Chapter 172. Penalty (3)
The self-made escape room began, with no one who locked us in, and only those trapped inside.
As soon as I realized the door was locked, I hastily searched my pockets for my phone, but neither my phone nor Lee Doha’s, which I clearly had in my hand just a few minutes ago, were within reach.
“Ah, damn it. Looks like I left my phone in the living room.”
It must have been when I collapsed on the floor after hearing Lee Doha’s knock earlier, causing my legs to give out.
Just in case, I tried turning the doorknob a few more times, but it only rattled as if something was caught, and the door didn’t open. After a moment of deliberation, I quietly alternated my gaze between the frying pan in my hand and the locked doorknob.
“Are you going to break it with that?”
“…Would that be too much?”
“Actually, I’ve tried that a few times.”
Lee Doha responded in a calm voice, as if he fully understood my thought process of possibly smashing the doorknob with the frying pan. I did notice there were a lot of small scratches on the doorknob.
As I gripped the pan, ready to smash the doorknob at any moment, Lee Doha, in a slightly dejected tone, shared his tale of failure.
“But the more I hit the doorknob, the more the door twisted and wouldn’t open.”
Okay, scratch that plan.
There’s nothing more trollish than retrying something you already know doesn’t work, just like in a strategy game.
I casually placed the frying pan on the floor and immediately searched for the next method.
“Ah, you said you came to find your wallet, right? Do you have a card or something like that?”
“A card?”
“Yeah. Or if you have a piece of paper, that would work too.”
At my words, Lee Doha hurriedly pulled out his wallet from his back pocket and handed me a card from inside. It was a pink transit card with a cartoon character on it, which contrasted greatly with his large build.
“…….”
“…It was the only one they sold at the convenience store.”
I didn’t say anything.
But since saying anything at that moment felt even more awkward, I just nodded in acknowledgment and stood in front of the doorknob again.
“What are you trying to do?”
“Sometimes you can open doors like this.”
As Lee Doha, who was curious, approached me, I glanced at him and slowly slid the card into the gap of the door while turning the knob.
This was a technique I had mastered when the editing room door at the office used to get locked like this occasionally. You insert the card into the gap as the knob turns to unlock it.
“…Ah. It’s not working.”
But something must have been seriously jammed because the card wouldn’t go in, and I failed.
I returned the cute transit card to Lee Doha and sat down in front of the door. Then, I nodded my head at Lee Doha, who was still standing, gesturing for him to sit down too.
“Let’s put our heads together and think. After all, we both graduated from high school. If we think together, we might come up with something.”
At my words, Lee Doha scrunched himself down onto the floor near me.
For a moment, I wondered why we were both sitting here in front of the door when there were chairs and a bed in the room, but escaping was more important right now, so I decided to skip over the issue of the cramped space.
We folded our arms and began to seriously discuss how to get out of this room.
“Do you use an iPhone, Doha? Let’s try calling Siri.”
Attempt 1: Using the phone’s AI.
“Siri! Siri, can you hear me? Call Seo Taehyun. Siri! You should earn your high price, man!”
“Because of the soundproofing, I think it can’t hear us.”
The meticulously done soundproofing foiled this attempt.
“What if… we just break the door?”
Attempt 2: If your body is strong, your mind is at ease.
Lee Doha suggested this while seriously eyeing the door, but I quietly shook my head.
“There’s a sink and fridge right across from this room. If we mess up and break a cup or damage the fridge, it’ll cause a bigger problem.”
The location of the room rendered this idea unfeasible.
“…….”
“……?”
“…That window screen, it doesn’t open?”
“Hajin, we’re on the sixth floor.”
“If we wrap ourselves in blankets and carefully hold onto the pipe, maybe…”
“…….”
“…Yeah, that’s not going to work. Right.”
Attempt 3: Opening the window and escaping by dropping down.
Since my spirit would ascend to the heavens the moment my feet touched the ground, this was ruled out.
I tilted my head back, resting it against the door. When I looked at the clock on the wall, I realized it had been over 30 minutes since we got here.
‘Seo Taehyun knows I came to the dorm… If he can’t reach me, he’ll probably notice something’s wrong and come over to check…’
I had a feeling that if we just waited, something would eventually work out, but it didn’t feel right to just sit still.
By now, Seojudan was probably at Joo Eunchan’s house, with garlands and balloons hanging around, having a blast. I felt bad about wasting time like this.
‘The function to call for help from teammates doesn’t work since the phone is outside… Ah, isn’t there any other way?’
As I racked my brain, I finally noticed something in Lee Doha’s room that I hadn’t seen before.
On one side of the room, there was soundproofing material installed temporarily on the wall, along with MIDI equipment, a microphone, and an audio interface, all neatly set up for simple work. On the other side, there was a black suitcase with Lee Doha’s clothes and personal items neatly arranged. It looked like he had already prepared, considering the possibility of moving his room after the members returned to the dorm after the vacation ended. I pressed the soundproofing material against the wall and spoke to Lee Doha.
“Hey. What are you going to do if you really can’t use this room anymore, after you’ve done all this soundproofing? We still haven’t heard anything about what we’re going to do with the dorm.”
“Ah… I can take it down if I need to. I just attached it temporarily since I wasn’t sure.”
“If you can take it down, why don’t we do it now? Then Siri might be able to hear your voice.”
“But you need a knife or something to take it down, and I don’t have one in my room.”
“Right…”
Attempt 4: Failed before it could even begin.
As I let out a regretful sigh, a familiar ringtone rang from outside. It was my phone’s ringtone.
“Wow, Seo Taehyun must have called. Ugh, how do I answer it?”
“I even turned on my Bluetooth earphones just in case… But it’s either too far for the signal to reach, or I turned off the Bluetooth function, so it didn’t connect.”
“…You really tried everything, huh?”
At my slightly admiring remark, Lee Doha turned his head with a bitter expression. If this were a webtoon, Lee Doha’s face would have about 15 slashes across it, drawn with an SD face and fish-eyed expression by now.
‘In the end, is waiting our only option?’
When the faint ringtone finally stopped, it felt like a rescue ship had passed us by on a deserted island without noticing us.
Here’s the translation, keeping the formatting and spacing intact:
—
I decided to just wait for the quick-witted Seo Taehyun to notice our distress(?), but suddenly, I had the feeling that I was missing something huge.
“…Lee Doha. You’ve been working here during your vacation, right?”
“Yeah. That’s right.”
This is Lee Doha’s room.
The room where Lee Doha set up the minimal equipment needed to work.
In other words, ‘that’ exists here.
“Then, where’s your laptop right now?”
The laptop that might be our only means of communication!
“……!”
Upon hearing my words, Lee Doha suddenly sprang up, his eyes shining like that Western grandfather who shouted Eureka! after entering the bathhouse. Then, as if pulling out a holy sword, he dramatically lifted the laptop pouch that had been buried in his suitcase!
“Hallelujah….”
Overwhelmed with the emotion of finally being able to contact the outside world, I had to cover my mouth.
We immediately turned on the laptop and logged into Lee Doha’s PC messenger to explain the situation in the group chat.
<Kairos Seo Taehyun ‖ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ>
<Kairos Seo Taehyun ‖ Ah, sorryㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ But it’s just too funnyㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ>
<Kairos Seo Taehyun ‖ (Voice recording)>
When we played the voice recording Seo Taehyun sent, we heard the sound of Seo Judan laughing out loud.
These guys… even though their hyungs were in distress….
I felt a strange sense of betrayal, but since they were the only lifeline that could get us out of here, I couldn’t get angry.
Calming my rage, I quietly tapped the keyboard and sent a message.
<If you don’t open the door to the dorm by 7, I’ll spill the tea on Seo Taehyun’s Gangwon-do evacuation story online.>
<I’ll tell everyone that Seo Taehyun quit practice, went into a dark mode, ran away to Gangwon-do, and cried his eyes out because he thought he wouldn’t be able to debut.>
<Kairos Seo Taehyun ‖ Hyung, I just told Hyung Wook, and he said it’ll take about 30 minutes, so just hang in there a bit longer.>
<Kairos Seo Taehyun ‖ The guys and I will order dinner in advance.>
<Kairos Seo Taehyun ‖ What do you want to eat? Chicken?>
<Kairos Seo Taehyun ‖ (Winking and acting cute emoji)>
“Acting all cheeky, this punk.”
I smiled victoriously and turned off the messenger.
“Wook-hyung says it’ll take about 30 minutes. We just need to wait.”
“Okay, got it.”
“…….”
“…….”
And then came the silence.
At that moment, I thought.
‘…Uh. So, what do I do with him for 30 minutes?’
What’s the correct way to handle being stuck in a small room with a coworker of the same age who’s too awkward to call a friend, but not distant enough to say we’re not?
‘Should I just hit him on the head with a frying pan and knock him out for a bit?’
Kang Hajin, a man who would rather die than endure more than a minute of awkward silence.
Thirty minutes of time-attack with a coworker in deathly silence.
Start.
* * *
“…….”
“…….”
“……….”
“…Should I, uh, turn on the TV or something?”
“Sure.”
“…….”
“…….”
“…Ah. The remote is outside.”
And so, back to the present.
Due to the manager’s delay caused by traffic, the arrival was pushed back by about 20 minutes, leaving me and Lee Doha trapped in this room for nearly an hour now. As I rambled nonsense, nearly driven mad by the awkwardness, and sat back down on the chair, Lee Doha, after some quiet contemplation, responded to me.
“Actually, the TV is outside too.”
“…Ah. Right.”
“…Wanna watch Netplus or something?”
“No, it’s fine. Hyung will be here soon, anyway.”
Seeing Lee Doha suggest watching OTT on the laptop, I shook my head and declined, feeling strangely drained. It felt like it would be even more awkward to sit in silence and watch a movie together.
“…….”
“…….”
And once again, silence.
Unlike me, who dislikes prolonged silence unless with someone I’m really comfortable with, Lee Doha didn’t seem to mind this stillness. He didn’t appear particularly uncomfortable with the situation; if anything, I was the one who felt like I was dying from the awkwardness.
‘But why do I find him so awkward?’
Thinking about it, there wasn’t any real reason for us to feel awkward.
As I subtly glanced at Lee Doha while pondering, the timeline of his past, which I had seen before, came to mind.
‘…In the end, he quit music.’
The equipment I saw in the dream was far superior to the cheap gear Lee Doha had now. It seemed like he had a proper studio instead of this makeshift soundproofing with foam panels stuck everywhere, and judging by the other person’s lines, it looked like he had made a name for himself in the underground scene.
‘Huh? Come to think of it, wasn’t I supposed to be unable to see the past timelines until the reaction rate exceeded 70%?’
That’s why I had been waiting for opportunities to raise Lee Doha’s reaction rate.
Suddenly realizing this, I quickly opened the system window and checked Lee Doha’s reaction rate.
[System Alert: ‘Lee Doha’ has ‘reacted’ to you. (Reaction Rate 70.7%)]
‘Oh? It went up?’
It was just a slight increase of about 1%, but at some point, Lee Doha’s reaction rate had exceeded 70%.
Why? I wanted to find the reason, but I couldn’t figure out what was going on inside this guy’s head….
“Hajin-ah.”
“…Huh?”
Suddenly hearing Lee Doha call my name, it felt so unfamiliar that my reply came out awkwardly.
But Lee Doha didn’t seem to care about my odd reaction and quietly pointed somewhere with his finger.
“That….”
That what?
Following Lee Doha’s words, I turned my gaze toward where his finger was pointing.
On the desk, there was a handy camera with a red light blinking towards us.
“Oh….”
“Is that… recording?”
Did it capture everything we did while trying to pull off a Shawshank escape?
“Today’s really not easy….”
Turns out it wasn’t Seo Taehyun whose embarrassing moments would be exposed first, but me. Damn it!