Ghost Story Club

feeling uncomfortable—as if I was just breathing in my own carbon dioxide. 

It seemed like there was no more oxygen. 

 

“Haaak, haaaak.”

“Haaaa, haaa.
Does anything feel like it will open?”

“No, nothing… Sorry……”

 

SunAh had been on my shoulders, hitting the panels on the ceiling in hopes that something would open.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t find anything. 

 

“Haaaak, haaak.”

“Puuu- huuu… puuu- huuu……”

“Haaaaa, huuuuu.”

 

More time passed.

The three of us were just splayed out on the elevator floor, clutching our chests. 

 

“Puuu- huuu… puuu- huuu……”

 

As DukHun’s large body moved up and down, he was taking in air three times as much as a normal human would.
DukHun’s impact on our decreasing oxygen was probably the biggest. 

 

“Haaak, haaak.”

 

However, there was nothing we could do.
And it wasn’t like DukHun was the one that stopped the elevator.
In the end, the only difference was whether we died sooner or later. 

 

‘H-how did we get into this stupid situation…? Why was this situation so…’

 

As my consciousness began to get hazier, I started flailing my legs in frustration. 

 

“Huuuufff, huff…”

“Puuuu- huuu…”

 

I looked towards SunAh.
She was clutching her chest, breathing heavily, her face completely red. 

 

“Huuuuff, puff…”

“Huaaaa, huuuu…”

 

For some reason, SunAh’s face didn’t seem red because she was having difficulty breathing.
I thought it looked more like she was angry. 

She was trembling very slightly. 

 

“Puuuuu-huuuuu.
Puuuu-huuuu… Puuuuu, huuuuu…”

“Haaaa- haaak.”

’

 

SunAh’s glares started to feel like they could burn someone. 

Why was she so angry? 

 

“J-Joon.”

 

SunAh started muttering with her teeth clenched. 

 

“Joon……”

 

As I expected, she was blaming me.
There was no other way.
I was the one that had led these kids to their ultimate deaths.
After all, people didn’t tend to think about the root of the problem, instead expecting someone else to take responsibility or even shifting the blame. 

Suddenly…

 

“DON’T STEAL JOON’S OXYGEN!!!”

 

SunAh jumped up from where she had been leaning and dashed to where DukHun was, both of her hands aiming for his throat. 

 

“Mmmph! Mmmmph……!”

 

As the veins around his neck fat began to grow darker, his body started flailing, trying to get more air. 

 

“Aaaargh! Aaaaaaargh!”

“Mmph! Mmmmph.”

 

SunAh continued to choke the life out of him as she glared down at him.
Although she only seemed like she would be a third of DukHun’s mass, SunAh gripped his neck with monstrous strength from some unknown origin.

 

“Uaaah… uhhh….
S-SunAh… s-stop it……”

 

I powerlessly crawled over and tried to stop her, but her arms didn’t budge. 

 

“Uaaaaah! AAAAAH!”

“Mmmmmph… mmmph……”

 

She was so outraged that not even a speck of her normally timid image could be seen.
She had the strength of a monster. 

 

“S-SunAh… don’t do this……”

 

DukHun’s flailing arms smacked GyeongWon’s face. 

 

“Eurgh.” 

 

That sound must have finally signaled GyeongWon’s revival, as he was finally starting to move. 

 

“Where… is this place……?”

“Uaaaah….
Uhhh… G-GyeongWon… Uaaah……”

“P-prez! What’s going on?”

“The a-airtight seal… of the e-ele… v-vator… ahhh……”

“Wh-what?”

 

He jumped in surprise as he saw me crawling while clutching my chest. 

 

“E-elevator?! Oh, I got it! So, this is inside the broadcast station building!”

“Uaaaahhhh… Uhhhh……”

 

I felt like I couldn’t breathe any longer, so as I looked up at GyeongWon, I let my head drop back onto the floor. 

Right next to us, SunAh was still suffocating DukHun in a rage. 

It seemed like no one was in their right mind due to the lack of oxygen. 

 

“I-I c-can’t b-b-b-b-brea- …”

“You can’t breathe?! There’s no way that’s true.”

“Uaaaaaaaah”

 

As I was about to lose consciousness, I could vaguely hear the words GyeongWon had started to shout. 

 

“The fact that elevators are sealed air-tight is just an urban legend!”

“……”

 

My heartbeat went up drastically. 

What was this guy saying, when I could clearly feel how difficult it was to breathe. 

 

“……”

 

There was no more air.

I could feel my lungs physically craving oxygen. 

 

“Prez! Get your head on straight! No elevators available to civilians are sealed airtight! That’s a scientific fact!”

“……”

“All elevators have ventilation that allows air to travel freely in and out! It's the exact opposite of airtight, so get yourself together!”

“……”

 

At that instant, I could feel the walls of an assumption I had made come crashing down. 

 

Poof-

 

[You have come across and survived the C-rank Ghost Story – Elevator Asphyxiation Hoax]

’

[You have earned 10 Ghost Story Points.]

 

“Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuph!”

 

I could feel the fresh oxygen rush into my lungs and my cells screaming for joy. 

 

“Huu, haaa, huuuu, haaaaa, huuuu, haaa!”

 

I breathed in and out deeply and tried to catch my breath. 

The elevator suddenly jolted and the 44th floor label was gone, replaced with the numbers for the third floor. 

 

“Huu, haa, huu, haa! …Wh-what exactly happened?”

“It’s a mistaken assumption ghost story! You know, those ghost stories where someone trapped in an unplugged freezer freezes to death?”

“Oh my gosh! SunAh! What about SunAh?!”

 

We looked around and found SunAh and DukHun in a corner of the elevator.
We tried to shake them awake. 

 

“SunAh! Wake up!”

 

Once I turned her body face up, I could see that her extremely scary face had disappeared and she had returned to being adorable.
Her eyes were closed, and she looked like a sleeping baby chick.

I put my ear to her mouth to listen in.

 

“Haa, haa.”

 

Fortunately, she was still breathing. 

 

“SunAh, SunAh.”

“J-Joon……”

 

Once I shook her a bit, she started to wake up. 

 

“SunAh… I’m so glad.”

 

Then I hurried over to where DukHun laid.
He wasn’t breathing.
I thought hard to try and remember the first aid I learned in school before. 

As I looked at his blue face, I put my hands on the center of his chest and started to do chest compressions.
After a few reps, he finally started breathing again. 

 

“Cough, cough.”

“DukHun! Are you alright?”

“……”

 

Although he had started breathing again, he did not open his eyes.
He must have been unconscious. 

 

“G-get up, SunAh.
Do you think you can walk? Let’s get out of here.”

“Y-yeah……”

 

I quickly led SunAh and GyeongWon out of the elevator.
We dragged DukHun out as well and leaned him against the wall near the elevator entrance. 

 

‘It’s so weird, no matter how much I think about it.’

 

The current situation was definitely weird. 

Normally, a new ghost story would pop up only after the previous ghost story was resolved.
However, we had a D-rank and a C-rank ghost story, the Ghost Possessed Person and the Elevator Asphyxiation Hoax, show up. 

This was almost like……

Something was attacking us on purpose.

 

“This way!”

“Yeah!”

 

As we carefully looked around us, we could confirm that we were on the third floor.
We went up to a large guide map near the stairs that had information on each floor, but unfortunately there was nothing labeled as a dressing room.
I had just guessed that the dressing room mentioned in the hidden message in the song would be in the broadcast building, but I guess that was wrong.
I had been planning to visit the dressing room first……

 

“Prez, here!”

 

GyeongWon pointed at a corner of the third-floor map. 

 

[Dressing Room]

 

“Dressing Room!”

 

The floor we got off the elevator on just happened to have the dressing room.
I had used the lip-reading skill to find out from the youngest member of Fourincess that they would be on standby here in the dressing room just that morning.
The origin of the phenomenon, the girl group, Fourincess.
They were on the same floor as us. 

 

“Let’s see, dressing room, dressing room… I think we just have to turn the corner over there.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

 

The three of us carefully snuck over, pressing against the walls.
We could see a few people at the far end of the hallway, near the emergency exit, moving around while doing handstands. 

 

“Guys, let's go around this way so that we won’t get caught.”

“Yeah.”

 

***

 

“Y-young miss! How in the world… How did you get here……?”

“……”

“M-my apologies.
Since this area is dangerous… It would be best to hide……”

“……”

“Th-then, I’ll be going first……”

 

The President of the broadcasting company had run away after ending the conversation, but not long after that he was captured and dragged away by other people.