Part 3The Beast in Room 601

Our dorm building was taped off. The school issued a gag order—no one was allowed to talk about it.

Not long after, the RA and I were taken to the station for questioning.

The RA came out quickly, looking grim.

Then the detectives called me into the interrogation room.

"What time did you go to sleep last night?"

I bit my nail, trying to remember. "After I got woken up... I probably fell back asleep around 4 AM. They were gaming too loud. Screaming at the screen. It was impossible to sleep."

The two detectives exchanged a look. "After you fell asleep, you didn't hear anything else?"

I shook my head. "No. Nothing."

I knew how fake that sounded. My four roommates had been slaughtered. There must have been a struggle. They wouldn't have just waited quietly to die.

If their gaming could wake me up, surely their screams for help would have too.

But I really didn't hear a thing. I didn't want to lie.

The detective chuckled, but there was no humor in it.

"The girls in the dorm next door said your room was screaming all night. They almost called the RA to check if you guys were in trouble. But since your room is constantly making noise, they figured it was just another gaming session and ignored it."

"And yet, you say you heard nothing after 4 AM?"

Hearing his skepticism, I felt a weird urge to laugh.

My roommates... they were obsessed with finding "cracked" guys online to carry them in ranked matches. One guy carrying four girls. They always lost.

They were close friends, inseparable, but toxic. When they lost, they'd mute their mics and trash-talk the guy carrying them, calling him trash. But the second they unmuted? "Op-pa, big brother, you're so good!"

It was annoying as hell.

Because of them, I hadn't had a good night's sleep in months.

That’s why I had that thought last night.

I hope the gorilla mauls you all to death.

I picked at my cuticles.

It was just a thought born of anger.

But now... they were actually dead.

The police noticed the shift in my expression. "Did you remember something?"

I looked up. After a moment of hesitation, I decided to come clean.

"At 2:20 AM, I woke up to go to the bathroom. My phone popped an alert: A gorilla escaped from the city zoo.

"Our dorm window wasn't latched properly. I suspect... maybe the gorilla climbed up the drainpipes and got in.

"They must have been mauled by the gorilla!"

As I said it, my heart raced. I was terrified that my curse had actually come true.

I rubbed my temples. The lack of sleep was causing tinnitus—a high-pitched ringing in my ears. My eyelids felt like lead.

"So, you heard the gorilla?"

"No. It probably came in after I fell asleep at 4. Like I said, after 4 AM, I heard nothing."

I fought to keep my eyes open. The detectives looked at me with pure suspicion.

I felt that familiar irritation rising.

"Officers, you don't actually think I killed them, do you? It was four against one! How could I possibly solo-kill four people? I don't even have the guts to kill a chicken!"

Just then, another officer walked in and whispered something to the interrogator.

Next thing I knew, they were hooking me up to a polygraph.

They asked the same questions.

The machine showed I was telling the truth.

According to the data, after 4 AM, I was out cold. Dead to the world. Regardless of the carnage happening feet away from me, I hadn't woken up.