One The Verge [SH Fanfiction]

Six

Holding her bat, she ventured alone through the dimly lit corridor. She had left the new tenant in his apartment, feeling the urgency to return to her own or, at the very least, find someone else who was still conscious. The malfunctioning elevator forced her to rely on the stairs, and frustration welled up as she discovered the motion sensor lights were also nonfunctional.

"Damn it, the motion sensor isn't working either," she muttered, waving her hand in futile attempts to trigger the lights. An uneasy gulp betrayed her growing fear as she braced herself to navigate the darkened path. In this unsettling situation, she chose to go down, hoping to encounter another soul amid the eerie silence of the building.

Hearing a man talking, she felt a mixture of relief and hesitation. "Excuse me," she called out with a cautious tone, attempting to get his attention. However, as she listened to the man rambling, doubt crept in. The erratic behavior suggested he might have lost his mind in the chaos.

Contemplating her options, she decided to change her plan. Opting for stealth, she chose to ignore the rambling man and continued her descent quietly. Grateful that he was facing the wall and unaware of her presence, she navigated the stairs, hoping to find a safer encounter further down.

She strained to hear the increasingly aggressive ramblings of the man. "I want to kill them all. Manager Han!" he exclaimed, his escalating tone sending shivers down her spine. Tiptoeing to minimize noise, she inadvertently kicked an empty Soju bottle left on the stairs, the resulting glass-on-concrete collision creating an audible disturbance.

"Manager Han!" The man's eyes, now completely black, revealed a distressing flow of blood from his nose. Realizing she had attracted his attention, panic surged through her. "Manager Han, that son of a bitch. Manager Han!" he yelled, advancing towards her as if she were the elusive 'Manager Han'.

In a desperate bid to defend herself, Jisoo swung her bat abruptly. The impact landed on the man's head, causing it to collide with the stair railing. The force of the blow rendered him unconscious, providing a momentary reprieve from the unsettling encounter.

Gasping at the realization of hitting someone, guilt weighed heavily on Jisoo's heart as she cautiously approached the unconscious man. Doubt gnawed at her, the concern for his well-being evident in her troubled expression. "Excuse me," she called out tentatively, her voice revealing a mix of worry and remorse.

"Jisoo-ssi!" A voice from behind startled her, and she turned to find the church guy from yesterday. His face bore splatters of blood, and he was inexplicably wielding a sword. The sight was both bizarre and alarming.

"Don't go near him," he warned, his expression reflecting genuine concern as he observed Jisoo moving closer to the unconscious man. "He might kill you," he cautioned, his words carrying a weight of urgency and a hint of fear.

Acknowledging the warning from Jaehoon, Jisoo swiftly retreated, choosing to approach the church guy instead. Facing her back to the unconscious man, she assumed it was the safer option. Little did she know, the man's body began to stir, and unsettling sounds of transformation echoed as if bones were cracking and reshaping.

As the transformed creature rose, its skin took on a cement-gray pallor, claws elongating and sharpening with menacing intent. Ready to attack Jisoo, it lurched forward. "Jisoo-ssi! Watch out!" Jaehoon's urgent warning prompted her to duck just in time.

With precision, Jaehoon swiftly swung his sword, cleanly slicing the creature's head in half. The monstrous threat was neutralized, its lifeless form collapsing to the ground. The sudden and surreal turn of events left Jisoo bewildered, and her sense of normalcy shattered in the face of these monstrous transformations.