2. Still strangers for now.

「Once again, this is an announcement. You have all died. The judgment will now begin. In a moment, the 8th, 9th, and 10th floors of both the women’s and men’s dormitories will be sealed. Thank you.」

Jiho sniffled, her eyes red as she looked around the room. It was a mess—things had been knocked over, thrown around, broken, and shattered due to the earthquake.

The problem was that every little detail was exactly the same as last time.

The books and miscellaneous items scattered on the floor, the fallen chair, even the way the shattered mug pieces were arranged—everything was identical.

Time had reversed. One of her “remaining chances” had decreased, and in exchange, she had time-leaped back to the moment the earthquake struck.

Just like in an action game where death sent you back to the starting point, Jiho had been thrown backward in time.

‘Then… what happens when I run out of chances?’

The thought arose naturally, but she was too afraid to imagine the answer.

Jiho staggered, crawling out from under the desk. Her trembling hands fumbled to shove her phone into her pocket, and she mechanically slipped on her sneakers.

Even after tying them, Shin Jiho remained still, staring blankly at the floor.

‘What do I do now…?’

She wanted to run, but there was nowhere to go. She had returned to the past, but that didn’t mean she knew how to escape the dormitory. She was trapped.

‘If only I had gone back two or three hours earlier… Why did it have to be right before the earthquake?’

At this rate, everything would just repeat itself.

Her left hand was ice-cold and tingling. Jiho rubbed it with her warm right hand, massaging gently. As warmth seeped in, the trembling slowly subsided.

With it, her dazed mind began to clear. The brief detachment from reality faded, and her senses returned.

When she wiped away the tears blurring her vision, she was met with the inescapable truth before her.

‘If I stay still, I’ll die again.’

Despair and fear weren’t things she could erase. Instead, Jiho carved out a deep hole in her heart, shoved them inside, and covered it with rationality.

Someday, those emotions would resurface to haunt her—but that was a problem for later.

She wiped her tears away with the back of her hand. Now wasn’t the time to cry. Wasting time and energy on tears was pointless.

‘I have no choice but to go.’

Staying in the room would only lead to being crushed to death. She never wanted to go through that horrifying experience again.

Clenching her teeth, Shin Jiho grabbed a badminton racket.

From the hallway, screams, curses, shouts, and desperate cries filled the air. The sounds of bones twisting, flesh shifting, people running, colliding—chaos.

“Aaaaaaah!”

“Let me go!”

“Kyaaaaah!”

“What is this?!”

“Ugh… Mom…”

“F*ck, you bastard.”

“Jiyeon!”

“Uwaaaaah!”

“Please… please help me! Why are you doing this?!”

Shin Jiho’s eyes trembled as she focused on every single sound. It was exactly the same as before. Like actors reciting predetermined lines… The realization that she had truly traveled back in time hit her.

After the chaotic noise died down, the hallway fell silent again.

‘Am I the only one who remembers what happened before time rewound?’

If she called the previous timeline “Round 1” and this one “Round 2,” it seemed like no one else remembered Round 1. If they did, they wouldn’t be repeating the exact same actions.

The screams echoing through the hallway were proof—they were reacting as if experiencing everything for the first time.

‘No, I shouldn’t jump to conclusions. There might be someone else who remembers, like me…’

‘What about the student from Room 820? Would she remember?’

Jiho decided to check the situation outside first.

She carefully opened the door. Through the small gap, she saw the beasts. A tawny cow, a red fox, a fawn, a white rabbit, a mountain goat, and a black goat.

Her faint hope crumbled—it was exactly the same as last time.

「Attention to those on the 8th floor of the women’s dormitory. The demon present on this floor is ‘Marbas.’ Thank you.」

In the center of the hallway, a towering lion’s head with a black mane loomed.

Marbas.

He stood motionless, his posture upright and elegant. Now that she looked closer, his clothing resembled ancient Greek attire.

Confirming Marbas’s presence and location, Jiho quickly turned her gaze toward Room 820.

The door was slightly ajar, revealing half of a familiar face peeking through the gap.

Just like in Round 1, the student from Room 820 blinked once and gave a small nod at Jiho.

Then, forming the words with her lips, she silently asked:

“Are you okay?”

‘It’s the same as before.’

Jiho didn’t know how to react. She bit her lip and silently stared at the student from Room 820.

Did she remember Round 1 or not? It was impossible to tell.

When the student gave her a confused look, Jiho finally nodded. The girl nodded back, then pointed toward the emergency stairs.

Jiho frowned.

She was going to run for the emergency stairs again.

‘I have to stop her.’

The moment she stepped outside, Marbas would move like lightning and capture her—just like last time.

The student from Room 820 gestured between herself and Jiho before motioning toward the emergency stairs again.

“No, it’s locked.”

Afraid of another misunderstanding like before, Jiho whispered instead of using gestures.

The student’s expression turned puzzled.

“It’s always open.”

Jiho shook her head.

The girl glanced toward the emergency stairwell door, clearly skeptical.

“When did you check?”

She stared directly at Jiho, waiting for an answer.

Jiho hesitated.

‘I can’t say I checked in Round 1.’

Honesty was a virtue, but in this situation, it would be foolish. No one would believe her.

“Just a moment ago.”

Jiho gave a vague answer.

Immediately, suspicion flickered across the student’s face.

“……”

She clearly didn’t believe a word Jiho said.

At that moment, Jiho realized her mistake.

The student from Room 820 had been watching the hallway the entire time since the earthquake hit. She knew Jiho hadn’t checked the emergency stairs.

Without waiting for an explanation, the student dashed toward the stairwell.

‘Damn it…!’

Jiho’s eyes snapped to Marbas.

The moment the girl stepped into the hallway, Marbas noticed his prey and lunged forward.

The student frantically grabbed the emergency stairwell door, trying to wrench it open. But it was locked. The door rattled in place, refusing to budge.

Even when she swiped her key card against the reader, nothing happened.

“It’s dangerous!”

Jiho kicked open her door and lunged forward, grabbing the girl’s wrist.

She yanked her back with all her strength, determined to drag her into the room and lock the door behind them.

There was no time to think or calculate.

She could only cling to one desperate hope—Marbas hadn’t entered their rooms in Round 1, so maybe he wouldn’t this time either.

The sudden pull startled the student, and she instinctively resisted for a brief moment.

“He’s coming! The demon!”

Jiho shouted.

That was enough.

The student finally stopped struggling and allowed Jiho to pull her along.

As Shin Jiho stepped over the threshold of Room 810, she instinctively turned her head to check Marbas’s position.

“…!”

He was already right behind them.

Jiho swung the badminton racket with all her strength.

But Marbas effortlessly dodged and reached out, grabbing the student’s head with one hand.

“Aaaaaaaaahhh!”

A bloodcurdling scream ripped through the air.

Crack. Crunch.

Bones twisted and shattered, her body convulsing like a pufferfish inflating its spines.

Jiho felt the unnatural movement in her own grip—her hand was still holding the girl’s wrist.

But it no longer felt like a human arm.

It was as if she was grasping a bundle of wooden blocks, each piece shifting and contorting wildly.

“Agh!”

Jiho let out a shriek and instinctively let go.

The student’s body split apart.

From within, a gray wolf leaped out.

What was once a human creature landed gracefully, then began pacing down the hallway with slow, measured steps.

Marbas turned away, walking back to the center of the hallway.

Then, he looked directly at Room 810.

His eyes locked onto Jiho’s.

Sharp, intelligent, and utterly detached—Marbas’s gaze bore into her, as if studying her very existence.

For a moment, Jiho nearly froze.

But she forced herself to step backward, her trembling hands gripping the badminton racket and raising it in front of her.

Marbas sniffed the air once, then calmly walked past Room 810 without stopping.

He came to a halt in the middle of the hallway, facing the elevator lobby.

From where Jiho stood, all she could see was his back.

Her legs gave out, and she collapsed onto the floor.

The hand that had held onto the student from Room 820 was shaking violently.

“Again…”

Once again, the student had turned into a beast.

Time had rewound, yet nothing had changed.

The hallway was eerily silent except for the soft, deliberate footsteps of what were once humans, now aimlessly wandering as animals.

The gray wolf—who had been the student from Room 820—had fully blended into the herd of transformed creatures.

Her drooping tail swayed like a pendulum with each sluggish step.

Jiho bit her lip, her vision stinging as she stared at the wolf’s retreating figure.

It felt like looking at her own future.

But then, she shook her head violently.

‘No! I will survive!’

Death was too horrific, too agonizing.

Just thinking about it made her feel as if her body was catching fire.

She never wanted to go through it again.

‘What do I do?’

If she repeated her actions from the previous round, she knew exactly how it would end.

Sitting on the floor, Jiho lowered her head slightly, lost in thought.

The 8th floor would collapse soon.

There wasn’t much time, but she had to squeeze out a solution—anything.

“All hardships can be overcome… Even if the answer seems impossible to find, there is always a solution…”

No matter how hard Jiho tried to focus, the lingering sensation of the student from Room 820—her final touch—kept resurfacing in her mind.

She muttered to herself, forcing her thoughts back into order.

Then, after a moment, Jiho stood up.

‘…Is this really the only way?’

Her face was grim, hardly the look of someone who had confidently come up with a plan.

But she had no choice.

Her strategy was simple.

Sprint from Room 810 to the elevator lobby at full speed. When Marbas reached out for her, she would use the length of the badminton racket to stall him for even a split second.

Then, in that brief window, she would escape to the 7th floor.

It was a reckless, flawed plan. But staying in Room 810 meant certain death, and no better ideas came to mind.

Blindly charging forward was the only option.

The announcement had specifically stated: “The demon on the 8th floor is Marbas.”

Maybe—just maybe—he was unable to leave this floor.

That was the only sliver of hope Jiho could cling to.

Just as she was about to make her move, the door to Room 818 suddenly swung open with a loud bang.

Two female students burst out like bees escaping a hive.

One was gripping a broom.

The other held a dustpan.

Marbas turned around, his cold gaze locking onto them.

The two girls trembled violently but still bolted toward the elevator lobby.

Marbas began to move—his stride elegant, yet utterly predatory.

‘Now?’

Jiho thought this might be the perfect moment.

It looked like the two students had decided to fight.

If she joined in, it would be three against one.

The goal wasn’t to defeat the demon—just to get past him.

With three of them, wouldn’t the odds be just barely enough?

“……?”

But suddenly, the door to room 804 quietly opened, and a girl with short hair stepped out. She cautiously made her way toward the elevator lobby.

Marbas, standing in the middle of the hallway, had turned around to deal with the two students bursting out of room 818. It seemed the girl from room 804 had taken advantage of his distraction.

At that moment, one of the girls from room 818 clenched her teeth and hurled a dustpan. But her aim was off. It clearly wasn’t aimed at Marbas. The dustpan flew past Marbas uselessly, drawing a wide arc before crashing onto the floor.

The girl who threw the dustpan shouted,

“Behind you!”

Marbas spun around. His eyes met those of the girl from room 804, who had been stealthily approaching the elevator lobby. Shrugging briefly, Marbas dashed toward her.

“That crazy bastard…!”

The girl from room 804 swore under her breath, bolting toward the elevator lobby. Thanks to her, the distance between Jiho and Marbas widened.

Jiho sighed deeply, then burst out of her room into the hallway. She felt uneasy. It was as if she was actively cooperating with the girls from room 818, who had used the girl from room 804 as a scapegoat.

But an opportunity was still an opportunity. Jiho didn’t want to end up crushed under the ceiling, nor did she wish to become an animal.

Shin Jiho started sprinting toward the elevator lobby. The two girls from room 818, who had been running ahead, flinched at the sudden sound of footsteps behind them and glanced back. Realizing the source of the footsteps was human, they relaxed—but at the same time, irritation distorted their faces.

Meanwhile, Marbas had caught up with the girl from room 804. She struggled desperately, screaming in agony.

“No! Let me go! Aagh! Aaah, Aaaaahhhhh!”

With a sickening crack, her body twisted grotesquely. A leopard burst through a split that opened at the crown of her head. Her human skin sloughed off like a discarded shell and melted away completely.

“Ack…!”

One of the girls from room 818 let out a short, terrified cry.
Marbas turned around calmly, walking back toward Jiho and the two girls from room 818. His steps were unhurried, as though he had all the time in the world—yet, inexplicably, he was catching up to Jiho, matching her speed.

Jiho tightened her grip on the badminton racket, her hand trembling uncontrollably with tension.

The two girls ahead encountered Marbas first, just a couple steps ahead of Jiho.

The girl holding the broom swung it forcefully.
But the broom didn’t strike Marbas. Instead, it slammed into the girl running beside her. There was a loud, dull crack. The girl who had thrown the dustpan staggered.

“…!”

Shin Jiho inhaled sharply in shock. For a brief moment, she couldn’t understand what had just happened.

‘Did she just hit her own friend…? Why?’

Jiho was dumbfounded.

The girl with the broom, face pale with desperation, clenched her teeth and shoved her friend into Marbas’s path. Marbas immediately grabbed the girl who had thrown the dustpan. Using this distraction, the broom-wielding girl dashed past Marbas.

‘She’s crazy.’

The dustpan girl cried out in disbelief.

“You…!”

But the girl with the broom acted as though she couldn’t hear anything, neither looking back nor slowing her pace.

Marbas placed a hand firmly on the dustpan girl’s head. She struggled wildly, shaking her head and limbs in resistance.

“Let go! Let me go!”

Jiho instinctively reached out toward her but quickly withdrew her hand.

It was already too late.

All Jiho could see was the back of the broom-wielding girl, running forward mercilessly. This was her only chance at survival—an opportunity she couldn’t miss if she wanted to avoid death.

Jiho painfully ignored the dustpan girl’s screams and dashed past Marbas, following after the broom-wielding girl.

“P-please help me…! Aaahhhhhhh!”

Behind Jiho, gruesome cracking sounds echoed as a human body twisted and transformed. Jiho forced herself to ignore the noises, just like the broom girl had done. Her heart pounded violently, as if about to burst.

Jiho quickly caught up to the broom girl shortly after passing Marbas, around the time they reached room 804. Behind them, she could hear Marbas beginning to move again.

Then, Jiho sensed something strange. From the corner of her eye, she saw the broom girl inching closer to her as they ran side by side.

‘What’s she doing?’

There was no reason for this. Running too close would only hinder both of them.

Jiho cautiously glanced sideways. The broom girl, her expression hostile, was reaching out to grab Jiho’s hair. Without hesitation, Jiho instinctively swung her badminton racket hard.

“You crazy bitch…”

The broom girl cursed and stumbled sideways. Jiho broke into a cold sweat—if she hadn’t reacted quickly enough, she probably would have been grabbed.

‘Now she’s trying to use me as bait…!’

Having already betrayed her own friend, there was nothing stopping her from sacrificing a complete stranger like Jiho.

Still, the lobby stairs were right in front of them. Jiho continued running, cautiously keeping the broom girl at a distance. Fortunately, Jiho’s speed gradually widened the gap between them.

“You! Hey! You—damn it!”

The broom girl spat out something indistinct, either a curse or a meaningless shout. Breathless, her words came out garbled and incoherent. It seemed she was venting her frustration more than anything else.

Since Shin Jiho had sprinted ahead of the broom girl, the girl had unintentionally become a barrier between Jiho and Marbas. There was no time to glance back, so Jiho focused solely on their footsteps. The three distinct sets—Jiho’s, the broom girl’s, and Marbas’s—echoed chaotically through the hallway.

Thud– Thud–

Strangely, Marbas’s footsteps sounded slow, the intervals between steps longer than expected.

Reaching the elevator lobby, Jiho rushed down the stairs without hesitation. Not wanting to fall behind, the broom girl followed closely behind.

Thankfully, Marbas didn’t pursue them further. He merely stood at the edge of the elevator lobby, watching them descend with an unreadable expression.

Feeling somewhat safe, Jiho and the broom girl slowed down. The broom girl leaned against the wall, gasping heavily for air. Unlike her, Jiho calmly glanced back up the stairs without showing any signs of exhaustion. Marbas lingered briefly as if bidding them farewell, then turned and disappeared into the hallway.

“You must be happy, huh? Talk about dumb luck. Must be nice having someone else do all the dirty work for you, right? Maybe I should live efficiently like you from now on.”

The broom girl mocked Jiho sarcastically. Jiho clearly understood why she was picking such a meaningless fight—disgusted by her own actions, she needed someone else to blame to ease her guilt.

But understanding didn’t mean Jiho had to accept it. Feeling a sudden wave of exhaustion, Jiho rubbed her temples and didn’t bother to hide the disdain in her gaze.

“Must be nice, having the energy to waste on this.”

Having the luxury to comfortably blame others in a situation like this… To Jiho, who had already experienced death once, that felt like a tremendous indulgence.

“What? What’s that supposed to mean?”

The broom girl snapped back at her angrily, but Jiho ignored her, still nervously glancing upward. She was worried that Marbas might change his mind and come down the stairs after them. Thankfully, the upper floor remained quiet.

“Hey! Are you ignoring me?”

Jiho disregarded the angry voice behind her and began descending the stairs, replaying the events on the eighth floor in her mind.

Something was strange.

Considering Marbas’s speed earlier, he could have easily caught up with Jiho or the broom girl, just as he had swiftly captured the short-haired girl from room 804.

‘It doesn’t feel like I escaped because I ran well… It feels more like Marbas simply let me go.’

In any case, she had managed to escape the eighth floor. It was something she’d thought impossible during her first attempt. To say she wasn’t relieved would be a lie. However, she couldn’t fully celebrate—not when so many had been sacrificed, and especially when she’d only made it down to the seventh floor.

Jiho rubbed her eyes, noticing the shadows stretching eerily along the staircase.

When Jiho reached the seventh floor, she came to an abrupt halt.

“What is this?”

Originally, the staircase and elevator lobby were connected openly, without any doors. But now, a fire shutter had descended, completely separating the stairs from the elevator lobby. The real issue was that the fire shutter was positioned dangerously close to the stair steps.

“What the hell is this now?”

The broom girl spat out a curse. With an expression like she’d just tasted something foul, she glanced at the stairs leading down to the next floor and muttered,

“We’re blocked. Shit, we’re screwed.”

The stairs going down were barred by metal grates.

Jiho anxiously looked around.

They were trapped—metal grates below and the fire shutter ahead. The only way forward was through the emergency door built into the shutter, directly into the seventh floor.

Only by entering the seventh floor could they reach the next set of stairs.

‘The stairs are cut off…?’

Jiho hadn’t intended to set foot on the seventh floor, not even for a moment. Who knew what other monstrous threats lurked there? It was out of the question.

Jiho and the broom girl forgot their earlier argument, both carefully examining the staircase.

The broom girl spoke up suddenly.

“Hey.”

“What?”

Jiho answered flatly.

“Right now… those metal bars look like they go all the way down to the first floor. I’m not crazy, am I?”

“Unless we’re both crazy, you’re right,” Jiho replied dryly. “And I’m starting to think each floor probably has its own fire shutter, too. Is my brain malfunctioning?”

“…No.”

The broom girl, who had crouched down to peer through the stairs, stood up abruptly.

“So what, we can’t go straight down to the first floor? We have to stop by every single damn floor to get there?!”

She furiously kicked at the metal bars.

“At this rate, dying would be quicker than escaping!”

Her angry voice echoed harshly through the stairwell.

Jiho felt anger bubbling up inside her as well, all the frustration she’d been holding since her first attempt rising sharply. Nothing was easy about this damned place.

Rubbing her temples, Jiho swallowed back her fury and called out to the broom girl.

“Hey.”

“What?”

The broom girl answered quickly, though her brows were furrowed. It seemed she’d sensed something off, too.

“Setting aside the fire shutters… Were those metal bars always here between the stairs?”

“No. And the fire shutter wasn’t there before either.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, there were no metal bars at all this morning. And there wasn’t a fire shutter here either.”

She gestured beyond the shutter, adding, “The shutter’s original position is supposed to be over there,” she pointed sharply past the shutter.

Jiho glanced upward briefly before turning her attention back to the fire shutter. Since going back upstairs wasn’t an option, only one choice remained: they had to enter the seventh floor.

The broom girl’s attitude irritated Jiho, but surprisingly, it didn’t sting much. She had already felt hurt enough earlier on the eighth floor, and besides, she’d responded rudely enough herself. There was no sense feeling unfairly treated now.

Jiho approached the fire shutter cautiously. She sighed involuntarily, dreading whatever might await them on the seventh floor.

But this wasn’t the time to be overwhelmed by emotions. She had learned a bitter lesson from dying in room 810: if she let fear stop her from moving forward, death would be the only thing waiting for her.

Jiho approached the shutter resolutely.

“Step back a little.”

Jiho closely examined the fire shutters. There were two shutters visible—one right in front of the stairs between the seventh and eighth floors, and another blocking the stairs down to the sixth floor. Metal bars filled the gaps between each staircase.

‘I saw them pushing these open before…’

This was Jiho’s first time seeing a fire shutter up close. She quickly checked the broom girl’s position. The girl was standing about five steps above Jiho.

Jiho carefully tried pushing the shutter. She wanted to peek cautiously through a small gap, but perhaps because she pushed too gently, it wouldn’t budge.

When she used her shoulder, the emergency door slowly started to open. Jiho was careful to control her strength to prevent it from swinging open too abruptly.

“…!”

Jiho glimpsed through the opening and froze.

Through the gap, she saw a monster. Standing beyond the shutter was something she absolutely hadn’t wanted to encounter.

She could clearly hear the broom girl’s nervous breathing from about five steps above her.

A static-filled, ominous sound crackled from the speaker.

『An announcement for those who have newly arrived on the 7th floor of the girls’ dormitory. The demon residing on the 7th floor is ‘Amon.’ Thank you.』