The Weapon Genius: Anything I Hold Can Kill-Chapter 70: The Empty Station

The firehouse doors swung open with a slow, heavy creak.

Jin stepped in first, his boots hitting the tiled floor with a dull thud. The air inside was thick—not dusty, not stale, but still.

Like the place was waiting.

The others followed in behind him, their footsteps echoing lightly in the vast, open space. The firehouse was intact. More than that, it was untouched. The high ceilings stretched over them, red-painted walls lined with equipment, fire suits still hanging neatly in their lockers.

And yet, something was wrong.

Jin's eyes moved carefully over the details.

A duffel bag sat on a bench, partially unzipped. It was packed, but whoever owned it never finished closing it.

A chair had been pushed back from the main desk, as if someone had just stood up but never sat back down.

The fire truck was still parked in the bay, its doors open, keys still in the ignition.

People were here.

Not days ago. Recently.

And yet, the map had marked this place as unoccupied.

Jin's stomach twisted slightly.

Echo wandered a few steps forward, hands in his pockets as his eyes swept the station. "Gotta say, this isn't what I expected."

Jin glanced at him. "What did you expect?"

Echo tilted his head, thinking. "More mess. More signs of a struggle." He tapped a knuckle against one of the lockers. "The police station was still holding when the system hit. Thought firefighters would've been the same, y'know? Rescuing people. Helping out."

Daehyun nodded, stepping closer to the parked fire truck. "If they were evacuating, why wouldn't they take these?"

Areum ran a gloved hand along a metal table, disturbing nothing. The surface was clean—not wiped down, but there was no dust. Not like a place that had been abandoned for weeks.

No.

Someone was here recently.

So where did they go?

Jin exhaled, rolling his shoulders. The presence he had felt outside still lingered in his mind, a faint, nagging instinct telling him that something was off.

He turned to Echo. "See if you can pick up anything."

Echo blinked. "You mean, like, weird whispers in the dark? Spooky ghost sounds?"

Jin didn't respond.

Echo sighed, stretching his neck. "Alright, alright. Let's see what we're working with."

He closed his eyes, exhaling slowly.

A low, barely audible hum filled the air. It wasn't loud—it wasn't even something they could hear.

But they could feel it.

Echo's ability, Echo, let him tap into the natural vibrations of the space around him, feeling the sounds most people never noticed. Even in places where nothing lived, there was always something.

Pipes creaking. Wind shifting between cracks in the walls. The faint skitter of rats in the dark.

A building was never truly silent.

Except—

Echo's brows furrowed.

Jin caught the flicker of confusion across his face. "What is it?"

Echo opened his eyes, frowning. "That's weird."

Haneul adjusted his grip on his staff. "What?"

"There's nothing," Echo said.

Daehyun raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, nothing?"

Echo scratched his jaw, looking around. "Like, no sound. No ambient noise. No creaks, no shifting—nothing. It's... dead silent."

Areum frowned. "Isn't that normal for an empty building?"

Echo shook his head. "No. Even abandoned places have sound. This? This is like..." He exhaled. "It's like stepping into a soundproofed room. No echoes. No feedback."

The group fell quiet, suddenly more aware of how empty the air around them felt.

Jin's fingers twitched slightly. The longer they stayed here, the more unnatural it felt.

"Spread out," he ordered. "Look for anything useful. Let's figure out why this place was marked unoccupied."

They moved carefully, keeping close as they searched.

Haneul checked the lockers, running his fingers over the gear inside. The suits were lined up perfectly. No signs of them being hastily thrown off or abandoned mid-use.

Areum walked past the fire truck, stopping at a row of desks near the back. She picked up a clipboard that had been left on the table. The writing on the last entry was rushed, but legible.

"Night Shift Log – 3 Firefighters on Duty. Dispatch Call at 1:32 AM. No Return."

She exhaled sharply, setting it down. "Looks like they got a call before they left. Never came back."

Daehyun flipped through another clipboard nearby. "Happened more than once." He held it up. "Two other logs say the same thing. A group went out. Never came back."

Echo leaned against the fire truck, crossing his arms. "So they all just dipped one by one until there was no one left?"

Jin stared at the open duffel bag on the bench. "Maybe. But why leave in such a hurry? And where did they go?"

No one had an answer.

Jin let out a slow breath, turning toward a hallway at the back of the firehouse. A single door stood slightly ajar.

Beyond it, the station stretched further. The second floor. Dorm rooms. The rest of the station.

Something inside him pulled toward it.

Like whatever answer they were looking for was waiting beyond that door.

Jin tightened his gloves.

"We check upstairs," he said.

No one argued.

The group moved forward, stepping up into the unknown.

The stairs groaned beneath their weight as they moved toward the second floor.

Jin took the lead, Echo right behind him, followed by Areum, Haneul, and Daehyun. The air grew thicker the higher they climbed, the silence pressing against them like an unseen weight.

The second floor was too quiet.

Not in the way the downstairs had been. That silence had been unsettling, unnatural in its emptiness. This was different.

This silence felt intentional.

Like something was waiting.

Jin stepped off the last stair, his boots landing softly against the floor. The hallway stretched ahead, dimly lit by thin beams of light cutting through the boarded-up windows.

The others followed close behind, their movements careful. Controlled.

The air up here was heavier, pressing against Jin's skin like the building itself was warning them not to go further.

Too late.

They were already here.

Echo exhaled quietly, shifting his stance. "So, uh… anyone else feel like we just stepped into the set of a horror movie?"

"Don't start," Areum muttered.

"Too late. It's already happening."

Daehyun ran a hand through his hair, glancing at the row of dorm rooms. "Think we'll find anything up here?"

Haneul adjusted his grip on his staff. "We'll find something," he said quietly.

Jin said nothing, but he agreed.

They weren't alone. He didn't know how he knew that—there was no movement, no sound. But the same way he had felt that presence outside, he felt it here. Stronger now.

Watching.

Waiting.

He stepped forward, scanning the hallway. It looked normal.

The doors were labeled with nameplates, each room belonging to someone who had once lived here. Most were slightly ajar, but none were fully open.

At the end of the hall, a break room was visible. The chairs were still neatly tucked in around the table. A coffee maker sat on the counter, untouched.

It was like whoever had been here had just stepped out for only a second.

But then decided they weren't coming back.

The group moved in deeper, spreading out slightly but keeping each other in sight.

Then—something dropped.

A sharp, sudden clatter echoed through the hallway.

The entire group froze.

Jin's head snapped to the right, his eyes locking onto the source of the sound.

A firefighter's strap lay on the ground, still swaying slightly from its fall.

No one had touched it.

No wind had moved it.

It had just… fallen.

Jin exhaled slowly, stepping forward. His fingers brushed the material as he picked it up. It was standard gear, worn but intact. Something that should have been secured to a suit or uniform.

But it wasn't.

Echo's voice was low. "Please tell me someone bumped into that."

Silence.

Because no one had touched anything.

Jin turned, scanning the ceiling, the walls, the floor. Looking for anything out of place.

Nothing.

And yet—something had done this.

He tightened his grip on the strap before slipping it into his pocket. "Stay sharp," he muttered.

They moved again, slower now, their senses heightened.

Areum walked ahead slightly, reaching for one of the doors. It had been left slightly ajar, the metal plate above it reading ROOM 202 – LIEUTENANT JUNG SI.

She pushed it open, revealing the living quarters inside.

Jin stepped in after her.

The room was small but organized—too neat. The bed was still made, the belongings still in place.

But on the far wall—something was written.

Large, bold letters stretched across the surface, smeared as if they had been made in a hurry. Deep red.

LEAVE THIS PLACE.

Three words.

A single warning.

Jin stared at it, his chest tightening slightly. It looked like blood.

The others stood behind him, all equally still.

Echo let out a slow breath. "...Well, that's not ominous at all."

Echo exhaled.

He had a feeling they weren't going to listen to the warning.