Chapter 4
The atmosphere inside the elevator sank in an instant.
It wasn't just a level of plunging into the ground, but a feeling of descending into the basement beneath the floor.
“Aaaaaah!”
The female student held her ears and screamed.
Beside her, the middle-aged woman was frozen in shock, tears just streaming down her cheeks.
“…….”
I also felt a tingling sensation, as if goosebumps were erupting all over my body.
The feeling of being dead without having died.
That was the ultimate terror.
Ah.
A single sigh escaped everyone's lips.
What remained in this elevator of horror were me, the female student, and the middle-aged woman and the child.
Two out of six had been lost.
“…….”
No one could speak.
Even the cries of weeping and begging to be saved did not come out.
Sniff.
Sniff. Sniff.
The female student and the middle-aged woman were crying.
The child was also trembling violently.
I, too, was barely holding onto my crumbling mental state.
“Still...”
I barely opened my mouth.
“We have to look for possibilities.”
The female student asked with trembling lips.
“How? The grandfather just now was like that too.”
“The hypothesis that a floor without incense is safe—that hypothesis was wrong.”
The incense was emitting smoke.
It meant that it couldn't be known by that.
“Then?”
“I have another hypothesis.”
“Hypothesis. Hypothesis. Does something like that have any meaning?”
The middle-aged woman shouted shrilly.
Fear is the nutrient for anger.
Heightened emotions sometimes manifest as uncontrollable rage.
“Two people have already died.”
“Mom.”
The child's expression became very anxious.
Only then did the middle-aged woman force herself to calm down to soothe the child.
I replied at that moment.
“Yes, I know.”
I composed myself and spoke of the uncomfortable reality.
“That's why I'm saying this. So that at least we can survive.”
The middle-aged woman faltered.
The female student was also regaining her senses a bit.
“There's information those two gave us. First, that we shouldn't just get off recklessly. That incense is not a hint for a safe location.”
“I know that.”
“The next part is important.”
I slowly got to the point.
“We might be mistaken about one thing. We're thinking right now that we have to get off before reaching the top of the elevator.”
The female student had a puzzled look.
“Huh? Why is that?”
“Elevators don't only go up. They go down, too.”
“Ah!”
Only then did the female student understand what I meant.
Seeing her understand immediately, she seemed like a smart friend.
“Do you remember? The announcement heard from the emergency bell at the very beginning.”
“I'm not sure.”
“I remember it.”
Narcolepsy has no warning signs.
So if I fell asleep while doing something important, I often ruined things or made big mistakes.
So I would take notes.
Or try hard to remember.
I strove to observe people's words and actions as closely as possible.
Even minor actions, words, and facial expressions.
So I recited the words that had come out as an announcement exactly as they were.
[From now on, the elevator will move floor by floor. The elevator will open at every floor. And you can only get off once.]
Like this.
“It clearly said this earlier. That this elevator moves floor by floor.”
“Yes.”
“It said 'move.' It didn't say it would only go up.”
“Ah!”
The female student and the middle-aged woman seemed to have received a strong jolt to their minds.
It meant they hadn't thought of it.
“If this hypothesis is correct, this elevator won't end by just going up to the top floor.”
“Does that mean it will go back down?”
“There is a possibility.”
It was merely a hypothesis.
It wasn't certain, but it was worth gambling on once.
The female student and the middle-aged woman also fell into deep thought, acknowledging that there was no other way.
“If it goes back down, couldn't we just get off at the 1st floor where we first got on the elevator?”
“Ah.”
Everyone let out a low breath.
The idea of going up and then coming back down was good, but hearing the hypothesis that the 1st floor was the safest floor also seemed quite plausible.
“I understand.”
“Me too.”
Both agreed.
Just then, an announcement was heard.
[Moving up to the next floor.]
The two people who had been staring intently at me turned their attention back to the elevator.
[This floor is the 6th floor.]
[6F]
Amidst the flickering lights, we were put to the test again.
Everyone held their breath and stared at the elevator doors.
[The doors are opening.]
Whir.
The scent of incense wafting in as soon as the doors opened.
A lobby filled with smoke.
It was the same as the other floors.
[Those who wish to get off, please come forward.]
The female student, the middle-aged woman, and I looked at each other without a word and nodded.
Just as I had said earlier,
‘We don't get off here.’
We joined forces to trust the new hypothesis and move forward.
[…….]
[The doors are closing.]
Whir.
We passed through safely.
A short sigh of relief passed, but the elevator gave us no time.
[Moving up to the next floor.]
Like that, one by one.
The elevator continued to rise floor by floor.
[7F]
Though it was a floor known for its lucky number.
No one gambles their life on a superstition.
[9F]
…
[12F]
……
[18F]
………
There hadn't been any special floors so far.
There were only occasional floors where the incense was burned more thickly or where it was absent.
[23rd floor.]
Now, only one floor remained until the top of the apartment.
“It’ll be okay, right?”
The middle-aged woman asked cautiously.
I couldn't speak with certainty and just answered quietly.
“Let’s just go for now.”
“Getting off here is...”
“I’m even less certain about that. I understand being anxious as we approach the top, but getting off midway is much more dangerous.”
I refused flatly.
I gave no room at all.
I left no room for hesitation.
Because if I grew weak here, everyone’s hearts would waver and they would make a dangerous choice.
“I understand...”
The middle-aged woman trailed off in an uncertain tone.
It was a natural feeling.
Because a hypothesis is just a hypothesis, not an established fact.
The future of this anxiety must now be confirmed in person.
[Moving up to the next floor.]
The atmosphere was heavy.
Because no one could know what would be on the top floor.
[24F]
Finally arrived at the top floor.
[The doors are opening.]
Whir.
The elevator doors began to open slowly.
The last floor.
Everyone held their breath and stared through the opening doors.
Soon.
A sight different from before unfolded.
“Huh?”
It wasn't a lobby.
An open landscape came into view, and the night sky and moonlight were visible.
Beyond the elevator doors was the street outside.
“It’s outside.”
The female student looked around, dumbfounded.
The startled middle-aged woman also kept staring at the scenery outside.
“This must be the exit.”
The middle-aged woman said with a dazed expression.
She slowly walked forward, but I blocked her path.
“No.”
I restrained the middle-aged woman who had stepped forward first and the female student who was about to follow.
“You can’t.”
“Pardon? But it’s outside.”
“That doesn’t mean it’s safe.”
I was unfamiliar with the new environment, and it was hard to explain this bewilderment in words.
But it really wasn’t right.
“The outside can’t just appear like this on the top floor.”
“I know. But it’s right there now.”
“It could be a trap.”
I was desperate.
“It’s even more suspicious that the top floor looks like that. After creating a scary atmosphere by burning incense until now, to suddenly show a scenery like the outside...”
“You mean it’s actually stranger?”
The female student asked back.
I nodded and looked at the student.
“Yes, it’s suspicious. And.”
I pointed out one more thing.
“I don’t feel anything from the outside right now.”
“Feel anything?”
“When the door opens, you usually feel the wind coming in from outside or something like that.”
Indoor and outdoor are different.
A slight breeze, or a drop in temperature.
We can clearly feel that on our skin.
“I don’t feel that at all right now. It looks like the outside over there, but it feels like it’s actually indoors.”
My suspicion was sharp.
The smart female student thought for a moment at my words and then looked around.
“It’s a hypothesis, right?”
“Yes.”
It was purely a guess.
However, it could be called a plausible hypothesis.
The middle-aged woman and the female student hesitated, then each fell into deep thought.
The two of them also lacked the certainty to leave the elevator like this.
“There are two hypotheses now. Either this elevator that reached the top floor starts going down from now on. Or, believing that this place is the exit and going out.”
I handed the choice over to the two of them.
“Which side do you want to bet on?”
“…….”
A long silence followed.
It was then.
[Those who wish to get off, please come forward.]
The time for choice had come.
There was no time.
The two were wavering, hesitating to make a decision.
“It’s my life on the line too. I’ll go with the first hypothesis.”
I made the decision first.
Now, the choice was theirs to make.
After much agonizing, the female student spoke with trembling lips.
“I’ll stay too.”
It was the middle-aged woman’s turn.
The middle-aged woman, who had her child beside her, hesitated, looked at me and the female student in turn, and finally reached a decision.
“I’ll stay.”
It was decided.
We all decided to remain in the elevator.
[…….]
[The doors are closing.]
Whir.
The elevator doors slowly began to close.
The scenery outside, which might have been the exit, was also gradually closed off.
Thud.
And.
The tense moment arrived.
It was the moment to reveal whether the first hypothesis—that the elevator might go back down—was correct.
[…….]
[Moving down to the next floor.]
It was correct.
A thrill ran through my entire body, and I instinctively clenched my fists tight.
The female student and the middle-aged woman also let out sighs of relief.
“The first hypothesis was right.”
“Yes.”
It was a relief.
It felt as if the cold sweat flowing down suddenly vanished.
It was a choice made at the risk of our lives, and the moment we confirmed it was correct, everyone let out a sigh of relief.
But.
It wasn't over yet.
“We confirmed it's going down. So what do we do now?”
The middle-aged woman asked.
I slowly began to state the answer I had been mulling over.
“This is also just a guess, in a way.”
“A hypothesis, then.”
“Yes.”
I cautiously opened my mouth.
“I remember the words from the announcement earlier.”
[Once you get off, you can never get back on the elevator. If the place you get off at is the correct answer, you escape safely. If you get off on the wrong floor...]
[You die.]
Ultimately, we have to get off only on a safe floor.
But.
I had one thought from the very beginning.
“It’s hard to find evidence for which floor is the safe floor.”
“That's true.”
“But we might have been on a safe floor from the very beginning.”
“Pardon?”
At my words, the female student and the middle-aged woman were confused.
They looked as if they couldn't understand what I meant at all.
“'You can get off on a safe floor.' This might be the hint.”
It was a reversal of thought.
You can get off on a safe floor.
If we could live and breathe without riding the elevator, it meant that place was the safe floor.
Because that's exactly when we are 'off' the elevator.
“Pardon?”
Even the smart female student couldn't understand immediately this time.
It was then.
The elevator that was descending slowly stopped.
[23rd floor.]
[23F]
A lobby with incense burning and emitting smoke appeared again.
[Those who wish to get off, please come forward.]
No one went out.
[The doors are closing.]
[Moving down to the next floor.]
The elevator began to descend again.
I continued the story I was telling, regardless of the floors we were descending.
I explained again.
“We weren’t just in the elevator. We were clearly waiting in the lobby.”
“Umm.”
Only then did a thought flash through the female student’s mind.
“So that’s why you said the 1st floor. That’s what you were talking about earlier?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Indeed.
We were waiting on the 1st floor at first.
Nothing happened then.
If so, there was a possibility that the 1st floor was the safest floor.
The middle-aged woman slightly raised her hand.
“But this started after we entered the elevator. The 1st floor might have changed too.”
“That’s correct.”
“Is that ultimately just a hypothesis too?”
“Yes.”
Indeed.
It was merely a hypothesis.
“…….”
No one could be certain.
This elevator had been that kind of place from the start.
Solving it through hypothesis upon hypothesis.
That was also the nature of urban legends.
At the same time, I was gradually realizing yet another hypothesis.
The real secret hidden in this elevator.