Chapter 124
Late at night.
Kang Bada was waiting for a woman in a shabby bar. It was a bar full of graffiti on the walls.
"Film Club Forever!"
"First drink! Bitter!"
"This is still here."
It was the place where he had his first drink after graduating from school.
As Kang Bada was waiting for an old friend in a place full of old memories, someone soon approached him. It was his friend, Ha Chae-yeon.
"I'll tell you in advance, I'm not drinking. I brought my car."
Ha Chae-yeon looked too young to be thought of as a mother with a high school child. Young men in the bar were glancing at her.
Suddenly, Kang Bada looked at his own face reflected in the black screen of his phone.
His hair was long and unkempt, and his beard was rough. He had the very image of an 'artist'.
It was a face where you couldn't find any trace of being a 'father'.
"What's the occasion for calling me? Aren't you busy these days? Working under the Chairman, right? Excuse me! One order of chicken skewers and─."
Watching Ha Chae-yeon start ordering efficiently, Kang Bada hesitated for a moment. And when the order was finished, he asked.
"Look at the graffiti here. 'Film Club'. Remember?"
"I remember. After classes, we'd set up a screen in the multi-purpose room and watch tons of movies. From unpopular ones to weird D-grade ones. Those were good times. It was fun."
"Yeah. We watched a lot of movies. What else did we do?"
Kang Bada pretended not to know anything and asked. Ha Chae-yeon seemed to think for a moment and said.
"We'd go out during vacations and date and stuff, right? Did you forget everything? Ease up on the alcohol and cigarettes. You look the oldest among us. If unnie was here, she'd scold you."
"......"
At the mention of 'unnie', Kang Bada's face darkened like the night.
Ha Chae-yeon, now a seasoned woman, seemed to realize she'd made a mistake and quickly changed the subject.
"Why suddenly bring up the Film Club? Does being here remind you of the old days? How has this place not changed at all? I think the owner has changed a few times, but the interior is the same."
"Yeah. Just being here makes me think of the old days. Chae-yeon. Anything else? Do you remember us doing courage tests together at school at night?"
"...Did we do that?"
Ha Chae-yeon frowned, as if trying to recall the memory.
Kang Bada added.
"We even went up to the third floor, remember? It's now called the old school building since they built a new one. We did courage tests there every night."
"I don't know? Did we do courage tests?"
Ha Chae-yeon laughed. Kang Bada touched the corner of his eye.
He felt fatigue rushing in rapidly.
"Chae-yeon. The reason I called you isn't anything else. From next week, the Chairman wants me to tutor your son. I thought you should know. The Chairman is Young-won's grandfather."
"No. We have to keep it a secret from Young-won that the Chairman is his grandfather."
Ha Chae-yeon frowned. Then, her expression became vague.
"But why did we have to keep it a secret? Huh? I haven't even had a drink."
"...We were broken. From the third floor."
Kang Bada downed bitter drinks in succession. One for the lost youth and another for himself, who had come to weigh a friend's child against his daughter.
***
"Hyena. Come with us. We're going to conquer the third floor today."
"I told you I can't go above the second floor. The ghosts on the second floor are different from me. If I'm a hamster, they're tigers. They kill and scratch, I tell you?"
Gu Hyena was still scared of going up to the second floor.
The ghosts on the second floor weren't native Korean ghosts, but Japanese foreign ghosts. Like most invasive species, they were fierce and vicious beings.
"Instead, I'll help you find the first floor talisman and the stairs to the second floor."
With the help of Gu Hyena, the high school girl ghost, we could easily find the first floor talisman and the stairs to the second floor. Yang Juhee laughed.
"Hey, this is totally sweet. I wish it was always like this."
Rummage rummage-
Even while saying that, Yang Juhee rummaged through every desk and drawer she could see. There wasn't much to gain.
Now it was time to go up to the second floor. I asked Jung-seok.
"Hey, you remember the second floor map well, right?"
"It's all in my head."
Unlike the first floor's structure that changed every time, the second floor's structure was always fixed.
Jung-seok had the second floor map in his head, and we planned to do a 'speedrun' based on that.
On the second floor, the key was to avoid ghosts as much as possible, acquire the map, and head to the third floor.
We can do this.
"Yang Juhee has a box cutter, and a straw doll that can die in your place. She also has the Princess Magic Wand that forms a barrier. With her fast legs, she's a complete tank."
"If needed, I have the bell too."
Swish-
Yoo Dahee showed me the shaman's bell.
During random matchings, we were often flustered, but now that we came fully armed with items through the status window, I felt confident even facing the second floor.
However, Jung-seok was always cool-headed.
"We need a total of 4 talismans to open the third floor. Basement, first floor, second floor, third floor entrance. We need to use all the talismans we can get in the corridor to open the third floor door. What do you think happens to the talismans attached to the door after it opens?"
"I don't know."
"I think there's a high chance they'll become unusable. Like they use up all their power to open the door and disappear. That means only the talisman you got from the random draw will remain."
In other words, Jung-seok was saying this.
After opening the third floor, we'll have one talisman left. Which meant only one of us four would survive.
"Three of us have to die. If we die, quirks accumulate. If two or more quirks accumulate, we really die. Young-won, what happens if you turn back time with 《Sloppy Clock》 after waking up from the dream?"
"Even without taking a photo, the time automatically saves at the nightmare corridor clear point. Getting quirks or dying in the corridor can't be undone even by rewinding time."
The corridor expedition was still a dangerous gamble. But as with all gambles, if there's something to lose, there's also something big to gain.
"Hey. We just have to not die, right? Let's go! I'll take the lead!"
Yang Juhee took the lead.
It was very reassuring.
As we went up to the second floor like that, we first surveyed the situation in the corridor. It was very quiet.
"Dahee. Paper crane."
"Okay. Phew-"
When Yoo Dahee blew on the paper crane in her palm, it slowly started flying somewhere.
Following the paper crane should lead us to the sacred statue on the second floor. As we were following the corridor, the paper crane stopped in front of the science room.
The science room door was locked, but there was a hole in the wall big enough for a person to crawl through.
The paper crane stopping in front of the science room meant... the second floor's sacred statue was in the science room. Thinking about what happened to Jung-seok and Bong Ji-yeon who had crawled into this science room gave me chills in many ways.
"What should we do?"
I asked everyone.
Everyone looked visibly tense.
In fact, we had no choice. As if to prove this, a rhythm ghost with its long neck peeking out in an 'L' shape from the corner of the corridor made eye contact with me.
"Young-won. You're back. Hahahahahahaha!"
Thump thump thump thump-
The rhythm ghost started crawling on all fours.
As my hair stood on end at the sight I still couldn't get used to, Yang Juhee shouted.
"Damn it, I'll go in and just get the talisman, so wait right here!"
Rustle rustle-
Yang Juhee, lying on the floor, crawled into the science room incredibly fast. If there was a crawling competition in the Olympics, Yang Juhee would have been a gold medalist.
"Agh! Yang Juhee, you bitch!"
"Ji-yeon!"
We heard Bong Ji-yeon and Jung-seok's screams from inside the science room.
I was curious about what was happening inside, but the important thing was that the rhythm ghost was pouncing on us.
"Young-won, should I ring the bell?"
Yoo Dahee asked urgently. I stepped forward and said.
"Let's test the camera!"
I brought the camera I was holding to my eye.
Aiming at the ghost...
Fire!
Bang-!
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!"
The rhythm ghost screamed as if it had stepped on a sharp nail while walking mindlessly.
Its eyes must hurt as if lightning had struck right in front of them. From my personal experience, the camera's flash blindness lasts about 10 seconds.
"It worked! You giraffe-like bitch! It worked! Juhee! Are you done yet? We need to get out quickly!"
"I'm done!"
Rustle rustle rustle-
Yang Juhee came out. The problem was whether this was really Yang Juhee.
What if the mirror ghost from the science room was imitating Yang Juhee?
We had devised a strategy for situations like this.
"The mirror ghost becomes the opposite, like a mirror. The mirror ghost imitating Jung-seok, who was left-handed, became right-handed. Yang Juhee had a gold tooth on her left molar. If it's reversed, the right one would be gold!"
Ah-
I checked inside Yang Juhee's mouth. The left molar was indeed gold.
"Are we good? Let's go quickly!"
"Graaaaaaaaagh! Gaaaaaaaaagh!"
Leaving behind the rhythm ghost writhing like a snake, we ran with all our might.
We need to find the entrance to the third floor!
But of all things, there was a dancing ghost at the third floor entrance. The dancing ghost with its limbs stretching wildly somehow looked like Gong Ye-rin.
"Hey! The camera!"
Yang Juhee shouted.
I tried to use the camera, but for some reason, the flash didn't go off.
"Damn it! There must be a cooldown for consecutive shots!"
"I'll drive it away!"
Jingle jingle-!
Yoo Dahee shook the bell frantically.
Jingle jingle jingle-
She shook it so much that even our ears felt numb.
"Agh!"
The ghost controlling the dancing Gong Ye-rin covered its ears.
Thanks to that, the dancing Gong Ye-rin crumpled to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut.
We should quickly go up to the third floor in this gap!
"Guys! Let's go! Go!"
The key to the second floor is a speed run.
It means using the items and tools we have, consuming minimal resources, and breaking through as fast as possible.
Pitter-patter-
That's how we all managed to reach the third floor. No one was hurt, and we didn't use a single talisman.
"We did it! We did it! We made it! We made it!"
I hugged everyone and jumped up and down.
I felt incredibly good.
"We did it! We did it!"
"We all survived!"
Bounce bounce-
Yang Juhee and Yoo Dahee also jumped around as if they were very happy.