Chapter 154
Thud, thud, thud, thud—
Someone kept banging their head in the man's room. Despite blood streaming down their face, they continued slamming their head against the wall.
"Hello. Hello."
Thud thud thud—
The room's owner, a man, ignored it.
Whatever it was, it didn't seem human. It's best not to acknowledge such things; you might get entangled.
The man, Cheon Boseong, was a prisoner. He had no idea when he might be released.
By now, the outside world felt like a distant fantasy. Being locked up for so long can mess with your mind.
However, he could vaguely sense that something was happening outside. Strange occurrences in the prison were increasing.
Agonized moans echoed from empty cells, and non-existent guards knocked on doors, checking inmates' names and identities.
It was like something out of a ghost story. A series of bizarre phenomena.
To Boseong, a former pastor, these events felt like omens or signs. Signs that something terrible was about to happen.
But Boseong was a prisoner. There was nothing he could do while locked up.
He was imprisoned to pay for his crimes, of course.
Crimes from five years ago. And even further back, from seventeen years ago.
If only he had made better choices, everything might have turned out differently.
All a prisoner can do is regret.
Boseong had many opportunities. But out of all those chances, he never once made the right choice.
'The Clock of Eternity grants only one true desire. No one can lie before it. It tests the very nature of a person.'
When Ha Chae-yeon climbed to the 4th floor, boasting she'd set everything right, her deepest wish wasn't for world peace or justice.
She ended up making the wrong wish.
"I should've gotten rid of that crippled baby. Strangled it."
"Was it really your baby?"
"Your whore was infertile, wasn't she?"
The man banging his head on the wall suddenly shouted these words into Boseong's ear. Amidst the loud, cackling laughter, Boseong recalled his past.
He remembered how his father, the Chairman, used to scrutinize his face every day. His father always doubted the blood flowing between them.
And that doubt, almost like an inherited trait, was passed down to Boseong. But Boseong didn't doubt.
"That child is indeed mine."
Boseong remembered the moment he held the newborn baby.
The child born to a supposedly infertile woman was deformed. Yet despite its deformity, it wasn't lacking; rather, it was complete.
What's lacking is the present.
The once-complete child now lives in the macroscopic world with an incomplete body.
Boseong took something out of his pocket.
It was a baby's finger, cut off in early childhood.
***
"......"
"Geez, you scared me!"
I woke up with a start. A man with blood gushing from his neck was staring intently at my face.
"Oh, crap..."
I gathered my wits and turned on the light, getting a clear view of the face. It was Kim Geon-ho.
"Damn, the school bully's ghost really showed up..."
I once told Jung-seok something like this.
If I ended up killing Kim Geon-ho, he'd definitely come back as a vengeful ghost, and how would I handle that?
It was half a joke then, but who knew it'd come true?
"......"
Ghost Geon-ho just stared at me silently.
He didn't speak or move. He just kept looking. His gaze was filled with strange emotions.
The pressure from his stare was intense.
"Hey, I'm sorry. Please find peace quickly."
I rubbed my palms together like a fly, apologizing to Geon-ho.
I was worried the pissed-off bully ghost might do something nasty to me. Yesterday's interrogation suggested Gong Yerin had killed Geon-ho, but I was the one who set things in motion.
Maybe my prayer worked, because Ghost Geon-ho slowly faded away.
"What are you doing so early in the morning?"
Jung-seok, who had been sleeping next to me, sat up. We had stayed at Dahee's house last night.
Jung-seok and I shared a room. His snoring was a bit of a pain, but it was better than sleeping alone.
It's less scary to sleep with someone else in a world where ghosts pop up randomly.
"...Kim Geon-ho's ghost appeared."
"You should have exorcised it."
"I think I'd lose in a fight."
"Maybe it was just an auditory hallucination? People often experience hallucinations due to guilt. I've heard about that."
Maybe... but it didn't feel like a hallucination.
It was really Kim Geon-ho.
Thinking about it now, I wondered if there might have been a better way. Like Dahee and Juhee did, we could have just kidnapped and locked him up in this mansion without needing to kill him.
Realizing this made me feel stupid.
'Why do I always regret things too late, like an idiot?'
Is it because I'm a broken clock? Because I'm sloppy?
Each trait seemed to describe a person's personality and characteristics, and mine fit perfectly.
I was broken and sloppy.
I don't think I used to be like this. I was pretty sharp until elementary school.
"You didn't kill Kim Geon-ho anyway. Wasn't it Gong Ye-rin who killed him?"
"But I'm the one who set things in motion."
"If you go down that road, there's no end to it. They cornered you, which led to this. They cornered you because the talisman was stolen. You stole the talisman because—"
An endless cycle, huh?
I knew Jung-seok was trying to ease my conscience, but I shook my head.
"I want to keep holding onto this feeling."
This guilt and clumsiness felt like the core of what made me Ha Young-won. I felt like I wouldn't be myself anymore if I lost this.
Jung-seok either couldn't understand or was still half-asleep. He didn't respond, just rubbed his eyes and got up. He said he was going to look into the 'iron box' today.
He was meeting a construction worker who had been involved in building the school.
"I'd like to meet Mr. Kang Bada too."
I still haven't been able to contact Mr. Kang Bada. I was starting to worry that something might have happened to him…
I remembered the business card Mr. Kang Bada gave me when we first met.
It had "Beware the sky" written in Morse code. What did that "sky" mean anyway? Was it referring to the Chairman and the Cheon family?
After a quick wash and brush, I knocked on the third-floor room. It was where Im Hee-yeon and Gong Ye-rin were staying.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Would you sleep well if you were in our shoes?"
"I... I slept okay. Thanks for... for the dinner and blankets."
"Hey! Im Hee-yeon! Don't suck up to them! What's there to be thankful for!"
Humans really are adaptable creatures. Watching these girls' resilience was almost admirable in a way.
"Ahh-haa-huu-haa-huuu-haaa."
"Sua, that's quite a yawn. Rough night?"
"Hey, pay up!"
"Pay?"
"Did you think you could see an idol's yawn for free? I don't show this to just anyone!"
"Guess I got lucky."
"Young-won, you look like you had a rough night too. Those dark circles are intense."
"Ah."
I thought I'd slept well, but the fatigue must be piling up.
What's happening now is a bit much for a high school student like me to handle. Still, I'm glad I have my friends.
"Honestly, I think you're amazing dealing with all this. If I were in charge, I'd probably just cry my eyes out and not be able to do anything."
Whoosh—
Kwon Sua linked her arm with mine without hesitation.
Squish squish—
The incredible warmth and pressure made my face flush.
I remembered hearing that marrying a woman with small breasts might be because of her various charms, but marrying a woman with large breasts is more likely because of the large breasts themselves.
It really is something else.
"Thanks for the support."
Slip—
I gently pulled my arm away and hurried off, trying to shake off the awkward feeling.
***
Today, we were meeting the construction worker who helped build the school. He was living in a shabby inn in a really remote part of Gaeryong City.
"People actually live in a place like this?"
Jung-seok gaped at the dilapidated inn building. For the silver-spoon Jung-seok, it seemed shocking how poor people could get.
It really was an old building. There was a musty smell of mold.
It was a three-story building with many rooms, but most were vacant.
"With so many empty rooms, we take long-term guests as if we're renting them out. About 100,000 won a month. Mr. Kim is one of those guests. But he's a bit... odd."
The bald innkeeper chuckled, his head gleaming.
He kept glancing at Ms. Hong Mi-ri, clearly smitten by the adult woman's beauty and being extra helpful.
"But, well, it's natural for people staying in a run-down place like this to have their stories. Yeah. Still, be careful. That guy abandoned his family and is drunk even during the day... it's a shame..."
"It's that room at the end, right?"
The end room on the first floor.
They said Mr. Kim, the construction worker, lived in the sunniest room of the inn.
As a worker on the Yeongji High construction, Mr. Kim might know the most about the 'iron box.' He might even know about what's beyond the 3rd basement floor.
Click—
The door wasn't locked. When we opened it, a sharp smell of alcohol hit us. No, it was more like vinegar.
The wallpaper was yellowed, and the floor was littered with beer bottles and ashtrays. Seeing this, Kwon Sua trembled slightly, looking a bit shocked.
Bong Ji-yeon, a rich kid who lived next door to Jung-seok, seemed equally taken aback.
However, Yang Juhee, who had seen the depths of human misery since childhood, seemed unfazed. And Dahee, whose recent thoughts I'd been curious about, remained expressionless.
"Mr. Kim Cheolyong? This is Hong Miri, the teacher from Yeongji Foundation we arranged to meet today."
Rustle—
Responding to Ms. Hong's voice, someone who had been sleeping under a newspaper stirred.
He had tanned skin, a square jaw, and a sturdy build. He seemed past middle age, but I couldn't tell exactly. His hair was completely white, and he had an unkempt beard.
"Yes, I'm Kim Cheolyong."
His voice was hoarse, as if he hadn't fully woken up.
Was he drunk?
"As I mentioned on the phone, I wanted to ask about the Yeongji High construction."
"Yes, I remember. Just a moment."
He got up, fumbled to put on some clothes, and pulled a hat low over his eyes.
Everything was old and shabby. There wasn't a single new thing in the room.
"I was part of the construction. I was the only Korean worker involved in the underground construction."
Fwoosh—
Kim Cheolyong lit up a cigarette. Bong Ji-yeon coughed at the smoke.
"I'm going to the bathroom for a bit."
She smokes herself but doesn't like secondhand smoke? Kim Cheolyong chuckled at this.
"You kids are Yeongji High students, right? My son goes there too. Don't know if he's alive or dead now, but he'd be about your age."
So this man was once the head of a family too.
A man with a wife and son, how did he end up alone in a place like this? As I was wondering, Mr. Kim asked, as if embarrassed.
"Um, teacher... about that money you mentioned... is that for real?"
"Yes. I'll give you half now and the other half after we talk."
Ms. Hong pulled out a thick envelope from her pink bag. I didn't know how much was in it, but it looked substantial.
Mr. Kim's previously dull eyes lit up.
Thud—
Mr. Kim took the envelope and carefully put it in a drawer. Then, scratching his messy beard, he began his story as if lost in memories.
"It was strange. I've seen rituals and shamanic ceremonies for building construction before, but what they did for that school was on another level. It was... peculiar."
I listened intently. Mr. Kim was more articulate than I expected.
"Building a temple underground was odd. All the other workers besides me were Japanese. The strangest things happened after we moved the 'iron box.'"
"Iron box?"
I couldn't help but ask. Mr. Kim looked at me with an odd expression.
"...The reason I'm living like this is all because of that box!"