B1 - Prison (2)

In the early hours of the morning, while everyone else slept,
deep in the dead of night,
only one person remained wide awake. The man’s words had stuck with her.

“…Kim Yohan.”

Han Gyeong-ah murmured the name and looked around.
The hotel room was spacious.
Clean and luxurious.
No matter how many times she saw it, she still couldn’t get used to the place. This was the Private Room assigned to her in the hotel on Floor 1.
A nameplate reading ‘Han Gyeong-ah’ was attached to the room.
The other rooms were the same.
The hotel contained one Private Room for each person.
The amenities were equally lavish.
The bed and pillows were top quality, the towels were soft and fluffy, and all kinds of stylish furniture filled the room.
She had never actually stayed in a five-star hotel, but she imagined this was what one would feel like.

“Haah…”

Han Gyeong-ah opened her notebook.
It was the police notebook she’d received when she was first assigned to the station.
The events of the past were recorded vividly inside. The section that stood out most was the one labeled ‘Kim Yohan.’
Page after page was packed with detailed notes documenting just how vile and malicious one human being could be.

“He’s absolutely unforgivable…”

Reading through the notes again, she reminded herself of exactly what kind of person Kim Yohan was. In a corner of the page, Han Gyeong-ah scribbled a small note.

-Split personality?

“No, that’s probably not it…”

She shook her head and crossed it out several times. The fact that such a thought had even occurred to her showed just how confused she was.
Today’s Kim Yohan was completely different from yesterday’s.
His behavior and attitude had changed, but more than anything, his eyes were different.

‘It’s like he’s a different person.’

Yesterday, his eyes had been filled with intense hatred and a desire for revenge.
Hostility had poured from him, as though he would never forgive them.
Because of that, she’d been slightly nervous when she went to see him this morning.
She’d even brought her handgun just in case… yet the man she met today had been completely different.
Instead of raging and hurling curses, he’d been calm and composed.
There had even been a strange sense of happiness in his eyes.
As though he’d finally reunited with someone he’d desperately wanted to see.

“But why?”

Even for a change of heart, it was far too dramatic. She considered whether he might be acting, but there was no reason for him to.
What would changing his entire attitude overnight accomplish? If he wanted leniency, she certainly wasn’t going to give it to him.
Kim Yohan was imprisoned in the gloomy, damp basement.
He was shut inside a cramped solitary cell with both arms restrained.
She was monitoring him just in case, but that was merely a precaution.
In his current state, there was nothing he could do on his own.
Which only made it stranger. And then there was what he’d said earlier as a warning…

-Something big is going to happen on Floor 1 soon.

“What the hell does that mean…?!”

Han Gyeong-ah clutched her head and slumped onto the sofa.
He claimed he’d had a nightmare…
His evidence was flimsy.
His credibility was zero.
And yet, she couldn’t simply dismiss it as nonsense… because the last thing he’d added kept echoing in her ears.

-It’d be a pain in the ass for me if something happened to you.

What had he meant?
Had he discovered some special clue while trapped underground?

‘No… Even if he did find a clue, there’s no way he’d willingly tell me.’

Han Gyeong-ah was the person who had ruined his plans and locked him underground.
He had every reason to hate her. Why would he ever offer her useful information?
It was far more likely that he was trying to lure her into a trap.
But something still felt off.
All he’d said was that something big would happen on Floor 1 soon…

She could believe it.
Or she could ignore it.

That was all the warning amounted to.
If he wanted to deceive her, there were far better lies he could have invented.

“What are you thinking…?”

Han Gyeong-ah let out a deep sigh and closed her notebook. No matter how much she thought about it, she got nowhere.
Unable to reach a conclusion, she tried to set the matter aside.
Who had abducted them? What purpose could they possibly have for doing this…?
Her mind was already tangled enough with frustration, and now she had Kim Yohan to worry about too.
Thought piled upon thought until it felt like her brain was about to burn out.
She wanted to relax, but she couldn’t. Stretching languidly, she checked the time.

[04:01]

It was four in the morning.
Her thoughts were too unsettled for sleep to come. Han Gyeong-ah turned toward the door.

“It should be okay if I just… take a quick look around, right?”

She hadn’t been able to investigate Floor 1 herself because she’d spent her time underground dealing with the vicious man named Kim Yohan.
The others had shared what they’d found, but hearing about something and seeing it with your own eyes were completely different.
There might be a clue they’d overlooked.
That possibility kept nagging at her.
She agonized over it for a long time, then made the decision quickly.
Planning to take only a brief look, she prepared to go outside.

“Just ten minutes.”

She grabbed her notebook, flashlight, and handgun for self-defense, then opened the door.

Creak-
She cautiously poked her head through the half-open doorway.
Every light in the hotel corridor was off, leaving it pitch-dark. All of Floor 1 had gone dark for the night.

“This is kind of creepy…”

Step by step, she left her room. Darkness blanketed her vision so completely that she couldn’t see even a foot ahead.

Click-
She switched on the flashlight, illuminating the area around her. Relying on that small beam of light, she walked down the corridor.

Step, step.
Her footsteps echoed through the silence. It was eerie at first, but she gradually got used to it as she walked.
She went through the corridors one by one, investigating Floor 1.
She compared the hotel floor plan drawn in her notebook with the actual layout and searched for hidden clues.

“Nothing here either…”

She crossed off the areas she’d already searched with red X’s. Before long, her notebook was covered in them.
Unfortunately, every location turned up empty. The repeated failures only made her more stubborn, and she continued searching relentlessly.

[04:44]

“It’s already this late?”

Han Gyeong-ah checked her wristwatch in surprise. She had already gone well past the ten minutes she’d planned.
She’d thought maybe twenty minutes had passed at most…
Had that just been wishful thinking?
She’d spent over forty minutes searching without finding a single clue. Still, she couldn’t afford to let her guard down until the very end.

“I’ll check over there, then go back.”

She moved toward the final section of the eastern corridor. Once she checked that area, she’d be done with this entire section.
She could search somewhere else tomorrow. As she continued down the corridor, she spotted a door standing wide open.

“Hm?”

Had someone opened it and forgotten to close it?
A room at the end of the corridor had been left completely open.

“Whose room was that again…?”

She opened her notebook and checked the location. The room marked on her map was…

[Private Room - Kim Yohan]

Right. She remembered now. It was Kim Yohan’s Private Room. Its owner was currently imprisoned, so it should have been empty.

“That’s strange. I’m sure that room was locked…”

Something felt wrong.

“Is someone in there?”

An icy silence answered her.
Only the wide-open door swayed slowly back and forth.
A chill ran through her.
She had a feeling she shouldn’t carelessly approach it…
But she couldn’t simply ignore it.

“If someone’s there, answer me!”

Han Gyeong-ah slowly crept toward Kim Yohan’s Private Room.
Just in case, she drew her handgun and held it in her left hand. Just as she began approaching one careful step at a time,

“Ah!”

Creak-
The wide-open door slowly began to close.
Its hinges gave an eerie squeal. Through the narrowing gap, she could see someone’s right arm.

“Y-you! Who are you?!”

She shouted in surprise, but there was no answer. An unidentified person was hiding inside the room.
Only their right arm remained extended outside, apparently trying to pull the door shut.

Click-!
Deciding this wasn’t someone she could reason with, she immediately raised her handgun.

“Don’t move! If you move even an inch, I’ll shoot!”

The threat worked perfectly. The right arm resting on the doorknob went rigid.

“State your name!”
“…”

Still no response. Perhaps they were deliberately avoiding answering.

“If you refuse to identify yourself, I’ll have to consider you a threat!”

Han Gyeong-ah was already half convinced.
That person was one of the terrorists who had abducted and imprisoned them.
They’d tried to sneak out under cover of darkness and gotten caught.
She’d stumbled upon them purely by chance.
If she let this chance slip away, she might never catch them again.
She placed her finger on the trigger and strode forward.
She was prepared to shoot at the slightest suspicious movement.

“Surrender peacefully!”

Keeping her handgun trained ahead, she quickly grabbed the right arm to restrain the person before they could resist.
But it felt strangely cold and light for a human arm. Just as confusion crossed her mind, the room door creaked open.

“…”

There was no one inside.
The gun she’d been aiming so determinedly at a kidnapper pointed only at empty space.

‘Then what exactly is this right arm…?’

A horrifying premonition came over her as she slowly turned her head. Something soft and yielding rested in her grip.

…A severed right arm was hanging limply from the doorknob.

“KYAAAAAA!!”

She screamed and flung the arm away. It hit the floor with a thud and rolled across it.
It wasn’t some realistic anatomical model or mannequin part.
It was a real human arm.
Blood trickled from the severed end at the shoulder, soaking the floor in vivid red.

“U-ugh…”

The impossible sight wiped her mind completely blank.
It felt like being trapped in a horrific nightmare, unable to wake or move.
Her heart pounded wildly.
The uncontrollable pounding tightened painfully around her chest.
She had no idea what was happening, but one thing was clear.

“Run… I have to run!”

Once that thought struck her, she acted immediately. Staggering, she hurried away.
She ran blindly without even knowing where she was going.

“Huff, huff…!”

As she ran in a panic, her foot caught on the corridor carpet and sent her tumbling.

“Kyaa!!”

In the middle of such a horrifying situation, she toppled over in a ridiculous pose straight out of a third-rate gag comic.

“Ow…”

She crashed noisily onto the floor with a groan. Yet she was so terrified she couldn’t even feel the pain.
Embarrassment was the furthest thing from her mind. Overwhelmed by fear, she scrambled back up to run again.
Then another problem arose.

Click-
Click, click-

“W-wait?!”

The flashlight had stopped working.
No matter how many times she pressed the switch, the lens refused to light up.
Only a faint glow flickered.
Even that soon sputtered out with a crackle.

“No way…”

Clutching her pounding chest, she desperately looked around.

“…”

The hotel had gone completely dark, buried in the absolute blackness of the predawn hours.

“…”

She couldn’t see a single thing.

Nothing.

Lost and isolated alone in the darkness, chilling terror seeped into her and filled her chest.
A primal fear overwhelmed her. She was so frightened she felt as though she might burst into tears at any moment.

“Is anyone there? Please answer me if you are…”

She called for help in a trembling voice. Fear and panic made it difficult to even speak.
The darkness surrounding her and the dreadful silence seemed ready to swallow her whole.

“Anyone… please…”

She sank to the floor, sniffling as tears welled in her eyes.
Suddenly, a faint light shimmered at the edge of her vision. She couldn’t even see the floor, yet that light stood out clearly.

‘A light…?’

It seemed almost as though it were beckoning her closer. Her body reacted before her mind could process the miraculous sight.
She reached out instinctively. Something hidden in the darkness activated with a click.

“Kyaa! W-what is that…?!”

She panicked, wondering if she’d touched something dangerous. But a moment later, ‘it’ revealed itself.

Ding-!
A bright, cheerful melody shattered the predawn silence.
A massive shape emerged from the darkness, accompanied by a brilliant wash of light.

There was no need to wonder what it was.

…It was the elevator.