Chapter 140
I also carefully examined the room, following Eunji.
Canned goods were stacked on the shelves. Canned fruits, corn, tuna, and ham were there.
I picked them up, delighted.
Growl. My stomach rumbled, protesting the days of starvation.
I was almost moved to tears, but first, I checked the expiration dates on the cans.
"Come to think of it, what's the point of checking the expiration dates? I don't know how much time has passed."
But considering the last date I was in Korea, most of them still had more than three years left.
It might be a coincidence, but it seemed like they had crossed over to this island around the same time as me.
In the original story, Yuanna probably couldn't eat because she didn't know how to open the cans. Whoever organized this room probably didn't know how to eat them either.
"What's in the Bunker?"
"Food and necessities...?"
"Are they still edible? Wouldn't they be spoiled?"
"They should be edible? I don't need food, so I left them alone."
No. Thinking back, Zenas definitely knew there was food in the Bunker.
If Anata could read Korean, she might have read the labels on the cans and known they were necessities.
Anyway, I was very hungry, so I decided to eat this first.
As I opened the can and devoured the contents, tears welled up.
'I want Enoch and Kaiden to taste this too.'
I wanted to taste the other cans, but I held back. It would be better to share the rest with Enoch and Kaiden.
I took out a small backpack from the necessities on the shelf and put the cans in it.
I also packed tissues, mouthwash, candles, and a knife that looked like a fruit knife. I looked around to see if there was anything else to take, but unfortunately, there didn't seem to be any more. It would be nice if there was a pile of Grenades like I found last time.
I slowly looked around the room and gazed at the neat bed in one corner.
'I want to lie down.'
I couldn't even remember the last time I slept in a bed.
Come to think of it, there was a bed in Zenas's Cabin. The beds in the third-floor room were neatly made, but I insisted on sleeping on the floor on the first floor.
"Wait a minute, Zenas slept in a hammock."
That damn XX.
I ground my teeth for a moment, thinking of Zenas, then put the bag down on the floor and carefully sat on the bed. Just for a moment, just for a moment.
There was no blanket, but the bed was very comfortable. Good mattress. I sat on the bed and looked at the closed door.
'Huh? But did I ever close the door?'
I didn't remember, but I guess I did. I must have been too focused on eating to remember.
Thinking that, I stretched out my legs and lay down. I wanted to compare it to the mattress I had at home because it seemed better.
Eunji, who was on the floor, crawled onto the bed. Then she curled up at my head and yawned. She must have been very tired too.
I watched her nod off and close her eyes, and then I also felt sleepy and lost consciousness.
I fell asleep peacefully on a soft bed for the first time in a long time.
Perhaps that's why I vaguely dreamed of the days when I lived as Lee Jin-joo. A time when I lacked presence and had difficulty fitting into society.
My presence among people was always faint. It felt like I was abandoned in this vast society.
That's why I tried working as a scout instructor, which was optimized for group life, but it was the same. No one really saw or remembered me.
"Jin-joo? Ah... Ms. Jin-joo, you were in our department."
Even at the camping company where I struggled to get a job, I was treated like I didn't exist. It was the same even when I was in charge of major projects.
I always wondered why I couldn't fit in like other people. It felt like I didn't belong in this world.
Then one day, I accidentally picked up the novel <What's More Important Than Survival> on the street.
I had a feeling that something about it resonated with me. There was a strange attraction.
The day I picked up the novel on the street was nothing special. But the book I picked up on that unremarkable day was very special.
The sidewalk where the book had fallen had a circle with unknown patterns engraved on it, and a bluish light was Manifestation from the patterns.
The book in question was placed right on top of it.
'Right. I remember now.'
It was such a mysterious phenomenon that I couldn't forget, how could I have forgotten it completely?
The light Manifestation from the ground disappeared the moment I picked up the book. As if it had been waiting for that moment.
That's why I suddenly started reading the novel on the street. I was so curious about the contents of the book that I couldn't resist reading it right away.
And absurdly, the moment I finished reading the book, I was hit on the head by a falling sign and died a miserable death.
I don't know where that book went then. I don't know where it came from either.
Thinking about it now, it must have been a magic circle.
'Magic circle...?!'
I suddenly opened my eyes at the thought that came to mind.
And I met the red eyes right in front of me.
A woman with snow-white silver hair and blood-red eyes was staring at me, her face close to mine.
"Aaaaaah!"
I jumped up from my seat and took a step back. Eunji, who had been sleeping at my head, was startled and spun around in place.
I sat on the bed, leaning against the wall, and scanned my surroundings. But the woman I had seen a moment ago had disappeared like a mirage.
"What is it?"
I got off the bed with a puzzled look and scanned the room, but no one was there.
Then I discovered that the door was open.
'Did I sleep with the door open?'
No way. The door was definitely closed before I went to sleep. I was so creeped out that I stared at the open door and froze.
'Come to think of it, the woman from a while ago had silver hair and red eyes.'
Her appearance matched that of someone from the Rohade Family. And if it was a woman, there was a possibility that it was Anata, whom Kaiden had seen in Zenas's Cabin.
'Wait, no. No. According to Kaiden, Anata was sealed alive in Zenas's Cabin. There's no way she would appear here...'
I clutched my head and pondered this strange phenomenon.
Come to think of it, I saw ghosts like this when I was in Zenas's Cabin. Didn't someone mysterious with black clothes lead me to Zenas's room?
When I was caught by a Monster and dragged out of Zenas's Cabin, I saw a mysterious shadow through the window of the 'Chamber of Rest'.
In that 'Chamber of Rest' where Anata was sealed.
Could it be...?
Could Anata be separating her body and Soul while sealed and sending her Soul to another place?
If she was trying to convey a message to someone else while avoiding Zenas's eyes, it was a plausible story.
However, even if that was possible in the area of Zenas's Cabin because she was sealed in the Chamber of Rest and became like a Guardian deity, this place was very far from the Cabin.
Sss-
I suddenly looked down at the sound Eunji was making.
Eunji, who was at my feet, glanced at me and then crawled towards the open door. Then she looked at me again and looked at the open door.
It seemed like she wanted to go out.
"Okay, let's go out for now. Let's pack our things first."
I put on my crossbody bag, shouldered the bag with necessities and canned goods, and left the room with Eunji.
It was pointless to go upstairs, so I decided to re-examine the downstairs. The downstairs that I was too scared to go down yesterday.
"But has it already been two days since I came to this underground?"
Since there were no windows to see the sky, I had completely lost track of time, not knowing if it had been a day or two.
'Are Enoch and Kaiden looking for me?'
Maybe they pretended to look for me a few times and then gave up. They no longer have a reason to risk their lives to find me.
Kaiden was aware of how to control Mana, so he was able to control his emotions, and Enoch was now able to completely control his Berserk state.
So the two men no longer needed me.
"That's a little disappointing."
My heart felt a little cold, but I ignored it and went down the stairs.
I passed the place where the skeletons had broken through the wall, leaving traces behind, and headed further down.
Torches continued to burn on the stone walls. I discovered that the word 'Alea' was engraved everywhere on the stone walls.
So far, the word Alea had been engraved everywhere Zenas's hand had touched, so it seemed certain that this Bunker was created by him.
Before I knew it, the stairs ended, and I stood on a flat floor.
The bottom floor was dark because there were no torches. I took out a candle and a lighter from my bag and lit the candle wick.
At the end of the rectangular space, like a room, there were two Gates. The word 'Return' was on the right Gate, and a magic circle was engraved on the left Gate.
I took a few steps closer to the Gates.
Suddenly, light leaked from under my feet.
A magic circle was engraved in the center of the rectangular space, and I was standing on it. A book that I hadn't seen until just now was placed under my feet.
"Huh? This is..."
It was the novel <What's More Important Than Survival>.
I picked up the book. My memory was hazy, but the old and thick book was similar to the one I had read before.
At that moment, the pages flipped over and light burst out. It was such an intense and bright light that it was difficult to open my eyes properly.
After a while, the light disappeared, and my vision returned completely, I was in a different place.
To be precise, the place was the same, but it felt like I was in a different time.
The two Gates and the magic circle drawn on the floor were the same. Torches were lit on the walls, and two women were squatting on the magic circle in front of me.
A woman with silver hair and red eyes, and Yuanna with light brown bobbed hair.
Wait, Yuanna?