Chapter 165: Residual Stay (3)

In front of the cafe.

Dahee tugged at the edge of my sleeve and said.

"If you’re going to look for Juhee, I can go with you and help."

Wandering the Nightmare Corridor alone was dangerous even for me now. Hearing Dahee offer to help find Juhee together gave me a surge of strength.

"But Dahee, going together means..."

Dahee was present when we interrogated Gong Ye-rin and Im Hee-yeon. She knew how they formed parties and explored the corridor.

Flush—

Blood rushed to my face. Maybe because it was said to be the hottest day of the year, the heat haze rising from the distant road seemed particularly sluggish.

"Hehe, I'm just kidding."

Dahee let go of my collar.

I felt like I was coming back to reality. I realized I had been holding my breath, forgetting to breathe during Dahee's joke, and now I was panting. My heart was racing.

"But I really do want to go with you. Maybe there's another way we can go to the corridor together, besides the method Ye-rin and Hee-yeon chose?"

Another way to enter the corridor together? Is there such a thing?

I couldn't say for certain. The opposite was also true. Dahee said.

"My mom was a shaman who protected the spiritual veins of this Gaeryong City. So was my grandmother. Maybe I have some mysterious power too."

"Is that so? You did wander the corridor alone before."

Buzz buzz buzz—

I thought we should escape this heat first.

"Let's walk for a bit. It feels weird just standing here."

"Okay."

Dahee and I wandered around near my house. We just walked aimlessly, but even that was quite fun.

We chatted too. Dahee was quite talkative.

"By the way, the mister sent me a letter."

"Mister?"

"Mr. Kang Bada."

Mr. Kang Bada sent Dahee a letter?

I hadn't been able to contact Mr. Kang lately. I was trying to keep them from meeting, worried that Dahee might arbitrarily die again if they met.

But I didn't expect Mr. Kang to send Dahee a letter.

I was curious about its contents.

Hopefully, Dahee wouldn't drink poison and die in front of me again? The thought alone was terrifying.

"What did it say?"

"He said he knew my mom well. I got my mom's diary."

"Diary?"

"Apparently, my mom used to keep a diary. Her dream was to become a poet. Similar to how I want to be a novelist, right? I got a photo of my mom too. Look at this."

Dahee handed me a photo.

It was very old. A woman who looked like Dahee was smiling brightly. If I didn't know better, I might have mistaken her for Dahee.

The peculiar thing was that she was holding a fox-like mask. It's a bit creepy.

"The diary had this photo and a zoo ticket my mom had pre-booked, saying she wanted to go with me when I grew up. Mom liked animals too."

Dahee's love for animals seemed to be inherited from her mother. She was excited about catching a raccoon dog in the garden yesterday too.

"Dahee, about that raccoon dog at your house. If it's wild, couldn't it have rabies or something? Isn't that dangerous?"

"We got it vaccinated. We're keeping it in the garden. Its name is Leaf. We met it in the bushes. Leaf, like foliage. Its color is leaf-like too. Raccoon dog Leaf."

"Leaf. That's cute. You must really like raccoon dogs."

"Isn't it cute how they waddle? They look silly. A bit quirky."

"Hmm."

Is it cute? Seeing my ambivalent reaction, Dahee started jumping around and barking "keng-keng." She must be imitating a raccoon dog.

"Are you a raccoon dog?"

"No, a fox!"

I see. In a different way from Jung-seok, I couldn't read Dahee's thoughts.

But while raccoon dogs might be cute, is it okay to just catch a wild one and keep it as a pet?

There must be legal issues. But Yoo Dahee's grandfather was something that transcended even the law.

He was practically like a shadow ruler controlling Korea, so allowing them to keep one raccoon dog probably wouldn't be difficult.

Come to think of it, Dahee really is from an incredible family.

Why did my dad leave such a good family?

Why did he cut ties and live separately? There must have been a reason, though I don't know what.

I wondered what would have happened to me if my dad hadn't cut ties with his birth family. Would I have gone to school in a limousine?

Teachers trembling before me. Even that rude English teacher Hong Ye-ri bringing me water if I just said "Water."

It's funny.

Me, as some ultra-rich young master. Honestly, I couldn't really imagine it.

It didn't seem to suit me at all.

"Actually, I might know a way to enter the corridor without the finger or status window. It was written in my mom's diary."

"Really?"

"Long ago, there was a huge tree in this Gaeryong. Apparently, this was before the city was even called Gaeryong. My mom and grandmothers have been protecting that tree for generations."

"A big tree?"

"It was enormous. Its roots were so deep in the ground that no one knew how far they reached."

An enormous tree. Could it be referring to the Dang tree that was said to be in Gaeryong?

"It seems people back then thought the tree was connected to the afterlife. The grandmothers who protected the tree could even talk with people from the afterlife."

"So you're saying if that tree was still around, we might be able to enter the old school building?"

"The tree is gone. They cut it down. But when it was cut, they made a fox mask from its wood, which my mom had. The mask in this photo is that one. The fox mask."

Dahee's mom, Yoo Inna, had the fox mask.

"Apparently, by wearing this fox mask, mom could connect to another world. That's what was written in the diary."

"Where's the mask now?"

"I don't know."

Dahee shook her head. My heart, which had swelled with new possibility, instantly deflated.

The Dang tree of Gaeryong.

Dahee's bloodline could connect to the other world through that Dang tree.

But now that both the Dang tree and the fox mask made from it were gone, it was just a story that left us feeling regretful.

Then suddenly, a thought crossed my mind.

"Maybe... there might still be a way."

***

I hurriedly made my way to where the Dang tree of Gaeryong used to stand.

Now, Glory Church stood in its place.

— There was a big tree. It was an eyesore. We had to start construction, but no one would cut down the tree. They said we'd be cursed. So I cut it down myself with an axe and chainsaw.

— The chair and desk in my office now are made from that sacred tree.

Pastor Cheon Ae-su cut down the big tree to build the church. And he brazenly made a chair and desk from that wood.

'Yoo In-na's mask was made from the tree wood. If it still worked... wouldn't the chair or desk have the same effect?'

In my opinion, it seemed quite plausible. If we go to Glory Church and test it ourselves, we'd know for sure.

The problem was how to steal the lead pastor's chair. We'd surely get caught before we could leave the church.

'At least sneaking into the church itself shouldn't be too difficult.'

I took out an item I had acquired from a gacha roll in the hellish operating room recently.

Rustle rustle, swish—

[Universal Keycard. A keycard that can open electronic doors. It can open any electronic door.]

It was a useless item in the 'Nightmare Corridor' where there were no electronic doors, but in reality, it was quite a good item. In an illegal sense.

With this, sneaking into the church should be no problem.

As I was walking and planning various strategies, the church building came into view.

In the reddish early evening of summer, the towering building and cross looked just like a castle.

To be honest, I wasn't sure if it was possible to sneak in there and take the chair.

But— thinking about Yang Juhee suffering from residual stay in the corridor motivated me.

If I don't do it, who will? It has to be me. I had to do it.

"Let's go in when everyone leaves for dinner. Glory Church isn't big enough to have its own cafeteria, so everyone will eat out."

We waited near the church for about 10 minutes. A group of people who looked like deaconesses and elders came out.

"Pastor, shall we go? I've made a reservation."

"Alright, let's go."

"Poor Juhee's mother."

As I expected, they were going out for dinner.

Taking advantage of their departure, Dahee and I swiftly moved and infiltrated the church building. Since there was no evening service today, the emptied church building felt as quiet and desolate as a large coffin.

It was eerie, but this coldness would be our ally.

Swoosh!

Using the stealth and infiltration skills I had honed while avoiding ghosts in the corridor, I managed to reach the second floor where the lead pastor's office was located.

It was firmly locked.

But when I held the prepared keycard to the door lock, there was a beep and the lock opened.

'It worked!'

Inwardly rejoicing, Dahee and I quickly entered the office. That's when a problem arose.

"I guess the pastor is treating us today?"

"Looks like it, since he asked us to bring the card. Did he say it was on the desk?"

"These days you can pay for everything with your phone."

We heard young women's voices. They were approaching the office we were hiding in.

I was startled and thought we needed to hide somehow.

"The wardrobe! Dahee, let's hide in that wardrobe!"

There was a large wardrobe in the office.

Creak—

When I opened its door, I saw enough space among various clothes for about one person to fit comfortably.

Dahee and I hurriedly hid inside.