A chilling sound echoed from beyond the hallway yet again.
Waaaaaaah!
A voice filled with tearing pain and sorrow.
But this time, the voice no longer got closer; it just circled around them.
Whoooooosh…
Then, it seemed to drift away, fading until it was too quiet to hear.
“…Let’s go, it’s gone.”
Whispering from around the corner, Cooper spoke up quietly.
They had decided to leave the place where they had fallen and were now trying to move away from the unknown entity lurking on this floor.
“Um, is this really okay? Shouldn’t we just wait for the 19th entity back at that spot…?”
“What if it comes back? That’s a dead end—there’s nowhere to run.”
Eleanor spoke with a worried expression, but Cooper answered firmly.
Most paths where they had fallen were blocked by debris, leaving only one direction to the hallway.
If that thing returned and found them this time…
The ending was all too obvious, and it was a scenario they didn’t want to think about.
“I think waiting for it would be the best option too, but we can’t ignore possible situations.”
From his mind, the image of the girl falling into an endless abyss surfaced.
Given the unknown power, it was likely she hadn’t died, but there was little hope she could join them anytime soon.
Abnormal phenomena were inherently unpredictable—no one could foresee what would happen next.
And at times like these, considering the worst-case scenario was essential for survival.
“Of course, that’s assuming she can actually help us…”
Cooper casually glanced back at someone.
The masked figure—Elijah.
“I’ll say it again, it’s possible.”
As if waiting for a response, Elijah nodded, and finally answered with unwavering confidence.
“…Well, if he’s so sure, I guess we can trust him.”
Cooper turned his head back forward.
To be honest, he didn’t doubt that what he said was a lie.
No matter how unknown the creature waiting in front of them was, it wouldn’t be scarier than the being that could stop a falling elevator with one hand.
Right now, they could only wait for the girl to return.
They had to pray not to come across whatever was wandering through the hallway.
While they were navigating through the darkness of the hallway, suddenly, Elijah stopped them.
“Wait a second.”
“What’s wrong?”
Cooper questioned Elijah’s sudden action as he halted.
But for some reason, he didn’t answer; he just stood there.
Finally, as Cooper was about to speak again, growing impatient—
“…I think the sound is getting closer.”
From his lips came news that was anything but welcome.
“…!”
At the same time, the other two fell silent.
An encroaching stillness.
And from within that silence, a wailing sound emerged.
Both of them could clearly hear that voice.
“I, I think it’s coming back this way?!”
Eleanor said in a panicked tone.
The sobbing sound had grown so close it was almost drowning out her voice.
Before long, it was right around the corner of the hallway.
“Everyone, hide in here, hurry!”
Cooper moved swiftly, selecting the one room with a somewhat intact door.
Three shadows rushed into the room. Despite the urgency, the door didn’t close tightly to avoid making noise.
Soon after, the eerie wailing sound drifted across the hallway.
“…”
After the pale-haired figure crossed the hallway, even though the sound faded, no one dared to show themselves.
Minutes passed before they could finally peek out from the slightly opened door.
“…Did it go?”
Eleanor cautiously asked in a whisper.
Cooper quickly checked the surroundings through the crack in the door.
Once he was sure it had completely left, he gently closed the door again.
“Yeah, thankfully, it doesn’t seem to have pinpointed our location.”
Huuuuh…
A small sigh escaped his lips.
He thought his heart would stop when it suddenly approached them, but thankfully, it hadn’t noticed them.
“However, its patterns of movement are irregular. It definitely isn’t just wandering around aimlessly.”
Still, its behavior was undeniably strange.
When they first encountered it, it had vanished into the opposite end of the hallway with a loud noise; now, it seemed to be moving swiftly towards a place that made no sound at all.
And considering that direction matched the place they came from, this was no mere coincidence.
“…Does it know we’re here?”
“Quite possibly. After all, it wouldn’t just be a coincidence that the place collapsed.”
It was a reasonable suspicion.
The path they took led solely to one spot.
Even though they had thoroughly searched the area, the fact that it was heading back there meant…
That something had merely broken and fallen to the ground due to the prior vibrations, and the entity had realized this, returning to search for something.
And that meant…
It was certain that the moment the place collapsed, it became aware that they fell here.
“Do we really have no choice but to play hide and seek with it? Damn, this is turning into a real hoot.”
Cooper rubbed his head. The pain was more intense than he expected.
Though they had succeeded in hiding from it this time, if his assumptions were correct, it would surely start searching this place thoroughly once it couldn’t find them in that spot.
And with the current situation where they didn’t even know the escape route…
Should they encounter it again, they probably wouldn’t even have the chance to run…
In the end, given the structure of this floor, it seemed inevitable they would eventually get caught.
“Should we try to search this floor as quickly as possible? No, there are dead ends and areas without rooms scattered about. If I wander around without thinking, we’ll be too late once the sounds start…”
Thoughts surfaced in his mind on how to break free from the situation.
However, none of them felt appropriate.
Every option seemed desperate, as any momentary mistake could cost them their lives.
Finally, after thoughtful deliberation, he was trying to select the least awful option when—
“…Huh? Wait a minute.”
From somewhere in the room, Eleanor’s voice came, as if she had found something.
“Hey, don’t touch anything. We have no idea what could happen.”
Of course, this was a bad move.
In a situation where a creature that could harm them was wandering this floor, touching random objects wasn’t wise at all.
If anything were to make noise, or worse, if it triggered some phenomenon…
No matter what, it would make the current situation worse rather than better.
“Oh, no. But here, it looks like a map or something.”
“A map? Where did that come from out of the blue?”
However, upon hearing her words, even with suspicion, he moved toward the sound.
“…It really is.”
What he saw hanging on the wall was indeed a drawing that looked like a guide for the floor.
Disbelief washed over him as he murmured.
“An evacuation map? It seems to show the locations of emergency exits.”
Brushing off the dust revealed the map’s proper details.
It was quite large and complex for a simple guide, looking like it wouldn’t be easily carried around.
Nonetheless, it was certainly an authentic guide.
“Wow, it’s huge… It’s like a maze.”
“Yet there are only two emergency exits. One of them seems to be buried from earlier.”
Cooper pointed at a specific area.
Despite the unnecessarily complex and vast layout, they had only two places to escape.
And since one of those was deep in the rubble where they had earlier fallen…
If they were to escape from this place, their only option would be one.
That lone exit was located far from here, completely opposite of where they had fallen.
“Still, this is a relief. If anything happens, at least we’ll have somewhere to run.”
But with that, it was good news.
At least they confirmed there was a way to escape this floor.
As previously stated, it was certain this thing would begin to search this place thoroughly for them.
If the girl didn’t come back in time, they had to devise a plan to survive.
“Elena, hand me some paper and a pen. I want to copy this.”
Since the hanging map was considerable in size, it wasn’t practical to take down, and even if he did, it’d be cumbersome to carry around.
Cooper reached out to the woman beside him to draw it on paper.
“Uh, I think I dropped it when I fell from the elevator…”
However, despite his call, nothing was handed to him, and when he turned to his side, he only saw the unknown female scratching her cheek awkwardly with a smile.
“…Here it is. Take it.”
“Oh, that’s a relief. I thought I’d have to memorize the whole thing.”
Just then, Elijah handed over his writing tools, floating beside Cooper.
Memorizing it? For the other two, it must have sounded utterly absurd.
The map was too intricate and large to commit to memory.
But at this moment, having a little glimmer of hope allowed for humor like this without being too bad.
“How long do you think it’ll take?”
“Well, maybe about ten minutes? That should be enough, assuming it doesn’t suddenly pinpoint our location and come charging in here.”
“C-can we not discuss such ominous things, please?”
As Cooper joked again, she appeared to be rather disgusted.
Unlike earlier’s light banter, this was simply a jest to provoke.
In any case, the one who uttered that joke seemed to enjoy it.
“It’s just a joke! There’s no way it would come rushing in right now! And even if it did—”
As he scratched out the map in his notebook, he smiled.
In a somewhat lightened atmosphere, he relaxed a bit and moved the pen lightly—
Duuun, dunnnnn…
The sound they had previously heard echoed from the end of the hallway.
He instantly halted smiling and ceased moving the pen.
“W-wait, it’s really coming?!”
His pupils dilated, and the wailing sound rapidly grew louder.
The three exchanged frightened looks without a moment to say anything as the wailing turned deafening.
Finally, just as that wailing reached the door—
THUD!
The sound of the door slamming open echoed violently.
“―!”
Eleanor covered her mouth.
Just before it opened, they had managed to catch a glimpse of a large office desk in the room’s corner.
Now, they were tightly packed beneath that desk, not making a sound.
Thump, thump…
Her heart thudded wildly.
She tried desperately to suppress the sound, but her heartbeat refused to relent.
Of course, she knew that no one could hear her heartbeat outside, but at this moment, she wished it would stop entirely.
“―…”
An unbearable silence.
She heard no sounds in her ears, which only added to her anxiety.
How did it find them? Did it know they were here?
Had they been discovered already? Maybe it was watching them right from behind this desk?
Thoughts flooded her mind, and her lungs were reaching their limit.
Grasping her racing heart, she tried to hold her breath and covered her mouth, nearly choking—
THUD!
After the door had burst open roughly, it slammed shut like before.
Only after some time passed could she finally exhale, releasing the breath she was holding.
“…Huff…”
Her whole body relaxed.
She had so many questions—how it figured out their location and why it moved so fast this time.
But right now, one thought occupied her mind.
She needed to copy the map and head out.
She opened her eyes.
Though it had left, for some reason, the other two hadn’t made a sound.
Why was that? It was already a fair amount of time since the door had closed.
Could it be that they were still too apprehensive to relax…?
Then, in that moment.
Something lightning-like struck through her mind.
When it drifted away from them, that eerie sobbing sound had decreased, slowly allowing them to feel safe.
But now she realized—
It hadn’t truly stopped.
“…”
A chill ran down her spine.
Cold sweat dripped, as if a single moment had become eternity.
An overwhelming amount of thoughts raced through her mind, rendering her unable to think.
But she couldn’t completely escape the reality either.
Knowing something was about to happen to her…
With apprehension, she started to raise her head.
Finally, the moment she completely lifted her gaze, what lay before her was—
“—Ah.”
Peering down from the desk, a pale face was gazing right at them.
