Chapter 5

A 'demon' lurks inside every heart and only the host can see

But... very few could subdue them as they wish.

Most make a pact with them and later drown in regret,

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MONSTERS.

EVERYWHERE.

IT LOOKS LIKE ME

...IT IS ME

THE DEMON IS GETTING CLOSER...

"THIS BODY IS MINE NOW!"

MY REFLECTIONS.

"IT WAS YOUR FAULT MOM DIED."

I forced my eyes wide when I heard a recognizable voice reverberate from the pitch-black abyss.

"Yujin, please...leave."

"YOU KNEW SHE WAS ILL, BUT SHE STILL TOOK CARE OF YOU AND YOU LET HER."

"P-Please..."

"YOU LET HER DIE, YOU SHOULD'VE BEEN THE ONE DEAD."

"LEAVE ME ALONE!!"

The void around me changed into my previous high school, I got stuck in an easily recognizable corridor, and eventually, I ended myself in the school's restroom.

"Yujin, give it back!" She took one of my letters to my crush, and I begged her not to.

She laughed at me, alongside her friends.

"What's this? You expect someone to like you back? Please! Nobody could ever love a bitch like you, don't even bother! "

"Yujin!"

She turned on the water tap and soaked the letter in it.

I tried to stop her as quickly as I could, but it was already moist. When I opened the letter, the sketch I had made of them was completely damaged, with ink all over it.

I dropped to my knees and they started making fun of me, then eventually, the females exited the restroom.

She's right, I shouldn't bother anymore.A foot stomped on my head, greatly adding weight to it as I cried in pain.

"You like that? Don't you, you bitch!"

He kicked me in my stomach, which made me wail in pain.

His other friends laughed and made fun of me, seeing my fragile state getting beat up for fun.

As I glanced at my sister's face, she was also enjoying me suffer.

I couldn't endure it any longer,

I just passed out, and I didn't know what happened next.

Nobody could love me.

NOBODY COULD LOVE YOU.

After a brief slumber, Yunji was roused from her sleep in the nursery by the voice that kept calling upon her.

She felt tears starting to fall and moved her hand to her eye. She stepped up to use the restroom after wiping it with her shirt.

"Are you playing with people's lives?!" Yikyung aggressively pushed Eunhyuk into a stall.

"Then who should I have sent? It was the best option. We need that man in Room 1408, and I've decided not to hesitate any longer." Eunhyuk answered.

"Let go of me."

"I'm sure there's another way besides using other people."

Yikyung released her grip on the man's collar as he fixed it.

"What I'm using is the golden hour."

As he walked away from the woman, he turned on the faucet and spoke while washing his hands.

"Cha Hyunsu was critically injured, but he woke up in just a few hours. If willpower can affect the turning stage and he can fight it,"

"then he will be the strongest weapon we have."

Yikyung pulled out her knife and demonstrated it to the man.

"This is what we call a weapon, he's still human."

"I agree, for now."

Eunhyuk wiped his hands with his clothes, as he heard the lady behind him scoff.

"And you sent him to die?"

"It would be best if you become accustomed to using people on the verge of turning into monsters,"

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"HEARD THAT? HE PLANS ON USING YOU IF YOU TELL THEM YOU'RE INFECTED, HUH, ISN'T THAT IRONIC? YOU ARE SCARED OF MONSTERS, BUT YOU DON'T FEAR THE MONSTERS DISGUISED AS HUMANS BESIDE YOU."

The monster spoke through Yunji's head, laughing at the end of the sentence.

"Shut up."

She demanded, eavesdropping on the conversation more.

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"You really are twisted."

Yikyung commented and walked away.

"I don't think you understand━how dangerous our situation is. What do you think about the voting results? They're marked with X's, I was secretly thinking of switching them. But I didn't need to." Eunhyuk explained.

"So you didn't switch the votes?"

"It was unexpected, I didn't think people would vote to let Hyunsu stay."

"That's because you made them feel guilty talking about murder." Yikyung raised her voice as she exclaimed.

"Do you really think they voted not to kick him out because of their conscience? Well, the man with the sword and the girl with the bat may have felt close to him because they were together, but what about the others?"

"It's not easy to accept someone you don't know, especially when your life is at risk."

"So, what's your point?" Yikyung asked.

"You still don't get it? Cha Hyunsu and Kim Seokhyeon. Do you think they're not the only ones turning?

No, everyone is scared. Because they don't know when they'll turn. There was someone who knew about this before the government announcement."

"━Who's that?"

"━I don't know, it was a blog Yunji found on the internet."

"What did it say?"

"Despair." He replied, confusing the firefighter.

"It said it's a curse, and that humans will never overcome it."

"You believe that stupid blog post when you don't even know who wrote it?"

Eunhyuk grabbed his phone out of his pocket and showed the photos he took of the blog.

"Under the circumstances, we shouldn't ignore even the smallest clues."

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━° ⌜ 미지의 악마 ⌟ °━

After separating the infected from the uninfected, Yunji ceased writing.

Currently, the infected are Cha Hyunsu, Kim Seokhyeon, and Choi Yoonjae.

She turned to the table and grabbed the walkie-talkie, turning it on.

Yunji had a moment to think about what she had to say and spoke.

"If anyone... anybody is hearing this. We're in despair right now. We don't know... what to do, what's happening..or how long we could survive this. But, we are still alive.

We can't overcome this despair, however... there will be an end. And we... we will hold on and fight until that end.

You will survive."

Footsteps entered the management office after her speech, as she breathed out.

"Are you sure of your plan?" Yunji asked.

"I'm not using Hyunsu, I'm using the golden hour," Eunhyuk repeated.

"But you do know, once he realizes that you're making him into a pawn, he has the power to kill you." Yunji reminded him.

"I know."

"But, I don't know if I'll turn, I could turn any moment now. And if anything, the person I'd want to be killed by is you."

"I will, but in return, you have to kill me, kill me without showing any remorse."

"Promise me that."

"I promise."

━° ⌜ 미지의 악마 ⌟ °━

Yoonjae had a bloodied hand and dried blood on his face when Seungwan beckoned me to the gaming area.

"Yunji, take care of him!" The man left the quarantine room as Byeongil spoke and pulled back the shutters.

I saw Jaeheon's eyes staring at me and at the guy,

"Yoonjae, what happened?" I asked.

"I was going crazy in there, but I'm out now, so it's fine." Yoonjae reasoned.

"I need to treat your wounds before they could get infected, please follow me to the━"

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't bother you anymore. I'll treat them myself."

Yoonjae left me and was nagged with questions by the other citizens, making him anxious by their queries that weren't necessary.

Suspicions got over my instinct.

"That guy, isn't infected, isn't he?" Jaeheon spoke behind me.

"I'm pretty sure, it's obvious he cut his hand with a sharp tool just to get out of there," I stated.

"He and the gangster guy had a conflict, that's why he had dry blood dripping down his nose."

Jaeheon remembered to inform the girl.

"...I see, thank you. I'll be back in the management office. See you."

Jaeheon bowed as I left the room to follow the man.

I couldn't see Yoonjae in any of the hallways, and I heard shouts and objects falling close to the entryway, where Jaehwon and Seungwan were on duty.

I tried to grip the busted gangster's shoulder in order to stop him as he walked furiously but my hand was easily shoved away, but something dropped from him.

I snatched up the flip phone as I watched the man go, dreading what would come next.

My gut felt ill, signing it won't be a good ending...

Then we heard some stone bricks break.

The residents and I sprinted to the source of the noise, where we encountered Yoonjae, who had been critically wounded but was still able to hobble towards us, and the gangster who was standing behind him, clutching a hammer while his head was gushing blood.

"━This man is a murderer!" He muttered to the confused and terrified crowd.

Yoonjae collapsed violently and let out an agonizing cry that hurt my ears as the man moved up behind him and hit his knee with the hammer.

He groaned as he faced the gangster in front of him.

"You fucking murderer."

The man kneeled on his body and grabbed his collar.

"You shouldn't die like that."

He struck his face with the hammer, and blood dripped down the white tiles. Due to the brutality of this disaster, the witnesses' eyes began to be painful...

"You shouldn't die peacefully." Before repeatedly swinging the hammer on his face, he whispered under his breath.

"You don't deserve a humane death."

Surprisingly, despite the fact that he continues to lose blood despite smashing the hammer on his palm violently against his face, he is still alive.

"You..."

"THE MOST SCARIEST BEING ALIVE ON THIS EARTH...

...ARE HUMANS THEMSELVES."

He raised the hammer while holding it tightly in both hands.

"You...fucking...murderer.." Yoonjae murmured.

"You don't deserve to live."

━° ⌜ 미지의 악마 ⌟ °━

Identified as Pyeon Sangwook, the man who killed Choi Yoonjae.

He moved away from everyone after the murder, dragging the body behind him. It was followed by blood.

He arrived at the barricaded gate, removing the items in front to make a gap.

He was terribly damaged, yet he still managed to open the shutters by hand. He let go of the weapon he was holding; dragging the lifeless corpse outside with him.

It was awfully silent.

Only the rain and thunders echoed.

Sangwook has been gone for a while and hasn't yet returned. I made an effort to keep my posture upright, but my hand wouldn't stop shaking.

I hated blood.

I hated the sight of it.

The brutality of that death,

how could anyone deserve it?

Even with a shaking body that was intended to burst into tears just moments earlier, Sangwook pushed his body to go towards the building.

The people behind me pulled away, but I remained standing.

He drew away and looked at me as soon as he put a foot close to the tiles.

He grasped the shutters with both hands and pushed them down with the remaining energy in his body.

However, I respectfully rejected his decision of leaving outside by rushing to keep it upright.

He struggled to shut it, but I was there to stop him, so his efforts were ineffective.

His face which was daubed with blood was gazing at me with broad eyes as he tightened his grasp on the steel.

Sangwook struggled to pull it down and gritted his teeth as he did so.

"...Why? " asked the man.

"...Don't do this to yourself."

To help me, another hand clung to it.

Jaeheon, we were able to stop him from finishing what he had planned by using both of our hands.

His eyes slowly gave up, and his body slowly fell. There, he passed out.

"I'll be back."

I talked with the man sitting next to me, as I walked outside into the rain.

I carried the child behind my back while looking for Suung and Mrs. Cha's daughter's bodies. Sadly, I also had to pull the deceased soldier.

As he closed the shutters, Jaeheon spotted me and assisted me by taking both Suung's corpse and Sangwook's body. He then carefully moved them both away from the shutters.

I followed suit, carefully setting the girl down while gazing at the lifeless body.

She saw a shadow approaching... she saw the mother of the deceased child on the floor, Jinok.

Tears and water dripped off her skin, the two liquids colliding.

She pulled her into a tight hug, feeling the empty warmth of her.

Jinok realized she couldn't get her daughter back anymore. It was reality if she could, she would.

"I'm... terribly, terribly sorry."

I apologized, as she let her tears fall without any noise.

━° ⌜ 미지의 악마 ⌟ °━

After the event, Hyunsu returned that evening, he was successful in bringing the two children as well as the man living in Room 1408 named Han Dusik. Yeongsu and Suyeong.

Ahn Gilseob and Park Yuri are one elderly guy and his caretaker.

Yunji worked nonstop all night long to create a grave, refusing to rest until the deceased was properly buried.

She asked Jaeheon for a favor of helping her and fellow medical student Eunhyuk cure Sangwook's wounds.

In the morning, the people gathered to see the burial Yunji made by herself.

Everyone was touched, seeing how she built that for the whole night while they were dreaming. She wasn't so heartless after all.

"Please, pray for them."

the girl asked Jaeheon, who nodded and kneeled in front of the graves to bless it.

Eunhyuk touched her shoulder when she was about to leave, he noticed her face was tired, her lips bruised, and she was messed up.

"Grandpa..." The two kids created paper flowers and handed them to Gilseop, he placed each flower on top of the soil where they were buried.

"We were born human, so we should die as humans."

"YOU WERE BORN A DEVIL, AND YOU SHOULD LIVE AS A DEVIL."