#2 Risky moves

Before Hiroto could finish reading John's journal, the vent began to make rattling noises until the vent door fell, and a tentacle-like monster crawled out of it. It resembled the Pokémon Tangela but in a horrifying form. Hiroto panicked but kept his breathing under control, staying as still as possible instead of running out of the room. The tentacle creature walked out of the room without searching for anything, leaving the door open and moving to the next room. Hiroto could only guess that it had broken the vent in the other room and entered through there. Hiroto was about to go to the room next door but remembered the warning about how the monsters like to play tricks. He could miss a crucial item in that room, and there was a chance there was no danger or nothing of value in there, only a monster. Hiroto decided to wait in the other room next to the door and loot that room. This time, he walked to the door as quietly as possible, opened it, and entered without checking. Hiroto was relieved to find nobody in the room—just water and some snacks. He wondered if he had fallen into the Backrooms, but according to the map, this place was big but not big enough to compare. Just as Hiroto put everything in his bag, he heard a scream coming from the room the monster went into, and then the monster broke down the door and returned to the room it came from. Hiroto realized it was now searching for him, as he could hear it pushing things around and yelling, making strange beastly noises. Hiroto took the risk to look into the room he had skipped, and sure enough, he found a handgun, but it had no bullets. Hiroto had acquired many things by taking risks, but now he needed to find a way to create a safe place where only he could enter or at least find a good hiding spot. Hiroto decided to use the door that the monster broke in half to block the vent from inside the room and then barricade it from the outside with a shelf. As for the door, Hiroto barricaded it with whatever was in the room, but first made it seem locked. Since the monster wasn't human and possessed superhuman strength, he set up something that could alert him if something tried to break in. Even with everything barricaded, he still decided to create a hidden place where he couldn't be seen before he went to sleep. Before sleeping, he decided to finish reading John's journal.

Journal:

"There are mutations that give the entities special abilities based on their last wish, and yes, these monsters you are seeing or will be seeing were all human once before. If it's even possible to kill them, then do it. It's not really them, and by doing so, you can free their souls. Enough about me and the monsters. I am going to explain the warnings thoroughly, starting with the vents. A certain monster lives in the vents. It seems to not last long outside of them, but do not doubt its strength—it is very strong. If you are caught by it, just run; don't bother hiding, as it will find you. It is a good seeker but slow, so make a run for it and hope you don't run into another monster. The second warning: try your best not to stay in a room for too long, as time moves differently after a while. I know you need breaks and sleep, but don't stay in a room for longer than five hours. I did, and I visibly aged. If you want to sleep more, just switch rooms. Also, if you have a phone on you, it will magically recharge. Use your phone to keep track of time and how long you have been here. It will help, I promise you. The third warning is as it's stated—these things like to make it seem like they left and gave up looking to lure you out, but they will come back. Don't worry about monsters teaming up; they seem to hate each other and won't work together. I used this to my advantage, making them fight over me as a chance to escape. The fourth warning: do not call the monster that thinks it's an angel—not even once. You don't have to really abide by this one, well, you don't have to abide by any of my warnings, but just know that I am looking out for your best interest. This monster will get angered and become much faster. It's already gifted with speed, but instead of chasing you with its neck, it will use its wings to chase you, and it is much faster. I thought those were my last moments of living, but looking back, maybe that would've been a better fate than this. I think this is all I can do for you. I hope you make it out of here. You might just see me, but it's definitely not me. Writing this whole thing was a hard time for me as my consciousness is fading. I already forgot my life outside this place, so I really hope this helps you. Good luck surviving, by John~"

After reading the entire journal, Hiroto set a timer on his phone and also activated the stopwatch function. He decided to get three hours of sleep, set the timer, and hoped for the best before falling asleep. When he woke up, he checked his phone to see that the stopwatch said 5256:00:23. Hiroto quickly calculated that he had been asleep for 219 days. He felt well-energized but decided to sleep for only one hour or even less. If three hours equaled 219 days, then one hour would be approximately 73 days. Hiroto ate some of the food he found and saved the rest for later. As he was getting ready to leave, Hiroto heard noise from the vent. A loud thud followed, and the things inside the vent broke. Hiroto knew the monster would break through the vent any second, so he rushed out and hid in a room at the other end of the hall. This time, he didn't check the room and took a high risk. Inside, he found a UV light in the size of a flashlight and a small knife, which he took despite the seemingly impossible task of using it against the strength and speed of the monsters.