episode_0010

My heart is pounding, my heart is pounding

I felt my heart beating violently. I already knew what was lurking in the invisible hallway.

Patient requiring attention on the 4th floor. I didn’t know the name, gender, or age, but I knew one thing: it was dangerous.

If it weren’t for my mother’s help from the endless hallway on the first floor and the second floor, I would have already been torn to pieces like the woman I saw in the nurse’s office.

And finally, somehow, I ended up on the fourth floor. If the notebook hadn’t suddenly fallen this time, I would have been deceived by false rules and definitely died.

To somehow calm my mind, I took a slow deep breath and closed my eyes. If the rules are correct, the inside of the elevator is a safe place. If you can’t find your composure even here, you will never be able to survive in front of this.

How much time has passed? After calming down to some extent, I slowly opened my eyes. I expected that I might have arrived in a different place, but as expected, I found myself staring into a dark hallway.

To find the flashlight written in the rulebook, I sat down on the floor and slowly reached out into the hallway and scanned every corner of the floor as much as I could.

Since I could only touch the cold floor and nothing else, I put my arms deeper and searched for the flashlight as close to my shoulder as possible without exposing my face.

I finally found something that seemed to be a flashlight, grabbed it with my hand, and pulled it out into the elevator as quickly as possible.

Fortunately, what I found was a flashlight that could fit in one hand. Now all you have to do is walk forward as calmly as possible, shining the flashlight on the floor. It was easier and more difficult than I thought.

After mentally preparing myself, I was about to go outside, but for some reason, the arm I had pulled out earlier felt itchy. The itch didn’t go away even when I scratched over the patient’s gown, so I rolled up my sleeves as much as I could to scratch my arm myself.

As I slowly lifted my sleeves, more and more bare skin was revealed, and I became terrified. My fully exposed arm was full of red palm prints, as if it had been caught by something. I obviously didn’t feel anything, so when on earth did something like this happen?

As I stared blankly at my arms out of fear, unable to do anything, the handprints slowly disappeared. I hadn’t even gone out into the hallway yet, but I felt cold sweat pouring down my face at the strange phenomenon that had occurred.

But even if we don’t move forward like this, nothing will change. My promise to Arin, my promise to see my mom again, and seeing my senior who is waiting for me are all possible only if I get out of here.

With trembling hands, I shined the flashlight on the floor. Fortunately, the floor was an ordinary hallway and there was nothing strange to see. After making up my mind again, I left the elevator and walked down the hallway.

Only my footsteps echo in the dark and quiet hallway. The silence of the dark hallway accentuates the sound of my footsteps, making me feel like I’m walking alone in a dangerous place.

I walked without looking anywhere else, relying only on the light of the flashlight. Even though it was just a simple act of walking, it didn’t seem like much time had passed, and it felt like my mental strength was being chipped away.

How long did you walk? The concept of time became paralyzed as I walked down the hallway without any changes. In my experience, I walked for an hour at best, but I wonder how long this hallway is if I can’t see the end.

Was it because I felt a little relaxed as I was walking blankly looking at the light of the flashlight, or did I trip on something invisible? My feet got tangled and I almost fell, so I tried my best to keep my posture from falling.

After regaining my balance as best I could, I realized one thing. When I stopped walking for a moment and the sound of my footsteps stopped echoing in the hallway, the sound stopped immediately, but I could clearly hear someone’s footsteps faintly in the distance, not my own.

I felt my heart beating violently again. Thinking it must be my mistake, I resumed walking and listened to the sound with as much concentration as I could.

My sound echoing in the hallway and someone’s footsteps were heard at exactly the right time. When I stop walking, someone else also stops walking, and when I start moving again, they start walking again.

Is it because I didn’t notice it until now, or is it because I did? The sound was getting closer, as if there was no reason to hide it anymore.

Out of impatience, I tried to walk as fast as I could, but the owner of the sound was also speeding up to match my pace.

The distance gradually narrowed, and before I knew it, I was running. But no matter how much I ran, the sound never went away, and eventually came right behind me.

I held on to the flashlight with one hand as tightly as I could with both hands. Is it because I’m following the rules that something that’s clearly right behind me isn’t attacking me right now?

The content in the rulebook about not losing your cool came to mind. It’s definitely a dangerous situation, but I wasn’t directly attacked and I was following the rules. If you continue like this, you will be able to reach the 5th floor without any problems.

When I thought about that, I felt a lot more at ease. As I started walking again, I heard someone catching up from behind, but I was less concerned than before because I thought I wouldn’t be attacked anyway.

As I was walking again looking at the light, I saw something in the corner of the hallway. The light from the flashlight always shines on the floor, so I didn’t look at it as I was told to walk, but I could see what it was as I passed by.

It was the head of a woman with her eyes gouged out.

I almost screamed, but I bit my tongue and barely held it back. The fishy taste of blood spread into my mouth, but it wasn’t something I was worried about right now.

As I walked past the woman’s head, the heads of men and women, with their eyes gouged out, were now lying in the direction I was going.

The fact that not just one or two but countless people were sacrificed here, and that this may be my future from now on, sends a chill down my spine.

I felt nauseous as I kept looking at my head, so I covered my mouth with my hand and walked down the hallway. I could get used to it to some extent, but I didn’t want to get used to it.

Knock knock knock

As I was walking with all my attention on the floor, I felt something tap my shoulder from behind with a finger. I almost looked back without thinking, but I barely, really barely, held it back.

When I didn’t respond, he touched my shoulder again. I haven’t touched it directly until now. Is it because I keep walking in silence and it makes me nervous, or is it just a whim that I haven’t touched it so far? I didn’t know, but what was certain was that it wasn’t a good thing for me.

The hand that was tapping my shoulder touched my cheek and stopped right in front of my eyes. For some reason, instead of the skinny hand I had seen on the second floor, it was a woman’s hand that was soft and beautiful, but seemed twice as big as mine. That was enough of a concern, but the important thing wasn’t that, it was the smell.

It is said that dogs get really scared when dogs come. I felt like I had seen somewhere that no matter how much he bathed and changed his clothes, the smell of dog blood on his body did not go away, making him scared.

And now I have found out the identity of the bad smell and the smell of blood and pus that I smelled on the second floor. A person, a person’s blood—how many times did it have to be on your hands for the smell to be this strong?

The hand that stopped in front of my eyes made a gesture in the air as if searching for something. I was moving my body to avoid being touched as much as possible, so I couldn’t find the time to walk again.

The hand that swept the air a few times went back behind me and did nothing, perhaps because it couldn’t find anything or because I didn’t react.

In order to move as much as possible when the person standing behind was not doing anything, he walked at a fast pace. Even as I walked, I couldn’t forget the smell of blood I had just smelled, and I felt my hands shaking.

How long did you walk? There was no action behind it and the heads that had always been visible were no longer visible. If I just walk a little like this, will the end be reached? My heart swelled little by little with hopeful thoughts.

As I walked, I felt something foreign. I couldn’t hear the footsteps that had been chasing me ever since I knew I was definitely following them.

The only thing echoing in the empty hallway is my voice. When I stop walking, I don’t hear anything. Have you finally given up on me? I thought, but I also wondered if that stubbornness would make me give up so easily.

Kkeeeik ㅡ .

While I was thinking, I heard the door open in front of me. I heard the harsh sound of a door opening, as if it hadn’t been opened for a long time, and I heard footsteps chasing me behind me.

What should I do? Why is the door open? Why did you appear in front of me? If you walk forward now, won’t you make eye contact? why? why?

Many thoughts were swirling around me and I couldn’t act properly. The sound of footsteps came closer and closer to me, as if mocking me for staying still. The sound that continued to come at me stopped right in front of the floor where I was shining the flashlight.

The hand of the woman seen earlier appears again and begins to write something on the floor with her fingers. Every time the woman’s hand moved, blood leaked out and she began to write something. For some reason I couldn’t look away, so I had no choice but to stare.

Don’t look, look at me. Don’t look at me, look at me. Look at me, don’t look at me, look at me, don’t look at me, I’m scared, I’m scared that no one will see me, look at me, don’t look at me, why aren’t you looking?

As soon as all the writing was completed, the flashlight turned off and complete darkness came.