It really was because of the red-eyed python.
Everyone felt that they should have expected it.
But they also found it strange.
"Old Jin."
"It's not your first time seeing this snake."
"Why are you so scared?"
"Hey."
"Why are you shaking so much?"
One of the staff members placed a hand on the older staff member's shoulder.
He could clearly feel the trembling beneath his hand.
"What's wrong?"
"What happened?"
"...It glared at me."
The older staff member's lips moved for a long while before he spoke hoarsely.
Thinking of what had just happened, the older staff member still felt shaken.
Those red, vertical pupils had stared straight at him.
Cold.
Sharp.
Like a knife...
He had felt as though he had fallen into an icy pit.
He had been overwhelmed by terror.
He only snapped out of it when the other staff members called to him.
He had broken free of that fear.
But he was still shaken.
His hands and feet were cold.
His mind was sluggish, too.
The others couldn't understand why he was so scared...
Actually, he couldn't understand it either.
But the fear had come on suddenly and intensely.
He couldn't understand it, but he couldn't control it.
The older staff member didn't dare move forward another inch.
He took a step back.
Then another.
The other staff members exchanged glances.
The older staff member's explanation was rather vague.
So the red-eyed python had glared at him...
So what if it had glared at him?
As far as they were concerned, it was just a glare. It wasn't as if he'd lost a piece of flesh.
Couldn't he just pretend he hadn't seen it?
How could it...
have affected him so badly?
They still didn't understand,