Chapter 12
I hesitated for a moment and gave a small shake of my head.
“I definitely saw one person in the hallway, but I didn't get to check for more while I was running away. There might have been more hiding in other offices or the restrooms...”
Kim nodded and extended his hand toward me.
“Could you lend me your cell phone for a moment?”
Feeling puzzled, I unlocked the screen and handed it over.
He moved his hands quickly to set an alarm.
“I'll return it as intact as possible.”
Just as I was about to ask what on earth that meant, Kim pushed the fire door open about a span.
Then, crouching on the floor, he slid the phone toward the hallway.
The sound of the phone case scraping against the hallway floor continued for a few seconds.
Having lost my phone out of the blue, I froze in place.
Kim, who was peering into the hallway with his handgun raised, suddenly looked back at me.
“It probably didn't break.”
His tone was one of calmly delivering a fact rather than offering an apology or an excuse.
I was silent for a moment, then nodded.
My phone was already in the hallway anyway, and the person across from me was still holding a gun.
A moment later, the loud blare of the cell phone alarm rang out through the entire hallway.
Soon, shrieks and footsteps followed, as if they were swarming out upon hearing the sound.
Kim watched the situation outside, then poked his muzzle through the gap in the door and pulled the trigger several times.
My ears soon went numb from the gunshots echoing through the hallway and the stairwell.
Then, for a few minutes, only the alarm continued without any sign of presence.
Only after observing the situation for quite a while did Kim fully open the fire door.
Only then did a noise, distinct from the noisy cell phone alarm, reach my ears as they recovered from the shock of the gunshots.
Between the sharp default alarm tones, a dull sound, like something being struck, was mixed in.
Kim strode over, picked up the phone from the floor, checked it, and then handed it back to me.
Just as Kim said, the phone wasn't much different, except for the cracks that were already there.
There might be some scrape marks from the floor, but this wasn't the situation to worry about such things.
I stared blankly at the three corpses lying in the hallway.
The red holes in their heads told of their cause of death.
The body of Assistant Manager Seong, who had chased us the day before, lay bleeding nearby.
“Be careful not to touch the blood, just in case. It'll be a headache if it gets into a wound.”
Park said in a casual tone, pointing to the blood splattered on the walls.
Hearing his words, I suddenly looked down at the scratch on the back of my hand.
The discharge from the wound had hardened into a thin scab.
My hands were clean.
Not a single trace of blood remained.
Suddenly, the moment I killed that man together with Kang Ye-ra came to mind.
The sensation of the cutter knife slicing through the man's flesh and sinking in.
And the man's blood flowing over my hand.
Yes, there was blood on my hands.
But I couldn't remember the important parts.
My brain, in a state of panic, had left only the intense sensations of that moment and erased the rest.
Even the act of wiping my hands was close to unconscious.
How far did it get?
How much was there?
Which hand was it?
My hand gripping the phone tightened on its own.
As I was rummaging through the messy memories in my head, Kim's voice broke my train of thought.
“Do Jihyeok-ssi, please open this door.”
Kim and Park were standing in front of the office door used by another department, opposite our team's office.
Inside that office door, the identity of the continuous thump-thump sound was revealed.
A young female employee was standing beyond the glass door.
Familiarly unfocused eyes, a mouth smeared with blood.
She looked at us with glistening eyes and kept pounding on the glass door.
Every time her fist struck the glass door, the door shook and made a heavy thud-thud sound.
The two men stood in front of it with impassive expressions, looking at me.
There was no sign of fear or revulsion toward the person beyond the glass door.
The sight of the two standing there nonchalantly, as if the situation were only natural, felt strangely surreal.
It felt like I was the one being excessive, staying far away because I didn't want to go near the door.
Reluctantly, I approached them with slow steps.
My injured hand was unconsciously hidden behind my back.
“Wouldn't it be... safer to do it through the glass?”
I asked vaguely like that because I couldn't bring myself to use the word “shoot” for a person.
Kim shook his head firmly.
“It's better to have an obstacle than not. After shooting, even a small impact will cause the door to shatter completely.”
Having no choice, I walked toward the fingerprint scanner next to the door.
The fact that I had to pass in front of the door because the scanner was attached to the wall on the opposite side was an ordeal.
Circumventing the glass door as much as possible, I stood in front of the fingerprint scanner and looked back at Kim.
Kim and Park had already raised their handguns and were aiming at the woman beyond the door.
“When the door opens, step aside immediately.”
Of course, I intended to do just that.
Nodding, I placed my hand on the fingerprint scanner.
[Authenticated.]
The familiar mechanical sound was heard, and the door began to open.
The moment I confirmed the green light on the scanner, I hurriedly backpedaled away from the door.
I didn't want to be hit by a bullet ricocheting in the wrong direction, just in case.
Part of me wanted to turn around and run, but showing my back to the woman didn't seem like a good idea either.
When I had backed up about five steps into the hallway, a gunshot rang out.
Contrary to my worries, Kim was a good shot.
Then again, since he had aimed and hit a head through that narrow gap in the hallway, shooting from right in front like this must be a piece of cake.
I stopped walking and watched as the woman who had been shot collapsed, splattering blood.
It was still a horrific sight, but it wasn't so terrifying as to throw me into shock.
A chilling sensation washed over me, realizing how quickly humans adapt to anything.
I watched the woman falling with a gloomy heart.
But the moment the woman who had been blocking my view collapsed and revealed the scene behind her, I realized I was lucky I hadn't looked away.
Through the hazy mist of blood, a familiar face appeared.
It was the very person who became the starting point of all this for me.
I made eye contact again with the man Kim and Park were looking for.
The man immediately started running toward me.
He was in a position where Kim and Park couldn't see him yet, hidden by the wall.
My terror-stricken body froze up, but fortunately, my desire to live was stronger.
I turned my body and ran further into the hallway.
“Uh-oh? Do Jihyeok-ssi?”
Park’s bewildered call was heard.
But soon, a gunshot rang out, as if the man had entered the two men's line of sight as well.
“Aw, shit....”
I heard Park let out an irritable curse.
In that moment, wanting to know what was happening, I reflexively turned my head back.
The man was still running toward me.
And behind him, about three or four more people came running, menacingly clashing their teeth.
In addition to the fear of being chased by several people, a doubt arose as to whether Kim and Park could save me before I was bitten by them.
The moment my head spun, my feet got tangled, perhaps because I had run while looking back.
Before I could even steady myself, my elbow slammed hard against the stone floor.
My whole arm throbbed, but I had no time to check its condition.
The man with his mouth wide open had already approached right up to my nose.
It was too close a distance to even stand up and run away again.
I hurriedly opened my backpack and thrust my hand inside.
I felt the cold texture of metal at my fingertips.
It wasn't that I was thinking of killing the man or firing a gun; it was just an unconscious movement.
However, before I could perform any subsequent action, a gunshot rang out once more.
Blood splattered from the man, whose head jerked back, and sprayed onto the hallway wall.
The man, having stopped moving, collapsed helplessly in front of my feet.
The trace of the bullet that had passed through his head was clearly visible.
Because of the bullet that had grazed over the skull, the inside of his head was clearly visible.
A sudden wave of nausea surged up, and I twisted my body away.
Although the man's corpse was no longer in sight, the afterimage still remained.
While raising my hand to my face to stifle a gag, I noticed that blood was splattered on that hand.
I froze in surprise for a moment, but fortunately, it wasn't the side with the wound.
The hand with the wound was clean, perhaps because I had put it in the bag to grab the handgun.
Feeling as if something was on my face, I rubbed it with my sleeve.
Bloodstains smeared onto the light-colored hem of my shirt.
And eventually, I turned my head and dry-heaved.
Perhaps because I hadn't eaten anything since yesterday morning, nothing came up past my throat.
“Are you alright?”
It was Kim’s voice.
Turning my head to look, I saw Kim standing a few steps away, aiming his gun at me.
Beside him, Park had his gun hanging down, but he had a wary expression just like Kim.
Startled, I raised both hands and stopped moving.
Kim jerked his muzzle slightly upward.
“Get up slowly.”
I stood up hesitantly, still holding my hands up.
Kim scanned my body up and down with cold eyes, then this time, he jerked the muzzle to the side.
When I hesitated, unsure if he meant for me to step aside or turn around, Park, standing behind Kim, made a spinning motion with one hand.
I didn't want to turn my back on the muzzle, but there was no other choice.
I turned around and looked at the window at the end of the hallway.
The sunlight reflected from the building opposite stung my eyes.
Whether because of the strong early summer sunlight or the situation, I felt sweat trickling down my forehead.
Did they see the gun in my bag?
Or did they bring me to the 18th floor to kill me here in the first place?
Now that they've found the man, they probably don't need my fingerprint anymore.
The moment such a thought finally surfaced in my confused mind, a small metallic click was heard from behind.