Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Five-Minute Hunt and The Double

"Only five minutes!" Hana panicked, holding up her phone screen with shaking hands. Her fingers were trembling so violently that she almost dropped the device. A terrifying countdown timer was ticking down right before their eyes on the bright display—04:59... 04:58... 04:57... Time was slipping away like cold water.Ji-woo held her bruised, painful wrist tightly and forced herself to stand up against the wall. "We need to find that hidden iron key no matter what happens. If the darkness returns to this room, that monster will definitely try to get inside again. We won't survive a second time."Se-yeon quickly scanned the entire messy classroom. The room was huge and filled with obstacles. It had over thirty broken wooden desks, a large teacher's platform, an old tall wooden cupboard in the corner, and a big notice board at the very back. The key could be hidden anywhere in this mess."Min-ah, you and Hana check inside the student desks right now! Ji-woo, you and I will search the teacher's desk and the old cupboard. Hurry, we don't have time!" Se-yeon commanded loudly.The four girls tore through the room in absolute panic. The digital timer on the screen was dropping incredibly fast—03:12... 03:11...Hana and Min-ah checked inside the wooden desks one by one, throwing their hands deep into the dark, dusty compartments. Old forgotten books, thick layers of grey dust, and creepy spiderwebs came flying out into the air. "There's nothing here! It's completely empty!" Min-ah cried out, her young voice cracking with pure fear.Meanwhile, Se-yeon ripped open all the locked drawers of the teacher's desk with brute force. There was nothing inside except old white chalk and pieces of attendance registers. She quickly turned around and yanked open the doors of the old wooden cupboard. A foul, rotting smell immediately hit her nose—it was the exact same sickening scent that had come from the monster's cold hand.The timer was now at 01:30. The fluorescent tube lights on the ceiling suddenly began to flicker violently, threatening to shut off and leave them helpless."We have to hurry up!" Ji-woo shouted loudly, tossing out old papers and files from inside the smelly cupboard. Finally, at the very bottom corner, her hand hit something solid. She spotted a small iron box. "Se-yeon! Look at this!" Ji-woo pulled the heavy box out. It was securely locked with a four-digit combination pad."What could the password be?" Hana asked, running over to them. Her phone vibrated violently again. The timer was down to just 45 seconds. A final clue from the unknown mysterious number appeared on her screen: 'The price of betrayal is always zero.'Se-yeon's mind raced through the clues. "Betrayal... zero... and this room is Classroom 4-B!" she gasped loudly, her eyes widening. "Number 4 means death in Korea, and the student from the school's past was betrayed right here in this room!"Se-yeon quickly spun the plastic dials on the lock, entering the secret numbers: 4 - 0 - 4 - 0.CLACK.The lock snapped open beautifully! Inside lay an old, rusted iron key. "I found it! I actually found it!" Se-yeon grabbed the cold key. At that exact microsecond, the countdown timer hit 00:00.BZZZ... CLICK.The bright lights in Classroom 4-B died instantly. The room plunged back into a heavy, freezing darkness.But the silence didn't last. From the other side of the broken glass door, Se-yeon’s own voice echoed, giggling creepily. "Did you find the key, friends? Now open the door for me..."Min-ah squealed loudly, covering her ears in horror. "Se-yeon... why does it sound exactly like you?"Se-yeon gripped the cold iron key in her uniform pocket, her mind racing. "Because it's a dangerous trap. It wants us to panic. Don't listen to it."Suddenly, Hana’s phone buzzed again in her hand. The screen's faint glow lit up their pale, terrified faces. A brand new text message from the unknown number appeared:'Rule #4: The Mok-so-ri cannot enter through a locked door on its own. But it will try to make one of you turn against the others. Do not leave anyone behind.'"Look over there!" Ji-woo whispered sharply, pointing toward the front door. Through the faint moonlight filtering through the window, they saw the large shadow outside shift. It wasn't trying to break the door handle anymore. Instead, it was slowly crawling up toward the open window gap above the door frame.Slither... squish..."It's trying to climb over the top!" Hana panicked."The back exit," Se-yeon said, pulling her friends up. "There is an old emergency exit door hidden right behind the teacher's blackboard. The key must belong to that!"They scrambled through the dark toward the front blackboard. Se-yeon's hands shook violently as she felt around the dusty wooden wall behind the board. Her fingers hit cold metal. A small, hidden iron door. She shoved the rusted key into the tight lock.Creeeak... Click.The lock turned, and the heavy wooden panel slid open, revealing a narrow, pitch-black emergency staircase leading downwards."Go! Go! " Ji-woo urged, pushing Min-ah and Hana inside the dark opening first. Just as Se-yeon was about to step through, a freezing, wet hand grabbed her ankle from the darkness of the classroom floor. The grip was like heavy ice, pulling her backward onto the dusty floor."Se-yeon!" Ji-woo screamed, turning back in terror.In the dim light of Hana's phone, they saw the horrible entity. It had dragged its long, twisted body halfway through the broken door panel. Its face was still a blurry shadow, but its milky white eyes were fixed right on Se-yeon. And then, it spoke again. But it didn't use Se-yeon's voice this time. It used Min-ah’s voice, crying out from the hallway, "Help me! I'm still out here!"Ji-woo looked down at the staircase where the real Min-ah was standing, and then looked back at the monster. The psychological game was tearing them apart. Se-yeon kicked wildly with her free leg, hitting the monster's cold wrist. "Ji-woo, smash the door panel! Shut it now!"Ji-woo didn't hesitate. She grabbed the heavy wooden chair and slammed it down with all her strength onto the monster’s arm. A sickening crack echoed through the room. The entity let out a low hiss and yanked its arm back. Se-yeon scrambled to her feet, diving through the hidden door panel. Ji-woo slammed the blackboard exit shut behind them and bolted it tightly.They were now standing on the pitch-black emergency staircase. The only light came from Hana’s phone screen."Is everyone okay?" Se-yeon gasped, rubbing her bruised ankle."I-I'm fine," Ji-woo panted."Me too," Hana whispered.But no one answered from the bottom of the stairs. Se-yeon quickly grabbed Hana’s phone and shone the flashlight down the narrow staircase to check on Min-ah. The beam of light cut through the darkness, and the girls froze in sheer terror.At the bottom of the stairs, there were two Min-ahs standing side by side. They looked identical, wore the exact same uniform, and both were crying, pointing at each other. In perfect unison, both Min-ahs screamed, "Se-yeon, help me! She is the monster!"Suddenly, Hana’s phone vibrated violently. A new text message popped up on the screen, but the sender wasn't the unknown number anymore. The message was sent from Min-ah's own phone. Se-yeon looked at the message, her breath stopping entirely. The text read:'Don't trust either of them. I never made it into the blackboard door.'

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