Chapter 169
He had only closed his eyes for a moment while lying on the bed. He had just taken a short rest with the blanket pulled up to his head, but everyone had disappeared. The staff had all gone home, leaving Geon-woo quietly sleeping in one corner of the set.
Mitchell was gone too. Of course, if Geon-woo didn’t ask to go together, they would usually take their own cars and leave separately. But wasn’t there an unfinished conversation? Shouldn’t Mitchell have offered him a ride in his car, if only out of curiosity about that?
“Ugh, you idiot. Why are you blaming Mitchell for that?”
Geon-woo cursed at himself as he hurriedly got off the bed. He couldn’t take more than a few steps in the complete darkness that had settled. It was so dark that it sent chills down his spine, but fortunately, the space was familiar enough that he could fumble his way to the front door.
“Am I really going crazy…?”
Click, click, the doorknob made a sound but wouldn’t turn. It seemed to be locked from the outside. Even if Mitchell had left, weren’t the staff supposed to do a final check before leaving the set? Of course, Geon-woo had said goodbye to each staff member, saying he would go first, and even sent the driver home. The problem was that there was no one specifically responsible for taking Geon-woo or waiting for him.
But how could they leave someone on the set like this!
To make matters worse, they had fixed the set door that was always broken today. If this had happened just one day earlier, not more or less, he could have easily opened the broken door and left. Then he would have immediately asked someone for help.
But really, just his luck, today! They had fixed this door to be incredibly sturdy.
Geon-woo pressed his forehead against the door while holding the doorknob.
“Damn it.”
The bang was unusually loud.
“I’m locked in! Help! Someone help me!”
He tried shouting. He listened for any sound, but only silence echoed back. Geon-woo took a deep breath, trying to regain some sense.
“Hey! There’s someone in here! Ah, Mitchell…”
But no matter how much he called, there was no response.
This filming location had been newly renovated from an actual residence into Logan’s house. No one lived in this area. On one side of Logan’s house was the staff waiting room, and on the other side was an empty lot used as staff parking. The rest of the area was lined with trailers used by the actors.
So, within a radius of several hundred meters around Logan’s house, ordinary people couldn’t come and go. It was impossible for someone passing by far away to hear Geon-woo’s voice. Unless there was a staff member who had stayed behind.
“This won’t open either?”
The only windows were slightly larger than a person’s face, and being for the set, they didn’t open. Geon-woo checked outside the window, feeling his heart pounding. It was too dark to see anything.
He didn’t know where the light switch was either. The lights had always been on when he arrived, so he never had to use it. He felt along the wall and pressed a switch his hand found, but no lights came on. Had they turned off the circuit breaker?
His only belongings were his phone, which he had left in the trailer. Although outsiders couldn’t enter personal trailers, during filming, he would put it in a drawer in the corner of the trailer just in case.
Since there were no belongings left behind, Geon-woo’s staff must have thought he had left first. If he remembered correctly, the battery had been running low and might have already died.
“Ah, shit. This is driving me crazy.”
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, the shapes of objects slowly came into view. After taking another deep breath, he felt along every wall he could find. If he could just turn on a light, it would be much better, but he couldn’t find one.
Geon-woo tried opening the door to the backyard for no reason. It wasn’t locked, but it didn’t help much. The backyard was just another room. Behind the temporary wall built for filming was a chroma key screen. Beyond the screen was a sturdy brick wall.
“Ah, damn it… Mitchell.”
In this crisis, Mitchell’s name kept coming out. Mitchell was the only person he could think of. Really, not a single other person came to mind besides Mitchell.
“Aaargh! Shit, this is really bad luck.”
Suddenly, he remembered tomorrow’s schedule. They had two whole days off. Even if he spent this dawn here, no one would come to this place the next day. After that, Mitchell’s outdoor filming would start, meaning the set would be empty for at least 4 or 5 days. The space that had been bustling with the filming team almost every day was now devoid of human presence as soon as Geon-woo got locked in.
As Geon-woo was making strange crying sounds, he heard some noise. If it was a staff member who happened to stop by, he would be really grateful, but the sound annoyingly came from the backyard.
Geon-woo wondered if there was another idiot like him.
The reason he had such an absurd thought was because he was terribly scared. Being locked alone in a space he could barely see was driving him crazy. But feeling it would be more unsettling not to check, he stood next to the door leading to the backyard. Leaning against the wide-open door, he peeked out with just his head.
The sound didn’t come again. He thought he might have misheard, but the problem wasn’t the sound.
“That bastard Logan… When did he… dig again?”
Thanks to his careful observation of the backyard earlier, he noticed the hole Logan had dug. The dug hole was dimly visible, which shouldn’t have been the case. Logan had clearly filled in the hole earlier. He had definitely seen him stick the shovel in it!
Geon-woo felt goosebumps all over his body and trembled. Who dug this up again? Knowing the script, Geon-woo also knew what was supposed to be in there.
Someone’s corpse…
Of course, this was the house of a psychopath in a story, not reality. Even if there was something creepy in the hole, it would just be a prop. Still, cold sweat ran down his body and his hair stood on end. As he carefully closed the door, the creaking sound tore through the air like someone’s scream.
Fuck, this is so scary. I’m scared!
Trembling, he went back to the front door. He checked the door that wouldn’t open several times again and shouted until his voice was hoarse. There was no answer.
He sat in front of the small window next to the front door, which was the brightest spot due to the moonlight. His heart skipped a beat as creaking sounds kept coming from somewhere.
“It’s… it’s just wood. Shit. It’s the sound of wood.”
It was the sound of the wood expanding in the old house. Even though he knew this, the strange, irregular noises in the silent house scared the life out of Geon-woo. He might have even shed a tear.
“Damn it. Damn it!”
He hugged his knees and buried his face between them. This was the first time in his life he’d experienced such a terrible situation.
“…Huh?”
Geon-woo, who had fallen asleep for a moment, looked around with a bewildered voice. Had he fainted? Time had passed so quickly that it made his earlier tension and trembling seem pointless. Shit, it was morning.
He was surprised that no one had come to look for him until dawn, and despaired once again at the reality of still being trapped here. Geon-woo frantically pulled at the doorknob. He went to the window and screamed at the top of his lungs.
“Help! I’m trapped in here!”
Even after shouting for tens of minutes until his throat was raw, there was still no answer.
“I’m hungry.”
Despite everything, he was hungry again. His throat was dry and he felt weak, but at least he felt a bit calmer now that he could see. He looked around the set to see if there was any food to eat. Everything in the refrigerator was props, and the only edible thing was the water from the bathroom sink.
Since escape was urgent, he first looked for places he could get out. Unfortunately, since this was a real house renovated for the set, not just a facade, he couldn’t easily break out. Even if he broke a window, it wasn’t big enough for his body to fit through. No matter how much he looked, there was no escape route.
“How can this be happening?”
An incredulous laugh burst out. Still, he didn’t lose hope. There were countless reasons why staff might come to check the set, after all. It wasn’t like he had fallen in the middle of a desert or the ocean, so someone would come eventually.
And Mitchell.
Geon-woo thought Mitchell would come looking for him.
“…I’ll at least drink this.”
Although it was unpleasant, he had no choice but to wet his throat with water from the sink, and he slept comfortably on the bed. He was curious about the hole in the backyard, but he didn’t check it again. It wasn’t that he lacked courage, but that he had no strength in his body. Really.
He tried to sleep even though he wasn’t sleepy, occasionally shouted for help when he remembered, and even attempted to break the doorknob. All attempts failed, so he returned to the bed. Even then, his expectations and hope hadn’t disappeared.
But when darkness enveloped Logan’s house again as it got dark, Geon-woo’s mental state completely crumbled.
“Save me, damn it.”
This really wasn’t right.
Right when Geon-woo was nearly dying in his right mind.
Mitchell received a phone call.
“He’s not there either? Alright.”
As soon as he heard the message, he hung up and immediately called someone else while leaving the house. Mitchell’s face looked even more haggard than Geon-woo’s, who had been trapped and suffering all night.
How could he be okay when Geon-woo had vanished right after telling him he loved him? It had been two whole days.
