DNLYHS Chapter 5 (Part 2)

5. Fifth Day (2)

“Ghosts, probably? If they were originally shaped like a projector, then they should be visible even without light….”

“……”

“But do ghosts these days attack with sheer numbers? Why are there… so many?”

Yeonseo muttered with his face stiffened awkwardly. He tried to joke because he didn’t want to look scared, but his legs were trembling.

He had no idea what they were. Those “ghosts” weren’t grotesque; they weren’t even looking at them, and they didn’t seem to mean any harm. But regardless of whether there was a real threat, the sheer pressure of witnessing something incomprehensible was choking him.

He needed to observe more to understand what was happening. With that determination, Yeonseo stayed rooted in place and shone the flashlight deeper inside. The machine room looked bigger than expected, with a lot to check. And despite being called a “machine room,” they still hadn’t seen a single machine inside…

But the moment his light reached the back of the room, Yeonseo screamed before he could stop himself.

“Wh-what is that…!”

A massive gear-like machine was turning at the very back of the room. No, calling it a machine wasn’t even accurate. What stood there resembled an obscene structure built using human bodies rather than machinery.

The “materials” appeared to be the students he’d seen when they first entered the cafeteria. Pitch-black silhouettes wearing blood-soaked uniforms had their limbs severed and torsos ripped open, their bodies stuffed into place like parts. Gears made of bones and circuits covered in strands of hair, wires made from tendons, all of it moved slowly under the dim flashlight.

The way the machine writhed sluggishly was almost…

‘It looks alive.’

Stunned by the overwhelming sight, Yeonseo suddenly remembered something he would have preferred not to.

‘Wait.’

Hadn’t the cafeteria students said so? That they couldn’t die…. The moment he looked back at the machine with that in mind, Yeonseo faced a terrible truth.

“U-uh….”

The students making up the machine were still alive. They simply lacked the vocal cords to scream and the strength to struggle. They were being sacrificed, limbs hacked off, bodies shredded, to keep the machine turning while still conscious.

The instant Yeonseo realized that and gasped, Yeongwon suddenly yanked his arm.

“We need to run. We shouldn’t stay here.”

“What? But…!”

“It was written in yesterday’s Code of Conduct! If you enter a room with a bunch of identical people, leave immediately, and if you accidentally go in, don’t ever activate the machine, just run!”

So this was what it meant. Yeongwon shouted, almost like he was screaming as he dragged Yeonseo.

Then the school nurse’s words earlier must have been right. The marking on the west hallway of the first floor, was it a trap meant to lure people into danger…?

“W-wait! Did it say anything about what that machine actually is?”

“Have you ever seen a Code of Conduct that detailed?! It never explains things that nicely! But you can tell it’s dangerous just by looking at it! Don’t you see the person shoved into the top of that thing?!”

Someone stuck at the top? Yeonseo hadn’t looked that far, so he glanced up without thinking.

There was indeed an inlet-like opening near the top, and a person was stuck inside it upside down. Because the whole structure was made of body parts, it hadn’t stood out at first.

But now that he noticed, the figure was clear. The person was probably one of the janitor ghosts. The upper body was already swallowed, but it was obvious, his body was half-transparent, and unlike the students, his pale ankles and gray sneakers were identical to those of the other janitors.

“A machine that eats people? But for what…? And why a janitor…?”

“The machine’s motives don’t matter right now! Can’t you tell this space is too dangerous to examine any further? Let’s get out first and figure things out later. We’ll open the sleeping quarters in another way!”

Yeongwon was shouting now, almost in a panic.

Yeonseo knew it too. This situation was undeniably dangerous. But the more he thought about it, the more it bothered him….

‘There are nine janitors here. Today is Day 5, and there are nine days left until the escape date, Day 14.’

It might mean nothing. Maybe it was all a coincidence. But Yeonseo couldn’t shake the thought that perhaps one janitor was being “used up” each day, specifically, being fed to that machine.

Even the students forming the machine’s parts were writhing in clear agony. It made him doubt they were consuming the janitors because they wanted to….

“What are you being so relaxed about?! Don’t tell me you’re getting lured in?!”

Yeongwon finally lost his patience, shouting as he dragged Yeonseo outside. And just before the door closed, the flashlight in Yeonseo’s hand jerked wildly and pointed up at the ceiling.

“…Huh?”

The moment his gaze hit the ceiling, Yeonseo flinched, eyes widening. Someone had hastily scrawled a message there, as if painted in a rush.

One wish requires seven days’ worth of ego. A human who uses more than half their ego can’t stay sane. Stop the janitor. If you want to save him

Wish? Ego? Before he could even process those unfamiliar words, the final line slammed into his mind. Yeonseo froze in place without realizing it.

Yeongwon also seemed to notice the writing, because he didn’t immediately yank him away again. Staring at the ceiling, he murmured:

“Wait, so if that writing is true, that machine grants wishes? By sacrificing a person’s ego?”

“Maybe it’s similar to the vault machine in the nurse’s office? That one used a person’s memories as ingredients for medicine.”

Not that he wanted to use this machine. But Yeonseo couldn’t help recalling what the broadcast said yesterday, that they had entered this place of their own will, and were expected to take what they wanted from here….

“It’s one of two things. Either this room is a trap and the writing is fake, or it’s all real but extremely dangerous.”

“…That’s right.”

“If it’s the latter, then we can’t just leave the janitor as he is. He helped us before.”

Yeongwon muttered this while glaring at the machine. And Yeonseo realized something: even though he spoke that way, once he acknowledged the possibility that it was real, there was no way he would run.

If they ran now and later learned this place wasn’t a trap, Yeongwon would never forgive himself. He complained all the time, but when it came to things like this, he was painfully soft-hearted….

How could he help him? As he thought about it, something occurred to Yeonseo, and he looked at Yeongwon.

“I want to ask you one thing, Yeongwon. Give me a clear answer.”

“What is it?”

“That Code of Conduct you mentioned. It said, ‘If you enter a room filled with identical people, it’s better to run instead of activating the machine,’ right? Was that everything? It didn’t say you must run, correct?”

“That’s all it said. There wasn’t any ‘you’ll be violating the rules if you don’t run’ kind of nuance.”

“Nothing about not touching the machine’s surface, or not approaching it?”

“…I don’t think it went that far.”

Then the key point was “activating” it. Once he understood that, Yeonseo sensed they still had options. Meaning…

“There was definitely nothing about not removing the janitor ghost stuck at the top of the machine, right?”

The moment he said it, Yeongwon’s eyes widened in confusion.

But Yeonseo thought it was a pretty good idea. They still had to follow the Code. However, since the notebook always phrased things vaguely on purpose, interpreting the rules was up to them.

“I’ll go. Yeongwon, stay here and watch the situation just in case!”

He said that and immediately tried to run forward. But instead of letting go, Yeongwon stepped into the machine room with him in large strides.

“Don’t talk nonsense! Did you forget we agreed to stick together the moment we stepped underground?!”

“Uh, but…”

“We go together. Besides, how are you planning to climb to the top of that thing alone? You’re tiny! You can’t even get up there unless someone gives you a boost!”

“I’m not that small, you’re just unnecessarily tall!”

What on earth did he look like through that man’s eyes? Yeonseo was baffled, but he still ran toward the machine together with Yeongwon.

It certainly did look difficult to climb alone. Up close, the machine was so large that parts of it were attached to the ceiling.

At first, he thought he could just grab one of the protruding parts and climb up, but the students’ bodies that made up the machine were ragged and unstable, looking like they would tear apart with the slightest pull. And since they didn’t know which part counted as the “activation switch,” touching anything carelessly was dangerous.

Yeongwon bent down in front of Yeonseo, taking position.

“Alright, step on me. No matter how weak you are, you can probably pull one person out, right?”

“I can do at least that! What do you take me for…!”

Yeonseo stepped onto Yeongwon’s shoulders with both feet and tried his best to keep his balance so he wouldn’t fall.

“There! I’ve got him…!”

He wasn’t great with balance, so it took some effort, but fortunately, Yeonseo managed to grab the janitor ghost’s legs. Then he pulled with all his strength.

He thought the body would come out quickly, but something must have been stuck inside, because the upper body wouldn’t slide out of the machine easily.

“Is it no good? You can’t pull him out?”

“No, I think he’ll come out if I use a bit more strength! Just hold on a little longer!”

If the body weren’t budging at all, he might have given up, but he could feel it moving little by little, so he had no choice but to keep trying.

As he continued pulling, strands of hair and bits of fabric snapped with soft, tearing sounds, and the upper body of the woman began to come out inch by inch.

“There! Just a little more…!”

Yeonseo shouted and used the last of his strength.

Finally, with a sound like a bundle of tendons snapping at once, the janitor’s body was completely freed. The sudden shift in weight sent Yeonseo tumbling to the floor, the janitor crashing down with him.

“Ow… ow ow ow…!”

“Are you alright, Yeonseo? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“It hurts, but ugh, I think I’m okay! More importantly, check the janitor first! How is he?”

From what he had glimpsed as they fell, at least the upper body was still intact. There was some dark, reddish-black fluid smeared on him, whether it was blood or something else, he couldn’t tell….

Hopefully he was alive. Ideally, capable of conversation. As Yeonseo lifted himself up with that thought…

“Wait. I don’t think he’s the one we need to worry about right now…!”

Crack. Another tendon bundle snapped loudly, drowning out Yeongwon’s voice. In that instant, Yeonseo realized something was wrong.

The machine, which had been completely silent earlier, was now making continuous sounds of tearing and distortion. And then…

“T-the ceiling…?!”

The concrete ceiling began collapsing with a deafening roar.

As if pulling out the janitor had triggered something.

* * *

“I have a bad feeling. I think the outside is…!”

Yeongwon staggered to his feet and sprinted toward the door. But the ominous noise coming from the hallway was much faster than he was.

With a roar, something in the hallway collapsed, shaking the entire room. The moment Yeongwon opened the door, a massive wave of dust burst inward. Yeonseo, unable to stand properly as the ground trembled, still managed to roughly understand what was happening outside.

“Yeongwon! Don’t tell me the hallway’s blocked?!”

“It’s completely blocked! The path to the upstairs stairs, and even the way to the sleeping quarters…!”

That made no sense. All they did was pull one person out of the machine…! Yeonseo, stunned, looked at the machine.

Perhaps because the person had been pulled out of its inlet, the machine was twisting its huge body far more violently than before. As if the mouthless students were trying to scream in whatever way they could.

The bodies of the students, acting as gears, pistons, and all kinds of components, were being dismantled, pounding the ceiling in a chaotic rhythm. The stronger the machine thrashed, the more rapidly the ceiling began to crumble. The machine room was large, so it wasn’t collapsing entirely yet, but it was only a matter of time.

“Sorry! Because I suggested that earlier…!”

“Don’t apologize so halfheartedly. I agreed to that plan too, so we share the responsibility!”

Yeongwon shouted firmly, though he clearly couldn’t hide his fear. Even if they shared responsibility, it meant nothing if they couldn’t find a way to escape. The hallway had fallen in, and there was no way out…

And then it happened. The ghost janitor who had been lying limply on the floor suddenly gasped and drew a shaky breath, slowly opening his eyes.

“Oh, are you… okay?”

Yeonseo and Yeongwon hurried to support him, but the janitor only looked around blankly. He clearly didn’t understand what was going on, why nine people who looked just like him were standing around, or why two strange men were in front of him as soon as he woke up.

“Hey, you’re a janitor, right? Do you know how to stop the ceiling from collapsing?”

“……”

“I know it’s sudden, but at this rate, all three of us will die! We came here to save you! If we left you, you could have died!”

Yeongwon shook him urgently, but the janitor only blinked repeatedly. It wasn’t just distrust of the sudden intruders; his cloudy eyes and slack expression made it clear his cognitive ability wasn’t functioning properly yet.

Did he even understand their words? Could he hear them at all? At that moment, Yeonseo realized there was an important test they needed to try.

“Wait, Yeongwon! He might not be able to hear us!”

“What?”

Without hesitation, Yeonseo pulled out his permanent marker. The line from the Code of Conduct…”Do not show others your recording”, crossed his mind, but now wasn’t the time to worry about that. All he could do was hope that writing for communication didn’t count as “recording” under the rule.

I am the Librarian. We came to save you and pulled your upper body out of that machine. We need a way to escape before the ceiling collapses.