Chapter 8

Chapter 8

I hadn't realized it before, but having everyone's attention focused on you was pretty embarrassing and stressful.

Of course, this wasn't exactly the time to worry about something like that.

I pulled the phone away from my ear and switched it to speaker mode so everyone could hear.

[Hello? Go ahead.]

Right on cue, a voice came through the phone, and the desperate looks in everyone's eyes grew even stronger.

[Hello? If you don't say anything, I'm going to hang—]

Why does everyone keep saying they're going to hang up?!

Afraid that the call we'd barely managed to connect would get cut off, I hurriedly spoke. Maybe because I was nervous, my voice trembled slightly.

"W-We’re in classroom F-3 on the fourth floor of Songpa University! My friend is badly hurt right now! So please, come quickly!"

It was a lie.

I was the only injured person here.

And even my injuries weren't bad enough to require an ambulance.

Still, I couldn't exactly tell them the truth about what had happened to us.

If I told the paramedic some ridiculous story about monsters, they wouldn't believe me. They might even hang up.

I just wanted someone outside to know what was happening to us.

I needed hope.

Hope that if we could just hold out long enough, we might eventually escape this place.

Even if that hope was nothing more than a rotten rope to cling to.

[…Songpa University? Did you just say you're at Songpa University?]

The sudden urgency in the voice made the hand holding my phone tremble.

No.

It can't be.

I desperately forced myself to believe that as I answered.

"Huh? Y-Yes. Songpa University."

[Miss! Do not hang up this call under any circumstances. And listen carefully. No one can get inside that place right now.]

My heart dropped.

Even in that moment, terrified that the call would disconnect, I forced my stiff lips open.

"…W-What do you mean? What do you mean no one can come inside?"

I wanted to believe it.

That I'd simply misheard what they had just said.

The voice continued.

[Hello! Sorry for the delay. Please don't hang up, and try to stay calm. Could you tell us what's happening inside there?]

That voice hadn't come from my phone.

Then another voice came through the speaker.

[This may be hard to believe, but listen carefully. Right now, an unidentified black dome is covering the entirety of Songpa University.]

This time, the sound had definitely come from my phone.

I stared down at it with trembling eyes.

The voice continued.

[The people who tried to enter… they're all dead.]

My head went numb.

It felt as if someone had struck me hard in the back of the head.

I should have said something.

But no words came out.

No.

I didn't even know what I was supposed to say.

Would saying anything even matter in the first place?

My expression twisted.

We couldn't expect help from outside.

Which meant—

We had to survive on our own.

Inside this building.

Where monsters were openly roaming around.

The police and the paramedics were extremely curious about our situation.

I don't really remember how I managed to keep talking to them.

The only thing I clearly remembered was what one of the police officers said after hearing everything.

[…Understood. For now, we've sent a helicopter to check whether it's possible to enter from above. If entry is possible, rescue operations will likely be carried out from the rooftop. I know this is difficult, but please evacuate to the roof.]

The moment I heard that, a hollow laugh almost escaped me.

Bullshit.

We were terrified just sitting still in this classroom, yet they were telling us to head toward the rooftop when we didn't even know whether the rooftop door was open or locked.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one who found it ridiculous.

A man who had been listening nearby shouted in my place.

"Excuse me. Did you not understand what we just told you? There's a monster wandering around the hallway right now."

[We fully understand the situation, but because of the helicopter's structure, landing anywhere other than the rooftop would be difficult.]

"We can't even leave the classroom right now, and you're telling us to go to the roof? If we die trying to get there, are you going to take responsibility?"

Just as the man said, heading toward the rooftop carried a huge risk.

But we couldn't entirely blame them either.

After all, if they couldn't even enter the university, what were they supposed to do to help us?

Still…

Was there really no other way?

Were we supposed to just sit here helplessly and wait until we starved to death?

I understood the situation logically.

But that didn't stop resentment from rising inside me.

[…If they were human, they'd already be dead. We're also trying everything we can to find another solution…]

The voice coming through the phone sounded strangely calm, as though the speaker were swallowing their frustration.

The conversation continued for several more minutes, but we gained nothing significant from it.

If anything, it only confirmed how hopeless our situation truly was.

My head hurt.

I handed the phone to someone else and walked over toward the window.

My gaze fell upon the thing responsible for this situation.

The black dome…

From inside, it simply looked completely black.

And yet they said it was shaped like a dome.

Still, I guess we should be thankful.

At least the world outside is normal.

If we'd somehow managed to escape only to discover that the entire outside world had become like this too…

That would have been truly hopeless.

I let out a deep sigh.

That was something I could worry about after escaping.

Right now, there was something else I needed to worry about.

Is Han Siwoo okay…?

If we couldn't escape through the windows and people outside couldn't enter through them either, then exploring outside the classroom might not have much meaning.

Maybe staying inside this classroom was actually the safest option.

Please… just be safe.

With nowhere else for my resentment to go, I directed it toward the black dome outside the window.

Then, suddenly, something strange appeared within the completely black scenery.

What's that?

Something resembling a white spot was glowing faintly.

A star?

No.

That couldn't be right.

What we were looking at wasn't the night sky in the first place.

There was no way a star could exist there.

Narrowing my eyes, I carefully stared at the mysterious white spot.

It was too large to be a star.

Rather than a star…

It looked more like a white vortex.

Was that there before?

No.

It hadn't been.

Something that noticeable couldn't have gone unseen by everyone.

It must have appeared only recently.

Maybe…

Maybe it's a clue to escaping this place.

My heart began pounding.

I turned my head to tell everyone—

And in that instant, the white vortex vanished.

Immediately afterward, another strange phenomenon occurred.

"How many times do I have to tell you?! People are dying— Hello? Hello?!"

The person who had been speaking passionately into the phone suddenly stopped.

A familiar beep… beep… came from the receiver.

"Ha… fuck. Nothing is going right."

As everyone stared in disappointment, I slowly turned back toward the window.

The call disconnected at the exact moment the white vortex disappeared.

That couldn't be a coincidence.

Everyone tried making calls again.

But just like before, none of them connected.

It was almost as if our brief connection to the outside world had never happened.

The tiny bit of hope that had excited everyone disappeared in an instant.

The atmosphere inside the classroom sank heavily once more.

For a moment, I considered telling everyone about the white vortex.

But in the end, I decided against it.

The vortex was already gone, and I couldn't even be sure whether it was actually related to the phone signal.

Besides, if someone started investigating the window because of what I said, something like the earlier accident might happen again.

After the call disconnected, silence settled over the classroom.

By the time even that silence became unbearable, someone finally spoke.

"What do we do now?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are we seriously going to sit here and wait for the people who went outside to come back?"

"What else are we supposed to do?"

Weak voices.

A meaningless conversation.

Maybe the real purpose of talking wasn't to find an answer.

Maybe they simply wanted to break the suffocating silence and stop themselves from thinking about terrifying things, even if only for a moment.

Then someone suddenly dragged a chair back with a loud screech and stood up.

Everyone glanced toward the man.

"The police and paramedics all said the same thing. We should wait on the rooftop. I know how helicopter rescues work. They can only pick us up from the roof."

"So what? You're planning to go outside?"

"Isn't that obvious?"

I shook my head as I listened.

He should at least wait until the people who went outside come back.

But maybe waiting wasn't necessarily the right answer either.

And since nothing had been firmly decided yet, I didn't really have a reason to stop him.

I stepped back and simply watched the situation unfold.

Then several people who seemed to share my thoughts spoke up.

"Hey, I've watched plenty of horror movies, and guys like you who rush around like that are always the first ones to die."

"You clearly never watched until the end. Sometimes the reckless guy actually survives until the very end. But the guy hiding in a corner like you? He always dies."

"Hah? Are you trying to start something with me?"

"You're the one who started talking shit first. If you want to sit here until you die, then stay here. What about everyone else? What are you going to do?"

Suddenly given a choice, the people in the classroom began murmuring among themselves.

"…So you're saying we should go outside?"

"Obviously. I need to use the bathroom too."

"……"

The bathroom?

Sure, someone might need to go.

But risking your life just to use the bathroom seemed like a pretty ridiculous reason.

Yet surprisingly…

It worked.

"M-Me too."

"Actually, I've needed to go for a while…"

"Ah, I wanted to go too."

Ridiculously enough, several people raised their hands after hearing that one sentence.

If I hadn't gone to the bathroom before class started, I might have been raising my hand along with them.

Using basic human needs to persuade people, huh?

This guy would probably be pretty good at politics.

"Anyone else coming?"

"What if there really is a monster outside?"

"Hmm. Honestly, I still think the whole thing sounds like a lie. But if there really is a monster…"

The man looked around before picking up one of the spare folding chairs stacked in the corner.

Then he swung it downward with all his strength.

"Wouldn't it get knocked unconscious if I smashed it in the back of the head like this?"

"Wow…! At least you'll be amazing at drawing aggro. So the plan is that while you distract the monster, the rest of us run away, right?"

"You disloyal bastard."

The man grimaced and jokingly swung the chair toward his teasing friend.

His friend, who nearly got smacked by the chair, grumbled at him to put that thing away.

Before anyone realized it, the dark and gloomy atmosphere in the classroom had become just a little brighter.