Ch.144The Fifth Apostle

“Hey! Lim Dabin!”

After running for a while, I hesitated momentarily when I heard someone calling my name.

With the lights out in the lab, I couldn’t see clearly who was around me.

“Choi Serim!!!”

Another voice followed.

“Dabin. Over there.”

At the spot Serim pointed to, Heo Yoon was urgently gesturing.

“Gather over here first!”

She was alone.

And she said she’d be waiting in front of the elevator, but there was no sign of any elevator.

Serim must have noticed something strange too, as she asked me:

“What do you think? Is that really Yoon?”

“I’m not sure. For now—”

“Dabin!”

“Hey, Lim Dabin! Behind you!”

Serim and Heo Yoon called me simultaneously.

And before I could grasp the situation, my body was sprawled on the floor.

As I barely opened my eyes,

A person’s weight pressed down on me.

“Got you.”

A chilling voice echoed in my ear.

A pungent breath touched my cheek, and the blood-stained white coat of a researcher blocked my entire view.

“Let go!”

I tried to fight back with the gun in my hand, but my body was already firmly pinned to the floor.

I needed to raise my arm to aim the gun, but I couldn’t move an inch from the floor.

“Urgh…”

I gritted my teeth.

Despite resisting with all my might, the situation didn’t change much.

“Unnie!”

“It’s not working. I can’t interfere with their thoughts!”

“What? What should we do?”

Thwack!

Serim struck the attacker with all her might using the blunt weapon she was holding, but the assailant brushed it off as if it were nothing and raised his head.

Thwack! Thwack! Thud!

The result was the same no matter how many times she tried.

“Dabin…”

“Unnie, stay away for a moment.”

“No.”

“Quickly!”

I slightly raised the gun in my hand.

If I aim well, I could escape from here, but if I mess up, the bullet might hit Serim.

So it’s better for me to wait for an opportunity alone.

“Good.”

The assailant grinned, showing his blood-filled gums.

“Now, to prevent you from escaping…”

“Huh?”

In the midst of my struggle, my ankle was caught.

Sharp nails dug into my skin.

As an ominous feeling flashed through my mind.

Crack-

Instantly, I felt excruciating pain.

Fortunately, I was able to pull my foot away at the last moment, but the pain was still overwhelming.

“Huff. Huff…”

The pain was so intense I could barely breathe.

I managed to lift my head just enough to check the condition of my ankle.

I had imagined it twisted in the opposite direction, but thankfully it wasn’t that bad.

Probably just dislocated, not completely broken. If I can just get away from here, I can somehow escape.

“Dabin! Now’s your chance!”

“Unnie?”

As I raised my head again, the first thing I saw was a piece of hanging cloth.

A thick gray cardigan. It was the clothes Serim was wearing.

“I’m fine, so shoot.”

Serim had taken off her clothes and was using them to cover the assailant’s eyes.

“Let go of this.”

The crazed researcher’s head tilted backward.

It seemed that while he couldn’t feel pain, he hadn’t become stronger.

“I said let go!”

Thanks to that, the assailant’s gaze momentarily shifted away from me—

—and I was finally able to properly aim the gun I was holding.

Toward his head.

“Shoot! Quickly!!!”

Click.

Being a special gun, the firing sound was barely audible.

Instead, the sound of flesh splattering as the bullet hit was more distinct.

Splat.

The arm holding me down went limp.

“Huff. Huff. Huff…”

Both Serim and I were gasping for breath.

I pushed the researcher’s body off me with all my strength, and the corpse slid onto the floor.

“Dabin…! Dabin!”

Even in this situation, Serim hugged me tightly.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“I’m fine. But what about Yoon earlier? Did you see where she went?”

“Yoon… I’m not sure. I must have lost track of her.”

“Lost track? I’ve been running here the whole time.”

Heo Yoon emerged from the darkness.

“Dabin? I saw you get caught earlier. Are you okay?”

“I hurt my ankle.”

Heo Yoon glanced at my ankle and then quickly looked away.

It was too dark to see properly anyway.

“We don’t have time to check now, we’ll look at it later. Can you stand up?”

“Just a moment. Let me try.”

I placed my hands on the floor and slowly raised my body.

The moment I tried to support my weight on both legs, pain surged again.

“Augh…ugh!”

The pain was so intense I couldn’t hold back a scream.

It felt like electricity and sparks were shooting through me simultaneously. My legs gave way.

As I lay dazed on the ground, Heo Yoon let out a deep sigh.

“It’s clearly not just a dislocation. It’s completely broken.”

“What…?”

“This won’t work. Come here.”

Even in my dazed state, I extended my arm.

“No, not for support. Get on my back.”

“Okay…”

“Serim, watch over us from the side.”

“Yes, unnie.”

Heo Yoon carried me on her back and handed the weapon she was holding to Serim.

“You know how to use this, right?”

“A shotgun?”

“Yes. Even if you don’t, you need to use it.”

“…Alright.”

“Just hold it tight, press it against your shoulder, and if you see someone charging at us, just shoot.”

Serim awkwardly took the shotgun.

Even while being carried by Heo Yoon, I couldn’t help but worry.

I hope she won’t have to use it.

Heo Yoon started moving quickly while carrying me.

“Let’s go now.”

“But what happened? I heard you were waiting near the elevator. Didn’t you see anyone else?”

“I was by the elevator at first. But when I came to my senses, I was here. As for the others, I’m not sure anymore.”

After a brief exchange, the conversation stopped.

Neither I nor Heo Yoon could speak here.

“We need to extract it quickly.”

“We need blood to complete it.”

The surroundings were filled with the murmuring voices of crazed researchers.

On top of that, there were sounds of them drawing their own blood to wet the floor, and squeezing blood from corpses.

“…They’ve all gone mad.”

Serim was on the verge of tears.

“Serim, don’t read people’s thoughts carelessly.”

“Yeah… But…”

“It’s okay if you read my thoughts though.”

“No, Dabin. You need to be careful too.”

Serim is right.

A terrible madness lingers around here. If I lower my guard, I might go mad too.

There’s no other way.

We just need to get out of here as quickly as possible.

“I’ll try to hold out here.”

“Yes. Try not to read thoughts as much as possible.”

“Hey, Lim Dabin.”

“Yes?”

Heo Yoon, who had been walking silently, turned slightly.

“Focus on yourself. Your ankle is broken.”

“…Yes.”

The throbbing pain continues to rise from my broken ankle.

Given the situation, I’m just somewhat forgetting the pain.

But if I were to step directly on the floor, the pain would be enough to make me faint.

Can we keep moving like this?

From far away, the voices of the crazed researchers can be heard again.

“The fifth apostle is coming.”

“We welcome the fifth apostle.”

“We shed blood for the fifth apostle.”

“We must build a red altar for the fifth apostle.”

“Let impure blood fill the impure chalice.”

…

“We need more blood.”

Each word is spoken in a chilling voice, but they didn’t register properly in my ears.

More terrifying worries engulfed me.

My ankle is broken.

Can I survive outside of here? I had confidently proposed an ending, but was the professor right after all? Someone like me can’t possibly survive. Outside the apartment isn’t any better. Much more dangerous situations will unfold. I can’t survive in a situation where I can’t even walk properly. I’m going to die. With my intestines pulled out and blood flowing from my eyes, my thoughts completely melted and without any consciousness, I’ll become a terrible sight wandering the streets, swallowed by eternal oblivion. It doesn’t end there. My consciousness continues to persist. Even if everything completely perishes, only my consciousness stubbornly survives, immersed in endless regret. That I caused everyone to die. That I failed. That the professor was right after all… I failed.

“Lim Dabin!”

“Huh? What?”

When I came to my senses, Heo Yoon was shouting at the top of her lungs.

“Stop those weird thoughts! We’re not going to die!”

“What was I doing?”

“You kept muttering. Strange things, continuously.”

“Ah…”

Only after Serim told me did I realize.

My thoughts were leaking out of my mouth.

“I’m sorry.”

“Dabin, you need to stay focused.”

Until just now, I was completely entranced by this space.

My eyes have adjusted to the darkness.

I can roughly see what’s happening around us.

The crazed researchers are all drawing patterns on the floor with their own blood.

It’s a large and intricate pattern that fills a corner of the lab floor, something that could never be completed with the sacrifice of just one or two people.

Centered on that pattern, waves occur.

The space itself distorts and then straightens repeatedly.

Is it because of these waves that people continue to go mad?

Heo Yoon suddenly speaks up.

“That drawing… What will happen when it’s completed?”

“Unnie?”

While I was momentarily dazed, Heo Yoon was intently looking at the pattern in the distance.

“Dabin, you saw it too. Sungjin was like that. He went completely mad, spouting nonsense about needing to get blood…”

“Yoon.”

“But, what if there was a reason for it all?”

“Unnie!”

I shook Heo Yoon’s shoulders with all my might.

“Huh? What?”

“You need to stay focused.”

The light returned to Heo Yoon’s eyes, which had momentarily clouded.

“Alright.”

Heo Yoon put her finger in her mouth and bit down hard.

The sound was loud enough to be heard from here.

“Let’s quickly come to our senses. We’re almost there.”

“Yes.”

Heo Yoon continues walking while carrying me.

We’ve been walking for a while, but there’s no sign of the elevator.

We can’t even find other people.

“Are you sure this is the right direction?”

“I’m not sure either. I was certain I saw it, but it’s strange.”

“The lab wasn’t that big. No matter how wrong our direction is, we should have found something by now.”

“Yes, that’s true.”

“Unnie, wait a moment.”

I examined the darkness in front of me carefully.

As I thought. The space is distorting.

I thought we were going in one direction, but when I came to my senses, it was a completely different direction.

“The space is strange right now. It seems to be twisting wildly and continuously expanding.”

“What? Then what should we do?”

“Let me think for a moment.”

I take a deep breath to calm myself.

Numerous possibilities appear and disappear in my mind.

Yebin isn’t responding to contact, and we can’t reach anyone other than those present here.

“This won’t work.”

“Huh? Why?”

“The longer we stay still, the easier it seems to go mad. We should avoid thinking as much as possible.”

Serim asks worriedly.

“Is Dabin okay right now?”

“For now, yes.”

“Unnie, what do we do now? Moving doesn’t make sense, and we shouldn’t think either…”

“I don’t know. What should we do?”

It feels like we’ve hit a roadblock.

If we can just safely escape from here, we can go outside the apartment.

We can’t be held back right before the ending.

The time spent pondering grows longer.

At the same time, the probability of being consumed by madness increases.

“Ugh!”

I shook my head vigorously as I felt nauseous.

For a moment, images of dismembered intestines flowed in, and I couldn’t bear it anymore.

“Are you okay?”

Heo Yoon pats my back from the side.

Then, as if she remembered something, she suddenly spoke.

“Right. But you’re a librarian, aren’t you? Didn’t you say these things don’t affect you?”

“Ah, a librarian?”

“Yes.”

“I’m not anymore.”

More precisely, I’m about to give up my position as a librarian.

There’s not much difference at this point, but.

The moment I made this decision, I became unable to use most of the privileges provided by the library.

The library has taken them all away in a petty manner.

“But thanks to what you said, I just remembered something.”

“What?”

“A method.”

There is a way to escape from here.

The simplest function I can use even with my current privileges.

A very low-level privilege that any librarian can use.