Chapter 7
I stepped out into the hallway and pressed the button for the central elevator.
I watched the numbers on the panel change with an anxious heart, waiting only for its arrival.
Just then, Manager Kim, who was peering down the opposite hallway, beckoned me with a hand gesture.
As I walked over to him, Manager Kim pointed to the closed supply room door.
“Wouldn't it be better to grab something from in here? If we want to keep our distance, we'll need something longer than a kitchen knife.”
He whispered in a low voice, glancing at the kitchen knife in his hand.
Certainly, a long pole like a mop that could push people away would be helpful.
I nodded and grabbed the handle of the supply room.
As I turned the doorknob, it wouldn't rotate, making a clatter as if something was caught.
Instead, a small, startled scream was heard from inside.
“Is it locked?”
Manager Kim, perhaps having not heard the sound from inside, made a look of frustration when I stopped turning the handle and let go.
I signaled Manager Kim to be quiet and raised my hand to knock lightly on the door.
Thinking they might mistake us for those strange people, I knocked three times, paused, and then knocked three more times to create a rhythm.
Still, no sound was heard from inside the door.
Did I hear wrong?
I wasn't sure, but after knocking once more, I spoke in a low voice against the gap in the door.
“Excuse me, is anyone in there? We're employees of Myeongdo Electronics.”
The next moment, I thought I heard a click of the door opening, and then I felt a sharp pain in my forehead.
“Oh dear, I’m sorry! I was just so glad to hear a normal person’s voice that I...”
At the urgent apology, I rubbed my throbbing forehead and looked up.
A gray-haired custodian with an access card around her neck was standing there.
She was gripping an old mop firmly with both hands; she was a familiar face.
Remembering having seen her cleaning the office occasionally, I bowed my head in greeting.
“Oh, you're the young man who sits by the window, right? What should I do, I'm so sorry...”
At the sight of the restless custodian looking down at me, I suppressed the pain and tried to answer calmly.
“It's okay.”
Just then, a ding notification sound was heard along with a dry mechanical noise.
[18th floor.]
“Aaaaagh!”
The next moment, at the same time as the sound of the door opening, Deputy Head Jeong’s scream erupted.
I snatched the mop from the custodian and ran toward the elevator.
Deputy Head Jeong was screaming and swinging her handbag wildly into the elevator.
A young man in a suit, who was rushing out of the elevator, was hit by that handbag and collapsed inside the elevator.
The sound of his head hitting the elevator wall with a thump as he fell backward was loud.
The man, who stood back up in an instant, let out a shriek and lunged toward Deputy Head Jeong and Kang Ye-ra.
Deputy Head Jeong, who was staggering as if she’d lost her balance while swinging the handbag, looked at the man with a surprised face.
Deputy Head Jeong reflexively raised her hand in defense.
When the man opened his mouth to bite her hand, I shoved the mop handle into that mouth.
While I pushed him back into the elevator, the man flailed both arms and glared at me with dull eyes.
“Intern Do! Hey! The elevator door is closing! Push!!”
Manager Kim shouted as he ran over, holding a broom in one hand.
Manager Kim helped me by frantically pushing the man’s stomach with the handle part of the broom.
While the man struggled to break free from me and Manager Kim, the elevator door continued to close.
Finally, when only a narrow gap remained, Manager Kim and I urgently pulled out the broom and mop.
The man, finally able to move, lunged at us, but fortunately, the elevator door closed completely before he could even squeeze his hand through the narrow gap.
He didn't seem to have the intelligence to press the buttons, right?
I stared at the closed door, catching my ragged breath.
While feeling a faint sense of relief, Kang Ye-ra pointed somewhere and shouted urgently.
“Over there!”
From the opposite end of the hallway, Assistant Manager Seong, with bloodshot eyes, was glaring at us and running our way.
Whether he had vomited blood in the meantime or bitten into something, his mouth was smeared with plenty of bright red blood.
“Run!”
Manager Kim, shouting at the top of his lungs, ran ahead toward the emergency stairwell entrance.
In the meantime, the custodian, who had grabbed a new mop, also ran toward the entrance with Manager Kim.
Manager Kim, the first to reach the iron door of the entrance, pushed the door open without hesitation and ran into the emergency stairwell.
Running after the others, I swallowed a shocked groan at the sight of the iron door.
Bloody handprints were messily stamped on the iron door, which was painted grayish-blue.
Only then did I look at the floor; thick drops of blood fell in succession from the hallway to the inside of the emergency stairwell.
“Jihyeok-nim!”
At Kang Ye-ra's urgent cry, I was the last to squeeze through the gap in the door.
Assistant Manager Seong, just as he had at the conference room, let out shrieks and slammed his body against the door, but thanks to the weight of the fire door itself and the number of people, we were able to block it easily.
While holding out with my back against the iron door along with the others, my eyes traced the bloodstains on the floor.
The dotted bloodstains led all the way down to the landing below.
And inside a pool of blood on the landing, a person in familiar clothing was lying.
I stared blankly at the corpse.
Manager Kim, who was blocking the door with both hands next to me, looked at my face and then turned his head to follow my gaze with a puzzled expression.
“Where are you looking so...”
Upon seeing the corpse, Manager Kim swallowed a gasp and was lost for words.
Seeing Manager Kim's reaction, Deputy Head Jeong and the custodian looked at the same spot and let out suppressed screams while covering their mouths.
Kang Ye-ra squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head away.
With bright red flesh exposed from the nape of his neck to his shoulder, the identity of the corpse staring focuslessly into the air with cloudy eyes was Gu Hyeon-woo.
The stairs leading down were drenched in blood that seemed to have been spilled by Gu Hyeon-woo.
It appeared that after being attacked in the hallway, he had somehow made it inside the emergency stairwell.
As if he had gone down while leaning against the stairwell wall, a long streak of blood was drawn on the white wall.
“I thought you said you didn't hear a scream?”
At Manager Kim's words, I shook my head with a dark face.
Just why I hadn't heard any sound was something I was curious about as well.
But what was the use of thinking further when Gu Hyeon-woo was already dead before my eyes?
While the sound of Assistant Manager Seong pounding on the iron door echoed outside, we had no choice but to spend time in the same space as the corpse, gripped by all sorts of thoughts.
Finally, only after Assistant Manager Seong had moved away did I step away from the iron door and examine Gu Hyeon-woo's corpse.
Manager Kim and I approached first and flipped over Gu Hyeon-woo's prone body.
Only after laying him flat on his back could I see the reason I hadn't heard Gu Hyeon-woo's scream.
The wound, which looked like the side of his neck had been bitten when seen from behind, extended all the way to the front of Gu Hyeon-woo's neck.
From his wide-open throat, blood that had not yet clotted flowed out.
“Ugh.”
Manager Kim covered his mouth, then jerked his head away and retched.
While he kept retching, I pulled a power strip out of my bag.
Kang Ye-ra asked, sounding puzzled.
“What are you going to do with that?”
“I'm going to tie him up.”
I replied, gesturing toward Gu Hyeon-woo with my chin.
After hesitating for a moment, Kang Ye-ra approached and helped move the body near the railing.
“...Is it necessary to go this far?”
Deputy Head Jeong muttered with a reluctant expression.
But perhaps bothered by the sight of the two young interns working hard, she eventually helped Kang Ye-ra and me move the body.
We tied the corpse's arms and legs to the stair railing.
The custodian, who was watching the scene in a daze, asked.
“Why, why are you doing that? He's already dead.”
A pale face showed an expression as if looking at crazy people.
“I’m afraid he’ll come back to life and move.”
I replied after firmly tying the white electrical cord around Gu Hyeon-woo’s wrists, brushing off my knees, and standing up.
“Come back to life?”
“Yes. There was one person who died like this in the office...”
As she spoke, Kang Ye-ra suddenly looked toward the closed iron door.
“It’s that person who was outside. The one who was chasing us.”
The custodian looked toward the door with a startled expression.
Judging by her reaction, it seemed she hadn't seen properly what state Assistant Manager Seong’s neck was in because she was busy fleeing.
“That young man is dead?”
The custodian slumped to the floor with a thud, as if all her strength had left her.
“Oh dear... such a young man, and he said his hometown was far away, too.”
At the custodian’s murmuring, Deputy Head Jeong asked.
“Did you know him?”
The custodian nodded with a dazed expression.
“He was polite, and he’d occasionally bring snacks saying he bought too many. I also took care of him whenever I had food. We talked a lot, too...”
Trailing off, the custodian buried her face in her hands and her shoulders heaved.
As the custodian’s crying grew long, Manager Kim made a sour face and beckoned me over with a gesture.
“Shouldn't we get moving? How long are we going to stay here?”
Manager Kim glanced sideways at the custodian and gave me a meaningful look. It seemed he felt awkward saying it himself.
It wasn't something I felt like doing either. But I couldn't push it onto Kang Ye-ra, who was still feeling down, or my boss, Deputy Head Jeong.
Pressing down on my head, which was starting to throb beyond just being dazed, I went up the stairs and approached the custodian’s side.
“Um... may I ask what your name is?”
At my words, the custodian finally raised her head. There were tears on her face as she looked up at me.
“It’s Jeong-suk. Lee Jeong-suk.”
“Yes, Lee Jeong-suk Yeosa-nim. I don’t know how much of the situation you’re aware of yet, but... there were quite a few people like that on our floor besides Assistant Manager Seong.”
Lee Jeong-suk nodded.
“I saw one more person, too. Since they lunged at me in such a strange state, I quickly went inside and called the security office, but... no one answered. The things outside would lunge at me frantically if I even opened the door for a moment.”
I swallowed the groan that naturally tried to escape at Lee Jeong-suk’s words.
Indeed, since the 18th floor was in this state, it was hard to expect the 1st floor where the security office was to be fine.
Logically speaking, it was obvious. But having just barely escaped the office, it was a story that significantly dampened our morale.
Deputy Head Jeong looked toward the floor below with a contemplative expression. A heavy tension hung on the faces of the others as well.