Following the bloody handprints, Shin Hae-ryang and Seo Ji-hyuk saw a woman sitting next to the washing machine in the corner of the laundry room. Various bloodstained clothes were scattered around her thighs. The smell of blood on the floor made my head ache. Shin Hae-ryang didn't say anything when he saw our faces as we entered the room, but Seo Ji-hyuk frowned.
"Why did you come in here instead of waiting outside?"
Before I could answer, Yoo Geum shouted back.
"The hallway is scarier!"
Seo Ji-hyuk's mouth dropped open, and he began to grumble.
"Ah, you've only been waiting for less than two minutes, and both of you are so scared for no reason."
Was it only two minutes? To me, it felt like twenty minutes. As I approached the woman, Shin Hae-ryang looked up at me.
"It seems she died from excessive bleeding. She's Victoria from Engineering Team A."
Engineering Team A was a team of people from Canada, I think. This woman must have injured her leg and tried to stop the bleeding by wrapping it with clothes and pressing it with her hands, but it wasn't enough. She was already not breathing, her heart wasn't beating, and as I clenched my teeth, I pronounced her dead for the second time today. Shin Hae-ryang took a photo and covered her head with a large towel from the laundry room.
Yoo Geum sighed in relief when the woman's face was covered. She tried not to look in that direction again and asked Seo Ji-hyuk with a worried look.
"Her thigh was injured. Could she have died from that?"
"If the femoral artery is severed, even Hua Tuo couldn't save her after 15 minutes."
Looking around, there was nothing that could be used as a weapon. The laundry room only had clothes and towels left by someone who had run the washing machine but didn't take them, and hoodies that were only half unbuttoned. She must have walked down the hallway, entered the laundry room, and tried to stop the bleeding but died here. Yoo Geum pondered Seo Ji-hyuk's words and frowned.
"So, she was attacked and died within 15 minutes of reaching the laundry room?"
Seo Ji-hyuk scratched the back of his head. There was no place to hide in the laundry room. In silent agreement, Yoo Geum started staring at the door she had entered, as if expecting someone to run in. I moved away from the body and approached Seo Ji-hyuk.
"Do you know her?"
Seo Ji-hyuk frowned at my question.
"There are at most 100 engineers here. After three months, you know everyone's face and name. This woman... wasn't she a friend of someone in our team?"
"She was close friends with Kang Soo-jung from our team."
Shin Hae-ryang, who was supplementing Seo Ji-hyuk's poor memory, stood up and handed me a hoodie and a pair of training pants from the table.
"Change into these."
"But... they're someone else's clothes."
Shin Hae-ryang shook his head.
"You've lost too much body heat."
He then naturally took the two backpacks off my back and left the laundry room. Yoo Geum followed, and Seo Ji-hyuk quickly followed, urging us to hurry. After all, Shin Hae-ryang, Seo Ji-hyuk, and Baek Ae-young were all wearing full-body suits that wouldn't be affected by water.
I unbuttoned my wet shirt, but halfway through, I just ripped off the buttons and took it off. I took off my wet jeans and socks, and only then did I realize how wet I was. The relief of not wearing wet clothes was immense, but I was also shivering. I turned my head to look for a dry towel, but I got goosebumps.
Because when I turned my head, I felt an overwhelming presence. The thought of being in the same room with a body covered in a towel and sitting in a pool of blood made me want to run out immediately. No matter how much I tried to ignore it, my gaze kept drifting towards the area of the body's face. Even though the face was covered, it felt like my eyes were searching for the dead person's face.
There were only two of us in the room: me and the body. I was grateful that Shin Hae-ryang had covered the face, or I would have screamed and run out, unable to bear the chills. Do dead people usually have such a strong presence? I held back the curses that were about to come out of my mouth and took a towel from the dryer to dry myself off.
I put on a light blue hoodie and black training pants. I gave up on my wet underwear and socks. I was barefoot in wet shoes, but wearing dry clothes made me feel much better. I don't know whose clothes these are, but I'll wear them gratefully. If I meet the owner, I'll compensate them, so please let me borrow them this time.
As soon as I put on the clothes, I felt goosebumps again. I had the feeling that someone was about to grab the back of my head, so I ran out of the laundry room. Outside, Seo Ji-hyuk, Shin Hae-ryang, and Yoo Geum were waiting for me. They seemed surprised by my almost rolling out of the laundry room. Yoo Geum jumped, and Seo Ji-hyuk rubbed his chest, looking surprised.
"Did the body get up?"
"No, no, nothing happened."
"Let's go."
After a few seconds, Shin Hae-ryang, who had been staring at me, started walking without a word. Yoo Geum's comment that the bright color made me look younger and cleaner made me feel strange. That striped shirt was my favorite. We walked towards the escape pod port, careful not to step on the bloodstains on the floor.
I could see the door to the escape pod port in the distance. I focused on the door, which was getting closer, to avoid thinking about the bloodstained body I had seen earlier. Now I noticed that the doors to the laundry room, bathroom, and dormitory were all different.
It seemed that sliding doors were used where complete sealing was needed. Seo Ji-hyuk, who seemed to read my thoughts, said that these were not sliding doors but opened sideways like airplane doors. He added that the doors that opened automatically were too heavy to be opened by hand to withstand high pressure.
I had been here for five days and used the doors without much thought, whether they opened sideways, upwards, downwards, or by turning a handle. I had never considered why. Now, I realized I had been using the facilities without much thought.
When I shared my curiosity about the doors with Yoo Geum, she said that the research center in the main complex also had slightly different doors. Some doors in the laboratories were transparent, and some were over 7 cm thick. Seo Ji-hyuk grumbled about how often the doors here broke, which reminded me of Kim Ga-young's dormitory door.
Maybe in places where privacy isn't needed, it would be safer to remove the doors. When we were a few meters from the escape pod port, Shin Hae-ryang interrupted Seo Ji-hyuk's chatter.
"As you saw in the laundry room, the escape pod port area could also be dangerous. This time, Seo Ji-hyuk and I will go in first. When we signal, come in."
"What kind of signal?"
Yoo Geum, with sparkling eyes, asked. Shin Hae-ryang, looking a bit flustered, replied.
"I'll just call you in normally."
"Ah, not like knocking on a closed door or something?"
Seo Ji-hyuk chuckled at Yoo Geum's question.
"Two knocks mean don't come in, three knocks mean come in, something like that?"
"Okay, I like that."
It was the first time I had seen Seo Ji-hyuk laugh since we found the body in the laundry room. Does he talk a lot when he's nervous? I realized then that Yoo Geum had changed the mood of the dark and gloomy group with just a few words. It was a skill I didn't have. Plus, it made me feel a bit excited, like I was a supporting actor in an action movie. I smiled and said.
"Great. I'll come in when you knock three times."
"If there's no signal or sound, or if you hear two knocks, run and join Baek Ae-young. Explain the situation and tell her we're giving up on the Blue Dragon District escape pod. She'll understand."
Shin Hae-ryang's words instantly made the atmosphere heavy. It was a skill. I saw how one word from a gruff man could change the mood of the group, which had just brightened up. It was another skill I didn't have. I can't handle the heaviness well.
"Instead, if we can escape immediately, bang on the door and play a song."
"......Okay."
I thought he would refuse, but Shin Hae-ryang surprisingly agreed and handed me my two backpacks. I put them on, now used to the weight. Seo Ji-hyuk gave Yoo Geum the heavy food bag that belonged to Baek Ae-young. After checking their pads, Shin Hae-ryang and Seo Ji-hyuk walked towards the escape pod port.
Yoo Geum and I watched them press the button and enter the escape pod port from a distance. The door closed soon after they entered.