Chapter 166
Dahee and I hid in the wardrobe to avoid being noticed. There was enough space for one person, but it was cramped for two.
We had no choice but to press tightly against each other, close enough to feel each other's breath. As snug as twins in their mother's womb, you might say.
We sat among the clothes, essentially embracing each other. I sat cross-legged with Dahee on my lap, her legs wrapped around my waist.
"Where's the card?"
"Look for the pastor's wallet."
Rustle, rustle.
The sounds from outside our hiding place were noisy. It sounded like they were searching, opening drawers and such.
[Young-won, what if they open our wardrobe?]
I heard Dahee's voice in my head.
I flinched in surprise, but then remembered Dahee had the 《Whisper》 trait. She could speak into people's minds.
We could only hold our breath, like travelers hiding in an old barn waiting for a storm to pass. Even in this situation, I couldn't help but notice how slender Dahee's body was.
While I was average or slightly weak for a guy, being pressed together like this made me acutely aware of our physical differences, reminding me, "Oh right, I'm a guy too."
Above all, Dahee smelled really nice.
Was it her shampoo?
[Young-won, something hard is poking my butt.]
Flinch!
I was startled.
I almost moved too suddenly, worried the sound might be heard outside.
It's a misunderstanding!
I wanted to explain, but Dahee spoke first.
[Hehe, just kidding. Have you been working out lately? You seem stronger. Your shoulders and chest feel firmer.]
Ah, of course, Dahee was talking about my chest and shoulders. I'd been doing push-ups and planks when I had nothing else to do lately.
After everything we've been through, I realized how important physical strength really is.
"Where on earth is that wallet?"
"Try calling the pastor."
Please find the wallet quickly and leave!
It felt like we'd been in the wardrobe for 5 minutes already.
It was already a hot summer day, and the room had no air conditioning.
A wardrobe too cramped for two people and a body temperature of 36.5°C.
Due to various factors, our hiding place was already sweltering. Sweat was pouring down my back.
I'm not usually sensitive to heat, but this wardrobe was exceptionally hot.
I hope I don't smell of sweat.
Even in this situation, I worried about such things. Dahee seemed to have similar concerns, as she'd been trembling for a while.
What's wrong?
[I need to use the bathroom. Really badly.]
What? You have to hold it!
Dahee, tense from various factors, signaled an emergency situation. How long were those women outside planning to hang around the office?
"Ah, found it."
"Let's go. Whew, it's hot in here. It's cooler outside."
Click—
We heard the sound of the door lock closing.
Still, it was important to wait and observe the situation for about 30 seconds before leaving the wardrobe. They might suddenly come back.
This was wisdom gained from traversing the Nightmare Corridor.
"We're clear."
Pop! Creak!
I opened the wardrobe door and stepped out.
Only then did I feel like I could breathe. Coming out of that hot, stuffy wardrobe into the world felt like being born anew.
"Dahee, are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah."
She seems to be fine now. Her urgent need for the bathroom had made me feel anxious too.
Rub rub—
Dahee rubbed her backside with her palm. Like someone who'd just gotten a painful shot from a nurse. As I was watching to see if she was okay, Dahee said quietly.
"Something hard was poking my butt in the wardrobe. It was hard to bear sitting on it the whole time. What was it?"
Dahee looked into the wardrobe we'd just left. Soon, she reached into the pile of clothes.
She seemed to have found the culprit that had been attacking her backside.
It was shaped like a half-moon. To be precise, it was a mask split in half.
"Oh, that's..."
I was surprised.
The mask's shape looked familiar. It was a mask with narrow eyes and whiskers, like a fox's face.
The ear part was pointy, which was probably what had been poking Dahee.
"It's exactly like the mask in mom's photo. Though it's only half."
Dahee seemed to recognize the mask too.
Is it the same mask? Then why is it here?
"Is the other half here too?"
Dahee started rummaging through the wardrobe. Soon, she pulled something out.
It was a long, triangular nameplate with "牧師 ─愛粹" written on it. Dahee, who was well-versed in Chinese characters from reading a lot, said.
"Pastor... Aesu."
Cheon Aesu? Now I see, it was the pastor's nameplate. Looking closely, the nameplate was cracked and stained, with the first character erased.
Why was a broken nameplate in the wardrobe? Did they keep it because it was a shame to throw away? But why in the wardrobe?
Many thoughts crossed my mind, but that wasn't important right now.
"Dahee, let's get out of here."
Murmur murmur—
I snapped to attention at the sound coming from the church corridor.
We had planned to steal the chair, but it seemed there were still many people in the church. If we tried to leave with a chair, we'd surely be caught, which would be a big problem.
Still, we had something to show for our efforts. We found half of the fox mask.
From what Dahee said earlier, her mom Yoo In-na used this fox mask to freely travel to the other world.
Even if it's only half the mask, it's better than nothing.
***
It was now 7 PM.
We managed to leave the church without leaving any evidence or traces, except for the items we took from the wardrobe.
『Broken Mask. A mask broken by a great force. It's only half, but it might be surprisingly good for style.』
『Broken Nameplate. A broken nameplate. It has a weighty feel in the hand. Not very useful, but might be used as a blunt weapon.』
It seemed the items we acquired this time were recognized as actual items.
However, their effects looked useless.
At best, the "Broken Nameplate" could be used as a blunt weapon. But with a camera and box cutter already available, there was no real need to use this as a weapon.
"Young-won, let's go to your house."
Dahee followed close behind me, clutching the mask to her chest.
"My house?"
"We need to enter the corridor together today. It might be better if we stick together."
I see.
It made sense when I thought about it.
I returned home, watching my back in case someone from the church was chasing us. Mom hadn't returned yet, so Giganoto was home alone.
"This guy's out again."
I moved Giganoto, who was clinging to the fridge, back to his tank. Dahee showed interest in this.
"He's grown so much! He used to be much smaller than a palm, but now he looks bigger."
Giganoto had grown so much in less than a month.
At this rate, he might be as big as an iguana in a year, like an alligator in 10 years, and maybe even dinosaur-sized in 20 years.
Anyway.
The important thing was that we needed to enter the corridor now.
I placed the tissue-wrapped "Baby Finger" on my palm. So if we hold this and fall asleep while wishing strongly, we can enter the corridor, right?
"Young-won, I was thinking about when we were in the wardrobe earlier. Maybe being close together in a cramped space might help."
"What do you mean?"
"When we heard about how to use the finger from Gong Ye-rin and Im Hee-yeon, I wondered why that specific method. I thought it might be a trick."
"A trick? You mean Ye-rin and Hee-yeon tricked us?"
"No, a trick to fool the finger. The finger is supposed to be used by one person, right? Yerin and Heeyeon pretended to be one person. That's how they all entered the old school building together."
"I don't understand."
"Well, throughout history, marriage is described as two becoming one flesh. Maybe it's like that, becoming like one body through that ritual and process?"
I think I understood what Dahee was saying. She meant they used a loophole to allow multiple people to use a single-person item.
"In the wardrobe earlier, we were pressed tightly together, right? Like twins in the womb. Close enough to hear each other's heartbeats. As if we became one. Maybe that could work somehow."
"You mean we should get back in the wardrobe?"
I looked at the wardrobe in my room.
I was honestly unsure, but Dahee seemed very confident. Eventually, I emptied the wardrobe of clothes and we got inside.
Together with Dahee. It felt like playing hide-and-seek as a child.
"Young-won, hold me tighter."
"L-like this?"
"More."
Squeeze—
I tensed my arms but felt incredibly embarrassed. Having to hide in a cramped space not once, but twice.
"Young-won, you need to think about becoming one with me."
"...Okay."
Our cheeks and ears touched, and our breathing synchronized as if we were one person.
It felt like we were doing something we shouldn't, something students shouldn't do.
Am I doing something really naughty right now?
That feeling made the back of my neck tingle and my mind go hazy.
What if Mom came home now? What would I say? She'd definitely misunderstand.
Just then, a cool breeze brushed my face.
When I came to my senses, I was lying in a dark corridor.
"Really?"
It's the Nightmare Corridor. I had definitely entered the Nightmare Corridor.
'Where's Dahee?'
I looked around. Dahee was nowhere to be seen.
Is she in a different place? Or did she fail to enter?
I'm not sure. The important thing was that I needed to head to the basement.
But the path to the basement was more treacherous than usual.
Jingle jingle jingle—
I saw a woman wearing a mask with large eyes painted on it, wandering the corridor holding a bell and what looked like a ritual knife.
A ghost I hadn't seen before? No, in my opinion, she seemed human, not a ghost.
Gu Hyena had said more and more people were getting caught up in this corridor, and this woman seemed to be one of them.
It would be best not to be noticed if possible. Just then, something clung to my back.
"Mom. Why did you abandon me?"
It was a child with a horribly distorted face.
A ghost!
I fell back in surprise.
"Eek!"
Crash—
Perhaps because of the commotion, the masked woman with the ritual knife approached me. She swung her knife and cut down the child ghost clinging to my back in one stroke.
"Are you okay?"
"Y-yes..."
I had tried not to be noticed, but.
Still, she helped me. Is she a good person?
"W-who are you?"
"I'm... from Yongsan... No, never mind. More importantly, do you know the way to the basement here? I heard there's a terrible ghost down there. A woman with deep grudges."
The only ghost in the basement should be Gu Hyena. Could she be talking about Hyena?
"Why the woman with deep grudges?"
"Why? If you've entered this place, you should know enough. That this place is a school built on top of Buldan Temple. The place that Japanese shaman woman put so much effort into."
"......"
"If I can capture and control the ghost guarding such a place, I can earn money and honor. My spiritual power will increase too, right? Then those politician bastards will come looking for me again-"
...Thinking about advancing her career in this ghost den.
This woman must be a shaman who came to catch ghosts in this old school building. She didn't seem to be in her right mind.
"But you. You seem to be holding an extraordinary object? An object that smells strongly of blood. Something that's drunk a lot of blood and water..."
The masked woman suddenly fell silent.