He shouldn't have come back to school at night.
He knew that.
But the voice… it wouldn't stop.
"Come..."
The student stood at the school gate, glancing anxiously behind him. The street was empty; no one was there. Only that voice, emanating from within.
"Come… we are here."
He swallowed hard, then slowly pushed the gate open.
Its screech pierced the silence.
He entered.
The hallway was darker than he remembered.
His footsteps echoed with a sharp clarity, as if the place were entirely empty… or as if everything was waiting.
"Hello?"
No one answered.
But then…
One of the doors at the end of the hall creaked open slowly.
He stopped.
He didn't want to approach… yet his feet moved on their own.
One step… then another.
When he arrived, he peered inside the room.
Empty.
He let out a sigh of relief.
"I'm just imagining things."
BANG!
The door slammed shut behind him with violence.
He spun around instantly.
"Who's there?!"
Silence.
Then…
The sound of a chair moving.
Slowly.
He turned.
It wasn't just one chair.
Every chair in the room began to shift… slowly… as if they were closing in on him.
He took a step back.
"Stop it…"
But they didn't stop.
Then he heard it.
A voice directly behind him.
"Found you."
He froze.
He couldn't move.
He felt something cold approaching his shoulder—
The scene cuts.
Hours later…
A black car pulled up in front of the school.
Jin stepped out first…
The night felt unusually heavy.
////////////
The black car stood before the gates of an abandoned school, surrounded by a rusting iron fence, while the wind sent dry leaves skittering across the pavement in rhythmic scratches.
Jin stepped out first, wearing a white shirt and a black tie, eyeing the building with a wary gaze.
"This place doesn't look right."
He spoke calmly, then shut the car door.
Tori followed him out, his long black coat fluttering in the wind, his eyes scanning the perimeter without haste.
"Two students vanishing in a single week… it cannot be ignored," Tori replied in a low voice.
Jin approached the gate and pushed it; it opened with a sharp, grating sound, as if protesting their entry.
"Let's get this over with quickly."
The two entered the school.
The corridors were pitch black, the faint light barely revealing the path ahead. Classrooms lined both sides, their doors half-open, as if someone had left in a hurry… or had never left at all.
Jin stopped abruptly.
"Did you hear that?" he asked, turning slowly.
Silence.
Then… a faint sound, like distant footsteps.
Tori answered calmly:
"It's not clear yet… but we are not alone."
They reached one of the classrooms.
Jin pushed the door slowly, creating a long, dragging friction sound. Inside, chairs were scattered, and the chalkboard was covered in incomprehensible lines.
Jin stepped forward and picked up a notebook from the floor.
"There's writing here…"
He read in a low voice:
"He is here."
Silence reigned for a moment.
Then—
The door slammed shut behind them with a crash.
Jin turned immediately, his hand on his weapon.
"Right… that wasn't a coincidence."
Tori moved toward the wall, watching the shadows dancing in the dim light.
"Don't move too fast," he said calmly. "Something… is watching."
At that moment, one of the shadows on the wall moved unnaturally.
There was no clear source for it.
Jin took a step forward, his eyes tracking the movement.
"I see it…"
But before he could finish—
The shadow lunged toward him with incredible speed.
Jin recoiled instantly, dodging the attack, his back hitting a desk.
"This thing doesn't move normally!"
Tori scanned the room quickly, then said:
"The place itself is unstable."
"How?" Jin asked.
"The phenomenon isn't an independent entity… it's tied to the school."
The two ran out into the hallway.
But…
The hallway was no longer the same.
It was longer.
Much longer.
Jin stopped and looked back.
"This isn't the same path."
Tori replied coolly:
"We are inside a spatial distortion."
Faint voices began to manifest around them.
"Help us…"
"Don't leave us…"
Jin closed his eyes for a second, then snapped them open.
"The voices… are they the students?"
"Don't respond to them," Tori said immediately.
Suddenly, a human figure appeared at the end of the hall.
Jin froze.
"…?"
He stepped closer, trying to make out the details.
"Who's there?"
The figure didn't answer.
It just… stood there.
Motionless.
Then, it began to distort.
Tori moved quickly this time.
"Get back!"
He pulled Jin back just as the figure lunged toward them.
It hit the wall with a powerful thud, then vanished.
Jin breathed heavily.
"What exactly is going on here?"
Tori replied, looking at the floor:
"There's a focal point… something tying this phenomenon to this location."
"And if we destroy it?"
"The state will end."
Tori closed his eyes for a moment, as if reorganizing his thoughts.
Then he opened them and looked at the center of the hallway.
"There."
The two advanced cautiously.
Every step felt heavier than the last.
Until they reached a spot on the floor… it didn't look different, but the air around it was suffocating.
Tori knelt and placed his hand on the ground.
"This is where it all began."
Suddenly, the building shook.
The shadows reappeared, moving faster, as if trying to stop him.
"Jin!" Tori shouted. "Keep them back!"
Jin stood in front of him, watching every movement.
Any shadow that drew near… he pushed it away, preventing it from reaching Tori.
"Finish it, fast!"
Tori pressed down on the floor with force.
"It's over."
In a single instant—
Everything vanished.
The voices…
The shadows…
The distortion…
The hallway returned to normal.
Jin stood in silence, looking around.
"Is it over?"
Tori replied:
"Yes… for now."
They walked out of the school.
The air outside felt different… lighter.
Jin looked back at the building one last time.
"Every time I say it'll be easy."
Tori responded calmly:
"And every time, you're proven wrong."
They walked toward the car.
But, without them noticing…
In one of the upper-floor windows—
Something moved behind the glass…
Then vanished.
End of Chapter One