You Make Me | Lee Eunhyuk

03, lobby shadows

Jiwon rushed down the stairs to get the mail, wishing she had set down her duffel bag as its weight began to bother her shoulder. She entered the lobby to find it unusually dark. To her surprise, there were many people gathered, especially around the building's main entrance. Initially, she intended to leave them alone until she heard loud banging noises coming from the manager's office. She collected the mail before yielding to her curiosity and wandered over.

When she arrived, she saw Eunhyuk using a fire extinguisher to break the chain locking the manager's office. She stood there, perplexed, watching the scene unfold, including the convenience store owner shrieking loudly and collapsing, causing his wig to fall off. Although the situation was not inherently amusing, she had to suppress a tiny chuckle.

The convenience shop owner snidely referred to Eunhyuk as "that little jerk."

Jiwon had seen the old man behave rudely on several occasions prior, so she glared at him, wishing he would just shut up.

Eunhyuk noticed Jiwon observing the situation. They exchanged glances as he approached her and held her arm lightly, pulling her along with him.

"What are you doing down here?" he inquired as they entered a dimly lit corridor.

Jiwon began to frown, perplexed. "I was just getting the mail, what's the deal?"

He sighed as he proceeded towards another exit of the building, only to find it locked.

"We don't know; all the building's exits are closed suddenly, and there's no mobile service," he stated, expressing his displeasure with the situation.

"That's weird," Jiwon said aloud, checking her phone to see that she also had no service.

"Let's go back to the lobby then," Jiwon said, turning to walk away, her steps purposeful, determined to figure out what was going on. Eunhyuk followed behind her. As she walked, Jiwon tried to convince herself that whatever was going on obviously had to have a perfectly acceptable explanation.

When the pair returned to the lobby, they noticed other tenants staring at the entrance. They walked over to stand next to Eun and observe what was going on.

The shutters had been raised, but what was on the other side of the glass doors resembled something out of a nightmare. A creature with long limbs and disproportionate body parts gave it an extraterrestrial look. It had a red substance covering its lips and sections of its body. Its eyes were obscured by the darkness, yet it seemed to be staring at the tenants.

"Holy sh*t," Jiwon muttered, appalled at the sight in front of her.

"I kill you," it spoke, with broken speech and a low growling voice.

Eunhyuk quietly said, "Close the shutter." The creature's lips then overextended to display hideous fangs and a tentacle-like appendage. It shattered and broke the glass with its appendage as it staggered into the lobby. The tenants were terrified as this happened.

"Lower the shutters!" Eunhyuk shouted fiercely.

Jiwon instinctively pushed Eun behind her without looking away from the creature in case it made any unexpected moves. As they watched, still shocked, the creature rapidly snatched a man she had seen in passing and hauled him into the air. The sight terrified the girl; the creature appeared to be draining the life from the man. Most people fled the scene, including Jiwon. She was brave, but whatever was going on was beyond her comprehension at the moment. Before she ran, she grabbed Eun and attempted to get Eunhyuk, but he had disappeared from her side. She then kept watching from a safe distance, hoping that the frozen man and woman would flee as well. The creature ultimately dropped the victim, and the body looked as if it had been decaying for days.

As the creature's focus shifted to a middle-aged woman, Eunhyuk, who had previously disappeared, dashed to the scene, brandishing a fire extinguisher and utilizing it to confuse and distract the creature.

He shouted at the convenience store owner nonstop to get his attention.

"Lower the shutters when I signal!" he roared, prompting the elderly man to stagger into the manager's office.

As Eunhyuk wielded the fire extinguisher, Jiwon moved forward, fearful for his safety. Eunhyuk yelled for the old man to close the shutters but the creature retreated behind the area where the shutters would close. They did not close until his fire extinguisher ran out, at which point they finally began to lower. Eunhyuk was in danger since the timing was off. Jiwon observed the lowering gate as Eunhyuk stood transfixed. She decided to do something reckless, but as the creature approached Eunhyuk, Jiwon realized it was now or never.

She inhaled deeply before throwing her bag off her shoulder and running towards the creature. When she believed her heartbeat could not possibly get more rapid, it did. She propelled her full body weight forward when she was near the creature in an effort to establish the greatest distance between the creature and the building. Both she and the creature were flung out into the street when their bodies met.

Eunhyuk was stunned for a brief while before realizing what had happened.

When the girl returned her gaze to the entrance, she noticed the shutters had only been partially lowered. She felt a burst of energy and realized that she might be able to make it back inside through the same entrance, so she sprang up and started running. However, as she turned to look back, the creature's appendage hurled at her, slicing into her leg, and producing a searing pain. She lost her footing and fell to the ground once more.

As he saw his best friend fight for her life, Eunhyuk broke out of his shock. He dashed to the lowering shutters and used his body to hold them in place.

"Jiwon, hurry!" he shouted.

As soon as Jiwon heard Eunhyuk's voice, she struggled through the agony, standing up and dashing for the shutters again.

Eunhyuk waited with his arm outstretched, ready to grab his best friend as soon as she neared. Holding the shutters open for her was a significant danger for him and the other tenants, but he had no alternative but to save Jiwon. He needed Jiwon; the two had been linked at the hip for so long now that he could not recall what life was like without her, and he didn't want to remember.

Jiwon grasped Eunhyuk's hand as he dragged her back into the building. The creature attempted to reach out to grab her again, but as its appendage came through the shutters, it narrowly missed their faces. The two tumbled to the ground side by side. The creature's appendage thrashed around for a few moments before retreating.

As the two sat side by side, attempting to catch their breath, the creature moved away.

"What the hell was that?" Jiwon pondered when she was calm enough to formulate a thought.

"It wasn't human," Eunhyuk muttered, continuing to stare forward.

Jiwon's breathing became laboured as the ache in her leg worsened. When Eunhyuk tried to stand up, he realized he was grasping Jiwon's hand tightly. He loosened his grip and looked over at her.

"Do you think you can stand?" he inquired gently. 

"Yeah," she answered, "I just need a second."

Eunhyuk shuffled closer to the girl to help her get up. He then put a hand on her waist, to stop her from putting weight on her injured leg.

"Let's go get you patched up," he suggested.

"Sure," Jiwon said.

Eunhyuk rose gently, lifting the girl with him. The other tenants began to emerge from their hiding places as the two got up, questioning the creature and the situation. Jiwon cast a peek behind her making sure that Eun was okay, as the tenants began berating a woman, who was a firefighter, and the man next to her, who was dressed in a military uniform.

"Can't they handle a single monster?" shouted the old man.

"There isn't just one monster," Eunhyuk responded quickly.

Jiwon followed his gaze. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw tens of creatures through the shutters.

"Sh*t," she said aloud.

"Maybe the world is coming to an end," Eunhyuk said grimly next to her.

"Maybe it is," she admitted, sighing deeply.