07 - Horror

The last time I put my feet in the hallway, the building was immaculate. Now, even though I just left for ten minutes, it seemed like a contemporary painter came expressing himself on the walls.

Dark splatters dirtied the walls. Reddish footsteps decorated the floor. And pinkish things were... I refused to deduce where they came from, hanging on the walls here and there.

I wanted to throw up so bad. Baguettes threatened to climb up my throat.

I looked down. I didn't want to see too much of these gruesome things. I couldn't. I was walking toward my goal when and I heard the sound of a splash. I stopped walking. That was my foot, stepping inside some liquid. It was a bloody puddle with black in the middle of it. This time, I had to put my hand in front of my mouth to stop my urge to throw up.

If the floor wore death too, I preferred to walk with my head high. The execution has been transposed here because the damned people tried to run away by opening the door. As I could clearly see now, they failed. Only around half a dozen people still fought for their life.

I couldn't stay here. The master pass will give me a chance.

My body refused to move. I was aware of the situation, but my foolish body stayed paralyzed by the blood nonetheless. I tried to raise my boots again, but nothing happened. After many failures, I understood what happened to me.

The sound of death disturbed me. The prayers for mercy, the shouts of pains, the sounds of bodies' breaking... These sounds overwhelmed me.

So that was it? Was this feeling the ultimate pain? Knowing that you'll die without knowing how to prevent it?

Yet, people can save us. We were under their feet, so why no one could hear us begging for help?

I put my hands to my ears with success. At least I felt able to lower reality's intensity. I walked step by step, my face becoming bluer as I did macabre meetings.

I didn't want to hear any more. Didn't want to see it anymore.

I just wanted to dance, dammit!

A shadow hiding neons above me covered my body. I turned around to meet a muscled guy holding a knife pointing at me.

My eyes widened.

He lowered his blade before stopping. His body moved in bizarre shapes and his face in bizarre grins, before falling to the ground. His weapon pierced the floor.

Behind him was Jieung-yong, holding a taser making atrocious sounds. He said something to me, but my closed-off ears made his chatter inaudible.

He seemed pissed off by my act, so I liberated my ears.

"Son of Chihye! Look around before you walk in dangerous places."

"Jieung-yong! You're alive."

"Because I know how to care for myself and I'm not daydreaming." He said.

"I know how to get out of here. We need to steal a card from the Boss of this torture factory and we're getting out of here!"

"Did your brain fall out your head? If we don't pass the test, we're waving hello to our dear Supreme Leader."

"We can still try to become a citizen here. Find a job, I don't know!" The metallic smell of death mixed with the fried one of knifeman down there made me want to run away. Fast, "C'mon, trust me."

The other guy didn't move.

"You're so stubborn...." I said, "I'm doing it even if you don't come anyway." I kept making way toward the place I heard the Boss's last footsteps.

The last time we heard them, they resounded toward the far end of the hallway.

And at the far end of this hallway, there was a door, only one. I didn't notice any doorknob, but it was surely designed to give access to other places.

The door-looking thing opened in half, revealing the Boss. She walked toward me while taking a shining card out of her jacket.

My blood rushed inside my veins.

"I am taking note of your deductive spirit and your bravery, Yoh Song-ho. Discovering how to get out and searching for me all by yourself? The nerves."

I stretched my shaking arms toward her, "Give me the pass."

She raised a black eyebrow, "To fasten your execution? Aren't you great here? You're not even dying, I don't see the problem."

I was afraid of her. She didn't even touch me since the beginning. But my body knew, I don't know-how, that I shouldn't approach her under any conditions.

Still, I had to.

"I can't die here without realizing my dreams."I closed my eyes, jumped on her, and snatched her card from her hands, "That's it, I've got it. I did it!"

"Unless you are planning to buy brand new pointe shoes with it, I don't know how you are going to realize any dream."

The grin on my face died. The true master card was in her other hand.

"You're kidding me again. You already hid the master card." I said.

"Maybe, maybe not. Take it and see it for yourself." She threw it in the air.

I threw the credit card on the ground and did a Saut de Chat.

The golden card wore the writing 'pass.' It was the real one! My key, my hope of escape! I was touching it with the tip of my fingertips. This time, that was the end of this gruesome story.

The card exploded under my fingers.

Her smile grew proportionally to the growth of my despair.

She put her Smith & Wesson back inside her jacket, "You know what. You are not getting out of this company. Never."

Her words brought me back to reality, like a spell, as if she slid the curtains protecting me from my five senses.

But now that I knew that all was lost, I could perceive it all the louder. Death, shouts.

The leopard cut the legs of someone running. Someone else engulfed the head of another inside a wall.

Human beings weren't supposed to do something like this. It was the antithesis of what I wanted. Nobody could rest in peace dying like this.

"Don't let anyone stop you from making your dreams a reality."

That was what Mom advised me before keeping up her fight against the government. She was never afraid, and when confronted with death. She would fight, beating a mountain with her own two hands. The blood of such an incredible woman was flowing in my veins. If only I could borrow a bit of strength, I could find a way for me and Jieung-yong to escape.

Oh, Jieung-yong. You were right. I was nothing more than a coward. This is not how I should act. I am Chihiye's son, the revolutionary woman. Even I could do something about my situation. Besides, I promised it to my Mom. She was right: I shouldn't give up on my dream. That was my utmost priority.

"I won't let anyone destroy me, Mom. No one."

At that moment, rage and feelings of an unprecedented intensity flowed in my heart. I didn't control who I was anymore. The last thing I remembered was throwing myself on a pillar. Everything went blank after this.

Up to this day, I have no clue how much I slept on the ground.

Making baby steps, I regained consciousness.

All around me, corpses slept for eternity. Broken pieces of rocks smashed human beings' limbs. No sounds other than my breath resounded.

Tears threatened to fall, "The pillar...Everything crashed down... Did I?"

I didn't even control myself anymore and threw up on my body.

A pair of hands clapped, and the leopard spoke in his low voice, "Winners of the last test are Yoh Song-ho and Lee Jieung-yong. Waw, you two truly make a pair, do you?"

With what was left of my strength, I turned my head toward him. He seemed to appreciate the results. Or maybe our pitiful lives were amusing him. I couldn't discern his expression anyway. He had undecipherable eyes, white and foggy, almost surreal.

Strangely enough, I wasn't feeling the lethal aura from before. What I was sure of, was that he didn't look like a predator at all. When he approached me, he was stuffing hands in his pocket and was humming some songs on his lips. Now he was nothing more than a cat.

The kitten gave me a tissue, "Keep calm, it's all finished. You'll have your answers now." He took a white ball from his saber pocket, "Want a candy?"

Confused as hell, I blinked my eyes. He ought to answer each question I had, then. I refused his offer and raised myself from the rocks.