CH 79

I simply stood there, listening to the whirring of gears reverberating in the room. Only after being separated from Woorim, I felt my legs trembling. I wobbled for a few steps, then I flopped down on the leather sofa, unable to stand any longer. I took a deep breath, inhaling the dry and musty dust. I felt like I would suffocate.

“…Let’s get moving.”

I gripped the flashlight Woorim handed to me and pointed it at the ceiling.

The chandelier looked like a cascade of raindrops on cobwebs. It swayed creakily like it would come tumbling down at any moment. Even moving the elevator was laborious for this mansion. The mansion looked very sick.

Would everything work out if that chandelier fell on my head?

I dug through my pants pocket and pulled out a black camping knife. Upon unsheathing it, the flawless, never-once-used blade gleamed. I put it back in its sheath and pocketed it before getting up.

* * *

The map was wedged behind a half-torn portrait.

Despite the expansiveness of the mansion, the map of the interior was not as big as I expected. It was the size of two sheets of A4-size paper. I would need to look at it thoroughly in better lighting. I couldn’t see the map very well with just the light from my flashlight.

I marked this living room on the map with some chalk I was carrying around, then I folded it neatly, tucking it securely in my shirt. Although not as badly as the furniture, it was still quite frayed. I was worried that this precious clue would be damaged by accident.

Since I found the map, my business in this room was over. The room was quite spacious, so there could be more places with the clover symbol, but they would perhaps uncover just a couple of batteries. The designer of this place probably wouldn’t put all their important clues in one basket anyway. Of course, this was assuming that the architect of this mansion was an adult with a decent amount of sense.

Woorim was downstairs, so it didn’t seem good to waste any more time. As Woorim said, if there was another barrier up the stairs, I would have to find the keys to open that door. I didn’t have much time.

I exited the hallway and returned to the Christmas party room. There were still gift boxes under the Christmas tree. Woorim opened one, so seven remained. Was there any meaning to the number of presents?

I chose to open the present with a blue ribbon. There were new clothes inside, which had a fresh and pleasant scent. I opened another box. A pair of shoes fit for a child rolled out of it. As I was exiting the room, I realized that the size of the clothes was the same as that of the tattered ones we found earlier. But I didn’t think much more about it.

I fell into a moment of deliberation when I got back to the hallway. I wondered if I should go to the room where Goyeon fell into or find the stairways heading down. It didn’t seem like a bad idea to check for any blockades on the way downstairs.

However, not long after I decided to move on, my deliberation became all for nothing.

“Who’s there?” There were people. To be exact, I saw the light that people had in their hands. I didn’t see them when I just came out of the room. For a moment, I wondered if this hallway was curved, not straight. I failed to realize that in the dark.

“Haeseo?” The light scanned my body, and a familiar voice called my name. It was Raehee Park.

“Haeseo! You made it? Really?” Hyehyun ran up to me. Hawoo and Raehee also followed. Hyehyun circled me and barraged me with a series of questions, “Are you all right? For real? Are you hurt anywhere?”

I answered stiffly, “Yeah, so stop that.”

Hyehyun hugged me lightly, then he pulled away. “Thank goodness!” Then, he frowned slightly and looked around. “What about that other guy? That b*stard, Woorim Eun.”

“Downstairs,” I replied tersely, then I approached Hawoo and Raehee to show them the map that I had found. I also explained how to get to the living room with the elevator. The two of them looked at the map in surprise, jumping once again when I told them that we found the elevator.

“Woorim took the elevator and went downstairs first.” I then said that we also needed to go down while keeping in mind the possibility of getting stuck downstairs. I added that Woorim, who gave the flashlight to me, would be in danger in the dark.