Chapter 36

Breathing heavily, I sprinted at full speed through the dimly-lit corridor.

In this pitch-black hallway, not even an inch ahead was visible.

The flashlight in my hand, shaking in sync with my running, seemed to mirror my anxious heart.

My companions had all been caught by something and burned to death.

What the heck is that? A ghost? An object?

Kwang-dang.

Was it because the corridor was too dark?

Or was there some other reason?

I tripped over something protruding from the floor and tumbled forward.

“Huuuuh, huuuuh.”

I couldn’t catch my breath properly.

The flashlight I held had already vanished somewhere.

I desperately searched for the dropped flashlight, but it was nowhere to be found.

Had it broken from the fall?

Finding it in this darkness-filled corridor seemed impossible.

With knees trembling from tension and fear, I clutched them tightly and rose to move forward again.

No windows, no flashlight.

This dark corridor without any light source had a pitted and uneven floor.

Cold sweat wouldn’t stop pouring down my back.

Drenched in sweat, I slowly moved forward.

Holding onto the wall, dragging my feet so as not to fall, I continued moving forward.

The corridor didn’t feel this endless before!

Why is it so far?

I can’t see the end of the corridor.

Huff huff, my breathing is labored.

I’m dizzy.

‘!’

Chap-chap.

The sound of barefoot steps echoed rhythmically in the silent corridor.

Barefoot in such a building?

I stopped abruptly, holding my breath, and just stared in the direction the sound came from.

A flickering light, ghost-like, appeared.

Something… Something’s coming closer!

“Huff huff.”

I tried covering my mouth with both hands to suppress the loud breathing sounds, but they wouldn’t quiet down.

Chap-chap.

The footsteps grew closer and closer.

What should I do?

The end of the corridor glowed ominously, like sulfur fire leading to hell.

Should I run now?

Go back to where my companion burned to death?

Or hide somewhere?

Even though I kept breathing, my breath wouldn’t settle.

Even understanding what hyperventilation is, I couldn’t breathe properly.

I heard ringing in my ears.

Sweat streamed so much I couldn’t open my eyes properly.

Breath… Breath is too short.

Huff. Huff. Huff.

***

Passing by a female ghost scratching the wall with sniffles, I encountered an incredibly long corridor.

It was a messy corridor with many sunken parts and random furniture like chairs and desks scattered around.

Without windows, the corridor was dark like a black box, and the obstacles made it inconvenient to navigate.

If you don’t have eyes that emit light like mine, a flashlight is essential!

About halfway through the corridor, a pale man lay collapsed.

He was panting heavily, but upon seeing my face when I entered the corridor, he fainted immediately.

On closer inspection, the supposedly unconscious man wasn’t breathing, and his heart wasn’t beating.

What is this, did seeing me give him a heart attack or something?

I jumped right over him.

Plop, I stomped on his chest with a jump.

Plop plop plop.

After repeating this a few times, he began coughing and started breathing again.

Since it would’ve felt bad if he died right there, I considered it basic first aid.

Though he should’ve regained consciousness by now, he remained knocked out, probably exhausted.

Leaving the man who had fallen into a deep sleep behind, I continued my journey deeper into the corridor.

***

Blood-stained writing was slowly appearing on the wall.

“It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. Send me home. Send me home. Send me home.”

“If it weren’t for the absence of a ghost, this could’ve created a pretty creepy atmosphere.”

The handwriting looked carefully done, exuding ghostly vibes.

Except that it was written by a small boy.

Thinking about it, isn’t it scarier when ghosts are visible?

Now looking at this boy, his eye sockets were hollowed out, and blood dripped from him.

Why isn’t it scary? As I pondered this, I realized something.

“Ghost!” I thought casually, but subconsciously understood:

They’re objects too.

This boy, the crying woman at the entrance—they were all objects.

From the perspective of someone turned into an object, it’s hard to feel fear toward other objects.

As if noticing I was staring, the boy disappeared beyond the wall.

The eerie writing on the wall vanished with him.

From my standpoint, this abandoned building was essentially a haunted house.

Next time, I hope they prepare attractions for people who can see ghosts.

Tad-dak.

In the eerily silent building, the sound of something running echoed.

Following the sound, a small girl was rolling around in an empty room.

Upon spotting me, the ghost girl panicked and fled beyond the wall.

This abandoned building provided quite an interesting attraction, but the lack of effort to conceal their identities was a problem.

As I continued walking, I noticed an uncle sneaking up.

Approaching closely, muttering incomprehensible words, the uncle slipped away once I turned around.

The reason for the mumbling was that his tongue was tied with a scarf.

Why is he wearing such a scarf?

Continuing further, I reached what seemed like the main attraction.

The smell of fresh burning lingered in the air.

Stairs leading underground, rejecting all light.

Completely charred lumps, unrecognizable in form.

The atmosphere was decent.

Heart pounding with anticipation, I descended the stairs step by step.

As I turned the corner of the stairs, a burned uncle suddenly popped out.

The uncle, spewing flames all over his body, extended his hand as if to strangle my neck.

But then…

Our eyes met, and he slowly lowered his hand.

Though his expression was hidden, he radiated an awkward vibe before disappearing beyond the wall.

At the sound of movement, I turned to see numerous burned uncles jumping out from the top of the stairs.

Perhaps their role was to scare people running down the stairs.

When I stared, the uncles above quickly ran off.

It felt like the haunted house attraction had ended at the stairs.

It was a bit disappointing.

***

Descending underground, a long corridor stretched out with countless isolation rooms lined on both sides.

A typical laboratory setting.

Regrettably, the ghosts seen above were no longer present.

Gradually, my suspicion solidified that humans had created these combination objects.

There were plenty of scattered papers, but not much was legible.

Most tools left in the isolation rooms were ominous ones like drills and large saws.

Judging from these grotesque tools, they likely cut off human limbs, dug them out, and implanted objects in the empty spaces for experiments.

A key ingredient repeatedly mentioned in the reports stood out.

Golden Horns.

An object that could be melted easily like gold to create things.

However, handling golden horns was illegal in Korea because they were harvested from human heads.

Of course, due to its ease of processing and researching objects, related incidents never ceased despite being illegal.

People were knocked unconscious with bricks like in street fights, and only their horns were sliced off.

Now I understand after arriving here.

The zombie’s golden heart was made from golden horns.

Passing through the scattered papers, I continued onward.

Reaching the deepest room underground, I saw familiar faces.

The child with hollowed-out eyes writing messages.

The woman crying at the entrance.

The uncle muttering unintelligibly due to his scarf.

The completely charred uncles.

The girl rolling her feet.

All of them, tied to machines, hung like pigs in a slaughterhouse, transformed into zombies.

Now I understood why the zombies’ expressions were so distorted.

The golden hearts kept them bound here.

Beyond the hanging zombies, a man strapped to a chair caught my eye.

A chubby uncle in an experimental gown, judging by his attire, likely belonged to this research institute.

Though it was unclear if he truly did since his entire body was wired and lifeless.

I assumed this uncle was the main body of the zombies.

For the simple reason that his body was packed with golden hearts, almost replacing all his internal organs.

The destruction condition was straightforward.

[Stop the electricity supply.]

I severed the wires with my foot.

Once the power was cut, the experimental-gowned uncle exploded, his heart scattering everywhere.

Simultaneously, the zombies hanging on the racks turned to ash and disappeared.

All that remained were the head of the experimental-gown uncle and the golden hearts scattered everywhere.

With this, the steel tower incident is over, I guess.

The tracking of the evil organization that built this lab will likely be handled by others.

That’s what I thought while hearing numerous footsteps and vehicle sounds from upstairs.