Chapter 432
Chapter 432
A few hours ago.
Right after Park Moon-dae dashed onto the stage, and the stage equipment came crashing down like a cruel twist of fate.
"Kyaaaaah!"
"Ugh, pant, pant!"
Amidst the screams, falls, and the chaos saturating the backstage, Lee Se-jin stood frozen, a single thought crossing his mind.
Is this a dream?
It had to be a bizarre nightmare.
Otherwise, there was no way a perfectly fine member would suddenly collapse, bolt toward the stage, and then have the entire rig collapse right on top of him.
Even having experienced supernatural phenomena before, this was too absurd… simply impossible.
"There’s no way this is happening…"
Slap.
Pain.
"Snap out of it!"
Turning his head, he saw Bae Se-jin, face deathly pale, having just struck him on the back.
"He might be alive—no, he is alive. We have to check...!"
"...!!"
Lee Se-jin sucked in a breath. The sounds of reality came rushing back.
He looked again at the stage, where the massive, heavy equipment lay in a mangled heap of destruction. The wreckage was so dense it didn't look like a human could possibly be visible through the gaps. But—but if there was a space inside...
"We have to check... inside."
As if hearing those dazed words, Ryu Cheong-woo spoke up, his voice uncharacteristically thick with emotion.
"The other side of the backstage!"
"...!"
"Let's go that way!"
Cha Yu-jin bolted instantly. Taking advantage of the chaos where the staff and security couldn't stop them, the rest of the members began to circle around the backstage toward the opposite side.
However, when they arrived at the other side... only completely collapsed steel frames were piled up like a gruesome sculpture.
"……Gasp."
Bzzt, crackle...
Electricity sparked from broken lights.
And there were steel beams stained with a small amount of blood.
It was terrifyingly easy to imagine what state someone would be in the moment they were crushed.
It couldn't be.
He couldn't have survived this—
It was at that moment.
Thud.
Creeeeeak—rumble, crash!
As if telling them to stop thinking, the concrete structures of the ceiling above the stage collapsed once more in an instant.
"...!!"
"Over here! Hurry!"
The walls shook.
"Just get inside!"
The members scrambled up the emergency staircase that Cha Yu-jin had practically torn open in his rush.
Amidst the screams, shouts, and the sound of footsteps echoing from all directions, they likely followed the staff's instructions and evacuated in a daze.
If only they hadn't seen it.
"...Here, bloodstains!"
What Bae Se-jin had inadvertently discovered were Park Moon-dae’s bloodstains leading upward.
*
"...So that's what happened."
"……."
Ryu Cheong-woo finished the brief summary of everything that had transpired.
After that, they had gathered the people remaining in the building to make evacuation easier, but after another collapse occurred, the doors on the 1st and 3rd floors were blocked, leaving them stranded on the 2nd floor.
And then I realized.
The 2nd-floor iron door I saw through the drone earlier... the one across from the collapsed emergency stairwell wall.
That wasn't the door I had used to escape the backstage when the stage collapsed. In my frantic flight upward, I had momentarily confused them.
Based on the height, the backstage door must have been next to where we launched the drone.
The firmly shut 2nd-floor iron door... actually led to this office space.
Ryu Cheong-woo concluded his explanation.
"That's why Se-jin thought of the announcement. Luckily, the walkie-talkies were rechargeable, so we could use them."
"……."
In other words, they couldn't bring themselves to abandon the possibility that I might still be alive here, and because of that slight delay, they missed their chance to escape.
This is driving me crazy.
I managed to force the words out.
"Thank you. But from now on..."
"...From now on?"
I was going to say, 'Don't do something so reckless,' but realizing I had enough on my own plate, I decided to shut my mouth.
In the first place, if I hadn't done something that looked like a suicide mission, these guys would never have stayed behind.
"...I'll explain if we have time, but right now, I'm in a real hurry."
"……."
Ryu Cheong-woo looked at me with an expression that said he had a great deal to say, but in the end, he didn't let it all out.
It was because I had given them a partial explanation.
"...You said time is short even now. Let's get moving."
"Yes."
Whether it's the system or whatever, I had just explained that the status window had displayed a collapse message.
[00:26:03]
"So, we need to find this person called Keun-dal first."
"Yes. But for everyone else, evacuation is the priority."
As we opened the management office door and stepped out, someone burst out of the room next door.
"I have them here!"
Cha Yu-jin was holding three or four employee ID cards in his hand.
In those few minutes, he had already achieved the goal, having searched the offices along this hallway with a fine-toothed comb.
"I looked for the fans too. Let's get out of here fast!"
As expected, having enough manpower makes a difference.
By the same token, since we had enough people, we could take care of the two guys in the audience seats at the same time.
"Gasp!!"
I turned my head at the sound of a fan's sharp intake of breath nearby.
"M-Moon-dae...!"
"Hyung! You're safe!"
"...!"
Beyond the wall, I saw the two guys Bae Se-jin had brought. I probably looked just as bad as they did.
They must have climbed up using the rope I left; they were even more covered in dust than before.
"……."
And both of them looked like they were on the verge of bursting into tears.
From their perspective... the building had suddenly collapsed early, and they had abruptly lost contact with the guy who went up.
Damn it.
"That..."
I frantically racked my brain.
"I miscalculated the time."
"I-I don't believe you."
I'm in trouble.
"Park Moon-dae, you..."
"It really was a mistake."
Under Bae Se-jin's suspicious gaze, I began to move, flanked by Seon A-hyun and Kim Rae-bin as if I were under escort. I was honestly impressed that Kim Rae-bin had managed to bring the laptop and the drone joystick in the midst of all this.
"Kim Rae-bin! Are you okay? What is that? We need to travel light, throw it away!"
"You should not rashly judge the value of an object based solely on your own knowledge—"
Kim Rae-bin uncharacteristically checked his surroundings and read the room.
"...It is an item with the potential to be used for our escape!"
The problem was this: dozens of fans were currently watching us.
I could hear them whispering even now.
"Did all the members stay behind?"
"Oh... what do we do?"
In this situation, if we just disappeared and talked amongst ourselves to brief everyone on the status window, there was no telling what kind of chaos would ensue.
Technically, we were all in the same boat being trapped, but as public figures, we naturally drew attention. Since they were fans, they were already worrying about us as much as their own situation.
That's why I had briefly stepped into the room with only Ryu Cheong-woo earlier.
I had to be careful not to let anything slip while spreading the word, which made the difficulty level spike.
Of course, the remaining time was getting even tighter.
[00:24:01]
Naturally, some people were still shaken by the rapidly changing atmosphere and situation.
"Excuse me... is there a problem?"
"It's okay. Everyone was just startled because I accidentally got separated earlier."
"Ah..."
I smiled as gently as possible. I hoped it felt somewhat similar to a fan signing event.
The fan was glancing at my changed top. Since the others were all in stage outfits, I stood out.
She probably didn't notice the wound.
"That's right~ But I'm so glad we met like this, right? I was so shocked and happy to see him earlier! Now I think we just need to focus on getting out safely!"
Keun Se-jin chimed in with his usual banter, patting my shoulder.
Even though he was the one swearing earlier, he must have worked hard to soothe the atmosphere in the hallway.
"Thanks—"
"Talk after we get out."
"……."
No, I said there was a reason... well, whatever.
I started with the most urgent matter.
"By any chance, are there any male audience members here?"
Since people were scattered throughout the various offices, there was a good chance Keun-dal was among them.
He might not even have known about the commotion because he was connected to the status window.
Seeing as he had tried to search over a hundred times, he must have been pouring all his focus into it.
"If it's something that requires strength, couldn't we all do it together?"
"No. Ah, it's not that. I'm looking for a specific person."
"Ah..."
Perhaps because I looked so desperate, everyone started looking for the person without even asking what it was about.
But he wasn't there. Most of the fans were female, and the few remaining staff members were also women.
"Hmm."
It would be foolish to delay any longer.
"What should I do..."
"It's okay. Let's start evacuating first."
I spoke to the fans and signaled to Ryu Cheong-woo. Ryu Cheong-woo calmly gathered the people and began telling them to move to the basement.
"Do you see what Rae-bin is holding? It's a controller, and he says he confirmed there's a door in the basement with it. Everyone, please stay in order..."
People stood up quickly at the hopeful news. Then, even those who had been scattered far and wide with anxious faces raised their heads.
Among them was someone who had been crouching in a corner room and poked their head out.
"M-Moon-dae?"
"...!!"
I had heard similar sounds several times, but this one was a bit different.
It was because I had just heard that lightstick and that voice.
Ah.
...It was the fan I saw in the storage room earlier. The graduate student.
She escaped safely.
"Uh..."
"Hello. We met earlier, didn't we?"
As our eyes met, I could see her holding back tears.
It seemed she had endured without telling anyone that it looked like I had fallen and died.
Because saying it would only create panic.
It's easy for anyone to think that way, but actually holding it in is no small feat.
I spoke in the gentlest voice possible. Time was short, but damn it, I had to do this.
"A-hyun caught me, so I made it out okay. Thank you for worrying about me."
"No, it's fine..."
Perhaps trying to maintain her composure as much as possible given the situation, her face soon calmed down. Being a graduate student, she either had incredible mental strength or a high threshold for mental pain—one of the two was for certain.
Anyway, now wasn't the time to dwell on sentiment. I should follow her lead.
I asked the graduate student as well.
Since men were scarce, I planned to collect eyewitness accounts this time.
"By any chance, did you see a man about this tall, wearing glasses? He'd look to be in his late twenties."
"They say he's handsome."
"……."
Keun Se-jin chimed in even while he was pissed off. I wasn't sure if it was helping, though.
The graduate student had a blank expression as if she had no idea what we were talking about. I figured as much—
"I—I think I know him!"
"...!!"
"I was leaving from the front row and tripped, so I couldn't use the evacuation route in time... Someone helped me up then!"
What?
The graduate student gestured wildly.
"Like this, wearing a hat and glasses... he was tall and pale, and, oh, right, I think he was handsome!"
It matched perfectly.
I asked hurriedly.
"Did that person evacuate?"
"N-no, the evacuation route was already blocked, so the members called out and we were all going to come up together..."
The graduate student looked as if she thought he would be somewhere here after getting separated in the chaos.
But there was no such person here.
"Huh? Where did he go...?"
Damn it!
"About when was that?"
"It was during that second mess! When the stage ceiling fell and everything... then!"
"He was coming up the emergency stairs, right?"
"Y-yes!"
I took a deep breath and mapped out the route in my head.
She had been sitting in the front row on the left.
He would have tried to run toward the back to get out.
But she tripped in the middle, Keun-dal helped her up, and in the meantime, the evacuation route was blocked, so they all went to the emergency stairs.
But Keun-dal isn't in the emergency stairs...
I didn't see him through the drone, and the area above the 3rd floor had collapsed.
In that case.
"……."
Oh, damn it.
I turned around and ran down the hallway.
"Hey!"
"Someone is still left behind! Everyone else, please head down to the basement through the emergency stairs!"
After shouting that, I vaulted over the wall.
In an instant, Seon A-hyun and Keun Se-jin were at my sides.
"You, right now—"
"I think I found him!"
I ran past the waiting rooms toward the collapsed stage where the rope was still hanging.
And I saw it.
The audience seating beyond the stage.
"W-why are we back here..."
I gripped the rope, gasping for breath.
"He'll be here."
"...!!"
Keun-dal is still in the audience area.
And the reason we didn't run into him even though we were here for a while earlier is...
Because he's in a state where we couldn't meet.
"He's probably collapsed."
"...!"
Why else would he suddenly disappear from the path? He can't move.
Is he unable to use his body?
The possibility that he went beyond just focusing on accessing the status window to stop this madness and actually became the status window again... is high.
That's why he couldn't follow them up the emergency stairs, which means he's still...
"He's definitely in the audience seats."
My head cleared.
I grabbed the rope and wrapped it around my waist. I was planning to go down and search every nook and cranny, but... wait.
There's a problem.
As my head cleared, the sheer size of the pitch-black audience area came into view.
"...Ha."
This was a venue that held a thousand people.
In this vast space, would there be time to find him, wake him up, and discuss anything with him within the time limit?
[00:19:35]
Within this time?
And then climb back up here and head to the basement?
"……."
I'm screwed.
I knew I should be moving instead of feeling that way, but my strength instinctively left me, and for a moment, I let go of the rope.
A low voice spoke from beside me.
"Park Moon-dae, you're injured right now."
"Not really."
"No, give it to me. I'll go down and back quickly."
Keun Se-jin held out his hand with a grim expression. And Seon A-hyun approached without a moment's hesitation.
"No...! I-I've used the rope before, and I know the area below... well, so I'll go."
This is driving me crazy.
I had the rope wrapped around my waist. Just as I was debating whether to just hurl myself downward since I might get lucky, damn it—
Step, step.
"...!"
The massive stage and the audience area. The edge of that dark, vast space.
In that corner, where a blue light was leaking out, a small sound could be heard. It was an emergency exit.
"Over there..."
It was the place I had sent the drone through because it was half-blocked.
But like a miracle, a pair of shoes stepped out from there.
Dusty, but still high-quality men's dress shoes.
Then long legs emerged under the emergency light, and finally, the face of the upper body that came out dusting off his hands was...
"...!!"
Cheong-ryeo.
Without even glancing around the audience area, he turned his gaze precisely toward us. Toward us, standing on the collapsed stage holding flashlights.
"……."
What... is this situation? Cheong-ryeo opened his mouth, a faint smile playing on his lips under the emergency light.
"Are you looking for someone?"
In his hand, he held a portable monitoring device, the kind used by facility staff.
...CCTV.