Ch.41Disaster Alert Broadcast (2)

“What? You’re telling me to go outside?”

“……Stay still.”

I grabbed Jung Haewon who was about to leave the table.

My instinct is telling me.

We shouldn’t go outside.

The pressure is so intense I can barely breathe.

Something is pressing down hard on the air.

[Please evacuate the building. There is a risk of collapse if aftershocks occur. You must evacuate the building.]

I reached out and pressed down firmly on Jung Haewon’s shoulder.

A moment later.

Beeeeeep-

“Ugh.”

I covered my ears.

The sharp sound echoed throughout the 7th floor for a while.

Whoosh.

As the sound faded, a broadcast began on the TV.

“Hello. I am Son Hyun-chul, Minister of Public Administration and Security of the Republic of Korea. We have declared a state of national emergency… From now on, with my authority as minister and with the cooperation of the military, we will proceed with the rescue of citizens.”

The elderly man who introduced himself as the minister appears very flustered.

He’s trying to speak as calmly as possible, but he keeps pausing as if he has no prepared script or content.

“……And also…”

The sound of people murmuring fills the background. It’s now almost impossible to distinguish what’s being said.

As the broadcast becomes difficult to continue, Minister Son Hyun-chul takes off his glasses and furrows his brow with all his might.

“Are we still not connected to the Blue House?”

“We just connected, but all we’re getting is unintelligible speech.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll transfer the call to you now.”

A man who appears to be his secretary hands Son Hyun-chul a smartphone.

“Citizens@#%$^President!@!@$.”

“We must move forward.”

“No matter what difficulties come. We will be a nation that embraces everyone and moves forward together. We will be a fair and just, yet warm country.”

“Break out of the shell and come outside, together. Let’s go together.”

Son Hyun-chul bit his lip tightly, then nervously ended the call.

“Does this situation make any sense right now?!!! How many live broadcast channels are still operating?”

“Radio transmission is possible for now, and TV broadcasts are… are…”

“Kyaaaaaaah!!!”

“What’s happening there?”

“Aaaaargh!”

Thud.

With an ominous sound, the camera turned.

The minister is leaning back in his chair, and the screen shows the wall of the building.

A human silhouette passes by outside the window.

A black shadow clings to the window, digging into the gap with its long fingertips.

“Th-there! There’s something there!”

“Huaaaaargh!”

A young woman screams, and a middle-aged woman is terrified.

“Ms. Hyewon, get out of the way!”

Bang!

A man in a suit strikes the black hand with a fire extinguisher.

After confirming the shadow has fallen to the bottom of the building, the man turns toward the people.

“Open the door! We need to escape from here!”

The man is about to rush out,

While the people behind him are still looking toward the window.

Everyone could only gape in astonishment.

“Ah…”

The entire building is covered in a black membrane.

Black blood flows within the black membrane.

Countless eyeballs protrude from a body that’s unidentifiable.

From outside the window, the eyeballs stare into the building with bloodshot gazes.

[Found you.]

Crunch.

The man’s head is crushed.

[Found you.]

“Aaaaaaah! Get out of the way!”

Crack.

[Found you.]

Splat-

Bright red flesh sticks to the camera lens and slides off.

“Kyaaaah!”

Someone knocks the camera down with a piercing scream.

“Huff. Huff…”

Now the screen shows a woman crouched under a desk.

“Sob… hic…”

The sobbing sound grew quieter as the black form approached.

The shadow that had come right up to the desk slid past smoothly.

The sacrifice was the man who was about to exit through the emergency door.

Squelch.

The shadow creates a sharp spine and impales the man’s body.

Soon the pierced area swells, and flesh bursts out in all directions.

“……huuuugh…”

Now the shadow seems to have no interest in the woman under the desk.

The black silhouette crawls across the floor and picks up the camera.

Beeeeeep-

The blurry focus becomes clear.

The blood droplets splattered on the lens are wiped away.

The broadcast resumes.

[Please evacuate the building.]

The scattered flesh on the office floor returned to its original owner, and the congealing blood was sucked back into each body.

Eventually.

Scrape-

Minister Son Hyun-chul, who sat down pulling his own chair, stared at the screen with empty eyes.

“Hello. I am Son Hyun-chul, Minister of Public Administration and Security of the Republic of Korea. Currently, the government is working to ensure the safety of citizens against an unknown disaster, and the military is moving to rescue you. The government has declared martial law and is faithfully performing its role as a disaster control tower according to the manual. As the President, Prime Minister, and Minister of Defense are currently participating in a cabinet meeting, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security will deliver evacuation information on their behalf. The guidance broadcast will be transmitted 24 hours a day on all radio channels and public TV channels.”

I’m still under the desk.

There’s no way I could go outside after seeing all this.

I carefully patted Jung Haewon’s back as he was retching.

“Hang in there.”

“Huff. Hick… uuuurgh!”

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

There’s a sound of glass being tapped.

Now I’m so crushed by fear that even breathing is difficult.

I raised my head to check the living room window.

The black form I saw on the broadcast is looking this way.

Hundreds of eyeballs are watching me.

They’re watching from inside the TV too. Iwillrepeatthisisministersonhyunchul watching

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Overwhelming terror.

I felt dizzy and everything went dark.

Barely holding onto consciousness, I nudged Jung Haewon’s side.

“Hey.”

“Yes, noona.”

“I’m going to cover the window, so get ready to move. I’ll take the left. You take the right.”

“…What?”

“I’m saying we’ll close the curtains. So those things can’t find us.”

Jung Haewon peeked his head out from under the table.

“Be careful. Let’s crawl along the floor.”

“Do we really have to go?”

“Yes.”

When the earthquake hit, the windows shattered.

The rounded tempered glass fragments stuck together and are spread across the floor.

Gray sky. Hot wind blows in from the clearly visible outside.

The air is sticky and humid.

“Phew…”

I started crawling while lying flat.

The black creature covers above my head.

I can hear the irregular pulsing sound that circulates blood through its body. The sound of hundreds of eyeballs rolling is incredibly clear.

Little by little, bit by bit.

I made it to the window.

With so many eyes.

Haven’t they discovered us yet?

Now it’s almost the final step.

The curtain handle dangles above my head.

If I’d known this would happen, I should have found a long stick or something.

Saliva keeps pooling in my mouth, but I can’t swallow.

It’s as if every muscle inside my body has completely stiffened.

In the tension where I can barely breathe properly.

I raised my body slightly.

If I just reach out my arm a bit, quickly. I just need to grab the handle above my head. Then…

“Ugh…”

I forcibly swallowed my scream.

My arm raised above my head is fine, and I don’t feel any pain.

“Found you” wasn’t directed at us.

Gasping sounds flow from the TV.

“Please… please… pleeeeeease!!!”

A woman screamed.

Crunch.

Now only wheezing breaths can be heard.

Intermittently, the sound of blood bubbling up can be heard as well.

“……!@$?”

Looking at the opposite side of the living room, Jung Haewon is moving his lips.

“?”

He moves his lips the same way again.

– Now !@$%

I answered with my own lip movements.

– What?

– Should we go down now?

I shook my head.

And as clearly and largely as possible, I opened my mouth.

– To. Ge. Ther.

I forced my tingling right arm to move and grabbed the handle.

With my other hand, I count down.

3.

2.

1.

Swoosh!

As I pulled the cord connected to the handle, the beige vertical curtain covers the window.

The rolling eyeballs disappeared behind the curtain.

“……”

“……”

My hands are clammy with sweat.

Jung Haewon pants with his hands on his knees.

“We closed it, but what do we do now?”

“I don’t know.”

“What?”

“Don’t you have any ideas?”

“……I’m not sure.”

“Didn’t you say you do broadcasts? Shouldn’t you know something?”

“I do internet broadcasts.”

I don’t even know what I’m saying right now.

We closed the curtains, but what next?

This isn’t a game where a “mission complete” sign appears when you finish a task.

The sky is still gray. The broadcast continues to flow from the TV.

“We’ve just received news. In 10 minutes, the entire country will be affected by aftershocks. Building foundations have been weakened by the strong earthquake. Please evacuate the building quickly before it collapses. I emphasize again. You must come outside.”

Jung Haewon is now in a complete state of panic.

“What the fuck. Why do they keep telling us to come outside when there’s something out there!!!”

“Huff. Hick…”

Even when I try to observe the anomaly outside the window, nothing particular is visible.

I’ve just wasted energy for nothing.

“We have one more announcement. We’ve been informed that rumors are spreading through unauthorized broadcasts. The content of these rumors is as follows: Black monsters are roaming outside massacring people, and these monsters are controlling the government to lure people outside. This is nothing but nonsense. Citizens, please do not be swayed by rumors and calmly evacuate the building.”

Rumors, they say.

It’s so obviously true to anyone who sees it, but they speak with such conviction that I can’t help but laugh bitterly.

“Hey. Haewon.”

“Yes?”

“Say anything. Just to get our brains working.”

“Suddenly?”

“Anything that comes to mind about the news.”

“Um… announcer?”

“Yeah.”

There’s no announcer now, and the news is being delivered by Minister Son Hyun-chul.

Originally he seemed to be assessing the situation and thinking of countermeasures, but he was suddenly killed by the black shadow that came through the window.

And now he’s been revived as a puppet.

“Anything else?”

“Fa. Faken.”

“What?”

“Fake! Fake news!”

“Fake news…”

As I mutter to myself, it overlaps with the word “rumors” flowing from the TV.

Fake news. Rumors.

“How do you deal with fake news?”

“You sue. Or report to the police.”

“There are no lawyers or police here.”

“That’s true.”

Both Jung Haewon and I are rambling.

Our minds are soaked in fear, constantly being wiped blank.

What should we do?

I pondered in what felt like an eternity.

Swoosh-

The wind blew and the curtain fluttered, and each time, a chilling gaze pierced through.

[Found…]

Slap.

[Fou…]

The eyeballs outside the window are repeatedly revealed and hidden.

Should I go and secure the curtain to the floor? What if I get caught doing that?

Or should I just turn off the TV? Even then, the apartment’s announcement system would remain. It would continue telling us to evacuate.

What should I do?

The decisive clue came from a casual remark by Jung Haewon.

“……If it’s fake news. Fact check? Should we at least do that?”