CH 32

A’s buddy was suddenly taken aback and sobbed to the teacher that they couldn’t wake A up. The teacher asked what they meant by that and approached A. The teacher shook A, then screamed as she took a few steps back. A’s body limply tumbled to the floor.

Yes, A had died right there from a heart attack.

A’s sudden death was a shock to everyone. I was also very shocked. I was the last person to speak with A.

I thought that A’s death had to be connected to his dream, but it was a laughable thought, so I never told anyone about A’s story.

This is the first place I’m writing about it.

But one may ask why I suddenly decided to upload this story.

See, I started to have that dream a few nights ago—the dream that A told me about. It was the dream about wandering an endless corridor with countless doors. As soon as I dreamed that dream, I knew that it was the same one that A had.

It really wasn’t scary, like what A said. It was just plain bizarre. Some doors had doorknobs in the shape of human hands, and some doors were engraved with ornate floral patterns. Nobody chased me down the hall. The only catch was that I couldn’t go outside. I just felt like I was trapped in a large box.

Given that I knew what happened to A, I tried not to do anything in the house. However, that proved to be impossible.

The time I’ve been spending in the dream is getting longer by the day. When I first had that dream, I was only trapped for a couple of hours. Now, I feel like I’m in that dream for at least 30 hours, even though only four hours have passed when I check the time after waking up…

I think I understand now—why A wanted to go inside that room.

The moment one steps foot in this place, unless one chooses a room to go into, it seems like one is never able to escape the dream. Tonight, when I have that dream again, I’m thinking of going into one of the rooms. But I’m thinking of never going into the doorless room that A described to me. I don’t know what kind of room that is, but seeing that A died, I don’t think it’s a good room to go into.

The room I will go into is a red door with Christmas decorations hanging from it. The red-clad Santa and poinsettias with red berries look cute, so I think it looks fine.

Please pray that I can post my next entry tomorrow.

Honestly… I’m a bit scared.

—Excerpt from the internet urban legend “The Mansion with 101 Doors”

* * *

The rules for spending a week in this mansion were briefly explained.

First, the elevator was designed to only carry people to the top of the building, so to go downstairs, the only option was the stairs. The stairs leading to the lower floor—called “Floor A” for convenience—were located at the end of the hallway where the cast members were staying, the west end of the hall.

However, the floor below Floor A—called “Floor B” for convenience—could be reached with the stairs on the east end of the hall. Since the stairs were on opposite ends of the hall, one must cross the upper floor hall to go downstairs.

Second, aside from the residences—or “basecamp”—on the uppermost floor, no lights were turned on within the other floors. Therefore, the cast must always carry the flashlight given to them while searching. But since it would be hazardous if the stairs weren’t lit, there were lights where the stairs were situated.

Third, the ceiling lights in the hallways could also be turned on, but we needed to find the hidden switch. The light switches for the hallways were on every floor and were hidden in places that were “out of the ordinary.”

Hints were marked with a blue four-leaf clover symbol.

Fourth, personal belongings, especially phones and devices that could use the internet, were not allowed. The staff would confiscate them and return them when the filming ended. After collecting them, if one was caught with a personal device with an internet connection, the filming would be canceled then and there.

In that case, the cast member who went against the rules would have to compensate a significant amount in damages.

Fifth, the flashlights were battery-powered, and each individual would be given a limited number of batteries. If someone needed more batteries, one would need to find a battery among the 20 spare batteries hidden somewhere in the 101 rooms. The clues about the locations of the batteries were also hidden in the rooms.

These hints were also marked with blue four-leaf clovers.