Episode 40
“How…?”
How did she get here when she couldn’t even move properly because of her injury? Without a weapon, at that? I was about to ask her that when,
“Gasp!”
“Ugh!”
I couldn’t because of the intruder that appeared before me. I thought Do-yoon would have held it back, so how did it get here? Did Do-yoon get beaten by this guy…? I forced my head, which didn’t want to turn back, to look down the corridor to the east. Contrary to my worries, however, I saw him running towards me. Fortunately, he seemed unharmed and intact. Then why was this guy…?
“Ugh!”
The main zombie grabbed Seo Ga-eun’s chin and examined her closely, just as it had done with the survivor earlier. Instantly, the light from the ‘surgery in progress’ on the door and the raw screams of pain automatically replayed in my head.
“You can’t do that!”
At the thought that she might end up like that person just now, I felt something snapping in me, and I raised the bat in my hand high and struck the creature’s head. It then screamed in anger as if it had been interrupted from something important. The creature, with its head turned, rolled its eyes towards me and glared with a venomous gaze.
“…!”
Overwhelmed by its appearance, I stumbled backward, and suddenly the creature’s lips split up to its ears, transforming into long, sharp claws like those of a beast. It hadn’t been a normal creature from the beginning, but with this, it truly was a monster.
“Kiiiaaaak-”
Before, its cry was like a rough scratching of the throat, but now it emitted a sound like nails on a chalkboard, piercing my ears. Shit, what the hell did I do? It felt like I’d pressed a trigger button….
The sound it made snapped me out of my daze, and I was able to reflect on what I’d done.
The creature, different from the main zombie I knew, no longer threw syringes. Instead, it swung its sharp claws wildly, trying to tear me apart. I dodged as best I could, and when I couldn’t anymore, I raised my bat to block it.
“Fuck. What the hell are those claws made of…?”
It wasn’t a wooden bat, but a sturdy aluminum one. It hadn’t gotten a single scratch even after all the various zombies whose heads it smashed, and yet this claw had left a dent on it. If this kept up, both the bat and I would probably broken into halves. So, I started to dodge its attacks instead of blocking them head-on. But even then, the creature’s immense strength kept bending the bat further. Eventually, the bat, having reached its limit, snapped in two. Just as I felt like I was really going to die because there was nothing left to block with anymore, a shadow leaped out from behind and enveloped the creature.
“Noona!”
“Wow… that timing was art.”
I had to clutch my chest to calm my heart, which felt like it was about to pop out of my chest. He looked worried and checked on me before noticing her standing at the emergency staircase and pausing for a moment. Then he muttered something quietly, but I couldn’t hear what he said. However, that wasn’t important right now. Our lives were in danger until we dealt with the main zombie first.
Since it was no longer the main zombie I knew, I was of no help. Moreover, my weapon was destroyed. Now, the only ones who could fight them were the others.
‘They must be really exhausted from fighting non-stop…’
Thinking like that, I watched the creature and the main zombie with an anxious gaze, and my eyes unintentionally caught sight of the corridor to the east.
“Huh…?”
The ‘Surgery in Progress’ light, which had been on until a moment ago, was now off, and the room was dark. Just then, the surgery room door slid open, and several zombies emerged, pushing an empty mobile bed just like before. Then, slowly, they began to push the bed towards us.
Were they…?
“Do-yoon, let’s run for now! We’ll deal with that later – let’s rush towards the emergency stairs!”
I pushed the woman standing at the door inside and dragged him into the emergency stairwell. Then I tried to lock the door, but it wouldn’t close—something was blocking it. After checking to see what it was, I found that sharp claws were preventing the door from closing.
I tried to break the claws by forcefully opening and closing the door repeatedly. No matter how strong the claws were, they couldn’t possibly withstand a metal door.
“Ha…!”
Contrary to my expectations, the claws didn’t break, rather, the part of the metal door that hit the claws bent. This was ridiculous! It was cheating! How could claws be stronger than a metal door! As I was astonished by the durability of the creature’s claws, another claw wedged itself into the gap and slowly began to force the door open.
Realizing this wouldn’t work, I looked for another way out, and he pointed to a spot.
“Let’s go there!”
The place he pointed to was a door marked ‘4th Floor.’
“The fourth floor…?”
I’d been feeling something was off for a while now. But as the door opened wide enough to reveal the creature’s face, such thoughts became irrelevant. Survival was the priority for now.
“Run!”
With that, I let go of the door and sprinted towards the door marked ‘4th Floor.’
***
“Huup… haa…”
I lay sprawled in front of the door, gasping for breath and trying to calm my still-fluttering heart.
It was truly terrifying. My hands were still trembling and my head was blank. It was only natural – I’d just barely escaped death.
“Ugh…”
The sound of a suppressed groan reached my ears, and I turned to look.
“Ms. Ga-eun…”
“…Ugh.”
She was sitting on the floor, bent over, unable to straighten up. It occurred to me only then that she was a patient. It was already brave enough for her to have come this far alone, but she had also run here with her injured body. Realizing this, I felt like I’d returned to reality. I forced my body, which felt as heavy as a waterlogged sponge, to sit up. Then I saw him surveying the surroundings with a grave expression.
“Ms. Ga-eun, if it’s too hard, lie down. You must have strained your wounds by moving so vigorously. You weren’t properly bandaged, so moving around must have made it bleed even more. How painful…”
I supported her and helped her lie down on the floor. She hadn’t responded at all since a while ago, likely because the pain had left her disoriented and unable to hear the sounds around her. I wanted to ask how she had managed to get here with that body, but I had to hold back for now.
“Do-yoon.”
Leaving the disoriented woman be, I called out to him, who had been looking serious since a while ago.
“Yes, did you call me?”
“Where the hell are we?”
“It should be the 4th floor. Probably.”
He said so in a voice that inspired no confidence.
“What do you mean by that? This hospital doesn’t have a 4th floor. You know that too. We went to the 5th floor first and then came straight down to the 3rd floor. I’m sure there was no 4th floor at the time.”
“…”
That’s right. I could now understand the source of the discomfort I felt when he pointed to the door marked ‘4th Floor’ earlier. This place did not exist.
“How much do you know about this place?”
It was obvious he knew about this place at the very start. Come to think of it, it was strange how he suddenly suggested going to the 5th floor at the beginning. The 5th floor so suddenly? And then, when we arrived at the door to the 5th floor, he showed no interest in it and instead stared intently at the wall between the 3rd and 5th floors. And, coincidentally, the door to this 4th floor was located exactly where he had been looking at that time—the wall between the stairwells connecting the 3rd and 5th floors.
“I don’t know much either. This is my first time coming in here.”
“So you’ve seen it before, even if you never came in?”
“…I’m afraid I can’t tell you the details.”
Even if he didn’t tell me, I could roughly guess what it was. He must have discovered this door during one of his many regression loops. That’s why he might have suggested going to the 5th floor to check it out, thinking something was off.
Alright, let’s assume that was what had happened. Then how did this door appear? Obviously, it hadn’t existed at first. Yet, just now, it appeared as if it had always been there…
Damn it. There were so many new factors that I didn’t understand at all. A 4th floor appearing out of nowhere. The main zombie of the 3rd stage changing its form, and it did things related to the surgery room that I’d never seen it do before. Nothing like this happened in the 1st and 2nd stages… Anxiety began to creep in as my reality unfolded differently from what I knew.
“Noona, cheer up.”
I must have looked too dejected. He looked at me with a worried face and tried to console me.
…Yes, I should cheer up. Moping around wouldn’t change anything, and it wouldn’t help me get home. It was better for my mental health to try to think positively as much as possible.
I shook my head lightly, trying to shake off the negative thoughts.
“Yes, thank you. Come here and take a break instead of standing there. You’ve been using your abilities non-stop without any rest since earlier.”
I patted the seat next to me. He hesitated for a moment before coming to sit next to me. I took his hand and pulled him down to sit beside me.
Unlike the other floors, this entire corridor was brightly lit and gave off a warm feeling, which somehow made my mind feel at ease. Additionally, perhaps the soundproofing was good, as the loud noises coming from the emergency stairwell a moment ago disappeared the moment the door closed. The sudden silence felt awkward at first, but I soon got used to it and relaxed.
I decided to take a short rest after being a bit relieved by the fact that this nonexistent floor didn’t seem as dangerous as I’d imagined.
my mid-terms start on monday… I might be cooked.
Good luck on your exams👍
Thanks for the chapter