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After Jang Chae Yeon nailed Yu Da On to the ground, three people, who at least seemed to be in their right minds, hurriedly gathered for an emergency meeting.

“Hey, what on earth happened?”

Song Ah Rin stood next to me with a puzzled expression, furrowing her brow as she looked at Yu Da On.

“Song Ah Rin, you got swept away by the seawater too, right?”

“Do you think I was the only one? Everyone got swept away.”

She clicked her tongue in response.

“I thought the door was smashed and everyone drowned in seawater, unable to move, but what is going on?”

“The door? Not the theater?”

“Yeah.”

I shared the rest of the information with Song Ah Rin.

“So, you dreamed the same dream, Song Ah Rin?”

“I can’t tell if it was a dream, reality, or some shared hallucination, but basically, yes.”

“Then…”

All three of us turned our attention back to Yu Da On, who was still wriggling on the floor.

“Kim Jae Heon?”

Yu Da On, lying on the ground, slightly lifted her head to look at me.

“It’s uncomfortable. Please hurry up and let me go.”

“…”

Her strangely calm voice felt out of place.

“She’s a bit strange. Did you brainwash her?”

“Should I just snap her neck?”

“Everyone, you all know that Da On here is one of your teammates, right?”

I looked back at the two who were seriously discussing this and then turned my gaze back to Yu Da On.

“…”

Still, one of the names above her head was missing.

“Song Ah Rin, can you use hypnosis to bring Da On back?”

“…I’ll give it a try.”

Song Ah Rin knelt down to meet the eyes of Yu Da On, who was squirming on the ground.

Yu Da On’s eyes gradually softened, and soon she opened them wide, surprised.

“…Huh? Why am I doing this?”

“Did you succeed in bringing her back?”

I asked Song Ah Rin while watching Yu Da On examine her surroundings, and she shook her head.

“No. I forcibly pulled her out of a dormant subconscious mind. For now, she’s out, but it’s not strange if she sinks back in at any time.”

“Me?”

“Let’s keep a close eye on her. Da On’s still coherent.”

“Ah, okay!”

Yu Da On nodded with a confused expression.

“Then where should we start solving this?”

With Jang Chae Yeon’s question, I also fell into deep thought.

Really, where should we start?

“I think we should first find the source.”

“The source?”

“There must be a source from where the seawater is pouring in.”

“…Wasn’t that here? Isn’t this a play?”

Song Ah Rin pointed at the theater’s interior with a blank expression, looking at me.

“At least it doesn’t seem like a phenomenon that just causes one play to happen.”

There were no staff, no theater company, and it felt completely unrelated to a play. Even people wouldn’t die immediately.

There were a few things that bothered me, though.

Song Ah Rin sighed, making a noise of contemplation at my words.

“So, where should we look first?”

“I don’t know.”

“…Fine. I guess I’ll be ready to get swept away by the seawater one more time.”

After quickly accepting her situation, Song Ah Rin started looking around.

“Let’s split into teams.”

I looked at the three of them.

“Song Ah Rin, you and Da On check the area around you.”

The reason for sticking the two of them together was in case Yu Da On’s hypnosis wore off, someone would need to put her back under.

“Sure. What about you?”

“I’ll go with Chae Yeon to hear some concerns from the Management Agency staff or civilians.”

“Good idea. If we just walk around with a manual, the Management Agency folks will recognize us quickly, so try some active appeals with the manual.”

“I will.”

“And when you mention the white-haired guy, don’t call him from the Human Resources Team, call him from the Isolation Team instead.”

“…”

Jang Chae Yeon stared blankly at Song Ah Rin, and Song Ah Rin met her gaze and continued speaking.

“Even if they have the same abilities, the words of the white-haired guy from the Gangdong Branch’s Isolation Team would be more persuasive than those of the white-haired guy from the Gangseo Branch’s Human Resources Team.”

According to our sunglasses-wearing uncle, we are indeed a team that handles incidents involving humans and containment objects.

“Then let’s go with that. Chae Yeon, are you okay?”

“…”

Jang Chae Yeon slowly nodded her head.

“Right, and if it comes to it, I should be ready to get hit by seawater one more time?”

“I don’t know anything.”

“Looking at her state, it looks like initial symptoms of mental contamination.”

“What?”

Song Ah Rin glanced at Yu Da On with concern, then looked back at me.

“In the next one or two times, it should be fine. But let’s make sure we achieve some meaningful results.”

“…Understood.”

Song Ah Rin nodded, and Yu Da On, also with a bewildered expression, nodded and waved her hand.

“Stay safe! I don’t know what that is, but!”

“Hey, hey, get your head in the game.”

“…Yes…?”

Leaving the conversation between the two behind, I stepped outside with Jang Chae Yeon, lost in thought.

What did it feel like when I was swept away by water?

“What about you, Chae Yeon? What did it feel like when you got swept away and, um, became a fish?”

After a moment of reflection, Jang Chae Yeon opened her mouth.

“The thought that I couldn’t just stay like this.”

“Is that all?”

“…Will.”

“Will?”

“The will that I would die as a human, even if I died.”

“Just those two?”

The will to die as a human, even if it meant death.

“That’s one of the trainings we do in the Isolation Team.”

“Why?”

“I’ve learned that I’m excellent against mental attacks.”

“Why that…”

“I just did as I was told. That’s all.”

She shut her mouth as if she didn’t know any more and looked expressionlessly ahead, just like Jang Chae Yeon would.

I guess I’ll have to take note of that.

Once we were outside, I noticed a larger crowd than earlier.

Have they just woken up? I held the manual with Jang Chae Yeon as I surveyed the people around us.

People huddled together, looking around with anxious expressions.

It didn’t take long for someone to recognize us.

“…That manual.”

Someone rushed toward us.

It was an unremarkable-looking woman.

“Management—”

Before she could finish her sentence, Jang Chae Yeon quickly covered her mouth.

“Somewhere else.”

With her mouth covered, she nodded her head, and we moved to a less crowded spot to start our conversation.

“You’re with the Management Agency, huh?”

She looked at us.

“First of all, I’m from the Gangbuk Branch Information Management Team… Lee Jeong Yeon.”

I stared at her as she spoke.

[Name: Lee Jeong Yeon]

[Age: 36]

[Specialty: X]

[Talent: X]

[Background: Tasked with civilian information control at the Gangbuk Branch of the Management Agency, she was rewarded with a cruise vacation for her efforts in preventing major incidents in advance. Little did she know she would get caught up in yet another incident here.]

[Weakness: Just a regular person. If killed, she truly dies.]

An ordinary person with no significant talents.

“I’m Kim Jae Heon from the Gangseo Branch Human Resources Team, and this here is…”

“Gangdong Branch Isolation Team Jang Chae Yeon.”

Jang Chae Yeon introduced herself with concise words, and relief washed over the woman’s face upon hearing her words.

“Isolation Team…! Thank goodness… There shouldn’t be any major issues…”

“…”

The status of the Isolation Team is something else, it seems.

Her hesitation was like a floodgate that opened, and she started speaking.

“I clearly remember resting in my room when suddenly, out of the blue, waves crashed, breaking the window and letting seawater in…”

Her account matched ours.

“Where did it happen?”

“I woke up on the deck.”

There wasn’t a significant difference in the location where we all woke up.

“What were you thinking when you were dreaming?”

“Hmm… I thought that if I stayed like this, it would be a big deal.”

“And your teammates?”

“One of the three I came with is fine, but one is in a weird state, so I locked them in a room.”

“I see. Thank you.”

After nodding in response to her, I prepared to look for other people.

“Wait a moment!”

“Yes?”

She called us as we were about to leave.

“And, I heard something strange.”

“Something strange?”

“Yeah. As I was going down from the deck, behind the boat… it sounded like waves crashing?”

I exchanged glances with Jang Chae Yeon.

“Anything else?”

“While dreaming… I think I heard a song.”

A song.

“I don’t know what that sound is, but please resist it as much as you can. Nothing good can come of it.”

“…I’ll try to.”

She nodded her head.

After confirming that she was leaving, I took out my radio to contact Song Ah Rin.

“Song Ah Rin.”

-What.

A gruff voice echoed through the radio.

“Check the places towards the back of the boat.”

-Okay.

*

The surveys and explorations continued until the sun began to set.

“We definitely have some commonalities.”

“Yeah.”

Jang Chae Yeon slowly nodded her head as she sat facing me in the restaurant.

Did the restaurant staff experience something similar? The only food in the restaurant was canned drinks and packaged bread.

As I ripped off a piece of bread, I began to organize the information.

“First, we all dream. Everyone dreams of becoming fish, and some heard an incredibly enticing sound.”

“Right.”

“The locations where they wake up vary by individual.”

I had briefly run into Song Ah Rin and Yu Da On along the way, but they said they hadn’t found anything significant yet.

“It would be nice if those two found something as well.”

Clicking my pen, I wrote the information down on the paper.

I wondered what the cause of the personal differences was.

“Chae Yeon, do you think personal willpower greatly affects mental resistance?”

“Yeah.”

She answered without a second thought and looked at me.

“Personal will is important. If you have a strong will, you have a lower chance of being eroded by the phenomenon.”

“I see.”

If that were the case, did Yu Da On have less will? But that couldn’t be the case.

“…Is it because she dies easily?”

A hypothesis sprang to mind unconsciously.

For Yu Da On, death might not be a fear. Unlike us, she theoretically has infinite lives.

For example, if a massive axe were to fall toward us, all three of us would try to dodge, block, or do whatever it takes to avoid that misfortune.

But Yu Da On would likely not act that way. She’d probably think of a new plan after her head got chopped off.

In this situation, that’s a lethal thought.

“What might that wave sound near the back of the boat be?”

“…There might be something there.”

“Let’s wait for the two of them to come back and—”

-Static-!

Before I could finish my sentence, the radio crackled and I heard Song Ah Rin’s urgent voice.

-I can hear it!

“I hear you!”

I swiftly picked up the radio and responded, and her voice came through clearly on the other side.

-Listen carefully! Engine room! There’s something huge there…

-Static!

The radio started to buzz with noise.

-It’s destructive…! Somehow…! Absolutely…!

“Song Ah Rin!”

crackle, the radio silenced for a moment before her final words echoed through.

-The next time you find me, subdue me.

-Rumble!

The boat shook slightly,

-Crash!

The window shattered as seawater rushed over us.

A terrible fishy smell engulfed us.

*

We fell into the water. Just like yesterday.

This time, my gills forming as I screamed, my voice drowned in bubbles.

The scariest part was that there wasn’t any pain accompanying all of this. My body was changing as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Jang Chae Yeon’s words echoed in my head.

The will to die as a human, even if I was to die.

I held my tongue out to avoid screaming, biting down hard on it.

Crimson blood spread through the water, and the sharp pain cleared my mind.

I turned my gaze downward.

Unlike the sky, nothing was visible in the deep sea.

Descending with the fins of a fish into the pitch-blackness of the abyss.

I could hear something in my ears.

I surely had no ears, yet a song caressed my soul.

There were no lyrics, just monotonous humming.

The humming was compelling me to give up on everything.

With every syllable of the song, I felt myself melting away.

‘Don’t die.’

Hearing the voice as my awareness began to fade, I steeled myself and continued downward.

I could see something down there.

The face of something enormous—

Before I could see anything else, my consciousness cut off there.

*

“…Cough! Cough!”

I coughed up water and sat up.

It was my room again.

The sky had brightened, and the morning sun was shining down.

There was a faint smell of fish in the air.

I quickly checked myself.

I was fine. What about the others?

I tried calling out through the radio, but no one answered.

Could it be…?

-Slam!

“Kim Jae Heon!”

The door burst open, and Jang Chae Yeon rushed in.

“…Chae Yeon.”

She looked at me with a worried expression.

I examined her carefully too.

After a brief silence, she opened her mouth.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine for now.”

“…That’s a relief.”

She sighed in relief.

“Anyway… I think I understand a bit.”

“…”

Jang Chae Yeon nodded her head as well.

It was a matter of pure will. The question of whether or not you gave up.

“…Let’s head straight to the engine room.”

I rose and drew my gun.

“We need to check what’s there.”

From now on, it was a race against time.

The third day of the cruise trip had dawned.