Chapter 162
"Ugh, my head hurts."
Yang Juhee regained consciousness. She even felt nauseous, probably from the headache caused by the demon's possession.
I felt the same.
Although the demon had only briefly taken over my body, my head ached as if my brain had been scraped with a rake.
I wondered how Jung Sojin was feeling.
"Let me out of here. Or all of you can leave through that door."
Sojin was sitting on the operating table, swinging her legs. Her eyes were bright red behind her glasses.
The current Sojin wasn't human. She was something wearing human skin.
"Didn't you say you'd exorcise me? Why don't you try something?"
Sojin smiled with her eyes. I turned away from that eerie voice and looked at Jung-seok, Kwon Sua, and Yang Juhee.
Despite all the chaos, everyone seemed to be okay. We had escaped the cramped operating table.
If we wanted, we could leave through the operating room's exit door.
"Let's quickly get out through that door!"
The easily frightened Kwon Sua made a tempting suggestion. Jung-seok, who was almost as timid, nodded in agreement.
"We've learned a lot about this demon. If we come back next time, we can definitely subdue it. How about we retreat for now and come back later?"
It was a good idea, but it was also just wishful thinking.
There was no guarantee we could trap this demon in such a small circle again if we came back. Maybe we had just caught a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
At least, that's what I thought.
"Time doesn't actually pass in this place."
I have a status window. And through my 《Clock》 trait, I could earn points at regular intervals.
However, I had never gained points in this Nightmare Corridor because this place existed outside the flow of time.
If we wanted, we could stay here indefinitely.
"I'm going to wait until the demon gives up on life. It can't get out of there. It might seem fine now, but eventually, it'll realize the gravity of its situation."
My strategy was simple.
Just as it was the scorching sun, not the wind, that made the traveler take off his coat, I planned to invest a massive amount of time to make the demon give up, rather than trying to persuade it.
Sojin soon opened her mouth wide and laughed.
"You'll wait for me to give up without knowing how long it'll take? Do you know who I am?"
"You're trapped. I know because I was trapped in that circle earlier. It's a cramped space. If you have any sanity, you'll reach your limit soon."
I sat down in front of the circle.
Jung-seok, Kwon Sua, and Yang Juhee seemed to understand my intention and sat around the circle too.
"What if the circle gets erased by your mistake? I'll come out and chew off your heads."
Sojin asked with narrowed eyes. Jung-seok quickly responded.
"This circle drawn with a marker won't be erased unless it's wiped off with the marker's eraser."
Right. That's how it worked.
Anyway, the important thing was that we might need an enormous amount of time from now on.
I decided to tell everyone in advance.
"If it gets too hard, you guys can escape through that door. We haven't found the 2nd floor talisman yet, so two people should be able to escape the corridor using the 2nd floor talisman and the one stuck at the 3rd floor entrance."
Two people had to escape no matter what. That way, they could strategize based on what happened today.
Preferably, Jung-seok should be one of them.
"I'm bored. Shall we play a word chain game? Let's ban one-syllable words."
***
"The city of back alley nymphs."
"Sua, that's not a real word."
"It is! It's a novel title!"
I'm not sure how long we've been playing the word chain game.
We've gone through so many cycles that we're even making up words after exhausting all the words we know.
Although time doesn't pass in this place, according to my internal clock, we've been playing for about two hours.
Two hours of word chain games. It was mind-numbingly boring.
"Why don't you just give up now?"
Sojin, sitting on the operating table, chuckled. She seemed pretty eager to make us give up.
What would happen if we gave up now and left Sojin behind? Would the demon be trapped forever on that operating table?
It might be, but then again, it might not.
If we all left this place, the demon might find some way to escape from that circle. In fact, it was hoping for us to leave this operating room.
It clearly had plans to do 'something' after getting us out.
If that's the case, we absolutely can't leave. Sticking it out here is the answer.
"Sua, sing for us. Idol Kwon Sua. Woo—"
"How about we take turns singing one by one?"
Sounds good.
Having so much time makes us do all sorts of things.
It'd be nice if we had an English vocabulary book or something so we could study a bit.
"Doesn't it feel like two days have passed?"
Yang Juhee yawned, lying face down. She seemed to think we've spent about two days in this operating room.
But unfortunately, we've only been here for about 10 hours.
In a dark place. Cut off from the outside world, it's natural that our sense of time feels distorted.
I glanced at Sojin. She was lying on the operating table.
Is she sleeping?
Oh. We made eye contact. Guess she's not sleeping.
"It's been three days, right?"
Yang Juhee started doing squats, getting into position. She must have been bored of sitting still.
Unfortunately, her sense of time was off. We've only been here for about 24 hours.
Guarding an operating table with a trapped demon for 24 hours.
At first, it was terrifying, but as we've gotten used to it, now we're just overwhelmingly bored.
And when boredom continues, people's thought processes can get weird.
"Tell us an interesting story."
Even the once-terrified Kwon Sua was now talking to Sojin inside the circle. She must be so bored that she's willing to engage with the demon just for some stimulation.
"......"
Sojin kept her mouth shut. Sua continued to pester her.
"I said tell us an interesting story!"
Has Kwon Sua's mental state reached its limit? It can't be helped.
"Jung-seok, leave with Sua. I'll give you the camera, so get the talisman and escape."
I handed the camera to Jung-seok. His expression brightened as he stopped reciting pi.
"Will you be okay?"
"I think I'll be fine since I'll be with Juhee."
It would be more boring than when there were four of us, but I didn't know what might happen if I kept friends who were at their limit. They might fall for the demon's temptations.
So I planned to send Kwon Sua and Jung-seok, who seemed to have reached their limits first, through that exit door.
"Juhee, how about you?"
"I'm still okay."
Like a rocket shedding its boosters into the sea, I planned to use my friends as boosters for this time-endurance test. Even so, I had to be prepared to eventually be left alone in this place.
No.
To be precise, it would be Jung Sojin, the demon inside her, and me.
Just the three of us left.
"We'll definitely escape."
Jung-seok, holding the camera, waved and disappeared through the exit.
With two people gone, the atmosphere in this hell of an operating room changed subtly. Soon, Sojin, who had been silent for a long time, asked.
"Do you want to know my name that badly?"
"Are you going to tell me?"
We've barely passed 24 hours, has the demon given up?
I felt a glimmer of hope, but the demon smiled viciously.
"Ha Young-won. You're staying for this girl's sake, right? You must have realized that if you leave through that door, this girl will be mine forever."
No, I didn't know that.
If we all leave through the exit, will Sojin never be able to escape the demon's grasp? Is there a possibility of not being able to escape the Nightmare Corridor?
Neither death nor escape, but residual stay.
It hadn't happened before, but we couldn't say it was impossible.
That was another reason not to leave this operating room.
"Is this girl worth enduring infinite time sitting here?"
Ah—
Sojin opened her mouth. She stuck out her tongue, which was longer than I expected.
"Is this cunning girl your Mary Magdalene? Do you think she'll become a repentant prostitute? How pathetic."
"......"
"After spending an immeasurable amount of time here, you won't be the same person you are now. Eternity isn't something humans can endure. Even if you achieve what you want, it's the same as dying."
"It's only been 24 hours, and suddenly you're talkative. Are you scared I might really stay here forever?"
Zap—
Sojin's fierce gaze glared at me through her glasses.
Being glared at by a demon. It felt like a uniquely thrilling experience.
Even I thought my courage was remarkable right now. Maybe my ability to feel 'fear' was already wearing down.
As it said, if I spent a long time in this place, the me from last night and the me from the next morning could be considered different people.
But the demon possessing Sojin's body was overlooking something.
"This place is a dream. When we wake up, all these memories will become hazy anyway. That means I won't change. People can change easily, but they can also remain unchanged no matter what happens."
"Let's say that's true. Let's say you heard my name. Your friends Jung-seok and Kwon Sua have probably already escaped with the remaining talismans, so how will you get out of this corridor? If you die, you'll forget my name too."
"I can buy talismans at the shop."
"Shop?"
Growl—
Sojin made a sound like an enraged beast. She seemed to sense that my resolve was no ordinary thing.
Having sat still on that cramped operating table for 24 hours, she might have been incredibly bored, though she didn't show it.
Yang Juhee, who had been dozing off, shuddered.
"Has it been a week now?"
Juhee's mental strength also seemed to be at its limit. I wondered how long I could hold out.
As I was thinking this, Sojin spoke.
"Fine. I've lost today. It's troublesome if you keep sitting here. I want you to go around and cause chaos in the world."
"You've lost?"
"I'll tell you my name. But in exchange, I'll leave this circle, understand?"
Boom!
There was a sound like thunder, and the operating room caught fire. Saying it would tell its name while setting the room on fire, what a nasty creature.
Thud—
Just then, Sojin's body, sitting on the operating table, swayed and collapsed. She fell outside the circle, but quickly regained consciousness.
"Oh, my body is back to normal."
It seems the demon really abandoned Sojin's body and fled.
Is it still in this operating room?
Crackle, pop, whoosh!
"Ow, it's hot."
The burning operating room was too hot.
We need to get out of here quickly, but there was a problem even without the demon. Only two people could leave through the operating room door.
There were three of us. One had to stay behind in this burning room.
In this case, there's only one option.
"Juhee, you take the class president and go."
"What? You're going to stay here?"
"There's a chance Jung-seok and Sua haven't escaped yet, or they might have been caught by ghosts before escaping, so there might be talismans left. You should be able to get a talisman without anyone's help."
Only two people can leave this place. But I could escape this operating room regardless of the door's rules using a 'talisman' I could draw from my status window.
Crash! Whoosh—
The operating room was burning fiercely.
As many things were catching fire, Sojin said.
"Young-won! I saw some letters in the flames!"
Sojin shouted at me.
It was the demon's name.