The ard police were occupied with keeping the mobs on the floor in order, although it was pretty hard to tell at this point which bodies were alive and which bodies were dead. A few more Special Ops n ca up the stairs and they started sweeping the rooms, but did not pay particular attention to standing by the door - a youngish lady wearing a black dress and covered in blood. I probably looked like a victim in the scene who didn’t want to be there. Well, at least one part of that was true.
"Ms. Han!!! Are you alright?!"
Then Detective Choi erged, pushing through his team, approaching through the corridor.
I, a drug dealer and an accomplice to multiple homicides, was as guilty here as anyone else on this floor of the damned.
How ironic the first thing spoke running into this catastrophic scene was if I was OK.
"Are you hurt?!"
Stop asking that. I think I might start to really feel hurt by your words if you continue.
Your concern is making feel-
Bad.
Although there was desperation in his voice stemming from a genuine worry for my well-being - which made feel even guiltier -, he was a ticulous man and didn’t rush his way toward . The corridor was packed with a lot of dangerous n after all who grudgingly obeyed to lay on the ground but were probably looking for any possible chance at all to turn the situation around and make their escape. The police had a bigger problem than they realized though as there was one woman that they failed to notice and register as a danger yet, a tiger hiding among the sheeps.
I looked down at Miho again and she had her eyes closed, preparing for the lights to go out. Her eyes would have adjusted just a tiny bit quicker than the others who have to orientate themselves in a sudden darkness after the bright lights of the corridor go out, thanks to her little partner here. It was probably just a very small head start but in a situation like this, and for soone of Miho’s caliber, a small edge and a head start over others could potentially lead to an imnse and deadly advantage.
"I... I’m OK, Detective."
As I spoke out, I made it look like I couldn’t stand straight very well - and I really couldn’t under all this stress - and put my hand against the door fra to steady myself. I glanced to my side and my hand was positioned very close to the light switches now.
"Oh thank God! But you are covered in blood!"
This one flick of a switch I was about to make would probably cause the deaths of many. The thought made shudder and grow even weaker on my knees.
I may not be dirtying my own hands here but I’d be pressing the switch that will launch a weapon of mass destruction, a nuclear option that will annihilate everyone here - if things went the way we wanted. Reaching that thought, I had to accept the unavoidable fact that the only way for us to get out of here was at the cost of other people’s lives now.
Well, perhaps at this stage, it was already all too late for . I already facilitated murder before and witnessed it being done on my behalf with my own eyes. But sohow, this felt like the very final step that would make cross the Rubicon by unleashing the beast on law enforcent.
I decided not to think any further and only apologized quietly in my heart without speaking out.
’I’m sorry, Detective Choi.’
With that, I flicked the switch.
The sudden darkness was imdiately followed by a loud shriek, then even more screams, a choir of grotesque voices as souls left bodies.
Then there were gunshots. The police started to open the fire in the darkness in panic, possibly because one of them got attacked by Miho.
But gunshots were all sporadic in this total chaos as there were significant dangers of friendly fire shooting guns in this darkness - in a narrow corridor on top of that. Nevertheless, when you are getting stabbed and slashed in the darkness while holding a gun I suppose nobody was going to let the risk of friendly fire hold them back from firing, just a natural survival instinct and fear of unknown and invisible danger rolled into one.
Every ti a gun flashed I caught quick glimpses of what was happening.
Detective Choi was no longer facing but looking down the corridor with his own gun held up, but unable to shoot at anything.
I saw a dark figure - presumably Miho - dash about like a dancing shadow that flickered every ti a gun was fired and lights sparked from the muzzles.
The gun fires were getting more sparse each ti, and the corridor was getting quieter, quieter, quieter-
And it all stopped.
There was no more sound and I could finally hear Miho’s huffing and puffing sound from the other end of the corridor. She was grunting and taking heavy breaths.
"STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" The Detective shouted with his gun pointing in Miho’s direction, although he probably couldn’t see Miho clearly yet, neither could Miho.
"Good night, good night, Teddy Bear-" Then Miho started to sing.
"Good night, good night, Rabbit"
No.
Don’t do this.
"Good night, good night, Crocodile. Good night, good night, Turtle."
This was a song that Miho sotis jokingly sang to her plushies before going to bed, patting each one of them and saying good night.
I fully understood what she was trying to tell and what she was trying to do now.
She wanted to get on the floor.
"DROP YOUR WEAPON!!!"
Don’t do this, Miho. Choi is holding a gun... don’t...
But nevertheless, I lowered myself to the ground, face down.
"Good night, good night, Snake. Good night, good night, Giraffe..."
There was a short pause and another heavy huff from Miho, and then she continued.
"Good night, good night, Capybara. Good night, good night Detective"
With that, I heard two gunshots fire at the sa ti, followed by a loud thud that was closer to .
I knew what happened, but my mind didn’t want to process it. Neither of the two gunshots was aid at , but I felt two holes in my heart. I felt my soul escape through the punctures. It didn’t gracefully rise up heading to heaven, rather, it sipped out of my broken heart as thick putrid liquid and started to spread along the ground, rging with the pool of blood that was everywhere on this floor.
"Lights on."
After what seed like an eternity of frozen ti, Miho commanded triumphantly, her words bravely managing to squeeze through heaving breaths. I, on the other hand, wasn’t so brave. Neither did I have any strength in - ntal and physical. I had to use all my resolve to bring myself up from the ground, barely managing to stand, swaying side to side, placing my hand on the door fra again, and flicking on the light switch.
Right in front of lay the Detective on the ground, bleeding profusely from his mouth, foaming and frothing.
His body was twitching a little, but his eyes were vacant and I could almost sense that his life was escaping through the iris of those kind eyes.
I rembered his smiles, his concerned look, even the piercing stare that I would have given everything to avoid when I sat in the interview room with him the first ti we t.
Back then I wished he would go away - that I, and Miho, and even Shin, would be left alone and never be bothered by this cop again.
But since then he beca the only man who seed to care for my survival and well-being other than Miho. Although his words always dripped suspicions about that made uncomfortable, I had to admit in so ways he truly cared. He might have suspected of working in a team with Shin, but to him, I was probably a poor civilian who got mixed in with the wrong crowd.
"NOOOOO!"
As my train of thought reached its final destination, I broke down, fell to my knees, and scread uncontrollably.
Miho calmly walked over and helped up.
"Co on. It’s over now. Let’s leave."
I had caused many deaths already, but being directly responsible for Detective Choi’s death shook to the core in a way that I hadn’t felt before. The shock was imnse and I was overwheld with an imdiate guilt.
"Mi...Miho... I can’t..."
"Shhh" The gentle tigress then shushed , put her arm around my shoulder, and guided to Room 5.
The Rubicon had been crossed a long ti ago perhaps.
And the bridges were also burnt down a long ago when I think about it.
But there was one man who swam across the river to save .
And that one man, with my little flick of a switch, died to the lullaby of my Miho.
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