Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

The clock struck 11:45 PM. Han-young High School was as silent as a graveyard.

Se-yeon, Min-ah, Ji-woo, and Hana—four best friends—had lost track of time while studying late in the library. When they finally looked at the clock, horror struck them. School hours were long over.

"Hurry up! If the security guard catches us, we are dead," Se-yeon said, grabbing her backpack.

The four girls rushed down the dark stairs to the ground floor. But when they reached the main exit, their hearts sank. A heavy iron chain and a massive padlock barred the doors. The school was completely locked from the outside.

"No, no, no! We are trapped!" Min-ah whimpered, tears welling up in her eyes as she grabbed Hana’s arm.

"Stop crying, Min-ah! Hana, get your phone out and call the police," Ji-woo commanded, trying to hide the panic in her own voice.

Hana unlocked her phone with trembling fingers, but her face went pale. "There's no network... zero signal!"

Suddenly, the school’s automatic PA speakers crackled to life. Screeech...

A heavy, distorted sound of breathing echoed through the empty corridors. Then, a row of metal lockers down the hallway began to rattle violently, as if someone—or something—was trapped inside, screaming to get out.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The girls screamed and huddled together, holding onto each other for dear life.

At that exact microsecond, all four of their phones buzzed simultaneously. A text notification lit up their screens from an unknown number. It was the same message sent to all four of them:

'Welcome to the Night Shift. The game begins now. If you want to survive until sunrise, do not look back.'

Right at that moment, from the darkness directly behind them, came the wet, squishing sound of bare footsteps...

Squish... squish...

Se-yeon's heart pounded against her ribs. She gripped Ji-woo's hand so tightly her knuckles turned white. The freezing cold draft on the back of their necks became unbearable. It smelled heavily of old, rotting lake water.

"Don't turn around," Se-yeon whispered, her voice barely audible. "Whatever you do, keep looking at the door."

But the footsteps stopped exactly behind Min-ah. Min-ah began to shake, her eyes fixed on the glass window of the locked main door. In the dark reflection of the glass, she saw something that made her breath stop.

Standing right behind them was a tall shadow. Its arms were unnaturally long, dripping with dark water, and its head was tilted at an impossible, broken angle. In the reflection, its pale, featureless face suddenly twisted into a wide, terrifying grin.

"Run!" Ji-woo screamed, breaking the silence.

The four girls didn't look back. They sprinted toward the main staircase, their shoes squeaking against the polished floor. Behind them, a loud, bone-chilling shriek echoed through the corridor, followed by the sound of something dragging its heavy, wet body up the stairs at an unbelievable speed.

They scrambled up to the fourth floor, desperate to find a place to hide. Every classroom door they slammed their hands against was tightly locked. The footsteps were coming up the stairs.

Then, at the very end of the dark hallway, the door to Classroom 4-B slowly creaked open on its own, revealing pitch-black emptiness inside.

With the terrifying sounds closing in, the girls ran inside the room and slammed the door shut, locking it from the inside. They collapsed onto the floor, trembling in the dark.

Their phones buzzed again in perfect unison. A new message appeared:

'Rule #1: You are temporary safe inside Classroom 4-B. But do not answer the door, even if it sounds like a voice you know.'

Suddenly, three slow, loud knocks rattled the wood of the classroom door.

Knock... Knock... Knock...

From the other side, a tearful, terrified voice called out. "Girls? Please open the door... It's me, Hana. I got left behind in the corridor! Please let me in, it's right behind me!"

Se-yeon's blood ran cold. She slowly turned her head in the darkness. Hana was sitting right next to her, holding her own phone.

If Hana was inside the room... who was crying outside the door?

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