Chapter 017 : Jongharng Chioujen

"Sir! Mr. Jongharng! Wake up, Sir!"

Chioujen faintly heard someone calling him. His head hurt so badly. Then he felt something shaking his body. Chioujen slowly opened his eyes. He was in a prone position. It was clear that someone had shaken his shoulder. When Chioujen tried to raise his right hand, his hands felt very weak. With difficulty, he managed to hold his head. After catching his breath, then he turned around. Now he lay down. His face was facing up. He saw a figure staring at him anxiously.

"Hannrong?" Chioujen could recognize Hannrong's face. With Hannrong's help, he tried to get up and sit down. After that, Hannrong helped him up and led him to one chair there.

"What's the time now?"

"It's morning, Sir!"

"It's already morning?"

"Yes, Sir"

"What time?" Chioujen repeated the question he had just asked.

Hannrong quickly lowered his head to look at his wrist. "Half-past eight, Sir!" The building custodian then sat down on another chair in the room. His face looked like an inquisitive person. "Why are you here?"

"I do not know." Chioujen looked around him. He realized he was not on the tenth floor. He tried to remember what had happened. But the still aching head made it hard to remember.

"Then I'll take you upstairs now! Can you walk?" Hannrong rose from his seat.

"I will try."

Hannrong helped Chioujen to his feet. It turned out that this time Chioujen was able to stand up straight. He could even walk without Hannrong's help. Hannrong immediately accompanied Chioujen to go up to the tenth floor. The door of unit 1008 was unlocked, so Hannrong could open the door right away. Arriving in the main room, Chioujen right away sat on the sofa that was there.

After sitting for about five minutes, Chioujen slowly started to recover his mind. Little by little, memories began to appear in his mind.

"How did you find me on the ninth floor, Hannrong?"

Hannrong sat with his back straight. "As soon as I arrived, I immediately went up to the tenth floor, Sir! I was going to say something related to the things that happened yesterday. But I didn't find you in this unit. Then I started to check the other units. All units on the floor ten was locked. Then I went down to the ninth floor. I found one unit on the ninth floor with the door open. I went inside and found you, face down and unconscious inside."

Chioujen faintly began to remember what happened earlier. But many things are still unclear.

"How did you fall unconscious in that unit? Did anyone attack you?"

Chioujen looked at Hannrong. He didn't even know what had happened. "There's no ghost in this building, right?"

<<Why am I even asking such a strange question? My mouth and brain may be out of sync!>>

Hannrong's face turned slightly pale upon hearing Chioujen's question. Although Chioujen's head still hurt and it was challenging for him to concentrate, Chioujen could still clearly see that Hannrong was shocked. After being stunned for a few seconds, Hannrong replied at a slow tempo. "As far as I know, there is no such thing, Sir! There are no ghosts in this place. There has never been a complaint about it from the tenants. Why do you ask such a thing? Did you meet a ghost in this building last night? What's it like, Sir?"

<<Wow! Amazing questions! But even though he looks a little scared, I think this young man doesn't believe in ghosts at all.>>

Chioujen smiled. "Of course not. I just noticed something odd. Now I remember a little about what happened. I fainted because head hit something in the room twice. The first hit the wall, and the second hit the floor."

"I think you should see a doctor." Hannrong looked anxious. He leaned forward to get a better look at Chioujen's head.

Chioujen touched his head. Felt sore and painful. "Ah, it's just a bump and a bruise. I think it's all right. Don't worry."

Hannrong still looked confused. It was apparent that he didn't know what to do next. Chioujen could understand the young man's attitude. Something like this must have never happened before in that place. The young man's attitude made Chioujen feel pity. "Never mind! Don't think about it anymore. You just go back to the ground floor. I'm fine now. Oh yeah, you said that as soon as you arrived, you went straight up to the tenth floor to look for me. What are you actually going to ask?"

Hannrong, who had already prepared to stand up, then continued to sit down. "Look, Sir. Last night, you said that a sedan car had stopped in front of the building. Well, when I came, I saw it too, Sir. But the car was parked a bit far from the gate of this building, Sir! Maybe about 100 meters. So I came here. I want to talk about it."

"Oh, so they're still lurking out there. You go back to work as usual. As long as they don't come into the courtyard of this building, so be it."

"Okay, Sir! Then I'll come down now."

Chioujen nodded. He watched as Hannrong immediately came out of unit 1008.

<<So the car is still there! This is very suspicious. Why are they keeping an eye on this place? Did it turn out that there was something hidden in this building? Or maybe someone is hiding in some corner of this building? It could be that they were waiting for the person to come out to catch him.>>

After being silent for almost two minutes, Chioujen felt thirsty. He dragged his feet into the kitchen with wide strides to get a glass of water. Chioujen could already remember a lot more. Last night, he had time to boil some water. So there must be some water in the electric kettle by now. Chioujen lifted the kettle. Feels heavy. There was still quite a lot of water in the kettle. Chioujen immediately poured the water into the glass and took a quick gulp. He holds his head. Still hurt. He was contemplating whether he should go to the hospital to have his head injury checked.

He walked back into the main room of the unit. He lay down on the sofa. Even though he was trying hard to remember what time he woke up last night, Chioujen still didn't know how long he had been unconscious. Chioujen somewhat regretted that he didn't pay attention to the clock last night when he woke up. So right now, there was really no way of knowing how long he had actually been unconscious.

But apparently, he still can't rest. Something else was waiting for him. Only seconds after he started to lie down, he heard a knock on the door. Besides sounding very loud, the knock was very disturbing. The beats, which were more like banging, were carried out in succession without a pause. Chioujen lazily got up from the sofa. He trudged towards the door. When the door opened, he saw Hannrong standing with a panicked face. His face looked much more stupid than before.

"What's wrong Hannrong?"

"Look, Sir! There's someone in the elevator!"

Chioujen was surprised.

<<So there really was someone else in this building! Last night I wasn't dream.>>

"Calm down!" Chioujen tried to calm Hannrong, who looked confused. "Who's in the elevator?"

"I don't know, sir!"

"You did not know? Didn't you see them getting into the elevator?"

"No Sir! They seem to have been there before I came."

"How do you know that someone was in the elevator?"

"They're banging on the elevator walls. Maybe they're trapped in the elevator!"

"You mean elevator number four?"

Chioujen had heard his friends tell him that the number four elevator in the building was indeed a bit strange. It can be off on its own, so people can get stuck inside.

"That's right sir!" Hannrong replied steadfastly.

"Where's the elevator stuck? On what floor?"

"From the sound of banging on the elevator walls, it looks like the elevator has stopped on the eighth floor, sir!"

"Okay! Then we're going there now!"