Chapter 35: Courage Test (4)

Courage test.

The act of entering haunted houses, abandoned buildings, or closed schools to retrieve objects or explore.

Honestly, I don't understand why people do such things. Jung-seok seemed to think the same way.

"You want to enter the old school building for a courage test? It seems like there's only risk without any return."

Jung-seok was great in many ways, but he was almost too smart for his own good.

Sometimes, you need to know how to jump in with a passionate heart, without questioning or analyzing, saying, "Alright, let's give it a shot!"

Fortunately, I was a man who knew how to make deals.

"If you come with me, I might consider punishing that suspect. Just to be clear, I'm not saying I'll do it, just that I'll consider it. Don't get confused."

"......"

Jung-seok seemed unable to forgive the culprit who brutally killed the high school girl next door and hid her head, yet was still living in this world.

If this guy's sense of justice was genuine, my offer would be like honey to him.

"You're saying you want to meet that guy?"

"...Well, I'll see what you do."

"Don't forget that promise. You'll definitely be able to tell when you meet him. He's a really bad guy. You'll know at a glance that he's someone who shouldn't be walking free in society. Really."

Jung-seok accepted my proposal quite readily, which made me curious.

"But can we meet him if we want to?"

"He's been in and out of jail for other crimes, but we can meet him now if we want to. He's in this Gaeryong City. Do you know Glory Church? He's living there as a managing deacon, getting room and board."

Glory Church. Suddenly, I remembered the cross stuck on the front of Yang Juhee's house along with various stickers.

Wasn't Glory Church the one Juhee's mother attended?

"Is it Pastor Cheon Ae-su's church?"

"You know it well. They say if that pastor lays hands on you, even diseases can be cured. In the past, I would have thought it was definitely a scam, but after experiencing various things, I wonder if such things might actually be real."

This Gaeryong Metropolitan City is small. Various incidents are intertwined like a spider's web in places I never even thought of.

Anyway, the important thing is that we're going to explore the old school building today.

"Young-won. But why the old school building suddenly?"

"Yoo Dahee said she'd grant a wish if I explore the old school building with her today."

"What?"

Jung-seok's face turned slightly red. He's a first-year high school student, a bundle of hormones.

"You don't mean..."

I knew exactly what he was thinking. Well, I was thinking the same thing after all.

"That's right. I want to ask Yoo Dahee about the incident that happened in the summer of 6th grade. You said if I wanted to hear the story, I should ask her directly, right? Don't you think I could hear it if I use the wish?"

My being tempted by Yoo Dahee's wish was based on somewhat rational thinking.

Jung-seok soon gave a small "Oh" of admiration at my words.

"Young-won. I see you in a slightly different light now. I thought you were the type of guy who couldn't refuse girls' requests and would just agree to everything without thinking. You know, the type weak to women."

"Hey, come on. Look who's talking. You were getting pushed around by Bong Ji-yeon too."

"I... have my reasons. Come to think of it, it's been a while since I've seen Bong Ji-yeon. She's been so quiet lately that it's actually worrying."

A flash of anxiety and concern crossed Jung-seok's face. Suddenly, I realized that Jung-seok didn't just dislike Bong Ji-yeon who had bullied him.

"Hey. Jung-seok. Since it's just us guys, let me ask you something. Do you like Bong Ji-yeon?"

Bong Ji-yeon was a pretty girl. Not as pretty as Yoo Dahee or Yang Juhee, but those two were on a different level to begin with.

Bong Ji-yeon was pretty enough to be definitely counted among the top three prettiest girls in the class.

Just at the borderline, you know. If Yoo Dahee and Yang Juhee were so high-level that you'd think, "Could I ever date a girl like that? No. It's definitely impossible for me," and give up...

Bong Ji-yeon was the type that made you think, "If it's a girl like her, maybe I could date her if I try hard enough..." Yeah, she was a solid 7 out of 10.

But that's just talking about looks. Personality-wise, isn't she a total psycho?

"Hey. Bong Ji-yeon is a total queen bee with a nasty personality and a complete bully. Why would you like a girl like that of all people? Do you have some fetish for being bullied by delinquent girls?"

"No. Are you one to talk? You're the same, Young-won. You even imitated Pikachu in front of Yang Juhee. You of all people shouldn't say such things to me."

Well, that's true too. Now that I hear it, it does seem that way.

So this is what it means to put yourself in someone else's shoes.

"Still, if Yang Juhee is a normal level bully, Bong Ji-yeon is like hard mode. Bong Ji-yeon is even friends with more dangerous senior bullies."

If Yang Juhee was a lone wolf type of bully, Bong Ji-yeon was the type that formed a group. And of course, it wasn't a very good quality group.

From what I heard, there were even people among the seniors who had been to juvenile detention.

"She wasn't like that originally. She was nice until she was doing short-distance track and field. Before that, we even did homework together. ...She suddenly started hanging out with weird kids and that's why."

According to Jung-seok, Bong Ji-yeon used to come over to his house when he was studying and annoy him or play pranks.

...Does that feel like childhood friends?

This bastard Jung-seok, I thought he was a social klutz like me from an all-boys middle school, but was he actually childhood friends with a pretty girl, visiting each other's houses?

Suddenly, anger welled up in my stomach.

Why do I feel betrayed? My three years of middle school... were really hell! Is this the insurmountable difference between the rich and the common folk?

"But everything changed after the third year of middle school. Bong Ji-yeon injured her leg and had to quit track and field. From then on, it was like she went through a rebellious phase and changed."

Did Jung-seok watch his childhood friend change as she hung out with delinquents? Seeing a friend who used to be cheerful and mischievous enough to come over and play pranks start hanging out with delinquent seniors, smoking, and rumors of dating... that... that might be its own kind of hell for a boy.

***

As Jung-seok and I talked for a while, we eventually arrived at the school.

Today is Saturday. Schools on weekends are usually quiet.

"The security guard isn't here today."

I thought of the security guard who had annoyed us, trying to catch us when we were sneaking out of school to find my mom who had disappeared in the elevator.

I had a bit of resentment towards the security guard, but Jung-seok said something unexpected.

"The security guard helped quite a bit when we were looking for your mother. Apparently, he used to be a police officer. He contacted the police and asked for various favors."

"Really?"

So he was just someone with a strong sense of professional duty. I thought maybe I should buy him some fruit or something later.

Even such a dutiful person doesn't guard the school on Saturdays. Jung-seok looked around.

"They say in the old days, everyone came to school on Saturdays too. They'd make you come to school on Saturdays and Sundays and force you to study until 5 PM. Even during vacations, apparently?"

"Wow, really? That's terrifying. That's the real ghost story. So where's this dog hole Yang Juhee mentioned? She said there's a dog hole in the wall, right?"

The school gate was firmly locked.

Climbing over it seemed too risky, so sneaking in through the dog hole seemed like the better option.

For a moment, I thought about contacting Juhee... but knowing the reason why she disliked Dahee, it felt a bit awkward to contact her now.

I'll reach out to her once various issues are resolved and settled.

Fortunately or unfortunately, we found a dog hole in the fence of the school tennis court. Someone had taped paper over it, but we could just remove it.

Rustle-

As I crawled through the narrow dog hole, I said.

"My mom's doctor said that even if you've lost your memory, sometimes familiar stimuli can help you recall forgotten things."

My mom, who had returned after going missing, had forgotten even about me, her son. She's still a bit unstable.

But I've been trying to stimulate her brain in various ways, and thanks to that, she's much better now. She'll probably keep improving.

Similarly, if my guess that Yoo Dahee "lost her memory" is correct... wouldn't today's old school building exploration help her remember various things?

Then she might recall her memory of witnessing Juhee's sister.

It would definitely help in finding Juhee's sister.

"But... are we really going in there? It looks really creepy."

Jung-seok stood in front of the old school building with his mouth agape.

The old school building, bathed in the reddish evening glow, looked more gloomy and eerie than I had imagined.

The first-floor windows were broken here and there, and there were graffiti painted with spray paint and unknown molds blooming on every wall. The building was also much larger than the new school building.

They say there used to be a baby boom, with 40-50 students in each class and up to 10 classes per grade.

Maybe that's why the old school building felt like a more massive presence than the school I knew.

"It's so creepy that rumors about the school being built on a cemetery could easily spread."

As I was trying to shake off the goosebumps by recalling the time I fought with the feng shui ghost, Jung-seok said,

"I looked it up. Before this school was built, there was a mansion of Cheon Il-sik, who was the major landowner in this area. It was a modern mansion built when the Japanese came, the only Western-style mansion in this area. They say it was very grand in Western style."

A Western-style mansion. It was hard to imagine.

"They say Cheon Il-sik even received a title during the Japanese occupation. A count or something. It was a family that went beyond the yangban class to become nobility in Korea. Isn't that impressive?"

"It is impressive. What are those people doing now?"

"You didn't know? Yoo Dahee you're waiting for is the great-granddaughter of that Cheon Il-sik."

Is this for real? Yoo Dahee was an even more impressive person than I thought.

If she had been born in the old days, would she be like a noble lady?

"They say even now, if you want to do politics or business in Gaeryong City, you have to go through the Cheon family. My dad met them when he ran for mayor too. There's even talk that Osung Electronics was nurtured by the Cheon family."

"They must be rolling in money. But Dahee's surname isn't Cheon, it's Yoo. Is she from the maternal line?"

"...You're right?"

Jung-seok didn't seem to have questioned Dahee's surname being Yoo much either.

Rustle-

As we chatted like this, the evening glow faded and the world was completely enveloped in darkness.

The old school building, which had at least felt like a human building until now, started to look like a giant gray tombstone stuck in this land. Do we really have to go in there?

Should I just say I won't do it even now? As I was thinking this, a message came from Yoo Dahee.

「Yoo Dahee: I've arrived at the school, but the gate is locked!」

「There's a dog hole lol I'll tell you where it is」

I guided Dahee to the dog hole in the tennis court.

Creak, creak.

"It's narrower than I thought."

Watching Dahee struggle and crawl out of the dog hole made me feel strange somehow.

Pat pat-

As Dahee was dusting off her knees, I asked,

"So where in the old school building do we need to go? Do we just go inside?"

"Hmm... Let's go to the basement first."

Not even the first floor of the old school building, but the basement? I started to feel a bit creeped out.

It was because I thought there would be a lot of cockroaches, but I couldn't back out now after coming this far.

As we were slowly entering through the open door of the old school building and walking down the messy first-floor corridor,

"Hey! Who's there!"

Just then, someone shouted at us from outside the old school building.

Have we been caught?

Jung-seok said,

"There must have been a teacher on duty! Young-won! What should we do? If we get caught, it's over for entering the old school building!"

"What do you mean what should we do! For now... for now, let's hide! Dahee! We need to hide! There should be a staff room nearby, let's go there!"

"Okay...!?"

Startled, we entered the staff room on the first floor. It was a damp staff room full of dust.

"Let's hide for now! Try to hide somehow!"

Click. Click. Click.

Soon, the sound of a woman's sharp heels began to echo in the first-floor corridor of the old school building.

I peeked out from under a desk and looked towards the staff room entrance.

Soon, along with the light from a phone flashlight, a pair of bright red high heels appeared at the staff room entrance.

Click. Click.

And as the light shone here and there, approaching the desk where I was hiding, I saw something strange as I was observing the situation from under the desk.

"......"

On the left ankle wearing the high heel, there was something that could be seen as a tattoo or a strange birthmark.