CH 116

“When I heard the name of this island before, it sounded familiar, so I thought long and hard about it. Then, I remembered that this island was newly designated as a national marine park. So that meant this island was public property and nobody could own private property on it… I thought that it was strange that they were going to film here,” Seohang said.

I paused my steps and turned back. Then, did that mean…?

“This house will be demolished in exactly three days. Then, it’ll return to being an uninhabited island for the seabirds and other creatures. That was why I told Woorim that it was weird. It was fishy that a place unfit for filming was used as a film location.”

I recalled what he—who was now dead and wasn’t even Woorim in the first place—told the other people. He had said that Seohang was very superstitious and didn’t want to come here. He suspected that this could be a snuff film shoot or something of the like.

I realized that I shouldn’t have ignored it, thinking that it was just a part of Seohang’s personality. I shouldn’t have overlooked it just because “he” said it first and solidified Seohang’s image so that nobody heeded his concerns.

We should have paid more attention to why Seohang was so enraged.

How insidious. I made a bitter grin. I had this thought before, but “he” was good at acting. True, Yeonseon too…

Seohang continued, “If we hold on for three days, we might be able to get out. The people who’ll come to demolish the mansion could find us.”

The rules were probably created by Woorim. The filming staff handed out the guide booklet with the rules, so Woorim and the staff were probably on the same side. The one who chose this location… was probably Woorim. I felt like I knew who killed the filming crew. It was probably Woorim, the rule-maker.

Adhering to the rules would allow one to avoid dying. The singular and most significant rule felt like a twisted prank. If we had all stayed quietly for a few days, nobody would have died—it would have been great. If we had just stayed comfortably cooped upstairs… I scowled and muttered, “How do you expect me to lightheartedly endure three days in this shitty place…?!”

Seohang muttered in response, “It really was too bad about Goyeon Lee.”

“…I agree.” Goyeon was the first person to be discovered as a corpse in this mansion. Thinking back to it, I thought that maybe her death was the start of this whole mess. Because she died, the cast started to think about the evil intention of the mansion and started to doubt one another while quaking in fear. What would have happened if Goyeon was alive? Even if the filming crew disappeared, we would have gathered on the top floor like being secluded on a lonely island in the meantime, all while eating the food supplied upstairs, without venturing beyond our residential floor…

Aside from Woorim, Hyehyun, and me—who came to murder—the rest of the guests seemed quite average.

“If Goyeon didn’t die…” I said.

Seohang picked up from my sentence, “…I might have been able to call you dad.”

My heart plunged to the pit of my stomach.

“…What?” I stared at Seohang with a frozen expression. Seohang was still shining his flashlight onto me. I couldn’t see his face very well. He could have been smiling. My head spun. Before I could even reach a semblance of a conclusion, I started to back away.

Needless to say, Seohang was faster than my panicked self. He grabbed my hand. His fingers were cold—colder than mine.

“It really was too bad. To think that she would die first, of all people,” he said.

“…”

“Could you relate to her since she cared deeply for Yeonseon? You envied her for being able to genuinely miss Yeonseon. It would have been nice if you and Goyeon were the only two survivors. Then, you and Goyeon might have hit it off and had a kid. I figured you probably wouldn’t throw away your own child. I had all these plans.”

My hands trembled violently. I just couldn’t believe it.

“But I failed,” he said, sounding mirthful as he walked toward me. The light touched his face, now close enough so I could read his expression. His eyes were black. I ended up slumping to the ground.

“…D-did you kill them?” My voice shook, unsteady. Seohang threw the flashlight far away. Our only remaining light flew across the hallway in a smooth arc and disappeared with a clunk. My surroundings were filled with darkness once more.

When did he die? When did he die? When did he die? When did Seohang die?