Seoul Object Story Chapter 36

༺ The Steel Tower (4) ༻

 

 

  My breath grew ragged as I sprinted through the dark hallway, having to strain my eyes just to see what lay just inches ahead. 

 

  The beam of my flashlight swayed to all directions as I ran, mirroring my state of mind. 

 

  All of my colleagues were caught by something and burned to death.

 

  Just what in the world is that? A ghost? Or an Object?

 

  Crash-!

 

  Was it because the hallway was too dark?

 

  Or was it because of some other reason?

 

  In the end, I tripped over something sticking out of the floor and rolled over.

 

  “Heok, heok.” I struggled to breathe properly, as I realized that the flashlight had disappeared from my hand. 

 

  Frantically, I searched for the dropped flashlight, but it was nowhere to be found.

 

  Had it been damaged from the impact?

 

  Finding it seemed impossible in this pitch-black hallway.

 

  I desperately clutched my trembling knees, fighting off the waves of tension and fear. With great effort, I forced myself to my feet, and pressed on. 

 

  There were neither any windows nor was there a light. 

 

  It was a dark hallway with not a single source of light. Furthermore, the uneven floor riddled with dents and protrusions, threatened to send me sprawling with every step. 

 

  The extreme tension wracked my body, I couldn’t stop sweating.

 

  As the dampness clung to my back, I cautiously moved forward.

 

  Guided by the wall at my side, I shuffled along, my hands outstretched to prevent another fall. 

 

  But this hallway… it shouldn’t be this long!

 

  Why on earth was it so long?

 

  I couldn’t see even the end of the hallway, as if it stretched on endlessly.

 

  Cough cough, I gasped for breath.

 

  I feel dizzy.

 

  ‘!’

 

  Step-! Step-!

 

  Suddenly, the sound of bare feet hitting the floor echoed through the hallway that was filled with only silence.

 

  Walking with no shoes in a building like this?

 

  I stopped, taking a deep breath, and turned my gaze towards the source of the sound. 

 

  There, I saw a flickering light, swaying like a ghostly Object.

 

  Something… Something is coming!

 

  “Heok, heok.” 

 

  I desperately covered my mouth with both hands, trying to stifle my breathing, but the sound persisted, refusing to be silenced. 

 

  Step-! Step-!

 

  The footsteps drew closer and closer.

 

  What should I do?

 

  The end of the hallway glowed with an ominous hue, reminiscent of sulfuric flames that led souls to the underworld. 

 

  Should I run away?

 

  Should I return to the place where my colleague burned to death?

 

  Or should I hide somewhere?

 

  Even as I tried to breathe, I kept feeling out of breath.

 

  Even though I understood that I was hyperventilating, I still struggled to breathe properly.

 

  My ears rang, drowning out all other sounds.

 

  And the copious amount of sweat blurred my vision, making it difficult to keep my eyes open. 

 

  I’m… So out of breath.

 

  Cough, Co-cough!

 

***

 

  As I passed by the whimpering female ghost, who was scratching the walls, what appeared before me was an incredibly long hallway.

 

  It was a messy hallway, littered with many dents as if the floor had been broken, while things like chairs and desks were haphazardly strewn about. 

 

  With no windows or light sources, the hallway remained shrouded in darkness, like a darkroom. To make matters worse, numerous obstacles littered the ground, making it a treacherous path to navigate. 

 

  Unless one could shoot light out of their eyes like me, a flashlight was a must!

 

  About halfway down the hallway, I spotted a blue-faced man laying on the floor.

 

  He appeared to be gasping for breath. However, as soon as he saw me entering the hallway, he fainted.

 

  Upon closer inspection, I realized that the man was not breathing and his heart had stopped beating. 

 

  What the? Did he suffer a heart attack just from seeing me?

 

  Reacting quickly, I jumped forward and stepped on the man.

 

  I jumped again, this time landing a firm stomp on his chest. 

 

  Thud-! Thud-! Thud-!

 

  After repeating it for a few more times, the man started to cough and breathe again.

 

  I would have felt remorseful if he had died, so I did some basic first aid.

 

  Although his condition seemed to stabilize, he remained unconscious, likely due to the hardships he had endured.

 

  Leaving the peacefully sleeping man behind, his breathing steady, I resumed my journey into the depths of the hallway.

 

***

 

  Letters written in blood were slowly materialized on the wall.

 

 

 

 

  The writing would have been pretty creepy If I couldn’t see ghostly Objects.

 

  The font also really gave a ghostly feeling, but that was probably because it had been selected specifically for scaring. 

 

  However, the one who was writing it was a little boy.

 

  Come to think of it, shouldn’t I be more scared as I could see ghosts?

 

  As I took a closer look at the boy, I noticed his eyes had been gouged out, blood dripping from the wounds.

 

  Why am I not scared? As the thought crossed my mind, something occurred to me. 

 

  Though I initially believed them to be real ghosts, deep down, I could feel it. 

 

  They were also Objects, like me.

 

  The boy in front of me, as well as the crying woman at the entrance, were both Objects.

 

  Hmmm, from the perspective of an Object, it was kind of difficult to get scared because of another Object.

 

  Perhaps noticing that I kept looking at him, the boy disappeared into the wall.

 

  The creepy writing on the wall also disappeared along with him,

 

  From my perspective, this abandoned building was practically a haunted house.

 

  I hoped that in the future, they would consider preparing attractions specifically designed for people who could see ghosts. 

 

  Thud-! Thud-!

 

  Suddenly, the sound of hurried footsteps echoed from within the deserted building.

 

  Looking for the source of the sound, I found a young girl stomping her feet in an empty room.

 

  The moment the ghost girl discovered me, she became startled and quickly retreated into the wall. 

 

  This abandoned building was a pretty interesting attraction, but the problem was that it didn’t make any effort to hide its true nature. 

 

  As I walked further into the depths of the building, I saw a man slowly approaching me.

 

  The man came close to me and mumbled in an incomprehensible voice, before moving away from me when I turned around.

 

  The reason for his mumbling seemed to be the scarf wrapped around his tongue.

 

  Why did he wear a scarf like that?

 

  As I continued to advance deeper and deeper into the building, I finally arrived at what appeared to be the main attraction.

 

  The pungent smell of charred remains filled the air, as if something had just been burned.

 

  A staircase leading to a dark basement that seemed to reject light itself.

 

  Scorched lumps of unidentifiable objects, their original forms made unrecognizable by the intense flames.

 

  They at least got the atmosphere right.

 

  Step by step, I went down the stairs, my heart pounding in anticipation.

 

  As I rounded a corner, a burnt man suddenly popped out of nowhere.

 

  The man, engulfed in flames, stretched out his hand as if he was trying to strangle me.

 

  Then, our eyes met.

 

  Moments later, he slowly lowered his hand.

 

  Though the fire obscured his expression, I could tell that he gave off an air of embarrassment, as he disappeared into the wall.

 

  As I looked back up, I saw a lot of burnt men standing at the top of the stairs.

 

  Maybe they were meant to surprise people if they ran back up?

 

  When I met their eyes, I could feel the men on top of the stairs running away as well.

 

  At that moment, I understood the haunted house attraction ended at the foot of the stairs.

 

  What a pity.

 

***

 

  As I descended into the basement, I could see a row of containment rooms stretch along the long hallway.

 

  It was a typical full-fledged experiment room.

 

  Unfortunately, the ghosts that had appeared on the ground floor were nowhere to be seen. 

 

  Gradually, I became more and more convinced that the creator of the combined Object was human.

 

  The scattered papers strewn about seemed as if they had been scattered on purpose, but there was not much I could learn from it.

 

  Most of the tools left in the containment room were gruesome things like drills and giant saws.

 

  It seemed that they primarily experimented with amputating human limbs with those tools, and replacing them with various Objects. 

 

  However, there was a key ingredient that kept appearing in the reports.

 

  Golden Horns.

 

  Although they were Objects, they could be easily melted and fashioned into things, just like gold.

 

  However, handling Golden Horns was illegal in Korea.

 

  It was because the Golden Horns could only be harvested from human heads.

 

  Of course, thanks to the fact that the Object could be easily processed or researched even if illegally, incidents involving Golden Horns continued to happen. 

 

  On top of that, crimes such as knocking people unconscious with bricks and cutting off their Horns continued to happen.

 

  It all clicked into place when I got here.

 

  The zombie’s golden heart was made of these Golden Horns.

 

  With that realization, I decided to press forward. 

 

  In the deepest room underground, I saw a lot of familiar faces.

 

  The little boy with hollow eyes who wrote on the wall. 

 

  The weeping woman at the entrance.

 

  The mumbling man with his scarf.

 

  The charred men.

 

  And the girl stomping her feet.

 

  They were all locked in mechanical contraptions and turned into zombies while being hung on hooks like pigs in a slaughterhouse.

 

 The zombies’ distorted expressions now made sense. 

 

  The golden heart kept them bound here.

 

  Behind the zombies hanging on the hooks, was a man pinned to a chair.

 

  He was a fat man donned in a lab coat. Judging by his attire, he seemed to belong to this research institute. 

 

  However, with wires protruding from his lifeless body, it was unclear whether he really belonged here. 

 

  Upon closer inspection, I realized that this guy was the real body of all the zombies. His body was riddled with a lot of golden hearts. 

 

  In fact, all of his internal organs had been replaced with golden hearts.

 

  The killing condition was simple, though.

 

 

  I stepped on the wire, severing the electrical connection. 

 

  In an explosive burst, the man in the lab coat disintegrated, scattering the golden hearts in every direction.

 

  The zombies hanging on the hooks simultaneously turned into ashes and disappeared.

 

  All that remained were the skull of the man in the lab coat and the golden hearts that had scattered everywhere. 

 

  I guess this was the end of the Steel Tower case.

 

  Tracking down the evil organization responsible for this experiment would probably be done by other people.

 

  That’s what I thought as I heard multiple footsteps and vehicles approaching from upstairs.