Chapter 36: Survivor 2

Translator: – – Editor: – –

The video and photo shoots progressed without any difficulty. The most important part was what Junhyuk’s eyes gave off.

As Junhyuk touched the capsules, his eyes had to resonate sympathy.

Junhyuk knew that something had happened to them at the Dimensional Battlefield. Their souls had died, and neither would wake up. If anything went wrong, he would be in same situation, so his eyes demonstrated a lot of sympathy.

Junhyuk felt a sense of belonging with them.

How scared had they been? They did not have a choice, but were summoned and died on the Dimensional Battlefield. He, himself, could have been killed by a wolf while with Michael.

He reminisced about that moment, and his eyes naturally shone with sympathy. The director and Eunseo both shouted the OK.

Junhyuk still had his hand on the capsule when he looked at the camera.

“Anyone can experience abnormal narcolepsy. Your family is not an exception. ST Capsule is another member of your family, and we will be there with you.”

Junhyuk finished his lines, and the director gave him the thumbs up. He collected himself and looked at Eunseo. She drove her wheelchair toward him.

“First, we have a satisfactory photo. We are not a hundred percent, so we will shoot just one more time.”

Yeonah fixed his makeup, and Junhyuk asked:

“When will this broadcast?”

“If we shoot it fast and edit, then, starting Thursday, it will go to all broadcasting companies.”

Junhyuk was a little surprised. They shot and broadcast it so fast!

Eunseo read his mind:

“When you have money, nothing is impossible.”

Junhyuk thought over ST Capsules’ attitude toward this advertisement. The makeup was done, and Junhyuk got up. The director saw him and yelled:

“We are shooting it again!”

—

It was Thursday morning at busy subway station.

Junhyuk took an early train to work. He heard people murmuring and woke up. He had been taking a short nap, and people’s voices woke him up, so he was a little irritated and looked around. People were looking at their phones and talking about him.

Junhyuk turned on his own smartphone and found out what was happening. They told him the ad would go out on Thursday, and it was already out.

He felt shy and was going to stay by the door when his phone rang. His parents’ number showed up on the caller ID.

“Hello.”

“Son! I am watching you on TV right now!”

It was his mother, Haejung Kim, and she spoke so softly that it made Junhyuk smile bitterly.

“I’m just a model.”

“My son is a star?”

“Because the last accident became a societal issue.”

“Right.”

Junhyuk scratched his head and said:

“I will pay you a visit on Saturday.”

“Right. Then, we will see you on Saturday, son.”

He hung up, and the phone rang again. His high school classmates’ numbers showed up on the caller ID. They didn’t usually call him up, so Junhyuk decided to answer all the calls.

From the subway station to work, there were twenty calls. Junhyuk hid his face with his hands.

“This…”

A a thirty-three-foot-tall and sixty-foot-wide banner with the last scene in the ad, when Junhyuk touched the capsule and said his lines, was on the side of the ST Capsule building.

Junhyuk shook his head and moved fast.

“It looks fine,” said the voice that sounded behind him.

It was Mr. Jang walking toward him with Jangho. Mr. Jang had a toothpick between his teeth, and he smiled at Junhyuk.

“The photo looks really good!”

“It’s all makeup and lighting.”

“Even so, you will be the face of our company.”

Junhyuk sighed deeply and said.

“It’s only for now. I hope they will take the banner down soon.”

Mr. Jang smiled.

“They won’t take it down while you are under contract! I saw it on TV, and it’s really good!”

Junhyuk shook his head and quickly went inside. Everyone was looking at him throughout the day.

In the subway station, people looked at him. In his company, everyone saw the giant banner, and everyone recognized him.

Junhyuk noticed people’s glances and went to his office. He opened up his files when Somin and the other female coworkers came to his desk and greeted him.

“The photo looks really good!”

“Don’t say a word. I’m so embarrassed that I am looking for a hole to hide myself inside.”

“There might be a fan club!”

“I hope not.”

Somin smiled and went back to her seat, and Junhyuk started to read over his files. He understood the big picture. Now, he had to contribute on how to improve the collaboration project.

Then, people got up from their seats, and Junhyuk got up as well. On her wheelchair, Eunseo nodded slightly and said:

“So, does everyone know they are trying to make every Friday a holiday?”

“Yes.”

“Starting next week, Fridays will probably be holidays. Even if it doesn’t become a national holiday, the company will take Fridays off, so be aware of that.”

Junhyuk smacked his lips. He would return to the Dimensional Battlefield on the following day.

Eunseo continued:

“Don’t work late tomorrow. Get off from work on time.”

Everyone smiled. Eunseo moved toward her office and stopped and looked at Junhyuk.

“The ad campaign is a success. You did well.”

Junhyuk was shy. Eunseo went to her office, and everyone started working on their assignments.

—

It was Friday.

The roads had fewer cars, but it was not an official holiday, and there were still many people on the subway. He did not want to experience hell at the station, so he got up really early.

He started walking to his work and saw a parked delivery truck. The driver had his head tilted backward and was sleeping.

He must be really tired!

Junhyuk yawned hard and ran to the subway station. That day, he would get off work on time and go home and prepare to be summoned again.

His powers had evolved a little bit. To survive in the battlefield, he had practiced with his sword. He would survive no matter what happened this time as well.

He ran toward the subway station and looked at his watch. It was 6:59 a.m.

“Today’s first wave is almost over.”

Starting at six in the morning and nine times after that, in two hour intervals, people were afflicted by abnormal narcolepsy worldwide. Each time, 600 people were affected. Every week, 6000 total were affected.

Junhyuk had seen the delivery driver. His window had been open, and JunHyuk had run toward the subway station.

Even if the delivery driver was in an abnormal narcolepsy state, his car was stopped, so there was no risk for an accident. Considering the world population, 600 was a small number.

Junhyuk took the stairs to the underground at seven o’clock.

—

“Huk!”

The delivery driver’s eyes opened. His name was Sanghoon Hyeon. He checked his body parts, looked around and breathed deeply.

“Whew.”

What had he just experienced? He had been looking for the delivery address when he dropped to a place taken by a bright light. They had called him a minion, and he had had to follow them.

Life over there had been like life in hell.

People like him had died, and he’d gotten scared and run away to a forest. There had been a man who had had a similar built to his who had told him to just follow him.

In the forest, he had seen a golem. Dealing with the golem, the ten-foot man managed to kill it. Sanghoon picked up a thing left by another.

“Right!”

Sanghoon checked his chest and pulled out a dagger, a red dagger.

“It isn’t a dream?!”

For a month he had survived in the forest because of his dagger. When he had met monsters in the forest and gotten hurt, all he had needed to do was to attack with his dagger, and it healed him.

His wounds had healed, and he had become used to hunting, and managed to kill monsters.

When he did kill them, he was healed and felt good.

He thought for a moment, and there was madness in his eyes. No one else could understand him.

Sanghoon licked his lips and looked at one of his rearview mirrors and was surprised. He did not look like himself.

He shook his head and put his dagger away. He looked for the delivery address and looked at his watch.

“Seven o’clock? It’s only been an hour?!”

He wasn’t sure because he couldn’t really sleep, but it felt like he had spent a month in the forest. What happened? He stopped thinking and looked again for the delivery address.

First, he was working, so he should concentrate. The past month felt like a dream, but it had only been an hour in South Korea. It couldn’t have affected his work schedule.

Sanghoon picked up the packages and started to run.

—

As promised, the company let workers go home on time. Mr. Jang suggested dining out on a day like that, and everyone followed him.

Junhyuk went up to Mr. Jang carefully.

“Mr. Jang.”

“What’s the matter?”

“I am not feeling well. Can I go home?”

“What? It’s for new employees. Why do want to go home?”

“I am sorry.”

Junhyuk tried to look the most remorseful he could. Mr. Jang looked at him and said:

“I really want to take you with us, but I don’t want to force it since you are not feeling well. OK.”

“Thank you.”

“We should get off work at the same time.”

“Yes.”

The Strategy Planning Departments’ workers were standing in front of the elevator when Somin came up to Junhyuk and asked:

“The dinner is for new employees, so why do you have to go home?”

Junhyuk looked strained and replied:

“I’m not feeling well. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize to me. Go home and take a rest.”

“Enjoy your dinner and go home.”

The elevator arrived, and everyone went to the first floor. Outside the building, Junhyuk apologized to everyone and headed home.

“I’m sorry. Enjoy your dinner.”

“I feel bad. I thought I was going to have a drink with our company’s model.”

“Buy me dinner next time,” he replied.

His coworkers laughed at Junhyuk’s suggestion.

“OK. Go home and rest.”

“OK.”

The female coworkers looked disappointed, Junhyuk saw them go away, sighed and looked at his watch. It was six o’clock. He would be summoned to the Dimensional Battlefield at eight o’clock, so he still had two hours.

However, considering the time it took to get home, he had to hurry. He had to get home and prepare to go to the Dimensional Battlefield.

He also wanted to prepare everything in case he did not come back from there.

Junhyuk hurried and started to run when he saw a female high school student looking at the banner. She was holding the straps of her school bag with both of her hands, and she looked familiar to him. As she lowered her head, her eyes met his.

“Big brother!”

Junhyuk stopped running and looked at her.

“Sarang?”