Chapter 125: Red Flower Blooming Shrine (1)

We reached the third floor without using a single talisman. We were all overjoyed to arrive at the third floor without anyone getting hurt.

"This is it! This is what I'm talking about! You ghost bastards! Come on! Try to come in!"

I shouted at the second floor, looking at the staircase railing.

I was a bit nervous, thinking what if they really came up, but it seemed the evil spirits from the second floor could go down to the first floor but couldn't come up to this third floor.

That's when Jung-seok, as always, said something cold.

"It's too early to celebrate. We need to regroup."

Jung-seok was cold, but he had a point. We should take advantage of this moment to check the items we've used.

Yang Juhee's items 4 – Magic wand, 1st floor map, First aid kit, Zippo lighter.

My items 2 – Camera, Escape talisman.

Jung-seok's items 2 – Highlighter, Walkie-talkie.

Yoo Dahee's item 1 – Paper crane.

Yang Juhee lost her box cutter and straw doll.

Yoo Dahee used her bell to drive away the dancing ghost.

"What exactly was in the science room?"

I asked Yang Juhee, who had used the straw doll and box cutter to escape the science room.

Using the box cutter meant Yang Juhee had stabbed someone, and the straw doll being consumed meant Yang Juhee had died once there. The straw doll was an extra life, after all.

"There were so many mirrors. I couldn't tell what was what."

A room full of mirrors.

Even Yang Juhee had to use a straw doll. It must be a room where you die no matter what.

It meant it was a room impossible to conquer without the 'straw doll' that Jung Sojin had brought.

"So this is the third floor door..."

Yoo Dahee was seeing the third floor door for the first time, as she had volunteered to be bait in the last matching.

She even trembled slightly, as if momentarily overwhelmed by the majesty of the huge stone door.

"There really is one talisman attached and three more square spaces. Does this mean the door will open if we attach three more talismans here?"

"It's just a guess, really. No one can be sure. Well, give me the talismans."

Jung-seok held out his hand.

We handed Jung-seok the talismans acquired from the basement, first floor, and second floor, and Jung-seok attached them to the square spaces without a millimeter of error.

What would happen now?

Everyone was tense. We all fell silent.

Whoosh-

Just then, all the talismans attached to the door burst into flames. They burned up on their own and disappeared without leaving any soot.

"As expected, they disappear..."

Jung-seok sighed.

We had essentially lost four talismans. It meant we had no way back.

Of course, if necessary, we still had 1120 points left, so we could use that to draw talismans.

Thinking about that made me feel a bit relieved.

Rumble-

Soon, the world shook as if heaven and earth were being turned upside down.

An earthquake. A big earthquake.

I fell to the floor with a thud, and Yang Juhee and Yoo Dahee fell on top of me.

Thump-

I don't know who, but someone crushed my chest with their butt, and it hurt so much that tears welled up in my eyes.

"Argh!!!!"

"Gasp! Juhee, get up quickly! Young-won is in pain!"

"How can I get up! Everything's shaking! You get up!"

It was such a violent shaking that I thought the world might be ending.

When we came to our senses a while later, we found that the door to the third floor was wide open.

Rumble-

The third floor had a strange, powerful feeling to it. Above all, the space itself was bizarre.

"Is this really the third floor?"

Jung-seok rubbed his eyes.

He seemed unable to believe what he was seeing. It would be better to describe the third floor as a temple or shrine rather than a school building.

Stone pillars towered up, and torches placed at regular intervals flickered ominously. There was also something that looked like a wooden shrine. Soon, Jung-seok said.

"...It looks just like a Japanese shrine? That standing in front of this door is a torii. The gate pillar of a Japanese shrine. I know because I visited one when I went to Japan before."

Torii? I don't know what that is, but there really was something like a gate made of blood-red pillars standing tall, about 4 meters high.

After looking up, I realized that the ceiling of this place was so high it couldn't be seen. Was there even a ceiling to begin with?

You could say that pitch-black darkness and silence substituted for the ceiling.

"What is this place…?"

I was overwhelmed by this space. A shrine built inside a school.

It felt very ominous and alien.

I couldn't help but think that this place was on a different level from the first or second floors.

Suddenly, I remembered what Gu Hyena, the high school girl ghost, had said.

She said she couldn't go up to the second floor because the ghosts living there were incomparably scarier than her.

It was also surprising that Gu Hyena, who was already dead and a ghost, could feel fear.

Then why don't the evil spirits living on the second floor come up to the third floor? What if it's because they fear something that exists on the third floor?

Everyone seemed to have reached this thought, as we all fell silent.

"Let's go in."

Yang Juhee was the first to muster courage and enter the third floor.

Yang Juhee approached the 'torii', and the structure was such that we had to pass under that gate pillar to enter this bizarre third floor.

As she was about to cross it, Jung-seok shouted at Yang Juhee.

"Wait!"

"Why?"

"From what I know, that gate pillar serves as a kind of boundary. It's like a device that tells you the world beyond is different from here. We don't know what might happen."

"We can't just stand still, can we?"

Yang Juhee looked anxious, as if she was being chased by something.

Was she afraid but not showing it? Or...

"Let's all go in together."

I stopped thinking and held out my hand to everyone.

I thought it might be good if the four of us held hands and passed through the gate pillar at the same time.

Everyone seemed to think it was a good idea and took my hand.

We are now one as four. With everyone together, our fear is halved.

"Guys, then I'll give the signal, and when I say one, two, three- we walk. So, one, twoo..."

Three.

Suppressing my tension in many ways, I stretched my foot towards the gate pillar. That's how we all crossed the gate together.

The first thing we felt strongly after crossing was "cold". It was colder than we expected.

It felt like a chilly air was licking the nape of my neck. It was so cool that we could see our breath when we exhaled.

"It's like a refrigerator..."

Yoo Dahee shivered.

Just as I was starting to lose motivation thinking about exploring such places in the future, Yang Juhee suddenly shook off Yoo Dahee's hand. Then she started pulling her own hair.

"Aaagh! It's so noisy! Be quiet!"

Yang Juhee started having a fit.

Why is she suddenly like that? What's going on!

As I was panicking, Jung-seok shouted.

"I get it! This is hell! We've walked into hell on our own feet! There's no way out! Ha Young-won! You led us to hell! Let me out! I said let me out! I need to get out!"

Jung-seok tried to leave this third floor, but there was a problem.

"The door... it's gone."

The large gate pillar we had just crossed was nowhere to be seen. The 4-meter high structure that had towered over us had disappeared as if it never existed.

That wasn't all. I saw a shabby warehouse.

"...Why is... that warehouse…?"

Suddenly-

A white, pale hand stretched out from the warehouse. As I was startled, Yoo Dahee shouted.

"Young-won! What's wrong with you too! What exactly are you seeing?"

"Dahee! There's a warehouse right there!"

"There's no warehouse! You need to snap out of it!"

Slap-! Slap slap-!

Yoo Dahee slapped my cheeks hard. The slaps were harsher than I expected, and I was so surprised that I could come to my senses.

"You're saying there's no warehouse?"

What on earth is happening! In this situation, there's only one thing to do.

"Status window!"

『Name. Ha Young-won Lv.5

Traits. 《Sloppy Clock》 《Breath Holding》 《Strong Heart》 《Trait Enhancement》

Quirk. 《Swamp of Regret》

Funds. 1120 Points

Description. Time that had been stopped for a long time has started moving again. You, who are inevitably experiencing various things and growing, are both afraid and excited about what will happen next.』

『《Swamp of Regret》. The past is holding your ankles. The past will eventually swallow everything like a deep swamp and suffocate you.』

A quirk! I've developed a quirk!

I quickly treated my quirk at the treatment center. Then, I checked the player list and looked at Yang Juhee and Jung-seok's character sheets.

『《Dark Whisper》. Everyone has inner thoughts they want to hide. But now you can't turn away from your inner truth.』

『《Prophecy of Doom》. After staring too deeply into the abyss, you can only speak of ominous futures. Hope. Dignity. They're just relics of a very distant past.』

Quirks!

Yang Juhee and Jung-seok were suffering from quirks. So that's why they suddenly started acting crazy!

Yoo Dahee was also suffering from a quirk.

『《Gluttony》. You can't resist putting anything in your mouth. What goes in your mouth must be chewed and swallowed."

However, Dahee didn't seem to be affected by the quirk thanks to her 《Elegance》 trait.

I used points to treat Dahee, Juhee, and Jung-seok's quirks. It was fortunate that I had saved up a lot of points.

"To think we'd develop quirks without even dying. Isn't this too much? What if we each had an untreated quirk..."

What if there was no treatment center in the status window? What if we didn't have enough points to cure the quirks?

We used up all our escape talismans to open this third floor. It meant we could only leave this place by dying.

What if we die carrying one quirk acquired for unknown reasons, like just now?

My legs went weak. I remembered what happened to Kwon Suho.

Kwon Suho, who had his body taken over by a ghost. There was no guarantee we wouldn't end up like that.

"Damn, the third floor is even worse."

I spat out a fierce curse, partly to shake off my fear.

I was exactly like a scared dog barking fiercely. Still, my cursing seemed to wake everyone up, and Jung-seok, who had been sitting down, touched his chin and muttered.

"Did we develop quirks as we crossed the torii? Could that be the trigger? Everyone who enters the third floor must bear a quirk. That's the only thing that makes sense."

We developed quirks because we crossed that gate pillar earlier─.

It was a plausible guess.

"Does that mean we have to treat quirks every time we come to the third floor?"

It took about 400P to treat quirks for four people.

To think we'd have to use 400P every time we explore the third floor. It's like an entrance fee.

I was really scared, angry, and regretful about the points.

As I shifted my gaze around, I saw Yang Juhee. Yang Juhee looked unhappy, as if she wasn't feeling well.

"Juhee, are you okay?"

"No."

"I see."

Should we rest a bit? 

As I was thinking that, I heard the sound of bells jingling.

"What's that, what's that?"

I looked around in confusion.

Then I saw the shimenawa ropes hanging all over the shrine and the bells tied to them shaking violently even though there was no wind.

Jingle jingle jingle jingle-

I wasn't an idiot.

From our experiences so far, I could tell this was a sign of misfortune. The important thing was what to do.

"Let's hide! Hide! Let's get into that shrine over there!"

There was a small shrine nearby.

It was about the size of a small security booth. 

Slide-

When we opened the sliding door and went in, we saw an altar? A Buddhist altar? Something like that with bloody clothes hanging on it.

"Oh, that...!"

Yang Juhee's eyes grew twice as large as usual.

As I was getting scared by the size of her eyes, she shouted.

"That's my sister's clothes! My sister's school uniform!"