Chapter 49: Echoes of Hope
The broadcasting room on the second floor had become the only place in the entire second floor where the sound of human breathing could still be heard.
Outside, death roamed the corridors without restraint.
But within this small room, the last flame of hope was still burning.
Only moments earlier, Ms. Selena had used the school's central broadcasting system to announce that everyone still alive on the fourth floor had been granted more time and must do everything they could to reach the second floor before 1:00 PM.
The announcement had ended.
The microphone had fallen silent.
Yet Ms. Selena remained frozen in place, her eyes lost in the empty distance.
An unmistakable uneasiness lingered across her face, as though her heart was warning her that something terrible was about to happen.
Her fingers nervously twisted together, while the tears glistening in her eyes revealed the burden she carried for her students.
Not far away, Mr. Samit had been quietly watching her.
Usually, he was the kind of person who could lighten any situation with a joke. But this time, even his cheerful expression had been replaced by concern.
After a brief hesitation, he slowly walked over and asked gently,
"Selena... what's wrong? Why are you so worried?"
His voice pulled Ms. Selena out of her thoughts.
She slowly raised her head and met his eyes.
For several moments, she remained silent, gathering the strength to put her deepest fear into words.
Finally, her trembling lips parted.
"I'm... really scared."
Her voice cracked.
"What if... no one makes it out of the fourth floor alive?"
A heavy silence filled the room.
Everyone instinctively turned to look at her.
Keeping her tearful gaze fixed on the floor, she continued softly,
"I'm a teacher... and even I can barely keep myself together."
She drew a shaky breath.
"But up there... they're just children."
As those words left her lips, countless familiar faces flashed through her mind.
The same students...
Who had been laughing and racing through the school hallways only hours ago.
Who joked with their classmates during lessons.
Who invented endless excuses whenever they forgot their homework.
And now...
Perhaps one of them was trembling beneath a classroom desk.
Perhaps another was crying as they thought about their mother.
Perhaps someone had been injured...
Or perhaps...
She couldn't even bring herself to finish the thought.
A single tear slipped silently down her cheek.
"They must be even more terrified than I am..."
No one spoke.
Not a single person in the room remained untouched by her words.
Mr. Samit lowered his eyes for a moment before a gentle smile appeared on his face.
He knew this was not the time to feed fear.
She needed hope.
"Selena..."
She quietly looked up at him.
"Those children aren't just anyone's students."
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"They're the students of a brave teacher... a teacher like you."
Every eye in the room was now fixed on the two of them.
Mr. Samit continued,
"They won't be defeated by something like this."
He clenched his fist with quiet confidence.
"And besides..."
"They only have to make it to the second floor."
His voice grew firmer.
"Once they get here..."
He looked around at everyone in the room.
"They'll have us."
"And we won't let anything happen to them."
Those weren't merely comforting words.
They were a promise.
A promise every person in that room was prepared to stake their life on.
Ms. Selena looked at him in silence.
Slowly, the despair on her face began to fade, replaced by determination.
She wiped away her tears.
Took a deep breath.
Then, with unwavering resolve, she said,
"You're right..."
"We'll save them."
The moment those words left her mouth, Mr. Samit proudly puffed out his chest and muttered under his breath, quietly enough that only he could hear himself.
"Well done, Samit..."
"For the first time in my life, someone was so convinced by my speech that they agreed with me immediately."
A faint smile spread across Jun's lips, while Yaram disguised his laughter behind a fake cough.
Even in the middle of a nightmare, that brief moment brought small smiles to everyone's faces.
But they all knew...
Those smiles would not last long.
Because in the very next moment...
They would be stepping straight into the jaws of death.