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Chapter 15

Chapter 15 . A Dangerous Treasure Hunt (3)

The fifth floor .





At the end of a corridor lined with various classrooms, there was a laboratory . Not one ray of light could escape from the resolutely-shut front door to the lab – only the soft rustling noises managed to intermittently leak out .

A certain teen boy was currently rummaging through the lab’s interior . He cleared away the chemistry sets and other glass apparatuses on top of the tables and pulled out all the books stored on the bookshelves . He was desperately searching for something .

But, as time continued to tick by, the signs of anxiety slowly but surely crept into every little action he performed .

Kiik .

Suddenly, there was a noise .

However, the teen boy, Yi Sungjin, couldn’t hear it due to the very fact that he was turning a table upside down at that same moment . He intensely glared at and looked through all the fallen and shattered laboratory apparatuses . And he moved on, not even slowing down briefly to express his disappointment . He continued to mutter, ‘Coins, I need to find more coins . ’

He deliberately didn’t switch on the light . He thought that it’d be easier to spot those clear-yellow coins if the surroundings were darker .

Tak… . Tak… .

Again, there were foreign noises . It was soft and low enough to miss if one didn’t pay attention .

Yi Sungjin didn’t pay attention . His mind was full of thoughts of reviving his dead sister, Yi Seol-Ah . The Guide definitely said it – he would be able to bring his sister back to life if he got to amass lots of coins .

“Noona… . ”

The mental shock he received after witnessing the dead Yi Seol-Ah being pulled out was truly enormous . Although below her waist remained relatively fine, her upper torso was ripped to shreds and not much of her remained . Just thinking about his undeservedly murdered sister, his body seemingly shook off any hints of growing fatigue and regained its vigor once more .

It was said that the heavens would help those who helped themselves – he soon discovered an object gleaming softly inside a sink . Yi Sungjin’s eyes shot wide open and he reflexively reached out .

Unfortunately… . he was in too much of a hurry .

“Ah!”

The coin that he worked so hard to find, slipped out of his grasp and fell to the floor . It rolled and slid under the desk . The boy instantly jumped down and reached out with all his might, finally catching the wayward coin before it disappeared for good . Only then did he catch his breath again .

Outside the lab’s windows, the world had become pitch dark . Only the cold, uncaring moonlight seeped through the glass and faintly illuminated the interior .

“Whew… . ”

It was only one coin, but this was clear evidence that his concerted effort was not in vain .

Time was already well past midnight, yet he still had a long road ahead . He didn’t have the time to worry about the Deceased and stuff . No, he had to find more coins . Lots more . Yi Sungjin clenched the lone coin in his hand tightly and gritted his teeth .

Tak… . ! Tak… . !

Yi Sungjin was about to push himself up from the floor but froze up instantly when he heard the noise . The noise seemed to brush by his senses, perhaps tauntingly calling out to him . His arms became tense and taut . His hands pressing down on the floor felt the deathly chill and goosebumps spread all over him .

In an instant, fifty thousand different thoughts raced past his brain . The sixteen-and-a-bit-year-old teen boy very slowly raised his head . And when his sights were raised from the ash-colored floor just a tad, he forgot to breathe .

Just below the desk, he could see a pair of small feet, and above them, long, shapely legs . Legs, that trembled and stuttered as if they might falter at any moment .

Yi Sungjin was about to scream, but his eyes opened wider first before his mouth could leak out a sound . Although he only saw the lower half, he found it rather familiar, somehow . And when he recognized the blue skirt with dried blood on it, the boy’s eyes opened even wider .

“N, noona?!”

The stuttering legs stopped . And they slowly spun around as if they were looking for someone .

“Wwwwhhhheeeerrrreee… . . ”

The voice sounded awful and Yi Sungjin was immediately repulsed by it, but to him, that wasn’t important . He stood right up and… .

“Noona? Is it you, noona?! I’m here! N… . ”

… . And, he couldn’t finish what he wanted to say .

The figure with its back to him, and slowly turning around, was quite similar to Yi Seol-Ah . Such as, those long flowing hair, and, and… .

“N, noona… . ?”

Something was wrong . Very wrong . He couldn’t put his finger on it . Yet, this figure resembled so much like his older sister… .

Yi Sungjin’s instincts were overcome with this hard to explain terror .

“Ssssuuuunnngggg—–Jjjjjiiiinnnn—aaahhh… . . Hhhhuuuu… . . ”





Plop .

Suddenly, ‘her’ neck skin wobbled and stretched like an empty sack . Only then did the boy understand the reason for the sense of disharmony – the ratio of her body parts didn’t quite match up .

“N, noona… . ”

He wanted to ask . He desperately wanted to ask why her body looked like that . He desperately wanted to ask if she was really his sister . However, his voice refused to come out .

“Hhhhuuuurrrryyyy… . . ”

As if this thing wanted to tell him something, the abrasive and dirty voice continued to leak out . ‘She’ had completely turned around now and was facing him, and when Yi Sungjin saw the empty eye sockets, his deeply-held breaths exploded out from his lungs .

“Euh-hark!!!”

Would stitching together several worn-out mops resemble that thing? Within the many holes found on its skin, dried-up clumps of blood and rotting meat scraps were seemingly shoved in together .

The meshed and torn flesh seemed to have hardened after the bits were forced together to their supposedly correct destinations; the ripped skin seemed like it was sewn back together and was draped over whatever was underneath . It was truly a hellish, nightmarish appearance .

Piecing together the torn-away bits of limbs and flesh one by one would probably net a better looking, more palatable result than this .

“Euh, uwaaaaahhh!!”

Yi Sungjin unconsciously stumbled back, until his heels got entangled and he fell down on his butt . His legs madly kicked the air as he tried to widen the gap between himself and that thing .

It was then, the comparatively-normal looking legs stopped approaching him . ‘Her’ misaligned jaw that looked like it might fall off at any given moment began trembling up and down .

“L, llliiisssttteeennn… . #$%@… Hhhuuurrryyy… . ”

Yi Sungjin’s mind fell further into disarray . He thought that he’d be dead meat by now, yet why did this creature stop advancing? And, what was it trying to say to him?

It was here that a crazy thought popped up in his head . He summoned what little courage he could .

“… . I, is it you, noona?”

“… . ”

“Noona? Really? It is you, noona?!”

“… . Hhhuuurrryyy… . . Ssstttaaannnddd… . ”

“… . Hurry? Stand?”

While keeping his gaze firmly fixed on the creature, Yi Sungjin slowly got back up .

“Gggooo… . ooouuutttsssiiideee… . Fffiiinnnddd… . ”

“Go outside? Find? You mean coins? Are you talking about coins? Don’t worry . I, I haven’t given up, and I’m still looking for them! I’ll definitely bring you back… . ”

The thing shook its head with some difficulty . It was as if it was saying that’s not it .

“Iiittt… . cccooommmiiinnnggg… . Sssooooonnn…”

It weakly raised an arm somehow and pointed at the door .

“Cccooommmiiinnnggg… . ttthhheeeyyy aaarrreee… . . ”

Although it was hard to understand what it was saying, the boy still got to realize something . ‘She’ was saying he needed to get out before something else showed up .

“Noona!! It is you, right?!”

“… . ”

“I’ll definitely bring you back to life!! That is why… . ”

“Sssuuunnnggg—–Jjjiiinnn—aaahhh… . ”

Yi Sungjin’s tearful voice seemingly caused the thing’s shoulders to tremble as well . From its empty eye sockets, blood-colored liquid slowly oozed out .

“Mmmuuusssttt… . llliiivvveee… . Oookkkaaayyy…”

It was then .





Uwwwaaaahhhhccckk!!!

An ear-shattering scream coming from somewhere outside the lab shook the corridor, hard .

*

“Mommy?!”

Shin Sang-Ah jumped up fright . Seol and Hyun Sangmin too wordlessly stared at each other .

“… . Hey man, did you hear that?”

Seol nodded his head .

“Goddamn it! Why the hell can’t they just come back after finding enough for themselves?!”

“Where did that come from?”

“Dunno . Could be from the fifth floor… . ”

Hyun Sangmin took off his cap and scratched his head .

Seol carefully slid open the door . The darkened corridor seemed rather ominous and eerie .

Although he had exited from the classroom, Seol had no idea what he should do now, since things were happening seemingly out of the blue . In the end, he chose to rely on his Nine Eyes once more .

The entire fourth-floor corridor was bathed in a green hue . Seeing this, Seol’s gut feeling told him that the scream came from the fifth floor .

The three of them quickly climbed up the stairs . But, as soon as arriving on the fifth floor, they nearly collided into a teen boy running on the corridor . It was Yi Sungjin, and when he saw it was Seol, the boy’s eyes opened wide .

“Mister Yi Sungjin? What’s going on?”

“H, hyung!!”

Yi Sungjin suddenly grabbed Seol tightly .

“I, I saw her!! I saw noona just now!!”

“Your noona?!”

But, how could that be? Yi Seol-Ah was already dead . She was the first one to lose her life back in the assembly hall, after all . Seol carefully appraised the kid, but he didn’t seem to be suffering from any form of mental duress .

Seeing Seol’s expression, Yi Sungjin quickly shook his head .

“No, no! Hang on! It’s definitely her! Her hair, her dress, everything… . ”

Yi Sungjin sounded frantic and confused, but his words did make Seol think for a minute . Then, a thought of ‘could it be?’ brushed past his brain .

“Was it really Yi Seol-Ah?”

“Yes!! Her… . appearance, it was a bit weird, but, but, she told me to quickly get out of there, and… . ”

‘You son of a… . ’ Seol somehow managed to swallow down the rising tide of curse words .

‘The so-called Deceased are actually the people who died earlier in the day, aren’t they?’

If what Yi Sungjin said was correct, then this could be the only explanation .

[The lock of the sixth-floor entrance has been disabled . ]

[The gate will be activated in 30 minutes’ time . ]

[The second-floor metal barriers have been disabled . ]

It was then, alarm bells began ringing out loudly from their smartphones .

“W, what the hell?”

Hyun Sangmin cried out in shock after checking out these rather unexpected messages .

“What the fuck!! Which insane motherfucker did this?!”





“What, what happened?”

Shin Sang-Ah asked Seol, but obviously, he too had no idea . Only that, his gut feeling was busy telling him that this wasn’t the end – that there was more trouble yet to come .

‘No . It’ll be fine . ’

The situation had suddenly turned a little chaotic, but Seol quietly controlled his emotions to calm them down . Running around like a headless chicken would only intensify the level of confusion . Besides, didn’t he already make preparations for events such as this one?

For now, he decided to put aside the unanswered questions; there was something he needed to confirm first, although he thought that his suspicions might not be correct .

“Were you the one screaming just now, Yi Sungjin?”

“Eh? N, no . Not me . Right, I also came here after hearing that… . ”

“I, I thought it was a woman’s voice… . ”

Shin Sang-Ah anxiously spoke up .

“In any case, it’s not this kid, so what are we going to do next?”

Hyun Sangmin gritted his teeth .

“If we’re going to search, then we should split up . Or, we go back right now . ”

Seol had found one of the two people on his mind, so going back to the safe zone now – to the classroom 3-1 – didn’t sound like a bad idea .

“How about we split up into two groups of two and three? I mean, things could get dangerous . ”

Seol was going to suggest going back, but then, Yi Sungjin took the initiative first and voiced his opinion . Seol looked at the boy with a surprised expression, and Yi Sungjin became somewhat sheepish .

“Ohh, I, uh… I also want to help you . ”

“It’s past midnight, thus things will definitely get dangerous . Also, the sixth-floor access has been granted as well . Returning to the safe zone might not be such a bad idea . ”

“No . It’s just that, I think my noona wanted to me to find something… . ”

Although he said that, Yi Sungjin’s voice suggested that he wasn’t entirely convinced of it himself .

‘Find something?’

Seol’s gaze sharpened . The surroundings became dyed in green . However, the color from one single spot dissipated almost immediately . The spot with no color whatsoever was the girl’s toilet .

The light was switched off inside the toilet; Seol confirmed a spot of blood on the floor right in front of the door . He slowly pushed it open . As if his senses were already familiarised with it, his nose reacted to the faint whiff of blood in the air .

By turning on the light, the group could see the interior of the bathroom quite clearly .

“Yun Seora?”

The figure collapsed on the bathroom floor was none other than Yun Seora . Her huddled and crumpled body was shaking and convulsing uncontrollably .

Seol got closer to her and ended up frowning deeply from what he saw . Even Hyun Sangmin issued a stunned gasp .

“What… What happened to her arm…?”

It was just as he said – Yun Seora’s right forearm was completely mangled . As if someone stabbed a knife and then went to town on the limb, the flesh on her arm was utterly torn up and destroyed . The bleeding was quite considerable, too, and even her bones were visible to the naked eye .

“Miss Yun Seora? Miss Yun Seora!!”

Seol called out her name, but she didn’t respond, simply convulsing over and over again .

“Please, move aside!”

Shin Sang-Ah hurriedly knelt down and took off her shirt . She ripped her top up, then proceeded to wrap the fabric around Yun Seora’s shoulder and under her arm, and then securely tightened it . Her movements were well-practiced and quick as if she had performed actions like this countless times before . She then pushed open Yun Seora’s eyelids and checked the eyes . A deep frown etched on her forehead .

“She’s going through shock . She will die soon if we let her be like this . ”

“S, she will die?!”

“Yes! We need to do something! Anything!”

Shin Sang-Ah shouted out while repeatedly opening and closing Yun Seora’s hand . However, Hyun Sangmin was comparatively calm as he spoke up .

“Since you did the treasure hunt, you should know it by now – there ain’t no infirmary on either the fourth or fifth floor . ”

“The item draw . ”

Seol spoke up and the attention of the three rapidly dawned on him . Now that they thought about it, ‘medical supplies’ was one of the listed items on the draw machine .

“What do we need to draw from there?”

Only after asking this question, Seol realized that it was the wrong one . From the onset, no one knew what would come out of the machine .

“I’ll go and bring whatever comes out . ”

Seol stood up while slinging his bag over his shoulder .

“What? You going alone?”

“What’s the matter?”

“Let’s not do it that way . How about this? This kiddo here and Miss will move Yun Seora over to the safe zone . Meanwhile, you spin that damn draw machine, and if we think we got the right crap, I’ll take it back to the safe zone . I’ll act as the go-between if it need be . ”

Seol found this suggestion quite logical, so, although he knew time was of essence, he still nodded his head in appreciation . He was inwardly surprised as well – now that the metal barriers on the second floor were gone, that Gaekgwi monster would definitely show up sooner or later . Even then, Hyun Sangmin was keeping his promise .

“Let’s hurry up!”

Hyun Sangmin pushed Seol’s back .

Entrusting Yun Seora to the remaining two, Seol and Hyun Sangmin headed straight to the library . Perhaps fortunately, they didn’t run into the Deceased or other people .

Unfortunately, though – the medical supplies didn’t want to come out . They got to draw plenty of food and daily necessities . They even ended up receiving the ‘note from the Guide’, too . Sometime later, all they had to show for their effort was a couple of rolls of gauze, a bottle of antiseptic, and some ointments, etc, etc . They were neither here nor there .

“Let me just take these along for now . What about you?”

“Go on ahead . ”

“Okay . Don’t strain yourself, though . Ah, right . As soon as I deliver these, I’ll come back here right away . If I don’t show up within two minutes, then that means something bad has happened to me . ”

“Don’t worry, I’ll rescue you . ”

“Hah! Well, thanks for the sentiment, but I’m not playing here . I’m being serious . ”

Hyun Sangmin was indeed dead serious, and he left the library like a streak of lightning .

Seol concentrated on drawing from the machine . He was quite confident that he’d be able to kill this Gaekgwi monster if it showed up . Right now, he wanted to procure medical supplies if it meant he could help just a bit more .

If Yun Seora died, then that would be the end of the road there .

He thought like this and continued to move his hands without rest – until his movements suddenly came to a halt .

‘… . Why am I doing this?’

She was a complete stranger to him . So, what did it matter if she died or not? Sure, it’d be a pity if she did die, but was there a reason for him to go this far? While wasting his hard-earned coins, even?

He couldn’t understand it . He thought that it’d be nice if he activated the Future Vision right about now . Seol hesitated, yet returned to spinning the draw machine .

And so, he finally got his hands on some rolls of compression bandages, a hemostat, as well as vials of morphine . But then… .

Seol realized that something was off . He thought that it was already well past the two-minute mark, yet Hyun Sangmin hadn’t returned .

“… . ”

Seol felt a certain sense of anxiety creeping in – after all, he thought that Hyun Sangmin was joking around and thus, didn’t pay attention back then .

Now that he more or less got what he needed, Seol put them all in the bag and left the library .

When he climbed down the staircase and arrived on the fourth floor, he ended up running into quite an unexpected sight .

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