Slaughter House

"Listen to this," Siwon held a newspaper and read out loud: "'Lord Dermont's adopted son, Jongin, died on April 13 due to severe illness. Ever since, Lord Dermont has taken over the property given to his son by none other than himself once more.'" I took the page in my hand and observed the picture that went with the article. This son of his -- Jongin -- looked nothing like his father indeed. You could tell at first sight that they weren't of the same race: this Dermont guy looked like a Westerner, and his adopted son like a native of this country. Might I also add that this Jongin looked almost like a woman? Sigh... Meaning he is nothing different from a couple other people I know. coughHyuntaecough

In the picture, Jongin and his supposed father were smiling, with Lord Dermont's arm slung over his son's shoulder. The former looked to be about 24 years old.

"He died only two months ago... But what is all this? Has Dermont gone mad over his loss or something?" I asked.

"Well, this doesn't really concern any of us, we should continue our search for Professor," Yoogeun replied back. We left the room without forgetting to replace everything to it's original place and then I stopped. If there was a kitchen then there must be a basement or storage room somewhere!

"Hey Yoogeun-ssi." He hummed in response to hearing his name. "Do you think they have a storage room or a basement 'round here...?" The boy stopped in his tracks in realization and turned around.

"They might have one! Let's go." And so, we continued our way downstairs and checked for another way to a lower floor. After a while of searching the first floor without success once more, Yoogeun spoke up. "Maybe the way in isn't inside the building. We could try searching outside as well"

We both headed to the door we first came in through and found out it looked as if it were sealed with some sort of glossy ceramic but I just pushed it off as being some more odd decoration. I held out a hand for the knob and gave a tug, which didn't result in anything.

"I-It's locked!" I exclaimed. "What the heck?!" I gave it a few more tugs, even trying to push it open, but the door didnt' budge. "W-why would anyone lock us in?!"

"Here let me try," Yoogeun told me. However, the results didn't change. I started to panick at the thought of being locked in here, an unknown place that was getting creepier and creepier by the moment. "Ok, we have to calm down! We'll find another way out of here..."

"I hope..." I let out. I know for sure that this is not qualified as an overreaction... This... is just too much to be a coincidence and I am freaking out more and more by the second... "Um, maybe we could try the window..?" We have to find a way to get the hell out of here.

"Are you crazy?! Do you want us to die that badly?!"

"I'm sorry but it's either die here by Hell-knows-what ways or risk jumping out the window to live another day," I responded. "Besides, I don't feel comfortable about this place at all, and I'm sure you don't feel any different either."

He looked hesitant, as if he were fighting himself in his mind, before finally speaking up. "Fine. And how exactly do you want us to jump out? Any ideas?"

"Uhh... Bed sheets?" I answered. He looked at me as if I were crazy, which I probably was by now, but this was the only way I could think of. In the end, my companion nodded lightly, agreeing to my crazy plan.

"Should we tell the others?" I shook my head in disagreement. We had to get out and look for Professor first. He'd know what to do next.

We took every bed sheet in our grasp, from the bed sheets already on his bed and mine -- well, his bed and my makeshift bed. We then went to a few of the empty rooms we had visited earlier in our search and took the bed sheets from there too. Altogether, the 3 sheets we had finally decided to use measured about 6 meters long, which was surely a little more than enough. Well, enough or not, we had no choice as the others weren't strong enough to support Yoogeun.

Next, we had to find a room to climb out from. In the end, our choice was room 7. We took one end of the lien of sheets and tied it well to the bed post, and then threw the other end out the window. In the end, there was about less than a meter to jump, which I guess I could do. I sat down on the window sill and held on the sheets, slowly making my way down. My surroundings were almost pitch black and the air was cold. I managed to jump down from the bottom of the sheet-rope to solid ground and then waited for Yoogeun to come down.

As soon as he set his foot on the ground, we started our search for this basement or whatever there was by walking around the building in the darkness -- which we found a couple later. There was a staircase leading downwards and at the bottom was a door. Fortunately, it was unlocked. Could Professor possibly be here...?

We proceeded our descent and only a few steps more and we were finally in the room. It was dark to the point where you could barely see your own fingers, meaning I couldn't see my surroundings. Yoogeun took out his cell phone from his pocket and pressed the power botton to make us even a little light to look for a switch. We found one and switched it on and to our horror we saw what room this was.

"I-It's a slaughter house..." Yoogeun said, disgust oozing out of his words. Pigs where hanging from the ceiling with wires everywhere. There were chunks of meat everywhere. No... Professor is not here for sure... "Let's look around," he suggested, which we did. We took a few quick looks here and there in search of anything that could possible lead us to our professor. I was now extremely scared. Looking at my wrist, I thought that that fright was now nothing compared to this. This... this was torture.

The next events happened too quickly. I saw a river of blood and I yelled for Yoogeun to come, which startled him.

"Bohee-ssi! What's wrong?!" he yelled out to me. I ran to him with what was left of my energy. I pointed to behind a slaughtering machine. I grasped onto his arm as he slowly made his way for the source of the blood.

"Oh my God!" I covered my mouth with my trembling free hand. I was now on the verge of tears. Yoogeun shielded my view by pulling me to his chest.

"We have to tell the others... immediately," he whispered.

At our feet lay someone,

in a pool of their own blood,

cut in half;

Professor Daewon.

Notes