Chapter 9: Knock—Knock—Knock—
["Kaito, why aren't you saying anything?"]
The voices outside continued.
As if the earlier silence had been nothing but an illusion, as if the eerie quiet in the hallway after the sound of footsteps had never existed at all.
Knock knock knock—
The knocking persisted.
And inside the room, the three of them remained silent.
What was going on?
After the voices outside had fallen silent earlier, though none of them had been certain about the situation, both Kaito and Kaguya—especially Maki and Kaito after seeing the frozen corpse in the fridge—had already prepared themselves for the possibility that everyone in the hallway was dead.
But now, their voices had returned.
Why now?
They had been silent for so long, without the slightest movement. Could it all have been a misunderstanding? Could it be that no fatal, supernatural incident had occurred? That the footsteps had merely cut off the voices of those outside, making it impossible for them to hear anything?
["Come on, nothing's been happening out here. Stop hiding."]
["Yeah, we've been knocking for ages. We've been calling for you ever since you went inside. Why won't you answer?"]
["You just suddenly hid away for no reason. What's going on? Nothing's happening at all."]
The voices of the three outside continued relentlessly.
Along with the knocking, they echoed on and on.
Knock knock knock—
As if the rhythm would never change, the knocking remained steady.
Should they respond?
No. They couldn't act recklessly. There were too many suspicious details.
The thought had barely formed before Kaito dismissed it.
If it was truly safe outside, then the White guy and Old Guo shouldn't have been inactive. At the very least, Old Guo—who had initially taken charge—shouldn't have stayed silent. He should have been among those speaking.
Yet it was only the three who had remained in the hallway earlier who were now knocking and talking. There were too many red flags.
["Old Guo won't open his door or talk to us either. Same with that foreigner. We had no choice but to come knock on yours."]
["Come on, open the door already. At least say something, will you? What's the point of just standing silently in the hallway like this?"]
["There's really nothing wrong out here. We're all part of this apartment building. Whatever the issue is, we can talk it out."]
Knock, knock—knock, knock—
The knocking and voices continued relentlessly.
It was baffling how persistent these people were. Despite being completely ignored by those inside, they refused to give up and kept knocking.
Kaito remained silent as ever.
Beside him, neither Kaguya nor Maki showed any intention of approaching the door.
On the contrary, all three of them stepped back in unison, putting more distance between themselves and the door.
["Seriously, why are you so wary of us?"]
["What's with the retreating? Come out so we can talk properly."]
["We're neighbors. What's so hard about having a face-to-face conversation?"]
Thud—thud—thud—
The knocking seemed to grow louder now.
As if someone was pounding the door with their fists.
The force wasn't excessive, but an undercurrent of impatience was beginning to seep through.
Something's wrong.
There had to be something off about this.
Kaito rubbed his temples, feeling a strange haziness clouding his mind. A part of him instinctively wanted to respond to the voices outside, but another, deeper instinct kept his lips sealed in stubborn silence.
He couldn't pinpoint exactly what was wrong.
Yet his instincts screamed at him to stay quiet, his eyes fixed warily on the door.
["What's so wrong about this? It's not like you've never seen us before."]
Sun Dajun's impatient voice rang out, accompanied by another round of aggressive knocking.
Yeah… what exactly was wrong here?
Kaito turned the question over silently in his mind.
["What's the big deal? Are you just being racist or something?"]
The Black guy's flawless, native-level Mandarin followed, tinged with unmistakable irritation.
But he just knew—he shouldn't do this.
Kaito couldn't shake the feeling that something about this situation was deeply off.
["Come on, just open the door. We're really not up to anything weird."]
The woman with dyed hair sighed in Japanese, her words punctuated by another loud thud against the door.
Why do you keep insisting that nothing's wrong?
Kaito wanted to ask.
["Because there really isn't anything wrong."]
Then why aren't you knocking on the other two doors? Why are you only fixated on ours?
["We did knock. What else can we do if they won't open up?"]
Then I won't open this door either.
["Why not? Is this really how you treat your neighbors? Just open up—we can talk this out."]
Talk about what? We don't even know each other. What could you possibly have to say to us?
["That's harsh. Aren't we all neighbors here? Neighbors should be friendly with each other. Everyone says so—just ask around."]
I don't want to talk to you. Just leave.
["Don't be like that. We all live in the same place—let's keep things civil. Open the door."]
I said I don't want to talk. I'm not opening the door.
["Open the door. Open the door. Open the door."]
I told you I don't want to talk. I don't want to… talk?
It was like having a bucket of ice-cold water dumped over his head in the middle of a drowsy haze.
Kaito jolted awake in an instant.
Talk?
What the hell kind of talk was this!?
From the moment until now, he hadn't uttered a single word!
Could these damned things actually see his thoughts? And even converse with his mind? What the hell was blocking the door outside?!
Turning his head to the side, Maki Shijo was still standing in place, but Kaguya had unconsciously taken a step forward. Their expressions shifted between seriousness and confusion, as if they were conversing with someone—even though neither of them had opened their mouths.
[Open the door, open the door, open the door]
Thud—thud—thud—
The knocking grew heavier, accompanied by the voices of those three.
Slap!
Kaito reached out and gave Maki and Kaguya's shoulders a firm pat. They froze for a moment before quickly snapping back to awareness, realizing their unconscious, abnormal actions in that instant.
[Open the door]
Boom!
An incredibly heavy slam shook the door, accompanied by a slight tremor in the floor.
Kaito took a step back, now at the corridor's corner, almost out of sight of the door.
[Open the door]
BOOM!!
The second slam was so violent it felt like a minor earthquake.
Caught off guard, Kaito stumbled and fell to the floor.
Maki quickly reached out to steady herself against the wall, barely avoiding a fall, while Kaguya remained firmly on her feet, immediately supporting Maki as they both retreated. In her arms, she still held the wall clock she had taken down from the hallway earlier.
[Open the door]
Boom—!!!
With the third deafening impact, all three of them were inevitably thrown to the ground again.
[Open the door]
[Open the door]
[Open the door]
The voices outside the door began to repeat.
The tightly shut door trembled violently at this moment, faint cracks gradually appearing along the frame.
The voices of the three outside had lost all distinction, merging into a single, emotionless, mechanical repetition.
Open the door!
The three outside shouted in unison, pounding on the door with all their might.
Open the door!!
The doorframe slowly began to warp. The supposedly sturdy metal security door now showed subtle bulges, as if something was pressing against it from the other side.
Kaito climbed to his feet, one hand braced against the wall, the other supporting Maki, who was trembling slightly beside him. Together, they looked ahead, ready to retreat further.
Kaguya, positioned slightly ahead, remained in a half-crouch to steady herself against the violent shaking of the house, also preparing to step back.
Boom—
The heavy pounding sounded once more.
But this time, the noise made all three in the hallway freeze in place.
[Open the door]
The voices of the three outside spoke in perfect sync.
In perfect sync—from behind them, from the other side of the closed door leading to the living room.
Crack—crack—
The already flimsy wooden door began to splinter.
[Open the door]
And the three perfectly overlapping shouts rose from behind that door, from inside the living room, accompanied by the relentless pounding.