How a Regressor Conquers the Tower of Urban Legends
Chapter 54
"Row on that side!"
"!"
The mascot nodded and began rowing furiously.
I followed suit.
Good thing the boat had come with oars.
Otherwise, we might've had to paddle with our bare hands.
"?!?!!"
"Yes, yes! That's the right direction!"
Fortunately, it wasn't very far.
Anyone who had ever lived around Jamsil would know the tallest landmark there.
BEEEEEP!
Another emergency alert rang from the smartphone.
<Do not immerse your body in the water.>
<Do not listen to the singing.>
<Do not be shaken by the sight of people jumping outside.>
<Do not look outside.>
<We repeat. Humans cannot live underwater and cannot breathe underwater.>
<Those with religious faith are advised to pray.>
"Can you hear singing?!"
"!"
The mascot nodded.
I had no idea what kind of song it was hearing.
But I knew one thing.
I needed to tighten the headset.
I pressed it firmly against my ears with both hands.
Good.
I couldn't hear anything.
"Keep going!"
"!"
The rain continued pounding down.
SHAAAAA...
Splash!
Splash!
And mixed between the sounds of rain...
Something heavy kept falling into the water.
Every time we passed an apartment building, I heard it.
I slowly looked up.
Far above, something like a dark shadow dropped into the flood.
No.
Not a shadow.
Neither I nor the mascot needed anyone to explain what was falling.
People.
Countless people were dropping into the water.
None of them even tried to swim.
Dozens leapt down as though they'd made some silent agreement.
Not a single person lifted their face above the surface afterward.
"..."
I looked down.
They were all moving freely beneath the water.
They swallowed mouthfuls of water with bubbling sounds.
Their eyes rolled back from the agony of their lungs filling.
Yet they continued swimming as though the water had always been their home.
But humans could not live underwater.
Humans had no ability to breathe there.
They were drowning with expressions of perfect happiness.
And soon...
"...!"
Changes began appearing.
The legs of the drowning people started transforming into fish fins.
A few managed to swim awkwardly.
Most, however, lost even the legs they needed to kick with and simply sank deeper beneath the water.
Now I understood.
I finally understood what I'd seen on the fourth floor.
Another splash echoed.
I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment, opened them again, and rowed harder.
There was nothing I could do for them.
"We have to keep moving!"
"!"
I gripped the oar and shut my eyes tightly.
I would escape this nightmare.
No matter what.
By the time my arms felt ready to fall off, the entrance to the landmark finally came into view.
Though calling it an entrance might not have been accurate.
"...How much did the water rise while we were rowing?"
The flood had only reached around the fifth floor when we'd boarded the boat.
I couldn't tell exactly how high it was now.
But it was clearly far above that.
Maybe around the eighth floor.
How had anyone else survived this?
I stared at the smartphone.
At some point, even the emergency alerts had stopped.
Then I looked ahead.
THUD.
The bow of the rubber boat bumped into the building's window.
Both the mascot and I rocked with the impact.
How were we supposed to break the glass—
Before I could finish wondering, the mascot punched the window.
CRASH!
The glass shattered cleanly.
"!!!!"
"...Let's climb in."
"!"
The mascot proudly raised its fist.
I patted its shoulder, then carefully climbed through while avoiding the broken glass.
The first thing I saw was a dark office.
"..."
Had everyone gone home?
Or had this been where they met their end?
I stared at the silent office for a moment, then looked away.
We needed to go up.
So we started climbing the stairs.
Then an elevator came into view.
"?"
"Wait a second."
I slipped inside, then stepped back out.
"??"
"Nothing. Let's go."
Hopefully that updated my checkpoint.
With that thought, I continued climbing.
SHAAAAA...
The rain kept hammering against the building.
"...Haah."
I carefully opened the notebook.
I wasn't expecting useful information.
That wasn't why I'd opened it.
Something simply felt wrong.
I wasn't the first person kidnapped by this insane building.
My team leader had already said people had been disappearing after taking elevators.
There were countless missing-person videos online too.
Then shouldn't everyone have appeared in the same kind of place?
Even if the exact locations were different, shouldn't the disaster they faced at least be the same?
According to the news and the document from the emergency escape point, rain had started falling all over the world.
So why were everyone's experiences different?
It was almost as though we'd all been taken from entirely different worlds.
The others weren't experiencing a flood?
I reread the now-familiar entries.
[11. I haven't been here long, but people already seem to be changing.]
[11. Some kind of virus...]
[11. I tried calling my family too, but nobody answered.]
[11. This place is cruel.]
[11. Did it read my mind or something?]
[11. I managed to escape because my memories came back, but everyone, be careful.]
[11. This was the most unpleasant place I've experienced since coming out here.]
[11. I'll explain how to deal with the virus.]
[11. First, never go outside during the day. And...]
[24. It appears we are definitely experiencing different scenarios.]
[24. In my case, containment failed.]
