Grey City (4)
Until moments ago, Sehyun had been holding the conversation with perfect composure.
But the instant he recalled tumbling off that bicycle, he couldn't stop the chill that raced down his spine.
The strange thrill of the chase and the sheer relief of still being alive had been holding the terror at bay. Perhaps that stretch of time had simply gone on too long. The fear he'd been crushing into a corner of his mind began to seep back out, little by little.
His stamina was nearly gone as well. If he had to run again, he wouldn't last long — and that knowledge only sharpened the dread.
"…Either way, we're running out of time."
"I think I know what you mean by 'either way,' so sorry about that."
Yui spoke without taking her eyes off the monster.
"Honestly, I still can't see a solution at all."
A jolt.
The escalator, sensing the two of them standing on it, suddenly lurched into motion.
"Whoa—"
Sehyun staggered and grabbed the handrail. Yui, by contrast, stood perfectly still, unmoved.
Maybe this girl should've been the one getting chased instead of me.
Sehyun barely managed to swallow the words before they escaped.
Then a question cut through his thoughts.
"Even if we do find a way out — is one solution enough?"
"What do you mean?"
Yui tilted her head.
"That more methods are better?"
"No. Not that."
She still didn't seem to grasp what he was driving at.
Finding a single escape route might not be enough. When they'd discussed the elevator ghost story earlier, Yui herself had pointed out the problem: there was no guarantee this other world was the only one. No guarantee that the same rules would apply if they got tangled up in a different anomaly.
Which meant it was better to stockpile multiple escape methods they could try no matter what kind of space they fell into. Even if they couldn't apply one directly, tweaking an existing urban legend might let them exploit similar rules.
"If we make it back alive, maybe I should study urban legends for a bit."
"Aren't those usually stories where everyone dies?"
Yui asked, skeptical.
"Would that even help?"
"Idiot."
Sehyun answered as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"If you know a bunch of similar rules, you've got something to reference when you're looking for a safe way out."
"That's… actually a pretty original take."
"Though honestly, even now it's fuzzy."
"What is?"
At her question, Sehyun drew a long breath.
"I don't think this ghost story is made of just one tale."
A grey city drowned in fog. Streets with no one in them. A faceless monster that stopped when you looked at it and came after you the moment you looked away. They seemed connected, but none of it matched any urban legend Sehyun knew completely.
"It feels like several stories stitched together."
"…You're right."
Yui sank into thought as well.
"I've got a few originals that come to mind, but none of them match exactly."
"Just a gut feeling, but I think we're right on the edge of the answer."
Sehyun spoke while watching the monster.
"There's a move that could put us in checkmate — we just haven't found it yet."
"The classic 'all the hints have already been given' situation?"
"Yeah."
Sehyun nodded.
"Exactly that."
"Hate to rain on your cool moment, but we've already roughly figured out the rules and the monster's traits, so the idea that all the information's been handed to us is technically true."
"What?"
Sehyun almost turned to look at her, then forced himself to hold his gaze steady.
"How would you know that?"
"How would you know?"
"I just get this weird chill."
"Same."
Yui grinned, playful.
The escalator finished its climb to the second floor.
"What now?"
Sehyun asked.
"Keep going up?"
"Climbing higher as an escape plan is the worst option."
Yui looked up toward the floors above.
"Once you hit the top, there's nowhere left to run."
"Solid logic."
The monster was following them up from the bottom of the escalator. It didn't move while Sehyun was looking at it — but every time he blinked, or his eyes flicked away from the phone screen for even a second, it closed the gap a little more.
If you stacked the monster's own speed on top of the escalator's, it got dangerous. One long lapse of attention and it would catch them.
"But we're still going up."
"Then we stop going up right here."
"What?"
"We loop the second floor. Round and round."
"Round and round…"
Sehyun stopped moving.
Moving through the same building in a fixed sequence, over and over. Going up, then down, then up again. And at the end of that cycle — passage into another world where no one existed.
"Ah."
Something locked into place in Sehyun's head.
"Why are you suddenly yelling?"
Yui snapped, urgent.
"More importantly — your eyes!"
"Ah—!"
Sehyun jerked his head back down. The distance to the monster had already shrunk to about three meters.
"This bastard — is it faster than before?"
"Don't know if it actually sped up or if it just feels that way because it's closer."
"Fall back for now."
"Sehyun — automatic doors behind you."
Yui shoved the automatic doors open and grabbed his shoulder, steering him. Sehyun kept his eyes locked on the monster in the phone screen and backed through the doorway.
"Start building a barricade."
"Did something come to you?"
Noticing the light in Sehyun's expression, Yui moved fast into the clothing store. She dragged rolling racks and display stands into the corridor, blocking the monster's path.
"We have to go back down to the first floor."
"Why?"
Sehyun was about to answer when—
Crash!
Glass shattered behind them.
"What the hell?!"
"I think it just smashed through the automatic doors!"
Wheeeee—!
An alarm howled through the entire department store. The monster shoved aside the wrecked doors and the display stands and pushed into the corridor. The ceiling lights flickered uneasily several times.
Crack.
Somewhere, electricity sparked — and then the whole building plunged into blackout.
"Shit!"
"Power's out!"
Only the emergency lights, glowing an ominous green, flickered on here and there. Nowhere near enough to light the path all the way to the escalator.
Yui switched on the flashlight of Sehyun's phone, which she was still holding.
"I'll light the way!"
Sehyun held Yui's phone up in front of his face. The front camera caught his own face and, over his shoulder, the monster standing behind him. The creature on the screen was visible only to Sehyun. Even if Yui looked at the same feed, she'd see nothing. But as long as Sehyun kept watching it on the screen, it stayed frozen.
"There!"
Yui swept the flashlight across the stopped escalator. Both of them broke into a run at once.
Sehyun descended the escalator-turned-staircase without letting the monster slip from the screen. But he hadn't gone more than a few steps before footsteps sounded behind them.
Tap-tap-tap.
Tap-tap-tap.
The sound was getting louder. The jolt of running shook the screen, making it hard to keep a clean lock on the monster.
"Sehyun! Faster!"
"I know!"
He pushed harder, but he couldn't keep it up for long. More than half the stopped escalator still remained.
Sehyun looked down toward the lower floor.
First-floor center. Below the escalator, a massive box-shaped decoration built for gift wrapping had been installed across a wide area. It looked solid from the outside — but if it was an event-hall prop, the inside was probably hollow or packed with cushioning.
Jumping would be faster than climbing all the way down. If he was wrong, he'd get hurt badly. But Sehyun didn't have time to check how safe it was.
"Yui!"
"What!"
"We're going down!"
"We already are goi—"
Yui followed his line of sight and cut herself off.
"You're not serious—!"
Sehyun clutched the phone to his chest, planted a hand on the railing, and threw himself sideways.
"Waaaaah—!!"
"You lunatic!"
Sehyun's body dropped toward the first floor. He landed squarely on top of the gift-box decoration. The soft structure absorbed a good portion of the impact — which didn't mean he walked away fine.
"Gaaah!"
All the air punched out of his lungs at once. Right after him, Yui vaulted the railing and dropped. She landed lightly on the decoration and was at his side in an instant.
"Get up!"
Hauling one ordinary male student to his feet was nothing for Yui. She slung his arm over her shoulder and half-lifted him upright.
"We just need to reach the elevator."
Sehyun gasped the words out between breaths.
"If this fails, we're dead anyway."
"You think an elevator's going to work in a blackout?"
"We're inside a ghost story."
Sehyun pointed toward the elevator visible beyond the emergency lights.
"If the story needs the machine, it'll run."
The monster's footsteps closed in again. Yui gave Sehyun a quick once-over.
"You're not making it that far on your own."
She turned her back to him.
"Get on."
"What?"
Without waiting for an answer, Yui hoisted him onto her back.
"Whoa—?!"
Sehyun grabbed her shoulders to keep from falling. Yui took off at full speed.
"What's the plan?"
"The method for reaching another world by elevator."
"You said that was dangerous!"
"We're not just riding it into another world."
Sehyun explained fast, clinging to her back.
"We complete a different ghost story inside one that's already running."
"You're going to make them collide?"
"Probably."
"Probably?!"
"If I was sure, I wouldn't call it a gamble!"
Yui laughed, incredulous.
"So what do I actually do?"
"The elevator ritual has to be done alone."
Sehyun said.
"I go inside. You stay outside and keep the light on the monster."
"It doesn't freeze when I look at it."
"We use a video call."
Sehyun held up Yui's phone.
"You point my phone's camera at the monster. I watch it through your phone's screen."
Even looking at the same feed, Yui wouldn't see the creature. But on the screen of its actual target — Sehyun — it would appear.
"As long as I'm watching it on the screen, it should stay frozen."
"And then?"
"Right before we hit the fifth floor, hang up."
Yui understood what he was trying to do.
"You're going to force the monster into the elevator."
"In the elevator ghost story, the one who boards on the fifth floor isn't a person — it's a young woman."
Sehyun clenched his teeth.
"We jam that monster into her spot."
"Make two ghost stories occupy the same position…"
"Whichever set of rules wins, the current state breaks."
"What if both win and we end up somewhere even worse?"
"Then we figure it out from there."
Yui was silent for a moment. Then she pushed her speed even higher.
"All right."
She smiled.
"Let's do it."
"You catch on fast."
"Staking your life in the field is the Hero's job."
"You're staking yours right now too!"
The elevator drew near. The doors were shut tight. Yui didn't slow down, Sehyun still on her back. Just before they reached it, she snapped a front kick at the call button on the wall. The toe of her sneaker hit it dead-on.
Ding.
A clear chime rang out — a sound that had no business existing in a building with no power. The elevator doors opened.
"It actually opened!"
"Because it's a ghost story!"
Yui ran a few more steps with Sehyun on her back — then suddenly dropped low.
"Sehyun!"
she shouted.
"Protect your head and neck!"
"Huh?"
Yui's body coiled tight, then uncoiled all at once. Sehyun's body launched forward off her back. He flew through the air as if he'd been body-slammed and tumbled across the elevator floor.
"Ghk—!"
"Count yourself lucky we were on the first floor!"
Yui called from outside the elevator. She broke into a wide grin.
"HARD LUCK!"
"That was All-or-Nothing Yui's chance!"
"Did you really have to say that right now?!"
"Just start the video call already!"
Still on the floor, Sehyun dialed his own number on Yui's phone. She picked up. The department store corridor filled the screen. Yui had Sehyun's rear camera pointed toward the monster.
The feed the camera was transmitting should have shown nothing. But right in the center of Sehyun's screen, the monster stood frozen mid-sprint toward the elevator.
"Can you see it?"
"Yeah."
Sehyun answered.
"Clear as day."
"Then start."
Yui stepped back from the doorway. The elevator doors closed. On the camera feed, the monster remained locked in place where Yui was illuminating it.
Sehyun pushed himself up and moved to the floor buttons.
"Fourth floor."
He pressed the button, and the elevator began to move. A machine that shouldn't have been able to run in a blacked-out building. Yet the elevator arrived at the fourth floor as if nothing were wrong.
The doors didn't open. Sehyun pressed the next button.
"Second floor."
Then the sixth. Back to the second. Then the tenth.
The elevator moved in the exact order Sehyun pressed. On the screen, the monster stayed frozen in the spot Yui was lighting.
"Fifth floor next."
Sehyun said.
"Got it."
"Hang up right before we arrive."
Sehyun pressed the fifth-floor button. The elevator started descending.
Ninth floor. Eighth. Seventh.
Sehyun never took his eyes off the monster on the screen.
Sixth.
The floor display was about to flip to five.
"Now!"
The video call cut out. The screen went dark.
At the same instant, something heavy dropped behind him inside the elevator.
Thud!
Sehyun spun around on pure reflex. The monster was standing inside the elevator, one arm already reaching for him. The distance was barely a single step.
The moment Sehyun looked at it, the creature froze.
Ding.
The elevator arrived at the fifth floor. The doors opened slowly.
According to the original ghost story, a young woman who was not human was supposed to board here. But outside the doors, there was no one.
Instead, something strange appeared in the elevator's mirror.
The faceless monster standing behind Sehyun — and, overlaid on it, a long-haired woman. The two different forms twisted in the glass as if fighting to occupy the same space. The monster's pure-white hair trembled side to side. The woman's face in the mirror tore apart like a screen full of static.
Sehyun slammed the first-floor button. If the elevator ghost story ran correctly, pressing the first floor would send the car to the tenth instead.
The doors closed. The elevator began to move.
Sixth. Seventh. Eighth.
It kept climbing.
"Please…"
Sehyun stared at the monster in the mirror.
Ninth. Just short of the tenth floor—
BOOM!
The entire elevator shuddered violently. A sensation like the floor dropping out from under him slammed through his body. The floor display scrambled, numbers flashing in a rapid, chaotic blur. In the mirror, the monster and the young woman tangled together as if devouring each other — and then both vanished at once.
The elevator began to freefall.
"Waaaaaah—!"
Sehyun dropped flat and wrapped both arms around his head.
CRASH!
A massive impact, and the elevator stopped.
A moment later.
Ding.
The doors opened. The floor display showed a 1. Sehyun was alone inside the elevator.
"…Hey."
Yui was standing outside. The fog was gone. The department store lights blazed bright, and voices and music filled the air from every direction.
"Let's go back to the dormitory."
"What is this?!"
A clothing-store employee's voice rang out from farther down the floor.
"Clean this up, now!"
The employee was fuming at the rolling racks strewn across the corridor. Yui slowly scanned their surroundings. The Grey City that had existed only moments before had vanished without a trace.
"…We're back."
"Looks like it worked."
"Let's get out of here first."
Yui held out a hand to Sehyun.
"You can explain on the way."
The two of them slipped out of the department store before the employee could catch their eyes.
The train back to the dormitory was, thankfully, nearly empty. Sehyun and Yui sat side by side.
"So."
Yui spoke first.
"What exactly did you do?"
"The method for reaching another world by elevator."
"I could see that much."
"The order is fourth, second, sixth, second, tenth."
Sehyun folded his fingers one by one.
"Then the fifth."
"When you arrive at the fifth, a young woman who isn't human boards — and if you press the first floor in that state, the elevator heads for the tenth."
"To a place like the Grey City we were trapped in?"
"Probably."
Sehyun looked at his own reflection in the train window.
"The ghost story holding us was the kind that moves people into an empty other world."
"And the elevator ghost story also moves people into another world."
"Two different ghost stories were demanding the same role."
Sehyun said.
"So at the fifth floor, I forced the faceless monster into the slot meant for a 'non-human presence' that was supposed to board."
"You made the monster take that role and crashed the two sets of rules together."
"More accurately, I hoped that's what would happen."
Sehyun shrugged.
"If the elevator story won, we'd move to another world. If the Grey City story won, the chase would just keep going."
"And if they collided?"
"I figured neither would resolve cleanly, and the whole thing would reset."
"You staked your life on a guess like that?"
"It's not like we had other options."
Yui watched him in silence for a while.
"…That was an incredible gamble."
"I know."
"I think I need to learn from that."
Yui said, dead serious.
"That attitude."
"You really don't."
It might have been a joke. But if it was Sung Yui, she might genuinely try an even more reckless gamble the next time something happened. Sehyun looked at her with uneasy eyes.
"By the way — the phones."
"Ah."
They both realized at the same moment that they were still holding each other's smartphones. They swapped back. Yui immediately opened her gallery to check.
"You didn't look through my gallery, did you?"
"I didn't."
"Liar."
"I seriously didn't."
Yui didn't answer. She turned her face toward the window.
After that, the two of them rode back to the dormitory without much further conversation.
When they reached the dormitory building, Sehyun pointed at the floor directory.
"Boys' floors are odd numbers. Girls' floors are even."
The academy dormitory was structured so that male and female floors alternated.
"Reminds me of a certain horror mystery novel."
"I'm in 304."
Sehyun gave his phone a little shake.
"I already saved your number, so call whenever."
"Hmm."
Yui checked her phone.
"I'm in 404."
"Ominous number."
"Might suit us just fine."
"You're right above me?!"
Yui gave a light wave and headed for the stairs.
"See you tomorrow, Hero."
"…Yeah."
Sehyun raised a hand in return.
"See you tomorrow."
He watched the stairs where Yui had disappeared for a moment longer.
His first day as a transfer student. Two ghost stories. A faceless monster. Another world. And a Saintess who called him the Hero.
Of one thing, at least, there was no longer any doubt: the school life ahead of him was not going to be smooth.