Chapter 38: CUT. Old Video Store (2)
by fnovelpia
He went out with Yuna Yeon.
They headed to the video rental store that Han Yeoreum often visited.
It was an opportunity to gather information about the videotape.
First, he needed to meet someone involved.
If he could track down the source of the videotape, he might be able to return to the original world of the 1980s.
The moment they reached the store, hope turned into disappointment.
The store’s sign prominently displayed the word “Closed.”
The glass front door was firmly locked.
From the other side of the door, the store’s interior was as dark as a cave.
But they couldn’t back down here.
He entered a narrow alley next to the store.
A small window was on the building’s outer wall. It led into the store.
He picked up a stone from the ground and threw it at the window.
The glass shattered effortlessly with a loud crash.
“Yuna Yeon, lift me up there.”
“But, Yeoreum…”
“It’s important.”
After he spoke in a serious tone, Yuna Yeon reluctantly nodded.
With her help, he climbed through the broken window into the store.
Then Yuna Yeon followed him inside.
The store was quiet and eerie.
Inside, it was so dark that everything looked black as coal.
He turned on his phone’s flashlight.
Using the light, they moved deeper into the store.
The first thing they saw was a densely packed display rack.
The shelves were filled with boxes of DVDs and VHS tapes.
Leaving all this behind was definitely strange. Perhaps it was too bothersome to handle?
“The DVDs and videos are still here… Why didn’t they take them when they closed…?”
“Let’s go further inside.”
“Ah… Watch your step, Yeoreum. There might be mice… Squeak.”
Yuna Yeon imitated a mouse.
It didn’t sound like a mouse, but it was cute.
They carefully moved deeper inside.
“This slightly resembles the torture room in <Hostel>… right?”
“Not at all. First, we need to find the store owner’s contact info, so let’s go to the counter.”
Navigating between the display racks felt like wandering through a bamboo forest.
Did Han Yeoreum originally enjoy places like this?
What a peculiar taste.
It was dark and ominous; he would have been terrified if he had been alone.
But it wasn’t so scary with Yuna Yeon by his side.
They saw the counter.
They thoroughly checked the shelves and drawers at the counter, but couldn’t find any contact information.
“Yeoreum, over there…”
Yuna Yeon pointed behind the counter.
There was a small door.
When he opened it, a small space appeared.
Damp air slowly seeped out.
“What is this place?”
“Looks like a storeroom…”
The store’s storeroom.
The shelves were neatly cleared. This contrasted with the display racks that were still filled with DVDs and tapes.
As he moved to look at the corner, something caught his foot.
A door handle was protruding from the ground. Bending down, he saw a square gap.
It was a floor door.
He pulled the handle upwards with force, and the door opened, revealing stairs leading downstairs.
“A storeroom leading to a basement. What an arrangement.”
“Should we go down…? Do we really need to go all the way to the basement…?”
“We can’t go back empty-handed.”
“It might be dangerous… Then, I’ll go down first.”
After pushing past Yuna Yeon, he stepped down the stairs first.
At times like this, he wanted to act the man.
The stairs were longer than expected.
With each step, the darkness deepened. It felt like entering an underground crypt.
But upon reaching the basement, the scene completely changed.
“What the……”
The space before his eyes was surreal.
A long corridor───
Unlike the cluttered store above, all sides were made of clean concrete.
Flat square lights lined the ceiling, emitting a stark white light.
There were no furnishings or sculptures.
Only impeccably smooth concrete walls and floors.
There was not a trace of humanity to be found.
The atmosphere was eerie and unsettling.
It felt like a newborn incubator or a sterile room.
“It’s unbelievable… How can such a large facility be under a store…?”
“It looks like a place for some sort of secret organization. Be careful, there might be people…”
It was then.
The sound of high heels clicked.
It came from the end of the hallway.
It felt like his heart was freezing.
They quickly hid toward the stairs.
But it was too late to make it back to the floor door.
The clicking of the high heels grew closer.
Yuna Yeon and Yeoreum crouched down on the stair landing.
They held their breath in the darkness.
A woman in high heels passed by.
Fortunately, she did not look toward the stairs. If she had, they would have been caught immediately.
Yeoreum saw the woman’s side profile as she passed.
She wore a sleek black suit. Her hair was silver.
She was a beautiful woman with a slightly cold and sharp appearance.
Her exotic features suggested she might be Western.
She was speaking on the phone.
The language exchanged was not Korean but English.
But that was secondary; there was something else notable.
The woman’s voice…
It was the narrator’s voice.
No doubt about it.
From the tone to the accent, it matched the narration on the videotape exactly.
It didn’t make sense.
Why was the narrator here? Wasn’t she just a character in the video?
His curiosity was about to explode, but he couldn’t just grab her and ask.
His instincts were warning him not to act rashly.
The narrator, oblivious to the two crouched on the stair landing, continued past and headed down the opposite hallway.
The language she spoke on the phone had now switched to Korean.
“Scene number seven… Yes, correct, hockey mask… The synchronization rate has long surpassed 90%…”
Her Korean pronunciation was natural.
“Everything is falling into place… The slight chaos outside is just part of managing the incident… Unfortunately, that’s not our department’s responsibility… For inquiries related to plausibility…”
Her voice trailed off, drowned out by the clicking of her high heels.
Yeoreum wished he could hear her more clearly.
He leaned very slightly towards the hallway.
But at that moment, a cheerful ringtone played.
It was from Yuna Yeon’s phone.
Yuna Yeon quickly muted her phone, but the sound had already reached the narrator’s ears.
The narrator’s high heels stopped in the hallway.
“…Wait a second.”
She turned around and walked back towards the stairs.
She’s coming. Coming this way.
Tension stretched tight to the breaking point.
Yeoreum was sweating coldly. What do they do?
Should they confront her?
Yuna Yeon brought her trembling hands to her mouth.
And
“Squeak… squeak……”
She made a feeble attempt at imitating a mouse.
“……”
The narrator did not look towards the stairs but stood still in the hallway.
Yeoreum suppressed his trembling.
In that state, 10 seconds felt like 10 years.
“……It’s nothing. Just a mouse.”
The narrator resumed her conversation and moved on.
The sound of her high heels gradually faded away.
As the back of the woman in the black suit completely disappeared down the end of the hallway, Yuna Yeon and Yeoreum finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Phew, aged ten years…
They went up the stairs and out of the basement.
Like prisoners escaping over a jail wall, they hurriedly left the store.
Catching her breath, Yuna Yeon spoke with a serious look.
“Yeoreum, this is like <Cabin in the Woods>.”
“What do you mean?”
“They artificially create monsters, like a horror show.”
He was speechless.
Yuna Yeon continued.
“What they saw in the basement is part of a huge facility. The woman in the suit is the narrator. It’s similar to <Cabin in the Woods>…”
“Are they creating monsters?”
“Yeah, seems like it…”
It was absurd.
Who exactly are they and what are they plotting?
They should have captured the narrator and perhaps even tortured her for information.
Regret washed over him too late.
“Joo-Yi, why did you call?! Because of your call, we nearly got killed…!”
Yuna Yeon yelled into her phone.
It was a video call with the president. The president on the screen just smiled calmly.
-Yuna Yeon, did you manage to find the bunny girl costume I told you about?
“Yes, but why…?”
-Then bring the chainsaw!
“Chainsaw? What are you talking about?”
-We have to shoot a movie!
The president showed her surroundings.
It was unclear where she was, but it was a noisy place.
It seemed like a street circus was going on, with crowds of people gathered.
Most of the people were holding cell phones and filming.
They were YouTubers.
Why were YouTubers there?
In the middle of the crowd, there were strange people standing.
About thirty of them.
Covered in blood, their bodies grotesquely twisted, they looked like giants.
At first glance, they appeared to be actors in makeup on a horror movie set.
However, Yuna Yeon and Yeoreum knew who they really were.
“Those are…”
S#5 – host alien muscles.
The same as when they rampaged in the hospital and were brutally taught a lesson by a murderer.
He didn’t think they would come here… but they appeared.
No police were visible around the scene.
Even if they came, they wouldn’t be able to control the situation.
Suddenly, the hosts simultaneously spread their red wings.
With wings made of muscles, they flapped and soared into the air.
The YouTubers cheered and filmed the hosts, mistaking it for a group magic show.
A flying host suddenly grabbed one of the YouTubers.
The YouTuber screamed as he was lifted into the sky with the host.
The president shook her head.
-Wow, look at that, flying high in the sky. Must be a reincarnation of the Wright brothers.
“Senior, where are you?!”
Yuna Yeon asked urgently. The president gave the address.
Upon hearing the address, Yeoreum was stunned.
It’s nearby…?
Something fell from the sky.
It was a torn arm.
Blood gushed from the rough cut surface.
A phone was clutched in the hand.
The phone’s screen was cracked from the impact of the fall, displaying the word ‘Live’.
This arm belonged to the YouTuber who had just been captured by an alien.
“”……””
Yuna Yeon and Yeoreum stared blankly at the fallen arm, then lifted their heads to look up at the sky.
The host with wings was flying.
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