Chapter 152
It was Christmas Eve, long ago. My mom asked me.
"Did you pray for a gift you want from Santa? It's almost midnight. You need to make a wish quickly for Santa to bring you a present."
"I can't decide!"
You could only wish for one thing from Santa.
Why did it have to be just one wish? Couldn't he give me a robot, Lego, and a Pikachu doll?
I've always panicked when I had to choose just one thing.
'I've decided!'
After much deliberation, I made up my mind. It was the transforming robot my friend had been bragging about. He boasted it cost over 2 million won, which made me really envious.
The next morning.
At my bedside was a carefully wrapped box of crayons, but my wish had been for the transforming robot.
That day, I realized that wishes don't come true so easily.
Since then, the things I wanted rarely came true. Maybe "wishes" were the furthest thing from me, Ha Young-won.
"They're still alive."
Dahee's words made me feel like my soul had flown to the far reaches of the universe.
I had been agonizing over this alone, not wanting to make my friends do bad things. But Dahee had gone ahead and ambushed Gong Ye-rin and Im Hee-yeon, kidnapping them.
Did she do it alone?
"Did you do it by yourself?"
"Juhee helped me. I figured it'd be hard to move them alone, so Mrs. Danvers and the other girls helped too."
"..."
"We were supposed to keep it secret, but I just can't lie to you, Young-won."
Dahee giggled with a touch of aegyo.
"I was just trying to protect your everyday lives..."
"Young-won, we're not so weak that we need you to protect us."
Thinking about it, that was true.
I've always been in the position of being protected, never the protector. Everyone was strong. Maybe I was the one in the damsel-in-distress position...!?
What exactly was this "everyday life" I wanted to protect for everyone? Maybe it never existed in the first place, just a mirage on a summer day.
We came together because we were all strange people from the start.
Suddenly, I remembered something Dahee once said.
That a woman can do anything for the person she loves. Dahee was a friend who could "die for me." I hated that.
So when I told her not to, she became a friend who could "kill for me" instead.
"Young-won, want to go see them together today?"
Dahee asked me.
It felt like she was asking, "I have a cat at home, want to come see it?"
Not knowing how to respond, I hesitated, and Dahee seemed to notice.
"I know. It's a bad thing to do. Do you hate me now?"
Do I hate Dahee?
Dahee once told me that no matter what I did or how ugly I acted, she wouldn't hate me. I didn't really get it then. But this moment was exactly like that.
"No, I don't hate you at all."
Dahee is pretty. At that moment, I instinctively knew I could never hate Dahee, no matter what she did.
"Who else knows?"
"Just me and Juhee. Well, now you too, Young-won. We actually wanted to catch Wang Ja-hyun too, but he's a guy, so he ran away too fast and we missed him."
She's talking like someone who missed catching a Pokémon because they ran out of Poké Balls.
Anyway, so it was the two of them who planned this. The mansion people helped too.
After much thought, I came to a decision.
"Let's all go see them after lunch then."
I said it like we were going on a field trip.
It was surreal to be talking about going to see high school girls my friend had kidnapped. My daily life had aspects more astral than a nightmare with ghosts.
***
"Red Flower Shrine"
The next series of Abyss Corridor had a new name. Red Flower Shrine.
As the title suggests, it was a game about exploring a Japanese-style temple full of red flowers.
"Isn't this exactly like the place we were walking around?"
Kwon Sua was playing the game. She was the best gamer among us, being the most sociable and idol-like.
Even with ghosts chasing and no items to help, she played well without getting scared.
"Aren't you scared?"
I looked at Sua with admiration in my eyes.
It's kind of amazing how Sua, who used to be quite timid, is so good at horror games.
"It's just a game, you know."
So that's her attitude - a game is just a game.
"Wow. Wow wow. That's impressive. Really impressive."
"You can praise me more if you want."
"That's amazing! Being an idol isn't something just anyone can do!"
"Yay!"
However, there were many concerning points about this "Red Flower Shrine" that made it hard to dismiss as "just a game."
First, the monsters that appeared were exactly the same as in our memories.
A spider woman with eight arms. If caught, you die.
To evade the spider woman, you must never make eye contact with her.
Ding-a-ling—
When the bells hanging around start ringing like a warning, the only way to survive is to bury your face in the ground.
"The strategy is exactly the same."
Maybe this "Red Flower Shrine" was a direct copy of the 3rd floor corridor.
The second ghost to appear in this red shrine was a Yin-Yang master chanting mysterious spells.
Jung-seok, who had been staring at the monitor, spoke after a long silence.
"We don't know anything about Yin-Yang masters. We should probably try dying on purpose or look for information in the game. We can collect notes as we explore this shrine."
In the game, you could collect items called "Notes."
The gist of the game was that the 'protagonist,' suddenly caught up in this shrine, uncovers secrets and plans their escape through "Notes" and "Items" left behind by someone—
The notes contained information about the ghosts. For example, something like this.
[Note about the Yin-Yang Master 1
He's a man chanting blasphemous incantations. Nothing is known about his identity or purpose. He's a complete mystery. For now, there's no solution but to run away.]
[Note about the Yin-Yang Master 2
I remembered a story from my cousin in Kyoto. Long ago, there was a six-fingered monk who granted people's wishes in exchange for their precious possessions. After the monk passed through, many people fell ill with strange diseases. The shogunate, considering the monk ominous, sought help from powerful priestesses and monks to stop him, but they all died from the strange illness.]
[Note about the Yin-Yang Master 3
Hearing rumors of the strange monk, a priest came all the way from Spain. This foreign priest was a Christian who had come to distant Japan in search of the gates of heaven. He met and briefly conversed with the monk, then told the people.
'The six-fingered being is an anomaly. Such anomalies exist to deceive and lure people. However, if you discover its name, there's nothing you can't overcome.]
"Note about the Yin-Yang Master 4
After many sacrifices, people discovered the monk's name and imprisoned him in a 1000-kan iron box, burying it in a pit so deep he couldn't escape. The health of those who had fallen ill with the unknown disease improved."
[Note about the Yin-Yang Master 5
The Yin-Yang Master in this red shrine had six fingers. Like that monk, the Yin-Yang Master must have a name. Discovering the name is said to have great magical significance... There might be a hint nearby.]
"That's all the notes about the Yin-Yang Master."
Kwon Sua, who had been diligently exploring the game world, tilted her head in confusion.
"No matter how much I look, I can't find any hints about the name."
Games usually have solutions.
If there's a monster, and notes about how to defeat the monster, it should be designed to work that way. But this game had no hints at all about the name to defeat the Yin-Yang Master.
"I thought it seemed rushed for a free release. Is it unfinished?"
Jung-seok frowned.
I thought it might be good to contact Mr. Kang Bada, but he still hadn't checked my messages.
Soon, Bong Ji-yeon asked.
"Could it have been a real event?"
What does she mean?
As we all looked at Ji-yeon, she continued.
"This story about the strange monk. Could it have really happened?"
Ji-yeon wasn't familiar with games. I couldn't help but smile at her naivety in believing a game story could be real.
Is this what Jung-seok likes about her?
However, we all knew this wasn't an ordinary game. Maybe it could be true.
"Ms. Hong Mi-ri, what are the chances that the monk mentioned here... is the Yin-Yang Master from the basement?"
"I heard that when building Buldan Temple, the Chairman delegated most tasks to a priestess. The temple materials were also expensive imports from Japan. If that iron box containing the monk... came to Korea and the seal was broken then... the chances of the Yin-Yang Master and the monk being the same person... They probably didn't transport it by plane. It must have come by ship, so there might be customs records from that time. I'll look into it."
In my opinion, the old Japanese monk and the Yin-Yang Master were likely the same person.
My bad premonitions always turned out to be eerily accurate.
Suddenly, I felt angry.
Why did they bring a box containing a dangerous monk to Korea?
I'm so furious at Yang Juhee's grandmother, whom I've never even met, that I feel like I'm going crazy.
So, I ended up glaring at Yang Juhee. This Juhee.
Keeping secrets from me and kidnapping Gong Ye-rin and Im Hee-yeon. Even creating secrets between us?
It was really vexing.
I felt like poking her side would make me feel a bit better.
Poke—
When I jabbed Juhee's side, she suddenly jumped like a startled cat, almost hitting the ceiling.
"Eek!"
"What! What's wrong?"
As a startled Kwon Sua stood up from the computer desk and everyone's attention turned to us, a red-faced Yang Juhee pinched my arm.
"He poked my side!"
"Kids, that's all well and good, but save the lovey-dovey stuff for when you're alone."
Ms. Hong Mi-ri chuckled.
Feeling a bit awkward, I decided to change the subject by bringing up something we needed to discuss.
"I don't think we can learn anything more from the game. Let's go to Dahee's house now. Dahee and Juhee said they kidnapped and locked up some high school girls in their storage."
Even as I explained it myself, it didn't feel real.
Jung-seok, Bong Ji-yeon, Kwon Sua, and Ms. Hong Mi-ri were all in an uproar—
Yang Juhee got angry.
"Hey, Yoo Dahee! How could you tell them that!"
So they were planning to keep it a secret from everyone, after all. But now that it's come to this, there were no more secrets.
***
Behind Yoo Dahee's mansion were many containers.
It meant that even if a person was locked up in one of the countless metal boxes, it would be hard to notice.
Clang, creak—
As the container opened, the darkness receded, revealing tightly bound high school girls lying face down on the floor. Their heads were soaked in blood, and their eyes were filled with fear like rabbits facing hunters.
"Mmph!"
"Mmph!"
The girls squinted at the bright light and tried to back away timidly.
With their hands and feet tied, they looked like inchworms or earthworms crawling around.
They must be terrified of us.
Conversely, imagine if I had been kidnapped by Kim Geon-ho. If I were locked in a container, and Wang Ja-hyun, Gong Ye-rin, Im Hee-yeon, and Kim Geon-ho opened the door and looked at me?
I'm sure I would have been so scared I'd wet myself.
"I never imagined this."
Jung-seok said quietly. Even to Jung-seok, this situation seemed surreal.
"But it's effective."
However, Jung-seok was a cold-hearted boy.
He was surprised, but honestly, he seemed to be impressed.