Episode 41
“Now that I think about it, didn’t you leave a shadow dog with Ms. Ga-eun? You said it shared its vision with you. So you must have seen her wake up and come here, right? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Ah, about that… I’m sorry. I was so distracted that I forgot to tell you.”
“When did she wake up?”
“It was around the time we were walking through the west corridor on the third floor.”
The west corridor? Oh, that was when it happened? When there was suddenly a strange noise and a bed flew through the wall into the ICU?
“Did you maybe hear that sound late because you were busy using your ability?”
“Yes. When I focus on one thing, I tend to neglect the other, so I didn’t hear from that side well.”
“Ah… I see.”
Now that I understand the situation, I feel embarrassed for scolding him not to be distracted either. He must have been busy paying attention to this and that in his own way, and I criticized him for being careless…
“I was too busy dealing with that thing since entering the ICU to maintain the connection. I didn’t know what happened after that, but I never expected her to come here.”
“It’s the same for me. I was completely surprised when her face appeared as soon as the door opened – I hadn’t been expecting that at all.”
“But what happened earlier? The guy who was attacking me suddenly left without even looking back and went towards your side.”
“Ah, that. Well, I’m not sure… It came out of nowhere.”
Still, I had a little bit of an idea.
“Maybe it’s because of the blood?”
“Blood?”
“Yeah. There doesn’t seem to be any other common factor.”
That was probably it. At the time, the only commonality between her and the survivor was the fact that they were both bleeding. Both of them had wounds that hadn’t fully healed and were bleeding continuously.
“Maybe the creature prioritizes and reacts to people who are bleeding. So earlier, when there were three of us—me, you, and that person—it ignored us and only focused on him because he was bleeding. And just now, it must have smelled Ms. Ga-eun’s blood and came this way while leaving you behind.”
It was a fairly plausible hypothesis. He seemed to think so too, as he remained silent for a moment and then nodded.
“But what I don’t understand is why it didn’t attack the bleeding person, but instead dragged him to the operating room.”
It had thrown syringes at us as if to kill, but it didn’t attack the bleeding man. Instead, it dragged him to the door of the operating room and waited for someone to take him away. Come to think of it, that was strange too. Zombies suddenly bursting out of the operating room and taking the person away, as if they were playing the role of doctors.
“And what about those guys that came out of the operating room?”
I too had questions about what they were doing inside the operating room to make such noises, but I decided to leave that question be and not do anything. I didn’t really want to know.
No, in fact, I think I knew. But even imagining it was horrific enough to the point I wanted to just forget all about it. I shook my head and lightly tapped my cheek with my palm to shake off the unpleasant thoughts swirling in my mind.
“Phew… I feel better after resting a bit. How about you?”
“It’s not bad.”
“Really? Then rest a little longer. I’ll take a look around here.”
It seemed comfortable and safe on the surface, but you never know. There might be hidden dangers within. Moreover, this place was unusually well-maintained compared to the other floors, which made it feel suspiciously like a trap.
That’s why I wanted to look around, but despite the suggestion to rest more, he stood up from his seat to follow me.
“I’ll go with you.”
“You don’t need to. I told you to rest more.”
“You don’t even have a weapon now, what if something dangerous happens?”
No wonder my hands had felt empty since a while ago. He was right; I no longer had a weapon.
“It does make me uneasy not having anything in my hands. I need to find a new weapon quickly.”
“So don’t act alone from now on. It’s dangerous. Take me with you wherever you go.”
“Ugh…”
I didn’t like it, but I had no choice while I was weaponless. Eventually, we decided to look around together. As we were about to move, however, my eyes caught the sight of her lying down on one side..
Would it be okay to leave her alone? I remembered how she had dragged her injured body here by herself earlier and felt uneasy. But on the other hand, we weren’t going far, just wandering around this floor, so it should’ve been fine.
After a moment of contemplation, I decided to leave her here for now and come back as fast as possible instead. Still, I felt sorry for leaving a patient alone, so I changed the bandage covering her wound to a new one before standing up again.
***
It was a blank again this time. But blank in a good sense.
“There’s nothing here either.”
“Yeah. It’s better to have it empty than to have zombies, but why even have these rooms if they’re going to be like this…”
We had already checked six rooms, and they were all the same. There was no furniture, just empty spaces with white walls and ceilings. There were no windows, which made it feel a bit too closed off and suffocating. We hadn’t looked at all the rooms on this floor yet, but it seemed like there was no need to be cautious at this point. Maybe because it was a non-existent floor, the interior strived to match the name too — there was nothing inside…
It wasn’t like I had seen anything fancy or some complex pattern, but just looking at the white made my eyes grow tired. I rubbed my stiff eyes and opened the door in front of me. This room would be just as empty as the one next to it that I just saw anyway— Huh?
“Why is there something here?”
I stopped at the door and stared intently inside. In the middle of the room stood a single table. It was strange to have just a table with no chairs, but it was something, at least.
“Why is everything here white?”
The white wallpaper, white ceiling, and of course, the white floor. Even the table was white, and the envelope on top of it was white. It was the kind of space that could likely drive you insane. Grumbling, I walked in and picked up the envelope on the table.
“To achieve great meaning requires sacrifice. Choose the sacrifice instead…”
The paper I took out of the envelope ended with those words and nothing else.
Sacrifice? Offering? What is this…
“Is there anything else written?”
“Nope, there’s nothing else here.”
I checked the back of the paper, the inside of the envelope, and even under the table, but there was nothing else.
“It sounds like nonsense. Should we go out?”
I didn’t think much of it and placed the paper and envelope back on the table, intending to leave through the door I had entered, but then,
Huh? What was this?
“What?”
Clearly, there was nothing in my way, yet when I tried to step outside of the door, something was blocking me. Despite the door being open, I couldn’t leave, which was perplexing.
“Why aren’t you going out?”
“Give me your hand.”
I grabbed his wrist and moved it towards the door. He was blocked by the same invisible force.
“Something’s blocking us… Isn’t this similar to what happened at school, when we couldn’t get out?”
That was because the system had blocked us from leaving until we cleared the stage. Could this be something similar?
“The paper said to choose a sacrifice.”
“…It did.”
But I couldn’t understand the content of the paper. It said to choose, but what could I choose? There was no sacrifice here.
Just then, the corners of the room began to turn red. It was as if red ink spilled on white paper, gradually spreading and widening its range.
“What’s that red thing…?”
Once again, a deep sense of unease began to rise from the depths of my heart again. This prompted a hypothesis that I absolutely did not want to accept.
“…..”
“…..”
Silence passed between the two of us for a moment. By now, he probably understood the words written on the paper.
“Noona.”
“What nonsense.”
I strode towards the table and tore the paper and envelope to shreds.
“Talking about sacrifices in this day and age. Ha, really crazy. It’s not like we’re in a cult. Do-yoon, get out of my way.”
I told him, who was standing in front of the door, to move to the side, and then I tried to lift the table to throw it at the door.
“Noona! Wait a minute. Calm down.”
“Calm down? How can I calm down when they’re spouting such nonsense? Ah, move aside. I don’t know what’s blocking us, but if I keep hitting it, it’ll break eventually.”
As I tried to lift the table again, he came over and restrained me.
“There’s no need to go this far. I’ll get us out.”
“Oh, yeah. Come to think of it, this could be a sacrifice too, couldn’t it?”
I ignored his words and tapped the table.
“I’ll use this as a sacrifice!”
But nothing changed. The red color spreading from the corners continued to dye the surroundings red. I didn’t give up and pulled his hand, leading him towards the door. Despite declaring that I would offer the table as a sacrifice, we couldn’t go outside.
“Noona.”
“Isn’t this what we’re supposed to do? Do-yoon, try making something with your shadow. You’re good at making animals, aren’t you?”
“Just stop it. You know it’s useless.”
“What are you talking about? Just make it quickly!”
I ignored everything he said and continued to push. Then he sighed softly and made a small shadow rabbit.
“If the table doesn’t work, how about this? They say that in the old days, they used to catch rabbits and offer them as sacrifices. I’ll choose this as the sacrifice.”
“I’ll sacrifice myself instead, Noona.”
“Shut up. Won’t you shut up?”
I glared at him to tell him not to say any more.
“What are you doing? Why did you get rid of it? Make it again.”
Then he erased the shadow rabbit he had made and pushed me towards the door.
“I’ll be the sacrifice.”
“You!”
At that moment, the red color that had been spreading in all directions stopped as if it had understood his words and no longer dyed the surroundings.
“Cancel it. Cancel it now!”
I urgently grabbed his arm and shouted.
“So go outside, noona.”
He pushed me back as he spoke. The invisible forces that had been blocking my exit were gone, and nothing was stopping me anymore.
No, this wasn’t it.
“I’d rather, I’ll be the sa…!”
Before I could finish my sentence, he raised his hand and blocked my mouth.
“I want you to live, noona.”
Don’t say such nonsense. What’s the point of me living alone? How am I supposed to survive here without any abilities?
However, I couldn’t overcome him. No matter how hard I struggled, I was eventually pushed out of the room by his hands. As if it had been waiting, the door closed on its own, and the area around the door began to slowly turn red.
DO-YOON YOU FUCKING JERK
sorry for the late update university has me wasted fr
