The air hung heavy with a mixture of anticipation and dread as Seung Min checked his watch, the luminous green digits glowing faintly in the near-darkness. 2:30 AM. Time to execute their desperate plan. He turned to the rest of the group, his voice a hushed whisper, "Alright, let's go."
The group, a motley crew of students thrown together by circumstance, moved with a quiet determination down the deserted hallway. The classrooms on either side loomed like silent sentinels, their windows dark and lifeless. Seung Min, leading the way, kept his eyes peeled, scanning for any signs of movement, any lurking threat.
To their surprise, the hallway was eerily quiet. Not a single groan, not a single rustle. The creatures, usually relentless in their pursuit, seemed to have vanished. Was this a lull before the storm? Or had they simply moved on, leaving this particular stretch of the school to the terrified humans?
Seung Min couldn't shake off a sense of unease. This unnatural quiet was more unsettling than the constant cacophony of moans and growls that had plagued them earlier. He urged the group forward, his pace quickening slightly but his intuition was right.
They reached the abandoned wing, its paint peeling and plaster crumbling. The air here was thick with dust and the faint, metallic scent of decay. Seung Min gestured towards the door of the wing.The door to the wing was closed shut with signs of warning and danger on it.
Ignoring the warnings Hwang jin and Mr Im pry open the door to the wing.
They made their way into the wing; it was suffocatingly dark. The oppressive silence was only broken by their careful footsteps echoing against the worn floor. The student council president, Byung Chul, sighed and fished his phone out of his pocket. With a flick of his thumb, he turned on the flashlight, the pale beam cutting through the darkness.
"This is insane," Byung Chul muttered, his voice strained but attempting humor. "Back in the old days, I'd have gotten you all in so much trouble for sneaking into a restricted area like this." His weak smile didn't quite mask the tension in his face.
They moved cautiously down the corridor, the beam of light revealing long-forgotten lockers and desks covered in dust and grime. Progress seemed smooth, almost unnervingly so, as the group stuck close together. The silence began to feel suffocating, but no one dared break it.
Kim Sung, ever the joker, suddenly felt a wet sensation on his arm. He grimaced and wiped at it with his sleeve. "Great. This place is so roughed up it's leaking everywhere. Second-biggest school in Korea, huh? More like second-biggest dump."
"Shh," Seung Min whispered harshly, his eyes scanning the walls and ceiling. Something about the wing's oppressive atmosphere felt wrong.
Byung Chul moved the flashlight upwards to inspect the supposed leak—and froze. The light trembled in his hand as the beam illuminated a ghastly sight.
"Eun Ji!" Kim Sung screamed.
Everyone's heads whipped around to see Eun Ji, limp and dangling from the ceiling. A horrifying creature had her by the neck. It was in the female uniform it was pale as death, its thin, twisted limbs clung to the cracked plaster like a grotesque spider, its legs impossibly bent to keep it stuck to the roof. The creature's upper body hung down, its mouth buried in Eun Ji's neck, teeth tearing into her flesh with savage precision.
The group stood frozen in shock as Eun Ji's faint gurgling sounds were drowned out by the wet, crunching noises of the creature feasting. The flashlight caught its face—a skeletal visage with hollow eyes and a jaw that stretched too wide, stained red with blood.
The creature hissed, its milky eyes locking onto them as it let Eun Ji's lifeless body drop to the floor with a sickening thud.
"RUN!" Seung Min screamed, breaking the spell of terror. The group scattered in panic, their footsteps echoing in all directions as the creature twisted unnaturally, its long tongue flicking out as it prepared to leap.
The creature screamed, a guttural, bone-chilling sound that reverberated through the hall. Above them, more of the creatures began to stir on the roof, their pale, emaciated bodies shifting and their glowing eyes snapping open in unison.
"Go, go, GO!" Seung Min shouted as the first creature charged toward them, its limbs moving in a grotesque, lizard-like rhythm. It was impossibly fast, closing the distance in mere seconds.
The group scrambled into a nearby classroom, slamming the door shut behind them. Mr. Im and Hwang Jin threw their weight against the door as the creatures began to claw and pound at it, their feral screeches filling the air.
"Fucking great!" Ah Rim hissed, pacing furiously as she glared at Seung Min. "So what now, genius? What's your brilliant plan?"
Seung Min's breathing grew labored, panic and exhaustion triggering his asthma. Fumbling in his pocket, he pulled out his inhaler, taking a desperate puff. "I-I've got this. Just… just let me think!"
Ah Rim scoffed, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "You better hurry up, fucker, because I don't intend to die here!"
"Give him a break!" Kim Sung snapped, stepping in to defend Seung Min.
The tension boiled over as Kim Sung and Ah Rim began to argue, their voices rising above the chaos outside. Iseul stood frozen in the corner, her eyes wide with terror, while Byung Chul desperately tried to calm everyone down.
"Enough!" Seung Min's voice cut through the noise, his face flushed with anger and determination. He pointed at Ah Rim, his voice trembling. "You incompetent, stupid delinquent! I wouldn't have brought you here if I didn't have a plan!"
Ah Rim's jaw dropped, her face twisting in rage. "What did you just say to me?!" she snarled, attempting to lunge at him, but Byung Chul held her back.
"It's time for Plan B!" Seung Min shouted, ignoring her. "If we can't make it to the other side of the wing, we'll have to go down. The floor here is weak; we'll break through it."
Mr. Im's brow furrowed. "What do you mean by that, Seung Min? What's down there?"
Seung Min inhaled deeply, regaining his composure. "I chose this wing because I knew this could happen. If we got trapped, we'd have one option: breaking through the floor. Trust me."
Byung Chul looked skeptical. "And what if those things follow us down there? What if there are more of them?"
"There's no other choice!" Seung Min shot back. "Trust me!"
Without waiting for further argument, they began smashing the floorboards with whatever they could find. Progress was agonizingly slow, the creaking wood splintering but refusing to give way.
Ah Rim turned to Iseul, her voice sharp and biting. "Bitch, if you want to live, you better start helping!"
Iseul snapped out of her stupor and grabbed a piece of broken desk, joining the frantic effort. The pounding on the door grew louder, and the wood began to splinter.
"Hwang Jin!" Mr. Im shouted, his voice heavy with urgency. "You can't hold them forever!"
Hwang Jin glanced at Mr. Im, his expression resolute. "You're the heaviest one here. They need you to help break through. Leave the door to me!"
Reluctantly, Mr. Im stepped away, joining the others. He began to jump up and down with all his weight, the floor groaning in protest. On his second attempt, the boards gave way with a deafening crack, and he plunged through the hole.
"Go!" Seung Min yelled, motioning for the others to follow. One by one, they jumped down into the darkness below, their hearts pounding in their chests.
Hwang Jin held the door as long as he could, the creatures' claws ripping through the wood. Finally, with a grunt of effort, he leaped back and ran toward the hole, diving in just as the door burst open and the creatures poured into the room.
The group landed in a heap on the dusty floor below, coughing and groaning as the sound of the creatures above grew fainter. For now, they were safe. But the darkness around them held its own mysteries—and possibly, new terrors.
The group lay sprawled on the dusty floor, catching their breath as the echoes of their escape faded. Seung Min coughed, trying to shake off the dizziness.
Nari, Jin Hyuk, Soo Ah, and Min Joon, who had been navigating the same floor, froze at the distant noise. Nari frowned, gripping her weapon tightly. "Did you hear that?" she whispered, her voice low but tense.
Jin Hyuk calm as always "Stay close. I'll check it out."
The group moved cautiously toward the commotion.As they approached, muffled voices grew louder, punctuated by frantic movements.
Suddenly, the screeches of the creatures erupted from above as they followed through the broken floor. One by one, the pale, skeletal horrors dropped down, their limbs contorting grotesquely to land on all fours.
The first creature snarled and lunged toward the huddled group on the floor. Before anyone could react, a sharp whistle cut through the air, followed by a sickening *slice.*
The creature's head rolled to the ground, its body crumpling in a lifeless heap.
Everyone turned to see Jin Hyuk standing confidently, his sword gleaming faintly in the dim light, dripping with blackened blood. His expression was calm, but his eyes burned with intensity.