Ch.83Graffiti (5)

Clank-

The destination was the third floor.

The floor with the vending machine where I could get Amnestics.

When I pressed the button, the elevator started moving with a rigid mechanical sound.

Come to think of it, it seems scarier than usual somehow.

Have I ever ridden the elevator alone before?

I think there was just one time, but everyone else had died then.

Another thing.

The noise has increased lately.

It was definitely very quiet when I first came here.

But now the entire elevator shakes back and forth.

Thud. Thud.

Making a sound like when a subway starts moving.

Drip.

Something like a water droplet even fell from the ceiling.

I think it got on my face.

This isn’t blood, is it?

“Ughh.”

I frowned as I looked into the mirror on the wall.

Fortunately, it’s just water.

No color or smell, and it’ll dry up quickly if left alone.

But why?

Is there any reason for water to be dripping in an elevator?

I don’t know much about elevator structures, but something feels off.

It feels like there’s something more to it than just rainwater.

But I don’t want to dig into it that much.

I have more urgent matters right now.

Even when I try anomaly observation toward the ceiling, nothing particularly visible appears.

“……”

The girl in the mirror stares intently at me.

A gentle impression that seems like she would fall for any hastily made-up lie.

And eyes that look like they might burst into tears at any moment.

No matter how I think about it, she’s too fragile to survive in this apartment.

I deliberately frowned to make my eyes look fierce.

Still a cute face.

This just makes me look even more vulnerable.

So I decided to just give up.

Whatever happens to my body, what matters is what’s inside.

I have the will to survive. That’s enough.

…My thoughts were cut off there.

Screeeech-

With a chilling sound, my body feels heavier for a brief moment.

It was a short moment, but I could feel it immediately.

The elevator stopped.

I’m on the fourth floor now.

Did I press the wrong floor?

I checked the button again, but the red light still illuminates the number 3.

What’s even stranger is…

The number 4 doesn’t exist on the wall.

No. Was it originally there?

Considering how naturally I passed by before, there must have been a number, but the place where the button should be is empty.

Only a smooth metal wall remains awkwardly in that spot.

A confusing situation. But one thing is certain.

The elevator stopped by itself.

And,

A woman’s voice I’ve never heard before announced the elevator’s location.

Screeeech-

Screech!

Clack!

Crrrreeeeak!

The door begins to open with a sound like nails on a chalkboard.

I immediately pressed the close button, but once an elevator stops, the doors are set to open.

It’s the same even if I keep frantically pressing the close button.

The door will open completely once and then immediately start closing again.

If there’s something outside, it would have enough time to come in.

With one hand firmly gripping my weapon and the other frantically pressing the close button.

More and more light is leaking through the elevator door gap.

Press press press press press press press press

A pillar of light.

As it spreads wider, I press my index finger with increasing force.

Press press press press press press press press press-

Finally.

The door opened completely.

Only empty stairs were in front of it.

The dark space barely illuminated by emergency lights covered with bugs.

Thank goodness. There’s nothing there.

For a very brief moment. I felt relieved.

Light enters from bright areas to dark ones.

The elevator is bright, and the fourth floor stairwell is dark.

So even if the door opens, nothing should be visible right away…

But the gap between the doors.

That beam of light I saw, what was it?

What on earth was it?

Drip.

A water droplet falls.

I looked up.

Still.

Nothing visible.

Why didn’t I notice earlier?

Anomaly observation didn’t tell me anything.

Because the graffiti’s influence had made this “normal.”

I hadn’t thought the range would be this wide.

So I thought if I left the seventh floor and moved to the elevator, everything would be back to normal.

The problem was my memory and perception.

Once reality’s standard was shaken, it didn’t easily return to its place.

Drip drip drip drip.

Pitter-patter.

The floor quickly became soaked.

It makes splashing sounds even with the slightest movement of my toes.

In breathtaking terror, I could only stare at the ceiling.

Shadows flicker above the blinking elevator lights.

Dead insects trapped between the lights.

Hair.

Some black stains.

Water continued to fall.

A fishy water smell fills the surroundings as if it had rained.

‘Cold…’

I wrapped my arms around myself.

A sudden chill.

The white T-shirt clinging to my body feels like ice.

“Hoo…”

My body was now so stiff I couldn’t even look at the ceiling anymore, so I had no choice but to lower my gaze.

The girl in the mirror is trembling.

Black hair stuck flat against her head.

The soaked white T-shirt is completely see-through.

And the elevator.

At some point, the elevator had stopped.

Somewhere between the fourth and third floors.

I tried pressing the open button, but the door remained firmly shut.

Why does this happen when I’m alone?

Choi Serim. Yoon Daju. Even Jung Haewon.

There were so many other people, why only when I’m alone?

Why is this happening now?

I didn’t think I had claustrophobia, but I’m starting to breathe faster.

The cramped elevator seems to lack oxygen too.

I’ve never resented being alone as much as now.

Water is gradually rising in the elevator.

I tried to look up at the ceiling again, but water poured onto my face, making me cough violently.

“Cough! Cough! Huuugh…”

Sobs escape between my trembling lips without me realizing it.

Shhhhhhh-

Cold water endlessly pours from the ceiling.

Like turning on a faucet, streams of water continuously gush from the gaps in the corners.

I curled up in the center where less water was pouring.

Get a grip, I need to get out of here.

I need Amnestics.

I need to get to the third floor, get Amnestics, and meet the others again.

Then escape from this apartment.

I pulled myself together.

Preserving body heat is the priority now.

First, I took off the backpack I was carrying and opened it.

A thin gray fabric catches my eye.

It’s a long-sleeved cardigan I brought just in case.

I had prepared warm clothes in case of getting stranded, but I ended up removing the thicker clothes because they were heavy.

I should have endured the weight.

I don’t regret it, but in the current situation, even this is something to be thankful for.

Instead of putting my arms through the sleeves, I wrapped it around my body like a blanket.

My body was already stiff from the cold, making even simple tasks difficult, and putting on long-sleeved clothes while wet wasn’t easy.

Now all that’s left is escape.

I’ve gathered whatever warmth I could to maintain my body temperature, so if I’m going to move, it has to be now.

If I stay here any longer, I’ll freeze to death without being able to do anything.

Holding onto my increasingly darkening vision, I thought.

Water is already pouring from the ceiling.

It’s impossible to stop it.

Even if I found some hint to stop this phenomenon, by then I’d be completely exhausted.

So.

I need to get out of here.

The elevator is currently between the third and fourth floors.

Even if this were a normal apartment, attempting to escape would be reckless.

I’d have to grab between floors and move, and one wrong move could mean falling down the elevator shaft.

Plus, this isn’t a normal space.

Numerous anomalous phenomena. Monsters roaming around.

Like the beam of light I saw on the fourth floor earlier, who knows what might be in the empty space between floors.

It means I won’t be safe even after leaving the elevator.

But.

I have to do it.

First, opening the door.

I picked up the weapon I had put down on the floor.

A crowbar.

This tool is great for hitting things that charge at you, but it has its original purpose too.

With frozen fingers gripping tightly, I shoved the curved part of the crowbar into the door gap.

Screeeech-

With the sound of metal scraping, the tip of the crowbar secured its place in the door gap.

Like inserting a straw, the rod stuck in the gap.

Now I just need to use the principle of leverage and force the gap open with all my might.

“Please.”

Please work.

This is my last bit of strength, and I have no more.

Gritting my teeth, I pulled the handle part of the crowbar with all my might.

Creeeeak.

Crack.

But only a stiff feeling transmitted to my hand.

As if someone was holding it, the door wouldn’t open even slightly.

“Please open!!!”

As I was screaming wildly.

Clank-

The elevator shook violently, and I fell backward.

Even so, I didn’t let go of the crowbar.

Boom!

As the direction of force twisted strangely, one side of the door lifted up and fell.

The door panel that fell into the bottomless depths disappeared without even making a sound.

Just downward.

Falling endlessly.

My vision now shows the empty elevator shaft.

Grayish concrete walls soaked with water, spiders that somehow got in.

Insects rushing toward the light they haven’t seen in a long time.

Originally, the size of the elevator and the shaft should be almost the same, but now the surroundings have strangely widened.

So the elevator car is floating in midair.

Shhhhhhh-

The water pouring from the ceiling flows outside the elevator like a waterfall.

Below was an endless abyss.

“Huff. Huff. Huuuff…”

Usually when breathing this hard, you’d sweat and feel heat.

Maybe because it’s too cold, I can’t even feel that.

Just coldness.

My thoughts, stiffened by the cold, finally settle into place.

I definitely tried to pull the crowbar “sideways” to open the door.

No matter how much weight was applied, it doesn’t make sense for the door to be lifted off entirely.

And in the “upward” direction…

The elevator shaft, where elevators pass through, is a long vertical tunnel that penetrates the apartment.

I don’t fully understand this apartment.

I can’t even say for sure what’s on which floor.

But as countless ghost stories tell us.

This tunnel.

It would be an ideal environment for “something” we can’t understand to live in.

First, I took out my smartphone and shined the light downward.

If I’m going to escape, it would be better to go down to the third floor.

To exit upward, I’d need to pull myself up with arm strength, but I don’t have that much strength left now.

“……”

When the door opened on the fourth floor.

It didn’t come in.

It was just checking.

Checking if I was in the elevator.

Drip,

Drip,

My soaking wet hair continues upward.

Extremely long, pitch-black hair.

Too long and thick to be human.

Yet at the same time, it can only be thought of as human. From color to texture, it was all human…

I gradually raised my flashlight upward to check where it was coming from.

It was above.

Above the passenger box I was riding in.