CH 64

The lift that we took up was small, so only a few people could stand in it at once. It meant that it was impossible to contain all the staff. The elevator was stacked with the heads of the staff members. However, there was no part in sight that resembled anything below the hips.

“Where would they be?”

‘Probably somewhere in this mansion.’ Nobody answered it out loud, but we all knew it.

There must have been another strong gust of wind from the ocean because we could hear creaking, squeaking sounds coming from somewhere in the building. Although they were sounds of an old building, it sounded like they could be the screams of someone in this mansion. The hallway shook violently like it was a ship caught in a fierce storm on the high seas.

“Where did Goyeon’s stylist go…?”

There was no need to answer that question as well. Everyone knew the answer and that answer was the same as before: somewhere in this mansion.

“Who do you think killed the staff?”

“…” Nobody could answer that.

One thing was sure—there was malicious and murderous intent in this mansion. This was different from Goyeon’s case where it was ambiguous if she died by accident. There was no mistake that every member of the filming staff was murdered. No matter how it was spun, they were serial killings, no more and no less.

The murderer was with us.

Seogeung laughed derisively, then shot a glare at me. “The staff? Your statement that the staff must have killed Goyeon is just plain silly now! Why don’t you try saying that again?”

I had nothing to say because I had thought that the owner of the mansion, the show planners, and the filming crew were all on the same side. There was only one thing that I could confirm from the pile of bodies strewn carelessly like chopped firewood.

Goyeon.

On top of the bloodied bodies of the staff with their cracked skulls, Goyeon was crawling on all fours over them as if searching for something. Goyeon, with her hair wild and disheveled, was circling the narrow elevator several times with bloodshot eyes.

The chunks of the staff members’ bodies seemed like they obtained many scrapes at the time of their deaths. Goyeon was scraping her nails over their abrasions, adding to them. Scratch, scratch, scratch. Along with the sound of the living clattering their teeth in fear, I heard the sound of Goyeon scratching at the bodies meaninglessly.

Perhaps it was a good thing that we closed and stacked chairs in front of the elevator door. I wasn’t sure if it was effective at all against an existence with no material body, but otherwise, Goyeon would have discovered us easily. She was still scratching at the corpses of the staff, but would she still continue if she saw us?

I saw blood foaming in her mouth. She seemed to be mumbling something. It was at times like these that I felt that it was too bad I couldn’t hear ghosts. The only thing I could learn from this was why I didn’t see her spirit near her body.

I also learned that she became something dangerous.

“You f*g, are you ignoring me?”

Ting!

Suddenly, I heard a sharp noise whizz past my ear. Seogeung had thrown an object at me. Fortunately, it was just a small marker for writing on the whiteboard. He seemed to have thrown it to scare me. I picked up the pen that landed behind me.

“You killed Goyeon Lee after all, didn’t you?” Seogeung asked.

I felt like Hyehyun was laughing on the inside somewhere. He seemed to want me to become socially isolated.

If it were the past, maybe I would have gauged Seogeung’s mood, but why should I do that? I lightly tossed the pen near where Seogeung was sitting on the table. Seogeung must have thought that I would hurl it at him because he flinched. The pen landed at the center of the table and rolled toward a corner before it stopped.

“…Wasn’t there a clause forbidding us from mindless vandalism? This is all being filmed—are you sure you’ll be okay by doing this?”

Seogeung frowned at me as if asking what in the world I meant. As the host, perhaps Seoyoon had carefully read through the entirety of the guide booklet the staff handed out to us. Thus, before I could reply, Seoyoon explained in my stead, “There was clearly a provision that forbade us from damaging objects save for when avoiding tricks or finding hints. You might have to take responsibility for it later.”

“Hah!” Not surprisingly, Seogeung scoffed, just like the time when Raehee took out the keys later while mentioning the rules. Moreover, at this point, the staff who shared the rules were all dead and gone.