Death Cast

02.3 | He Who Sleeps, Dreams

There is nothing more cliché than to have your tourist bus get stuck in the middle of nowhere dead at night. Eighty percent of the time would result in half of the group dying and the remaining being chosen to survive just to die in another setting, presumably, in an abandoned mansion or a house resided by weird people. It is a common occurrence in horror movies where things will eventually fall in a cycle of unbidden revenge and unsolicited death. Just thinking of it makes everyone a bit finicky. 

In particular, the ones who are affected by the scheme are the people who are most knowledgeable about it. Jaerim is silently peering out from the half-open bus window beside a bright light from an emergency lamp that kept the place illuminated as the driver and the conductor were trying to fix the engine. Jaerim never learned how to fix cars, so he decided to stay and watch on the sidelines. Noel had long gone and joined the men to examine the engines.

“How about it?” Jaerim asked the moment Noel walked up.

Noel shook his head. “We couldn’t see the reason for the breakdown. It’s probably something else.”

“I assume we won’t be able to fix it.”

It’s already expected. It is something they had assumed to happen.

“Then, will we be sleeping on the bus?” Jaerim asked.

“What other choices do we have? It’s not that we can control anything else.”

Jaerim hummed. He looked at the expanse of dark beyond the road that no lights could touch and felt an uncomfortable sense of eerie. Just one look is enough to know that it won’t be a good idea to walk into this unknown land. It’s smart to stay still and wait for whatever rescue that will come. Noel pulled out a blanket from his carrier bag and positioned himself beside Jaerim. The person affected turned his head suspiciously and found Noel shifting to his seat, looking for a comfortable position.

“What are you doing?” Jaerim asked quite loudly.

“Isn’t it obvious? Sleeping?” Noel answered, as a matter of fact.

“Of course, I know that you are sleeping. But why are you sleeping here?” Jaerim straightened his back and turned his head to the back of the bus. “Were you not originally sitting there?”

Noel nodded. “Then what’s of it?”

“Why are you taking your place here?”

“Have you not heard about the more the merrier?”

“I don’t think I like to be grouped with you.”

But Noel ignored his words. He knew the reason why Jaerim didn’t like him and he accepted it. Actually, he preferred this kind of treatment. It’s better than pretending that they are close. He thought that it would feel weirder if Jaerim started treating him like he was a saint or something. He even shivered in disgust.

“What are you thinking?” Jaerim looked at Noel with narrowed eyes. He was not a mind reader, but he could feel that Noel was thinking badly about him.

“Just sleep,” Noel easily ignored his words and closed his eyes. He is fast asleep. “Good night.”

Jaerim wanted to bicker more but Noel had long gone to the dream world. He frowned, looking at the peaceful image of the person beside him, and gave up. Anyways, it is true that teaming up together is better than being alone in this situation. But Jaerim could not bring himself to sleep. Somehow, his body, which should have been exhausted from all the nausea, feels very energetic.

The other Autumns decided to follow Noel and made their own sleeping nests inside the bus. They had never discussed anything yet, since the only contact they had with each other was their eyes observing each other cautiously. There are fewer Death Casts this time, probably about six or seven of them, while the others are random strangers. Nobody dared to act like a leader, unlike in the previous world where Ken took the initiative.

But they are interested, Jaerim thought. The people they are together now seem to be serious and very careful, which could be considered a good thing. They don’t want a group member that is reckless and stupid.

Night went by quite quickly.

Jaerim didn’t know when he had fallen asleep but he found himself leaning into the now closed window with a blanket draped over him the next day. His hazy eyes wandered aimlessly around and found the seat beside him empty. The traces of the other person were already gone. While his mind was contemplating if he should be worried about Noel missing, he heard some loud chatter coming from the outside. He pushed the window pane open and found a group of enthusiastic men trying their second chance at fixing the engine.

Of course, they had already accepted that it won’t be fixed easily.

There are about twenty-four passengers on the bus, two of them are the driver and the bus conductor, and the remaining eighteen are tourists. Of the eighteen tourists, eight of them were Autumns, which was composed of three women and five men. Four of the five men are outside, quite energetic in their own ways. Noel was standing opposite the window, so he noticed Jaerim when he opened the window.

“Good morning,” he greeted. “Want to see it?”

Jaerim just waved his hand to show that he wasn’t interested. It won’t get fixed without divine providence anyways, what’s use of fussing over it?

“Did you find something else?” Jaerim yawned, looking at the road ahead.

The sun is still not out yet but the bright light from the horizon is telling them that the day will soon come. Cold morning air blew through his short locks, lulling him to sleep again. At the end of his periphery, which is across the unpaved road, he found shadows emerging. It woke him up instantly.

He is not the only person who became alert. Everyone outside the bus also became silent, all of them looking in the same direction. The shadows gradually take the form of two men pulling a wagon. The two people seemed to also notice the bus walking in their direction. Their shabby clothing showed that they were villagers.

“There’s a village nearby?” Jaerim murmured.

Noel moved near the window and commented, “There shouldn’t be. I memorized the map and didn’t see any houses nearby.”

“Is that so?” Jaerim frowned. “But that’s weird.”

“What’s weird?” Noel raised his head.

Jaerim didn’t answer. He focused on the conversation between the two villager-looking men and the one who came forward to talk with them. Their voices weren’t low anyway, so they were able to hear their words quite clearly.

“You can stay in our village…”

“It’s just close by…”

“Don’t worry, there’s a lodging inside the village. I will tell the village head…”

“You can stay anytime…”

"Of course, you are all welcome..."

"We will serve you with all our care..."

"Err... I'm guessing we found the call coming inside the house," Noel commented.

Jaerim lowered his head and looked at Noel. The call coming inside the house - a common horror trope where a call coming from stranger will contact the people inside the house, triggering a death flag. It seems that their call had come.