Chapter 151 – Isolation (3)
Isolation (3)
The living corpse was strange enough, but this moment was even stranger.
If you look closely, zombies were more scary than strange.
A zombie that suddenly wakes up and attacks the person next to it—
That fear was an emotion and crisis that Linnea could easily overcome.
But not this.
There was no clear and definite ‘enemy’ like zombies.
It was not possible to draw a sword and cut down the problem at once.
This was not the outside filled with zombies, but inside a familiar department store-
The people here were not zombies running screaming, but campers with familiar faces.
Kim Hyo-jin didn’t say anything special.
I just said hello with a bright face and made a friendly joke.
A familiar place – and a familiar face.
To Linnea, everything in this room was just familiar and peaceful.
However, that familiarity and peacefulness had a different meaning to Linnea.
A weight greater than her fear was pressing against her and this space itself.
Linnea’s eyes fluttered at her strangeness that could only be described as strange.
She was silent as she felt the chicken flesh rising on both of her hands as she held the snack.
She didn’t know what to do or say in this situation.
She just endured this moment quietly, as she always did.
A chill creeps up her spine for no reason.
I pressed down on this strange and strangely familiar goosebumps.
“Hello, sister.”
At that moment, a voice is heard from behind Kim Hyo-jin, who is facing her.
Kim Hyo-jin and Linnea, who were smiling brightly while looking at Linnea, turned their heads at the same time.
“… Uh, I’m at a loss as to what to say next.”
There was a strangeness hidden in the familiarity.
… No-.
It wasn’t a completely unfamiliar face.
The face that clearly remained in her memory smiled at her.
“It’s difficult to say it’s the first time we’ve seen each other, but to say it’s been a while since we’ve seen each other…”
Too many things happened, right?
A woman with a gentle appearance who smiles and speaks less.
As soon as I see that gentle impression, a memory flashes through my mind.
Yonsei University, zombies, Gwabangmun.
And the female student who was hiding in the classroom and shivering.
Linnea, she was Hye-ji Lee, one of the campers whom she personally brought.
Linnea’s mouth opened gently as her face became so clean that it was not immediately reminiscent of her.
Lee Hye-ji’s eyes sparkled brightly as she watched Linnea’s actions.
“Ah, fortunately you remembered.”
It was a face I couldn’t remember.
In the name of infection prevention, I was the first and last camper to be taken to the president.
She was sitting at the table perfectly fine.
With the same white face as Kim Hyo-jin, she was smiling brightly, looking at herself as if it was so natural.
“Anyway, it’s really nice to meet you, sister.”
That appearance deepened the strangeness of the space.
It was something that couldn’t have happened.
A space just one floor away from the top floor where she is currently standing.
Especially if you remember the screaming and crying that was so frequent that it was tiresome.
I knew who those screams and cries were coming from-
I also knew the person who let those screams and cries come out without any intention of hiding them.
So Hye-ji Lee should not have made the expression in Linnea’s eyes right now.
It was the natural thing to do, but-
Hyeji Lee, reflected in Linnea’s eyes right now, was smiling so brightly.
The screams and cries Linnea heard countless times.
The person who was begging with a cracked voice to please save his life and to stop hitting him was so bright that you can’t even imagine.
“… Mr. Ai—”
There was one more place that showed a nervous reaction to Hyeji Lee’s smile.
Kim Hyo-jin smiled gently at Linnea in front of her.
She also clicked her tongue as she looked at Lee Hye-ji, who was sitting at her table and smiling brightly.
She was glaring at Lee Hye-ji with her narrowed eyes, not even trying to hide her swearing.
“Anyway, it’s fascinating. Why don’t I feel awkward when I see you?”
Lee Hye-ji remained calm despite receiving Kim Hyo-jin’s blatant hostility.
Ignore.
She shows a different hostility than Kim Hyo-jin, and she only makes eye contact with Linnea.
“Is it because I watch a lot of broadcasts where Wonche appeared? Or is it because she heard a lot of this and that from her friends inside the department store?”
With her soft voice, Lee Hye-ji swings around the table she is sitting on.
Following her gaze, Linnea also scanned the table where she was sitting.
Jeong Da-jeong and Park Seul-ah.
Two people Linnea knew well, and several camp members were sitting at Hyeji Lee’s table.
“It’s actually surprising because it’s not awkward at all.”
“Oh, look at my mind.”
A tingling voice comes in at the end of Lee Hye-ji’s voice.
Kim Hyo-jin hurriedly took a step closer to Linnea and spoke one after another.
“You came back from hard work far away, but it wasn’t very unusual, right?”
Talking nonsense and not allowing her older sister to sit down –
It was a tone of voice that seemed to blame oneself, but a whisper that made it seem like the target was not oneself.
Kim Hyo-jin, mocking Lee Hye-ji, who had been speaking to Linnea just now, shook her shoulder.
The other side of the table where Hyeji Lee and several camp members are sitting.
Kim Hyo-jin smiled slightly, pointing to the table where the remaining campers were sitting.
“Why don’t we just sit down and talk first?”
“You were complaining just now that the chair was so uncomfortable, Hyojin.”
This time, Lee Hye-ji intervened at the end of Kim Hyo-jin’s speech.
“You’re not trying to make Linnea sit in that uncomfortable chair, are you?”
Ikeik-
And then the sound of a chair being pulled echoes throughout the room.
One of the chairs left at Hyeji Lee’s table was pulled away, creating an empty seat.
“Don’t do that, just sit here, Linnea.”
“… Hohoho—When did I say that, Hyeji?”
Ikeik-
Eyes that are smiling slightly at each other, but not smiling at all.
At Kim Hyo-jin’s glance, she quickly turned her head and a chair was pulled out from Kim Hyo-jin’s table.
A conversation between Lee Hye-ji and Kim Hyo-jin that is not exactly correct.
As Linnea listened to the conversation like that, she realized.
The strangeness that weighs heavily on this space.
Why did that strangeness feel familiar?
“…”
It’s bound to feel familiar.
“Still, this is what happened. Please sit here, sister.”
“I said it first in the first place, but why is Linnea sitting there? Even in the water below, there is a definite order, Hyeji.”
They looked exactly alike.
On the outside, the atmosphere is very harmonious.
However, if you go deeper, the group is divided into exactly two groups.
We laugh haha while having tea time, but-
Even the two people whose eyes are strangely not smiling.
This place was very similar to the Banseokdae library.
“Wouldn’t Linnea take care of the order, Hyojin?”
“… Yes, she will take care of it.”
It was obvious who made this place like this.
In the first place, there was only one person who owned the library and this department store.
President.
Will all places touched by that person transform into a landscape like this?
This may be the reason Linnea herself was sent back to her rock in the first place for reasons of supply.
She wanted to buy time to make the women’s camp members who disappeared like this.
No-
That’s probably why I sent her back to her rock.
For what?
“…”
To have these women.
Just like he had Seol-hee and Hayan-i, he probably wants to keep all the women here under his feet.
I got goosebumps.
Just for that reason—
The president moved forward step by step, using all the means and methods he could, and was ultimately successful.
At that moment of success, there was nothing Linnea could do.
She just struggled, twisting her body little by little.
She just worked tirelessly to maintain the status quo.
At first, I had an idea to confess something unclear about the president to the members who were like family.
They even tried to prevent the president from derailing by borrowing their power.
But that made no sense in the first place.
Nothing will change if you confess your derailment to those who know about it.
Seolhee and Hayanyi were in love with the president, knowingly or unknowingly.
There was nothing Linnea could say to those women.
Still, she couldn’t run away somewhere.
To be more specific, there was nowhere for her to run.
With Cha Seol-hee and Cha Hayan – the team that occupies most of her memories.
Because Linnea is nothing anymore without the name tag ‘High Queens’.
Now, more things than birth are disappearing and falling away.
After losing the High Queens, Linnea had nothing to create new ones.
She didn’t even know that she had made a mistake when she heard Han Se-gye say that she would negotiate in the first place.
Or—
She may have been wrong in going to the Banseok University library to film a reality show.
Or—
“…”
She left her hometown and came to Korea to fulfill her dream.
It may be wrong.
“Sister.”
“Sister?”
Linnea standing silently in front of the two tables.
Linnea’s mind went blank as she heard the two voices urging her on.
There was no way she could say the things she couldn’t say to Seolhee and Hayanyi, who were like her family, to them right in front of her.
There was no way that a person who was overwhelmed every day with just maintaining the status quo would know the solution at this moment.
“…”
She froze on the spot, unable to move even a single step.
