Irregular footsteps echoed thud, thud across the floor, coming closer.

What if one of those men pulled back the shower curtain?

What if they asked why I was hiding here?

No – would they even ask?

Would they even give me a chance to make up an excuse and leave?

More likely, they’d just grab me right then and there, realizing I’d seen everything.

And then what?

Would I be able to jump up and shake them off – run away?

It was a hopeless wish, really.

No matter how I looked at it, there was no way I could fight off one man, let alone four.

Just a few moments ago, it felt like time had completely stopped.

But now I was overwhelmed by the fear that every second was passing uncontrollably, and I had no idea how to hold on to any of it.

I heard the bathroom door – left slightly ajar – crack open the rest of the way.

A jumble of footsteps approached, fast and heavy, right up to where my head lay.

Beyond the loosely folded shower curtain were the very men who had just hurt that woman.

They were standing right there.

I pressed my hands tighter over my nose and mouth.

It was hard to breathe, but it was better than letting even the smallest sound escape.

My heart was pounding so hard it made me dizzy.

The thick shower curtain was made of opaque material, but with the bathroom light behind it acting as a backlight, I could faintly make out the silhouettes of the men.

The gray shadows came closer and closer.

They were leaning over me.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

This is the end.

It was time to let go – to mentally prepare myself for what was to come.

Then suddenly something heavy came down on me.

If I hadn’t already covered my mouth, I would have screamed.

The shock was like a car accident.

It was as if my whole body had been hit by a powerful blow.

“Hand me the shower head.”

Cold water suddenly poured down from above the shower curtain.

It took me a moment to fully comprehend what was happening.

The men, so high on drugs that they had lost basic consciousness, didn’t even think to pull back the shower curtain I was hiding behind.

They didn’t even bother to lay the woman down properly.

They just carelessly threw her into the bathtub and started spraying her with cold water.

I couldn’t believe it.

The dead woman’s body was right on top of me.

Even with the rustling shower curtain between us, I could feel her against me-the cold feel of her skin and the weight of her pressing down on me-it was terrifying.

Cold water began to seep through the folds of the shower curtain, soaking me from my lower back up.

The stream crept slowly up my spine, wetting the back of my neck and then the back of my head, bit by bit.

It felt like the icy hand of a ghost silently caressing my body.

The water rose quickly with a gentle splash.

It wasn’t surprising – there hadn’t been much room to begin with.

My hips, thighs, and calves were all cold and soaked.

Even my ears were submerged.

And yet there was no sign of the showerhead’s flow slowing down.

Will they really bury her body like that?

Will I be buried under her and drown too?

A wave of suffocation washed over me.

This wasn’t the time to cover my nose and mouth – I had to get as much air as I could before the water overtook me completely.

“Talk about bad luck. She had to die here? Aren’t we totally f*cked?”

“Shut the hell up. Don’t jinx it. With Lee Jae-kwang here, what’s there to worry about? It’s his birthday party, he’ll clean it up somehow.”

And then, finally, even my face went under the water – and all the sounds of the world faded away.

I took in as much air as I could at the last moment, but realistically, the average person can only hold their breath underwater for about a minute.

Especially someone like me who doesn’t exercise regularly – there was no guarantee I could even last that long with my small lung capacity.

If I’d known this was going to happen, I would have started training beforehand.

But as always, regret came too late.

No. I quickly forced myself to think differently.

They say people are capable of miracles when pushed to the limit – don’t they?

I’ll make it. I can hold on.

One minute.

I decided to focus on surviving just that – one minute – and started counting.

One… two… three… four…

It wasn’t a bad start.

Holding your breath for a few seconds to calm your nerves before a performance isn’t just a habit for gayageum players – it’s something all musicians do.

Don’t shake. Stay calm. Stay focused, Hyun Seo-hae.

I kept counting and pushing myself.

It wasn’t too hard to hold my breath for twenty or thirty seconds.

The numbers went up quickly.

Thirty-eight… thirty-nine… The dead woman’s shadow, limp as seaweed, wrapped around my limbs like a noose.

The darkness, the density of the water, everything felt unbearably heavy.

Fifty… fifty-one…

Beyond the woman’s lifeless body, I could still see the faint silhouettes of the men.

I didn’t know what they were discussing as they looked down at the corpse they had created, but every now and then their shadowy figures darkened, became more defined – more menacing.

The water had already filled the bathtub to the brim, and now it was spilling over.

I didn’t know if they had fled in fear of the crime they had committed, or if they had stepped out to call someone to clean up their mess.

But for me, it was pure luck.

I couldn’t afford to miss this chance to escape quietly.

The sudden rush of oxygen to my lungs caused a sharp headache.

My vision flickered and my nausea surged.

As my sense of smell returned, a faint scent of blood hit me-it was the blood the woman had lost.

I had been submerged in this bloody water all this time.

The urge to vomit rose in my throat.

The sensations were overwhelming – far too much to process in a clear state of mind.

I squeezed my eyes shut and began to slowly crawl out of the tub.

And then – something suddenly grabbed my foot.

“Ah…!”

For a moment, I almost screamed.

My heart throbbed painfully from the shock – it was a miracle I didn’t pass out right then and there.

Barely holding it in, I bit my tongue and let out a choked gasp.

She wasn’t dead?

If she was still alive, that was something to be thankful for – but she’d grabbed the wrong person to cling to.

I didn’t have time to hesitate or get caught up in anything else.

“…You need to run, too. Now.”

I wanted to speak calmly, but I couldn’t hide the tremor in my voice.

Everyone could tell – I sounded like someone completely consumed by fear.

“If we stay here, who knows what those men might do to us? You and I – we both need to get out of here, now. So please, let go.”

I struggled to free my foot.

But knowing that she had just come back from the brink of death, I couldn’t bring myself to kick her away.

“I want to help you, I really do… But I was dragged here too – I don’t even know where I am…”

To be honest, she probably knew a lot more about this mansion than I did.

If she reported it to the police, I was willing to testify as a witness to what the men had done.

But given her own involvement in drug use and s*xual favors, I doubted she had any real intention of going to the police.

“Let go of me. I said, let go!”

I must have repeated myself countless times – telling her to run, to stop holding me back – but the woman clinging to my ankle remained completely silent.

There was no time to hesitate.

Still half draped over the edge of the tub, I turned to look behind me.