Surviving Among the Entities

I conducted experiments on the 「Friendship」left behind by Homun.

“Outward appearance is a deep red apple, effect upon consumption is enhanced physical abilities.”

The first experiment I conducted was to reconfirm the extent of the physical ability enhancement.

‘Thanks to the blindfolded girl, my already enhanced physical abilities have increased further.’

The reason I called it a reconfirmation was because I had already instinctively realized how much stronger I had become.

‘Is this also thanks to the truth?’

Homun’s truth was a concept that allowed one to know even unexperienced knowledge, and it seemed 「Friendship」also allowed an instinctive understanding of the increasing physical effects.

“Still, I should verify it.”

I went out to the garden and placed my hand on a landscaping rock planted there. Applying force to lift it, the embedded rock came out easily.

‘My strength can lift over 10 tons.’

I kicked off the ground and dashed across the garden. In the blink of an eye, I reached from one end to the other.

‘My speed can run 100 meters in the 1-second range at full sprint.’

At that speed, I caught a landscaping rock with my shoulder. Ordinarily this should have caused severe fractures, but it was the rock that shattered instead of my bones.

‘My body’s durability is on the level of steel.’

All of my abilities had increased significantly beyond what could be called human.

“There’s no need for the term ‘superhuman’ separately.”

However, I could not be confident that this level of power would suffice against physically hazardous entities.

‘Entities often violate physical laws with their irregularities.’

Tearing steel with ordinary scissors and ripping cars in half.
Smashing concrete with a kitchen knife and cutting through the rebar inside.
Tearing people like paper with just fingernails, even shredding tanks.

‘All of those were just the antics of physically hazardous entities in the game.’

Besides these, there were countless other entity irregularities that violated physical laws, so engaging entities in physical combat would be foolish even with my current physical abilities.

“And yet, what is this feeling that it may still be possible?”

The power flowing within me seemed to cry out that enhancing physical abilities was not the end of its effects.

‘But this aspect is not instinctively realized.’

Since it seemed I could only understand by directly facing entities in combat, I focused on experimenting with 「Friendship」’s other effects instead.

“Duration is 1 hour.”

The slight feeling of weakness after the effect ended quickly passed, so there were no major side effects.

“Required consumption amount to activate the effect is over 20g.”

Roughly one apple slice, or a large bite, was needed to activate the effect.

“A single bite of 「Friendship」can reactivate the effect even after it ends, as long as the total weight consumed.”

It was purely based on weight, not one effect per whole fruit.

“Even if forcibly vomited out after consumption, the effect still lasts 1 hour.”

This was evidence that upon initial consumption, some scientifically inexplicable component was immediately absorbed into the body to induce the effect.

“「Human」flashes by in an extremely brief moment right after consuming 「Friendship」.”

Approximately 10 to 20 minutes worth of scenes played in compressed time, and while appreciating this real-world time did not flow.

“「Friendship」is not affected by the Weaken or Strengthen Potions.”

No derivative entities were created, nor any changes observed.

“Consuming over 40g or an entire whole fruit at once does not change the duration.”

Similarly, the viewing duration of 「Human」did not significantly differ either.

“Let’s try cooking it.”

Next, I consumed 「Friendship」prepared in various cooking methods – as jam, snacks, juice, and dried fruit forms, sometimes mixing it into other dishes, but in all cases the effect could be obtained with no observed changes in potency or duration.

“「Friendship」does not rot and can be permanently stored.”

Even after leaving it at room temperature for an extended period, it did not mold or rot. For this reason, fermentation was also impossible so attempts to make fruit wine failed.

“That’s as far as I can experiment alone.”

Since the most efficient form for portability and quick consumption was determined to be dried fruit, I prepared it as such while also beginning experiments with others consuming it.

[Recruiting Vitality Experiment Participants, Observing Physical Changes from Genetically Modified Fruit.]

Vitality experiments are typically conducted at hospitals, so attempting it elsewhere would normally fail to garner trust and participants. However, my all-purpose Resolver profession inspired enough trust to proceed with the experiments.

“As a Resolver you can certainly conduct vitality experiments at this level.”
“Even if not, they’re paying 500,000 won just to participate once, so of course we have to do it.”

Perhaps money was the deciding factor.

“Please consume this.”
“Apples?”
“We’ll monitor any sensations or physical changes you experience after eating them.”

I fed 「Friendship」slices to the participants.

“Hyyt!”
“Kkeung!”

Roughly half the participants immediately passed out upon consumption. This was the same reaction as when viewing 「Human」.

“Ugh, it felt like I ate some weird movie……”
“Ah, damn what a nightmare……”

However, unlike before when they simply passed out and that was the end of it, this time the effect continued even after losing consciousness.

“Some strange man at a desert oasis? Just watching that then dancing naked in space? I had such a weird nightmare.”
“I had an indescribably terrifying dream, but even though it was just a dream my head spun the whole time like I was going to die.”
“There was this one time I secretly drank an entire bottle of Royal Salute behind my dad’s back? This hangover is even worse than that time. Can this be called a hangover? In any case, my head feels like it’s going to split open.”

The duration of unconsciousness was precisely 1 hour, the same as 「Friendship」’s effect duration, and no attempts could rouse them before then.

“Uwoook!”

On the other hand, participants who did not lose consciousness were also unable to experience 「Friendship」’s effects.

“Strange visions keep flashing in my mind……”
“Ugh, something disgusting is violating my brain!”
“Aaaaaahk! Please get out of my mind!”
“Hey, Resolver? Why are you dancing naked in my mind…?”
“Uweok!”

Compiling their testimonies, it seemed compressed scenes from 「Human」were repeatedly playing in their minds.

‘Fascinating. For me it only triggered once.’

Could the scenes keep replaying if one failed to appreciate 「Human」’s artistic value?

‘It seems upon being absorbed, 「Human」also gained irregularities as an entity.’

In any case, due to this the participants who did not lose consciousness showed signs of feeling unwell, and completely separate from this 「Friendship」’s physical enhancement effects also did not activate for them.

‘It seems if one cannot appreciate 「Human」’s artistic value, they cannot enjoy 「Friendship」’s positive effects either.’

As it currently stood, for anyone other than myself 「Friendship」was merely an entity that either caused 「Human」to endlessly replay in their mind for an hour, or made them view it in their dreams while unconscious – not a physical enhancer.

“Experiment concluded.”

I finished all the experiments. While observing the dried apples continuously being produced in the dehydration freezer in the kitchen, I finally headed to Homun’s grave once more.

“One fruit ripens per day.”

Even without watering, they ripen so well.
I stood in front of Homun’s grave for quite a while. Somehow, a sense of emptiness distinct from the feeling of losing a friend welled up inside me, and after standing there for a long time I realized what it was.

‘I didn’t have a single photo taken with Homun.’

I don’t really like taking photos. I always thought it was better to be fully present in the moment, capturing it with my eyes and etching it into my heart rather than through photographs.

‘But that wasn’t entirely correct.’

Upon realizing there were no photos taken with Homun, I realized that way of thinking was mistaken.

“What could be more valuable than being able to relive memories eternally through photographs?”

I learned a new life lesson.

“Delivery!”

A few days later, the package I had ordered arrived. Having learned this life lesson, I immediately put it into practice by purchasing a Polaroid camera.

“This should do it.”

As I used the camera to instantly take and develop photos, a thought occurred to me:

‘What if I wanted to capture encounters with entities in photographs?’

The entity’s irregularity may prevent it from being photographed.
Or it could be a ghost incapable of being photographed at all.

‘Like Mr. Sin Yeong-mun, who is a ghost.’

Since I wanted to take photos with Mr. Sin Yeong-mun as well, I wondered if there was any solution to this issue.

‘Let’s try spraying the Strengthen Potion on it.’

I dropped some of the Strengthen Potion, which I didn’t have many uses left of, onto the Polaroid camera.

“I wonder if it will work?”

I took the camera to a supposedly haunted spot where paranormal phenomena frequently occurred. Although I visited dilapidated abandoned houses, mental hospitals and the like, I could not capture any spirit photographs.

‘If there were ghosts, I would have seen them with my own eyes.’

It was just a waste of time.
Then, my smartphone rang.

“Yes, this is Resolver Seung-hoon Lee.”
-Ah, are you Resolver Seung-hoon Lee?
“Yes, that’s correct.”
-I am Suwon Police Chief Park Yong-seo!

Beyond the speaker, an urgent male voice requested assistance.

-An utterly baffling mysterious disappearance case has occurred, so please help us!

[Next station is Suwon Station, Suwon Station. Exit on the left.]

I visited Suwon by subway.

‘A nice neighborhood.’

In fact, there was no need for me to personally resolve an incident suspected to involve an entity. Although not yet fully restored, the Foundation still existed so I could have simply contacted them to handle the Suwon case.

‘But if I were human, I shouldn’t do that.’

Already aware that the Foundation was so overwhelmed they would welcome any helping hands, shouldn’t I also step up and lighten their burden however slightly?

‘Additionally, pushing work one can do onto others is an bad habit.’

With these thoughts, I arrived in Suwon and visited the Suwon Police Station.

“Hello? I’m Seung-hoon Lee.”
“Heheh, you’ve arrived! Thank you for coming!”

After a brief casual chat with the police chief, we got down to business.

“You mentioned disappearances on the subway?”
“Yes, over the past month 10 people have gone missing.”

While disappearances occur nationwide all the time, in investigating the missing persons cases in Suwon the police chief discovered they had all disappeared from the same location.

“They all went missing after boarding the last train heading to Seryoo from Suwon Station.”
“Did you not check other routes? They could have boarded and gone to different areas, couldn’t they?”
“We reviewed the CCTV footage of all other subway stations in that direction, but could not find any of the missing persons exiting.”

This alone was insufficient.
The reason the police chief had called me specifically.
Based just on this, it was simply a series of disappearances, not a mystery.

“Resolver, please take a look at this.”

My doubts were resolved by a single CCTV screen.

“At first we didn’t think it was a mystery either, but after seeing this we became convinced.”
“This is……”
“The platform display at the moment each missing person boarded the train.”

The electronic board displaying the next train’s arrival time and direction showed this:

[Departure Time: Current]
[Destination: Hell]
[Boarding From: Present World]
[Line: 0 Line]

Ah, I know what this is.

“You’ve seen it, right?”
“Yes, I’ve seen it.”

I silently recited the name of the entity I knew.

‘The 0 Line Express Train to Hell.’