Chapter 142
"Hello. Long time no see."
Gu Hyena greeted us in the basement like a friendly receptionist.
"While you were gone, so many people came through this corridor. Anyone could just walk in. It's been a job just chasing people away. Hehe."
Gu Hyena seemed to be doing her job as the gatekeeper of this first floor well. It bothered me that there were many people wandering the corridor besides us.
"What kind of people were they?"
"I don't know. Just people."
"No common traits or anything?"
"I can't say. Just people, I told you?"
Gu Hyena doesn't seem to know much. I felt like the high school girl ghost might get angry if I asked more.
Anyway, we all gathered in the basement.
"This is the first time I'm wandering around with you guys."
Ms. Hong Mi-ri joined our party as a new member. She was a ghost veteran, and she was the most adult among us.
She would be a great help to us. For reference, Ms. Hong Mi-ri's status window looked like this.
『Name: Hong Mi-ri Lv.5
Traits: 《Light-footed》 《Twin》
Disposition: Diligent
Quirk: None
Possessions: Camera, Escape talisman
A beautiful female teacher. She has many secrets. It might be beyond your current ability to fully understand her.』
『《Light-footed》: Can completely eliminate footsteps in any situation while holding breath.』
『《Twin》: Two souls inhabit one body. Can switch the personality that surfaces depending on the situation.』
Impressive. Ms. Hong Mi-ri basically had two traits.
One was the ability to walk lightly, and one was the ability to change personalities... does that mean she can switch to Hong Ye-ri's personality?
Anyway, we cheerfully left the basement and headed to the first floor. The first floor should have been empty without ghosts, but there was a problem.
"Is someone there?"
"Help! Save me!"
Unfamiliar voices were coming from far away. People other than us on the first floor?
Could this be 'random matching'? Does random matching occur even when we're officially conquering the corridor?
This was a first. There's still so much I don't know about this corridor. Gu Hyena, who had followed us to the first floor, said.
"See? I told you. People just come in. Ugh, it's annoying. You guys go up to the second floor. I'll take care of these people."
Gu Hyena was dealing with people entering this nightmare. I was curious but also scared about how she was dealing with them.
For people caught in random matching, it must be truly a disaster or nightmare. But it couldn't be helped.
The number of talismans was fixed, after all.
Swish-
Gu Hyena disappeared through the wall. Seeing this, Yang Juhee stuck out her tongue.
"Now she's even going through walls."
Yeah. I was surprised too. Do ghosts level up too?
Just as we were about to look for the first floor talisman…
"Kyaah!"
A sharp scream was heard. Yang Juhee was the first to recognize it.
"That sounds like Gu Hyena's scream?"
I wondered what it could be.
Is there anything that could make Gu Hyena, a ghost on this first floor, scream? I felt like we should check it out.
The fewer variables, the better. But before we could go check, the source of the problem came towards us.
It was a man holding a baseball bat. Even in this darkness, I could clearly see his face.
How could I forget that face? It was Kim Geon-ho.
"Well, well. Look who it is."
Kim Geon-ho with a baseball bat over his shoulder. He spotted us and his eyes widened.
"What are you all doing huddled together?"
I felt more tense than when suddenly meeting a ghost. My companions seemed flustered by this unexpected moment and kept their mouths shut.
"No way..."
Kim Geon-ho's expression gradually crumpled. Then, as if he finally realized something, he shouted.
"Shit! I knew it! Ha Young-won, Yang Juhee, you bitches working together! Hong Mi-ri, you were on their side too! No wonder you suddenly called me. You guys robbed the house too, didn't you!"
Kim Geon-ho might be a bully, but he was quick-witted when it came to bad things. He saw our group and immediately figured out our relationship and what we had done.
This was the worst-case scenario for us.
"We have to kill him!"
Whoosh-!
Yang Juhee ran quickly. Surprised by Yang Juhee's speed, Kim Geon-ho was startled.
"What the, shit! Get lost!"
Kim Geon-ho swung his bat.
Thud-!
Yang Juhee staggered greatly after taking a merciless blow to the head.
"Agh! You bastard!"
But Yang Juhee somehow endured and grabbed Kim Geon-ho's body, taking him down. Taking that chance, Yoo Dahee picked up the baseball bat that had fallen to the ground.
Then she started beating Kim Geon-ho's head mercilessly, cracking his skull and splattering blood.
"Die!"
"Dahee! Stop! That's enough now!"
I felt dizzy. What I feared most had happened.
To think I made my friends kill someone.
Of course, he wasn't really dead. He's alive in reality.
Still, I was afraid of us getting 'used to' this kind of thing.
"Look at this. This bastard has a talisman in his pocket?"
Swish-
Yang Juhee had already rifled through Kim Geon-ho's pockets. Kim Geon-ho had one escape talisman.
What's this? Is it from the first floor?
But the talisman was still firmly attached to the first floor's statue. The talisman from Kim Geon-ho's pocket seemed to be his personal item.
***
"In the end, it was fortunate we killed Kim Geon-ho quickly. Imagine if he had torn the talisman and escaped. Our faces would have been exposed."
The atmosphere turned gloomy. Ms. Hong Mi-ri made a cold judgment.
She was right.
We never thought Kim Geon-ho would have a talisman. Did he get it from Wang Ja-hyun?
If Kim Geon-ho had escaped… It would have been disastrous for us.
We might end up fighting with knives in reality. Maybe even worse than that.
"Young-won, are you hurt anywhere?"
Yoo Dahee checked my complexion. Blood was still dripping from the bat in her hand.
There was no way I could be hurt. It ended before that.
The one who was badly hurt was Yang Juhee. Yang Juhee had been hit by Kim Geon-ho's bat and was bleeding from her ears and nose, but she didn't die.
More precisely, she survived by using up the [Straw Doll]. Without the Straw Doll, she would have died the moment Kim Geon-ho hit her.
This corridor was indeed not a place to be taken lightly.
"Guys, let's go up to the second floor."
I pulled myself together.
Although there was an unexpected problem, what we had to do hadn't changed. We went up to the second floor like that.
From here on, we needed to be on our guard.
Dahee blew on the paper crane, and it flew following the location of the statue. The paper crane that flew slowly like that landed in the music room.
"Tick-tock, tick-tock-"
As we entered the music room, someone was hanging by their neck on the piano. It's the Rhythm Ghost.
It was chanting the rhythm with its mouth, but its long, stretched neck made it very creepy.
Swish-
I prepared the camera. If the Rhythm Ghost lunges at us, I'll snap a picture.
Thud-
Finally, the Rhythm Ghost that had been swaying left and right fell to the floor. It saw us and grinned.
"Young-won, you came again today?"
Click-! Bang-!
The photo exploded.
"Gyaaah!"
The Rhythm Ghost screamed. Seeing the ghost in pain, a thrill of excitement boiled up inside me.
"You monster! Serves you right!"
Now we need to quickly remove the talisman from the statue. I thought that, but the Rhythm Ghost's resistance was fierce.
"Aagh! Aaagh!"
Even though it was blinded by the flash, the Rhythm Ghost was causing a commotion in the music room, flailing its arms around.
Just as I was thinking it would be difficult to approach the statue, Dahee said.
"Leave it to me!"
Pop-!
Dahee jumped to the piano in the music room.
Dahee placed her fingers on the piano like a cat with raised fur and started playing the keys, ding-ding-ding-. It was an unfamiliar tune. But I could tell it was the performance of the "Suicide Symphony" score we had acquired recently.
"Noooo!"
The Rhythm Ghost covered its ears and curled up on the floor. I heard the ghosts on the second floor couldn't be exorcised, but it seemed possible to neutralize them like this.
Click-!
While Dahee was playing the piano, we removed the talisman from the second floor. Now all that's left is to go to the third floor.
"Dahee! Let's go!"
"Okay!"
Dahee, who had been playing the piano, got up and left the music room.
Rattle, bang-!
I closed the music room door and ran towards the third floor stairs. I knew the location of the third floor stairs well.
The problem was the Dancing Ghost. The Marionette Ghost was waiting for us at the entrance of the third floor, manipulating and shaking an unfamiliar person's corpse.
"Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-"
The controlled woman made incomprehensible sounds.
I hurriedly checked the camera, but it needed some time to take another picture. What should we do?
As I was feeling perplexed, Yang Juhee shouted.
"Using an item!"
Yang Juhee waved the magic wand.
Soon, a strange barrier formed around us, and the Marionette Ghost, as if unable to bear touching that barrier, crawled upside down on the ceiling and hid itself. I've always felt that this one was the most terrifying on the second floor, but also the easiest to deal with.
"Give me your brain! Brain!"
Just then, we heard a howl from the music room. Has the Rhythm Ghost in the music room already come to its senses?
At this rate, we had to run with all our might.
"Let's go!"
Pitter-patter-!
The key to breaking through the second floor is not to spare the items you have to minimize damage and quickly go to the third floor.
We followed those principles well and succeeded in climbing the stairs to the third floor.
"...The door is open!"
This was our second time entering the third floor.
One thing I was worried about was whether we'd have to use a talisman to open the entrance every time we entered the third floor.
Fortunately, the third floor door was wide open, refreshingly so. We passed through the majestic torii gate.
Swish-
As soon as we passed the torii, I felt an itchy sensation as if ants were crawling inside my body. A quirk had developed from crossing the torii.
"Everyone, snap out of it! Young-won! Snap out of it!"
Dahee, who wasn't affected by the quirk, woke me up.
Slap slap slap-!
She slapped my cheeks mercilessly, her hand so hot it almost brought tears to my eyes.
"I'll treat your quirk!"
I came to my senses and removed everyone's quirks. My remaining points became 360P.
"Is everyone okay?"
I checked my friends' complexions. They all seemed fine except for being out of breath from running frantically.
Ms. Hong Mi-ri seemed even greatly moved.
"This is the third floor..."
It was Ms. Hong Mi-ri's first time on the third floor too.
"It's exactly the same as what was under the school."
"It's scarier. Real monsters come out here... We could at least run from the ones on the second floor, but it's impossible to run from the ones here."
I trembled. I was afraid of when the bells installed around would ring.
"For now, since the Spider Woman seems to react to gazes, let's not look around carelessly. Just look at the ground as we go. Just the ground. Let's go to the shop. The shop seemed to be the safest place."
I knew the way there, though I wondered if it was possible to go there just looking at the ground.
Jingle jingle jingle jingle-
Just then, the bells hanging everywhere started ringing.
Riiing-!
A noise so loud it made our ears buzz. This was a warning.
A warning that something terrifying was appearing.
I shouted to my companions.
"Everyone close your eyes! If anything happens, escape immediately with the talisman!"
Squeeze-
I closed my eyes.