Miho the Killer
Chapter 81: Lights Out

Chapter 81: Lights Out

The armed police were occupied with keeping the mobs on the floor in order, although it was pretty hard to tell at this point which bodies were alive and which bodies were dead. A few more Special Ops men came up the stairs and they started sweeping the rooms, but did not pay particular attention to me standing by the door - a youngish lady wearing a black dress and covered in blood. I probably looked like a victim in the scene who didn’t want to be there. Well, at least one part of that was true.

"Ms. Han!!! Are you alright?!"

Then Detective Choi emerged, pushing through his team, approaching me through the corridor.

I, a drug dealer and an accomplice to multiple homicides, was as guilty here as anyone else on this floor of the damned.

How ironic the first thing spoke running into this catastrophic scene was if I was OK.

"Are you hurt?!"

Stop asking me that. I think I might start to really feel hurt by your words if you continue.

Your concern is making me feel-

Bad.

Although there was desperation in his voice stemming from a genuine worry for my well-being - which made me feel even guiltier -, he was a meticulous man and didn’t rush his way toward me. The corridor was packed with a lot of dangerous men after all who grudgingly obeyed to lay on the ground but were probably looking for any possible chance at all to turn the situation around and make their escape. The police had a bigger problem than they realized though as there was one woman that they failed to notice and register as a danger yet, a tiger hiding among the sheeps.

I looked down at Miho again and she had her eyes closed, preparing for the lights to go out. Her eyes would have adjusted just a tiny bit quicker than the others who have to orientate themselves in a sudden darkness after the bright lights of the corridor go out, thanks to her little partner here. It was probably just a very small head start but in a situation like this, and for someone of Miho’s caliber, a small edge and a head start over others could potentially lead to an immense and deadly advantage.

"I... I’m OK, Detective."

As I spoke out, I made it look like I couldn’t stand straight very well - and I really couldn’t under all this stress - and put my hand against the door frame to steady myself. I glanced to my side and my hand was positioned very close to the light switches now.

"Oh thank God! But you are covered in blood!"

This one flick of a switch I was about to make would probably cause the deaths of many. The thought made me shudder and grow even weaker on my knees.

I may not be dirtying my own hands here but I’d be pressing the switch that will launch a weapon of mass destruction, a nuclear option that will annihilate everyone here - if things went the way we wanted. Reaching that thought, I had to accept the unavoidable fact that the only way for us to get out of here was at the cost of other people’s lives now.

Well, perhaps at this stage, it was already all too late for me. I already facilitated murder before and witnessed it being done on my behalf with my own eyes. But somehow, this felt like the very final step that would make me cross the Rubicon by unleashing the beast on law enforcement.

I decided not to think any further and only apologized quietly in my heart without speaking out.

’I’m sorry, Detective Choi.’

With that, I flicked the switch.

The sudden darkness was immediately followed by a loud shriek, then even more screams, a choir of grotesque voices as souls left bodies.

Then there were gunshots. The police started to open the fire in the darkness in panic, possibly because one of them got attacked by Miho.

But gunshots were all sporadic in this total chaos as there were significant dangers of friendly fire shooting guns in this darkness - in a narrow corridor on top of that. Nevertheless, when you are getting stabbed and slashed in the darkness while holding a gun I suppose nobody was going to let the risk of friendly fire hold them back from firing, just a natural survival instinct and fear of unknown and invisible danger rolled into one.

Every time a gun flashed I caught quick glimpses of what was happening.

Detective Choi was no longer facing me but looking down the corridor with his own gun held up, but unable to shoot at anything.

I saw a dark figure - presumably Miho - dash about like a dancing shadow that flickered every time a gun was fired and lights sparked from the muzzles.

The gun fires were getting more sparse each time, and the corridor was getting quieter, quieter, quieter-

And it all stopped.

There was no more sound and I could finally hear Miho’s huffing and puffing sound from the other end of the corridor. She was grunting and taking heavy breaths.

"STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" The Detective shouted with his gun pointing in Miho’s direction, although he probably couldn’t see Miho clearly yet, neither could Miho.

"Good night, good night, Teddy Bear-" Then Miho started to sing.

"Good night, good night, Rabbit"

No.

Don’t do this.

"Good night, good night, Crocodile. Good night, good night, Turtle."

This was a song that Miho sometimes jokingly sang to her plushies before going to bed, patting each one of them and saying good night.

I fully understood what she was trying to tell me and what she was trying to do now.

She wanted me to get on the floor.

"DROP YOUR WEAPON!!!"

Don’t do this, Miho. Choi is holding a gun... don’t...

But nevertheless, I lowered myself to the ground, face down.

"Good night, good night, Snake. Good night, good night, Giraffe..."

There was a short pause and another heavy huff from Miho, and then she continued.

"Good night, good night, Capybara. Good night, good night Detective"

With that, I heard two gunshots fire at the same time, followed by a loud thud that was closer to me.

I knew what happened, but my mind didn’t want to process it. Neither of the two gunshots was aimed at me, but I felt two holes in my heart. I felt my soul escape through the punctures. It didn’t gracefully rise up heading to heaven, rather, it sipped out of my broken heart as thick putrid liquid and started to spread along the ground, merging with the pool of blood that was everywhere on this floor.

"Lights on."

After what seemed like an eternity of frozen time, Miho commanded triumphantly, her words bravely managing to squeeze through heaving breaths. I, on the other hand, wasn’t so brave. Neither did I have any strength in me - mental and physical. I had to use all my resolve to bring myself up from the ground, barely managing to stand, swaying side to side, placing my hand on the door frame again, and flicking on the light switch.

Right in front of me lay the Detective on the ground, bleeding profusely from his mouth, foaming and frothing.

His body was twitching a little, but his eyes were vacant and I could almost sense that his life was escaping through the iris of those kind eyes.

I remembered his smiles, his concerned look, even the piercing stare that I would have given everything to avoid when I sat in the interview room with him the first time we met.

Back then I wished he would go away - that I, and Miho, and even Shin, would be left alone and never be bothered by this cop again.

But since then he became the only man who seemed to care for my survival and well-being other than Miho. Although his words always dripped suspicions about me that made me uncomfortable, I had to admit in some ways he truly cared. He might have suspected me of working in a team with Shin, but to him, I was probably a poor civilian who got mixed in with the wrong crowd.

"NOOOOO!"

As my train of thought reached its final destination, I broke down, fell to my knees, and screamed uncontrollably.

Miho calmly walked over and helped me up.

"Come on. It’s over now. Let’s leave."

I had caused many deaths already, but being directly responsible for Detective Choi’s death shook me to the core in a way that I hadn’t felt before. The shock was immense and I was overwhelmed with an immediate guilt.

"Mi...Miho... I can’t..."

"Shhh" The gentle tigress then shushed me, put her arm around my shoulder, and guided me to Room 5.

The Rubicon had been crossed a long time ago perhaps.

And the bridges were also burnt down a long ago when I think about it.

But there was one man who swam across the river to save me.

And that one man, with my little flick of a switch, died to the lullaby of my Miho.