Chapter 3
Jingle, jingle, jingle-.
The strange bell sound grew closer.
I forgot to breathe and remained frozen, my eyes wide open.
It felt like all the blood drained from my body.
Jingle, jingle, jingle-.
Finally, when the bell sound passed right in front of me, I saw something bizarre through the hole in the cleaning supply closet door.
Overall, it looked like a woman wearing colorful clothes in the five cardinal colors. I knew it was a woman because of the long hair and the white skin visible through the disheveled top.
Her legs were white and slender, with thin ankles, but oddly, she wore something like traditional Korean socks instead of regular socks.
Jingle!
In one hand, she held a stick with many bells attached, and in the other, a candle. Her mouth was torn up to her ears, with her tongue sticking out long down to her chin, looking terribly frightening.
"Where is it can't see can't see where is it can't see can't see where is it where where where."
From her gaping mouth came a voice searching for something, continuously repeating the same words without taking a breath, with an impossible lung capacity.
Looking more closely at her face in the candlelight, I saw that her eyes were horribly mangled.
Seeing the holes where her eyeballs should have been, my heart sank.
...Shit, what the hell is that!?
It clearly didn't look human.
A ghost, it must be a ghost!
I closed my eyes tightly, worried that the sound of my pounding heart might be heard outside.
Whatever it was looking for, I hoped it wasn't me!
Jingle, jingle, jingle...
Fortunately, this terrifying ghost or monster passed by the cleaning supply closet where I was hiding.
Honestly, I wondered if hiding in such a flimsy place would work, but it seemed to have passed by because of its mangled eyes.
"......"
I remained hidden in the cleaning supply closet for about 5 minutes even after I could no longer hear the bell sound.
Honestly, I didn't want to come out.
I hoped that if I stayed here, daylight would come, and police or rescuers would burst in to help me─such hopeful thoughts filled my mind.
"Ugh."
At that moment, the stench of rotten rags in the cleaning supply closet became increasingly unbearable. Even breathing through my mouth made me want to vomit.
What's going on?
Something suddenly occurred to me, and I recalled the advice I had just seen.
『Advice from 《Broken Clock》: The Nightmare Corridor has hiding spots like cleaning supply closets and lockers where you can avoid the horrors for a certain amount of time. I wonder who prepared these things?』
"Could it be..."
Could it be because of the "certain amount of time"?
You can't hide in these hiding spots permanently!
That must be it!
Damn it!
I'm going to hide here forever!
"Urgh, ugh...! Blergh...!"
I tried desperately to endure.
But I kept feeling nauseous, and I worried that if I stayed here, the bell woman might return and hear my retching.
What would happen if the bell woman found me?
I don't know, but it couldn't be good!
Oh, damn it!
I don't know what to do.
Creak.
I finally came out of the cleaning supply closet.
As soon as I did, the smell that had been making me sick disappeared as if it had never existed.
I was worried the smell might have clung to me, but fortunately, it hadn't.
What on earth is going on here?
Have I finally gone mad?
While that was a possibility, something else occurred to me.
"...Status window."
『One day, when you opened your eyes, you found yourself lying in a dark corridor.
Terrible sounds come from that pitch-black corner, and an ominous presence draws ever closer.
You had no choice but to move to survive and escape this strange situation. Eventually, you reach shocking secrets and bizarre taboos...』
This was clearly the "Nightmare Corridor" as described in the status window's advice.
There was no need for anyone to explain why I was here.
I came here of my own free will.
Looking back, it was such a stupid thing to do that I wanted to strangle my past self, but what mattered now wasn't that, but somehow surviving.
How was this Nightmare Corridor described again?
『You had no choice but to move to survive and escape this strange situation. Eventually, you reach shocking secrets and bizarre taboos...』
Escape!
If escape is possible, there must be an exit somewhere in this corridor!
With no option to hide in the cleaning supply closet anymore, I had no choice but to start moving.
The one fortunate thing was that this hologram-like glowing status window illuminated the area just in front of my feet. Without it, I would have died in the darkness.
"Phew..."
After catching my breath, I moved forward through this strange corridor, listening carefully to my surroundings.
Creak, creak-.
The floor was wooden and made noise with each step, which was annoying, but I couldn't help it.
However, the layout was somewhat familiar.
It looked like the corridors of Yeongji High School.
Maybe this is actually a corridor in Yeongji High School?
If my guess is correct, when I turn this corner, Class 1-D should appear-.
"1-4".
My guess was right.
But the details were slightly different.
It wasn't Class D, but Class 4 that appeared.
Didn't Yeongji High School divide classes from A to G using alphabets?
I think they used to use numbers for classes but changed to alphabets when they started using the new school building....
"New building... old building..."
Right, this was the old building.
The old Yeongji High School building!
Suddenly, I remembered that I had "opened" the "Old School Building" in the shop window.
The old school building that was kept firmly locked to keep students out.
This was the corridor of the old school building!
That means there must be an entrance somewhere, and I just need to get out through there!
If the layout of the old and new buildings is similar, there should be stairs nearby...
I moved slowly with these thoughts in mind.
But strangely, no stairs appeared, and only an endless corridor continued. It was like a nightmare that wouldn't end.
Jingle, jingle, jingle-.
Ah-.
A faint light appeared at the end of the corridor, and the bell sound started again.
The problem was that there were no lockers or cleaning supply closets nearby to hide in.
"......"
Determined to survive somehow, I looked around and found a classroom marked "1-4".
Didn't I pass Class 1-4 earlier?
No, that didn't matter now!
Slide-.
Fortunately, the classroom door was open.
I hid among the many desks, and the jingle-jingle sound spread through the corridor around me.
***
How much time had passed?
The bell sound gradually faded away.
Along with the relief of survival, a strange sense of achievement flowed through my body.
"What, it's not a big deal."
Humans are creatures of adaptation.
I was able to look around in a slightly more relaxed state than before.
"......"
And I slightly regretted my actions.
I realized that this Class 1-4 classroom was filled with talismans scrawled with reddish writing.
It was an extremely eerie and chilling place. I'm really scared it might appear in my dreams.
But what was even more terrifying was realizing I wasn't alone in the classroom.
Squeak, squeak-.
The sound came from under the teacher's desk.
It sounded like a monkey's cry or creaking wood.
Damn it...
Come to think of it, didn't the status window say this?
The Nightmare Corridor has hiding spots like cleaning supply closets and lockers where you can avoid the horrors for a certain amount of time─.
The term 'horrors' in plural was concerning.
If there were other terrible ghosts roaming this corridor besides the bell woman...!?
Flash-.
At that moment, I made eye contact with glowing blue eyes illuminated by the status window's light.
I was startled, almost losing my breath, but it seemed to recognize me too.
"Young-won, it's you, right...!?"
It was a small but loud cry.
Honestly, it's a contradictory description, but it really was like that.
Rustle-.
The thing crouched under the teacher's desk crawled out on all fours towards me.
Only then could I clearly see the source of the glowing eyes.
It was glasses!
"Jung Sojin...? Class president...?"
"Young-won...!"
Whoosh-!
Jung Sojin, the class president of Class D and someone I had quite admired at the beginning of the semester, hugged me tightly.
"Young-won...! I'm so glad to see you...!"
The scent of cosmetics wafted over me, and something soft pressed against my chest.
Jung Sojin is more well-endowed than she looks.
And even the honor student Jung Sojin wears makeup- such thoughts crossed my mind along with an ominous feeling.
"How can I be sure you're really Jung Sojin? Prove it!"
Maybe a ghost from this corridor was trying to deceive me!
I hastily pulled away and stepped back, and the thing that might be Jung Sojin or a ghost looked slightly stunned before laughing with relief.
"Pfft, Young-won, you're really funny. Remember when we handed out textbooks together? We went to the storage room, just the two of us. You moved all the boxes then..."
That's right.
On the day of the entrance ceremony when classrooms were assigned, I had to move boxes of textbooks with Jung Sojin at the teacher's request.
At that time, I was like an ascetic who had gone through 3 years of all-boys middle school, and being alone with a pretty girl like Jung Sojin made me a bit nervous and excited... I did something foolish like saying, "Sojin, if it's heavy, I can carry your box too."
Maybe Jung Sojin would be impressed by my manly and gentlemanly attitude and say, "Oh my, you're such a nice guy!" and we'd become close, study for exams together, get married, have grandchildren... I had such fantasies.
I know.
It was a stupid thought.
But anyone who's been through 3 years of all-boys middle school would end up like that.
Anyway, she knows about that incident.
This must really be Jung Sojin.
As I was slightly relieved, Jung Sojin lit a small lighter with a flick.
Even a tiny flame can bring comfort to one's heart.
"Young-won, we need to find the key! The entrance key! I'll explain quickly because we might not have much time, but we need a key to get out of this corridor! I know where the entrance is!"
Key.
It was quite a positive keyword.
Literally a key word, huh.
"The key should be in the key cabinet in the staff room! But I'm too scared to go alone, so... Young-won, I'm really glad you're here. Really..."