―――Clang, clang, clang!
Inside the dark Emergency Exit, a dull sound echoed.
It was the kind of sound you’d expect in a mine.
As if someone was hitting a stone with a hammer instead of a pickaxe.
Currently, it was resonating from a corner of the Stairs.
“Oof!”
From Elijah’s mouth, a suppressed grunt slipped out.
Holding the gun upside down, he was furiously slamming it down onto something.
The butt of the gun struck the doorknob attached to the Emergency Exit, delivering a tremendous impact that once again spread a sharp metallic sound around.
―――Clang, clang, clang!
Without a moment of rest, he lifted the butt of the gun again.
The repeated motion.
However, despite all that effort, the doorknob he was smashing with all his might didn’t show any signs of breaking, not even a scratch.
Rather, it was the butt of the gun that started to creak ominously.
Before he knew it—
――Crack!
With the grand sound of something breaking, a part of the butt broke off and fell from the gun.
“….”
He raised his gun and stared at the broken part.
After repeated impacts, the butt had finally shattered.
The solid metal product should’ve been far sturdier than this old doorknob.
But it couldn’t even leave a scratch on the knob, and had run out of durability instead.
“Guess it’s useless after all.”
He turned his gaze to the voice coming from below the Stairs. It was Cooper.
Having gone up the Stairs, for some reason, he was now coming back down.
At this point, Elijah was unfazed, responding calmly.
“Did you find anything that could be a clue?”
“No, nothing. Except for the terrible fact we’re stuck in this damn stairwell.”
Tsk, he clicked his tongue as he leaned against the stair railing.
After realizing they were trapped in this nonsensical space, he began to thoroughly investigate the area.
So far, all he had discovered was that this location was structured very simply, with only two floors repeating infinitely.
“The walls and floor don’t budge, no scratches at all. I even tried shooting at it, but no luck.”
He bent his thumb and lightly tapped the wall.
Knock, knock, a small sound echoed.
It felt just like any other ordinary wall, and yet, just like the doorknob Elijah had been smashing.
This wall too, showed no signs of damage no matter how much he hit it.
“It’s like the same situation as at the Launch Control Room.”
Hearing Cooper’s remark, Elijah murmured as if he realized something.
Walls and doors that resist any damage or opening by physical means.
Wasn’t it exactly the same situation they’d experienced earlier at the Launch Control Room?
“… Do we just have to wait?”
Of course, back then, they had been able to simply open the door and enter.
But that was only possible because they had the 19th entity with them.
Without that girl, the three of them had no resources left, making it nearly impossible to break through this bizarre phenomenon.
Right now, their only option seemed to be to wait for the girl.
“Ugh, I miss the 19th entity… I want to get out of here already…”
Eleanor said with a teary expression.
Huddled in a corner, she weakly hugged her knees.
Having survived one crisis after another, now facing yet another hardship.
At this point, anyone with a strong will would feel mentally exhausted.
So, it was only natural for her to be in this state.
“Shut up. You think you’re the only one who wants to get out of here?”
Cooper, understanding her feelings but still annoyed, replied in a quiet voice.
He too was dealing with a complicated mindset.
Clocks that had clearly stopped at the same eerie time, a space that shouldn’t exist physically, and numerous bizarre occurrences confronting them.
Could that girl find her way to them? Perhaps she was lost somewhere underground, never to be found.
It felt as if some malevolent entity was trying to trap them here indefinitely.
Maybe their fate was sealed from the moment they entered this Facility.
“…”
As negative thoughts consumed him, he shook his head to dispel them.
It was still too early to think like that.
Such pointless thoughts would be best saved for the moment before death.
Now, it would be better to focus on finding a way out.
“Hey, big guy. Don’t you have anything you can do?”
Was it an attempt to lighten the mood?
Suddenly, Cooper asked Elijah a random question.
“What do you mean?”
“You came with that little girl, so you must know something about her.”
When he asked back, Cooper added more details.
Although he had some level of certainty about the girl, he figured the man in front of him would know her the best.
It was common for members acting with an expert to learn various tips from them.
There had been cases where seasoned members solved bizarre phenomena based on prior experiences.
He thought that the man might have some information about the girl’s mysterious powers.
“So, I was wondering… didn’t you learn anything while traveling together?”
Elijah looked at Cooper’s face.
His masked features obscured his expression.
He maintained a baffling silence, staring at Cooper for a few seconds.
“Well, I guess I’ve been watching too many cartoons.”
He muttered something that felt oddly ridiculous, then turned his head away as if he had nothing more to say.
“…”
A moment of silence enveloped the space.
A heavy, uncomfortable silence pressed down on them.
Cooper seemed to want to say something but kept opening and closing his mouth in vain.
Eventually, he gave up and slumped down onto the Stairs.
“So, it’s not something you should be saying…”
His voice, quietly muttering in frustration, echoed endlessly around the Emergency Exit.
――Plop
After the boredom reached its peak, someone seemed to have shifted their position.
From the upper Stairs, small pebbles began to fall again.
―――Plop, plop, plop
“I don’t know who it is, but knock it off.”
The pebbles fell continuously.
Cooper thought it would stop eventually, but the stones showed no signs of letting up.
“I can totally relate to how boring it is, but doing it this much will drive anyone mad.”
To be honest, it was a terribly annoying sound.
They were already sensitive in a precarious situation.
Even though they tried to keep polite with each other, if someone persisted with such childish antics for seconds on end, someone was bound to speak up.
―――Plop, plop, plop
Nevertheless, the small pebbles kept tumbling down from the upper Stairs.
It was as if they were completely ignoring the thoughts of others.
“…”
Cooper’s gaze instinctively turned to Eleanor.
She was sitting a little lower on the Stairs, knees drawn in.
Noticing someone’s gaze on her, she looked around and then realized Cooper was watching her, starting to deny the allegation.
“…Why are you looking at me? It wasn’t me!”
Despite her vigorous head shaking, his gaze remained suspicious.
After all, the usually silent man didn’t seem like the type to do something like that on purpose.
For some reason, from the short time they spent together, he felt Eleanor was fully capable of such childish behavior.
“See? I’m not doing anything, yet they’re still rolling down!”
However, even though she kept her feet still, the pebbles kept dropping.
Their gaze naturally shifted back to the quiet man below.
“I’m just the same. Wasn’t it one of you?”
Sensing their suspicious stares, Elijah quickly denied the accusation.
Eleanor squinted her eyes and turned to focus back on Cooper.
“…Cooper.”
“No, think logically. Would it be me?”
“But there’s no one else. There’s no one else here except for us—”
As the two quarreled, once again, pebbles fell from above.
――Plop
The two stopped talking, as if it had been agreed upon.
The reason was that they felt something odd about the current situation, but more than that, they sensed an inexplicable chilling feeling running down their spines from above.
“――――――”
Both pairs of eyes slowly turned toward the top of the Stairs.
The beam of a flashlight moved, illuminating the stairs one step, two steps at a time.
And finally…
When the light completely shone on the upper Stairs.
What came into their view was――
