The Basement Horrors
Basement level one.
Fluorescent lights flickered fitfully above the thick pipes running across the ceiling. This place was a far cry from the glamorous department store floors above, choked with the heavy stench of mold and grease.
"Ugh... my back."
As a veteran worker, everyone called me Foreman Kim. Today, my back was acting up worse than usual.
I squatted down, thumping my lower back, and peeled off my work gloves. Heat radiated from my sweaty palms. Beside me, Mr. Park popped a cigarette into his mouth and chuckled.
"Boss, you're looking exceptionally beat today. Isn't it about time you retired?"
"Shut it, punk. Wait until you're my age. When it's about to rain, every single joint in your body aches like hell."
I grumbled, but Park wasn't entirely wrong. As I said, my body felt like lead today. And I didn't think it was just physical fatigue.
It was that creepy chill I'd felt earlier in the first-floor lobby.
The unsettling sensation that someone was staring intently at the back of my neck still hadn't faded, adding a heavy layer of mental exhaustion.
"Foreman, we're pretty much done sorting this pile. Should we wrap it up?"
Young Choi, one of our laborers, asked as he tossed down a sack filled with construction waste.
"Yeah, looks like we're about done. Hey, what do you guys want to eat after this? There's a killer twenty-four-hour pork bone soup place nearby."
Mr. Park's eyes lit up instantly.
"Man, pork bone soup and soju? That sounds heavenly. Boss, is it your treat tonight?"
"You leech, you're always trying to bleed me dry."
"Aw, come on, Boss. Do you think I'd only take and never give? I'll get the next round, obviously."
"Fine, let's go. Knocking back a shot of soju with some hot soup should wash away this damn gloom."
The workers cheered. The atmosphere in the basement instantly warmed up. The promise of a drink was the sole joy and salvation in this grueling line of manual labor.
As everyone began gathering their gear, I suddenly looked up at the ceiling.
Those kids...
I thought of the young men we'd left on the first floor. Was one of them named Minjun? There was that sharp-looking kid, and his friend—the big, bespectacled guy who looked like a total coward despite his size.
I wonder if they're doing alright. Are they getting the job done...?
When I'd mentioned the mannequins earlier, the intense, serious look in Minjun's eyes had stuck with me. Normally, kids his age would scoff and dismiss it as superstition, but his expression had been dead serious, almost grim.
"Park, I'm going to head up to the first floor for a second."
"Huh? What for?"
"Just checking on those new kids. It's their first time doing this kind of work, and I don't want them causing any accidents. I'll help them pack up their tools and bring them down."
"Man, Boss, you worry too much... Alright. I'll be here having a smoke, so make it quick."
I stood up. I adjusted my hard hat and was about to turn toward the freight elevator leading to the first floor when—
Bzzzt.
Bzzt, crackle.
The fluorescent lights on the ceiling began to flicker violently.
"What the? What's wrong with the lights?"
"Must be a wiring issue," Choi said, looking around uneasily.
It happened then.
Sssssliiiide.
From the dark corner of the loading dock, where piles of waste were stacked, came the sound of something shifting. It was far too loud to be a rat, and the sound itself was deeply bizarre.
"What was that?"
"Who's there? Anyone there?"
My hand instinctively went to the hammer hanging from my tool belt.
It was pure instinct.
Cold sweat began to pool in my palms.
"Hey, Park. Shine your flashlight over there."
Park clicked on his flashlight and aimed the beam toward the noise.
Piled high in that corner were the old mannequins slated for disposal during this renovation.
They were defective pieces—some missing arms, others with broken legs or crushed heads.
A tangled, chaotic heap of dust-covered white limbs.
"Looks like a pile of corpses."
"Ah, it's just the old mannequins and trash. A rat probably crawled inside."
Just as Park was about to lower his flashlight—
Clack.
"...Huh?"
Everyone's eyes locked onto the pile.
"What... what is that?"
A legless female mannequin torso perched at the very top rolled off and tumbled to the concrete floor.
And then.
Creeeeak...
The severed torso began to move on its own, pressing its hands against the floor. Using its elbows as leverage, the mannequin dragged its upper body upright like some grotesque insect.
"!!!!!!!!!!"
"Gasp!"
Though it had no head, it felt as if the headless thing was staring right at us.
"W-what the hell is this..."
"What is that thing?"
"Did that... did that just move?"
The workers' voices trembled like bleating goats.
And then.
Crack.
Snap.
Pop.
The entire pile of trash and plastic limbs began to writhe with life.
"Aaaaargh!"
"Ugh!"
A mannequin with only a single leg began to hop forward.
Severed heads rolled toward us across the floor, while torsos with grotesquely twisted limbs began crawling forward on all fours.
"Screeech!"
Choi screamed, stumbling backward.
"R-run! Get out of here!"
"Holy shit!"
"They're monsters!"
Amidst the panicked shouts, the creatures erupted into motion.
Scritch-scratch-scritch-scratch!
A spine-chilling scraping sound echoed as plastic dragged against concrete.
A wave of white devils surged toward us.
"Run!"
The workers scattered in utter panic, sprinting toward the exit. They abandoned their tool bags and hard hats, running solely for their lives.
I ran too, pushing my aching body to its absolute limit.
Just then—
"Pant, pant! Boss! Wait for me!"
Park's desperate cry echoed behind me.
The moment I looked back—
"Oh, god!"
A legless mannequin torso had clamped its hands around Park's ankle.
"Let go! Get off me! Aaaargh!"
The thing held on with an iron grip.
And then.
It began to crawl up his calf, using its rigid plaster arms to violently twist his leg.
Crack.
"Aaaaargh! My leg! My leg!"
It was trying to rip his leg off, as if to claim it as its own.
"Park!"
I skidded to a halt and spun around, sprinting back toward him.
Instantly, other mannequins began swarming toward me.
Survival dictated that I should run, but I couldn't just abandon him to die.
"You bastards!"
I swung my claw hammer with wild fury.
Smash!
Crack!
The head of a mannequin lunging at me shattered into pieces. Plaster dust snowed down around us, but inexplicably, the headless body kept moving.
Dammit!
I lunged at the torso clamping down on Park's leg. It was squeezing his ankle with terrifying strength.
The torso is too solid. But what about their joints? Their wrists?
The joints!
My past experience assembling mannequins flashed through my mind.
The wrists were connected by simple hooks or thin metal pins. They were relatively weak.
"Get off him!"
I raised the hammer high and brought it down hard, aiming precisely at the creature's wrist.
Clang!
With a dull, cracking sound, the wrist snapped clean off.
"Screeech!"
The thing let out a bizarre, mechanical shriek that sounded like a glitching video game.
"Get up! Run, you idiot!"
I grabbed Park by the collar and hauled him to his feet. He stood up, limping heavily.
Once I got Park moving, I looked back. It was a literal hellscape.
Dozens of broken, dismantled mannequins of every shape and size were writhing and crawling forward, driven by a singular, murderous intent to tear us apart.
"We... we have to run!"
The freight elevator was too far, and it took too long for the doors to close anyway.
"The emergency exit! Run for the stairs!"
We sprinted frantically toward the heavy steel door of the stairwell.
Thud-thud-thud.
Patter-patter-patter.
The horrific scraping sound of crawling plastic chased us, sounding right at our heels.
Slam!
I threw my shoulder against the steel door, bursting it open.
We practically scrambled up the concrete stairs on all fours.
My lungs burned, but we couldn't stop. Stopping meant death.
Just then—
"Boss... I can't... I can't go any further..."
Park gasped for air, clutching his injured ankle.
I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and dragged him forward.
"Shut up and run! We just need to reach the first floor! There's an exit there!"
We dragged ourselves up the stairs with every ounce of strength we had left.
Finally, the heavy fire door leading to the first-floor lobby came into view.
Summoning our last reserves, we threw our bodies against the door.
Crash!
The door burst open.
"We made it... we're alive..."
Park collapsed flat on the floor, gasping in relief.
But.
When I looked up, what greeted me was not salvation, but another circle of hell.
No... this can't be happening.
The first-floor lobby was already a warzone.
Under the eerie crimson glow of the emergency lights, mannequins were walking around everywhere.
And further in the distance, I saw two figures.
It was that kid Minjun and his friend.
They're being chased.
They were running from mannequins that were far larger and had fully intact limbs compared to the broken things pursuing us.
"Pant... pant..."
My lungs felt like they were about to burst.
Deokhu was running beside me, half-dead with terror, clutching onto the hem of my shirt.
The clicking of high heels behind us never stopped. Smash one, and two more appeared. Smash two, and four took their place. The things shattering their way out of the display windows were multiplying like a zombie horde.
"Hyung! The first-floor exits are all blocked! The shutters are down!"
Deokhu screamed in despair.
He was right. The moment midnight struck, every single external shutter in the department store had automatically sealed shut.
"The second floor! We have to take the escalator up!"
The wide-open space of the first floor was a death trap where we could easily be surrounded. It was better to head to the upper floors, where the narrower corridors would let us use the terrain to our advantage.
"Run!"
We sprinted toward the central escalator.
Right then—
Slam!
With a thunderous crash, the staff emergency exit in the corner of the lobby flew open.
Several dust-covered men tumbled out onto the floor.
What the?
I slowed my pace and looked over.
They were wearing work vests. It was the laborers who had been working with us earlier. They looked like they had just crawled out of the depths of hell, utterly battered and disheveled.
"Boss! Over here! There are more of them here too!"
A young worker collapsed on the floor screamed, pointing behind us.
Behind them, pouring through the open emergency exit, was a swarm of mannequins.
They were missing limbs, missing heads—the discarded mannequins from the basement. They crawled along the floor and scrambled over the walls, lunging to tear the workers apart.
In front of us were the pristine mannequins from the display windows; behind us were the shattered monstrosities from the basement.
We were completely surrounded.
"Ugh..."
"This is insane..."
"What... what on earth is happening..."
The workers were frozen in sheer terror. Among them was Foreman Kim, the veteran who had shared the ghost stories with me earlier. He was currently supporting his injured colleague.
If I leave them like this, they'll all die.
I couldn't just look away. In this scenario, the deaths of these extras weren't written into the script. Because I had written it that way. No—because I was going to make sure of it.
I grabbed Deokhu by the shoulder and yelled.
"Deokhu! Turn the speaker! Aim it at the ones coming from the basement!"
"What? But Hyung, what about the ones behind us?!"
"I'll hold off the ones behind us! Hurry! If any of those workers die, we can't bring them back even if we clear this quest!"
At my roar, Deokhu reluctantly skidded to a halt.
He swung the modified speaker off his shoulder and aimed it toward the emergency exit.
"Go to hell, you bastards!"
Deokhu whipped open his laptop and slammed a key.
Whaaaaaaaang!
An ultrasonic wave, completely silent to human ears, rippled through the air.
The mannequins pouring out of the emergency exit writhed in agony. With sharp cracking sounds, deep fissures began to spiderweb across their old plaster bodies. The heads of the frontrunners began to burst one by one like popping balloons.
The workers' eyes went wide at Deokhu's sudden display of power.
"W-what is that?"
I shouted to them.
"Hey! Don't just stand there, get over here! Run if you want to live!"
Snapping out of their daze, the workers began limping and scrambling toward us.
"Kid! It's you guys! What the hell is going on? Did you know this was going to happen?!"
Foreman Kim gasped for breath as he reached my side.
"I'll explain later! Right now, we just need to get out of here!"