Chapter 4
By the time the tension that had stiffened my entire body finally eased a little, I felt a stinging pain in my palms.
When I opened the fists I had been clenching, I saw red nail marks dug into my skin.
It seemed I had been so nervous that I had been squeezing my fists without realizing it.
I turned my head and looked around.
Everyone had dazed expressions on their faces.
Well, of course they did.
The silence lasted for another five seconds or so before voices finally began to break out.
“...What the hell is that?”
“I-Is this some kind of filming?”
“Ha, fuck. What the hell is something like that doing here...?”
It started with small voices filled with confusion.
Then came voices that sounded almost pleading.
“You know something about this, don’t you?”
“Please tell us...”
Their desperate eyes seemed to believe that we knew something.
But we didn’t know anything either.
The only thing I knew was that everything happening right now was real.
And if we weren’t careful...
We really could die.
“Th-That’s what I saw! Something like that is wandering through the hallway right now, killing people!”
Lee Dohyun spoke with an expression that seemed relieved to finally be believed.
But his face looked strange.
It looked as though he were smiling.
Or crying.
Or perhaps slowly being driven insane.
“Th-Then what are we supposed... to do now...?”
Someone burst into tears, and a few others began to tear up as well.
If there was anything fortunate about it, it was that everyone seemed conscious of whatever was outside and didn’t cry loudly.
Then someone muttered in a weak voice.
“...What is this?”
I instinctively turned my head.
And my face immediately stiffened.
The blinds that had been lowered because the sunlight had been too strong were now completely raised.
And yet...
The sun that had been tormenting us earlier was nowhere to be seen.
Why?
My thoughts froze, as if they had crashed into a massive wall.
“No way...”
Someone whispered in disbelief.
As though hypnotized, people slowly approached the windows.
I did the same.
Was I seeing things?
I blinked several times.
But the scene before me didn’t change.
Was this a dream?
Or some hidden-camera prank?
The pounding of my pulse in my ears felt far too vivid.
This wasn’t a dream.
And it wasn’t a hallucination.
The black hair of the woman resting her hand on the window frame looked strangely bright.
Because...
The sky beyond her was even darker.
Pitch-black darkness.
Nothing could be seen, no matter how hard I looked.
Only black.
Pure darkness.
It was the first sign that our world had begun to change.
“What... what is that?”
“...An eclipse?”
People hurried toward the window.
But the closer we got, the more hopeless the scene outside became.
There was nothing.
It was as though everything had vanished, leaving behind nothing but endless darkness.
It didn’t feel real.
It felt as though I were watching a scene from a movie.
I stared into the darkness where I couldn’t see even an inch ahead and placed my hand against the glass.
The freezing chill against my fingertips was painfully real.
Is this something like an eclipse...?
That was the only explanation my stupid brain could come up with.
Right.
Maybe everything had simply been covered in darkness for a moment.
Maybe if I looked outside more closely, I would be able to see something.
At that moment, a violent gust of wind blew from beside me, tossing my hair around.
Whoooooosh—
The man standing next to me had opened the window before I could.
The instant the wind brushed against my cheek, an indescribable pressure crushed down on my entire body.
A chill ran up my spine.
Every instinct in my head screamed danger.
Before I could even figure out where that feeling was coming from, a piercing scream exploded beside me.
“Aaaaargh—! Hmph!”
A nearby woman hurriedly covered the screaming man’s mouth.
At the same time, someone standing next to me collapsed onto the floor.
Thud.
Several people nearby gasped.
I instinctively looked down.
And froze.
H-His head...
The thing that should have been sitting on top of the fallen man’s neck was gone.
It was the man who had opened the window.
I had no idea what had cut off his head.
But there was one thing I understood perfectly.
If I had been the one who opened that window...
I would have been lying there instead.
The instant that realization hit me, dizziness washed over me as if the floor beneath my feet had collapsed.
I knew I was standing here.
And yet, for some reason, reality suddenly felt very far away.
Shiiiiing—
I heard something thin and sharp slicing through the air at incredible speed.
Instinct told me I had to dodge it.
But my body, completely consumed by fear, refused to move.
Move.
Move, damn it...!
“Kim Jia!”
Han Siwoo shouted my name.
At the same moment, my body was violently shoved backward.
Crash—!
Pain flashed through me.
But only for a moment.
Shiiiiing!
Crack!
Something invisible smashed into the floor.
Right where I had been standing only a second ago.
Then—
Screeeech—
Han Siwoo hurriedly slammed the window shut.
Click.
The freezing cold that had bitten into my skin disappeared.
That horrifying presence vanished just as suddenly.
“Are you okay?”
Han Siwoo asked, breathing heavily.
Still half out of my mind, I somehow managed to nod.
My head was still blank.
I didn’t even know how I was managing to respond.
Once he confirmed that I was safe, Han Siwoo let out a faint sigh and turned his attention back toward the window.
“What the hell was that?”
I followed his gaze.
Of course, there was nothing there.
It looked as though nothing had ever happened.
But what happened had happened.
“Han Seokwon...”
A grief-filled cry escaped someone’s mouth like a scream.
It seemed he had been the dead man’s friend.
“This is fucking insane...!”
Maybe it was the pain of losing his friend.
I heard the sound of his fist striking the floor.
The man was crying.
Unable to do anything about his friend’s death, all he could do was bite his lip and choke back sobs.
But our damned situation didn’t even give us enough time to mourn the dead.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
The heavy trembling sounds came from the hallway once again.
No.
More precisely...
They were the footsteps of something that wasn’t human.
Everyone froze as though they had rehearsed it.
We were so terrified that even the sound of our eyes moving might be heard that we stopped ourselves from looking around.
“Aaaaaagh!”
Not long after, another stranger’s scream echoed through the hallway.
The same vicious cycle repeated itself.
And once again, it reminded us exactly what kind of situation we were trapped in.
Damn it...
I chewed on my lip and forced my trembling fingers together.
If I didn’t do at least that much...
I felt like the fear alone would break me.
A moment that felt like eternity passed.
Only after the footsteps that had made everyone hold their breath finally faded into the distance...
did we begin breathing again.
Very slowly.
“What... what do we do...? What are we supposed to do now?”
A woman with tears covering her face looked around at everyone.
Her question broke the silence, and one person after another began speaking.
“P-Police. Right! The police! Let’s call the police.”
“Did you already forget that we have no signal?”
“Ah... right. Then what are we supposed to do?”
“If we knew that, do you think we’d be standing around like this?”
Countless conversations followed.
But not a single one gave us an answer that could save us.
Maybe it was because of what had just happened.
My body felt cold.
At the same time, I felt feverish.
The constant murmuring made my head throb, so I closed my eyes instead.
“You don’t look good.”
“Of course I don’t. I almost died. Just... let me stay like this for a minute.”
I answered Han Siwoo without opening my eyes.
I couldn’t even bring myself to lie and say I was fine.
“What happened to your hand?”
I felt him grab my wrist and opened my eyes.
“My hand...?”
My voice slowly faded as I looked down.
Blood.
Blood...?
I stared at both of my hands.
They were soaked in red blood.
The pain finally hit me a moment later.
My eyes began to water from the stinging sensation.
W-When did I get hurt?
Was it serious enough to kill me?
I was bleeding this much.
Was I going to die?
Was I going to die just like that man?
My hands began trembling uncontrollably.
“N-No...! I don’t want to die...”
I stared at Han Siwoo in fear.
He carefully examined my hands, then eventually released what sounded like a relieved sigh.
“...It’s okay. You were just cut.”
For a moment, the question How do you know that? rose all the way to my throat.
But with the last bit of reason I had left, I swallowed it.
I just wanted to believe him.
I wanted to believe they were nothing more than simple cuts.
“Calm down and slowly move your hands.”
At Han Siwoo’s words, I carefully moved my fingers.
“You can make a fist too, right?”
I followed his instruction and clenched my fist.
Then I nodded.
Han Siwoo’s gaze returned to the window.
“If something was seriously wrong, it probably would’ve happened already. Don’t worry. And I think it would be better if you stay away from that window.”
That was obvious.
Someone had just died there.
You would have to be insane to go near it again.
I weakly nodded.
“If you’re tired, sit down for a while.”
Han Siwoo pulled over a nearby chair and placed it in front of me.
I stared at it blankly for a moment before collapsing into the seat.
Something soon touched my palms.
My eyes widened at the sting.
Before I knew it, tissues had been wrapped around my hands.
“The bleeding should stop soon.”
I weakly nodded.
But this wasn’t what really mattered right now.
I opened my mouth, my voice trembling.
“What’s going to happen to us now...?”
“I don’t know...”
“We’ll survive... right?”
“Of course.”
It was exactly the answer I wanted to hear.
And yet...
For some reason, it didn’t reassure me at all.
All I could do was pray.
Please let this be nothing more than a nightmare that would pass in an instant.
Please let everything return to normal when I opened my eyes.
With that desperate wish in my heart, I closed my eyes.
I must have fallen asleep for a while.
When I opened my eyes again, the exhaustion that had been tormenting me felt slightly more distant, and the voices around me sounded much calmer.
“Why the hell aren’t our phones working?”
“Ah, this is seriously driving me crazy.”
“Then at least cover that thing up. It keeps bothering me.”
Even through my hazy mind, I immediately understood what they meant by that thing.
There were a few complaints.
Some people said they didn’t want to touch it.
Others said it felt too disturbing.
But soon, they started playing rock-paper-scissors among themselves.
A moment later, I heard something being dragged across the floor.
“Ugh...”
“Sniff... M-Mom...”
Some people gagged during the process.
Others began crying again.
“...Don’t you think the police will come if we just keep waiting?”
“What a carefree thing to say. Our phones don’t work. How are the police supposed to know what’s happening here? Even if they do eventually come, we’ll probably have starved to death by then.”
Whenever someone offered an idea, someone else immediately shot it down.
The argument continued several times.
Eventually, they seemed to realize that the discussion was getting them nowhere.
So this time, they changed their target.
One of them turned toward Lee Dohyun.
“Hey. You saw it, didn’t you? Then tell us. What the hell did you see out there?”
