Chapter 104: Nightmare Brawl (2)

Jung-seok. Yang Juhee. Yoo Dahee.

These three were waiting for me in the basement. I felt very glad and relieved, but also a bit dizzy.

"We're screwed."

The number of people who could escape this nightmare corridor was fixed.

One escape talisman in the basement, one on the first floor, and if we tried incredibly hard, we might get one on the second floor - a total of three. 

It meant three people could leave this place.

But we were already five.

"Hey, where's Gu Hyena? The talisman is here, but..."

I pointed out that the complete high school girl ghost, Gu Hyena, wasn't visible, to which Jung-seok replied.

"We were waiting because we thought you might know."

Gu Hyena missing from the basement's first floor.

How could that be? Does she just leave her post like that? I thought it might be related to the girls I saw on the first floor.

"Did you guys see Im Hee-yeon and Gong Ye-rin upstairs too?"

I talked about Im Hee-yeon and Gong Ye-rin who were beating people to death with clubs.

"Killing people?"

Jung-seok asked as if hearing this for the first time.

It seems they hadn't seen the crazy high school girls beating people to death on the first floor because they were in the basement. I quickly and concisely explained to my friends what I had just seen upstairs.

"They were beating people to death! And rifling through their pockets!"

"...Is that even possible? This might not be their first time here. We know well how people act when they first enter this old school building."

Jung-seok's deduction sounded quite plausible.

It meant that this wasn't Gong Ye-rin and Im Hee-yeon's first time in this corridor, and today wasn't their first experience killing people in this place.

The question was why on earth they were doing such things.

"...Maybe they're Heroes or Observers or something? Nobody knows what will happen if we meet them. They might attack us in their madness."

Im Hee-yeon and Gong Ye-rin being Heroes or Observers. This was Jung-seok's conclusion.

It was a hypothesis based on circumstantial evidence rather than hard evidence, but it sounded very plausible.

Yang Juhee chimed in.

"So what should we do? We all need to get out alive, that hasn't changed. If they attack us, we'll have to fight back. Let's beat the crap out of them. Those bitches."

Yang Juhee seemed full of fighting spirit.

Compared to the unidentified ghosts on the second floor, high school girls with baseball bats did seem a bit more manageable.

They were two. We were at least five.

We had a significant numerical advantage, and honestly, it felt like Yang Juhee alone might be enough.

Yoo Dahee said.

"What could they have done to Gu Hyena...?"

"Um..."

Just then, Kwon Sua, who had been listening to our conversation, raised her hand slightly. It felt like a shy student trying to speak up in class.

"...I don't understand anything you're talking about."

I could understand Kwon Sua's position. Kwon Sua had been dragged into this place for the first time today without any warning.

She seemed to have no idea what was going on.

Swish-

Everyone started looking at each other. It was like they were passing a bomb to each other.

At times like this, I, as the captain of the pirate crew, had to step up.

The problem was deciding how much to tell her.

Kwon Sua was an outsider right now.

But saying "You don't need to know" might make her suddenly go crazy, and there were too many variables.

If she heard all the details in this place, she would learn many of our critical secrets, so we'd have to keep her under our watch no matter what.

"...Coldly speaking, how about we get rid of her now?"

Jung-seok's eyes flashed brightly in the torchlight. I was greatly flustered.

"Hey, are you serious?"

"The number of people who can escape with talismans is fixed anyway. Even among our pirate crew members, some will have to be prepared to die. It might be better than taking on the risk of Kwon Sua."

Jung-seok came to a cold, computer-like conclusion.

"If she dies, she'll forget everything that happened here anyway."

Cold-hearted guy. Jung-seok is cold. He was a cold boy.

"Of course, I'm just giving an opinion, so you make the decision. Who dies. Who survives. Ha Young-won, you're the leader of this group. You have to decide."

Everyone's eyes turned to me. Life or death.

The thought that the button of this guillotine was in my hands gave me chills in many ways.

"It's heavy...!"

"That's the role of a captain. You have to be the center. A group that loses its center will rot from the inside and collapse, not from enemies."

Jung-seok was right. I pondered for a long time, looking at everyone.

After much deliberation, I came to a conclusion.

"Let's get all the talismans first. We can decide who survives after that. This number of people is our strength right now. There's no need to eliminate it from now."

With ghosts no longer roaming the first floor, the presence of Im Hee-yeon and Gong Ye-rin was a sudden variable. And I was considering the possibility of other companions besides those two.

Im Hee-yeon and Gong Ye-rin had been hanging out with Wang Ja-hyun, right?

And for some reason, Wang Ja-hyun smelled of the "Subtle Perfume" that could be bought from the status window.

Old school building. Status window. Items. Whatever it was, that guy was involved.

"For now, I think it's best if Sua comes with us too. I'll take responsibility."

***

"...It's like a game."

Kwon Sua quickly understood my explanation. It seemed true that she was a homebody who played a lot of games.

"Forming a party to conquer a nightmare. It's just like 'The Darkest Dungeon'. Party members entering the dungeon, dying, farming items... Going mad when their SAN stat breaks..."

"You know that game? It's a Steam game."

Jung-seok was surprised. Jung-seok also seemed amazed that idol Kwon Sua was actually a gamer girl.

Just a moment ago, he had coldly suggested killing Kwon Sua because of the risk. It felt like Jung-seok's image of Kwon Sua had completely changed.

"...I can be helpful too. Please let me help in getting out of here. I want to survive and get out of this place too!"

Kwon Sua, not wanting to die, asserted her confidence. As she spoke, her shoulders were shaking visibly, and she seemed terrified.

"Alright... Let's go to the first floor now. But be prepared, we might clash with Gong Ye-rin's party. Pick up anything that could be used as a weapon."

I looked around. I was wondering if there was anything useful.

"They have bats and box cutters. If we fight barehanded... we might get hurt or killed too."

Psychopath high school girls.

Honestly, I wasn't confident I could beat them. Of course, Yang Juhee was confident.

"Hey, I'll go and beat the crap out of them. Let's take their bats too. We'll loot everything they have."

Yang Juhee swung her magic wand around.

For some reason, Yang Juhee said she found the "Princess Magic Wand" nearby when she woke up today.

Does Random Matching randomly equip held items too?

"Anyone else have items?"

"Me. I had this?"

Jingle-

Yoo Dahee shook a bell in her hand. It was a familiar bell sound.

That's the bell the first-floor shaman was carrying around. It was the item she dropped when she ascended. Its effect was... something like this?

[Exorcism Bell. When shaken, a clear and beautiful sound spreads widely. When rung by someone with aptitude, it can drive away evil beings once.]

A bell that drives away evil beings. It was an excellent item.

A magic wand that creates barriers and a shaman's bell that drives away evil spirits.

With these two... maybe we could do something about the second floor too. No, let's focus on the first floor in front of us for now.

After steeling my resolve in various ways, I took the talisman from the basement's sacred statue.

"Then let's go to the first floor. Dahee, you have the paper crane too, right?"

"Yes. I always have the paper crane."

Swish-

Yoo Dahee took out a paper crane from her school uniform skirt pocket.

When she blew on the paper crane sitting on her palm, it started flying through the air, emitting a soft light. Seeing this, Yang Juhee clicked her tongue.

"It finds talismans on its own. That's cheating."

This must be Yang Juhee's first time seeing the paper crane. I thought it was a good item every time I saw it too.

We headed to the first floor like that.

"The first floor entrance is closed."

On the way to the talisman, we saw that the first floor entrance was firmly locked.

I'd never seen this place open.

As we were moving through the corridor in a group-

We saw a faint light far down the corridor.

"Guys, it's them. Be careful. Let's probe them first before rushing in."

I spoke to my friends in a solemn voice. That lighter flame was definitely Im Hee-yeon and Gong Ye-rin.

They seemed to recognize us too, and we finally met in the corridor. The sight of high school girls holding blood-stained bats was quite surreal.

Their uniforms were stained with blood too, which made me uncomfortable just looking at it.

"Yang Juhee? Ha Young-won and the vice class president are here too? And behind... What are you guys doing here?"

Gong Ye-rin examined our expressions.

Unlike when she killed the PC room part-timer without hesitation earlier, she seemed to be assessing the situation a bit.

That was natural, as there were five of us and only two of them, so they couldn't recklessly charge at us.

I pretended not to know anything and asked.

"What about you? We found ourselves here when we came to our senses, so we've been sticking together. Because we're scared. Do you know what's going on? And what's with all that blood...?"

I wonder if my acting worked. Soon, Gong Ye-rin tied back her blood-stained hair and said.

"We don't know either. We're looking for a way out. Can we come with you guys? We're too scared. This blood is from fighting off a pervert who attacked us because we're girls. Right, Hee-yeon?"

"Yeah. There are so many weird people here."

These crazy psychopath high school girls lied without batting an eye.

I was thinking about how to probe them more when Im Hee-yeon, who had been constantly looking into a hand mirror, said.

"Ye-rin, the compass needle... it's fixed on Ha Young-won? The talisman..."

"......"

There's a saying about the atmosphere suddenly turning sour. This was exactly that moment.

After about a second of silence, Gong Ye-rin's fingertips flashed.

"Agh!"

It felt like my chest had been touched by fire.

When I came to my senses, an industrial box cutter was stuck in my chest, piercing through my school uniform shirt.

"Eeek!"

It hurt so much and was so shocking that tears welled up.

Me, getting stabbed!

"Aagh! I've been stabbed! Aaagh! Knife!"

As I sat on the floor, my head spinning from the shock and dizziness of being stabbed, I heard Im Hee-yeon shouting frantically.

"Hey! Gong Ye-rin! These guys are just like us! They're after the talisman! We absolutely can't let them out! Kill them all! Kill all these bitches!"

Soon, I heard the sound of Im Hee-yeon swinging a baseball bat and Jung-seok getting hit and falling. Jung-seok and I were almost useless in a fight.

"Eek!"

Kwon Sua was the same. Trembling Kwon Sua.

Something rushed past her at high speed. It was Yang Juhee.

Yang Juhee took a single running start, leaped into the air, and kicked Gong Ye-rin hard in the chest.

Thwack-! Crash-!

Gong Ye-rin flew back with a loud noise. Seeing this, Im Hee-yeon swung her baseball bat as if flustered.

"You bitch!!!"

The trajectory of the full-swing bat cruelly aimed for Yang Juhee's head.

Whoosh-!

It was a swing without the slightest hesitation about killing someone. Almost all her body weight was behind it.

However, Yang Juhee had already ducked her head to avoid the attack.

"Whoa!"

Im Hee-yeon's posture crumbled greatly from the missed swing. And Yang Juhee, still in her ducked position, charged at Im Hee-yeon and headbutted her in the stomach.

"Ugh!"

Yang Juhee, pinning Im Hee-yeon down from above, started mercilessly punching her.

Thud thud thud-!

After a while, Im Hee-yeon trembled and then stopped moving. She was dead.

Seeing this, Gong Ye-rin, still sitting down, was shocked.

"Eeee! You murderer! Murder! You killed her! You killed Hee-yeon! You crazy bitch! You killed someone! This is terrible! Hee-yeon is dead! Hee-yeon! This is terrible!"

"Sh-shut up!"

Thwack-!

Yoo Dahee hit Gong Ye-rin's head with the baseball bat.

Gong Ye-rin collapsed too, and it became very quiet.