The moment Kim Gayoung opened the laboratory door, the red light that had been shining through her eyelids disappeared. In the pitch-black darkness, she had to rely solely on the hand of Lee Ji-hyun, who was walking ahead, as she couldn't see anything. After a while, she could barely make out Lee Ji-hyun's silhouette. The person behind me, Yoo Geum, must be feeling the same way.
It was almost pitch black. There were no emergency lights. If they cut the power like this, wouldn't all the marine creatures die? Is there an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) here? If there was, the lights would have come on, right? ...I don't know.
As I thought about the recent past, I began to regret my stupidity. ...I should have grabbed the rope. If I had, we could have tied our waists or arms together and walked, and we could have used our hands freely. I remembered how Shin Hae-ryang had used the parachute cord so efficiently in my dream. I should have learned from others' good actions, but I haven't changed at all. Sure, others might be like that, but I've already been in a similar situation before. How progressive and wise of me. Damn.
Thanks to Kim Gayoung standing as close as possible to the laboratory door and having thought about how to move before the lights went out, we were able to leave the laboratory without any obstacles. We walked down the corridor in a line, relying on each other's hands, trying to minimize our footsteps.
As we walked, I flinched at the slightest sound we inevitably made, and I looked around nervously. Lee Ji-hyun's palm was damp with tension. I must be just as scared, right? I squeezed Yoo Geum's hand a little harder, then relaxed my grip a bit so as not to hurt her. I was scared if I held on too tightly, and I was scared if I let go.
What if I accidentally let go of this hand and get separated from the people ahead?
Is the hand I'm holding really Yoo Geum's?
Is the hand pulling me from the front really Lee Ji-hyun's?
A chill ran down my spine, as if someone had grabbed the back of my head. What if the person I'm pulling isn't the one I think it is? What if the person in front of me, Lee Ji-hyun, or the person holding my hand, Yoo Geum, or the person leading the way, Kim Gayoung, has been replaced by a killer? Are we really going the right way? These baseless, terrifying thoughts kept popping into my head.
However, I tried to calm my fears by occasionally catching glimpses of Lee Ji-hyun's silhouette in the darkness and hearing Yoo Geum's faint breathing behind me. Rather than screaming and running off into the darkness alone, I bit my lip and swallowed the saliva that had gathered in my mouth from tension.
Suddenly, a loud bang came from the corridor we had just walked through. What was that sound? The person in front of me pulled me to a stop. From a distance, the sound of slippers being dragged could be heard. Ignoring the sound behind me, I continued walking, and it seemed that Kim Gayoung had found the stairs leading from the second to the third floor.
Lee Ji-hyun's hand scratched the back of my hand twice. I was startled by the action, but when Lee Ji-hyun's arm suddenly rose, I realized we were approaching the stairs. I scratched the back of Yoo Geum's hand twice with my fingernails and took two steps up the stairs, giving her a few seconds to understand the situation. We climbed the stairs as quietly as possible.
As we turned the landing and climbed to the third floor, another loud bang and the sound of slippers being dragged echoed from the far end of the corridor. Yoo Geum's hand gripped mine tightly. Wow, thinking about it, this person is also scared, and they are walking at the very back in this situation. I swallowed all the words I wanted to say, such as "hang in there" or "let's switch places," and focused on my steps.
As we stepped off the stairs and onto the third floor, taking three more steps, Lee Ji-hyun stumbled. I quickly grabbed her arm with one hand to prevent her from falling. We were so close that our shoulders were touching, and I could see Lee Ji-hyun extending her arm into the darkness, fumbling for something. Had she lost Kim Gayoung? Seeing Lee Ji-hyun's arm and hand swinging freely, I was convinced she had lost Kim Gayoung.
I linked arms with Yoo Geum and used our free hands to search for Kim Gayoung in the air and on the ground. Lee Ji-hyun's hand and mine simultaneously found and grabbed someone's hand on the ground. The hand was very cold and stiff, with a ring on the fourth finger, and it was about the same size as mine. Lee Ji-hyun was startled and shook off the hand, and a few seconds later, I understood and let go of it as if shaking it off. To suppress a scream, I took deep, forced breaths. My heart began to pound in my ears.
A man was lying on the ground. From his condition, he seemed to be a corpse, likely one of the dead researchers we had found in the corridors of the third and fourth floors. Kim Gayoung must have stumbled over the dead man and fallen as she entered the third-floor corridor. Lee Ji-hyun and I had been searching for Kim Gayoung in the darkness and ended up grabbing the man's hand. Yoo Geum, still linked with me, tried to sit down. When Yoo Geum sat, I was forced to sit as well, with my arm still linked. It seemed that among the two of us, only Yoo Geum, who hadn't experienced this, wasn't trembling like a leaf.
How much it helps to have someone calm and composed by your side in such a situation. Feeling Yoo Geum's arm linked with mine tapping my arm twice, I found Lee Ji-hyun's arm and linked it. The three of us, linked arm in arm, sat on the ground for a few seconds, taking deep breaths.
As Lee Ji-hyun's heavy breathing began to subside, Yoo Geum released the linked arm. Then, he grabbed my hand and swept his arm downward, as if brushing the floor. When I grabbed Lee Ji-hyun's hand and mimicked Yoo Geum's action, we were able to walk forward, sweeping the floor with our hands like a broom.
After taking only a few steps, we found Kim Gayoung. She was sitting on the ground, waving her hand in the air, and my fingers brushed against hers. Soon, Kim Gayoung grabbed my hand. When the four of us were holding hands again, I let out a deep sigh of relief. Someone softly sniffled, and the sound of labored breathing could be heard.
I helped Kim Gayoung up, and then Lee Ji-hyun and Yoo Geum followed. Despite her pained groans, Kim Gayoung's limping steps became more stable and faster than on the stairs. Ah, this person must have walked this route from the main dormitory to the third-floor deep-sea biology center and then to the third-floor deep-sea pollution center hundreds of times. She must know it so well that she could walk it with her eyes closed.
"Aah!"
A scream and a loud bang came from behind. I couldn't see anything when I turned around. Lee Ji-hyun, who had let go of my hand, shouted.
"Run!"
Lee Ji-hyun, who had somehow managed to get a flashlight, turned it on and shone it down the corridor. A man was holding a chair above his head in the corridor. That crazy bastard was throwing a metal chair while coming towards us!
While some people throw chairs in the darkness, thinking that hitting someone would be advantageous, there are also those who are willing to risk their lives to save others.
The man illuminated by Lee Ji-hyun's flashlight appeared as a giant monster due to the shadows created by the darkness and light, his tall stature, and the height of the chair. The moment I saw him, an instinctive fear of fleeing the scene overwhelmed me. ...And the certainty that if I fled immediately, I might be able to survive alone also flooded my mind.
I was the least injured among our group, so I could escape the fastest. Although I lacked exercise, I was the tallest, and I was the strongest among these three women. The overwhelming fear that surged like a tidal wave kept sending me the message to run and survive.
Kim Gayoung? She was barely able to walk. Lee Ji-hyun had also used up her energy in the water at the main dormitory, so she wasn't much different from Kim Gayoung. Yoo Geum seemed to have been hit directly by one of the metal chairs thrown by the attacker. Although Lee Ji-hyun had told us to run, no one except me could run properly. Walking was all they could manage.
...Could I escape safely on my own? Would my chances of survival be significantly higher if I left them behind? Could I be free from the guilt of abandoning them? If Yoo Geum hadn't taken the chair for me, it would have hit me or the backpack on my back. I acted in the exact opposite way of what I had thought. Clenching my teeth, I charged at the attacker.
Lee Ji-hyun did the same. Being the closest to the attacker, she had to block the chair with her arms as soon as she charged