I Couldn't Tell You Who It Was

“Black eyes?” Goyeon’s face had crumpled at my answer. She must have thought that I was joking.

That was understandable. People and animals all had black pupils. Asian people had black eyes. Yeonseon’s eyes were also normally black. It was easy to misunderstand without hearing extra details.

She had yelled, “You piece of trash…!” then struck my cheek.

“Don’t joke around with the dead anymore,” she had warned coldly as I brought my hand to my cheek. She had stalked off angrily, leaving me behind in the room. I had heard her footsteps go east instead of west, so she probably had gone downstairs instead of back upstairs.

Upstairs was the top floor, also called the basecamp. I had no idea how much time had passed, but it was about time that others woke up. If other people saw her red-faced in anger, they would surely ask what the matter was.

If it were me, I would also try to calm down in a place far from people. I didn’t like receiving the attention and interest of people with whom I wasn’t close.

I especially disliked the attention of Hyehyun.

If anyone else spotted me like this, Hyehyun would surely hear that I was slapped. It was an excellent choice not to wait for other people after all. It was as clear as day what sort of face Hyehyun would make and what crap he would say when he saw my swollen cheek. It made me want to vomit.

I stood up and walked to the door. I picked up a piece of chalk that I had found in the hallway and drew a large X on the door. It was a sign that there was nothing there.

As I scrawled on the door by myself in the dark, my thoughts spontaneously wandered to a storybook I read of Ali Baba and the 40 thieves. I also recalled the illustration in the book of the clever servant girl who poured oil into the jars that the thieves were hiding in.

If I were her, could I pour boiling oil into those jars? If I let the thieves live, my life would be in danger. Still, I wasn’t confident that I could kill the “thieves.” Well, rather than a lack of confidence…

To Yeonseon, Yeonseon was…

The Yeonseon I saw…

Just then.

“Ahhhh!” The sound of a woman’s scream reverberated throughout the building.

Then I heard a whoosh and a thud.

It was very loud.

I shook in surprise and stared at the easterly direction that Goyeon went off to. The scream came from downstairs.

I knew it was dangerous since the flashlight I had didn’t work, but I sprinted toward the stairs leading me down a floor. Fortunately, the dim pathfinder lights in the hallway made it less dangerous than when I was wandering the room alone. I almost tripped on some of the chalk that was scattered on the ground, yet I still ran.

“No…” I muttered under my breath.

The scream I heard was Goyeon’s. There was no doubt about it. Only Goyeon went down further. One had to cross the hallway to reach the stairs on the other end. If someone were in this hallway, there was no way that I couldn’t have heard it, since I was in one of the rooms.

The loud noise following the scream gave me a very bad feeling.

It was almost like… a leather pouch filled with water exploding after being impaled by something.

I’d heard something similar before—from the classmate who fell from the rooftop. When the asshole who bullied me fell, I learned that this was the sound when a person’s body hit the ground. It was a nightmarish sound that I couldn’t wipe from my memory no matter how hard I tried.

I quickly went down the stairs. At the foot of the stairs was another hallway dominated by darkness. However, I could easily deduce what the hallway was like from the yellowish lights on the walls. The upper floor was an abandoned school while the lower floor was a hospital.

Across the hallway, there were empty intravenous drips on their poles. The white and green walls were painted over with red. The doors along this hallway all looked like they could be from a hospital.

I didn’t care what the hallway looked like. I needed to find where—no, which room Goyeon was in.

I ran with my hands on the wall and soon saw a door that was open. All the other doors were closed. Only that one was open. I had a bad feeling and quickened my pace as I walked over to the open door. Just then, I tripped on some string or something on the ground.

“Ack!” I didn’t have time to feel the pain. The moment I stood up and was about to step foot into the room, I froze. It was a good thing that I tripped on a string.

The inside of the room that was wide open… was empty.

It was floorless.