CH 96

Raehee quivered like a leaf.

“H-Haeseo. L-leave me behind and run,” she said, and then the grip on her ankle grew stronger. It pulled hard, trying to pull her down. The old stairs groaned and cracked, and her left foot plunged into the stairs. She yelped.

“No!” I stuck my hands under her arms and lifted her out. Fortunately, the hand grabbing her appeared to be weak as it fell off easily. I grabbed Raehee’s hand and dashed down. Raehee screamed as she was dragged along.

Crack, rattle, creak.

Behind us, something began tearing off several wooden planks. I peeked behind me and saw numerous pale hands emerge from under the stairs. Their fingers wriggled, searching for us. The old wooden stairs must have gotten in their way because they shredded the wooden panels as they followed. I felt faint from the sight.

Looking resolutely ahead, I clenched my jaw and started running. I practically rolled down the stairs as I searched for the next exit. Raehee continued to scream and cry. “Sorry, I’m sorry! You can leave me behind.”

My face crumpled from a certain emotion that pricked my heart. “I won’t leave you behind!”

I remembered what Woorim asked me not long after Goyeon died. “Did you feel slightly guilty that you couldn’t stop Goyeon, or…?”

How did I answer that again?

I felt guilty, very guilty.

If I hadn’t spread the urban legend about the mansion with 101 doors on the internet, these people wouldn’t have met this fate. Wasn’t that so? A groan slipped out of my mouth before I even knew it. It was absolutely my fault that Raehee and the others were trapped here.

“I can’t do that, ever.” I grabbed Raehee’s hand tightly.

“Don’t die. I can’t let you die,” I mumbled to myself as I dashed down the stairs. It was more of a plea than anything. “If you all died… Then, I’ll die too.”

Tears blurring my vision could make me miss the door to escape. I held them back and ran forward with Raehee’s hand in mine. The sounds of wood ripping apart and an unidentifiable roar filled the stairway behind me. Just the sound of it made the hairs on my neck stand and my legs shake. Cold sweat from nerves and hot perspiration from running mingled, becoming tepid and spreading across my skin.

“Ack!” At that moment, a scream filled the air from close behind—it was Raehee. I was about to turn back without thinking when Raehee shouted back at me. “I just twisted my ankle! Run! Keep looking straight ahead! Hurry!”

Upon hearing that, I had no choice but to resume our descent through the pitch-black stairs. Then, I could see a door. There was a flash of joy. If one could only survive by following the rules as Raehee said, we were being chased by those things because we were outside our rooms at this time.

Thinking back on it, we were all in our rooms at this time of day. That was except for the staff who snuck out to escape the mansion. Seogeung had momentarily gone out to drink with the producer-director—that was all. The place where Goyeon attacked Seogeung was not in a room but an open arena-like place.

Would any room be safe?

It was worth a shot.

“Let’s go in there!” I yelled and ran for the room. It was a white door made of metal. Even if those things didn’t disappear and banged on the door, unlike the wooden door, this one could withstand the force longer. I opened the door and went in. I slammed the door shut.

New darkness greeted us.

Hands pattered on the door for a while after I closed it. I grabbed the doorknob and stayed wary of the outside. ‘Disappear… Disappear…’ I prayed to myself. The endless marathon made my heart feel like it would burst. I was at my limit and so was Raehee. Neither of us could run anymore.

‘So please, disappear.’

Just then…

“…Haeseo?” Someone pointed their flashlight at me. I squinted at the sudden beam of bright light and stepped back. I brought my hand to my eyes, but it was still hard to keep them open.

“It’s you, right?” The person who confirmed my identity walked toward me, delighted to see me. He put down the flashlight, and only then could I open my eyes. The person in front of me was Hyehyun Ham. I hadn’t expected to meet him in such a place, so I could only stare back dumbly.

It had only been around two hours since we parted, but it felt like days.

“Why did you come out from there? We can’t use that passageway anymore?” Hyehyun pointed to the door behind me and asked. Outside, the door fell silent—I wasn’t sure if going into a room was the answer or if it was because I met someone with a flashlight. I could finally let out a sigh of relief. My muscles spasmed and grew weak from overexertion.

“There… the stairs collapsed,” I replied then clutched Raehee’s hand. “It’s over now, Raehee. Thank goodness.”

Hyehyun’s eyes grew round. He tilted his head in confusion and asked, “Raehee? You mean Raehee Park?”

That was a weird question for him to ask. But at that moment, a drop of cold sweat rolled down my spine. Now that I thought about it, Hyehyun had only addressed me. He didn’t once look or flash his light on Raehee, who should have been next to me. The next moment, I realized why.

Hyehyun shone his light on my hand and screamed. Then, he stepped back and pointed at my hand—the hand that was holding Raehee’s. “Haeseo! What is that?”

Because his light was shining there, I could see clearly what I was holding.

I was clutching Raehee’s hand—to be specific, Raehee’s hand from the wrist down. Her wrist looked like someone bit it off and was dripping with fresh blood. I held my breath. My hand that was holding onto Raehee trembled uncontrollably.

I thought back to when she screamed during our descent. Right after, she said that she was fine and to keep running while looking straight ahead. After that, I didn’t hear anything from her…

Something translucent covered my trembling hand.

A fair, pale hand, it was a hand exactly like the one I was holding. I followed that hand upward. Raehee was there, so transparent that I could see the door behind her. She looked just like the last time I saw her. My face fell. Raehee smiled brightly, her face still covered in Seogeung’s blood.

She mouthed, ‘Thank goodness.’

Then, she vanished completely, leaving behind a piece of her in my hand.

“Ah… Ah… Urgh, ngh, ah…” I stumbled backward. The piece of Raehee dropped as my hand lost its strength. Her hand that fell on the floor looked like a sculpture created by a master sculptor. However, a pool of blood started forming around it, not permitting one to mistake it for such.

Blood, blood, blood, blood…!

“Ah… Ah… Ah!”

“Haeseo?” Hyehyun called me as I staggered backward, shaking my head. I started to hyperventilate. A cry slipped out between my lips. I pulled at my face and my hair.

“Did you feel slightly guilty that you couldn’t stop Goyeon, or…?”

This couldn’t be. This couldn’t be happening. This shouldn’t have happened. Why did this keep happening? I couldn’t believe it. How come they kept happening? No, no, no. Why did this keep ending up like this? Why, why? How come? What was this place? Why did people keep dying one by one? Why?

My legs gave in. I flopped down and wailed, “Ah, ack! Argh! Arghh!”

“Haeseo! Haeseo!” Hyehyun came up to me and shook my shoulders. Even though someone I hated was touching me, I couldn’t feel anything. I merely shook with goosebumps on my flesh. The things that I called my lungs turned into organs that could only breathe by being wrung out. I couldn’t tell if I felt hot or cold.

“Agh! Argh! Ahhhhh!” I shrieked on and on while lying face down on the floor. Tears and saliva dripped from my face and pooled. The hot mixture of liquid mixed with the thick layer of dust on the ground and stagnated below.

Raehee had died.