Ch.18Logistics Warehouse (End)

Darkness. A red light glimmers at the end of a completely unlit corridor.

[▼]

[▼]

The elevator door opens slowly. The hem of my cardigan suddenly pulls forward.

Before I can grasp the situation, both my feet lift off the ground.

Thud!

A dull impact travels through me. Below, an abyss gapes wide open, and I’m standing on the elevator button.

The floor structure hadn’t changed. The seemingly endless corridor of the 11th floor now points downward.

“Aaah!”

Looking up, I see Daju dangling from the handrail.

“Jump over here! I’ll catch you!”

“Can’t you just press the close button?”

“Oh.”

So that works.

“I’ll look for it, just hang on!”

“Hurry up! My hands are already giving out!!!”

Finding the button under my feet wasn’t easy. Especially with the sudden change in perspective.

“Why is this so complicated?”

“At the bottom! It’s next to the open button at the bottom!”

“Found it!!!”

With a chime, the elevator doors begin to close.

Daju is hanging above me, her face completely red.

“Is it done?”

“Wait. There’s something below.”

“What did you say?”

That red light.

Several chunks break off from the massive ball of light and start rising toward us.

Swoosh-

Bang!

Something hits hard against the closed elevator door.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Then the direction returns to normal.

Gravity yanks my head down, causing me to fall backward. Meanwhile, Daju lands with a thud in a fluid motion, maintaining her balance.

“Haa…ha…what was that just now?”

“I don’t know. I caught a glimpse through the door gap, but it was too dark around it.”

“We can’t come here anymore. Let’s go back.”

“Yeah.”

I press the 7th floor button and take out my smartphone.

– HEY!!!!!!!!!

The chat is filled with exclamation marks. How can text feel so noisy? I tap the screen to type a message.

– Me: I just went to the 11th floor and the direction of gravity changed

– Me: Do you know anything about that?

– Is that important right now?

– I almost died of boredom! Are you even human?

The tone seems to have changed already.

– Not enough capacity to speak properly

– Power is too low as well

– Me: I’ll move you to a better computer later

– Me: When we get out of here, I’ll get you the best spec computer

– You need to fill it with movies and novels too, not stories about weird monsters

– Me: OK

After a moment, a file appears in the chat.

– Check this out, it’s probably the most similar

* * *

CREEP-011 is a row house located on ■■■ Street in Pennsylvania, USA.

The object has the following anomalous properties:

– Corridors that extend infinitely, ignoring physical limitations.

– Specific objects placed at the midpoint of the corridor. These are believed to be related to what the victim desires most at that moment.

– The direction of gravity changes the moment a victim enters the corridor. The victim ‘falls’ toward the end of the corridor. What happens afterward is unknown.

[Experiment Record 001]

– Agents A, B, and C were deployed to investigate CREEP-011.

– Agent A discovered something at the end of the corridor. B and C could also see the object but couldn’t answer questions about what it was. They were instructed to proceed down the corridor to examine the object.

– Gravity reversed as they approached the object. All three agents responded calmly. They were instructed to install a foothold on the window frame.

– A secured an automatic descender to the foothold, and B and C grabbed ropes to descend.

– 10 minutes elapsed. B reported dizziness and nausea. C reported no issues.

– 30 minutes elapsed. B showed signs of panic attack. C reported dizziness.

– 60 minutes elapsed. The entire 1000m rope was used. A activated the descender to pull B and C back up.

– C’s rope was found roughly severed. B testified that he had been actively conversing with C until just moments before and hadn’t noticed anything. Agent C’s whereabouts remain unknown.

– The video recording showed B and C climbing up the rope, with no anomalous properties detected in the video camera or footage.

– After the exploration, Agent B repeatedly complained of dizziness and later collapsed with blood flowing from his head at the Foundation’s medical facility. The cause of death is presumed to be multiple fractures from a fall.

– Containment Measures: Prevent civilian access to the house and disguise it as a steel company office.

The Foundation successfully purchased the building, which was previously registered as private property of Mr. ■■■ ■■.

* * *

– Me: Is there any information about additional experiments?

– No

– No information at all

I turned off my smartphone screen and fell into thought.

This building. It’s definitely similar to the characteristics of the 11th floor, but there are some differences.

First, the location. The document mentions a row house in America.

Plus, on the 11th floor, the gravity direction didn’t change even when we went far.

“Daju. Has the 11th floor always been safe?”

“Yes. It’s been that way since I first came here. No monsters appeared or anything. From what others said, it’s been a safe floor for at least a few years.”

“But a monster appeared when we went there last time. So that was the first time.”

“Yes.”

Yoon Daju nods.

“So before, there was talk about living here instead of the 7th floor.”

“Oh, right? Why didn’t we do that?”

“Someone objected. Said there was something at the end of the corridor.”

“Who?”

“Someone you don’t know. An older man who used to be here. I wonder where he is now.”

“I see…”

“He was someone who saw strange things from the beginning. He’d say he could see writing in the corridor, or find passages by placing his hand on empty spaces. He was quite useful. That’s why we immediately dropped the plan to live on the 11th floor. I received a lot of help from him, but I guess it’s hard to stay sane seeing those things.”

“What? Then…?”

“The man. In the end, he left a suicide note, packed his bags, and left. Said he had found a floor where he could live comfortably during the last exploration.”

“……”

Daju looks up at the elevator floor numbers with a bitter smile. The elevator is between the 9th and 8th floors.

“Actually, I wonder if we really need to know things we don’t need to know. There’s a saying, ‘Knowledge is poison,’ right? What if we just wander around avoiding visible dangers? Maybe we’ll naturally find an exit that way?”

“Yeah. That could be.”

“I mean, we don’t need to uncover some hidden truth about this place, do we? We just need to get out, so I don’t understand why we’re doing this.”

I nodded silently.

‘The Foundation.’ And this apartment, and some building in America with similar ‘anomalous properties.’ I was thinking about what relationship they might have.

But maybe I’m overthinking it.

Ding-

The elevator arrives at the 7th floor.

I reported the situation on the 11th floor to Heo Yoon, who was waiting.

“Oh my god! That could have been disastrous!”

“Fortunately, we managed well.”

“Actually, all we had to do was press the close button, but someone stupidly told me to jump. And they couldn’t even find the button properly, so I almost died.”

“Hey…”

“Just kidding.”

Daju tilts her head and chuckles. I really want to give her a knock on the head, but I hold back.

“Right. It’s good we found out early. I should tell Hyunmin not to go there later. And I’ll let the older man know too. Anyway, good job!”

Yoon pats me on the back.

I thought there would be more to say, but is this it? Just ending with a smile?

I had to bring it up first.

“So where will we get supplies from now on?”

“Hmm? We can survive for a few days with what we have now. We’ll have to find a new supply source by then, right?”

Heo Yoon is still smiling brightly.

“Aren’t you…worried?”

“What’s there to worry about? If we starve to death then, so be it. Right?”

She didn’t seem like someone who wouldn’t worry at all.

I silently stare at Yoon’s face, and

“Ah…haha…”

Daju laughs awkwardly.

“Let’s go, oppa.”

“……Yeah.”

I followed Daju out of room 702.

“Oppa. Do you remember what I told you last time?”

“What?”

“The people here. They’re all extremely sensitive.”

“Yeah. I remember.”

“If you touch the wrong nerve, they might really flip out……”

This is a place where one wrong step means death. Maybe this is natural, but the atmosphere seemed brighter than expected, so I had forgotten for a moment.

“Ah! Don’t tell anyone I told you this! Got it?”

“Yeah. Got it.”

I was left alone in the corridor.

Looking up, I can see clouds floating beyond the railing. A gray still life against a black background.

Night has fallen.

Knock. Knock.

“Oh.”

I had removed the door lock battery.

I took out my key and opened the door.

* * *

The next day.

Knock knock knock!

I woke up to the sound of someone knocking.

“Oppa! Come out quickly! Unni wants to have a meeting about what to do next!”

I saw it in a documentary once. When a queen bee in a hive becomes old or dies, other bees revolt and take her place. There’s no hesitation or delay in the process.

So a leader naturally emerges without needing to be elected.

I got up, quickly washed my face and brushed my teeth. Now I need to get dressed. I see yesterday’s clothes carelessly discarded in front of the bathroom.

A fluttering cardigan and a bright-colored top that would suit a high school girl.

To think I was wearing those until yesterday.

I shook my head and put on my sweatpants instead.

Room 701, where they had recovered Choi Jun-gi’s body last night, is now being used as a meeting room again as if nothing had happened.

“Is Dabin here?”

“Yes.”

Surprisingly, Choi Serim was the first to greet me.

Yoon Daju is busy picking at a loose thread on her clothes. Heo Yoon is shuffling through papers, looking for something.

“By the way, where’s the older man?”

It’s Seok Hyunmin.

Daju answers with her eyes fixed on her sleeve.

“I knocked, but he’s not there.”

“I guess he doesn’t want to come out. Just leave him be.”

Judging by everyone’s silence, including Seok Hyunmin, this seems to be how meetings usually proceed.

“Hey. Yoon.”

“I told you not to speak informally to me.”

“Since everyone seems to be here, let’s start.”