Chapter 26
"Does it seem okay?"
I asked Jung-seok, feeling like a researcher conducting an experiment.
Jung-seok also nodded, observing Juhee in the elevator.
"It seems fine for now. What are you going to do, Young-won? Are you going to enter that elevator too? There's no guarantee that it's connected to the 4th-floor space where your mother is."
Jung-seok was right.
There was no guarantee that the 4th floor this elevator would take us to was the same place where my mom disappeared.
But I couldn't just do nothing, either.
"Seok. You said it yourself. Even if this perfume reduces the chance of being discovered by ghosts from 99% to 1%, as long as it's not exactly 0%, there's still a possibility."
"That's true, but..."
"There's no guarantee that the 4th floor this elevator talks about is where my mom disappeared, but the opposite is also true."
What are the chances that my mom disappeared into this elevator's space?
90%? 1%?
The important thing was that no matter what the percentage, I had to pin my hopes on that possibility.
I'm still not used to being called a fatherless kid, and if I lose my mom too, I'd be no different from a real orphan.
"I'm going, Seok. I won't force you to come."
Entering that elevator was like walking into a lion's den. Maybe even more dangerous and bizarre than that.
It could be life-threatening. That's why I didn't insist that Jung-seok come along.
"Hoo... Hoo... Hoo-up, hoo..."
Jung-seok took a few deep breaths. Then, he slapped his cheeks with both hands and said to me.
"Just say it honestly. Ask for help. If you ask for help, I'll help you. I promised. Actually, I'm personally curious too. I'm going too. In there."
"Shit, help me! I'm actually fucking scared!"
Seeing Jung-seok willing to risk danger, I was deeply moved and my true feelings burst out between my lips.
"I want to live too! Let's go together! Together!"
Honestly, I didn't want to enter that elevator. But, I had to save my mom.
If I had to go anyway… I wanted to go with friends rather than alone!
Even if it felt like a water ghost leading to death, it's better to have others with you than to go alone!
Pat-
Jung-seok and I entered the elevator. Juhee, who had been watching this farce from inside, said to us.
"Geez, you cowards. Why are you saying so much just to enter an elevator?"
...No.
In this case, isn't Juhee being too calm and fearless? Can a person be this brave?
Maybe Juhee would only get scared in something like the "Nightmare Corridor."
"There really are only 4th floors. For now, let's keep pressing the open button just in case."
Jung-seok said, looking around.
Except for the open and close buttons, all the floor numbers on the elevator were plastered with the number "4". There were about 100 switches.
It was bizarre that all the numbers from the 1st to 100th floor were written as 4.
"What could this be? What does it mean?"
Before pressing a button, I asked Juhee and Jung-seok for their opinions about the elevator plastered with 4s.
From my experience with supernatural incidents so far, even the tiniest thing could be a solution or a hint.
Juhee said,
"I don't know!"
Juhee doesn't seem to know.
They said Juhee was good at studying for a bully, but book smarts and this kind of thinking were different. Then, what about Jung-seok?
"Seok. Do you think there's any meaning to this?"
"In East Asian countries like Korea, they sometimes remove the number 4 from elevators. It's because the number 4 in Chinese characters reminds people of 'sa' (死), which means death."
"Oh."
"That's why they sometimes represent the 4th floor as F. This trend has decreased now, but it was common in the 90s and early 2000s."
Jung-seok was looking at his phone. He seemed to be reciting information he'd searched on his phone.
At least it meant that phones worked normally inside this elevator.
Swish-
Just then, someone entered the villa. It was the auntie living next door, who was the manager of Taegwang Villa. The auntie then got angry seeing the papers and tape scattered in front of the elevator.
"Oh my, what's all this?! Who left this trash! Don't ride the elevator? Where is there even an elevator to make this fuss! We should install CCTV or something! Geez, really!"
"......"
Jung-seok and I were bewildered by this situation. Only Juhee bravely voiced the current situation.
"Can't she see us? The elevator door is open. Auntie! Auntie!"
The manager auntie on the 4th floor acted as if she couldn't see the wide-open elevator on the 1st floor and us inside it even though Juhee shouted loudly.
Soon, Jung-seok muttered quietly.
"Maybe..."
Does he have an idea? Just as I wanted to ask what was going on, he started explaining.
"Anyway, what 4 means in elevators is the Chinese character 'sa' (死), meaning death. In this elevator, all floor numbers mean death. It's a complete death elevator."
A death elevator. We were now riding inside it.
Kids, let's just get off-
In less than 10 seconds, these words rose to my throat and went back down several times.
Swish-
Just then, Juhee moved her hand and pressed the 4th floor button. Jung-seok and I were both surprised by this bold and reckless action. Jung-seok even frowned and got angry.
"Hey! You can't act so recklessly! If you're that careless and rash, we could all really die!"
"Then what are we supposed to do? Just stay here pressing the open button forever? We can't know exactly what's there until we go to the 4th floor!"
Both Jung-seok's and Juhee's opinions were right. Juhee even continued to express her opinion.
"Young-won's mom got trapped in a weird elevator. Is there a rule that says it can't be our families or moms? What if the elevator keeps appearing to people around us and making them disappear?"
"That's... There's no guarantee it will... but there's also no guarantee it won't..."
"I can't stand to see my mom or dad disappear too."
Juhee was a friend who had personally experienced family breakdown due to her sister "Yang Do-hee's" disappearance. She seemed unable to bear the thought of a people-eating elevator targeting her family.
"Maybe my sister is on the 4th floor. I'm going. If you're scared, you guys get off now. I'm going to press the close button in 5 seconds from now. I'm counting to 5. 5-. 4-."
As Juhee started the death count towards 4 (死), Jung-seok and I looked at each other. We had a lot to say to each other, but Jung-seok was the first to move his hand.
Swish-
He pressed the close button with his outstretched hand.
"Damn it. Let's go. Go."
His voice was trembling.
After all, even if he was the mayor's son and smart enough to dream of becoming a prosecutor, he was still just a first-year high school student. We all were.
We were friends at that awkward age, not young enough to rely entirely on adults' protection, but not adults ourselves either.
Honestly, we were scared and frightened.
Even so, how much strength we drew from being together...!
***
Ding dong-
We arrived at the 4th floor.
"The door is opening."
Swish-
As the elevator doors opened, there was nothing but pitch-black darkness beyond.
Jung-seok asked.
"Young-won. What does the advice function say?"
I had been saving the advice function lately. I preserved it to use only in important moments.
"Advice."
『Advice from 《Broken Clock》. Where there is an entrance, there is also an exit.』
It was a simple advice, but the brightness of hope contained in the sentence was quite bright.
"It says where there's an entrance, there's an exit. It seems to mean that if we enter this place, we'll definitely be able to get out somewhere."
"Hey. Ha Young-won. Look at this."
Juhee pointed at the floor panel with her long finger. Below the number "4", the words "Capacity Exceeded" were visible.
It's exactly the same composition as the photo Mom took.
"The buttons don't work either, except for open and close."
Jung-seok's comment as he examined the elevator snapped me to attention. Now we have two choices left.
"We have two options. Either stay in this elevator. Or go outside."
"I'll go first."
Hoo-
Juhee took a small deep breath and stretched her foot into the darkness. Jung-seok and I carefully watched Juhee, and after confirming there was no problem, we slowly followed.
"The door is closing."
The elevator doors closed.
As the light emanating from that square box disappeared, the "4th floor" was completely engulfed in darkness.
This darkness that clings to the skin like sticky ink.
Just as I was thinking it felt somehow familiar, a dazzling light hit my face.
Jung-seok had taken out his phone.
"It's out of service area. Moreover, the phone screen is completely breaking. The time is weird too. I can't even operate it. How about your phones?"
Juhee and I also took out our phones. Like Jung-seok's, our phones were out of service area and the text was broken.
It felt like they were malfunctioning.
Uweeeeek-
Zzzzzzt-
Just then, a terrible noise came from our phones. It sounded like a deliberately broken radio screaming an unpleasant death rattle.
As everyone was startled,
Clatter, clack. Clatter. Clack-
Something like a presence was felt from beyond that dark corridor.
A person? Could it be Mom?
Jung-seok and Juhee said.
"Looks like something's coming from over there?"
"Could it be Young-won's mom? This sound, it sounds like high heels."
I was thinking about calling out loudly, but I felt an ominous premonition. My mom wasn't the type to wear high heels.
My mom was someone who preferred sneakers and flats.
─The phone is dead and keeps making scary noises, so I threw it away.
It was a moment when I remembered Sojin's story from the Nightmare Corridor.
This darkness, the presence felt from afar, wasn't unfamiliar to me.
"Hey. Let's look for lockers or boxes around. Hurry! We should get away from here first! We need to find a place to hide! There must be something! Like a box or locker! Throw away your phones!"
I pushed Jung-seok and Juhee's backs.
And incredibly, we found a trash can large enough for the three of us to fit in. It was a large-capacity trash can that might be placed on the corner of a main street.
As we scrambled inside, we could see talismans haphazardly stuck to the interior.
Just as I was thinking the terrible garbage smell would twist my nose-
Crunch, crunch, crunch-. Click. Click.
Something began to pass by outside the trash can we were hiding in, making sounds as if joints and bones were unnaturally bending and colliding.
"Wh...what is that…?"
"Shh. Jung-seok. Be quiet."
At this moment, I realized that this death floor was a place of nightmares mixed with reality.