Chapter 1: You Will Die Today

“Caw!”

A crow cawed from the darkness beyond the window.

The phone in my hand vibrated.

[(Advertisement) You will die today. …See more]

“This again.”

For about a week now, that notification had kept popping up to bother me.

At first, it said I would die in one week.

Then it changed to six days.

Then three.

And finally, it had reached today.

Of course, I never opened it.

They say those advertisements make money every time someone clicks on them.

“Kim Hanmu, stop standing there by yourself and come sit with us.”

“That crow is making me nervous.”

“It’s just a crow. What are you so worried about…?”

I guess he had a point.

What importance could a crow possibly have?

Maybe I was just being overly sensitive again.

I looked away from my phone and scanned the living room.

Like me, the others were wearing vests with Daeseong Cleaning embroidered across the back.

And there were four of them.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m coming.”

I replied halfheartedly, closed the curtains, and sat down at the end of the sofa covered with a white sheet.

Only then, apparently satisfied, did the Daeseong Cleaning employees resume the conversation they had been having.

“When is the owner supposed to get here? He made us come out here in the middle of the night for this.”

“I’m sure he’ll be here soon. After all, we’re the ones who arrived way too early.”

Why would a cleaning company be gathered in a living room at two in the morning?

Obviously, we had come to clean.

However, the client who had called us still hadn’t shown up.

“Hey, this house is pretty famous. Had you heard about it?”

“Oh, you mean that rumor?”

When the middle-aged employee brought it up, everyone except me nodded.

“They say the owner’s son was a serial killer.”

“Well, I heard something different. That this was the house of a cult leader.”

“Hey, hey. Where are you getting those stories? I heard several people committed suicide here.”

But none of the versions matched.

And every single one was equally chilling.

The veteran employee who had called me over added another joke with a grin.

“What kind of rumors are those? Don’t tell me this place is haunted.”

I, who hadn’t said a word until then, answered with annoyance.

“Since when do ghosts exist? I’m already tired enough from having to come out in the middle of the night.”

“Why not? Of course they could exist. Hanmu, are you afraid of ghosts?”

“Why would I be afraid of something that doesn’t even exist?”

The veteran waved his hand as if to say, Look at this kid, but I simply clicked my tongue.

Afraid of ghosts?

Making a living is far scarier.

Does a ghost pay the mortgage?

Does it drive up the price of everything?

It seemed far more ridiculous to fear some supposed dead people who, having nothing better to do after dying, would spend their time scaring the living.

“Hanmu’s right, boss. Even if this place were haunted, as long as they pay well, who cares?”

“That’s true. I heard they paid double in advance.”

In the end, surviving was more important to everyone than worrying about ghosts.

Since no one was really being serious, the conversation quickly shifted to the owner of the house.

“The owner’s a bit strange. He insisted that the cleaning had to start at exactly two in the morning.”

“Just that? He also said we weren’t to start until he arrived.”

“That’s right! And he also said there had to be exactly five people. Not four, not six.”

The middle-aged woman clapped her hands as if she had just remembered.

Five people were to begin cleaning a two-story country house on top of a mountain at exactly two in the morning, but only after the owner arrived.

Taken one by one, none of those conditions was impossible, but together they were certainly rather strange.

Then again…

If people want to make up stories, anything will do.

As I listened to the conversation, I lowered my gaze to my phone.

At that exact moment, the clock changed from 1:59 to 2:00.

At the same time, someone knocked on the front door.

Bang…!

Bang…!

Bang…!

The female employee, who was about the same age as my mother, jumped to her feet and walked toward the entrance.

“Ah, looks like the owner’s here.”

Just as she was unlocking the deadbolt, the youngest employee muttered under his breath.

“…Why would the owner be knocking?”

The instant I understood those words, my body reacted before my mind did.

“Ma’am, I don’t think it’s the owner! Don’t open the do—!”

“What are you talking about?”

But it was already too late.

The door opened.

Standing behind it, directly behind the woman who had turned to look at me, was a pitch-black mass.

A huge, round body, as though it had been made from condensed darkness.

A grin stretched impossibly wide, exposing rows of perfectly white teeth.

And dozens of arms sprouting from every part of its body.

One of those thin arms gently grasped both shoulders of the woman who had opened the door.

Before she could even turn around—

Crunch!

The smiling mouth opened impossibly wide and swallowed her from the head down to the shoulders.

Blood splattered across the ceiling.

Her feet, hanging only a few inches above the floor, twitched in violent spasms.

As a terror too unreal to comprehend froze everyone in the room, the only sounds that could be heard were the grotesque noises of bones breaking and flesh being chewed.

Crack!

Crunch!

Slurp!

The stench of blood.

Those sounds.

Everything made it impossible to believe it was special effects, makeup, or a hidden camera.

“Aaaaaah!!”

“R-Run!”

The veteran was the first to snap back to his senses and bolted for the exit.

Yes.

We had to escape.

Whether it was a monster or a ghost, my mind had only one thought.

I had to get away from that thing.

“Come on.”

I grabbed the youngest employee by the hand, who was still completely frozen, and we ran after the others.

“The back door! This house has a back door!”

Following the employee who had shouted, we crossed the spacious living room, ran down the hallway, and headed for the utility room.

The first one to reach it grabbed the doorknob and slammed his shoulder against the door with all his strength.

“What the hell? It won’t open!”

But no matter how many times he rammed into it, the back door didn’t budge an inch.

As if we were truly trapped.

Slurp.

Crunch.

From the living room came the horrifyingly clear sounds of the monster devouring a person.

What would happen when it finished eating?

Would one person be enough?

“Boss… are you okay?”

The young female employee’s clear eyes entered my field of vision.

Then a thought flashed through my mind like lightning.

There was no reason the door had to be the only way out.

“The window! Let’s get out through the window! Follow me!”

I grabbed her hand, left the utility room, and ran toward the nearest bedroom.

It looked like a guest room, with a small bed, a desk, and a window large enough for a person to climb through without any trouble.

I grabbed the old wooden frame and pushed with all my strength.

It wasn’t even locked.

But it didn’t move either.

Crack…!

Crunch!

The sounds coming from the living room began to slow down.

Until they stopped.

Please…

Open.

Please.

As I desperately shook the window as though it were my last hope of survival, someone shouted behind me.

“Hanmu, move!”

I barely had time to step aside before the veteran employee who had followed us picked up a chair from the room and smashed it into the window.

Crash!

With a deafening crash, the glass finally shattered.

At last, we could get out!

Who cared about paying for a broken window? Staying alive was what mattered.

“Watch your step. There’s glass everywhere.”

“Wait, boss…!”

The young woman reached for his wrist just as he was about to climb out.

But he had already planted one foot on the windowsill and threw himself forward with all his strength.

Slash!

It was an impossible sight.

From his head through his shoulders and chest, the instant he crossed the boundary of the window…

His body vanished.

As though an invisible blade had sliced cleanly through him.

The lower half of his torso, now lifeless, collapsed back into the room.

Everything that should have remained inside his body spilled across the floor.

The blood pouring from the perfectly clean cut soaked the tips of my shoes.

Thunk…!

Step.

Thunk!

The sound of heavy footsteps drawing closer.

A foot planting itself.

Dragging forward.

Then taking another step.

Forcing myself beneath that narrow single bed was almost pure survival instinct.

“Shhh…”

The young employee, whom I had shoved even farther back beneath the bed than myself, silently nodded and pressed her lips together.

The footsteps coming from the living room slowly approached.

Until they entered the bedroom.

Drag.

Chap.

Thunk.

From beneath the narrow bed, all I could see were hands.

Completely black hands pressing against the floor and dragging themselves forward.

Each movement left dark streaks of blood across the wooden floor.

Thump.

Thump.

My heart pounded so hard it felt as though it had climbed into my throat.

I covered my mouth with both hands so it wouldn’t hear my ragged breathing.

Then a row of perfectly white teeth appeared before my eyes.

Without the slightest hurry.

The creature bit into the veteran’s corpse.

Crunch.

Crack.

Riiip.

I couldn’t see it because it had raised its head to devour him.

But I didn’t need to.

I could picture it perfectly.

It would tear him apart just as it had the woman at the front door.

It would chew him slowly before swallowing him.

I don’t know how long I went without being able to breathe normally.

What finally snapped me out of that terror was the innocent voice of a child.

— Five…

Two…

Where are the other three?”

I remembered the employees’ conversation.

The owner had insisted there had to be exactly five of us.

Of course.

There are no rewards without a price.

None of this had been a coincidence.

Everything had been carefully arranged to kill all five of us.

I’m going to die.

That monster will find every one of us and devour us.

What can I do?

Bzzz.

The faint vibration of the phone inside my work vest pocket nearly made my heart stop.

Who the hell would be texting me at two in the morning?

[You will die very soon. Do you want to live?]

That was the notification illuminating the darkness beneath the bed.

I could no longer ignore that strange message.

Of course I want to live.

I want to live.

With my index finger trembling, I tapped the notification.

Instantly, an application appeared on my screen.

Against a pitch-black background, there was only a single line of white text.

My eyes read it without resistance.

[1. Only one person may climb onto ■■’s table.]

It was far too vague and abstract a message for something that was supposedly going to save my life.

Above that first rule, a small countdown appeared.

[Kim Hanmu’s remaining lifespan: 33 seconds.]

I think I know what I have to do.

No.

Even if I’m wrong, it’s better to try than to do nothing.

I looked at the young female employee, practically pressed against the wall from how tightly she had curled herself up.

“We’re going out.”

“…What? Now? With that monster right there?”

“This is our only chance.”

Tap.

One of the veteran’s severed fingers fell onto the floor.

Nausea rose into my throat as pain tightened around my chest.

Even so, I shoved her with all my strength.

“Now!!”

The young woman shot out from under the bed, planted one hand in the pool of blood to push herself up, and sprinted toward the door.

I crawled out from beneath the bed without wasting a second.

— …Two.

I shouldn’t have looked.

But our eyes met.

Or rather.

Those perfectly aligned teeth, stained blood-red and disturbingly human.

The creature hadn’t even finished swallowing the flesh in its mouth.

As it deliberately crushed the veteran’s little finger between its teeth…

It stared directly at me.

“Boss, hurry!”

I felt someone grab my wrist and yank me out of the room.

The moment I regained my balance, I slammed the door shut.

Bang!

The door shook violently from the heavy impact that struck it from the other side.

Only after dragging a table from the hallway and jamming it firmly against the doorknob did I finally let out the breath I had been holding.

“Haah…! Haah…!”

It had been a gamble based on nothing but an assumption.

But I had been right.

If only one person could climb onto the table…

Then the monster could only eat one person at a time.

“Boss… How did you know that…?”

I couldn’t answer immediately.

As I searched for the right words, the application vibrated again.

Bzzz.

The countdown showing the time I had left to live disappeared.

In its place appeared a completion objective.

[Completion Condition: Clean ■■.]
Only one person may climb onto ■■’s table.
■■ loves prayers offered to him.
For ■■ to return, the altar must always be kept clean.

If the first rule was true.

Then the others couldn’t be lies either.

“Haebin, let’s go.”

“But… what if that monster breaks through the door and comes out…?”

“That’s exactly why.”

Then a sound far worse than a door being broken down began to echo through the hallway.

Crack.

After devouring two of the five people.

The monster wasn’t trying to break the door down.

It was gnawing through it.