Chapter 103
Kwon Sua returned home and cried her eyes out. She curled up on the sofa and really bawled.
It was her first heartbreak ever.
"I'd prefer if we didn't get involved from now on."
It was a thorough rejection, cutting off even the possibility of friendship.
Kwon Sua couldn't believe it.
Looking back, it was an arrogant thought, but she couldn't imagine that an ordinary male high school student could reject or refuse her confession.
Kwon Sua had been receiving attention and love from everyone since becoming an idol. Since her appearance blossomed like a flower as she entered puberty, she had rejected others but had never been rejected herself.
"My heart hurts!"
Kwon Sua vocalized her emotions.
Soon, her Shiba Inu, Wangwang, approached the crying Kwon Sua and tried to comfort her by licking her face or whimpering.
─Woof woof.
Of course, Kwon Sua's heart wasn't eased even by the touching comfort of the animal that followed her. She didn't feel like anything could make her feel better.
So she just decided to lie down on the bed and sleep.
"...Jerk!"
She tried cursing the boy who had rejected her for no reason.
If they couldn't date, why reject even being friends? Even among the celebrities Kwon Sua had seen, few were as picky and stuck-up as that.
"I was too passive."
Kwon Sua reflected on her actions today.
'I'll meet him one last time. I'll tell him how he could speak so harshly to a person. When I wake up tomorrow, I'll ask to meet him.'
Kwon Sua fell asleep, promising herself another meeting.
When she opened her eyes, she could feel an unfamiliar and unpleasant air licking past her nape. It was an unfamiliar place.
Seeing classrooms and corridors, it looked like a dark and gloomy school.
"...A dream?"
Kwon Sua often had nightmares.
Having often seen and been startled by apparitions since childhood, she was somewhat used to these situations. But this felt too vivid to be a dream.
"Is anyone there?"
Just then, a man's voice was heard. A faint light could be seen at the end of the very dark corridor.
For some reason, Kwon Sua felt scared.
A dark place. An unfamiliar man.
It didn't seem like a good situation, so she decided to hide in a nearby locker. The locker had a hole at eye level, allowing her to look outside.
"Is nobody there! What is this! Have you kidnapped me? I'll report this to the police! My father is a police officer! Don't think about harming me!"
A man passed in front of Kwon Sua. He was a shaggy-haired man who hadn't shaved.
Kwon Sua, who was good at remembering people to the point of recalling most people who came to fan signing events, realized that this man was the customer who had been sitting near them at the PC room earlier, constantly glancing at her.
'He kept looking at me while pretending not to know anything. Could this man have stalked and kidnapped me here? Creepy.'
Kwon Sua decided to hide in the locker until that man passed by. That's when it happened.
"Is someone over there!"
"Wait there for a moment! We'll come to you! We'll get you out!"
Women's voices were heard.
Soon, two women approached the PC room man, and without any warning, they hit the man's head with clubs they were holding.
Thwack-thwack-!
It was a terribly cruel scene, and Kwon Sua couldn't help but scream.
"Eek!"
Of course, she covered her mouth with her palm before a loud sound could escape.
"There's a lighter."
"I told you clubs are the best!"
The women killed the man who had been sitting next to them in the PC room and rifled through his pockets.
Kwon Sua felt like she might faint.
After they disappeared, Kwon Sua, thinking she needed to escape this place, tried to break a window or looked around for an exit.
Of course, the windows of this building that looked like a school were all blocked with boards, and the exits were firmly locked, so she couldn't escape.
Then she met the male student Ha Young-won. She was very glad and felt relieved.
This was how they ended up hiding in the same locker.
The women with clubs killed the woman who had been the PC room part-timer and rifled through her pockets.
They even ripped her clothes with a box cutter.
"Hey, Hee-yeon, look at this bitch. She has a rose tattoo on her thigh."
"She's a real slut."
The murderers, who seemed to have found little of value, left the place cursing vulgarly.
Even after their presence had disappeared into the distance, Kwon Sua and the male student didn't move and remained still. Like statues frozen together as one.
After what felt like about 5 minutes, Kwon Sua asked quietly.
"Do you know what's going on here?"
It was such an unfamiliar situation.
On one hand, she thought, 'Could this have happened because I strongly wished to meet Young-won?'
Since entering middle school, Kwon Sua had lived feeling like everything she wished for actually came true.
A feeling that her imagination all became reality.
Although her first attempt at love was thoroughly crushed without being able to resist, she thought that the reason for this situation occurring might be because she was a special person compared to others.
"...I don't know either."
The male student said in a small voice. His voice sounded quite rough, as if he was having trouble breathing.
It was then that Kwon Sua realized her chest was pressing firmly against the man's chest. Despite the urgent situation, she felt very embarrassed and nervous.
'...I hope I don't smell of sweat or anything?'
Thump thump-
Terrifying murderers. A narrow space. Alone with a male student.
Kwon Sua was experiencing what she had only heard about as the "suspension bridge effect."
***
Gong Ye-rin, Im Hee-yeon.
They were about the 4th or 5th prettiest among the nearly 15 girls in Class D.
Girls who studied and played in moderation. In other words, they were "7-point girls."
Unlike 9 or 10-point girls like Yoo Dahee or Yang Juhee, who were like grape clusters on high branches making guys like me, Ha Young-won, grumble "They must be sour grapes!", girls like Gong Ye-rin or Im Hee-yeon gave hope to guys thinking, "If I try hard enough, maybe I could date someone like that..."
The charm point of 7-point girls was that they seemed within reach if you tried hard enough.
That's why I heard that 7-point women like Gong Ye-rin and Im Hee-yeon received more approaches, dated more, and changed boyfriends more often than 10-point women like Yang Juhee or Yoo Dahee.
The type who, after graduating high school and entering university, would get treated to meals by older guys in their department, easily get help with assignments, and even after graduating and getting a job, would easily receive favor from managers and directors at work.
If they got tired of working, they'd easily conquer naive engineering guys or professionals with their experience of countless men, send their husbands off to work, and become Dongtan housewives elegantly enjoying late brunch at cafes and cultural activities with friends.
If someone heard my assessment of Im Hee-yeon and Gong Ye-rin, they might point out that my imagination was too excessive.
But my imagination was far more realistic than high school girls killing people by bashing their heads with baseball bats in an old school building and then rifling through their pockets.
Gong Ye-rin and Im Hee-yeon was killing people in the nightmare old school building.
Crazy 7-point high school girls occupying and rampaging through the first-floor corridor where I had exorcised ghosts!
What kind of nonsensical situation was this? Reality far surpassed my narrow imagination.
Squeeze-
Just then, something incredibly amazing pressed against my chest, snapping me back to my senses.
It was Kwon Sua. Kwon Sua was also someone who had fallen into Random Matching.
"We need to be careful of those women. They killed a man earlier without hesitation."
According to Kwon Sua, they had killed not only the PC room part-timer but also the male customer who had been sitting next to us at the PC room.
PC room part-timer. PC room customer. Me. Kwon Sua. Gong Ye-rin. Im Hee-yeon.
Already six people had fallen into this corridor. Yet, the number of escape talismans I could obtain probably hadn't changed.
I thought I should first head to the basement to meet up with Gu Hyena and retrieve the talisman she was guarding.
We're going to the broadcasting room.
"Sua. You need to listen carefully to what I'm about to say. I don't know how this situation came about, but I know what this place is. We're inside a nightmare."
"A nightmare? You mean it's all a dream? My dream? Are you saying that because I wanted to see Young-won again, my deep consciousness or unconscious is showing me this?"
Deep consciousness and unconscious. They were more rigid words than I expected.
I decided to add an explanation as much as I knew.
"This is our dreams being shared. It's not just one person's dream, but like LoL, we've connected to this dream. I've been experiencing this for almost half a year."
"...Then what should we do? Will we wake up naturally as time passes?"
"No. No matter how much time passes, we've never woken up automatically. To get out of this dream, we either have to die or escape through a special method."
"Ah, I see! Since it's a dream, we wake up if we die, right?"
"But we absolutely must not die. If we die in this dream... people become strange. Once might be okay somehow, but if you die twice in a row... You know your cousin Kwon Suho, right?"
"No way..."
Kwon Sua was someone skilled and talented enough to reach Master tier in games. She would understand what I was trying to say.
"You mean Suho oppa suddenly becoming strange... was all because of this...?"
"Yes. That's what happened."
"Uuugh-"
Kwon Sua, perhaps belatedly overwhelmed by fear, started shaking and breathing roughly. Thinking it would be terrible if she hyperventilated, I first got out of the locker.
"But there's a way out, so just follow me. I've been here a few times, so I think I know the pattern somewhat. We need to get to the broadcasting room. Or you can keep hiding here if you want."
The lockers were the type that would start to smell bad and become unbearable after a while if a ghost approached.
Since there were no ghosts on the first floor now, it meant there was no problem staying hidden in the locker indefinitely.
If she was too scared, Kwon Sua could stay in this locker.
"I... I'll come with you!"
However, Kwon Sua chose to follow me.
"You're going to leave me behind, right! I know! You said you wanted to cut ties with me. You're thinking of escaping alone and leaving me here! I'm coming with you! I'm coming too!"
Did she think I was going to run away alone and leave her behind?
I hadn't thought that, but in the worst case, if there was only one talisman left, I was planning to prioritize my own escape over Kwon Sua's.
I can barely take care of myself, how could I afford to look after someone else… But... let's think about that later.
With that feeling, we headed to the broadcasting room and towards the basement. In the basement, a familiar face was already waiting for us.
"Young-won!"
"Dahee, you're here too?"
It was Yoo Dahee.
Yoo Dahee was waiting for us in front of the sacred statue in the basement.
Not just Yoo Dahee. Jung-seok and Yang Juhee were there too.
"Young-won, I knew you'd come here. This is Random Matching, right?"
"Hey, Ha Young-won. Why are you so late?"
Yang Juhee, with her arms folded, looked at me. And she also saw Kwon Sua hiding behind me.