The people sitting in the elevator all stood up when they saw the much brighter color of the sea compared to before. Their faces were flushed with anticipation, hoping that this ant they could finally leave.
It was evident from their expressions just how horrible it had been to be trapped in this loathso, inescapable small space, forced to clash with incompatible people.
My first thought was that fortunately, among the people gathered here, no one suffered from claustrophobia. If soone like that had been here, they would have already fainted or been half-dead ntally.
To think that being unwillingly confined in a narrow place with strangers could cause this much stress… In the past, when infectious diseases were rampant, people could hardly go out. How did they live like that? Was it okay because they were trapped at ho? What about the holess? Co to think of it, back then, chickens, pigs, and cows were also forced into cramped spaces, unable to move at all until they died.
Comparing when Yoo Geum-yi and I were trapped in the elevator alone to being trapped now with all these people, it may sound odd, but psychologically, it was much better when it was just the two of us with no plan. Now, it felt like embracing a small plastic basin while sailing the vast ocean.
No… Let’s think positively. Pessimistic and cynical thoughts won’t improve my situation. I should try to find advantages in my current circumstances and strive to overco difficulties through them. I’ll save sorrow and despair for later when I have the leisure. Right now, I don’t want to waste my energy and ti being consud by such emotions. After taking a deep breath, I sat alone on the floor and surveyed the people standing.
Not everyone in this elevator is a good person. No, let rephrase that. There are strange and bad ones, but not outright evil. People who lack any concept of law, morality, or empathy in their heads, or those who believe they don’t need to follow such things depending on the situation, can beco unscrupulous in harming others for their own benefit. Of course, there may be one or two like that here too.
They say about 4% of humans are sociopaths, right? And the proportion of psychopaths is between 5% to 15%. Then over 81% have normal brains.
When laws and systems fail to restrain people, if those with normal moral standards block, prevent, or deter such behaviors early on, I believe we can survive while preserving each other’s bodies and minds without deteriorating too much, as long as we maintain a certain level of ethics.
Our impromptu group gathered for survival is a ss in many ways. But in a situation causing imnse stress, did we sustain irreversible injuries, harm each other, or suffer similar ntal wounds, or die?
Looking back on today, I struggled to answer no inwardly. Then I glanced at the cod-like people and those more like trout, freshwater minnows, or sweetfish in comparison. Alright. Let’s cheer up. Our greatest asset right now is human resources. Sitting on the floor, I addressed the people standing in the elevator.
“The elevator might shake like before, so everyone, please sit down.”
“I don’t wanna? I’ll be the first to dash outta here!”
Benjamin shouted at , looking excited. Maybe I misjudged…
Sitting is safer than standing, and lying down is safer than sitting. We are flimsy reeds barely supporting our bodies on two legs. The most stable posture for handling force is sitting or lying down. We should only get up and exit once the elevator has completely stopped. What if this rickety old elevator suddenly stops again?
Hearing my words, Kim Ga-young and Yoo Geum-yi quickly plopped down on the floor. Ga-young sat cross-legged like in her living room, leaning against the elevator wall. She stretched her arms overhead, loosening the muscles in her shoulders and forearms. Lee Ji-hyun and Kevin glanced at the standing people before sitting, and others slowly sat down or ignored and remained standing.
The dark water color outside the elevator gradually brightened until the few remaining marine creatures beca visible to the naked eye. Sighs and exclamations of relief from the people filled my ears.
However, the elevator, which had been ascending smoothly, suddenly stopped. Those standing imdiately fell on their buttocks. Logan and Carter briefly exchanged punches and groans because Carter fell on top of the seated Logan. Emma, who was sitting in the corner, looked out the window and let out a cry of astonishnt.
“Look outside. The ground floor is right below us. We’re incredibly close to the first floor!”
The stopwatch ti I had paused was 9 minutes and 42 seconds. If the elevator moving from -3000m took exactly 10 minutes, we would be 18 seconds’ worth of distance away from the first floor. Or I might have failed to press the stopwatch properly out of surprise or panic. Even considering that, we must still be pretty close to the first floor.
At Emma’s words, everyone tried to stand up and head towards the window. Emma, startled, grabbed the clothing of Kevin and Ji-hyun, who were about to stand.
“Just look! The weight can’t all be concentrated in one specific spot in the elevator! The balance will be disrupted, you blockheads! Seriously! You all wanna die! @#$%&!”
Hearing the barrage of curses, Kim Ga-young and Yoo Geum-yi, who were about to get up, ekly sat back down. Sam, Jas, Logan, Kanu, Carter, and Benjamin slowly dispersed from around the window and obediently sat on the floor. Lee Ji-hyun surveyed the people in the elevator and pointed to the ceiling, speaking to Jas.
“Jas. Can you act as a ladder for a bit? We need to see how close we are.”
Jas stood up unsteadily and moved to the spot Ji-hyun indicated, getting down on one knee. As Ji-hyun stepped on his knee, Jas already had his palms ready as the next foothold near his stomach. Ji-hyun climbed up using Jas’s knee and hand, slowly mounting his shoulders. Ji-hyun sat stably on Jas’s shoulders. However, Jas made a seemingly staggering motion, startling Ji-hyun, who was sitting above. Jas lightly said,
“Oops!”
Surprised, Ji-hyun reflexively yanked Jas’s hair hard, and Jas yelled, “Ow ow!” telling her to stop pulling out his hair. Ji-hyun, furious, harshly tugged Jas’s ear and spoke.
“If you ss around one more ti, I’ll yank out your hair and your ear!”
“Sorry~”
Ji-hyun spewed curses about frying him in holy water and struggled to open the elevator ceiling. The ceiling had a handle, so it wasn’t difficult for Ji-hyun to turn it 90 degrees, but the ceiling hatch seed quite heavy, and she was grunting, trying to lift it with her arm strength. After several minutes of trying, Ji-hyun gave up and said,
“I don’t have the strength to open the hatch.”
Makes sense. Although she rested while sitting in the elevator, Ji-hyun seed to be enduring this situation mostly through willpower. But is that hatch really that heavy? Jas put Ji-hyun down and looked around at the people, choosing . He probably didn’t want to lift Logan or Kevin, who weighed more than . And he seed even more reluctant to give Carter or Benjamin a shoulder ride. Jas, frowning, spoke to .
“Don’t you dare kick . No, take off your shoes instead.”
I took off my shoes and handed my bag to Kim Ga-young next to , asking her to hold it, and rolled up my sleeves.
“Let’s do it in one go. One shot.”
“I’ll try.”
Jas groaned as he lifted onto his shoulders, giving a piggyback ride. Sam, looking worried, began pacing near us. Aside from my dad putting on his shoulders in childhood, I had never sat on soone else’s shoulders before.
Riding on Jas’s shoulders for the first ti in nearly 20 years, I felt so unstable that I wanted to get down imdiately. We exchanged threats about the unpleasant sensation of touching each other’s necks and how if he rocked as a prank, he’d be done with dental treatnt in the Pacific.
Unlike when he had Ji-hyun on his shoulders, Jas started making dying noises as he stood upright. I pushed hard on the hatch part of the ceiling but was montarily surprised when it didn’t budge. This is quite heavy. However, when I pushed with both arms, the ceiling hatch lifted. The weight seed to be between 10kg and 20kg. Ji-hyun said to ,
“Lift it up and push it to the side.”
Following her instructions, I lifted the ceiling hatch and pushed it to the side, revealing its thickness, which was thicker than I expected. No, how is this hatch so thick? This thickness is almost the size of a person’s waist. I was blankly thinking that when I rembered the person who had been hit all over their body by the elevator ceiling material. The blood and the crushed white bones.
A physiological urge to vomit suddenly welled up. Perhaps because I dry heaved, Jas, startled, put down on the floor as if throwing . As soon as my feet touched the ground, the montary dizziness and panic that had surged subsided rapidly. Jas rubbed his head furiously with his hand and shouted at ,
“Did you puke on my head?!”
Benjamin, hearing that from a distance, snickered. I shook my head and said, lying face down on the floor,
“No. I didn’t throw up. It’s because of the dust. Because of the dust.”
Yoo Geum-yi approached .
“Are you okay?”
Lying down, I waved my hand to indicate I was fine. I’m not particularly weak-stomached. I can extract a bowl of pus from a patient with severe periodontitis, extract all their teeth, and still have no problem with food during lunch. Maybe those scenes of people dying like that were a huge shock to .
Ji-hyun, looking at lying face down and the ceiling, asked Jas to lift her up again. Perhaps lacking arm strength, Ji-hyun struggled to pull her body out through the ceiling hatch, and only managed to get up with others holding her legs from below. With her two feet disappearing last, her entire body vanished toward the space outside the elevator.
Then it was quiet. Everyone craned their necks toward the ceiling, staring at the space where Ji-hyun had disappeared. Logan asked impatiently,
“How is it? How close are we to the ground floor? Close enough to climb up from there? Hey, you didn’t go alone, did you? You’re still there, right?”
In less than a minute, Ji-hyun poked her head down and said,
“I can see the first-floor elevator door from here. The elevator didn’t stop properly aligned with the door while ascending, and it’s stopped slightly overlapping with the first-floor door. We can exit to the first floor.”
Before she even finished speaking, people cheered.
“Yeah!”
“We’re finally getting out!”
“We can finally leave this horrible elevator!”
“Why the hell can’t this damn elevator even stop properly?! Anyway, thanks! Fuck!”
“Oh, Jesus! I knew you wouldn’t forget ! But you don’t give the easy path! Still, this is nothing. Thank you!”
The people in the elevator were desperate to get out imdiately. I had been covering my mouth with one hand for a while, but feeling calr, I removed my hand and asked Ji-hyun,
“Is there anyone outside? Like soone who can help us?”
Or soone ard with a gun. Since one side of the rectangular elevator is a front glass window, the outside should be visible. Ji-hyun’s voice ca,
“There’s no one.”
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