Chapter 106


    The people sitting in the elevator all stood up when they saw the much brighter color of the seapared to before. Their faces were flushed with anticipation, hoping that this meant they could finally leave.


    It was evident from their expressions just how horrible it had been to be trapped in this loathsome, inescapable small space, forced to sh with ipatible people.


    My first thought was that fortunately, among the people gathered here, no one suffered from ustrophobia. If someone like that had been here, they would have already fainted or been half-dead mentally.


    To think that being unwillingly confined in a narrow ce with strangers could cause this much stress… In the past, when infectious diseases were rampant, people could hardly go out. How did they live like that? Was it okay because they were trapped at home? What about the homeless? Come to think of it, back then, chickens, pigs, and cows were also forced into cramped spaces, unable to move at all until they died.


    Comparing when Yoo Geum-yi and I were trapped in the elevator alone to being trapped now with all these people, it may sound odd, but psychologically, it was much better when it was just the two of us with no n. Now, it felt like embracing a small stic basin while sailing the vast ocean.


    No… Let’s think positively. Pessimistic and cynical thoughts won’t improve my situation. I should try to find advantages in my current circumstances and strive to ovee difficulties through them. I’ll save sorrow and despair forter when I have the leisure. Right now, I don’t want to waste my energy and time being consumed by such emotions. After taking a deep breath, I sat alone on the floor and surveyed the people standing.


    Not everyone in this elevator is a good person. No, let me rephrase that. There are strange and bad ones, but not outright evil. People whock any concept ofw, morality, or empathy in their heads, or those who believe they don’t need to follow such things depending on the situation, can be unscrupulous in harming others for their own benefit. Of course, there may be one or two like that here too.


    They say about 4% of humans are sociopaths, right? And the proportion of psychopaths is between 5% to 15%. Then over 81% have normal brains.


    Whenws and systems fail to restrain people, if those with normal moral standards block, prevent, or deter such behaviors early on, I believe we can survive while preserving each other’s bodies and minds without deteriorating too much, as long as we maintain a certain level of ethics.Our impromptu group gathered for survival is a mess in many ways. But in a situation causing immense stress, did we sustain irreversible injuries, harm each other, or suffer simr mental wounds, or die?


    Looking back on today, I struggled to answer no inwardly. Then I nced at the cod-like people and those more like trout, freshwater minnows, or sweetfish inparison. Alright. Let’s cheer up. Our greatest asset right now is human resources. Sitting on the floor, I addressed the people standing in the elevator.


    “The elevator might shake like before, so everyone, please sit down.”


    “I don’t wanna? I’ll be the first to dash outta here!”


    Benjamin shouted at me, looking excited. Maybe I misjudged…


    Sitting is safer than standing, and lying down is safer than sitting. We are flimsy reeds barely supporting our bodies on two legs. The most stable posture for handling force is sitting or lying down. We should only get up and exit once the elevator haspletely stopped. What if this rickety old elevator suddenly stops again?


    Hearing my words, Kim Ga-young and Yoo Geum-yi quickly plopped down on the floor. Ga-young sat cross-legged like in her living room, leaning against the elevator wall. She stretched her arms overhead, loosening the muscles in her shoulders and forearms. Lee Ji-hyun and Kevin nced at the standing people before sitting, and others slowly sat down or ignored me and remained standing.


    The dark water color outside the elevator gradually brightened until the few remaining marine creatures became visible to the naked eye. Sighs and exmations of relief from the people filled my ears.


    However, the elevator, which had been ascending smoothly, suddenly stopped. Those standing immediately fell on their buttocks. Logan and Carter briefly exchanged punches and groans because Carter fell on top of the seated Logan. Emma, who was sitting in the corner, looked out the window and let out a cry of astonishment.


    “Look outside. The ground floor is right below us. We’re incredibly close to the first floor!”


    The stopwatch time I had paused was 9 minutes and 42 seconds. If the elevator moving from -3000m took exactly 10 minutes, we would be 18 seconds’ worth of distance away from the first floor. Or I might have failed to press the stopwatch properly out of surprise or panic. Even considering that, we must still be pretty close to the first floor.


    At Emma’s words, everyone tried to stand up and head towards the window. Emma, startled, grabbed the clothing of Kevin and Ji-hyun, who were about to stand.


    “Just look! The weight can’t all be concentrated in one specific spot in the elevator! The bnce will be disrupted, you blockheads! Seriously! You all wanna die! @#$%&!”


    Hearing the barrage of curses, Kim Ga-young and Yoo Geum-yi, who were about to get up, meekly sat back down. Sam, James, Logan, Kanu, Carter, and Benjamin slowly dispersed from around the window and obediently sat on the floor. Lee Ji-hyun surveyed the people in the elevator and pointed to the ceiling, speaking to James.


    “James. Can you act as adder for a bit? We need to see how close we are.”


    James stood up unsteadily and moved to the spot Ji-hyun indicated, getting down on one knee. As Ji-hyun stepped on his knee, James already had his palms ready as the next foothold near his stomach. Ji-hyun climbed up using James’s knee and hand, slowly mounting his shoulders. Ji-hyun sat stably on James’s shoulders. However, James made a seemingly staggering motion, startling Ji-hyun, who was sitting above. James lightly said,


    “Oops!”


    Surprised, Ji-hyun reflexively yanked James’s hair hard, and James yelled, “Ow ow!” telling her to stop pulling out his hair. Ji-hyun, furious, harshly tugged James’s ear and spoke.


    “If you mess around one more time, I’ll yank out your hair and your ear!”


    “Sorry~”


    Ji-hyun spewed curses about frying him in holy water and struggled to open the elevator ceiling. The ceiling had a handle, so it wasn’t difficult for Ji-hyun to turn it 90 degrees, but the ceiling hatch seemed quite heavy, and she was grunting, trying to lift it with her arm strength. After several minutes of trying, Ji-hyun gave up and said,


    “I don’t have the strength to open the hatch.”


    Makes sense. Although she rested while sitting in the elevator, Ji-hyun seemed to be enduring this situation mostly through willpower. But is that hatch really that heavy? James put Ji-hyun down and looked around at the people, choosing me. He probably didn’t want to lift Logan or Kevin, who weighed more than me. And he seemed even more reluctant to give Carter or Benjamin a shoulder ride. James, frowning, spoke to me.


    “Don’t you dare kick me. No, take off your shoes instead.”


    I took off my shoes and handed my bag to Kim Ga-young next to me, asking her to hold it, and rolled up my sleeves.


    “Let’s do it in one go. One shot.”


    “I’ll try.”


    James groaned as he lifted me onto his shoulders, giving me a piggyback ride. Sam, looking worried, began pacing near us. Aside from my dad putting me on his shoulders in childhood, I had never sat on someone else’s shoulders before.


    Riding on James’s shoulders for the first time in nearly 20 years, I felt so unstable that I wanted to get down immediately. We exchanged threats about the unpleasant sensation of touching each other’s necks and how if he rocked me as a prank, he’d be done with dental treatment in the Pacific.


    Unlike when he had Ji-hyun on his shoulders, James started making dying noises as he stood upright. I pushed hard on the hatch part of the ceiling but was momentarily surprised when it didn’t budge. This is quite heavy. However, when I pushed with both arms, the ceiling hatch lifted. The weight seemed to be between 10kg and 20kg. Ji-hyun said to me,


    “Lift it up and push it to the side.”


    Following her instructions, I lifted the ceiling hatch and pushed it to the side, revealing its thickness, which was thicker than I expected. No, how is this hatch so thick? This thickness is almost the size of a person’s waist. I was nkly thinking that when I remembered the person who had been hit all over their body by the elevator ceiling material. The blood and the crushed white bones.


    A physiological urge to vomit suddenly welled up. Perhaps because I dry heaved, James, startled, put me down on the floor as if throwing me. As soon as my feet touched the ground, the momentary dizziness and panic that had surged subsided rapidly. James rubbed his head furiously with his hand and shouted at me,


    “Did you puke on my head?!”


    Benjamin, hearing that from a distance, snickered. I shook my head and said, lying face down on the floor,


    “No. I didn’t throw up. It’s because of the dust. Because of the dust.”


    Yoo Geum-yi approached me.


    “Are you okay?”


    Lying down, I waved my hand to indicate I was fine. I’m not particrly weak-stomached. I can extract a bowl of pus from a patient with severe periodontitis, extract all their teeth, and still have no problem with food during lunch. Maybe those scenes of people dying like that were a huge shock to me.


    Ji-hyun, looking at me lying face down and the ceiling, asked James to lift her up again. Perhapscking arm strength, Ji-hyun struggled to pull her body out through the ceiling hatch, and only managed to get up with others holding her legs from below. With her two feet disappearingst, her entire body vanished toward the space outside the elevator.


    Then it was quiet. Everyone craned their necks toward the ceiling, staring at the space where Ji-hyun had disappeared. Logan asked impatiently,


    “How is it? How close are we to the ground floor? Close enough to climb up from there? Hey, you didn’t go alone, did you? You’re still there, right?”


    In less than a minute, Ji-hyun poked her head down and said,


    “I can see the first-floor elevator door from here. The elevator didn’t stop properly aligned with the door while ascending, and it’s stopped slightly ovepping with the first-floor door. We can exit to the first floor.”


    Before she even finished speaking, people cheered.


    “Yeah!”


    “We’re finally getting out!”


    “We can finally leave this horrible elevator!”


    “Why the hell can’t this damn elevator even stop properly?! Anyway, thanks! Fuck!”


    “Oh, Jesus! I knew you wouldn’t forget me! But you don’t give me the easy path! Still, this is nothing. Thank you!”


    The people in the elevator were desperate to get out immediately. I had been covering my mouth with one hand for a while, but feeling calmer, I removed my hand and asked Ji-hyun,


    “Is there anyone outside? Like someone who can help us?”


    Or someone armed with a gun. Since one side of the rectangr elevator is a front ss window, the outside should be visible. Ji-hyun’s voice came,


    “There’s no one.”