CH 81

“If this house was made for filming snuff films, then there’s bound to be at least one person who’s in it with the producer. Someone who can manipulate our actions.”

“Isn’t it weird when you think about it? Woorim didn’t look fazed when we saw the corpse. On top of that, he was the first person to find the switch to turn on the hallway lights. Now, you’re telling us he found the elevator.”

“Now that we know this show is fake, we don’t need to follow those rules anymore. But Woorim made us follow the rules. He scared Seogeung and took you to the room with the elevator to confirm that the rules were real.”

The three people’s suspicions sounded like a broken radio, thrumming in my head. They were like black beetles slamming themselves into my ears. My back was already drenched from cold sweat. I rubbed my face for the umpteenth time and clenched my jaws.

He was suspicious, he was weird, he was questionable.

Did I think they were trying to frame him? No, surprisingly not, but…

Creak, creak.

The building was hit with another gust of wind, letting out a spine-chilling sound. This time, it went on for a while. I wondered if it was also storming outside. Creeeeak. The dissonance seeping in from the cracks between the aged walls sounded like someone was shrieking. It grated on my nerves.

“…So noisy,” I mumbled.

“Sorry?” Hyehyun was the first to react. I blocked both ears and blinked hard. Creak, creak, screech. The sound of glass rubbing on glass continued. It shook my mind violently. My headache worsened.

“Haeseo, what did you just say?” Hyehyun asked again.

“Don’t you hear that? The house keeps shaking. Maybe it’s because it’s old, but the house makes a horrible noise when it shakes even just a little.”

The people stopped chatting. Creak, creak.

“Stop.” I frowned and blocked my ears harder. ‘Wind, please go away soon.’

Hyehyun called me and grabbed my arm. He looked grimmer than before. He wasn’t the only one whose face grew stern in surprise. Hawoo and Raehee were the same. Hyehyun stared at me and asked, “What sound?”

I felt myself becoming numb. “…Huh?”

Creak, creaaaak.

“Do you hear something?”

Creak.

“You don’t hear that? You know, like the sound of old wooden floors creaking.”

…Like the sound of Goyeon Lee’s nail scratching at the elevator door.

Hyehyun shook his head. “No, I don’t hear anything.”

Creak, squeak.

Hyehyun looked at the other two, and they also shook their heads.

“…What?” I asked.

Creeeeak.

I still heard it. I heard it since I came into this mansion, so I…

Then, I came to a sudden realization.

It was the sound that Goyeon’s nails made against the elevator, the creaking, scratching sounds.

I felt the blood in my veins grow ice-cold. I stared down at my feet, my eyes shaking from the shock.

Creeeeak.

The countless sounds of walking, scratching, and stomping on old wooden floors…

…The sounds were coming from inside the mansion, downstairs, outside the walls.

They were sounds that only I heard, sounds only I could hear. I understood what this meant. “…”

Oh, just how many people died in this mansion?

How many…?

But I only saw Goyeon in this mansion. I saw nobody else but Goyeon upstairs. I didn’t see the staff, so I thought that we only needed to beware of Goyeon…

All these sounds were coming from below—downstairs.

Downstairs…

Woorim was downstairs.

“No.” I snatched the flashlight from Hyehyun’s hand. Hyehyun looked at me in surprise. All thoughts of going along with their detective game vanished. Who was the most dangerous out of us? Frankly speaking, my opinion wasn’t much different from theirs. Woorim was the most dangerous person.

And right now, he was in the most danger.

“If you people won’t go down, I’ll go down alone,” I announced.

He couldn’t die, he just couldn’t. I couldn’t let that happen.

Because…

“Wait, Haeseo.” Raehee held me back. I brushed her off and ran to the stairs.

If he died, that would be the end. He didn’t tell me anything yet…!

“Haeseo!” Hyehyun yelled after me and grabbed my shoulder. My face crumpled. The moment I opened my mouth to tell him to let go, I felt pain spreading from the pit of my stomach.

Whack.

Hyehyun punched me.

My body grew weak, and I couldn’t breathe. I looked up at Hyehyun, who caught me as I grew limp and lost consciousness. Right before I went black, I saw Hyehyun making a small smile.

This f*cking b*stard.