A person who lost their phone in Death Lane and desperately tried to return to reality.


    I can say with certainty—I am not the first.


    The <Dark Exploration Records> documented a variety of tragic and eerie ends met by such individuals.


    <i>For detailed records on employees and civilians who went missing in Death Lane, refer to the document filed as ‘■■■ Escape Attempt via Alley 16’.</i>


    For now… let’s recall themon premises first.


    <i>1- Attempting to blindly follow someone else who is receiving navigation from their phone always ends in failure.</i>


    The app’s navigation could not be shared.


    Ultimately, every attempt ended with ‘At some point, the person I was following simply disappeared.’


    As these failures umted, people abandoned the idea and instead started looking for escape hints from within Death Lane itself. ‘There were all kinds of methods.’


    A store that promised to open a backdoor out of the alley if you sacrificed a limb.


    A passerby who imed you could escape through a manhole.


    A shoe shop insisting that if you wore their shoes, you’d see the exit path.


    Fortunately, I don’t have to try all of these methods to reach the conclusion.


    All of them failed.


    …Yeah.


    A cruel truth, deduced through inductive reasoning.


    <i>2- The residents of Death Lane have no knowledge of the way back to reality.</i>


    Everything they said was a deception.


    It was no different from stopping a random office worker in Seoul and asking them directions into a creepypasta.


    The residents here never had that knowledge in the first ce.


    ‘I need to abandon any expectation or n of escaping with someone’s help.’


    That meant I had to think of an escape method assuming I wouldn’t receive any new hints at all…


    Huu…


    “Squad Leader.”


    “Yes.”


    I forced myself to open my mouth.


    “…I’ll brief you on what I’ve figured out so far.”


    Now, the third premise.


    <i>3- From now on, it is impossible to enter new alleys.</i>


    Normally, for app users, a new alley would appear every thousand steps, and they could choose whether to enter it or not.


    But with my step-tracking app broken, that rational system was gone as well.


    ‘We’re trapped in this alley.’


    It was possible the scenery would change as we walked…


    But we had no control over it.


    As outsiders to this ghost story, we were fundamentally unable to find the path forward…


    “Therefore, we must find a way to escape from within this alley.”


    “Yes.”


    And now, the fourth premise.


    “…Also, we must escape before dawn.”


    A time limit.


    Naturally, most members of thispany’s Field Exploration Team had nerves of steel.


    Some even deliberately tried to stay longer in certain alleys, experimenting to see if they could increase the Dream Essence’s grade.


    ‘There were times when the Research Team requested this at a corporate level.’


    For instance…


    Seeing how long they couldst without walking, maximizing the time spent in Death Lane within the limits of their phone’s battery.


    The result?


    Totalmunication loss.


    …And this munication loss’ was not the kind where someone waster found in some grotesque transformation, like the forcedborers at the boutique back alley.


    It was a <iplete</i> disappearance.


    Even a staff member who attempted to stay overnight in an inn, maintaining radio contact with dedicated equipment, ended up vanishing.


    <i>Exploration Team Member : Yes, yes. I’ve entered a ce called the Goldfish Eyes Inn. Just in case, I’ll be taking turns standing watch with Supervisor ■.</i>


    <i>Exploration Team Member : What did I pay for lodging? Oh, well, I just used a dead body. That person was already dead anyway, so I put the body to good use. That’s all you need to know.</i>


    <i>Exploration Team Member : Anyway, I’ll try staying up all night like this. If my Dream Essence grade goes up, I get proper points for it, right?</i>


    [ … ]


    <i>Exploration Team Member : The sun is rising.</i>


    <i>Exploration Team Member : The sun is burning the alley! It’s on fire! Everything’s burning, everyone’s running! I can’t esc— (Connection lost)</i>


    “……”


    I never wanted to experience something like that.


    ‘This is driving me nuts.’


    Walking through Death Lane without my phone, all these thoughts running through my head—reality was beginning to sink in, brutally and unmistakably.


    The fact that I could be just another entry in those records.


    “Time constraints, spatial constraints, method constraints.”


    I barely managed to report to Lee Jaheon with a calm tone.


    “…Overall, no matter what method Ie up with, it will amount to a reckless gamble.”


    “Yes.”


    Lee Jaheon remainedposed as ever.


    “…Aren’t you worried about our current situation, Squad Leader?”


    “No. Worrying serves no purpose in resolving the issue.”


    “……”


    Wow.


    ‘So basically, as long as I can present my insane idea convincingly, he’ll go along with it without a word ofint.’


    Just like my fellow new hires who had been with me earlier.


    “……”


    Wait.


    ‘Where did they go?’


    Lee Jaheon had told them to ‘be back in ten minutes’, when they entered the shop next door.


    If they really came out after just ten minutes…


    ‘That means they were there when the alley was hit by the sudden torrent…?’


    Could they have been swept away and dragged under by the current…?


    “Supervisor!”


    Ah.


    When I turned my head, I saw Kang Yihak and Jang Heo-un running toward us, waving their hands.


    Judging by the paper shopping bags in their hands, each adorned with a ball of yarn design, they had sessfullypleted their purchase.


    “Aiyah~ There you are!”


    Kang Yihak beamed with a broad smile.


    <i>Phew.</i>


    “Looks like your shopping went well.”


    “Ahh, yes-yes. The store owner seemed desperate for money. He was so eager to meet our budget, he nearly sold us his own hat. Really, just a fantastic, yes, a fantastic shopping experience!”


    Then, after a quick nce at Lee Jaheon’s face, Kang Yihak suddenly pretended to check her phone and hastily added,


    “Oh? Wait, how did so much time pass already…? I’m so sorry! You told us to be out in ten minutes, but we got too absorbed when we found something useful for our exploration endeavors. Truly, our apologies, Squad Leader!”


    “Yes.”


    Her excuse was obviously rehearsed, but at least it was better than nothing.


    They must have been so engrossed in haggling that they didn’t even notice the flood outside.


    Meanwhile, Jang Heo-un, standing beside her, looked slightly pale as he nced warily at his shopping bag.


    “Mr. Bison, is there a problem with the item you purchased?”


    “Oh, no. It’s not that… It’s just that among the things they were selling, some of the yarn wasn’t actually yarn… There were these weird strands that looked like veins mixed in.”


    “……”


    Good lord.


    “I mean, of course, I didn’t buy any of that. Also, thank you so much for the coins, Mr. Roe Deer. I’ll make sure to repay you in gold once we get out of here…!”


    “Come to think of it, shouldn’t we be heading out soon? Oh! Have you been counting your steps while walking around this alley? Can you share your ‘remaining steps’ from the app?”n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Lee Jaheon, expressionless, gave an immediate answer.


    “No.”


    “…Pardon?”


    Aaaagh!


    ‘This damn lizard!’


    I swiftly and discreetly kicked Lee Jaheon’s shin at an angle where no one else could see.


    “?”