Don't Run Away
When the locker creaked open with that ominous sound and nothing happened, I carefully peered inside. What I found was an endless space packed full of hand mirrors, stretching far deeper than any locker that size had any right to go.
The moment I saw them I forgot all about hiding from the "ghost" and leapt sideways in a panic.
...Fortunately, nothing happened.
Maybe because my reflection hadn't properly shown in the glass.
"Me in the mirror" didn't seem to have appeared.
I stretched out only my hand so I wouldn't be reflected, roughly scooping up as many of the countless hand mirrors as I could and stuffing them into my bag.
When I carefully checked the backs, each one had a name written on it in cute handwriting with a name pen. They must have belonged to the victims who'd been dragged here before.
I picked out only the smaller ones and packed them away.
Hmm... that line I'd said back in 666 Village came to mind.
Looting is the foundation of survival.
Moving as carefully as I could, I quickly opened and closed only the smaller lockers, repeating the looting process.
There were plenty more nauseating sights, but in less than a minute I managed to grab dozens of small hand mirrors, a few lighters, a couple of school uniforms, and a surprising amount of cigarettes.
...What is this, a convenience store? Why does a school have this many cigarettes?
Once I was reasonably prepared, I started moving again in a hurry.
I'd heard about two screams while I was getting ready, so counting the first one and the victim I'd seen myself, that made roughly four people the "ghost" had claimed so far.
Honestly I wanted to spend more time farming, but there were no more students left to buy me time, and I'd just been lucky so far—there was no telling what the next locker might hold. So I decided this was enough.
Having made up my mind, I pulled one hand mirror from my bag and carefully adjusted the angle so I wouldn't be reflected, then stretched out my arm to shine it over the tops of the lockers.
It was a small mirror, so focusing on the space above the lockers was hard.
I forced my trembling hands under control and slowly moved the mirror. Even with the view jumping around, I managed to get a look at the landscape above the maze.
Far off, some grotesque shape was writhing.
Its upper body looked almost like a skinny person's, but the lower half was bloated and utterly bizarre. It moved by kicking off the lockers with what looked like at least ten legs, so fast the hand mirror could barely keep up.
Apparently the other victims had all hidden; only one was still screaming and running.
I turned my body in the opposite direction from the screams and began working my way through the maze.
I checked which side the white walls and windows were on, using the left and right of the classroom as reference points to figure out front and back, then started advancing.
Front or back didn't matter—I just needed to reach one of them.
According to the Survivor's Records, both the front and back doors were open.
I'd been pushing through that unreal maze for a while when the screaming suddenly cut off.
The instant the sound stopped and silence fell, I dropped as low as I could, pulled the hand mirror out again, and checked the top of the maze.
Nothing.
No matter how I angled it.
The "ghost's" form was nowhere to be seen.
Clutching my racing heart, I slowly swept the classroom with the mirror once more—and spotted that grotesque body only a few steps away, leaning forward, gripping a locker, head hanging down.
"Keu-hee-hee? Keu-heu-heu-heu-heu-heuk."
It muttered that bizarre laugh, whipping its head side to side, then stopped in front of one particularly long locker.
The "ghost" stared at the locker. Then, with a nauseating crack like puzzle pieces snapping apart, its jaw began to split.
Just like an insect's mandibles.
Like a dragonfly's jaws, the lower half of its face split into two and stretched open in a way no human structure could ever allow.
The skin of its face stretched like rubber.
The upper part of the mouth stayed put while only the jaw split and elongated downward, the mouth growing and growing by some method beyond human comprehension until it was larger than a person-sized locker.
From inside that maw a disgusting tongue snaked out like a serpent, wrapped around the locker handle, and yanked it open.
Inside, a student who'd been hiding sat curled up facing the wall, trembling.
"No. No that can't be. It didn't open. This is a dream this is a dream right this isn't real everything's a dream it's a dream hee-hee."
The endless rapid muttering of someone who'd clearly lost their mind turned into screams and sobs the moment the monster's tongue coiled around them.
"Why meeeee— I don't waaaaant—"
The mixed cry of tears and terror was sucked into the ghost's gaping mouth and cut short.
—Crack. Grind. Crunch. Crunch.
Just hearing it sent chills racing down my spine.
For better or worse, the friend the ghost had just grabbed wasn't the other survivor I'd seen.
Maybe the lockers only worked properly for "survivors," but after watching that student get dragged out to such a horrific end, it wasn't a method I particularly wanted to try.
It was so close I only needed to ease the mirror out a tiny bit to watch the "ghost's" movements.
After a long stretch of those crunching sounds as it chewed and swallowed its victim, the ghost suddenly whipped its head around as if catching a scent, then bolted off somewhere.
It left behind the heart-clenching sound of lockers being pounded as it receded into the distance.
I let out a breath of relief, turned, and started moving again in the direction I'd been heading.
Victims' screams came intermittently; by the time roughly two more had been sacrificed, I could tell I was almost at the back of the classroom.
Escape from the classroom was right in front of me.
It was literally right there...
Of course my head kept mixing the records written in the Rule Book all day with the nightmare escape I was living through right now.
That forced me to dredge up boldness and wisdom I barely remembered, which was how I'd made it this far—but at the same time, Yeom Sang-hyeon kept surfacing in my mind.
That stubborn idiot who'd insisted we get out together till the end.
Fragments of thought kept ringing in my head, telling me to think rationally.
Back then I had the power to make those thoughts real. Now I don't, so of course I should just escape, right?
Against that, another fragment of thought rose up as if Yeom Sang-hyeon's double were speaking.
Getting everyone back is what matters.
...Ah, for fuck's sake, why are you doing this to me.
I silently tore at my hair, but the massive thorn stuck in my chest showed no sign of disappearing.
...It was the other survivor that was weighing on me.
Even if I failed this escape, I could just start over...
But what if I succeeded and that student failed?
Then... that student would...
I wanted to scream from the frustration, but I couldn't. I dithered, then finally kicked the floor in irritation.
My footsteps turned not toward the classroom's back door a few steps ahead, but toward the maze that made my chest tighten just looking at it.
Even as I ran through the maze I kept asking myself if this was right, but the closer I got to death, the lighter my heart became.
My head started spinning fast again.
Something warm trickled down; when I wiped under my nose with the back of my hand, bright red blood came away.
Yeah, of course I couldn't accelerate my thinking this strangely fast for free.
I should just be grateful my body and mind hadn't swapped or something.
About eight students had been sacrificed so far. Eight left.
If any students had still been wandering the maze, it wouldn't have bothered taking the time to open its mouth that wide to eat them.
Which meant they were all hiding.
According to the "confinement" method, even students who weren't victims would enter lockers, so the instinct to hide in a big one might naturally occur to them.
And from what I'd seen, the "ghost" seemed to have some way of detecting students hiding inside lockers.
If it was just scent, it should have noticed me right in front of it before the ones farther away—but it hadn't.
Rather, staying in one place for too long seemed to get you found somehow. So—
The moment I forced that thought through the splitting headache, more blood poured out.
My eyelids were trembling against my will; I was clearly in bad shape.
But once I'd figured this much out, the next actions wouldn't need me to overwork my brain.
Do I really have to do this?
Even with regression, the moment of death fills your entire body with an indescribable, world-ending horror you never want to experience again.
I ran through the maze on legs shaking with tension and opened my mouth.
"The 'monster' can find you even if you hide in the lock—"
Ah, for real!
My voice wouldn't come out the way I wanted.
I knew I had to shout it!
I knew it clearly in my heart!
I was just too scared for any real volume to leave my mouth.
This was barely even a whisper!
I looked around, then just slammed my head straight into the locker right in front of me.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
A massive noise rang out. I knew the "ghost" would come straight for me, so every bang made me flinch, my heart leaping, cold sweat pouring down my back—but I didn't stop.
I started slamming my head even harder and louder.
As if answering me, the sound of multiple legs stamping down on lockers came racing closer from far away, terrifyingly fast.
Fuck!
Don't run! Don't run! You can do it! You can do it!
Even if I die once! I come back to life!
Even if I die once! I come back to life!
You can do it
You can do it
You can do it!
You can do it!
You can do it!
You can do it!
You can do it!
You can do it!
You can do it!
You can do it!
You can do it!
In that instant, the near-mad obsession I'd forced on myself made the terror vanish from my heart for a split second.
Right now!
My shout, the sound of the "ghost" closing in at terrifying speed, and the rough noise of lockers being flung open far away all mixed together and echoed through the classroom.
Yeom Sang-hyeon, if I get out of here alive, you owe me one solid smack to the back of the head.
You didn't even do anything wrong!
I know that!
This is just pure spite!
Fuck! Seriously, fuck!