The sound of creaking echoed from somewhere down the corridor. slow. Methodical. Not claws, something heavier. Like a door opening.

They pressed against the wall, hearts pounding. Jungkook's fingers clenched around the knife so tight his knuckles ached.

A shadow flickered past the far end of the hallway. Just a shape. Human-like. Slow.

"Did you see that?" Mira whispered.

"Yeah," Jungkook breathed.

"We shouldn't have come here," Namjoon whispered.

Taehyung and Jungkook looked at Namjoon in annoyance.

The figure disappeared into the darkness near the vending stalls. The air grew thicker, like the floor itself was holding it's breath.

Jungkook gestured with his hand. Move.

They crept past the bookstore, stepping carefully to avoid crunching on loose, fallen glass. Soohee's heartbeat was so loud she swore it would give them away.

Then - a bang.

One of the vending machines slammed against the wall, as if something had struck it from the inside. Mira let out a soft cry, and Namjoon covered her mouth instantly. The shadow reappeared, closer now.

It wasn't one of the creatures. Not like before. This one stood upright. But it's head was tilted too far to the side, its arms slack like a puppet with broken strings.

It turned toward them, and for a second, Taehyung thought he saw its eyes, black pits, empty.

Jungkook didn't wait for it to come closer. He gestured frantically toward the emergency exit door at the other end of the corridor.

They ran.

The sound that followed wasn't footsteps. It was a scrape. A dragging, twitching rhythm that chased them down the hallway. Taehyung's lungs burned as he reached the door, throwing it open with a crash.

Mira, Soohee, and Namjoon stumbled in behind them. Jungkook slammed it shut.

The sound on the other side stopped.

For a moment, the only thing that existed was their ragged breathing and the hollow thud of their racing hearts.

Jungkook pressed his forehead to the cold metal door, whispering, "I think they are standing on the other side of the door."

Mira stared at the dim staircase leading downward, her knife slick in her hand.

One hundred and twenty floors.

No map.

No sense of time.

And whatever these things were... they weren't just waiting... they are waiting to kill them all.

The emergency door trembled for a heartbeat after Jungkook slammed it shut.

Not from force, from the air itself, vibrating with a low, unnatural hum. A hum that faded as quickly as it came, swallowed by the suffocating silence of the stairwell leading downward.

Mira's hand was still pressed around the knife handle, her palm slick with cold sweat. Mira and Namjoon huddled near the railing, eyes wild, breaths uneven. Jungkook pushed gently against the door one more time, testing.

It didn't budge.

Nothing pushed back. They are trying to get in.

But Taehyung didn't trust the quiet. He could feel it, that thing on the other side hadn't left. It was waiting.

Jungkook turned towards the others. "We keep moving."

Others nodded simultaneously, forcing their legs to do what their brains didn't want to: step toward the next flight of stairs. The stairwell felt narrower than before, as if the walls had inched closer while they were distracted. The emergency lights were dimmer, barely glowing red through the thick layer of dust now coating the bulbs.

Taehyung brushed his fingers along the handrail as he descended. Dust came off the clumps.

"This wasn't here," he whispered.

Jungkook stopped. "What?"

Taehyung held up his hand. "The dust. The stairs were clean when we came up before."

Namjoon swallowed. "So the building is... changing?"

Taehyung didn't answer. Because deep down, he wasn't sure what to say.

Mira's voice cracked softly. "Can we just... go faster?"

They did. Not running, but each step carried urgency. The stairwell groaned softly with each footfall, a metallic echo that felt too loud, bouncing upward as though climbing back to the 123rd floor behind them.

At the 120th-floor landing, the emergency door was slightly ajar.

Just a sliver.

A thin, black line.

Like something had slipped through moments ago.

Jungkook raised his steel rod, breathing quietly. "Stay close."

Soohee, Taehyung, Mira, and Namjoon leaned in a queue behind just enough to see.

The corridor beyond was lit by pale red lights, flickering weakly. Papers, boxes, flyers, and receipts lay scattered everywhere. Soohee squinted.

Mira stepped closer. "What happened—"

A whisper rose from somewhere down the corridor.

A single word.

Soft. Child-like.

"...hello...?"

Soohee's blood went cold.

Namjoon grabbed Mira's arm. "No. No, we're not going out there."

The whisper came again, clearer this time, echoing off the walls, but not child-like, it groaned.

"...hello...?"

It wasn't a voice speaking to them. It was a voice remembering. Repeating. Like an echo trapped in the walls.

Soohee backed away from the door and shook her head. "We're not stopping here."

Jungkook didn't argue. He pulled the door shut, careful not to let it slam. Something about this floor felt... wrong in a different way. The whispering came from nowhere and everywhere all at once, a floor that remembered voices it had heard before.

A floor that heard them now.

They descended again.

The stairwell got darker the lower they went.

The emergency light flickers more frequently, sometimes going out completely for a heartbeat, just enough for them to feel the suffocating blackness press around them before the light returns in a dull red pulse.

On the 118th floor landing, the light blinked out again.

Total darkness.

Soohee felt Jungkook's hand grab her wrist instinctively.

She didn't breathe.

None of them did.

Nothing. Just stairs.

But on the next lower step... a trail of something thick and dark smeared across the concrete. Not fresh. Half-dried. Like blood that had been there for hours or days.

HELLO LOVELIES, PLEASE READ MY STORY, COMMENT ALL YOUR THOUGHTS, VOTE, FOLLOW AND SHARE THIS AMONG YOUR FRIENDS TOO!

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