Chapter 27: There's Space Behind the Pillar (4)

We held our breath like mice hiding from a snake and clamped our mouths shut to prevent even the slightest sound of breathing from escaping.

About 5 minutes passed like this.

Clatter, clack-. Click, click, click.

The sound of unnaturally bending joints and high heels disappeared around that dark corner. But no one moved much or easily opened their mouths.

"I think it's gone."

I spoke to clear the air and bring everyone back to their senses. Then Jung-seok carefully exhaled his held breath and parted his lips.

"What was that just now? I couldn't see well because it was dark. Didn't something whitish move? What would have happened if we hadn't hidden in this trash can?"

"I don't know. Nothing good, I'm sure."

Trying to act calm, I peered through the slightly open lid of the trash can to survey the surroundings. It was too dark to see much.

At times like this, it's all about the bag.

I unzipped the bag on my back. But it was too dark inside the trash can to see anything, making it troublesome to find things.

"Yang Juhee. You have a lighter, right?"

Delinquents, regardless of gender, tend to carry lighters. Moreover, as far as I knew, Juhee was a smoker.

"I do."

"Light it up, please."

Click, whoosh-

Juhee's Zippo lighter illuminated the cramped trash can. How reassuring a flame can be to the human heart.

Of course, everyone's faces in the lighter's glow were stiff with tension.

"Young-won, look at this talisman."

Swish-

While Juhee and Jung-seok's attention was on the talisman, I took out a flashlight from my bag, relying on the lighter's flame.

"Having a light will help us move around."

Since opening the corridor and fighting various ghosts, I always kept a flashlight in my bag. It was for times like this, just in case.

Click, click-

As I was checking if the flashlight worked properly, someone grabbed my arm.

"Should we get out of here? How about we stay hidden and observe the situation more? I don't know if it's because of these talismans, but that ghost-like thing from earlier didn't seem to know we were hiding here."

Jung-seok suggested staying hidden in this safe trash can.

It could be considered an extremely sensible and orthodox plan.

But if my thoughts and predictions were correct... we probably wouldn't be able to hide in this trash can for long. And as if to prove my hypothesis, an unexpected event occurred.

"Ugh. What's this smell? Did someone shit themselves?"

Juhee was in great distress.

Soon, Jung-seok also started dry heaving, "Ugh. Ugh." because a terribly disgusting smell was wafting inside the trash can. A horrible stench that made our eyes sting even when holding our breath.

It was as if it had some malicious intent, trying to force us out of the trash can.

"Let's get out. Let's get out. Out! I can't stand it! Uwek!"

Jung-seok, who had suggested observing the situation from inside the trash can, was ironically the first to escape. Perhaps being raised as a young master, he had the least resistance to bad smells.

Juhee was the second to jump out with a thud.

"Ugh. Uuugh."

Juhee was on the verge of vomiting.

I was the most composed, as I had anticipated this happening and was mentally prepared, allowing me to endure longer.

Also, I had the 《Hold Breath》 trait.

A trait that allowed me to hold my breath 1.5 times longer than usual, which hadn't been very useful in daily life, but...

"......"

In this situation, it was a relatively useful ability.

If I could just endure the stinging in my eyes, I might be able to hold out longer in this safe zone's stench.

"Puha!"

Of course, my lung capacity had its limits, and I too had to rush out of the trash can. Soon, Jung-seok, who was surveying the surroundings from a dark corner, asked me.

"What on earth is going on? Ha Young-won. Do you know what this is? I'm asking because you seem a bit calmer. If you know something, explain it all."

Jung-seok's deduction was quite sharp even in this situation. I could be called somewhat experienced in this dark space. But not knowing how much time we had, I decided to explain briefly.

"We need to find an exit and get out of here. But there are monsters or ghosts like the one that just passed by, so it won't be easy to just wander around."

Even as I spoke, I was alert to our surroundings. We didn't know when ghosts and monsters might come here.

What worried me was the ghost that had just passed by. It was a bit different from the ghosts I'd seen in the "Nightmare Corridor."

"...It had no face."

Juhee said in a small voice.

"That ghost from earlier. It had no face. It had no head. It was wearing red high heels. Its skin was extremely white. Clear enough to see even in the darkness."

To observe the ghost's face in such an anxious moment. Juhee's courage was truly remarkable.

A faceless ghost, huh.

Soon, Jung-seok chimed in.

"A headless ghost? Ha Young-won. Is this a ghost you've seen before?"

"No. It's my first time seeing it too. Anyway! What I want to say is that ghosts roam in places like this. But there are hiding spots like that trash can here and there. We can't stay long, though."

Death (死) floor.

I thought it would be good to clearly establish our goals in wandering this strange space.

"We need to find an exit here. And we need to find my mom too. Let's focus on these two things. But the most important thing is that we need to survive."

The "Nightmare Corridor" is a dream. It meant there was one chance even if you died.

But this bizarre space wasn't a dream. If we die, it's all over.

At least, that's what I was certain of.

Swish-

Just then, Jung-seok picked up the phone he had left on the ground.

"What are you doing? Why that?"

When I asked, Jung-seok said.

"It was making a terrible noise earlier, but now it's quiet. And about that high-heeled ghost we met earlier. It didn't seem interested in the sound this phone was making. Maybe it can't hear because it has no head?"

Zzt, zzzt-

Just then, the phone Jung-seok picked up started making that unpleasant noise again.

Click. Click.

And from that corner, the sound of high heels hitting the floor was heard again.

"Let's hide for now! We need to hide!"

I led Jung-seok and Juhee, who seemed dazed, and ran away.

***

Whether it was thanks to my experience navigating the "Nightmare Corridor" or because I had a flashlight, I was able to find a room marked "A-1" more easily than expected.

"Let's go inside for now!"

I didn't know what kind of room it was, but it seemed much better than aimlessly roaming the corridor.

"Let's hide in here! Jung-seok! What are you doing! Let's hide quickly!"

"Wait-. It's fine. It's all good! I'm trying to leave the phone in this corridor!"

Slide-

As we opened the sliding door and entered, a laboratory-like space covered in dust appeared.

The beakers and flasks were filled with red liquid, and ashen water droplets were falling from a rusted sink.

The broken desks and chairs were chaotic, but they looked like they could serve as good cover for hiding.

Zzt, zzzzzt-

Uwaaaaah-

...Mom, mom.... Mom....

Unpleasant noises kept coming from the corridor. It was the noise emitted by the phone Jung-seok had left in the corridor.

Crunch, clatter, crunch-

When the phone's noise reached its peak of unpleasantness, a strange shadow started passing by the glass of the sliding door.

Click, click, click.

We clamped our mouths shut and held our breath, just like when we were hiding in the trash can earlier.

Please.

Please!

As we were desperately wishing in our hearts-

Slide-

The sound of the sliding door opening was heard.

"...!"

"...!"

"...!"

I was greatly startled.

In the Nightmare Corridor, when we hid in "Class 1-4" or the "Teachers' Office," ghosts couldn't open those doors. But this wasn't the corridor, and this place wasn't a teachers' office or classroom.

It meant ghosts might be able to open doors and come in.

What should we do? What should we do if we face a ghost like this?

As I was racking my brains so hard I felt like my blood vessels might burst, Juhee took her hand out of her inner pocket and gripped a box cutter. I don't know why she was carrying such a thing, but the blade that slid out looked quite menacing.

I wasn't sure what Juhee intended to do with that, but I found myself praying that such a thing wouldn't happen.

Was it because my prayer worked well?

Slide, click-

We heard the sound of the "A-1" lab door closing.

Click. Click. Click.

The strange presence also disappeared into the distance, and the eerie, chilling noise from the phone in the corridor became as quiet as a dead mouse.

"According to my guess..."

Jung-seok's voice pushed away the silence.

"According to my guess, it seems the phone makes noise when those ghosts approach. I think it might be reacting to some kind of wave or magnetic field the ghosts have."

"What do you mean?"

"Haven't you heard of EMF meters? There's a hypothesis that ghosts leave behind an unspecified electromagnetic field when they appear, and it's like a device that measures that."

I don't understand what he's saying, but I could understand the core of what Jung-seok wanted to say. The phone alerts us to the approach of ghosts!

Swish-

Juhee, who had put the box cutter back in her inner pocket, asked.

"But what if the ghosts hear the sound coming from that phone? They might follow us because of the phone sound."

"That's why I want to experiment a bit... Honestly, I'm not sure."

Jung-seok looked a bit troubled.

Well, it would be stranger to maintain composure in this situation.

Juhee also seemed to have trouble calming down.

Slide, click-

She appeared to be opening and closing drawers in this lab, as if looking for something.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm wondering if there's anything useful as a weapon. Having something to hold onto might make us feel more at ease, right?"

I see. Now that I heard it, it did seem that way.

But contrary to our wishes, there didn't seem to be anything in the lab that could be used as a weapon.

If Jung Sojin with her 《Attentiveness》 trait were here, would she have been helpful in this situation?

...No.

...If she were here, she'd probably push me towards the ghost to save herself when it appeared.

I decided to do what I could do right now rather than hypothesizing about things that hadn't happened.

As if my efforts were bearing fruit, I found a strange object in a lab drawer.

"Oh..."

It was a rolled-up drawing paper. To be precise, it was a loose sheet torn from a sketchbook somewhere.

When I unfolded it, a clumsily drawn picture appeared.

It looked like it was drawn by a preschool child, and the content of the drawing... it looked just like a treasure chest.

"This box. Could it be this?"

Juhee pointed to a box placed in the corner of the lab. It looked like a rather heavy locker and had a lock that opened with a password.

Jung-seok said.

"The number of possible combinations for a 4-digit password is 10 to the 4th power, so about 10,000."

Is this for real? Are we supposed to fiddle with the lock 10,000 times here?

I wondered if it was worth that much effort.

If we had Kim Gun-ho's 《Destroyer》 trait... would this effort have been unnecessary?

Thinking that, I looked closely at the drawing paper depicting this strange box. There didn't seem to be anything particularly strange.

Just in case, I looked at the back and found numbers written there.

"...Hey. Jung-seok. Try entering 1126 into the lock."

"One one two six. One one two six."

Jung-seok entered the numbers.

Click-

The lock opened.

We were able to open the box and found an object inside.

"Crayons and a sketchbook?"

I felt like I knew where the loose sheet of drawing paper had come from. Juhee reacted.

"Oh, this is a Princess Sketchbook. I really wanted one when I was young. But I never got to buy it. It's a sketchbook that was discontinued 10 years ago, I really wanted it..."

"Princess Sketchbook."

The sketchbook cover had a princess character that young girls would like, and there was something like a dark red stain on it.

Below that stain, there was writing that looked like someone had written with a marker.

"A-1 ───"

It looked like a name was written, but the letters weren't visible because of the stain. Not thinking much of it, I opened the sketchbook and turned the pages.

Then I saw a picture of a tall building and many people gathered for fireworks. There was an explanation written too.

[Title: Fireworks]

[It was so fun!]

"This looks like the completion ceremony for the Osung Electronics building. When I was 6 years old. 10 years ago. When my dad was... still a prosecutor."

Jung-seok seemed to recognize the event depicted in the drawing.

A sketchbook discontinued 10 years ago. A drawing of 10 years ago.

This sketchbook must have been used about 10 years ago.

I was thinking that as I casually turned the page.

"...What's this."

Like drawings depicting the emotions of a severely stressed child, the later pictures were incredibly grotesque.

Some were filled with bright red eyes, some pages were entirely covered in black, and some had incomprehensible writing scrawled all over.

However, these drawings became more organized towards the end. The last five pages were all drawings of a single object.

It was a drawing of an elevator seen from the outside.

[Title: Door]

[Let me out I wanna get out I wanna see mommy mommy]

...The elevator is a door? An exit door?

Suddenly reaching a certain thought, I recalled the advice from my status window.

『Advice from 《Broken Clock》: Where there is an entrance, there is also an exit.』

Where there's an entrance, there's also an exit.

But... sometimes they're not different, but the same, right?

There's also the term "entrance and exit" after all.

"Guys. Let's go back to the elevator we came in. We should also retrieve our phones on the way."

We left "A-1" and returned to the elevator we had come from.

"This is the door?"

Jung-seok frowned.

Soon, Juhee pointed as if she had discovered something.

"Look at this. Doesn't this look like someone marked it with crayon? On the elevator door."

Where Juhee was pointing, there was an "X" mark drawn.

It was in such a low place that you had to bend your waist and knees and lower your head to see it.

"Young-won. Juhee. Look at this. There's another mark? It's an arrow."

Now that I looked, there were black crayon marks on the low walls of this corridor.

We probably couldn't notice it when we first came out of the elevator because we hadn't taken out the flashlight. Jung-seok said.

"An X generally means rejection or negation. Maybe they wanted to indicate that this elevator isn't it? How about we follow the arrow for now?"

It was a moment when I was agreeing with Jung-seok's deduction in many ways. Then I heard a voice that seemed to pierce my ears from far away.

"Ha Young-won. Over here."

"...Mom?"

I could tell this was my mom's voice. A son can distinguish his mother's voice even if ten people speak at once.

"Is it really Mom?"

I wondered if my mom was beyond that dark corner.

The phone, which was supposed to react when ghosts approached, wasn't making any noise.

"Ha Young-won. Over here. Here."

My heart was filled with relief and longing at the sound of my mom's voice that I had really wanted to hear. What broke this feeling was Juhee's curse.

"Damn it, what's that?!"

"Over here. Here. Exit. Mom is going to leave through this exit. Even if you hear Mom's voice, it's not Mom. Mom has already left, so no matter what, don't follow this voice─"

Roll roll roll-

Something that perfectly mimicked my mom's voice was rolling towards us.