Chapter 153: Your Name Is (2)

High school students interrogating their classmates locked in shipping containers—

It sounded like something that would be breaking news on the 9 o'clock broadcast.

The fact that this was unfolding before my eyes was shocking to say the least. Even the soft-hearted Kwon Sua seemed deeply disturbed.

"We've kidnapped people!"

Sua trembled, literally shaking in every way possible.

"What do we do now? Do we pull out their nails and pour salt on the wounds? Or break their fingers until they give us the answers we want?"

Oof, shit. I hadn't even thought of that.

It hurts just hearing about it.

Sua's dramatic outburst made the tightly bound Im Hee-yeon and Gong Ye-rin start bawling their eyes out, as if they'd just realized how terrified they should be.

Whoosh—

They even wet themselves.

It was a bona fide human rights violation scene.

Even the nastiest school bullies probably wouldn't do something like this, so after some deliberation, I came to a decision.

"Let's untie them and let them clean up first."

"You mean set them free?"

Jung-seok was being... well, Jung-seok. I realized I needed to clarify.

"No, I mean let's just get them out of here for now."

It wasn't so much for Ye-rin and Hee-yeon's sake as it was for our own mental health. No one was saying it, but I felt like we were all cornered rats at the edge of a cliff.

Everyone's backed into a corner, and there's no telling what they might do. This was all because of the Nightmare Corridor.

We've been through so much that our dopamine levels or whatever must be all messed up. If I didn't want to see my friends suffer any more, we'd have to get to the 4th floor quickly.

"Hey, no matter how fast you run, I'll catch you in three seconds flat. Don't try anything stupid."

Yang Juhee threatened Ye-rin and Hee-yeon. Coming from a former violent bully, her words carried a different weight.

Nod, nod—

Hee-yeon and Ye-rin nodded their heads vigorously.

***

The Cheon family mansion had many rooms.

Some were so suspicious you couldn't tell what they were made for. This soundproofed room on the 3rd floor was one of those dubious spaces.

Thanks to that, we could keep Hee-yeon and Ye-rin confined here.

"Talk."

Yang Juhee demanded of Hee-yeon and Ye-rin, who were sitting on the bed.

After washing up and borrowing clothes, Ye-rin seemed to have gained a bit of confidence and shot back.

"About what?"

It was a timid act of defiance.

She was trying to play the role of an aloof high school girl, but her voice was trembling pathetically and her legs were shaking. Still, her question was valid.

What exactly should they talk about? You need to ask what you want to know before they can answer.

Jung-seok, the smartest of us, stepped in.

"First, tell us about this object. This thing wrapped in tissue. It's what we stole from Wang Ja-hyun's house. What is it? How do you use it?"

"That's..."

Hee-yeon started to speak. Immediately, Ye-rin slapped her hand over Hee-yeon's mouth.

"Mmph—"

"We can't talk about that."

Hmm. I figured as much.

Jung-seok seemed to have anticipated this too, as he whispered to me.

"Should we separate them? Offer freedom to whoever gives us more information?"

It was a brilliant idea.

It sounded like a technique often used in movies with detectives interrogating two people simultaneously.

So, we split Ye-rin and Hee-yeon into different rooms.

I went with Yang Juhee and Kwon Sua to Hee-yeon's room, while Jung-seok, Bong Jiyeon, and Yoo Dahee went to Ye-rin's room for a cross-examination.

"......"

Hee-yeon had been trembling all day. She must be the Jung-seok and Kwon Sua of Wang Ja-hyun's party.

Compared to the bold Ye-rin, you could say she was a bit timid, or maybe just more scared. Seeing her pitiful state like a frightened lamb made my guilt and sense of wrongdoing grow.

"Hee-yeon, do you remember when you picked up my eraser for me?"

"......"

"You might not remember. But I do. It's weird that we're talking like this when we used to take classes together. The world's gone strange."

"...You guys are the ones who did wrong."

"Us?"

"You're stirring up trouble at school... doing bad things. We... we didn't do anything wrong. We were told we're protecting people."

Hee-yeon was more talkative than I expected. Inwardly relieved at this cooperative dialogue, I tried not to show it and calmly asked.

"You were disposing of people in the old school building, right? Do you know that the people you 'dealt with' become strange, like they're possessed?"

"...I know. But those people are widening the hole in the dam. We were told that to protect more people, a few have to be sacrificed. Like how humans eat pigs or chickens to survive..."

Is this Hee-yeon's own thinking?

No, she was just parroting someone else's words like a trained bird. That's how it often is with high schoolers, myself included.

We speak as if it's our own thoughts, but often we're just repeating things we've heard somewhere. It could be someone's ideology, or a theory.

In this case, it must be Wang Ja-hyun's theory of justice.

"Why are you guys doing such terrible things?"

Hee-yeon, seemingly emboldened by our conversation, asked me. Her eyes were intensely serious.

I decided to answer just as seriously.

"I can take responsibility for everything. They say you can make a wish when you reach the 4th floor. When we get there, I'll set everything back to normal. That's the real way for everyone to survive."

"Ha Young-won, are you an idiot? You might as well say Santa Claus is real. There's no way something that grants wishes actually exists. If it did, the world would've gotten a little better by now."

Hee-yeon's argument was pretty sound. Whether there's really a wish-granting clock on the 4th floor—

I'd only heard about its existence, but I hadn't confirmed it was real.

'Santa Claus, huh.'

As I got lost in thought, Kwon Sua must have felt the interrogation was going off track and mustered up some courage.

"Don't try to persuade us! We've made up our minds! Do you know how scared and difficult it was for me when we had to climb walls and steal? We're prepared for this!"

"...You're Kwon Sua, the idol, right? From Dorangmul Girls. Why are you with these people?"

"W-we're the ones asking questions here! This finger! It's a baby's finger, isn't it? There's no way someone protecting the world would use such a cursed, grotesque object! Tell us what this is, now!"

Sua's face was flushed red as she panted. I thought she was a coward, but she could be tough when needed.

Hee-yeon started glancing around nervously at Sua's question. Then she spoke softly.

"They said it's like a ticket to enter the other world. The ticket allows up to four people to enter at once... After that... don't you know? You guys enter the same way."

A ticket to the old school building. Could it serve the same function as the status window?

Does Wang Ja-hyun have a status window too?

As I pondered this, Yang Juhee, who had her arms crossed, blurted out.

"Stop beating around the bush. Speak clearly."

"......"

Hee-yeon kept her mouth shut tight. Her eyes darted around, looking extremely uncomfortable.

Her face turned redder than a tomato, and sweat beaded on her forehead. Just as I thought she wasn't going to say anything more, Juhee got angry.

"Aren't you going to talk?"

Flinch—!

Hee-yeon cowered at Juhee's question. She mumbled as if she was about to say something incredibly embarrassing and shameful.

"Yang Juhee. Come closer, I'll whisper it."

"What is it?"

Whisper whisper—

"...What? You can only form a party by doing 'that' with the finger's owner? Look at these shameless brats! So that's why we found so many condoms at your house! You perverts! Doing such things with that Wang Ja-hyun!"

Huh? Perverted acts?

I felt like lightning had struck right in front of me.

That's the function of the "Baby Finger"? What kind of twisted object is that?

"You guys are going to do it too!"

Hee-yeon started getting angry now.

I could tell Hee-yeon had a huge misunderstanding about us. And it seemed Juhee couldn't handle this truth either, as her face turned red and she yelled.

"What the hell are you saying, you crazy girl! Do you think we're like you? This is too disgusting to deal with. Geez, you're just high school kids, for crying out loud—"

Using the "Baby Finger" would be difficult for us in many ways.

I thought we might be able to run two parties through the corridor using the finger, but with conditions like that, it was impossible.

***

"So, is Gong Ye-rin cooperating well?"

I approached Jung-seok in the hallway. Jung-seok, who had been tapping on his phone, looked up at me and nodded.

"Better than expected."

We compared the information we had gathered. Soon, we realized that Ye-rin and Hee-yeon had said similar things. Apart from learning about the finger's function, we hadn't gained much.

As I was thinking this, Jung-seok kept tapping on his phone. Curious about what he was doing, I looked and saw he was looking at some old Western painting.

"What are you looking at?"

"I'm concerned about the Yin-Yang Master's identity. The priest from Spain. The monk who can be neutralized if you know his name. It doesn't seem like a mere coincidence. You know about the Legion demon?"

"Legion demon?"

"The demon Jesus cast out. When asked its name, it answered, 'We are Legion.' It's also called Legion. This is the basic principle of exorcism for casting out ghosts and demons."

I had no idea what he was talking about.

"So, the core of exorcism is asking the name of the possessed entity and using that name to cast it out. Don't you think it's similar to how the Yin-Yang Master can be neutralized if we know his name?"

Now that he mentioned it, it did seem similar. So, is this what Jung-seok is saying?

"The Yin-Yang Master isn't an ordinary ghost?"

"It might not even be a ghost. It could be something more terrifying, like a demon."

A demon? Like in stories?

Even though it was Jung-seok's deduction, it honestly seemed a bit exaggerated and hard to believe. But Jung-seok seemed confident.

"Remember what the senior pastor said when we went to church because of Seoyeon? He said if you want to talk about heaven and salvation, you should also be able to talk about demons and hell."

"Hmm..."

"In the West, the number 6 represents the time of creation. It symbolizes cosmic truth and creation beyond human existence. It's also seen as an imperfect number because it falls short of 7, which includes the day of rest after the six days of creation."

"Jung-seok, you seem to know more about this than me, and I'm a pastor's son."

"6 is also used as the number of the devil. Look at 666 in Revelation. A monk and a Yin-Yang Master with six fingers. They're not ordinary beings, and not just simple ghosts. They might be incredibly powerful entities."

Jung-seok was so serious that I couldn't help but nod, overwhelmed by his intensity.

"Then how are we supposed to find out the name?"

"I think the iron box that supposedly contained the monk might be somewhere in Gaeryong. If we find it, we might discover the name. It should be written there. They wouldn't have thrown away something like that."

Ding—

Just then, a message notification sounded. It was from Ms. Hong Mi-ri.

[Ms. Mi-ri. Couldn't find customs records of the iron box being brought in, but I got in touch with one of the guys who worked on it back then lol He's in a bit of a strange state though]

So she found someone who might know about the Yin-Yang Master's iron box? Good timing.

I glanced at the room where Hee-yeon and Ye-rin were confined. Hee-yeon was hiding under the bed.

Meow—

"Eek! Something bit me!"

It seemed the white cat, Baekseol, had nipped at Hee-yeon's foot.