Behind them, the creature forced its way downward.
The walls shook with every step it took, the concrete cracked, and the metal railings bent inward with loud screeches that made Jin's head hurt. Dust rained from the ceiling like the building itself was trying to warn them they weren't getting out alive.
Jin tightened his grip around Seul-ki's arm as they ran. Her injured ankle dragged against every step, slowing them both down, and every time she stumbled, his heart jumped into his throat.
"Keep moving," he said, breathless, trying to keep his voice steady.
"I am moving," she snapped back through gritted teeth, sweat sticking dark strands of hair to her forehead. "I'm just doing it badly."
Despite everything, Jin almost let out a laugh.
Almost...
Another roar thundered above them, so loud it vibrated in his chest.
The thing was getting closer, far too close for any of them to be comfortable with.
Minho, the man with the steel pipe, was ahead of them, practically dragging another survivor by the sleeve as they pushed down the stairs.
"How many floors are left till we hit the last floor?" someone shouted.
"Too many!" someone else answered.
That was so very helpful.
Jin looked down the stairwell and felt his stomach sink. At the rate they were moving, they weren't going to make it, not like this, not with Seul-ki limping, not with panic slowing everyone, and the thing above them breaking down the stairwell with each movement it made.
A section of railing above them ripped free and came tumbling down, slamming into the stairs below with enough force to crack the concrete. This place was going to fall apart any second now.
"Third floor door ahead!" Jin shouted suddenly, pointing as the landing came into view below. "We cut through the third floor!"
Nobody disagreed.
At this point, surviving the next thirty seconds mattered more than any plan beyond that.
The third-floor emergency door stood slightly open, the weak red EXIT sign above it flickering as if it, too, were struggling to stay alive.
"Move fast!" Minho yelled.
He reached it first and slammed his shoulder against the metal door, forcing it wider with a grunt. The others rushed through first, one after another, stumbling into the ruined office floor beyond.
Jin pushed Seul-ki ahead of him.
"Go!"
She stumbled through, grabbing the frame to steady herself.
Jin turned just as he crossed the threshold.
For one horrible second, he saw that monster's unshadowed figure as it forced its way through every obstacle in its path, and it was truly a sight to see, its massive body pressed against concrete walls as if the building itself were choking on it. Its massive claws dug into the broken railings as it clawed its way down, its two glowing red eyes burning as it looked directly at him.
Thats when Jin slammed the door shut, and at that exact moment, the stairwell gave way.
The impact was deafening.
The entire building shook violently as the entire stairwell collapsed behind the door, concrete exploding, metal twisting, dust pouring through every crack.
The force knocked Jin sideways into the wall.
Seul-ki grabbed his arm before he hit the floor.
For a few seconds, nobody moved.
There was only coughing, ragged breathing, and the distant groan of stressed concrete settling around them.
Jin leaned against the wall, trying to force air back into his lungs. His shirt clung to his skin with sweat. His hands still smelled like blood and black monster ichor.
The office floor around them looked like a war zone.
Desks were overturned, computer monitors shattered, and papers were scattered everywhere. The emergency lights flickered weakly overhead, casting long shadows across broken cubicles. Unlike the sixth floor, the third floor was almost quiet.
Seul-ki leaned against the wall beside him, still breathing hard.
"Please tell me," she said between breaths, "that was the last monster we'll have to deal with."
Jin looked at her.
Then at the collapsed stairwell door.
Then at the blood on his shirt.
"No."
She sighed.
"Yeah, I guess you are right."
A few feet away, Minho still held the steel pipe in both hands, as if letting go would make reality itself worse.
Jin stared at it.
The pocket knife in his own hand suddenly felt very small, even though it had saved him once, against something bigger than before, it wouldn't be enough to take it down.
Jin walked toward Minho.
The man immediately tensed up.
Jin pointed at the pipe.
"I need that."
Minho blinked, then frowned at him.
"The hell you do."
"If another one shows up, I won't be able to protect you guys with my pocket knife."
Minho shook his head.
"No. I'm keeping it."
Jin could feel the others watching him. He hated this; he definitely didn't want to be the guy making decisions, but he also knew exactly what would happen if a monster appeared and nobody could stop it.
His voice came out firmer than he expected.
"I killed one already. Have any of you done that?"
He looked around them, and they all shook their heads to signal they didn't.
He stepped closer to Minho.
" So whose hands do you want the pipe in? Yours… or mine?"
Minho stared at him.
Jin's heart pounded so hard he thought they might hear that he was just as scared as they were. He was trying so hard to be brave, but he was truly terrified; terror had a strange way of making people sound confident.
After a long moment, Minho let out a slow breath.
"…Damn it."
He held the pipe out.
"Don't make me regret this."
Jin took it; the steel felt cold and solid in his hands, and like before, the system screen popped up.
[Weapon Acquired: Steel Pipe]
He expected to have more confidence with a larger weapon, but all he felt was pressure.
Now, if things went wrong, it would be on him.
He hated that feeling immediately.
Seul-ki watched him from across the room.
"So, what, you're some white knight for us all now?"
Jin looked at the pipe.
"Apparently."
Before anyone could say more, a voice drifted across the ruined office, it was weak, distant, and definitely human.
"Is… someone there?"
Everyone froze.
The voice had come from deeper inside the floor, somewhere beyond the rows of shattered cubicles.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then Daniel, one of the younger employees, whispered, "I'm not the only one who heard that, right?"
"No," Seul-ki said quietly. "Unfortunately."
It was definitely a person, but something about the voice felt alien. The words had sounded delayed somehow, like an echo. Like hearing the same voice twice.
Minho tightened his grip.
"That sounded weird. Could it be a monster disguising its voice?"
"Maybe..."
But the stairwell behind them was gone, and standing here waiting for death wasn't exactly a strategy.
He looked toward the darkness between the cubicles.
"It might be a trap, but it also might be a person, and if there's someone alive, they might be able to help us escape, so we need to move forward."
Nobody looked excited about that idea; still, nobody argued with him.
Jin adjusted his grip on the pipe and moved first.
"Stay close to me just in case."
The group followed him closely, stepping over broken glass and overturned chairs, trying to be as quiet as possible.
The voice came again, this time weaker.
"Please… over here…"
They rounded a corner near the IT section and found him.
A man sat slumped against the wall beside a ruined desk, one hand pressed hard against his chest like he was trying to hold himself together. His glasses were cracked, hanging crookedly on his face. His dress shirt was soaked with sweat, and his breathing came in shallow, painful bursts.
His eyes lifted slowly to meet theirs.
Relief flickered across his face.
"You… actually came."
Then, a second later.
"…actually came..."
Seul-ki stiffened beside Jin.
"Okay," she whispered, "that is deeply unsettling."
The man gave a weak, exhausted smile.
"Yeah. I've been told that already."
Even that echoed.
Jin stepped forward carefully, pipe lowered but still ready for combat.
"What's your name?"
The man swallowed hard, his fingers pressing harder against his chest like he was trying to keep his heart from tearing itself apart.
"Min Jae-Wo."
A second later, the same words followed.
"...Min Jae-Wo..."
Seul-ki shifted beside Jin, leaning more heavily against the wall, her face pale but her eyes sharp.
"That is absolutely horrifying," she muttered.
Min gave a weak laugh that sounded like it hurt.
"Yeah… I noticed."
Even that repeated.
Jin crouched slightly, keeping his voice calm even though every instinct in him was screaming that something about this was wrong.
"What happened to you?"
Min's breathing stuttered. His cracked glasses slid lower on his nose, but he didn't seem to notice.
"My skill," he said quietly. "It's called Echo."
The word came back again.
"...Echo."
He shut his eyes for a second, as if even speaking was painful.
"At first, I thought it would just let me repeat the voices around me, like an actual echo. At first, it was a bit annoying but manageable."
His voice trembled.
"It isn't."
Jin said nothing.
"It doesn't just repeat sound," Min whispered. "It repeats everything around me."
He pressed harder against his chest.
"It repeats fear, pain, panic, and every other thing around me. I can hear when people die, and a small amount of their damage echoes through me."
His voice cracked.
"I still feel it after they are gone."
The room went still.
Even Minho stopped breathing for a second.
Min laughed again, but there was nothing sane in it.
His hand started shaking violently.
"I can't turn it off."
And as if the system was shocking him, that echoed too.
"...I can't turn it off..."
Seul-ki looked away.
Daniel swore quietly under his breath.
Jin's grip tightened around the steel pipe.
This was torture.
"Can you move?" Jin asked.
Min stared at the floor for a moment before answering.
"I think I can if I have to."
His breathing hitched again.
Then suddenly his entire body stiffened.
His head snapped toward the dark end of the office.
Everyone froze.
"What?" Jin asked quietly.
Min's face had gone white.
"There's something here."
"It's moving, slowly towards us."
Jin's stomach dropped.
The office suddenly felt much smaller, much darker.
Min whispered again.
"It's been listening to us."
A low scraping sound echoed somewhere beyond the cubicles.
Everyone turned toward the noise.
The emergency lights flickered overhead, casting the office in a sickly red glow before dimming again.
Then a voice.
"Hello?!"
Everyone flinched.
Jin's chest tightened.
"No…"
Footsteps followed.
Someone running towards them, suddenly a man appeared from between the cubicles, maybe late thirties, shirt torn, face streaked with dirt and sweat. His eyes lit up the second he saw them.
"Oh thank god," he breathed, stumbling forward. "I thought I was the only one left, I heard voices and I just-"
Min's eyes widened in horror.
"Stop talking now!"
But it was too late, something moved towards them fast.
One second, the man was there, and the next, something exploded from the darkness beside him, and suddenly, blood sprayed across the cubicle wall.
The man didn't even get to finish screaming.
One claw tore straight through his chest and lifted him off the ground like he weighed nothing. His mouth opened, but nothing came out. Then the creature slammed him into the floor.
Nobody moved.
Seul-ki's nails dug so hard into Jin's arm that they almost hurt.
Daniel had both hands over his own mouth, eyes wide with pure terror.
The creature stood over the body, low and twitching.
It was smaller than the stairwell monster and looked as if it had been assembled from memory. Its limbs were too long, ending in black claws that scraped softly against the tile, and unlike the other monsters covered in eyes, this one had none.
Its head tilted.
Jin realized it then.
It hunted by sound.
One scream and they were dead.
The creature took one slow step forward.
Minho stood closest to it.
So close Jin could see the man shaking.
His entire body trembled with the effort of not making a sound.
One mistake and he would die first.
Jin's own heartbeat sounded deafening in his ears.
Please...
Please don't move...
Please don't breathe.
Then-
CRASH.
Glass shattered somewhere in another room.
The creature moved instantly.
Its entire body snapped toward the sound.
And then it was gone.
It launched itself into the darkness so fast it barely looked real, claws scraping violently across tile as it vanished toward the new noise.
A second later, a scream echoed from somewhere far away.
Then silence again.
Nobody in Jin's group spoke for several long seconds.
No one trusted their own voice.
Finally, Minho collapsed backward against a desk, shaking.
"Oh my god…"
His whisper was barely there.
Seul-ki let out a breath like she had been holding it for years.
"Well," she said quietly, "that was the worst thing I've experienced today."
Nobody disagreed.
Min Jae-Wo looked like he might pass out.
His hands were trembling violently now.
Daniel looked at Min with open frustration.
"We can't take him with us."
Everyone looked at him.
He swallowed but kept going.
"He's loud. His skill is unstable. If he panics or screams or whatever, that thing comes back, and we all die."
Minho rubbed a hand over his face.
"…He's not wrong."
Min lowered his eyes and gave a look that said he had already expected this, he had been abandoned by the others on the floor after all.
He was a risk to keep around, a liability, in fact. Taking him with them would make survival harder, but leaving him here, alone, half broken, surrounded by monsters, felt like something Jin wouldn't be able to live with.
He thought about how easily he could've left Seul-ki behind and survived far more easily, but a part of him would have died if he had.
He looked at Min, then at the others.
"We're taking him."
Daniel frowned.
"Jin-"
"No."
He tightened his grip on the pipe.
"We are not leaving him here, we all want to survive, and to do that we need to help each other."
Nobody argued after that, maybe because deep down they knew he was right.
Min looked at him like he didn't know what to do with the small kindness.
Jin knew they had to move; they wouldn't survive on this floor if they stayed with the monster. They needed to find a secure room to hide, and they knew there was another stairwell on the other side of the building.
It was their only chance.
He whispered, so low it was almost inaudible,
"Time to move, stay quiet, and watch your step."
They nodded, their movements careful, deliberate. The air was thick with fear, but they moved, step by step, praying the thing in the shadows wouldn't hear them.