Ch.14Blood-Written Characters

Park Sungjin walks out from behind the door of Room 705.

“Mister.”

“……”

“You didn’t go on the internet, right?”

“……Right. Of course not.”

“Then why do you have a smartphone in your hand?”

Please.

“Ah, this?”

Park Sungjin tries to laugh it off.

“Just. Setting some alarms. Even though calls don’t work, it has quite a few useful functions.”

“I see.”

Thank goodness.

“Anyway, don’t go on the internet. That’s…!”

“Want to see?”

“What?”

Park Sungjin turns his smartphone around, and on the screen is that text again. Meaningless words arranged chaotically pile up in my head.

I instinctively ducked down.

Whoosh-

“WRITE!!!! HURRY GIVE IT TO ME I NEED TO FINISH WRITING NOT ENOUGH BLOOD HURRY!!!!”

Park Sungjin swings the crowbar wildly. His sleeve slides down, revealing his wrist. There are deep gashes all over, cut so deep the bone is visible.

“GIVE IT TO ME!!!”

CLANG!

The wall crumbles, sending white powder flying.

“Mister! Snap out of it!”

“I SAW THE ARTICLE!!! WHY ARE YOU FINE? WHY!!!!”

Park Sungjin swings the crowbar like a madman, then starts hitting his own body. Thud! Thud! His flesh tears open and blood splatters everywhere. But Park Sungjin doesn’t stop.

A paper scrawled with blood falls fluttering from his pocket.

[■■■■■■■■■■is called■■so■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■7■]

The letters are crumpled and torn all over. Except for a few characters, it’s impossible to read properly.

“I said snap out of it!!!”

CRACK.

I turned around and sprinted down the hallway. Park Sungjin is chasing after me, screaming incomprehensible noises.

Whoosh- Whoosh-

The crowbar cuts through the air. I’ve already become weaker in strength and stamina since becoming a woman. There’s no way I can win in a direct confrontation.

What should I do?

If I keep going this way, I’ll reach the stairs. But I don’t know what might happen if I go down…!

“I’M FINE!!!!!LIM DABIN!!!!!!!”

I’m not even halfway down the hallway, but I’m already out of breath. Meanwhile, the mister shows no sign of fatigue despite sprinting at full speed. Park Sungjin quickly closes the distance.

“Huff. Hah…”

Why is this body so slow!

The distance is too close to escape by opening a door and hiding inside. Yoon Daju and Choi Serim are inside the apartment, but they’re passed out from exhaustion. I can’t expect them to open the door from inside.

Plus, my condition is terrible. I’ve been running around all day without proper rest.

Swish-

I quickly duck my head and feel the wind at the back of my head. The crowbar just grazed my hair.

He hasn’t caught me yet?

And the next moment. With a tugging sound, my neck is suddenly yanked back.

“Aack!!”

My hair gets tangled in the curved part of the crowbar and is pulled out. The pulling force is so strong that my body falls backward, and I collapse before I can regain my balance.

“Good… now I can complete it…”

Completely out of his mind, Park Sungjin slowly raises the crowbar with a vacant expression.

“I need to draw as much blood as possible. The quality needs to be good too. That’s how I can complete it…”

Even when he accidentally hit himself, it was powerful enough to tear his flesh. If that hits my head, I’ll die instantly. I need to avoid it, but my legs are too weak to move…

Swish-

The metal weapon draws a distorted semicircle in the air.

BANG!

And what the crowbar hit was the front door of Room 701.

Daju briefly closed the front door, then flung it open again with all her might.

Thud!

“Argh!”

Park Sungjin falls backward into the hallway.

“Oppa! Get in!!!”

I quickly got up and went inside.

Bang! Click.

After closing the door and checking the lock, Daju even secures the hinges. She seems a bit better now, but her face is still pale.

“Huff huff huff…”

“Are you okay?”

“……”

I’m too out of breath to speak properly.

“The internet is dangerous. Articles… seeing them makes you go crazy…”

“Is that why the mister became like that? From looking at the internet?”

“Yeah…”

“What about the others?”

“Mr. Choi Jun-gi… is dead…”

“……”

Daju freezes with her mouth wide open.

“No way…”

“Sorry… I brought the internet.”

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The sound of the crowbar striking the metal door. The vibration travels into the apartment, making my head throb.

“No. It’s not your fault, oppa.”

Daju hangs her head with a blank expression.

“Ahaha… It’s the seventh floor. Seems like it’s not safe here either.”

Then she starts spewing words rapidly.

“This is just my thought, but this place shouldn’t exist. It’s not a space where people should live. Right? If even that mister died, how are we supposed to live here? Oppa. How did the mister die? Normally? Or did he transform into something strange? Or did he disappear without a trace?”

“……Stop it.”

“Tell me!!!”

“Right now. We need to stay focused.”

“Huh. Huff…”

Seemingly overcome with emotion, Yoon Daju covers her face with her hands and crouches down. With a sniffling sound, her shoulders are trembling.

“Okay. I’m sorry…”

Bang bang bang bang bang!

“OPEN UP!!!!”

Outside the front door, Park Sungjin is screaming at the top of his lungs.

“Wait here for a moment.”

We can still save that mister.

My exhausted legs are trembling. If I lie down even for a moment, I feel like I’ll pass out. But I can’t do that. I walked to the bed and opened the laptop.

“Are you still here?”

– Not “still.” I’ve been here the whole time.

“That memetic kill agent. You can neutralize it, right?”

– Neutralize?

“The person who went crazy after seeing it. Can you treat them?”

– Treatment? Depends on what they saw.

– Why? Didn’t you just treat someone earlier?

“This is someone else.”

– Tell me what they saw.

“I couldn’t see it clearly. I think he saw some kind of article on his smartphone, and then he started cutting his wrists and writing something with blood. Now he’s rampaging outside the door.”

– Wait.

A moment of silence follows. Even the sound of banging on the front door seems inaudible right now.

– Did you see what he wrote?

“Only a few characters. I couldn’t read the rest properly.”

– This doesn’t sound good.

Behind me, Choi Serim is sleeping like the dead. Anxiety crawls up my spine.

“Why?”

– Tell me what it said.

“I only saw a few characters. ‘Is.’ ‘Called.’ And the number ‘7’.”

– Sigh……

………………………………………

The periods stretch across the screen.

– That person. Man or woman?

“Man.”

– Give up.

“……What?”

– I’ve seen some data, and typically men are more vulnerable to these kinds of attacks.

At such a clear and definitive answer, I was speechless.

– In this apartment, there’s a concept called anomaly perception. It’s the sensory ability to recognize hidden non-real entities, and generally men tend to be better at it than women. So, they’re more vulnerable when targeted. This memetic kill agent is also one of those hidden non-real entities.

I blankly watched as the letters appeared on the laptop monitor.

– That’s why you’re strange. From your voice, you sound like a woman, but you can read everything I write. But seeing how you’re fine after seeing the memetic kill agent, I’m not sure what to think?

“Just tell me how to treat him. Is there really no way?”

– There isn’t ㅠㅠ

– Even with exposure to the same memetic kill agent, the deeper you understand its meaning, the more lethal it becomes.

– Plus, that 7 you mentioned is also a problem… I’ve seen documents where I classified the levels.

– This is the most dangerous information among kill agents.

What have I done?

Was the server I brought from the department store a Pandora’s box?

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Oppa!!!”

Back to reality. The door shakes as if it’s about to fall.

I immediately left the bed and headed back to the entrance.

“What if he breaks down the door?”

“Even so, he won’t be able to break through a metal door. When they built this place, they must have considered security and…”

I stopped mid-sentence at the sound that followed.

Instead of the dull metallic sound, now a sharp mechanical beeping begins.

Beep-beep-

“Does that mister know this apartment’s number?”

“Yes. We shared all the door lock numbers in case of emergency.”

Beep-

The sound of someone pressing the door lock.

The password is seven digits.

Beep beep beep-

Beep-

♬♪♪♪-

He entered all 7 digits, but the door doesn’t open.

Is he confused about the password?

“Keep holding it!”

“What are you going to do?!”

“We need to tie it with rope so he can’t get in!!!”

After confirming the hinges are secured, I quickly looked around the apartment.