Chapter 13
Soon, the dull sound of combat boots hitting the stone floor was heard, followed by Kim’s voice from a much closer distance.
“You may lower your hands.”
When I turned my head, Kim was crouching beside the man’s corpse.
He didn't even spare a glance for me.
As I lowered my hands in a daze, Park offered an explanation with an awkward smile.
“We were checking to see if Do Jihyeok-ssi was bitten.”
I stole a glance at the man's corpse lying in front of Kim.
It might have been hidden by his clothes, but at a glance, there seemed to be no bite marks.
Judging by the warning to be careful not to let blood touch my wound, it clearly seemed to be some kind of infection, yet Kim and Park weren't wearing masks or respirators.
In that case, it's either blood or....
“Um, what is the reason you keep checking so persistently to see if I’ve been bitten?”
Assistant Manager Seong and Gu Hyeon-woo both came back to life after completely losing their lives.
If so, then even if blood gets in or you're bitten while alive, wouldn't you just become a carrier?
But Kim’s reaction was too extreme to draw such a simple conclusion.
“I told you I wouldn't answer if no one was bitten.”
Park replied with a thin smile.
However, rather than a firm refusal, it was closer to a joke continuing from our conversation on the 2nd floor.
Staring at the corpses of people scattered here and there in the hallway, I continued my questions as if I didn't mind Park's answer.
“If I'm bitten, even if I don't die, do I eventually turn into that?”
Park’s eyes widened, and he spat out a short denial.
“That’s not it.”
The moment I let out a sigh of relief upon hearing that answer, Park added his next words.
“If you’re bitten, you die—no matter what. And then you become like that.”
“What?”
“Well, I suppose if the injury isn't severe, it might look like you're still alive, but....”
Park shrugged his shoulders and continued speaking readily.
But Kim's chilling voice soon cut the conversation short.
“Enough.”
Kim, who had stood up, was holding a cell phone and a smartwatch in his hands.
Since I hadn't seen him use a phone until now, it didn't seem to be Kim’s.
I stole a glance at the corpse of the fallen man.
Near his left wrist, his skin was indented in the shape of a watch strap.
Kim’s gaze momentarily brushed over my backpack as he tucked both items into his pocket.
I reflexively gripped my backpack.
The thought that I would look suspicious occurred to me too late, but Kim was already no longer looking at the backpack.
Kim, who had been checking the faces of the corpses lying in the hallway, threw out a question.
“You said your colleagues saw another one. Did you happen to hear a description of their appearance?”
“Ah, I saw him myself too. He was about the same height as me, had rather short hair, and his clothes were....”
In that moment, my eyes scanned Kim and Park’s attire.
I didn't finish the sentence, but Kim and Park nodded with calm expressions as if they had guessed the rest.
To anyone, that man looked just like the two of them.
However, I didn't want to make the atmosphere awkward by voicing such a guess, and I was also worried about how to tell them he was dead if the two were actually related to that man.
As I was contemplating how to broach the subject, Kim asked a question first.
“…Where did you witness him last?”
His face remained unreadable as ever.
After a brief silence, I finally raised my hand and pointed toward the office my team had used.
“He should still be in there.”
Since a corpse lying on an office floor couldn't exactly walk away on its own, any lie would be found out within minutes.
Besides, it seemed the two of them wouldn't finish their search of the 18th floor until they found that man.
“Are you saying there is no way he could have moved outside the office?”
Kim asked in a monotone voice.
I hesitated for a moment before nodding.
“Yes. He’s dead. Though I don’t know if he was already dead as you said, but….”
Park fell silent with a gloomy expression.
Kim gestured toward the inside of the office with his eyes, as if telling me to open the door quickly.
I opened the door only after checking here and there inside the office through the glass door, just in case.
Fortunately, the inside of the office was quiet, just as it had been when we escaped.
The man’s body was lying exactly where we had left it, in a spot visible as soon as one entered the office.
Kim and Park stopped in their tracks upon seeing the corpse.
After being silent for a while, Kim finally took a step forward.
Kneeling beside the body, Kim lifted the knee blanket that was covering the face.
The moment the face of the corpse was revealed beneath the blanket, Park frowned and turned his head away.
Kim, who had been silently staring at the man’s face, reached out and slowly pulled out the backscratcher that was stuck in the corpse’s eye.
Because the office was so quiet, the squelching sound of the wooden stick being pulled from the body was heard with excessive clarity.
Kim reached out and even pulled out the cutter knife that had been stuck in the man’s chest.
As if all the blood in the body had already solidified, no more blood flowed from the dark holes.
Kim flipped the man’s body over with careful movements.
While he checked the corpse’s pockets as if searching for something, I discovered a bite mark on the corpse’s forearm.
It wasn’t clearly visible because blood was smeared here and there, but it was a fairly deep wound.
However, it didn’t look like an injury severe enough to take a life.
Just then, Kim laid the body back into a proper position.
In the end, it seemed he hadn't found what he was looking for, but he didn't look disappointed.
He closed the man’s one remaining eye and covered the face with the knee blanket again before dusting himself off and standing up.
“Who killed him?”
Judging by Kim and Park’s behavior, it seemed certain that the two were acquainted with the dead man.
My deliberation was brief.
“…I killed him.”
I gulped and answered in a trembling voice.
I had said it while prepared for the worst-case scenario, but an unexpected reaction returned.
Kim, who bowed his head slightly to me, spat out a short sentence.
“Thank you.”
There was no other explanation.
Passing right by me, Kim opened the office door and stepped out into the hallway.
Park followed Kim with sluggish steps, then suddenly came to a stop.
And he turned toward me and asked.
“Who covered him with the blanket?”
I was flustered by Kim’s sudden expression of gratitude and answered Park’s question in a daze.
“Huh? That was Ye-ra-nim….”
Park also didn't say why he had asked and gave a short nod.
He walked to the door, pressed the open button, and waited for me.
The two men, having finished their search, said nothing during the entire walk back down to the 2nd floor.
The glass door of the hair salon was covered with dark grey salon gowns.
Kim knocked on the door a few times, but no answer came from inside.
In the end, only after I stepped forward and called for Deputy Head Jeong did the hair salon door open.
The sunlight streaming from the window touched the glass door as it opened at an angle.
Only then were the handprints messy across it clearly revealed.
Deputy Head Jeong, with a very tense expression, locked the door immediately as we entered.
Everyone inside the hair salon had dark faces similar to hers.
“Did something happen?”
Kang Ye-ra, who was sitting on the sofa, answered my question.
“After Jihyeok-nim left, about two or three of them swarmed here all of a sudden. Maybe it’s because the inside is visible, but they just wouldn't leave….”
Kim stood up after hearing her words and lifted the salon gown to look outside.
Checking if there was anyone visible near the door, Kim turned his head and gestured for us to follow.
“If we want to arrive before the sun sets, we'd better hurry.”
“Is there a problem when the sun sets?”
At Lee Jeong-suk's cautious question, Kim replied bluntly.
“I wouldn't recommend moving at night.”
It was a response that, as before, was far too lacking in explanation.
Anyway, perhaps because there had already been a commotion once, people wanted to get out of the hair salon as soon as possible.
Since the people from the 18th floor had already brought all their necessary belongings from the office, it didn't take very long to finish preparing to leave.
Ha Yun-seo, who had taken off her apron, seemed to have packed everything while waiting for us, as she put on a small sling bag and urged everyone to start moving quickly.
“I’ve been trapped here since yesterday. I just want to get out quickly.”
Before opening the door, Park turned to us and brought a finger to his lips with a light gesture.
On his face, which wore a thin smile, the gloom seen on the 18th floor had vanished without a trace.
“Once we leave here, stay quiet until we say it’s okay to talk. Those things have better hearing than you think, you know?”
Hearing that, I glanced at the gun Park was holding.
Park covered the gun with an exaggerated movement.
“This is only for when we have no other choice. It's better than letting them get close, anyway.”
At Park's banter, the air that had been stiff with tension relaxed slightly.
Then, Kim, who had been looking outside, finally gave the signal to depart.
We lined up in single file behind Kim and slowly walked down the hallway.
Ha Yun-seo, the last one out, locked the hair salon door with a key.
Park, who was waiting in front of the door for everyone to come out, looked at her with wide eyes.
Receiving Park's look filled with bewilderment, Ha Yun-seo made an aggrieved expression as if she had much to say.
But she soon shut her mouth tight, perhaps remembering his warning not to speak outside.
Ha Yun-seo turned around quickly and scurried after the people in front.
Park shrugged with a look of incomprehension, then waved his hand at me—who had been waiting for the two of them—as if telling me to walk ahead.