The Space We Created, The Space We Used to Create, The Space We Were In – 3

9 a.m.

The director, tied to a chair, had become a mass of blood, twitching intermittently, devoid of any sign of life.

Had she been too engrossed for an hour? Her entire body was soaked with sweat and blood.

“Oops, didn’t think of this.”

She muttered, looking at her soiled state.

The early birds would be arriving for work soon. Wandering around the office would get her caught.

“No choice.”

She checked the blinds in the director’s office, making sure they were fully drawn, and sat on the reception sofa.

She launched the work messenger app on her phone and left a message in the team chat.

Lee Mina: I have an important announcement, so the scrum meeting will start at 11 a.m. today.

Yoon Hye-young: Oh no, I think I’ll be a little late because of traffic ㅠㅠ

Lee Mina: Please be on time. It’s important, so everyone must attend.

Lee Mina: I doubt anyone would, but to avoid any recording concerns, please leave your phones at your desks.

“Hoo…”

She swept back her sweat-soaked hair and took a deep breath.

“I miss Inho.”

She muttered, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Then, at 11 a.m.

Mina looked down emotionlessly at the director, who no longer even twitched.

“You’re being extra energetic today, aren’t you?”

She chuckled and opened her phone again.

Lee Mina: Is everyone here?

Kim Yuna: Yes, everyone’s here~

“Shall we go?”

She looked in the mirror and straightened her clothes.

She tied her soaked hair back up again and wiped the dried blood from her face with a wet wipe.

She twisted the cap off the Jerrycan she had placed in the director’s office.

The smell of gasoline filled the air.

She didn’t even flinch at the pungent odor as she poured it over the director.

-Glug, glug, glug

After drenching the entire room in gasoline, she opened the second Jerrycan.

-Drip, drip, drip

Dragging the Jerrycan, she left the room.

In the conference room, all the team members were gathered, waiting for Lee Mina, who was still not there.

“She told us to gather at 11, and she’s the one who’s late,” Yoon Hye-young grumbled, sounding dissatisfied, and the others agreed.

“But what’s the announcement about?”

“Maybe… it’s about being careful about Inho’s case? Telling us not to post anything on Blind or anything like that.”

“Ah… that’s right, that happened.”

“It’s so sad about Inho. Who knew there would be a train accident?”

Kim Yuna said, and Yoon Hye-young chimed in.

“I almost went instead of him. If I had gone down there after listening to Mina, who knows what would have happened… Whew.”

“Hey, what’s that smell?”

Someone grabbed their nose and spoke, noticing the sudden odor.

“Ugh, what is that smell?”

The smell spread like a contagion, and everyone frowned at the foul odor.

“I’ll go see what it is.”

As Kim Yuna got up to open the door.

-Thud.

“Huh?”

-Thud, thud, thud.

“The door won’t open?”

The door wouldn’t open, blocked by something heavy, and the people inside the conference room buzzed with confusion.

-Whoosh.

And then, flames erupted.

The heat coming through the crack in the door made everyone recoil.

“Aaaaaah! What is this!”

“Fire, fire!!”

With the cry of fire, everyone rushed to the door and pounded on it.

The more they pounded, the stronger the heat became, and the people inside felt their skin burning.

“Cough, cough.”

As acrid smoke filled the conference room, coughing spread rapidly.

“Help me!!”

“Why isn’t the sprinkler working!”

Neither the fire alarm nor the sprinkler system activated.

Panicked, they could only scream.

“Phones!”

“We left them all behind!”

“Ah! Someone, do something!!”

A sharp voice rang out.

The fire raged, and most of the people had long since collapsed from the acrid smoke.

The flames slowly devoured the conference room, and only a few people remained conscious.

“We have to break through the door.”

The door was more than half burned by the flames, and it looked like it would open with just a little impact.

“Oh? Oh!”

Yoon Hye-young, who was behind everyone, pushed Seo Seorim in front of her with all her might.

-Thump!

“Aaaagh!!”

The sensation of flesh burning in the fire, a sensation she had never felt before in her life, made Seo Seorim scream.

Was the pain too great? She lost consciousness and collapsed.

“It’s open.”

The door opened thanks to Seorim’s sacrifice. Yoon Hye-young laughed like a madwoman and burst out of the conference room.

-Thud!

Yoon Hye-young fell backward with a dull thud.

“Huh?”

Hye-young, not knowing why she was lying down, saw the faces of her colleagues who had not yet escaped.

Their faces were blank, as if they had seen a demon rising from hell.

Why are they making those faces?

Before the question could fade, someone’s face appeared above her.

“Good morning, Yoon Hye-young.”

It was Lee Mina.

For some reason, Lee Mina was covered in blood.

Hye-young couldn’t grasp the situation.

“Mina… nim…”

And then, a fire extinguisher fell on her head.

-Thump!

Once.

-Thump!

Twice.

-Thump!

Three times.

The fire extinguisher repeatedly slammed down on her head.

The sound of bones crushing echoed through the burning office.

“Whew. You don’t seem to be feeling well, so take the day off.”

Mina put down the fire extinguisher and said cheerfully.

“Mina…nim?”

The remaining team members called out to her.

“Oh? There are still some people who are conscious. Welcome. I have other appointments, so I’d like to finish this quickly.”

As if telling them to come in, she nodded, and the few people left in the conference room began to rush at her.

Twenty minutes later, the sound of sirens could be heard in the distance.

Her efforts to delay the report had apparently worked.

“Hoo…”

Rubbing the scratches and bruises all over her body, she moved her feet.

The office was already a sea of flames.

Thick smoke had already filled the area.

A situation that would have caused an ordinary person to lose consciousness.

Because she had already lost her mind, she was able to remain conscious.

“It’s over now.”

She said, looking at the fallen employees.

In the end, no one was able to leave this floor.

She was satisfied with that.

The exit was already blocked. And she had no intention of leaving in the first place.

The fire, which had started at the edge of the office, was slowly expanding its territory into the office.

She sat in Inho’s seat.

As if caressing someone, she idly stroked his desk with her hand.

“Oops. You told me to try this, didn’t you?”

She hugged the caramel popcorn she had hidden below, turned on her phone, and opened the photo album.

Photos she had taken with him.

A medium to recall happy memories.

Recalling fragments of memories with him, she smiled.

Inho.

Are you watching?

I wonder if Inho will be angry, or if he’ll say I did well…

I don’t know.

Oh, but this popcorn is really good.

I should have bought it more often.

It would have been even better if I had shared it with Inho.

You know, I didn’t want much.

I just wanted to keep working with Inho at this company, and just be together like that.

If I was a little greedy, I wanted to live together.

That’s what I wanted.

My life before Inho came was monochrome.

So I don’t want to think about a life without Inho.

Ah… my head is getting dizzy.

I must have inhaled a lot of smoke.

Where was I?

Ah, right.

This space… is a space that Inho and I created, right?

We created this from nothing, an organization that wasn’t even worthy of being called a team.

But, if Inho isn’t here, what’s the point of this space?

How ridiculous would it be for someone else to replace Inho’s position?

So… I decided to destroy it.

We built it, so we can destroy it, right?

Yes.

We created.

Filled with our time.

Where our memories are piled up.

Where our traces are engraved.

The space we created, we had created, we were in.

Inho, I’m sorry.

I… don’t want to live anymore.

Inho, I miss you.

In her fading consciousness, she felt that Inho was next to her.

A warm hand wrapped around her shoulder.

She fully felt that dreamlike sensation and closed her eyes.

Goodbye.