Chapter 28: There's Space Behind the Pillar (5)

Roll roll roll-

"Young-won. Even if you hear this voice, don't follow it no matter what. Over here. Exit. Mom has already left─"

"Shit..."

The status window had advised me before. There's a cause and effect for everything.

If there's a body without a head-

There must also be a 'head' without a body.

When I met the pale pupils and eyes, I felt like all the blood in my body was turning cold, and my hair stood on end to the ceiling.

"Damn it, guys, run!"

We need to run-

As I was thinking that and about to run, a problem occurred.

"Ah!"

Maybe his legs gave out from tension, Jung-seok ended up falling!

Jung-seok had fallen, and the head was rolling towards him.

"Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Over here. Exit. Mom has already left─"

In this critical moment in many ways, Juhee shouted.

"You bastard! What are you doing falling there! Damn it!"

Slide-

Juhee took out the box cutter from her chest.

Juhee ran so fast I couldn't even think about what she was going to do with that box cutter, and stood between the rolling head and Jung-seok.

Then, she stabbed the ghost's head hard with the knife.

"Die!!!"

Stab, slash!

"━Young-won━──!!"

The head ghost let out a high-pitched scream. It was just my luck that it screamed my name, feeling like a snake was coiled around my neck.

Roll, roll-

It was also terrifying how the ghost's broken eyeballs glared back and forth between Juhee and Jung-seok.

I wanted to shake my body vigorously to shake off this bad luck, but there were more important things right now.

"Hey! Get up! Let's get up! Let's go!"

I lifted Jung-seok who had fallen to the ground.

Jung-seok, who had been sitting and watching this scene, snapped back to his senses and got up.

"Young-wooooon!!! What are you doing falling there!!! Damn it!!! I'm going to leave through the exit!!! Mom!!!"

"Screw you!!!"

We ran away with all our might, as if shaking off the sound coming from behind. We kept running until we were out of breath and our heads were spinning.

***

I don't know how long we ran.

But when the light from the flashlight caught an office marked "Director's Office," we opened the office door and hid inside without exchanging words or opinions.

"Haa, haa, haa-"

"Ugh, I'm dying..."

"Hey, you guys are men, how can you run so poorly?"

We caught our breath as if paying back accumulated interest.

The only one who looked relatively fine was Juhee, who was used to running.

Anyway. We survived for now.

As the adrenaline that had been pumping to the tips of my hair subsided, fear set in. My legs trembled at the realization that we had really almost died.

Drip, drip, drip-

Now I noticed that Juhee was bleeding from her hand.

"Hey, what's that? Are you hurt?"

"Ah shit. I must have gotten hurt when I stabbed that head. I lost the knife too. Is there anything that could be used as a weapon?"

Juhee seemed to have injured her hand when she stabbed the ghost's head with the box cutter. It seems we also lost our only weapon, the box cutter.

Suddenly, I remembered Juhee's player sheet.

[Player sheet details omitted for brevity]

The fact that she keeps looking for tools that could be weapons might be because of that 《Tool User》 trait. Or conversely, maybe she got the 《Tool User》 trait because of her habit of looking for weapons or tools.

Just as quirks manifest according to a person's constitution, tendencies, and temperament, traits might also manifest according to a person's temperament and tendencies.

Slide. Click. Slide.

I couldn't just watch Juhee opening and closing drawers in this "Director's Office" with her bloodied hand, so I joined in the item farming.

This time, Jung-seok scored.

"There's a first aid kit here."

Swish-

Jung-seok took out a first aid kit from a lower drawer.

When he opened it, there were bandages and disinfectant.

"Medicines have expiration dates. For disinfectants, it was 1 year, wasn't it... I'm not sure if it's okay to use this disinfectant."

Splash splash splash-

Ignoring Jung-seok's ambiguous explanation, Juhee splashed the disinfectant on her wound.

Then she skillfully wrapped the bandage, making me feel like I was watching a general like Guan Yu or Zhang Fei.

After treating her right hand, Juhee plopped down on the chair in the director's office.

Only then could Jung-seok and I sit down on the floor.

"Ah shit, we survived."

"Guys. I'm sorry. In an unexpected situation, my legs gave out... I thought the phone would alert us when a ghost was coming, but I guess not. Or maybe the head ghost was an exception..."

Jung-seok apologized for freezing up and falling as soon as he saw the head ghost. It was fortunate that Juhee stabbed its head with the knife, but if she hadn't...

Looking at her right hand treated with bandages, Juhee also spoke.

"So what do we do now? Should we go back there and follow the arrow? Does anyone know the way back to the elevator we came in?"

Shake shake.

I shook my head. Even Jung-seok, who I had some hope for, shook his head.

We had focused solely on running away and ran mindlessly, so we didn't have time to memorize the path.

The situation was screwed in many ways.

As the atmosphere was about to become gloomy, Jung-seok, who had caused this situation, explained as if to excuse his mistake.

"But we did gain some information. About that head ghost from earlier. From what I heard, it was randomly repeating things we said. It means it repeats what it hears."

"Really?"

"It imitated Young-won's mother's voice, right? And that voice clearly said it was escaping through the exit. It also said not to follow even if you hear the voice, that it wasn't her. If this story is true..."

Clap-

Juhee clapped softly.

"So Young-won's mom really escaped! Ah, ouch. I shouldn't have clapped."

Thinking I should take Juhee to the hospital right after this incident, I recalled my mom's voice I heard earlier.

It was undoubtedly my mom's voice. We could say that Mom left me information using the ghost, as if leaving a message.

"Mom seemed to know I'd come to this strange corridor. She sent a message saying she was trapped in the elevator. She must have thought I'd come looking for the elevator."

Indeed, I came looking for Mom.

As expected, mothers know their sons well.

We got hurt in various ways and lost things after meeting the head ghost, but there was a harvest.

"So Mom escaped from here. Then one of our goals is gone. Now our only goal is to survive and escape from here. Let's all get out alive."

"By the way, Young-won. What's that in your hand?"

Juhee, who was touching her own hand, showed interest in me.

She must have seen the paper in my hand.

"Oh, this."

Swish-

I showed everyone the paper. It was something I found while looking for things that could be weapons in the director's office.

"It's a photo. A photo of kids."

As Jung-seok said, what I found was a photo.

It was a photo of small children gathered together, and on the back was written "A-1".

Should we consider it a photo of "A-1" class?

"If there's a photo of kids, was this a kindergarten?"

Juhee looked around.

While wondering if there could be such a creepy kindergarten, it seemed somewhat plausible.

The "A-1" sketchbook we acquired must have been drawn by one of the kids in this photo.

What happened to that child…?

Before that, should we rest for about 5 minutes first.

***

"Guys, look at this."

Jung-seok, who was rummaging through the director's office, called us as if he had discovered something.

I thought he might have found another photo, but it wasn't.

"There are two more passages in the director's office besides the entrance. One is a passage to the left and the other is to the right. And both have arrows drawn with crayon."

Maybe feeling indebted or burdened because Juhee got hurt because of him, Jung-seok showed great enthusiasm in exploring the director's office and finally achieved results.

"It's a fork in the road. Which way do you think we should go?"

Jung-seok asked for my opinion.

In a situation where we have to choose between two paths, he seems to want to hear my opinion as the leader of this team. Juhee said.

"How about we try both?"

That was one way to do it.

However, after learning that Mom had escaped, one discourse or idea, if you could call it that, was dominating my mind.

At this point, it might be good to experiment.

"Status window."

I called up the status window and opened the shop.

I had 363 points. It was enough points to gamble.

"Guys. Please pray this works out."

I spent another 90 points. Now I have 273P left.

Ding-

Something like a capsule vending machine appeared before my eyes and round capsules started rattling. Rattle. Rattle clack. Rattle.

I was wondering what would happen when:

『The item has been placed in front of the entrance.』

『2250 steps to the east.』

"...Did it work? I think it worked!"

People gain strength when there's hope, even in hellish environments.

I was experiencing that firsthand right now.

"Guys, we might be able to get out! Let's go east! The capsule draw seems to be showing us the way out!"

When I first tried the capsule draw, I thought the notification system telling me the item was placed at the entrance was interesting.

I had been thinking hard about how to use it, and now seemed to be that moment, and my gamble seemed to have almost succeeded!

"Guys. Let's go."

We left the "Director's Office" with a bright candle of hope in our hearts.

The capsule I bought for 90 points was our lifeline, whatever its contents.

"The arrows keep continuing. But why are they drawn so low?"

Juhee grumbled, looking at the crayon marks on the wall.

However, I seemed to understand why these marks were so low.

"A little kid drew them. That's why they're bound to be low. Seok. How about the phone? Still no sound?"

"I can't hear anything... But if we encounter a ghost here, it seems like there's nowhere to hide."

The corridor we were walking through was straight. An endless straight line.

When I thought we had walked at least 100 meters, Jung-seok said.

"I've been thinking about this since we were in the elevator. I think this might be some kind of parallel world. Like a different place in the same space."

"So what does that mean?"

"...It's just saying that."

So Jung-seok can say meaningless things too. He probably wanted to say anything to shake off his fear.

This eerie chill and darkness just don't get familiar.

"A parallel world..."

The Nightmare Corridor and this strange passage.

The two were very similar. The appearance of the head ghost was also similar.

Is there any meaning or reason...? They say there's a cause and effect for everything...

"Young-won. It's Mom. Exit. Here. No. Not Mom."

Just then, we heard the sound of something heavy rolling behind us.

The problem was that the phone also started making loud static noises.

Click. Click. Click.

The sound of high heels coming from in front of us where we were heading, and the sound of the head ghost coming from behind.

"...Damn, we can't run away."

It was a complete dilemma.

The only fortunate thing was that there was a box nearby.

Creak-

When we opened the box, we saw an interior wide enough for at least two people to fit in.

The problem is... there are three of us.

"This won't fit three people, will it?"

Zzt-

Uwaaaaah-

Mom... Mom...

"What should we do? Ha Young-won! What do we do?"

Jung-seok, holding the screaming phone, didn't know what to do.

A straight corridor. Three people. A box for two.

Ghosts front and back.

I decided to make a decision.

"Hey. You two get in. Hurry!"

I decided to put Jung-seok and Juhee, who followed me into this hell, into the box.

Both Juhee and Jung-seok were surprised, but there was little time to explain.

"Hurry! I have a plan!"