CH 90

“Why did you lie?” I asked.

When one’s guilt was utterly exposed, one was bound to be rendered speechless. Just as Hawoo was before, Seogeung was wordless. I didn’t want to give him time to come up with an excuse, so I asked him another question. “What were you doing in the staff’s rooms? They were already dead for a while.”

“…”

“Now that I think of it, Seogeung, you glossed over what you talked about with the producer-director.”

I saw Seogeung ball his fists, so I swallowed nervously.

It seemed like he would punch me at any moment. Raehee was next to him too, was she not? If he were to beat me to death, it would be hard for Rahee, a woman, to stop him. I must not have been the only one who felt his threatening atmosphere as Raehee started to backstep.

I intuitively felt that Seogeung would explode soon, so I asked cautiously, “…What did you talk about with the producer?”

“You b*stard!” Seogeung, who was comparably bigger than the rest of us, yelled and the sound of his voice carried through the hall. He couldn’t keep his hands to himself and ran toward me. I reflexively raised my arms to defend myself.

However, the one he grabbed wasn’t me.

“Ack!” It was Raehee. Seogeung grabbed Raehee by her hand and yanked her toward him.

“Raehee!” I wasn’t the only one who thought Seogeung would act violently toward me. Raehee thought the same. She had her guard down and ended up being dragged helplessly toward Seogeung. I reached out for her too late—the situation was over before I knew it.

“Don’t move!” Seogeung locked Raehee with his arms from behind and glared at me. He had a knife in the hand he didn’t use to detain Raehee. I had seen that knife in the kitchen before. The tip of the blade was aimed at Raehee’s neck. With her neck at knifepoint, Raehee trembled in fear. Seogeung simpered, “Maybe because the hallway lights were out, nobody noticed I had taken the knife.”

I glanced back at Raehee. Seogeung would stab her neck without mercy if she were to scream. The blade drew a thin line of blood on her pale neck. I was about to step forward, but Seogueng yelled in a repressed voice, “Don’t move! Take one rash move and this b*tch’s life is done for.”

“Don’t think of trying anything bad. Do you know what you’re even saying? Doing that won’t help you.” I said. I kept my eyes on Seogeung as I tried to stay calm. “Stop before it’s too late.”

“No, it’s already too late.” Seogeung shook his head. He tightened his grip on Raehee and stepped back. “I should never have come here in the first place! Nobody can make it out of here alive. I—f*ck… Unlike you guys, I left my wife and my brats at home!”

“Doing this doesn’t mean you can go back home alive either!” I yelled back as I slowly followed Seogeung.

“It’s better than being all merry before dying a dog’s death!” Seogeung’s attitude didn’t change. I couldn’t understand his actions. Seeing that he said that nobody could make it out alive, it didn’t seem like he was in with the people who shoved us into this place. That was—if this mansion was where snuff films were created.

“Lead the way.” Seogeung refused further conversation and motioned with his eyes. Raehee shed tears from the pain of having her neck sliced open. I bit my bottom lip and complied. He pointed me eastward, where the staff rooms were. Seogeung continued to give short orders from behind me. “Walk to room 607.”

“…”

“If you think about stopping or looking back, you know what’ll happen to this b*tch, right?”

Raehee’s woeful gasps echoed softly in the hallway. All my nerves were focused on what was happening behind me as I walked forth. My path was lit up by Seogeung. Rooms 307, 209, then 801… The room numbers of the staff were as jumbled up and random as those of the cast members. It was as if a child stuck numbers that they fancied on the doors.

“What happened to Seoyoon, you ask?” Right before we reached room 607, our destination, Seogeung started talking. “The room we just passed, 801—he’s probably there.”

I stopped in my tracks without thinking. In response, Raehee let out a short cry of pain.

A deep-seated fear was imbued in her gasps. Seogeung was serious—he truly would kill her if I tried anything funny. There was no hesitation in the way he brandished the knife at her jugular.

I resumed walking. Seogeung also continued his speech, “Just like you said, I was rummaging through the staff rooms. The producer-director blabbed when he was drunk. He said that there were a lot of hidden passageways everywhere. But it wouldn’t be fun if the cast found them quickly, so the rooms with the hidden passageways were given to the staff.”

He paused then snickered, “I can’t believe he didn’t even check for more hidden doors after knowing that. Sloppy, as expected from a phony.”