Survivor Choi Ji-hyeon
The girl stretched her hand toward the sky, kicked off the desk beneath her feet at my shout, and launched herself into the air. In the same instant the "ghost" sprang up and slammed into the spot where she had just been standing.
I stretched my upper body as far as it would go, reaching out with everything I had.
And at last—
Tak!
I caught her hand.
The moment of relief lasted only a heartbeat. Then the weight of the girl hanging from one arm sent my body sliding across the top of the lockers, slipping steadily downward.
Thankfully the locker tops were sticky—if they had been slick, I would have tumbled straight down.
At a distance where the girl's toes and the "ghost's" hand nearly touched, the "ghost" let out a hideous laugh.
Before I could do anything more, the "ghost's" body suddenly lurched and dropped.
A bewildered expression crossed its face as collapsing chairs and desks swept it away, cascading downward in a rush.
Like a dam bursting, part of the stacked tower came crashing down with an enormous roar, snatching the monster, binding it, and dragging it back to the ground.
Kwagagagagagagagagagagagak—
After a sound so loud it left my ears ringing, the girl and I—still dangling precariously by our hands—began to slowly slide forward, as if the wreckage were announcing that we were next.
"Step on a chair!"
I spotted a chair in the tower that hadn't collapsed yet and swung my arm toward it.
Like a circus act, the girl used my arm as a pendulum, swinging across the short gap of empty air until her toes found the chair!
The tower, already destabilized by the "ghost's" impact, groaned and screamed.
Seizing what little breathing room I had, I stayed prone and scooted backward across the filthy locker tops, shoving my hand into the cracked gap I had used to climb up.
My hand—already shredded by the "ghost's" legs while saving the girl—found purchase on the rough edge of the gap, and pain thundered through my skull.
At the same time, the agony wrapping my entire body brought strength flooding back.
I poured every ounce of that returning strength into the arm still holding the girl and hauled with everything I had.
"Uwaaaaaaaaah!"
I roared a scream that could have shaken the classroom, and as I pulled, the girl appeared over the top of the lockers—haggard and filthy.
Once I had pulled her high enough that her head cleared the edge, she desperately reached out with her other hand, grabbed the lockers, and scrambled up onto the maze walls.
"We have to… move."
My voice was a weak, gasping rasp that made it sound like I couldn't move at all—but the girl seemed to agree, slowly pushing herself upright.
Confirming she was moving, I rolled my body forward, leaning my upper half out into empty air to look down.
The "ghost" was thrashing like an insect caught in a spiderweb—head, arms, and legs all pierced and tangled by chair legs and desks.
It looked like freeing itself would take quite a while.
I crawled on all fours across one locker bay, sat down firmly, planted both hands on the surface, and set my heels against the side of the locker I had just crossed.
Adjusting my stance while watching the spider thrashing on the ground below, I looked at the girl staring blankly at me and jerked my chin toward the spot beside me.
"Want to do this together?"
"Of course."
She seemed to understand immediately what I was planning. She took a firm position next to me and planted her feet the same way against the side of the locker.
Together we squeezed the last of our strength into our legs, and the massive locker slowly began to tip.
Even as we pushed with everything we had, the locker toppled with the sluggishness of a caterpillar—until it reached a precarious balance on its lower edge, standing almost upright.
As if pouring all her accumulated struggle into one motion, the girl's legs drew back and then shot out, slamming into the side of the locker.
Then the locker left our legs behind and began falling under its own weight toward the "ghost."
The "ghost" stared blankly at the massive locker toppling toward it, as if it had forgotten how to move—and only at the last moment seemed to come to its senses, belatedly letting out a death cry.
"Kii—"
Kwang!
The unfinished scream was buried under the crash of the collapsing locker.
Only then did I fall backward onto my back and look at the girl.
She reached out a trembling hand.
With a puzzled expression I reached back—and she slapped my hand in a high-five.
Argh, fuck! That's my injured hand!
As I groaned in pain, she greeted me with unfocused eyes.
"I'm Choi Ji-hyeon."
"Lee Han-seong."
After that brief introduction we stood up, and my creaking body screamed in protest.
Ji-hyeon sat for a moment watching the locker twitch, then spoke.
"Think it's dead?"
I answered, doing my best to ignore the pain.
"No. It'll be after us again soon enough."
As if agreeing with my answer, the locker covering the "ghost" began thrashing violently.
I held out my hand, and Ji-hyeon took it, using the leverage to stand.
Without anyone needing to say a word, we headed for the front door of the classroom.
Given a brief moment to think, I tested my hands as we walked—clenching and unclenching the trembling, overworked fingers.
The palms were raw and peeled; the skin on the backs of my hands was torn and swollen.
And that would have been fine if it were only my hands. My entire body, from sprinting at full power and twisting violently mid-stride, felt like it had been through a meat grinder.
I carefully replayed the movements in my head—the bodywork I had used to dodge the student who had appeared out of nowhere, the scrambling climb to escape the ghost.
Thinking about those strange movements, it seemed the actions from 666 Village had remained in my body unconsciously.
But back then, constantly increasing stamina and strength had covered every action. In my current physical state…
Looking down, my trembling hands showed no sign of recovery, and every joint in my body screamed with creaking protest.
Telling myself it would be fine again once I died or escaped, I pushed on with Ji-hyeon. Traveling along the tops instead of wandering the maze, we reached the front of the classroom in no time.
I lowered Choi Ji-hyeon down first, then carefully climbed down from the lockers myself and landed.
"Wait!"
Ji-hyeon, who had gone down first and was reaching for the classroom's front door, flinched at my shout and looked around.
"W-what… what is it…"
It's nothing major, but…
"You know our escape method is all tangled up, right?"
"Huh?"
"Looking at the diary—what escape method do you think our current situation is?"
Ji-hyeon furrowed her brow, thinking for a moment, then answered.
"…Necromancy?"
"…According to the diary, there was originally only one Survivor in this classroom."
As I swung my backpack around to the front and rummaged through it, Choi Ji-hyeon stared blankly, not understanding—then something seemed to click. Her face went pale and she hastily stumbled backward.
Why is she… ah.
"…No, I'm not saying I'm not a Survivor. Doesn't it look like the survival methods got mixed because there are two Survivors now?"
Relieved by that, Choi Ji-hyeon approached me again.
"Ah. So then… Confinement and Necromancy…?"
"Right. That's why it looks like this weird form that isn't even in the diary has appeared. So why do you think I told you to stop?"
"…B-because there can only be one Survivor…"
Just how far was her imagination running? Displaying endless creativity, Choi Ji-hyeon skittered backward again.
"…No, I was just worried the remaining one might have mixed in too."
"Ah…"
Looking sheepish, Choi Ji-hyeon came back toward me.
"So the remaining one is… Loner?"
I nodded and pulled my hand out of the bag.
In the hand that emerged was a small mirror.
"What's the most important thing to watch out for in 'Loner'?"
"…The keyhole."
As if confirming the correct answer, I held the mirror up to the keyhole.
For a moment nothing seemed to happen.
Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiik—
Then a high-pitched scream rang out, and vibrations that started in the hallway shook the classroom.
Something thudding and crashing as it fled could be heard for several minutes.
Yes!
The idea that if merely looking could have an effect, then seeing itself might also have an effect—that theory had worked.
Even after the retreating sounds faded, I waited carefully without opening the door. Then I carefully pushed the classroom door.
Fortunately it wasn't locked and opened smoothly.
I briefly held the mirror out into the dark hallway, checking both sides.
Fortunately, nothing threatening appeared in the gloomy corridor reflected in the mirror.
"…"
"…"
A brief silence fell as we looked at the dark hallway.
"…Ladies first?"
"…What?"
I quickly mumbled that it was nothing and stepped forward.
And so Choi Ji-hyeon and I left the classroom with its flickering pale fluorescent light and stepped into the darkness-filled hallway.