C

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Monitor Room

The surveillance team was locked onto the screens, tracking 44's movements through the chaos he had unleashed in the Nursery.

"Damn it, this kid's a ghost! As soon as the lights go out, he disappears—then reappears minutes later in another direction."

One of the staff clenched his fists, frustration evident in his voice. He turned to his colleagues. "Any progress?"

Another staff member spoke up, his tone uneasy. "He's systematically eliminating every instructor and worker in the Nursery. But… he's not heading for the exit."

"It's only a matter of time before he gets here…" someone else muttered in dread.

"Then we need a plan. We might not be martial artists, but if we arm ourselves, we might have a shot at surviving," another suggested.

"Yeah, that gives us a fighting chance. But let's be real—against a normal subject, we'd already be dead. Against 44?" A bitter chuckle. "We don't stand a chance."

Silence fell over the room. Fear settled in their bones.

"But he's not faster than a bullet, right?" one of them asked, desperation creeping into his voice.

"Right. Which means we need to act now."

They quickly devised a plan: retrieve weapons from the armory in the eastern wing. But first, they continued monitoring 44's movements.

He was standing still.

Staring directly into the camera.

His piercing gaze seemed to cut through the screen, as if seeing straight into their buried fears and hidden desires.

"Jeez… what a creep. At least he's not moving. Now's our chance to grab the guns before he gets to us."

The group agreed. One of them sprinted toward the east wing, his colleagues guiding him through an earpiece.

As he rounded the final corner, his feet skidded to a halt.

A man stood there, dressed like a chef.

"...What the hell are you doing here? I thought all the staff were dead."

The chef tilted his head slightly. "Well, I'm here, aren't I?" He exhaled, forcing a chuckle. "You're here for weapons, right? Me too."

The staff member hesitated. We weren't the only ones who thought of this, huh? He brushed aside his thoughts and rushed into the armory.

Surveillance Room

The remaining staff watched in surprise as their colleague and the chef reappeared on-screen.

"You never know who might survive, huh?"

"Forget that—44 is still staring at the camera. It's creeping me the hell out."

Then, without warning—

Total darkness.

"The hell?"

"What's going on?"

"Oh no, this is ba—"

The blackout lasted ten minutes. When the lights flickered back on, a cold sweat ran down one staff member's face.

"What the hell was that?" His voice shook.

"I don't know…"

Knock. Knock.

The entire room froze.

"...Huh?"

The security system was still rebooting—they couldn't confirm 44's location.

"Should we check?"

"Are you insane?! What if it's him?"

A voice cut through their debate, accompanied by desperate pounding on the door.

"HEY! OPEN UP!"

Their eyes widened. That voice—

"That's him! He made it back!"

"Wait…" Another staff member's voice trembled. "44 is gone from the monitors."

A chilling realization set in.

Two possibilities.

Either their colleague was truly outside, pleading for his life.

Or… 44 was pretending to be him.

A heavy silence hung between them. 44 was more than capable of mimicking voices. Every subject was trained to near-perfection—but 44 was on another level.

"We're opening the door," one of them declared, stepping forward.

"Are you out of your mind?! That could be him!"

"Listen!" The staff member turned sharply. "If that is our guy, then leaving him outside is a death sentence. And if we don't open up soon, 44 will hear him screaming and find us anyway."

Conflict warred in their expressions.

It was a risk.

But their lives were already at stake.

"...Fine."

The staff member approached the door again, pressing his palm against it.

"You got the guns?"

"Yeah," came the reply. "That's the whole reason I risked my ass going out there."

"Did you see the chef?" A calculated question. If it really was 44 outside, he wouldn't know about the chef—he had been too busy staring into the cameras before the blackout.

"Yeah. But he said he'd find his own way out."

The staff exchanged glances. A silent agreement passed between them.

The lock clicked.

The door opened.