
“Kiss!”
Yeong-i spoke loudly and clearly as if I was hopeless.
“When the prince wakes up the princess, he says ‘I love you!’ and kisses. Jaehee oppa doesn’t even know that, stupid.”
“W-wait! Wait! Yeong-i!”
The phone hung up with a click.
I rushed to where Jeongwoo was lying.
“A train is now arriving. Passengers, please step back from the safety line.”
An announcement was heard along with a beeping sound.
“Damn it, where is this train going?”
When I shouted, as if it heard my words, the electronic display board indicating the next destination lit up.
Next destination: Desire
I glanced at Jeongwoo lying down and sighed. The train was coming in. I hoisted Jeongwoo onto my back again.
I didn’t know if boarding the train was the right choice. But we couldn’t stay here without boarding.
The train doors opened.
“This train is bound for Desire, the Desire train.”
Listening to the announcement, I boarded the subway with Jeongwoo.
