Chapter 155
Mr. Kim Cheolyong said he had attended university in the Seoul metropolitan area, but that he quit school to pursue his dream and started earning money.
He was the only Korean worker who could speak Japanese, which allowed him to participate in the underground construction.
"Strange things started happening as we kept digging deeper. Boxes attached to cranes would fall to the ground. We'd hear women crying. Things like that."
The Yeongji High construction was challenging for various reasons.
"There were times when it rained so hard that construction was impossible. Rain that wasn't even in the forecast would pour for days. We even saw something like a snake with fur."
A snake with fur? What a bizarre creature.
Could it be related to my pet Giganoto?
"I'm no expert in land, but even I could tell this wasn't a suitable site for a school. To think students would study in a place like that."
"Mr. Cheolyong, please tell us about the box."
Ms. Hong Mi-ri seemed to want to cut the story short.
Mr. Kim looked slightly disappointed, as if he was enjoying talking to others after a long time, but he nodded and continued.
"Alright. Even now, those events feel like a dream. It was around the time when most of the underground construction was nearing completion."
The workers began building a temple in the deepest underground level using materials imported from Japan. Mr. Kim, who had frequently visited Japan in his youth, noticed something odd.
"It wasn't a Korean temple, but more like a Japanese shrine. I don't know why these Japanese were building such a shrine on Korean soil, and it was a Korean rich guy ordering it. The whole thing was strange."
During this period, many workers who experienced strange things were replaced. Mr. Kim, who remained, was secretly pleased as his daily wage kept increasing.
"What I really wanted to do was boxing. I thought if I could make a big score on this construction site, I could step into the ring without worrying about money. I thought after finishing the Yeongji High job, that dream might not be so far-fetched, but..."
Mr. Kim trailed off. He scratched his forehead and lit his third cigarette, as if at a loss for words.
I thought we might suffocate from all the smoke at this rate.
"Moving that iron box destroyed my dreams. It was incredibly heavy. Though I called it an iron box, its shape and size were more like a coffin."
"A coffin?"
Jung-seok, who had been quietly listening, interjected. He must have thought it was a crucial keyword.
"Can you describe it in more detail?"
"It was just a coffin. But strictly speaking, not a regular coffin. A coffin made of solid iron. Not for people, probably some kind of ceremonial or religious object."
Several workers carried the coffin, he said. There were many complications in the process, and ultimately, they failed to place it underground.
"Failed?"
"Yeah. The coffin kept getting heavier. At first, four people could lift it, but later, even ten people couldn't budge it. Everyone got scared."
A coffin that inexplicably got heavier. It was scary just hearing about it.
If it were me, I would've quit on the spot. In that sense, Mr. Kim was braver than me.
"We had to give up on moving it to the underground shrine. They ended up placing the iron coffin one floor above and covering it with cement, but I don't know the details. I quit by then. But from the day I quit, I started hearing something like chanting..."
Mr. Kim said he began hearing what sounded like Buddhist chanting after moving the coffin.
"I went to the hospital, but they said there was nothing wrong. But I can clearly hear it. I have to rely on alcohol to sleep. Sometimes it's okay, and other times..."
Mr. Kim, once a man of strong will, tried his best to live normally and even got married. However, his alcohol dependency made it difficult to maintain a family.
When drunk, he became violent towards his wife and son.
"I'm scared of what I might do. It's all because of moving that coffin. No, that place should never have been a school site to begin with. My life was ruined because of money."
Mr. Kim suddenly began to sob.
"Waaah!"
Seeing an adult man cry was very unfamiliar, and as we all became flustered, Ms. Hong Mi-ri quickly pulled out another envelope from her bag and handed it to him.
"Here's the rest of the money I promised."
"Huuuh!"
But Mr. Kim continued to cry like a baby. His pitiful yet somewhat creepy state made us all want to leave.
We couldn't predict what this emotionally unstable man might do.
"Well, we'll be going now."
Ms. Hong Mi-ri stood up. We all followed suit.
As the others filed out of the room, I suddenly turned back.
If he hadn't participated in the construction—would this man have successfully debuted as a boxer and lived happily with his family?
"...Mister, what's your son's name? The one who goes to Yeongji High."
"It's written with the character for 'strong' and the character for 'tiger.'"
"Strong and tiger..."
Gasp!
I felt my tongue curl back into my throat.
Now that I thought about it, his sturdy build and square jaw did look familiar. The school bully ghost, Kim Geon-ho, who was staring at me by my bedside this morning.
That Kim Geon-ho is this Mr. Kim's son?
I felt dizzy. I shouldn't have asked.
How small could the world be?
Kim Geon-ho was a nasty bully.
What if his evil nature was shaped by growing up with an unstable father? And Mr. Kim became unstable because of the construction.
It was like a tangled thread suddenly becoming clear, all connected as one.
There seems to be no such thing as coincidence in this world. Everything has a clear cause and effect.
"It's been years since I've seen my son's face. I was going to give him this. If you meet him at school, could you give this to him? It's a glove he wanted for Christmas long ago."
Mr. Kim handed me a soft boxing glove. For some reason, it felt as heavy as iron.
I took it and left the room.
***
On the way back, Jung-seok spoke.
"That man was strange, but we learned a lot. The iron coffin is buried one floor above the Buldan Temple. One floor above the temple would be the second floor in terms of the Nightmare Corridor, right?"
The second floor. The domain of all sorts of evil spirits, including the Rhythm Ghost.
That's where the Yin-Yang Master's coffin was buried.
We hadn't expected this at all.
For us, the second floor of the corridor was a place to speed-run through, not to explore. Even though we had reached the third floor and used the shop, the second floor remained an area of mystery and fear for us.
The ghosts there were still terrifying and we didn't want to deal with them.
"Guys, should we go to the second floor of the old school building now?"
Jung-seok asked.
This guy. Where did he suddenly get this courage from?
It was around 2 PM.
I hadn't checked the clock, but I was sure it was 2.22 PM. Since upgrading to 《Sloppy Clock》, my internal clock had become quite accurate.
I checked the actual clock, and it was indeed 2.22 PM.
My superpower. Impressive.
Anyway, it was too early to go back home.
Above all, the events of the past few days had left me confused, and I didn't want to be alone.
"Let's go to the old school building then."
We all headed to the old school building together.
This time, we didn't have to worry about an ambush from Gong Ye-rin and Im Hee-yeon's group.
However, something was odd.
"...The lock is broken?"
Ms. Hong Mi-ri noticed that the padlock on the school gate had been cut with a sharp cutter and was lying on the ground.
It looked like someone had forcibly broken in.
"You guys go in first."
Jung-seok, who had suggested exploring the old school building, suddenly took a step back.
Did this guy suddenly get scared?
"I have something to pick up."
We went inside without Jung-seok.
Inside the old school building, we could see several footprints. Kwon Sua knelt down to examine them and said.
"These are hiking boots. My dad used to love hiking, so I know them well. The shoe size is about 280mm... Did thieves break into the school?"
Thieves in a run-down school? That would be better than the alternative...
Ms. Hong Mi-ri said.
"Yeongji High is quite famous in Korea. Since long ago, shamans have sometimes climbed over the school walls, saying they receive divine inspiration here. It might be people like that."
There are so many crazy people in this world. Does this mean that deranged shamans or treasure hunters might be hiding in this school?
It was terrifying.
Should we go back?
No, we need to explore the second floor.
We each grabbed something like a broken table leg and entered the old school building.
There were traces of someone having lit a fire.
We could see remnants of ramen seasoning, as if someone had cooked instant noodles. Soon, Bong Ji-yeon exclaimed in disgust.
"Ugh!"
"What?"
"Who eats mild Jin Ramen? Look at that packet."
Ji-yeon telling us to look at a ramen packet. It was a bit funny.
The footprints and traces of the strangers led towards the basement. We followed them down, but I was terrified that someone might suddenly jump out at us.
We arrived at the music room in the basement.
It was still an eerie place.
"What do you think? Does it look like there might be a coffin? Since they said it was covered with cement, it's probably in the wall. There are cracks all over the walls, so we might be able to see it if we look carefully."
Are we supposed to search for the coffin haphazardly?
As we were rummaging around, Jung-seok appeared.
He was holding something that looked like a very long guitar case. Seeing his confident expression made me even more curious.
"What's that?"
"A metal detector. My dad's hobby is finding coins with a metal detector. Sometimes he finds old Joseon dynasty coins and other strange things."
Jung-seok's father was the mayor of Gaeryong City.
It was quite interesting that such a person had a hobby of finding coins with a metal detector. Politicians sure have peculiar hobbies.
"With this, we should be able to find the iron coffin. We can break the walls with this hammer and see."
As expected of our pirate crew's first mate.
This Jung-seok. He looks particularly reliable today.
He wasn't much help when facing ghosts, but without ghosts around, Jung-seok was almost like Lu Bu.
"I know how to use the detector, so I'll do it. The school construction used rebar, so it might be challenging, but if there's an iron coffin hidden in the wall, the reaction should be stronger..."
I had no idea what Jung-seok was talking about, and everyone else seemed equally confused. Bong Ji-yeon had an expression of utter exasperation.
"He's always like this when he gets fixated on something."
Jung-seok was now obsessed with the 'iron box' and the 'Yin-Yang Master.' To think that cowardly Jung-seok's curiosity had overcome his fear.
It felt like he might cause some trouble.
They say it's dangerous when people do things they're not used to.
We wandered around the corridors of the real old school building like that, but we couldn't find anything that looked like a coffin.
We just ended up exhausted from breaking walls with the big hammer.
"This is about the only place left."
We stopped in front of the science lab.
In the Nightmare Corridor, this was where the mirror ghosts appeared. Yang Juhee had barely survived here once by using up a straw doll.
So for me, this 「Science Lab」 was absolutely off-limits. I didn't even know what it looked like inside.
Among us, only Yang Juhee knew about the interior.
"There were a lot of mirrors inside."
Just like in the Nightmare Corridor, the entrance to the science lab was firmly blocked. A pile of stuff inside was blocking entry.
The only way to get in was through a dog-sized hole in the wall.
Whoosh—
But the hole was as dark as the gates of hell, which was terrifying. It was clear that it would take more than ordinary courage to enter.