Chapter 16
A ghost! A ghost appeared with three people wide awake watching!
"Let's run! Let's run!"
I grabbed the nearest woman's hand and ran.
Strategic retreat!
"My-my daughter! My daughter Juhee!"
While frantically running down the stairs, the woman shouted. Now I realized I hadn't grabbed Juhee's hand!
"Oh no! Mother-in-law!"
"Mother-in-law!?"
"No! Mom! No, I mean, not mom! Deaconess! I'll bring Juhee! You run! Run! Fck, there's a real ghost up there! A real ghost! Oh fck!"
"I'll... I'll bring people from church! People!"
As I started climbing the stairs again, I felt like crying from fear and frustration.
From Death Game to Shaman Ghost! Is it normal to meet ghosts twice in one day?
"My life is ruined."
Though I absolutely hated going back into Juhee's house, I was afraid if Juhee died by the shaman ghost, she might become a 'Delinquent Ghost' and come after me.
Then I'd really die! A delinquent ghost sounds absolutely terrifying.
"Um... Juhee..."
I slowly entered the house.
My face automatically scrunched up because the house that had smelled like flowers, clearly a high school girl's home, now reeked of garbage.
"Cough, cough."
Ugh, fck. What's this smell?
As I slowly entered, the already dim house lights suddenly went out.
"Oh, sht..."
Complete darkness was inside. I really wanted to leave right away, but...
"Peace like a river. Peace like a river. Peace like a river flows within..."
"What the hell."
"Mom!"
I was truly startled. Even a cat seeing a cucumber while eating wouldn't have been more surprised.
When I shone my phone light, I saw Juhee standing still in the darkness, drooling something strange.
"Hey...! Let's get out! Quick! Juhee!"
"Leave where? This is my house. My house. My house. Yet these btches never invite me over for Chuseok or New Year's. These btches looking down on ancestor worship, believing in that desert spirit."
Though it was Juhee's face and voice... it wasn't like Juhee. I was terrified and wanted to run, but I decided to ask.
"Um... I'm really sorry but... who are you?"
"I'm her grandmother. This btch never gives me ancestral offerings. Unforgivable. So I'm taking her with me. Kekekekeke!"
Dance dance dance-
Juhee suddenly started dancing like crazy. Dancing and laughing while making bell sounds with her mouth.
"Ding-ding-ding-ding-"
A shaman ritual… Is she performing a gut?
I suddenly remembered that Juhee's maternal line was traditionally a family of shrine shamans. Her grandmother's spirit must have really possessed her!
"Know what the two scariest ghosts that even shamans avoid are? Laughing ghosts! One is a dancing ghost! And even scarier is a shaman ghost! Kekeke! Then what's a dancing laughing shaman ghost?"
I don't know, fck! How would I know that?!
Why am I even here doing this?
I was terrified but also angry. When people get too scared, they sometimes snap.
Maybe I'd developed some guts from dealing with various ghosts. So, I squeezed out courage and asked:
"Um... if... you're really a shaman, can you like... summon dead spirits?"
"Yes! Kekekekeke!"
"Then... can you summon Hitler? I heard he hid lots of gold..."
"...I can't do foreigners!"
"Then what about my dad? Can you summon my dad's spirit?"
"Wait a minute. Ha Young-won, you brat! Not listening to your dad, always slacking off!"
"Dad? Is it really dad? Sing me a military song!"
"......"
"You btch, my dad isn't even dead!"
I never believed in shamans or fortune-telling anyway. How could she summon my father who isn't even dead?
She’s a total fake!
By now, anger overtook fear.
"You bastards! If you're really ancestors, you should help your descendants by giving lottery numbers! You're trying to kill people just because they don't perform ancestral rites?"
"Ding-ding-ding-"
"People who actually benefit from their ancestors go on overseas trips during Chuseok and New Year's! You're not even a real ancestor! If everyone who dies becomes a ghost, what about T-Rex?"
"......"
Juhee subtly averted her eyes. I shouted at her:
"If people really became ghosts after death, the T-Rex ghosts who died first would have eaten them all! T-Rex! Allosaurus! Velociraptor! Pteranodon!"
I intensely imagined dinosaur ghosts. Then I seemed to hear actual dinosaur roars, and Juhee screamed.
"Heee! Wh-what is this! What is this! Gyaah!"
Thud-
Juhee's body collapsed like a puppet with cut strings. Soon, text appeared before my eyes.
『Congratulations! You have defeated the 'Placebo Effect'!』
『Beginning settlement for 3 Survivors.』
『Acquired 300P.』
Placebo effect.
Does it mean that believing something fake strongly enough makes it real?
Deaconess Kim Yeo-ok, Juhee's mother, talked about ancestral spirits so convincingly that it manifested like a placebo effect.
...Man, what an experience. I really feel like crying.
***
"Hey. You okay?"
This should settle my debt from the corridor.
Juhee collapsed on the floor, breathing heavily.
Huff-huff-
Her chest heaved, and her white legs remained stretched out under her school uniform skirt.
The placebo ghost was gone, but seeing her still unconscious made me nervous.
"Hey. Get up."
Poke poke-
I prodded Juhee's thigh with my finger.
Despite gaining weight, her legs were firm with muscle. Maybe it’s from practicing taekwondo in childhood.
"Ow, my head."
My touch seemed to work as Juhee got up, holding her head. Soon she looked around, frowning.
"What? What happened? Where's mom?"
"Your mother went to church. Do you remember what just happened? What's the last thing you remember?"
"......"
Juhee frowned like someone with a hangover. After thinking hard, she spoke haltingly.
"Don't know. I remember mom screaming... Like... I had a really scary dream. Someone was yelling... then suddenly dinosaurs appeared... a funny... dream... Scary but funny..."
I see. She doesn't remember anything after the deaconess started screaming before the frame broke.
"Pastor! Here! Here!"
"Deaconess. Oh deaconess. Just a moment... whew, out of breath-"
Just then, the deaconess and an unfamiliar man entered through the front door. The man held a Bible and wore glasses, looking like a proper type. It must be someone the deaconess brought from church.
"A shaman spirit possessed my daughter Juhee! My daughter! Pastor!"
"...She doesn't look possessed though?"
Unlike the panicking deaconess, the Glory Church pastor calmly examined Juhee. Of course, the deaconess was unstoppable.
"She's possessed! Trying to take my daughter! Ancestral spirits possessed her! The shaman women possessed her! Not satisfied with taking Do-hee, they're trying to take Juhee too! Aaah!"
This is really crazy.
While I was wondering what I could do here, something soft grabbed my hand. It was Juhee.
"Young-won, let's get out of here! Quick!"
"Huh?"
The pastor and deaconess were shouting something behind us, but Juhee didn't seem to care and led me down the apartment stairs by hand.
I wish she'd tell me where we're going.
Juhee continued to walk ahead, remaining silent.
After walking for a while, Juhee stopped at a playground in the apartment complex. It was a rusty playground with paint so peeled you couldn't tell when it was last painted.
Creak, creak-
Juhee sat on the swing. She swung her long legs back and forth, rising and falling toward the sky.
"You saw it too. My mom's completely obsessed with church. She even goes every day of the week. It wasn't this bad before. She got much worse after losing my sister."
"Sister? What about your sister?"
"My sister... at first we thought she just ran away. Now we don't know if she's alive or dead. We used to be better off."
Man, why do so many people disappear in this city?
Juhee continued:
"Mom went crazy trying to find my sister, giving away money and selling the house. She visited every big church in Seoul, begging pastors to find her. She thinks spirits took my sister."
Juhee spoke as if it was nonsense, but to me it didn't sound like a joke. Well, I would've thought it was a joke just days ago.
But the world was full of mysteries and supernatural things incomprehensible to first-year high school boys and girls, and I was right in the middle of it.
Is it too elaborate to be coincidence?
"I might transfer schools soon to follow dad. He got a job in Seoul and wants us to come. Honestly, I don't think we'll find my sister anymore. She's probably dead."
"...Why do you think that?"
"I don't know if it was a dream or reality, but I think I saw my sister's ghost. She was standing in a dark corridor."
Dark corridor.
I wanted to hear more about this.
"Can you tell me more about that?"
"I don't know. I'm going to Seoul anyway. This is the end of Gaeryong too. I'm sick of everything now. Sick of mom, this ant-infested apartment, and those church bastards taking advantage of my poor mom."
Seoul, huh-
Seoul isn't that great either.
No, Juhee probably just wants to leave this place, regardless of where to.
Juhee and I had some things in common. That commonality lowered my guard against her a bit.
"Juhee, if what you saw in the corridor was real, you might be able to meet your sister again."
"Young-won, it's nice to comfort me, but don't say things like that carelessly."
"No. I really mean it."
I was at a crossroads.
Honestly, the burden I carried was too heavy to bear alone. It would be good to have a reliable companion.
"Yang Juhee. Take this hand. If you take this hand, you might meet your sister. But you'll experience things scarier than you can imagine."
"What is this, an extension of your April Fool's confession?"
"It’s not a joke. So please, take my hand."
Juhee stared at my outstretched hand for a while. About 30 seconds passed.
"...So who was that ex-girlfriend who dumped you?"
...She’s still on about that?
I looked up at the sky.
Stars shone above the old playground. I quite liked this city, Gaeryong, because it was appropriately shabby.
It had a charm that seemed to accept even someone living messily like me.
For a mess like me, Gaeryong was the perfect refuge.
Similarly, I thought the rough-edged, twisted Juhee and I would make good partners. Like a blind person and a cripple supporting each other.
Slide-
A soft touch met my hand. The small, delicate touch I'd felt before. I held tight, afraid the warmth might slip away.
"Ah, geez-. Young-won, like the loser you are, even your handholding is pervy."
"How do you know it's pervy? Have you experienced holding hands with perverts?"
"Yeah. Right now."
Whether it was Juhee or me, someone laughed first and we both burst out laughing. Afterward, we rode the seesaw, swing, and old slide at the playground.
It was a night more unbelievable than ghosts or the old school corridor.
"Me playing with Yang Juhee at a playground? The sun must be rising in the west."
On my way home.
Buzz-
My phone rang.
"Yang Juhee: So how can we meet my sister?"
We'd added each other on chat earlier, and Juhee already contacted me.
I decided to answer casually.
"See you in tonight's dream lol don't be surprised when you see me I'll explain everything then"
"Yang Juhee: Ew cringe lol gross lol"
Tonight is my second entry into the corridor.
Unlike last time when I knew nothing and had no companions, today I'll at least get some 'hints'.
I can do it with what I am now!