Chapter 129
Looking online, I found that arachnophobia is the most common phobia in the world. It's so common that more people suffer from it than even acrophobia.
One in nine adults has arachnophobia, they say.
In our pirate crew, Yang Juhee had arachnophobia.
For us, who needed to conquer the third floor, Yang Juhee's condition being off was the worst possible situation.
"Why."
Yang Juhee asked indifferently, seemingly displeased about being called out behind the secret base building. She kicked a stray stone with her sneaker for no reason.
I looked around.
There were no ears or eyes besides Yang Juhee and me.
"It's just you and me here now. So be honest. Juhee, why are you afraid of spiders? I really need to hear the reason today."
"Everyone can have things they're afraid of."
Hmph-
Yang Juhee snorted haughtily.
As she said, everyone has weaknesses and things they fear.
But I recalled Yang Juhee's reaction on the third floor last time.
When asked about her fear of spiders, she seemed to be in pain as if feeling extreme nausea.
I didn't think this was just a simple phobia.
"You want to find your sister, right? If you can't overcome your fear, it could put all of us in danger. Juhee, you know you're our key player."
Swish-
Yang Juhee looked at me with narrowed eyes. The feeling from her crossed arms was one of exclusive rejection.
Yang Juhee's heart was tightly closed, unlike usual. It was an attitude of not wanting to talk about her weakness.
Yang Juhee is tough on the outside, soft on the inside.
She looks strong on the outside but is delicate inside. Unlike her cool appearance and behavior, she had many worries and secrets in her heart.
She was the opposite of Yoo Dahee in many ways, who looks delicate on the outside but is tough inside, and different from Kwon Sua, who seems delicate both inside and out.
"Alright. I'll tell you the reason. But on one condition. You have to tell the truth about what happened with Yoo Dahee too. If you want to hear someone else's flaws, you should reveal your own."
"Dahee?"
"I mean what happened in elementary school."
So that's how she wants to play it.
Just as Yang Juhee feared spiders, I feared things from the past. For me, the past was like a box where I found something scary inside and closed the lid.
Yang Juhee's words were like asking me to lift that lid and show the contents to everyone, so I immediately felt unpleasant and uneasy.
Honestly, it's not easy.
"Sharing fears..."
We had shared our dreams at Yoo Dahee's mansion before, but we didn't know what each other feared, or what thoughts we lived with.
Suddenly, I remembered what the senior pastor in Seoul had said. Those who want to talk about heaven should also be able to talk about demons and ghosts.
If we want to talk about dreams, we should also talk about miserable failures and fears.
I thought for a long time and came to a conclusion.
"Okay. After we drive out the ghosts from Sua's house, I'll tell everyone as much as I remember about what happened during the summer vacation in 6th grade. You do the same."
Swish-
I held out my pinky finger to Yang Juhee. Yang Juhee seemed to think for a while, then uncrossed her arms and linked her pinky with mine.
***
It was my second time visiting Kwon Sua's house. The first time was because of Kwon Suho, wasn't it?
"Come to think of it, how's Kwon Suho... your cousin brother?"
I asked Kwon Sua about her cousin brother Kwon Suho.
For me, Kwon Suho was close to being a bad connection. Objectively speaking, he's a bad guy.
But Kwon Sua had said Kwon Suho was a good family member in many ways.
"He's still in the hospital. He hasn't regained consciousness."
Unconscious, huh.
It wasn't something I could ignore. If quirks stack up to two, we might end up like that too.
"Look at that. The utility pole has fallen."
Bong Ji-yeon pointed at a collapsed wall and utility pole. The sight of crows perched on the messy garbage dump was also ominous.
A mess. Is there a better word to describe the current world?
Honestly, it was impossible not to feel responsible. I felt like I had made the world like this.
What would happen if everyone knew this fact?
It's scary.
But that's why I couldn't stop moving forward.
Whatever happens, I'll take responsibility if I go all the way to the end. They say any wish can be granted if you go to the end.
Beep beep-
Beep beep-
When we opened the door and entered, Wangwang the Shiba Inu barked.
━Woof woof!
"Welcome home, my daughter. Are these your friends?"
An older man also got up from the sofa to greet us.
He was a man wearing glasses, and his face seemed familiar somehow. Is he Kwon Sua's father?
"Hello. My name is Ha Young-won. We are indeed Sua's friends and also..."
Meeting a friend's father was an unfamiliar experience, so it was awkward.
As I was fidgeting a lot, Bong Ji-yeon asked.
"Hey. What are you muttering to yourself?"
"What do you mean? Sua's father is here..."
Gasp-
Suddenly, I thought that others might not be able to see what I was seeing. I started to get scared, and cold sweat ran down my back when Kwon Sua said.
"My father passed away when I was in elementary school."
Then what is that? A ghost pretending to be her father? Should we exorcise it?
Kwon Sua had said the ghost she saw at home was a young woman ghost that felt like a high school girl.
As I was confused, Kwon Sua let out a sigh.
"Let's go into the room. Those girls... they're probably in my room."
Swish-
We opened the door and entered Kwon Sua's room.
Entering the room of a girl who was a popular idol, though now retired, gave me complex and subtle feelings. I was scared of the ghost that might be inside, but also excited in many ways.
Creak-
That excitement flew away when we finally opened the door and a smell wafted out.
"Ugh, what's this smell?"
I felt like throwing up from the unexpected stench attack. It was a smell I'd never experienced before, and everyone seemed to feel the same.
It was so painful to enter the room that tears came to my eyes.
"Hey! What do we do? We can't go in!"
"It's a strong smell."
Only Yoo Dahee, with her elegant dignity, gave a modest comment.
"I'll go in."
Yoo Dahee's going in alone?
I looked around for potential dangers. Then I took a frying pan from the kitchen and put it in Dahee's hand.
"If anything happens, hit it hard with this!"
Nod-
Yoo Dahee went into the room. After a while, we heard women screaming "Aaagh!", followed by metallic sounds like someone hitting a gong, "Clang- Clang-".
『Congratulations! You have defeated 'Nameless High School Girls'!
Starting calculation for 6 survivors' share.
You acquire 300P.』
Only 300 points for six people?
Of course, 300 points was a big number, but I thought it would have been nice if we could have earned 600P.
They must have been minor ghosts that don't give many points. So there were probably no injuries and no major problems, but...
Swish-
I looked at the man sitting in the living room. To be precise, the ghost of a man.
"Wow, our Sua brought all her friends home. Dad wants to do something for you, but I'm not sure what would be good."
Kwon Sua had said her dad was dead.
Is this the ghost of Kwon Sua's father? Or an imitation?
Whatever it was, it was a ghost. If we take it down, we could earn points.
Swish-
I grabbed a nearby golf club.
I'm not sure why there's a golf club in an idol's officetel, but it was perfect as a self-defense weapon.
"No!"
Just then, Kwon Sua ran to me and pulled my arm. The enormous pressure on my arm snapped me back to my senses.
"Why?"
"......"
Kwon Sua didn't say anything. But I felt like I vaguely understood her feelings.
Jung-seok said.
"If that's Sua's father, wouldn't it be better to exorcise him? A ghost remaining means they haven't achieved enlightenment. You can use the status window's mercenary system to help ghosts achieve enlightenment, right?"
Exorcise Kwon Sua's father and then use the mercenary system to help him achieve enlightenment-
It was indeed a judgment worthy of a cool-headed strategist, but Kwon Sua shook her head vigorously.
"No!"
"......"
"......"
We could only stare blankly at each other's faces.
For us, ghosts had always been something to exorcise. Yang Juhee also frowned and said.
"If we leave it like this and it becomes dangerous. Even if it's a father, there's no law saying ghosts won't harm living people. Ancestral ghosts harass the living if they don't get proper rituals or if they don't like their burial place."
"No!"
Kwon Sua's resolve was firm.
Come to think of it, Kwon Sua had said she was uncomfortable with high school girl ghosts hanging around her house, but she hadn't mentioned her father.
She doesn't want to see him exorcised. Soon, Yoo Dahee said.
"Wouldn't it be okay to just leave it for now? We're keeping Blackie, and it's like a ghost too."
Blackie?
I thought it was a strange name, but I realized it was Yoo Dahee's name for our lizard 'Giganoto'.
Giganoto is also something like a ghost, but we're keeping it-
She seemed to want to say something like, what's wrong with a high school girl who used to be an idol keeping her dad's ghost?
Thinking about it, it made sense.
Our Giganoto is also something like a ghost, but it chases away cockroaches and is a good guy.
If we leave Giganoto alone but drive out Kwon Sua's dad... that would be the height of hypocrisy. It can't be helped. Let's summarize opinions like a leader.
"Then let's decide by vote. Raise your hand if you think we should beat Kwon Sua's dad with a golf club."
No one.
That's how Kwon Sua's father survived.
"Hello. I'm Ha Young-won."
"There's cola and ice cream in the fridge, help yourselves."
"Um... could we talk for a bit?"
"Only one ice cream each."
The conversation's oddly out of sync.
Can we not have a proper conversation? It's a bit creepy.
"If you've finished the ice cream, go to Buldan Temple. It's the best place to avoid floods in Gaeryong. When I was young, I used to play there with my brother."
Flood? What flood?
I felt like I'd heard the name Buldan Temple somewhere. Then, I remembered the disaster alert.
"Guys, didn't they say Buldan Temple doesn't exist?"
"That's right."
"Then what about the address? What was the address given in the disaster alert?"
"That's our school address, isn't it? Sacheon-ro."
I was surprised by Bong Ji-yeon's nonchalant comment.
Really? I didn't know.
But if 'Buldan Temple' was a real temple as this ghost man said, I wanted to go to the school.
"Guys, let's go to the school. Quickly!"
Of course, the school I meant was the old school building, the actual building.
There must be something more there that we don't know about.
We caught taxis and quickly headed to the old school building. Yang Juhee asked.
"Hey, what is it? Why are you moving in such a hurry?"
"Actually... I thought it was strange. About your sister, Yang Juhee. You said she went to the school basement to look for something round. Why the basement? Why? I was thinking, why the basement─."
Yoo Dahee said she had met Yang Juhee's sister when they were in elementary school.
She said they went around the old school basement together. The old school basement.
I thought it was nothing special, but...
"Hey, are we really going in here? It's locked! Let's just go back! This place gives me the creeps!"
Bong Ji-yeon trembled.
The old school building with crows perched on it in broad daylight probably looked like a giant tombstone rising from hell, making her feel eerie.
I thought so too.
But there was something I wanted to confirm.
"They say ghosts are the opposite of living things, right? Opposite. This old school building and the one we explored in the nightmare corridor are connected. If it's the opposite, then...?"