Ch.98Helper

Heo Yoon sat quietly, examining Lim Dabin’s condition.

Dabin was lying on the elevator floor.

Though his eyes remained closed and he hadn’t regained consciousness, there were no visible external injuries.

“Everyone, step back.”

She first moved the others aside.

Though questions were piling up like mountains, assessing his condition took priority.

“Daju.”

“Yes, unni.”

“You and Haewon check that elevator over there.”

Dabin wasn’t the only concern.

Another elevator visible through the torn doors.

Dabin had thrown himself this way the moment that elevator appeared.

Did that mean he had used it?

Screeeech-

The newly appeared elevator seemed completely broken, hanging suspended in midair while emitting smoke.

A box with unknown origins and unknown occupants.

Yoon Daju and Jung Haewon carefully examined it.

“Don’t get too close.”

“Okay.”

No sooner had Heo Yoon spoken than Yoon Daju lost her balance and flailed.

“Waaah!”

“Noona!”

Fortunately, Jung Haewon caught her, preventing her from falling outside.

“Wow, I almost died. Right?”

“Please be careful.”

Heo Yoon sighed with relief.

Though it was Yoon Daju who nearly fell, Jung Haewon seemed more startled.

Daju, not intimidated at all, was already thinking about going out again.

“I just had a good idea. Haewon, would you hold onto me like before?”

“What? Why?”

“So I can see further out, of course.”

“…Should I?”

The atmosphere suggested she was about to stretch her body outside the elevator again.

I thought Haewon was more sensible. Why is he falling for this?

“No.”

Intervening firmly, Heo Yoon nudged Seok Hyunmin with her elbow.

“Hey. Seok Hyunmin.”

“Got it.”

She felt uneasy leaving those two alone.

Hyunmin perceptively moved toward the doorway where the two were standing.

After delegating the surveillance of the outside, she turned back to examine Dabin’s condition.

Recalling knowledge from her past.

Having worked briefly as a nurse, she could handle this much easily.

First, breathing.

She gently placed her index finger near Dabin’s face.

A faint breeze. At least he was breathing.

Next, she removed his wet outer clothing and checked his chest movements.

His breathing wasn’t very regular.

Was it a mental issue like a panic attack?

Or a heart problem?

As she lifted his wrist to check his pulse, her heart sank.

“Oh.”

A gasp escaped her throat involuntarily.

His skin was ice cold.

His limp wrist was pale white without any blood flow,

and most concerning, she couldn’t find a pulse.

“Unni. How’s Dabin’s condition?”

Choi Serim asked anxiously from beside her.

“It’s not serious, right? Right?”

Heo Yoon swallowed the tears threatening to burst forth and concentrated all her attention on the sensation at her fingertips.

But the result was even more devastating.

“…”

“Unni?”

She flung the wrist aside and pressed her hand firmly below Dabin’s ribs.

Finally, she could properly detect the pulse that had been barely perceptible.

His heart was beating at a tremendous rate.

Occasional tremors could be observed as well.

So this was…

“He’s lacking blood.”

“What? What’s lacking?”

“He’s severely lacking blood.”

Dabin’s heart was struggling desperately to circulate the critically insufficient blood throughout his body.

What on earth had he done?

She had removed his wet outer clothing earlier, and just now had opened his shirt to check his pulse.

Yet there were no visible external injuries. Everywhere she looked, only pale, smooth skin.

No wounds, yet symptoms like excessive bleeding.

Could this be explained medically?

Heo Yoon lowered her voice so others couldn’t hear.

Only Choi Serim and the AI were nearby.

The rest were all checking the other elevator outside.

“Would it be possible to perform a blood transfusion here?”

The AI asked weakly.

“What? Transfusion? Of course not. I can only provide emergency care.”

“…Tell me what to do.”

Choi Serim was on the verge of tears.

In this desperate situation, Heo Yoon wracked her brain for any remaining knowledge.

“First, he’ll be dehydrated. So water first. But he shouldn’t drink too much at once. Initially, just moisten a cloth and wipe his lips…”

“Understood.”

Choi Serim moved toward the bag by the wall.

“And he’ll have difficulty maintaining body temperature.”

“I’ll get some clothes.”

“Yes.”

While the AI rummaged through the bag, Heo Yoon took off her own clothes and covered Lim Dabin’s body.

It was just a short-sleeved T-shirt, but better than nothing.

The cold air hit her exposed underwear.

The elevator had been pouring with water until just now. Summer heat was not to be expected.

“Haa…”

Gritting her teeth, she wiped the cold sweat from Dabin’s forehead.

Even that brief touch conveyed how badly Dabin was trembling.

“What on earth did you do…”

“He probably used the authority.”

“Authority?”

“The Librarian’s authority I gave him. He used it for something.”

“For what?”

Her thoughts weren’t functioning properly.

Heo Yoon continued asking short questions before finally recalling her hazy memories.

“Until just now, we were all terrified. Water kept pouring from the ceiling. And our memories were strange, weren’t they?”

“…Yes. Why couldn’t we remember?”

“But now?”

“We’re all fine.”

Choi Serim belatedly realized something.

“Something was there. And Dabin removed it.”

“Then he must have used the Librarian’s authority then. And overexerted himself, ending up like this…”

“Serim!?”

Thud.

Choi Serim fell to her knees at Lim Dabin’s head.

‘How did you do this alone…’

The Librarian’s authority had passed to Lim Dabin now, but it had once been hers.

Her original ability to read and manipulate others’ thoughts.

Plus the added Librarian’s authority.

Even with those two powers, she had changed nothing.

‘How on earth…’

She had merely manipulated others’ minds cowardly.

Living hidden in a corner of the apartment.

And now,

‘I’ve just been hiding behind Dabin.’

It was all her fault.

Dabin had effortlessly accepted the burden that should have been hers.

Without any special abilities. Pushing himself to this state alone.

Burning guilt continued to carve away at Choi Serim’s heart.

“Ughh.”

“Serim.”

“Hic…”

Unable to hold back her tears, Choi Serim forcibly lifted her head.

Before Heo Yoon could say anything.

“Then now, we, we need to do something.”

“Yes.”

“We need to find a floor where blood transfusion or treatment is possible… We need to save Dabin.”

Heo Yoon nodded silently.

Her gaze fixed somewhere behind Choi Serim.

With her hands, she was moistening Dabin’s lips with a wet cloth to provide hydration.

“Unni. You have the notebook, right? I’ll look through it.”

“Wait.”

“We need to move quickly now! Hic! We have to.”

“Just wait a moment.”

“Give it to me quickly!”

Choi Serim roughly snatched the exploration notebook Heo Yoon was holding.

Then she began frantically flipping through the pages.

But Heo Yoon couldn’t bring herself to look in that direction.

“…”

The three people at the doorway showed clear signs of tension.

Not just because they had noticed Dabin’s condition.

Someone was inside the newly appeared elevator across the way.

Clunk, clunk-clunk.

Unable to open by pressing buttons, loud noises echoed from inside the metal doors.

Daju, fidgeting with a crowbar in her hands, spoke.

“Unni, what should we do? Should we help?”

“How do you know who’s in there?”

“It must be people who came with Dabin oppa.”

Heo Yoon was speechless.

The statement was so naive she couldn’t even argue against it.

Seok Hyunmin seemed similarly at a loss, but there was one person—Jung Haewon—who was completely in sync with Daju.

“Huh? You can think of it that way?”

“That’s right.”

“Now that I think about it, what noona says makes sense?”

“Let’s go help them. Then maybe we’ll find a solution.”

“But noona doesn’t need to approach first. We can check who’s inside before going, right?”

Jung Haewon made a reasonable point.

But Daju seemed to have her own thoughts.

“We should help first to earn points. Then we can confidently ask for their help, don’t you think?”

“Oh? Is that so?”

“What do you think, unni?”

The decision fell back to Heo Yoon.

She had been the leader since the old man died.

“…Obviously not.”

Heo Yoon pointed to the abyss outside the door.

Although Lim Dabin had removed “something dangerous,” the long corridor still waited with its jaws wide open.

“Just crossing over is dangerous. The distance is too far.”

“We can hang a rope.”

“What? Where?”

“Actually, I already did.”

Yoon Daju showed a tightly stretched rope.

“I tied it to that protruding part over there. It shouldn’t fall easily.”

“You went out the door to tie it? So that’s why you were so quiet?”

“Yes.”

Daju smiled proudly despite the desperate situation.

“What do you think? If we want to save Dabin oppa, isn’t this the right approach?”

Heo Yoon clutched her forehead and sighed deeply.

“Hey, Seok Hyunmin. Didn’t you know I sent you to stop them?”

“Huh? Was that it? You should have said so.”

“This is driving me crazy, really…”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Clunk, clunk, clunk!

The noise from the elevator across the way grew increasingly louder, now echoing throughout the corridor.

“If we cross now, we won’t be too late.”

“No.”

Heo Yoon shook her head firmly.

“It’s too dangerous.”

“…Do as Daju says.”

“What?”

A quiet voice came from beside her.

It was Choi Serim.

“Choi Serim, you too? Why are you like this?”

“…”

She was dumbfounded.

If anyone, Choi Serim had always been calm.

Had she lost her composure at such a critical time?

It seemed to be because Dabin was injured. Though she didn’t know well, their relationship appeared special even from a distance.

Heo Yoon gave up cleanly and asked Seok Hyunmin instead.

“Seok Hyunmin, what do you think?”

“I think it’s better not to do it.”

“Right?”

“But I don’t think we can stop them no matter what we say.”

“You know too, noona. Dabin is in a very serious condition, as we heard earlier.”

“That’s exactly why I’m saying this! If things get worse, what about Dabin? What if we need to leave the elevator!”

Heo Yoon raised her voice.

No matter how she thought about it, she couldn’t understand.

Daju was one thing, but Serim and Hyunmin too. Why was everyone acting like this?

They must have all lost their composure because of Dabin.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t be trying to proceed with such a reckless plan.

No matter how she thought about it, Heo Yoon couldn’t understand the others.

Instead, she stubbornly clung to her initial thoughts.

“Listen. We need to go to another floor and find blood packs or medicine. Then we can save Dabin, and everyone can safely leave this corridor. Why don’t you want to do this? Why?”

“Noona.”

“What? Am I wrong?”

“Calm down. You’re too excited.”

“Who are you calling excited?”

“And anyway, going to another floor would be just as dangerous.”

“…”

Heo Yoon took a deep breath and leaned against the mirrored wall.

Only now did she notice her own state.

Her cheeks were flushed, and tears were welling up in her eyes.

Anyone could see that she was the one who had lost her composure.

“Then,”

She asked in a slightly calmer voice.

“Is this method safe?”

“Yes. This is about trusting Dabin.”

Pushing up his glasses, Seok Hyunmin calmly soothed Heo Yoon.

“It’s the elevator Dabin brought.”

“That’s exactly what Daju said.”

“If something truly dangerous was trapped in there, Dabin wouldn’t have brought it to us.”

“What if he had no choice to come up?”

“Then he would have stayed behind alone. I think Dabin jumped down with that intention in the first place.”

“He might have done it without knowing.”

Seok Hyunmin quietly shook his head.

While patting Heo Yoon’s shoulder.

“You know what Dabin gained from the library.”

“…The Librarian’s authority.”

“Yes. He probably knew to some extent.”

“Alright.”

Heo Yoon took a deep breath and collected herself.

“I’ll do as you say. What about the others?”

“They already went.”

“…”

“Well done.”

***

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

Inside the tightly closed elevator doors.

Driver Dan shook the doors vigorously, but they showed no signs of opening.

Riko, who had lost consciousness after sustaining major injuries.

And Robin, a member of the Foundation’s council.

The three were trapped in the elevator, simply waiting for the situation to turn around.