CH 68

Beyond the metal door downstairs, the hallway looked like a grocery store that one might see in a dystopian movie. Broken shopping carts, empty cans, and bottles rolled around the floor while opened bags of chips and wilted vegetables were lined up on the display tables.

The first room we entered looked like a dinnerware store as it had a diverse array of plates and bowls filling the display cabinets. The cabinets were so old that they could collapse at a touch, so we didn’t dare touch them. Nobody would be able to take control of the situation if the dishes started to fall out of the cabinets. We decided to just look with our eyes and get out of the room.

The second room was more spacious. It had clothing and other miscellaneous items. Other than Hawoo letting out a short scream at a broken mannequin after mistaking it for a person, it looked safer than the next room over with the plates. The clothes on the racks were all worn out and reeked of mustiness.

“What decade are these clothes from?” Hyehyun mumbled and added that these would be hard to find even at the Dongdaemun Market. As he pointed out, the clothes on display looked like they could be seen on the streets around 30 to 40 years ago.

Raehee picked up a scarf with its color faded before she dropped it back on the ground while yelling, “Spider!”

“Be careful. There are a lot of bugs!” After she said that, my skin felt like it was crawling for no reason.

Heading into the far-off corner, Woorim picked up and put back down a mannequin with its hand twisted. On the wall was a banner that said “for sale” but it was torn in two. There were also hangers of torn clothes and mannequins hanging from the wall.

The ceiling of the clothing room was very high. We looked up with the flashlight to check the things hanging on the walls, but the end of the wall was nowhere in sight. Eventually, we pointed our lights at the ceiling, but all we could see was a cloud of white dust, so we couldn’t check whether there was a lightbulb or not.

“I found a clover. It’s red.” Hawoo called us over just then. He was on top of a three-step ladder. Befitting a place that sold clothes, there was a closet and changing room against the wall, and it seemed like Hawoo found something on top of the closet. The ladder he was on had been found toppled on the ground next to the door. It looked old and unusable, but it must have been sturdier than it appeared.

Hawoo climbed down the ladder and brought down a paper box that looked big enough to fit a dress shirt in. It must have been originally red, but from the passing of time, the ribbon tied tightly on the gift box had turned reddish-brown. Hawoo placed his flashlight in Hyehyun’s care and pulled the ribbon open.

Then, he said in a disappointed voice, “They’re not keys.”

For some reason, there were children’s clothes in the box. They looked like clothes for a child around six or seven. The design was so ordinary that it was bland. They looked like clothes from an open marketplace rather than a shopping mall.

One unique feature about one of the shirts was that the chest and shoulder areas were stained black. The spot spread so widely that it almost looked like the entire shirt was black.

“If it’s red, then it’s a hint about the exit. How in the world is this a hint about the exit?” Scanning the clothes, Hawoo mumbled. The clothes were passed on to Hyehyun. I went up to Hyehyun and observed the clothes. Hyehyun also looked perplexed. He tried to shake the clothes but only dust fell.

“This… isn’t blood, right?” Raehee asked as she shone her light on the stain on the clothes. Hyehyun flinched at the word “blood” and dropped the clothes. I picked up the shirt that fell to the ground and held it open in the air.

The shirt was small and old. It was a near-black child’s shirt with a plain design. Maybe this style of clothes was in fashion back then because it looked oddly familiar. Fit for a child of six or seven, the clothes were motheaten and wrinkled.

Just then, I ended up exclaiming, “Oh.” I remembered.

“What’s the matter, Haeseo?” Hyehyun pointed the light in his hands at me.

I hurriedly said, “It’s nothing,” shaking my head while handing the clothes back to Hawoo. Even so, I must have let out quite a loud sound because the others’ gazes were reluctant to leave me. I felt like I had to say something. “The shirt… has a hole in it.”