[A new user has been registered.] Clang!!
Accompanied by dull metallic clanks, the pointed ends of the metal spikes separated from the ceiling almost immediately, and then, retracted into the floor below with even faster speed. As soon as those metal spikes were gone, the s.p.a.ce in front became a wide-open pa.s.sageway they could enter.
"W, what the h.e.l.l just happened? What did you do?" (Hyun Sahng-Min)
Hyun Sahng-Min was full of questions as he tried to follow after Seol and walk past.
Slam!
"Huh?!"
As soon as Seol walked past first, though, the spikes shot right back up and slammed into the ceiling once more. Suddenly becoming estranged, Hyun Sahng-Min held onto the spike barrier and shouted out in alarm.
Seol too fell into a state of confusion, but then, spotted a red b.u.t.ton mounted on the interior wall near the barrier. He quickly pressed it, and the metal barrier squeaked noisily before retracting again, just as he suspected they might.
"Dayum… Feels like I lost ten years of my life to mental shock just now." (Hyun Sahng-Min)
Hyun Sahng-Min hurriedly entered past the barrier and rubbed his chest to calm his pounding heart.
[Mister Hyun Sahng-Min has arrived at the second floor waiting area.] Hearing that, Seol flinched ever so slightly. He was caught off guard - he had forgotten about the automatic arrival announcements.
When he took a glance at Hyun Sahng-Min, he was only spitting out relieved sighs instead, apparently not noticing the announcement yet. Seol thought that it was possible to miss the message due to shouting as well as the metal barrier opening and closing.
"Oh! So you"ve finally arrived…. Uh?" (Kahng Seok)
Kahng Seok was waving his hand towards Seol, but when he spotted Hyun Sahng-Min, the ends of his sentence trailed off.
"….What the. You two decided to help each other out?" (Kahng Seok)
Hyun Sahng-Min raised his head after hearing Kahng Seok"s rather unhappy tone of voice.
"What about you, then?" (Hyun Sahng-Min)
"Well, as you can see. We arrived here a long time ago." (Kahng Seok)
Kahng Seok winked in a playful manner.
Seol looked around, and found Lee Hyung-Sik and Jeong Min-Woo as well.
The so-called waiting area reminded him of any ol" regular corridors one could find in a middle or a high school. With the exception of steel beams barricading the windows, everything else seemed the same. At the end of the pa.s.sage to the left, there was another door, while to the right, a solid wall.
"The place is like a prison…. That monster can"t possibly enter here, right?" (Hyun Sahng-Min)
"It can"t. Dunno why, but that thing can"t seem to get past the metal barrier. No telling what will happen if there was no barrier, though." (Kahng Seok)
Kahng Seok replied nonchalantly. Meanwhile, Hyun Sahng-Min was nodding his head along, before quietly asking back.
"Back then…. did you manage to open the door?" (Hyun Sahng-Min)
"Not "open", but more like "breaking" it down. Thanks to a certain someone high tailing it outta there, after throwing down rocks and flower pots all over the place." (Kahng Seok)
"You blaming me for something?" (Hyun Sahng-Min)
Hyun Sahng-Min"s voice was icy cold. Kahng Seok"s eyebrows rose up, before he smirked softly.
"No way! I told you this before, didn"t I? I don"t really care what you do, unless it involves us three. As long as you don"t hinder us in any way, it"s fine." (Kahng Seok)
"Hmm. Maybe I sounded a bit rude just now? Sorry about that. I"m always like this…. Well, there"s no reason for us Invited to be at loggerheads with one another, no?" (Kahng Seok)
"….That is true." (Hyun Sahng-Min)
"Alright! As an apology, I"ll let you guys in on an interesting info." (Kahng Seok)
Even Seol had to s.h.i.+ft his attention to Kahng Seok"s direction after hearing the term, "info".
Kahng Seok"s lips twitched when he realised that none other than this fancied "gold Mark" was paying him attention. His posture suddenly became a bit more stiff and arrogant compared to before.
"Now look closely. This here is the pa.s.sage we came through, okay?" (Kahng Seok)
Kahng Seok pointed to his back, and then pressed a b.u.t.ton on the wall. The metal spikes retracted to the floor, before shooting back up again. Hyun Sahng-Min muttered under his breath.
"So, it"s not on the outside, but inside…." (Hyun Sahng-Min)
"That"s right! That"s where it gets interesting." (Kahng Seok)
Kahng Seok clapped his hands.
"To put it simply, this entrance became mine as soon as I entered first. Only I can open or close the barrier." (Kahng Seok)
"What?" (Hyun Sahng-Min)
"I only figured it out after entering here. The first one to enter through the barrier is given the right to control it. One person per barrier, though." (Kahng Seok)
"How does that even make sense?" (Hyun Sahng-Min)
"Why don"t you try pressing the b.u.t.ton to find out?" (Kahng Seok)
Kahng Seok stepped aside, allowing Hyun Sahng-Min to quickly press the b.u.t.ton on the wall. But, there was no reaction from the barrier. He pressed it for the second time, then third, and then many more times afterwards, but the metal spikes didn"t budge an inch.
Still half in doubt, Seol"s eyes drifted towards the map on the phone, and he belatedly realised something. Out of the six blue icons blinking around the second floor waiting area, four had now turned red. Only one was red when he was in the club room.
"Was there a need to make three entrances yours?" (Seol)
"Oh? How did you figure that one out already?" (Kahng Seok)
Seol"s question caused Kahng Seok to become visibly surprised.
"What"s the matter? Don"t you think it"ll get more interesting later on? Oh, right. How about you make that other one yours?" (Kahng Seok)
Kahng Seok stared at Hyun Sahng-Min and pointed towards another barrier on the opposite side.
"Well, pa.s.sages this side all belong to us now, so you should take one from that side over there. All you have to do is to grab the spike. Simple, right?" (Kahng Seok)
It seemed that Hyun Sahng-Min was quietly debating on it. He sneaked a glance at Seol, then slowly shook his head.
"I"m… gonna pa.s.s. I"m fine with simply being here and all." (Hyun Sahng-Min)
He and Seol then found a nice little spot for themselves and settled down.
"Oh well. Do whatever you want." (Kahng Seok)
Kahng Seok and his two lackeys sat down too, but soon, they had to get back up again. Because, Hyun Sahng-Min pulled out a new packet of cigarette, that"s why. The trio reached out and pleaded for a smoke, so he handed one each while saying this was for providing the info.
And then, when Seol was digging through his own pockets to find a smoke too, Hyun Sahng-Min presented a whole bundle to him.
"How about smoking these?" (Hyun Sahng-Min)
"Uhm…." (Seol)
"I saw before that you were running out, so I packed in a few at the convenience store." (Hyun Sahng-Min)
Hyun Sahng-Min whispered quietly and gave Seol a thumbs-up.
Soon enough, the corridor was filled with the blue smoke rising from the five men.
Now that most of the tension had ebbed away, Seol"s sight slowly blurred and felt his eyelids had become much heavier than before. It wasn"t like he had to endure an all-nighter, yet he felt quite drowsy. This was probably due to the fatigue acc.u.mulated from overusing his ability.
"Sleep for a while, or not?" (Seol)
They had over three hours left until the time limit.
It seemed that sleep was the best means to cool down his overworked eyes and brain. He knew now wasn"t the best time to close his eyes and drift away into the slumberland, but…. He had regained his power somehow. It"d be deathly stupid if he lost it again through overuse.
Seol entrusted himself to the encroaching embrace of sleep.
And that was why, he couldn"t hear it.
"….I can"t tell whether he"s got b.a.l.l.s of steel or doesn"t really care about the Tutorial." (Kahng Seok)
Seeing Seol"s head droop ever so lower in sleep, a wry smile broke out on Kahng Seok"s face. He flicked the cigarette b.u.t.t away and groaned out.
"Just when is this supposed to end? It"d be so much better if it ended soon." (Kahng Seok)
"We still have over three hours left…. F*ck this. Why are we waiting for four hours in a mission like this?" (Lee Hyung-Sik)
Lee Hyung-Sik grumbled as he rechecked the mission details on his phone. Kahng Seok silently agreed with that opinion, and ma.s.saged his head with his interlocked hands.
"I"m s...o...b..red. I dearly hope someone will come up using the path on this side soon." (Kahng Seok)
"What if no one else shows up?"
"Eii, come on. Besides, the rest of the Invited hasn"t shown up yet." (Kahng Seok)
"What, you mean that Yi Surl-Ah? She"s already dead, isn"t she?"
"Not her…. What a stupid little b.i.t.c.h she was. Whatever. All those stepping up like some sort of a hero always gets killed first, right?" (Kahng Seok)
Kahng Seok darkly muttered out those words, which made Jeong Min-Woo lick his lips in regret.
"What a waste, though." (Jeong Min-Woo)
"Yep, that I agree. But, then again, don"t you worry. We still have one more left." (Kahng Seok)
"Who?"
"You know, the other one. What was her name? Yun Seo-Rah?" (Kahng Seok)
"Ah, that modern chic girl?" (Lee Hyung-Sik)
When Lee Hyung-Sik chimed in, the three of them giggled out in sync. Their laughters sounded leery and ominous.
"Whatever, guys. Maybe I should catch some Zs myself." (Kahng Seok)
Kahng Seok"s yawn was large enough to nearly rip his jaw open wider. But, just as he was about to lie down, something happened.
Out of the blue, noises containing both loud shouts and hurried footsteps could be heard from the distance. Kahng Seok blinked his eyes a couple of times, before shooting right back up. Excluding the sleeping Seol, everyone present scanned the barriers.
"Which one? Which one is it?" (Kahng Seok)
Jeong Min-Woo pointed towards the middle barrier on the opposite side. Since Seol had "taken" over the left barrier there, that particular one had no owner as of yet. Kahng Seok seemed to be incredibly disappointed by this development as he looked at Hyun Sahng-Min.
"It"s still not too late, though." (Kahng Seok)
"….I told you, I"m fine." (Hyun Sahng-Min)
Kahng Seok spat out Uh-whew, and stood there with his hands across his chest. His att.i.tude was of a man who had just found something interesting to spectate on.
The noise got closer very soon.
There were three people running up as if they were being chased by something - a middle-aged pair of a man and a woman, and a young girl. The middle aged man wearing a worn out business suit and a pair of gla.s.ses were leading the woman holding the young girl"s hand. His necktie danced uncontrollably as he ran up in a huff. It was none other than the man who asked for Kahng Seok"s help earlier on.
"Just a little bit further! Just a bit…. Huh?!"
He rounded the corner in a hurry, but as soon as he saw the metal spikes on top of the stairs, his steps came to an abrupt halt. He must"ve not considered the possibility of the path being blocked, and thus despair began to dye his expression pale.
Soon, though, he discovered Kahng Seok past the spike barrier. The two females following him ran into the middle-aged man"s back and awkwardly bounced back. And finally, the sharp and familiar-looking hooks pounced on them. All these happened at roughly the same breath.
"Help us!!"
The bespectacled man ran up to the barrier without hesitation and shouted out.
"Let us in!!"
[A new user has been registered.] With a loud clang!, the metal barrier slid open. The wide open entrance caused the expression of stupor to appear on the man"s face. And when he turned around to look behind him while still carrying that expression…..
"Help us!!"
….He couldn"t help but flinch. Both his wife and daughter were already in the grips of the chasing monster.
"Help us!!! Help!! Dear!!"
"Dad!! Save us!! Daaaad!!"
They pleaded, yet the man"s steps were halting and retreating. And when he met the gaze of the monster and its large, bloodshot eye…
"De, dear…… My, my child…."
He couldn"t move. He was completely frozen up.
*SFX for wet, sticky footsteps*
Step by step, the sticky footsteps got nearer. The middle-aged man"s expression descended into an unsightly mess of tears, snot and uncertainty, and he cast his glance over to Kahng Seok"s direction, asking for help again. However, the young man bluntly spat out.
"Quickly make up your mind, will you?" (Kahng Seok)
"Uh….. Uh…..?"
"I"m saying, make up your mind to enter or not, right now. You planning to kill us all, too?" (Kahng Seok)
Was it because of Kahng Seok"s shouting, or the threatening atmosphere emanating from his back? The middle-aged man finally made his decision and moved.
Slam!
"D, dad?!"
"Dear!! No! Don"t leave us!!"
The middle-aged man chose to enter the waiting area.
"Daaaaad!!"
"Don"t abandon us!!! Dear!!"
A pair of jet-black hands grabbed the legs of the screaming mother and daughter. The man squeezed his eyes shut after seeing his family being lifted up into the air, hanging upside down.
Rip!
The sickening noise akin to a sheet of silk being ripped up in one go pierced his ears. The terrified, pained screams rang out loudly from the stairwell. The man collapsed on the floor and hurriedly covered his ears. He violently shook around on the dusty and unclean floor.
He never lifted his head up again.
Not until all the screams finally died down.
It was only obvious that Seol would wake up from his light sleep due to all the unfolding chaos. By the time he had fully regained his consciousness, the screams couldn"t be heard anymore.
He hastily got up and took a look past the metal barrier, only to see the corpses of the mother and the daughter - both ripped in half.
What shocked Seol the most, though, was their expressions. Their expressions that hadn"t eased even after they died. Their expressions, twisted and corrupted by the combination of pain and terror, despair and fury. It was plain to see their ardent desire to live, right up until their last breaths.
"I, I, I…. I don"t, I don"t know…. I, I didn"t do that, I"m not responsible…."
The middle-aged man remained on the floor, huddled and not moving, except that his entire body trembled and shook all the time.
"There…. there was no helping it….. There was…. nothing I could do…."
No one said anything, yet he continuously spat out incoherent babble while sobbing pathetically on the floor.
"Kek." (Kahng Seok)
Out of the blue, a short burst of laughter leaked out from someone"s lips. The middle-aged man"s trembling came to a sudden halt, hearing that. Meanwhile, Kahng Seok hurriedly covered his mouth up.
"Kek, keh, ahahahahaha!!!" (Kahng Seok)
Even though he looked like he was trying to keep it in, in the end, he lowered his head and his shoulders shook from the unrestrained laughter. The middle-aged man"s hands clenched tightly into fists, nails digging in under the skin.
The wise old they once said that, even if you were not planning to give something to a beggar, you shouldn"t at least kick his begging bowl. Recalling that old saying, a deep frown formed on Seol"s face.
"He could actually laugh in a situation like this?" (Seol)
It was then, they could all hear another metallic clang. Yun Seo-Rah walked in from the last remaining door that had no a.s.signed "owner."
As if she too had searched through the school premise, she was holding a handful of A4 papers. Just like back when she was in the a.s.sembly hall, she swept her gaze around the waiting area once, found a quiet spot for herself and settled down there, before concentrating on the paper.
And with this, the confirmed number of survivors was seven. It was not even half of the starting 36.
Within the quiet silence, time continued to flow. Every now and then, they could hear some kind of chaos unfolding downstairs, but those died down eventually.
Seol thought that, at least as far he could tell, there shouldn"t be any more survivors left. However, his thought was proven wrong when only around 30 minutes remained on the time limit.
"We are almost there, everyone. We"ll soon arrive there, so go up as quietly as possible."
Contrary to his expectations, more survivors showed up. And it wasn"t just one or two, either - a group of five, as a matter of fact. Among them, Seol knew two.
One was s.h.i.+n Sahng-Ah, the woman who raised her voice at Kahng Seok back in the a.s.sembly hall, and other one was Yi Sung-Jin, the younger brother of Yi Surl-Ah. Regardless of what they did, there they were, successfully arriving at their destination.
It was truly unfortunate then, that they chose to utilise the path occupied by Kahng Seok and his cronies.
"Oh, my gosh. Look who it is!" (Kahng Seok)
Kahng Seok blinked his eyes and threatrically exclaimed out in surprise.
"So, you managed to make it alive! A cry baby has done it!" (Kahng Seok)
"Eh? Eh?" (s.h.i.+n Sahng-Ah)
s.h.i.+n Sahng-Ah had been climbing the steps cautiously, but finding the barrier, she fell into a state of confusion. Seeing the people beyond the metal spikes, she blankly muttered out an question.
"What… what is going on? Why is the path blocked?" (s.h.i.+n Sahng-Ah)
"Oh, that?" (Kahng Seok)
Kahng Seok smirked like a snake. It was as if the moment he"d been waiting for all his life had finally arrived. Seeing that oily smile, s.h.i.+n Sahng-Ah couldn"t help but frown deeply.
"What now?!" (s.h.i.+n Sahng-Ah)
"What do you mean, what? I"m the owner of this barrier." (Kahng Seok)
"The owner…. of this barrier?" (s.h.i.+n Sahng-Ah)
Kahng Seok burst out in laughter and began to gleefully explain things. It was as if he had transformed into a well-paid private tutor - he explained everything one by one, bit by bit, and in full gory detail.
Of course, his audience wouldn"t be able to concentrate on this useless yammering. s.h.i.+n Sahng-Ah became even more anxious as she kept on looking back behind her. The tone of her voice became ever so urgent as well.
"I get it now, so you can open this barrier, right?" (s.h.i.+n Sahng-Ah)
"Oho, aren"t you a smart cookie, unlike how you look? Was my explanation that good?" (Kahng Seok)
"I get it, so open up already!" (s.h.i.+n Sahng-Ah)
"Hiyaa~ Really now, how did you manage to show up here? I mean, for a Contracted, you even managed to evade the monster?" (Kahng Seok)
Kahng Seok showed no indication that he heard her plea and seemed to be genuinely enjoying this situation.
"I, I don"t know. We nearly got discovered, but this boy used something he got from the Random Box. We all escaped somehow during the confusion, okay?" (s.h.i.+n Sahng-Ah)
s.h.i.+n Sahng-Ah pointed at Yi Sung-Jin. The boy"s complexion was still dark and aimless. It seemed that the death of his older sister had hit him real hard.
"Oh, of course. Yeah, sure. He"s an Invited too, wasn"t he? So, at a minimum, it wasn"t all down to luck, was it." (Kahng Seok)
"Okay, now. Open the barrier so that we can enter." (s.h.i.+n Sahng-Ah)
"Hmm…."
Kahng Seok slowly opened his mouth.
"But, I don"t want to?" (Kahng Seok)
A truly disgusting smile crept up on his face.
< 11.="" the="" large="" group="" of="" humans="" (2)=""> Fin.