[Science Exhibition Preliminary D+???]
Bang-!
In the middle of the night.
I suddenly woke up in bed to the sound of tremendous explosion echoing through the boarding house.
".....?"
Murmur murmur...
Outside, I could hear people murmuring.
"Hey, what are you-"
Bang-!
"Call the police! Call the police first!"
Bang-!
"Urgh! Gah, urgh..."
Thud-
"Kyah! Kyah -!"
A moment later, another explosive blast rang out, followed by the screams of people.
I hurriedly scrambled out of bed.
My room was dark, the lights off.
The only source of light was the faint glow from the hallway seeping through the window on my door.
And then came the commotion of people.
"What the hell! Who are you people This is"
Thud-
"Gah! Urgh! Grrrrgh..."
Something crashed and fell with a loud clatter, and the sounds of people screaming in pain.
'...What the hell, f*ck.'
My heart pounded with tension.
Once again, the sound of an explosion.
Bang-!
"Aaagh Gah, grrgh..."
Someone collapsed again, letting out a Scream filled with pain.
I quietly left the bed.
Then, tiptoeing over, I checked the doorknob of my room.
It was locked.
"It's robbers! Robbers! Call the poli-Ugh! Guhk! Gah..."
Smack-Smack--Smack.
The frantic sound of something being struck over and over.
And then once again... the sound of a gunshot.
Bang-
"Kyaaaaaah..."
Thu-
Hah, hah, hah, hah.
What the hell, f**k.
What was this, all of a sudden?
'Crazy....'
I stood there, not knowing what to do, then, thinking I should at least take a look, I quietly pulled the chair away from the desk.
Then, silently, I climbed onto the chair and peered through the small window above the door, cautiously glancing into the hallway.
'Slowly... so I can't be noticed....'
Beyond the window, the cleanly polished marble hallway of the boarding house entered my eyes.
At the end, the entrance and the counter door were visible.
And before them, corpses soaking in fresh blood were strewn about.
'Crazy.....'
Swallowing hard, I steadied my posture and continued to watch intently.
Soon after, from around the corner near the entrance, So meone came walking with heavy, distinct footsteps.
"A woman?"
A woman in a red hoodie with the hood up.
In her hand, she held a fire axe.
Click, creak-
The woman stepped over the corpses, opened the counter door,and entered.
And then, for a moment, the sound of someone rummaging through something behind the counter could be heard.
Clatter—clatter—
As I was watching the scene through
the window, my eyes suddenly met those of the unlucky CSAT retaker girl in the room across the hallway, just opposite me.
Just like me, the retaker girl seemed to be standing on a chair, looking down the hallway through the window.
I put my finger to my lips and whispered "Shh," signaling that we should stay quiet.
The girl nodded, her expression frightened.
Clatter--Clatter-
Inside the counter, the sound of rummaging continued.
Soon, as if she had found what she was looking for, the door opened again with a metallic clang.
Creak-
Cunk-
Key.
The woman in the hoodie, holding the fire axe, came out again, a master key dangling from her other hand.
"Found it."
As the woman muttered like that, a deep male voice responded near the entrance.
"Give it to me. You start with the kitchen."
"Okay."
The man at the entrance was out of my sight, beyond the corner of the wall.
Soon, the woman handed the master key to the man at the entrance she had just spoken with, and headed toward the kitchen herself.
But after only a few steps, she stopped at the restroom located between the counter and the kitchen.
As the woman passed in front of the restroom, the door suddenly swung open with a click, and the uncle-like leader of our study group came rushing out, holding a washbasin.
"Yaaaaargh!!!!! Who the hell are you people!"
The leader swung the washbasin straight at the woman in red hoodie with a loud roar.
I clenched both fists in support.
'Nice one, f*ck yeah! You got this, bro!'"
But as if to render my support meaningless the very next moment, the wonman in the red hoodie swiftly turned aside in a flawless motion.
Only the poor leader ended up sprawled flat on the floor of the boarding house with a loud thud.
At the same time, the woman in red hoodie standing aside raised her axe and brought it down in a curved arc onto the back of the fallen leader.
Thwack!
"Graaaaargh-! Aaaaaaagh!"
The burly leader thrashed in pain, but the woman skillfully pulled the axe embedded in his back out with practiced ease.
The leader's white tank top was soaked with blood, and the woman struck the back of his head multiple times again with strong, forceful blows.
Whwack- Whwack- Whwack-!
"Ugh-! Grrkgrrrr...."
Like that, the leader's body convulsed and he died on the spot.
The CSAT retaker girl across from me. gasped and covered her mouth.
We faced each other through our respective windows.
She was still covering her mouth, tears streaming down her face.
I waved my hand trying to calm her down, whispering "Shh, shh," through the window to soothe her.
Step-step- step–step-
The woman in the red hoodie, axe in hand, walked back toward the kitchen after finishing her task.
In the kitchen, someone had unfortunately come out for a late-night snack, and his scream pleading for mercy could be heard.
"P-please, spare me, spare me-ugh!
gag! grrrrr!"
Whwack Whwack- Whwack-!
The axe blows came down mercilessly
once again.
And from the opposite hallway, the sound of the man opening doors one by one with a key could be heard.
Click-Creak-
"Uh, um... who's there...."
Bang-!
Thud-
Withouta word, the man fired his gun, shooting the people inside the room.
Even though it was just the sound coming from the opposite hallway, the gruesome scene played vividly in my mind, making me shrink back instinctively.
"Ugh, gah, gah, grrr...."
Bang -!
"....."
After finishing the execution, the man moved on to another room.
Click-
Click-
The sound of the lock clicking twice.
As soon as the man turned the master key, someone locked the door again. The man, seemingly angry, grabbed the doorknob roughly and shook it.
Click-click-rattle, rattle, rattle.
"Come out!"
Thud–
"Ugh, ugh... please, spare me, spare me"
Bang-!
Again, the sound of someone collapsing was heard.
I clutched my chest with a tense expression.
'F*ck, if this keeps up, I'm dead.'
Even if I stayed in the room, they were breaking in one by one and killing everyone.
I have to escape. I have to escape right now!
Just as I thought that and got down from the chair, quietly reaching to open the door.
Someone must have had the same thought as me, as the door to another room opened first, and I heard the sound of someone running out.
Click-!
"Huff, huff, huff, haah..."
Someone was running desperately.
They rounded the corner and reached the entrance.
At the same time, the woman with the axe burst out of the kitchen hearing the noise.
"Damn it f*ck, I should've run out first..."
The timing was off.
I clenched my teeth, released the doorknob I'd been holding, and climbed back onto the chair to watch the situation unfold.
But soon I realized it was a blessing in disguise that I hadn't rushed out first.
"What, what, the f*ck...! Its locked."
The test taker who had just run out cursed as they tried to pull open the glass door at the entrance.
A clanking sound, as if a chain were hung there, could be heard.
Without hesitation, the woman in the red hoodie brought her axe down forcefully toward the escapee.
"W-wait! Wait! Please wait-aaah"
Thud-! Thwack-Thwack-
Each time the woman swung the axe,the heavy steel blade sank into flesh with a chilling, sickening sound.
Red blood splattered against the white cement walls of the boarding house.
'....F*ck, there's no getting out through
the front.'
The front door may be made of glass, but it was not the kind a person can break through easily.
It was a fairly thick glass door, and now it was chained shut, so there really was no out that way.
Desperately racking my brain to survive, my eyes met once again with the repeat student girl in the room across from mine through the window.
The girl just covered her mouth as tears streamed down her face.
Then suddenly, a spark of inspiration hit me.
F*ck, the window!
My room only had an inner window due to its layout, but that girl's room had an outer window that led outside! I pointed at myself, then at the crying repeat student, gesturing to her that I was going to come over to her side.
Even while crying uncontrollably, the girl seemed to understand, covering her mouth as she nodded her head.
I quietly stepped down from the chair and carefully unlocked the door.
As I gently pushed the doorknob, waiting for the right moment, the sound of gunfire and axe blows rang out again.
Bang-!
"Guh! Gag! Ugh, ugh..."
"Help! Help me... uugh....
"..."
Thwack-Thwack-
Screams echoed, followed by gunshots and the strike of an axe, then a brief silence settled in.
Then, when they found someone hiding again, screams erupted once more, followed by another hush of silence.
I waited patiently for the right moment, and when the sounds of them killing people overlapped, I quietly opened the door.
Creaaak..
Bang!
"Ugh! Aaah! It's a robber! Robber...."
Thwack thwack thud
Hearing the sounds of someone dying, I stepped out into the hallway.
Unlike the blood-soaked entrance, the
marble floor of the hallway was still clean and gleaming. Barefoot, I quietly stepped across it and moved toward the girl's room.
The door quietly opened, as if the lock
had been undone in advance.
"Graaaargh!! Cough, cough....
Fortunately, thanks to the loud screams coming from the opposite hallway, our movements went unnoticed.
"Brother...."
"Shh."
As I tiptoed in, the girl silently opened the door the rest of the way.
Stepping from the brightly lit hallway, I entered the dark room across from me.
Click-
The door locked with a soft sound.
I quickly scanned the dark room of the
repeat student girl.
'The window, the window!'
There!
I quickly climbed onto the bed and fumbled around for the window But.
'W-what the hell, f*ck...?'
How the hell is the window this small.....
I'd only ever lived in my own room and never been inside anyone else's, so I didn't realize the window here was this small.
It was barely bigger than a bathroomn vent.
No wonder the repeat student girl didn't try to escape and just kept crying.
'...This is crazy. What the hell am I supposed to do like this...'
I desperately racked my brain, but there was no way out.
The only window large enough to escape through in this entire boarding house was the one in the kitchen.
'Or else I'd have to head to the window
on the opposite hallway where the killer is.'
There were no windows in this hallway.
They must have known that too, which
is why they were clearing the other hallway first.
Trying to find a window to escape out of here right now would be a suicide mission.
'What do I do, what do I do...'
After thinking quietly for a moment, I came to a conclusion.
If I can't escape, then I just have to hold on until the police arrive!'
Without thinking twice, I crouched down and tried to crawl under the bed.
'If i hide down here...'
Pat pat.
But the space under the bed was blocked.
In boarding houses, to maximize limited space, storage units are often built integrated with the bed frame, filling the area beneath the bed completely.
F*ck, f*ck....:"
At the same time, I heard the footsteps of the killers approaching down this hallway.
Step, step, step.
'Fuck ,fuck,fuck!'
In desperation, I lifted the mattress and crawled underneath it.
"B-Brother, what are you doing..."
The repeat student girl, still crying, looked at me and asked.
Ignoring her, I crawled further under, all the way to the edge of the mattress.
Then I reached out and arranged the blanket just right.
This way, even with the mattress slightly raised like this, it looked mostly natural, concealed by the thickness of the blanket, enough to hide one person.
The repeat student girl watched me for a moment, then suddenly approached and grabbed me.
"C-come out, this is my bed..."
"Go away, don't touch me. Don't touch
me."
"This is my bed...! I'm going to hide here..."
"G-get lost...! I thought of this plan first..."
The girl tried to lift the mattress and pull me out.
I struggled hard, refusing to get out We engaged in a silent struggle in the dimly lit boarding house, until the girl finally lost her balance and stumbled backward from the force of my feet pushing her.
"Ahhh..!"
She stumbled backward and crashed
into the desk.
All the dusty writing utensils, cosmetics, and perfume she'd stolen from the boarding house spilled everywhere.
Crash bang bang-
"....!"
Hearing the commotion, the killers strode quickly toward us.
The repeat student girl, crying again, lunged at me and tugged at my clothes.
"Come out.... This is my bed, I'm going to hide...".
"Damn it, shut up! I said shut the hell up!"
She was gonna get us both killed!
"Come out..."
"Don't do that! Don't do that!"
We struggled and fought under the mattress, making a commotion.
At the same time, the sound of a key turning in the door could be heard.
Click-!
For a moment, we both held our breath and froze, then slowly turned to look at the door.
Soon, the door opened, flooding the room with hallway light.
The girl and I blinked against the brightness, raising our hands to shield Our eyes.
Then, in the blurry light, two figures appeared back lit.
A large man wearing a gray coat.
And a woman in a red hoodie holding an axe.
Like saviors, the two figures stood in the light, backlit, looking down on us shrouded in darkness.
Eventually, the woman in the hoodie glanced at me and let out a mocking laugh.
"..Looks like he tried to crawl in and hide. What do you think, Uncle?"
The man stared silently at me for a moment, then nodded slowly in a low voice.
"...His face has changed a lot, but judging by his actions, it's probably him."
"How about this one? Since she's a girl, it shouldn't matter, right?"
At the Woman's gesture, the female repeat student trembled all over.
"Bring them both out first."
After saying that, the man turned around, and the woman in the hoodie, still backlit by the hallway light, gestured toward the hallway for us to follow.
"oi. Both of you, come out."
The repeat student girl slowly released the hand that was tugging at my clothes.
As we remained there frozen, staring blankly, the woman tapped the axe and pointed out again.
"Come out. Both of you."
The repeat student girl standing up and me lying under the mattress.
We hesitated for a moment, exchanging glances, then slowly got up and walked out of the room.
"Kneel down."
After coming out of the dark room into the hallway lit by fluorescent lights.
We both knelt down and bowed our heads.
From what I remember from movies, in situations like this, you should avoid eye contact as much as possible.
'Because witnesses get killed.'
As we stayed bowed, the man and woman stood before us, looking down.
Soon, the woman in the hoodie called
Someone.
"Lee Joon."
"....."
"Lee Joon."
As we remained silently bowed, the female repeat student glanced at me.
'Don't look, you damn b*tch.'
"Lee Joon, can't you hear me?"
The woman slammed the axe onto the floor.
The metal blade hit the marble floor, producing a crisp metallic noise.
Only then did I nod hastily.
"Yes, yes... It's me, Lee Joon....."
The man and woman glanced at each other briefly.
Then the man let out a long sigh, and pulled out a cigarette from his pocket. He lit it with a lighter and exhaled a puff of smoke in front of us.
The silent boarding house.
The billowing cigarette smoke.
And the two looking down at us, with corpses piled up behind them.
Probably not everyone in this boarding house was dead.
Someone must be quietly hiding in a room like we were earlier, watching the situation.
And surely, among them, someone must have already called the police.
'I just hold on a little longer.'
I just needed to hold out until the police arrived.
Kneeling, I slowly lifted my head and looked up at the two.
The man smokinga cigarette and the axe-wielding woman glaring at me.
When our eyes met, I quickly lowered my head again.
There was no point in provoking them.
"..Do you know who we are?"
Soon, the man crushed out his cigarette and asked in a low voice.
I slowly shook my head.
"..I don't know."
"You don't know."
This time, the woman let out a sigh.
Then the large man who had been staring at me quietly asked me again.
"..I'm Detective Park Gangwoon from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Special Investigation Unit. Though not anymore."
"....."
"The girl beside me is Lee Jinhee, a student at Nakseong High School."
"Ah, of course, I'm not a student anymore either."
Jinhee, the girl beside him, tapped the axe lightly and added to the man's words.
"We quit everything just to look for you."
I made a confused face. Looking for me?
Me?.
..Why?
Regardless of my confusion, the man who claimed to be a detective kept speaking in a low voice.
"It really took a long time, Joon. To finally find you."
"....."
"I've been here several times, but strangely enough, I couldn't find you."
I stayed silent.
After a moment, the detective paused,
quietly observed my reaction, and asked.
"Still, do you not remember anything? Not even when you hear our names?"
I lowered my eyes and slowly shook my head.
Once again, the detective and the girl let out a sigh.
"Hey. Do you at least remember what year it is right now?"
"W-well, I think...."
I mumbled in response to the girl's question.
"2019...?"
"Wrong."
The man answered instead, raising his gun, then clicked off some kind of lock and aimed it at me.
" I'll tell you from the beginning, so listen carefully. On the early morning of Sunday, May 26, 2019. It was the day before your school's science fair preliminaries, when I received a text message."
Aiming the gun at me, he showed his phone screen with his other hand.
There was a long message sent under
the name Lee Joon.
"It was a message where you asked me to look into what happened here on that date, with a video titled 19990225 attached."
"I was with you when you watched this. Really don't remember?"
The girl said from beside him, but I just shook my head.
The detective continued, still aiming the gun at me.
"Anyway, as soon as I saw the text, I
immediately started searching through
the case files. It was a case from 20
years ago, and the person in the video
was only stabbed, not killed. It wasn't
a serious crime like murder, so it was
harder to track down. Society doesn't
keep track of every single injury or hospitalization."
"..."
"First, I urgently looked into what was on the fifth floor of this building, where the boarding house currently stands, 20 years ago, and just as you suspected from the video, I confirmed that there was indeed a study lounge here back then. I contacted the
person who was the owner at the time, who confirmed that on that day, a man studying or a judicial exam suddenly cut his arm in a self-harm incident and was taken to the hospital. There was no weapon involved, and he claimed someone had stabbed him. But I couldn't tell any of you that. Because as soon as Monday came, all of you committed suicide."
I kept my head down and quietly listened to the story, but I couldn't make any sense of it.
But the other person was pointing a gun at me, so I stayed silent for the time being.
"Yoon Sunah's grandmother found her
in the bathroom with her wrists slit. The neighbors heard her crying loudly and reported it to the police, but it was already too late. Ahn Gyeongwon hanged himself in his room and died."
"In Hayoon, due to her family's circumstances, had her body buried in secret, so in the end, the exact cause of her death was unknown. Anyway, by abusing my authority and illegally looking into the cause of death, I found out it was the same cause; suicide.Your friend Oh Dukhun didn't die right away, but from that point on, he suffered from severe depression, stayed shut in his room, until he eventually died from illness."
"And then Jinhee here."
As the detective said that and slightly turned his head, the girl rolled up her sleeve and showed her wrist.
Her wrist was covered in countless knife scars.
"..She didn't commit suicide, but with her mind crumbling under the weight of the ghost stories, she clung to me and desperately continued the investigation."
"I—"
"DIEEEEEEEEEE-!!"
Suddenly, from around the corner, the civil service exam student girl with thick glasses, who had been peeking from the corner and waiting for the right moment, came sprinting at us with the kitchen knife in hand.
Bang -!
Without a moment's hesitation, the detectivve turned around And shot the senior sister.
The senior sister, carried by the momentum of her charge, collapsed and rolled across the floor. At the same time, the female repeat student kneeling beside me suddenly kicked off the ground and sprang up.
"KYAAAAAAAH— "
Just as she was about to run away with a scream, before she could even take a full step, the girl in red hoodie swung the fire axe down like lightning and struck her squarely in the neck.
Squelch-! Thud-
Blood brst fromn the girl's mouth and neck as she collapsed with a heavy slap against the wall, her body crumpling lifelessly.
Soon after, the detective, completely unshaken, as if nothing had happened, steadily raised the gun at me again and continued speaking without missing a beat.
"—I spent a long time investigating with Jinhee and uncovered a few facts. One of them is that disappearances and suicides here have been happening continuously since before the boarding house existed, back when this place was still a study lounge."
"...."
"The man you saw in that video, the one with long hair carrying a knife. He was the manager at the study lounge and was the very first person to go missing here. When I spoke with the Owner at the time, he said that just before the disappearance, the missing man wasn't mentally stable. He was so hypersensitive that even the ticking of a pen would make him react strongly, warning customers excessively. He claimed he was always bothered by noises, shaking his head wildly from side to side as he trembled."
"Lee Joon, that person is probably the origin and starting point of this ghost story. When you go back, find him."
I kept my head down and thought quietly.
'A guy with long hair who wildly shakes his head.. could he be talking about that veteran student living in the last room here?"
He was a cool guy who used to wield a knife and chase down the clueless managers for us. What's wrong with him?
I couldn't understand, but for now, I nodded with mv head lowered.
The detective then continued his explanation.
"As such, all I know are these connected facts, I still don't understand what kind of ghost story this really is. The boarding house owner in a coma died shortly afterward, so where that video came from remains a mystery, as does why all of your club members committed suicide. Why no one could find you or this place until now, why you've appeared now, and where all
these people we've killed came from, all of it."
The detective pointed to the corpses, which outnumbered the rooms. I too broke out in a cold sweat as I took in the sight.
"We came here today as a last resort. Still, since your body wasn't found, we continued investigating, hoping you might be alive. Just in case, I checked your computer at home and investigated your gaming ID, and there were records showing you logged in regularly even after you went missing. Tracing the IP led to this place, the internet café in this very building."
"But that was only in the beginning. at some point, you stopped logging in, and I was lost again.I came here several times anyway, but still couldn't find you."
I listened silently.
He was probably talking about when my main account got reported and banned, so I started using a different ID later on.
"So we searched and searched, turned the entire city upside down, wandered around everywhere, until we finally reached the ultimate conclusion. If you might still be in here and we just can't find you, then we should kill every single person inside."
I kept my head down, at a complete loss for words.
What's wrong with these people?
Why are they suddenly talking about
killing people like it's nothing? I'm just a Noryangjin civil service student, studying hard, nothing more.
The two of them, watching me silently bowing my head, eventually let out a long sigh.
"....Even after telling you all that, you still look like you don't understand a thing. You've completely lost yourself."
"What do we do, Uncle? Even if we send him back like this, will he remember any of this?"
"He has to remember.....".
The two of them wore bitter Sensing this was my chance, I slowly lifted my head, trembling.
"...Um, I-I understand now, really.
But... c-could you maybe... not kill me...
please...?"
"Uh... my exam's coming up soon. I've been studying hard.. I really need to pass..."
At those words, the girl in red hoodie leaned her weight on the axe with a quiet thunk and let out a mocking laugh.
"Studying? Studying for what?"
"Uh... the 9th-grade civil service I spoke, trembling.
"I... I don't have much in terms of education..... and I don't have any real
skills either..... If I don't pass this, I won't
be able to make a living...."
"If I don't pass the exam, my life's basically over... The only path left for me would be spending my life doing part-time jobs... or ending up in some shady small company....."
".....And what's so wrong with living off part-time jobs?"
The girl let out a laugh, her face twisted in disbelief as she played along mockingly.
"You can live off part-time jobs while doing what you love."
".....B-but that kind of life is only tolerated when you're young..."
I swallowed hard and scrambled to explain.
"Y-you can't just live off part-time jobs after turning thirty or forty... How would I even get married like that...."
"S-so even if I waste a few years, it's better to prepare for the civil service exam. Once I pass, at least I'll have job security until retirement... And it's not like it requires any highly specialized skills or anything.....
At that, the girl named Jinhee pressed down on the axe with both hands and laughed.
"..So, you're saying you'd rather study more?"
"-just let me live. Please.... just let me..."
"What was your marks?"
The girl grinned, pressing the axe down playfully.
"You've taken the test, haven't you? What was your score?"
"I-I missed it by just one point. Just one. I'll pass next year."
"Next year?"
The girl asked casually, and I quickly
nodded in a panic.
"Yes, next year. Next year..."
"Is that so?"
I nodded submissively, bowing low.
"T-that's the only reason I'm studying. I'm almost there. I've been working so hard... struggling to survive here in this boarding house....."
"Please just let me go... I beg you.."
At that, the girl who had been quietly listening suddenly furrowed her brows sharply.
"But the world ends next year, you know?"
"..."
"What are you even studying for? Let me see."
"Judging by his actions earlier, I guess that room over there is his."
The detective nodded toward my room, and the girl named Jinhee opened the door and stepped inside.
She soon came out holding a dusty basic textbook for the 9th-grade civil service exam.
"Hey~ damn, look at all this dust. Not a single sign that you've studied.."
"....."
"What the heck is this? Are you planning to sell it secondhand or something?"
The girl waved the textbook in front of me as if to show me.
"Alright, question. If you get this right, I'll let you live. Which of the following groups of words consist entirely of standard form of Korean language?"
She then quickly read out the options.
〈Which of the following groups consists entirely of standard language?〉
① Puppet (꼭두각시) - Dawn (새벽녁) - Wildcat (살쾡이) – Freeloading (떠어먹다)
② Knitting (뜨개질) - Third child (셋째) - Yoke (수평아리) - Affectionate (애닯다)
③ Commending (치켜세우다) - Monthly rent (사글세) - Dishwashing (설겆이) - Male animal (수컷)
④ Dimple (보조개) - Ram (수양) - Basket (광우리) - Kidney beans (강남콩)
"..."
I desperately racked my brain, but none of the words sounded familiar.
'C-choose the group that consists entirely of standard language?'
What the heck? Which of these are even standard?
F**k, I've never heard any of these words in my life.
What the hell is Monthly rent (사글세) supposed to mean?
'Kidney beans (강남콩)? Did they mean to write Gangnang but wrote it wrong?'
[T/N: As every other language, Korean language also has a standard form mostly used for official purposes. The words used in standard form may or may not vary from regional dialects.]
As I racked my brain, trying to think, the girl let out a snort and dumped the book in front of me.
Only the first few pages had underlines, the rest were practically untouched, like new.
It was in the same condition as the day I bought it at the bookstore.
With no excuse to make, I could only bow my head in silence.
"This little sh*t didn't study at all."
"...."
"Why didn't you, huh?"
The girl smacked the axe against the floor with a sharp thunk thunk again and again.
"If you were going to lock yourself away, you should've at least studied properly! What the hell were you doing all this time?!"
"....."
"What important thing were you even doing hiding like that? We looked everywhere but you never showed up."
"....."
"Huh? Why did you do that, why?"
The girl struck the floor with the axe again.
I slowly lifted my head, cautiously
watching her expression.
Jinhee's eyes were red.
"Huh? Answer me! Why did you do that?! Why?!"
"...."
"Why did you do that, why. Seriously. Huh...."
"I missed you, you idiot. I really missed you all.."
Her voice dropped to a whisper.
"I really… missed you all..…"
With reddened eyes, the girl looked at me, silently leaning on the axe as if overwhelmed with emotion.
For some reason, I felt a sharp pang of guilt in my chest.
"I searched for you for so long, huh? What were you doing here... Why are you like this? You idiot, you idiot...."
Tears finally flowed from the eyes of the girl who had been trying to hold back her emotions.
And yet, I still mumbled, unable to let
go of my lingering attachment.
"....That civil service exam, I really have to pass it at least once....."
Silence.
Then— A laugh.Broken laugh .
"What's so important about that, huh?"
She wiped her tears roughly, but more kept falling.
"Why are you even saying stuff like that, you idiot. You used to be someone way more amazing."
"Since when have you ever been afraid of death, you fool? Since when did you ever fear such a thing... Why, why are you here doing this if you're scared of that, why, why... You stupid b*stard, you foolish idiot.."
Unable to hold back her tears any
longer, Jinhee raised her hand and
broke down, sobbing uncontrollably.
"I missed you, I really missed the old day...."
I just sat there, frozen, with my head bowed.
Jinhee crying, and me with my head down.
As I slowly tilted my head slightly to the side, I caught sight of myself on the full-body mirror through the crack of the open door to the repeat student girl's room right next to mine.
Only then was I able to see my current
appearance clearly.
The image of me reflected in the full-length mirror visible through the door crack.
I looked uglier than I thought.
"..Is this, me..?"
Inside the reflection was a lazy man,
emaciated and fat.
Due to lack of exercise and living with the days and nights all mixed up, my chin had doubled.
Below that, a patchy beard, a result of my indolence to shaving.
And my sagging belly fat and very weathered skin.
My hair hadn't been washed in two days since I'd been stuck inside my room, so it was completely greasy and matted.
And I just stared.
At The mirror reflected a heavily damaged face that looked much older than my actual age.
That man who wasted everythingin his life.
"You idiot, why did you get so ugly, huh? You fool..."
"...."
"Why did you do it, why... why did you hide.... I missed you so much, I missed you so much..."
Jinhee sobbing, and me staring blankly at the mirror.
Soon, I heard the murmuring of police
officers gathered at the front entrance
after receiving a report.
"It's locked! Break it down and get in!"
"The glass is thicker than I thought, it
won't break!"
"Hey, grab the fire extinguisher or
something heavy! Anything, quickly!"
The detective briefly grazed at me quietly, then, still aiming his gun, he spoke again.
"Lee Joon, when you get back, go around the floors and look for your friends. None of the kids went straight home that day."
"And according to your request, I did a background check, even at the risk of being suspended. In Hayoon, that girl, has no family. And there is no one named In Taesang registered in South Korea."
Bang bang bang
"Break it! Break it, quickly!"
"Damn, this is crazy. How many bodies
are there....?"
The police shouted wildly as they tried
to smash the glass door at the entrance.
And there stood the detective, quietly
aiming his gun at my head, while Jinhee sobbed.
I still stared blankly at my reflection in the mirror and nodded slowly.
Looking at the ugly man who wasted his youth on foolish studying and gained weight unattractively.
The detective's finger trembled as it tightened on the trigger.
"I wish we had more time, but I can't tell you much. Everything I've told you, look into it once you go back. This is as far as we've gotten."
".....Okay."
"Then, this is it."
Crash-
The glass door shattered, and the police rushed in wildly.
"Once again. I'm counting on you, Joon."
Bang -!
Along with those words, a loud gunshot echoed.
I saw the police holding back the detective and Jinhee, who was crying. At that moment, a dull, piercing sound struck through my mind, and my vision faded to white.
[You are dead.]
[You'll restart from the previous
checkpoint.]
[Loading....]
**
"Get in, get moving!"
The hesitant officers resumed pushing
the two inside.
Soon, the police car drove off into the
ominous night sky.
Gangwoon, now handcuffed, looked
out the window at the sky and muttered quietly.
"...Thank you for your hard work, Lee Jinhee."
"You too, Uncle."
Leaning back against the seat, the
delinquent girl, clearly exhausted, responded softly.
Boom-boom-BOOM-
"....."
"....."
Outside, the thunder roared once again, and the clouds rushed swiftly across the sky.
Outside, the thunder roared once again, and the clouds rushed swiftly across the sky.
"Has it always been like this every time?"
After gazing at the sky for a moment, Gangwoon quietly closed his eyes, a sense of relief having completed his task washed over him.
Beside him, Jinhee had already closed her eyes, as if she had let go of everything.
And at last, the two of them reached the moment of rest they had hoped and longed for.
Flashhhhh-