Ch.87Panic (3)

“That’s strange.”

Choi Serim ruffles my hair for no particular reason.

“There’s definitely trauma there, but I can’t fix it.”

“What?”

I thought it would be easily resolved, but it seems her cheat key isn’t working on me.

***

After experiencing a panic attack in the bathroom.

After completely changing my clothes, the first thing I did was find Choi Serim.

If this continues, it will definitely hinder my survival.

The unexpected panic attacks.

Being alone in confined spaces seems to be the trigger, and in this apartment, such situations are countless.

Like riding the elevator alone.

Or being alone in a room.

I just came back from being with Yoon Daju.

After showering, while drying my hair, being alone made the fear rush back.

So I ended up clinging to Daju again. On my own initiative.

“I shouldn’t be clinging to you. Just… just stay beside me!”

I think that’s what I said. It probably looked like I was becoming dependent.

And of all people, I showed this to her, which is perfect for causing misunderstandings.

Yoon Daju. About a quarter of her brain is male, after all.

Daju, who was about to leave first, smiled and stayed by my side.

Even now as I’m visiting Choi Serim.

“How is it? Can you fix him?”

“Wait. Let me check.”

Yoon Daju and Choi Serim exchange words in the room.

I’m lying on the bed with my eyes closed.

It’s for the treatment.

This should be the last time I tremble without knowing why.

With Choi Serim’s ability, she can erase or change memories. Then she should be able to erase this vague fear lodged in my mind.

…That’s what I thought.

“It’s not working again.”

But it seems that’s not going well.

The atmosphere suggests it. So does what Choi Serim herself is saying.

Above all, the feeling I usually get when Choi Serim uses her ability on me—the sensation of her rummaging through my thoughts and looking into my mind—isn’t there at all.

I slightly opened my eyes and sat up.

“Noona. Still not working?”

“No. I think Dabin’s resistance is getting stronger. It’s hard to even read his thoughts properly now.”

Choi Serim’s ability allows her to look into other people’s thoughts.

If she can observe them, she can also touch them. In other words, she can modify or erase thoughts.

And one more thing.

While it’s harmless to the subject and definitely less affected by resistance, it’s still related to anomalies.

This means it can be blocked or interfered with by anomaly resistance.

And right now, my anomaly resistance is among the highest.

It was already high before, but it’s gotten stronger.

Previously, I had to consciously block it, but now it’s blocked even when I’m explicitly asking her to read my thoughts.

“I’ve never seen someone with such strong resistance.”

“What should we do then?”

“Well. Either overcome it yourself, or stay with someone else for the time being.”

“…”

My heart grows heavy.

Will I be engulfed by false fear and end up in real danger?

Will I become a burden in life-or-death situations?

“But does it matter?”

Daju, who had been quietly observing the situation, spoke up.

In a bright voice.

“It’s safest for us to stay with you anyway.”

“That’s true. We’ll be exploring with Dabin anyway. It’s the rest times I’m worried about.”

Maybe it’s because I was mentally overwhelmed?

I feel a surge of affection for these two.

It’s somehow embarrassing, but it’s not easy to hide my expression.

“Oh? Dabin is smiling.”

“I’ll stay with you, oppa. Always.”

“Ah. That’s a bit…”

“Yes. Daju can stay with you continuously.”

Choi Serim smiles and gets up from her seat.

“Right. Yoon unnie said she’s preparing to leave soon. She’s packing in the storage room right now.”

“So we’re abandoning the 7th floor now.”

“Yes.”

As she’s about to go out the door, Serim noona turns back to look at me.

She worries about me in a kind voice.

“Will Dabin be okay going into the storage room?”

“Yes. There are many people, so I’ll be fine.”

It’s not that the panic is fixed, or that the worry is gone.

All we did was just gather the three of us and talk for a moment.

But, I thought I would probably be okay.

Creeak-

Choi Serim opens the door first and waits in the hallway.

Only Daju and I remain in the house.

Daju hurriedly puts on her shoes.

“Let’s go quickly. We need to grab food first.”

“Huh? Aren’t we all going to eat together anyway?”

“No, I mean snacks. If we don’t grab them secretly, Yoon unnie will take them away.”

Clank!

With the sound of the front door closing, we left the house.

We probably won’t come back here again.

The Reality Anchor has been completely destroyed.

The 7th floor can no longer maintain its current form.

After about a week passes, it will become a completely different space, turning into a very dangerous place.

Traces of people who lived here.

The belongings left behind.

All will be swallowed by anomalies and transformed into grotesque forms.

It’s time to wander again, riding the elevator.

“We’re here.”

Seok Hyunmin greets us cheerfully as we enter the storage room.

Beside him, Jung Haewon is struggling to move a bag.

“Noonas, welcome. Here, please… help me lift this…”

“Is this heavy?”

Daju approaches and easily lifts it.

Jung Haewon lets out an unfiltered exclamation.

“Insane.”

The bag looks obviously full and heavy, but Daju lifts it with ease.

The bag lands on an airport cart.

The wheeled cart is already piled high with other bags.

Tap tap.

Seok Hyunmin adjusts the shape of the luggage to prevent it from collapsing.

“We’ll gather the luggage like that and put it on the cart.”

Dragging luggage on a cart…

It’s good that we can carry a lot of things, but it’s a bit strange.

When we went exploring before, we only took minimal luggage.

Can we really keep dragging a cart of that size around?

“Ah. Will we keep loading it on the elevator?”

“That’s right. Yoon noona came up with the idea.”

Seok Hyunmin proudly shrugs his shoulders. Even though it wasn’t his idea.

Continuing to load luggage on the elevator while exploring.

At first glance, the idea seems good.

“After loading all the luggage, we split into teams.”

One person guards the luggage and keeps pressing the button to hold the elevator.

And the rest go out to explore the floor.

“How about it? Good, right?”

A seemingly rational plan at first glance.

But there’s a problem.

“You shouldn’t leave luggage there for too long.”

“Huh? Why?”

“The elevator. You shouldn’t hold it for too long either.”

The elevator is not a particularly safe space.

Of course, it’s relatively safe.

Compared to other spaces where danger is immediately apparent as soon as you step in, the elevator seems fine at first glance.

But if you try to stay there continuously…

The dangers of the elevator will gradually become apparent.

“Didn’t you really know? Why people don’t live in elevators?”

Seok Hyunmin’s face shows clear signs of confusion.

“I’ve never seen it.”

“If it were that safe, we could just eat and sleep in the elevator.”

“So there’s something in the elevator too?”

“Yes. But it won’t be easy to notice. It has to be that way.”

Choi Serim and Yoon Daju. Seok Hyunmin and Jung Haewon. And even the AI guy who appeared without notice.

Everyone nearby is now standing still, listening to my story.

“I’ll go get unnie.”

Yoon Daju turned around, but there was no need.

Heo Yoon was already there.

“I heard what Dabin said. The elevator is dangerous too?”

“Only if you stay too long.”

I haven’t seen or heard it directly. It wasn’t even something I could know through anomaly observation.

This is information I obtained through the Librarian’s ability.

“Yoon unnie. Have you ever left something in the elevator and gotten off?”

“Never.”

“What about others?”

The same answer comes back from everyone.

The danger lies here.

“You must have stayed here for quite a while. I don’t think you’ve never done it. You just don’t remember.”

“Wait, then.”

Seok Hyunmin flinches in surprise.

I continued my story.

“If you stay in the elevator for too long, you disappear. And you’re erased from memories too.”

“But couldn’t it be that it really never happened?”

It’s Jung Haewon.

“No. There’s evidence too. Remember when we met that man on the 3rd floor?”

“No? I wasn’t there then.”

“Ah. That’s right.”

It was when we first went to the 3rd floor.

When the elevator doors opened, Park Sungjin was already inside.

With a crowbar dripping with blood.

“The people with me were Serim unnie and Yoon unnie. Just the two of them, right?”

“Yes. That would be right.”

“That’s correct.”

Choi Serim and Heo Yoon answer in turn.

“Then, why did we run away at that time?”

“What? Obviously because…”

Heo Yoon can’t continue her sentence.

“At that time, it was when the man had gone missing, right? If we had encountered him in the elevator, wouldn’t we have at least tried to talk to him? Or at least observed him for a moment? Why did we immediately turn around and run away?”

“I don’t know. There was definitely something in the elevator, but it…”

Heo Yoon holds her head and falls into thought.

No matter how hard she tries to recall, her memory is clearly empty.

Instead, Choi Serim answered.

“There were corpses piled up on the elevator floor. Dozens of people who had just died were lying there.”

“Yes.”

“But, I can’t remember. Was there really something on the elevator floor?”

The clue is here.

“Noona could remember because you read thoughts. It was a scene you glimpsed through the man’s memory.”

“So normally it should be erased from memory?”

“Yes. That’s why the elevator can stay clean.”

Corpses filling the elevator floor.

Park Sungjin breathing heavily in the middle of it all.

Blood dripping from the crowbar.

In the solemn atmosphere, Jung Haewon stepped forward.

“Wait. Then how do you remember this?”

“I wonder? I’m… just me.”

With the Librarian’s ability, I don’t fall for most anomalies. I’m especially strong against effects that make you lose memories.

Always remember and preserve information.

That’s the role and responsibility of a Librarian.

“Stop talking nonsense. Is this also that anomaly resistance thing?”

“Yeah. Something like that.”

After answering, I moved toward Jung Haewon.

“Huh? Noona, why?”

And I reached out and firmly gripped Jung Haewon’s shoulder.

Using the pressure point technique I learned while being manhandled by Yoon Daju, the effect was quick.

“Ah! Aah! It hurts! Why suddenly! Why are you doing this!”

“What do you mean by nonsense. To your noona.”

“Aaack!”

“Did you do wrong or not?”

“I did wrong! I did wrong!”

“Sigh…”

No matter how gentle my impression is, this is too much.

If I let everyone look down on me like this, it’ll happen in an instant.

If I don’t do this, I might really become a loner high school girl someday.

Not just how others see me, but in my heart too.

That’s absolutely impossible.

Heo Yoon organized the momentarily chaotic situation.

“So what should we do? Should we reduce the luggage?”

“Yes. I think we should.”

“Or, let’s quickly find a place to stay for a week. And then slowly move the luggage. How about that?”

“I think that would be fine too.”

“Okay.”

Heo Yoon falls into thought.

She mutters and comes to conclusions one by one.

“Then we’ll load all the luggage… on the cart in advance.”

“Then we can move it right away.”

At this, Jung Haewon and Seok Hyunmin’s expressions froze.

“Huh?”

“What?”

“What do you mean ‘huh’? Get to work.”

Heo Yoon has already started moving another piece of luggage.

Whether the elevator is dangerous or not, the fact that work needs to be done hasn’t changed.

***

Clunk.

Clunk.

Inside the still-moving elevator.

Ichinose Riko, a researcher affiliated with the Foundation, was lying there.

The elevator’s destination is a very distant place.

A place that can’t be reached even after traveling for days.

So, enough time for everything inside to disappear while it’s moving.

With a sigh, Riko turned her eyes toward her body.

Under the blood-stained white lab coat. The pale wrist exposed above the hem of the clothes.

The outline of her wrist was gradually fading.

Her body is disappearing.

Just like the other researchers who had suspicions about the Professor.

Soon she will completely disappear, and be forgotten from others’ memories as well.

As if she never existed in the first place.

She needs to get out of here.

If she could just press the button right now, she could easily survive.

But her body won’t move.

The paralyzing poison flowing through her veins.

On top of that, she was briefly used as an experimental subject for an anomalous entity.

The reason for putting her in the elevator instead of killing her outright was probably the old man’s sick taste.

No matter how much she screams, her body won’t move.

Even with all her might, all she can do is blink or twitch her fingers.

Like a dead tree trunk.

But her consciousness is even clearer than usual, and she’s terrified.

Curled up, she trembled in her own pool of blood.

She even felt like she was floating on water.

Was it because she lost too much blood?

Or was her consciousness starting to fade?

She couldn’t tell.

If she could just get up and press the button, the elevator would stop.

The doors would open, and the disappearance would be undone.

But that simple act was impossible for Riko.

She could only lie still, waiting to disappear.

Clunk.

Clunk.

She couldn’t even hope to be rescued by someone else pressing the button by chance.

The Professor can see the future.

“And when I looked into the future.”

“No one will use the elevator for the next three days.”

That’s what the Professor said just before the elevator doors closed.

He told her this because he wanted her to struggle.

In agony.

Resenting her immobile body.

If only she could press that button right in front of her eyes, but failing to do even that simple task.

He probably wanted her to die like that.

Riko gritted her teeth.

She tried again with all her might to get up, but she only managed to slide about 1 centimeter on the floor.

“I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die…”

Trapped in the elevator, Riko prayed and prayed for a miracle that wouldn’t happen.

“I don’t want to die… Please…”

And then.

CLUNK!

With an impossible noise, the elevator stopped.