Chapter 41
In the Nightmare Corridor, you can enter with an 'item'.
Yang Juhee's "Princess Magic Wand" that she acquired in reality was in her inventory.
[Princess Magic Wand: A very sturdy toy. Can create a barrier that repels supernatural entities through a special incantation.]
"Interesting."
Basically, each person could only carry one item, but Yang Juhee had the 《Tool User》 trait.
「《Tool User》: You can enter the corridor with up to 3 tools. The durability of tools increases by 1.5 times. 」
Currently, Yang Juhee had 4 items:
"Eternal Box Cutter, Zippo Lighter, Multipurpose Room Key, Princess Magic Wand".
Yang Juhee could start with three of these items. That means one had to be left out.
In this case, should we consider the essential items first?
"The box cutter should definitely be taken."
We had survived several times thanks to Yang Juhee's box cutter. The "Eternal Box Cutter" was essentially an 'extra life'.
"The magic wand sounds really good too, just from the description."
Creating a barrier that supernatural entities can't enter. I knew how important safe zones were in the "Nightmare Corridor".
If we could create one at will, it's as good as an 'extra life'.
"The rest are the lighter and the key..."
The description of the Zippo lighter was:
[Owned: Zippo Lighter
An ordinary lighter. The light is dimmer than a flashlight, but less likely to be noticed by supernatural entities. For some reason, the gas can be used infinitely.]
A lighter that can provide light infinitely.
It's less bright than my "Flashlight", but that means it's less likely to be noticed by someone.
Also, while my "Flashlight" has battery limitations, this lighter's gas is infinite.
"It's a good item."
The remaining item besides the lighter is the "Multipurpose Room Key".
[Owned: Multipurpose Room Key
A key that leads to the multipurpose room. It doesn't seem to have any other use.]
It was literally a key to the multipurpose room. An item with no other use.
Looking at it this way, it seemed right to leave the key behind. But what if we need the key to the multipurpose room? I'd regret it terribly.
The key or the lighter. It's breaking my head.
Logically, it should be the lighter.
Then should I equip Jung-seok with the "Multipurpose Room Key" for now?
Jung-seok's character sheet wasn't completely visible as "???".
It seemed to be because he hadn't experienced the Nightmare Corridor even once yet. But I could equip him with items.
Now it's my turn.
I also had three items.
(1).
"Eternal Glow-in-the-Dark Pen: A pen that's visible even in darkness. Marks made with this pen can never be erased unless using the eraser on the cap."
(2).
"Battery-powered Flashlight: A flashlight that runs on batteries. It's brighter than expected but has a high chance of being noticed by supernatural entities."
(3)
"Map: A detailed map of the 1st floor of the old school building. It seems someone drew it diligently with an amateur hand. With this, we might be able to go deeper. But... who on earth drew this?"
Unlike Yang Juhee, I didn't have the 《Tool User》 trait, so I had to take only one of the three.
It's really a shame.
The pen, the flashlight, or the map.
They're all really good items.
First, the glow-in-the-dark pen. With a pen, it would be good for marking things.
But... if we're talking about items essential for survival... it probably isn't.
Then how about the flashlight?
The Nightmare Corridor is so dark that without a light source, you can barely see your own hand.
With a flashlight, progress would naturally be faster.
"But the map..."
The map that Jung Sojin acquired. This was something I hadn't seen before.
However, the potential this map seemed to hold was impressive at a glance.
"If the goal was simply to survive in the corridor... I would have taken the flashlight."
Now it's time for 'strategy', not just 'survival'.
After much consideration, I decided to take the 'map'.
"Alright."
This should be enough for the setup.
I currently have 538 points.
If four people enter the Nightmare Corridor and all die, getting quirks, we could fully treat those quirks at the treatment center using 100P each.
Even after using 400 points, 138 points would be left.
"This should be enough to go."
I looked at the player list again… And dragged each name to insert them as corridor explorers.
***
"......"
When I suddenly came to my senses, I was lying in a dark, cool corridor.
It was a place so dark that I could only tell it was some kind of corridor. The windows that faintly let in light were completely blocked with boards nailed by someone.
"Damn it. I should have brought the flashlight."
If I had brought the flashlight instead of the map, I could have seen something.
I regretted my decision... but spilled milk can't be unspilled.
Swish-
I rummaged through my pocket and found a rolled-up piece of paper. It was the map.
It seems that pre-prepared items are in your pocket when you start the corridor journey.
"It's too dark to see."
After checking the map, I quietly listened to my surroundings. Fortunately, there didn't seem to be any ghosts around me.
As I remembered, there were three ghosts on this 1st floor of the corridor.
One was the shaman ghost called the "Bell Woman".
It was a ghost that moved around making jingling sounds, and since it had no eyes, I thought it might have visual limitations.
The second was the "Head Ghost".
The Head Ghost was a ghost that spread its hair like a spider web, but it didn't react even to loud noises until you got close and stepped on its hair.
And the third "??? Ghost".
Its identity was still unknown. I don't know what it is... but it's best to be careful.
So what should I do now?
Obviously, meet up with the friends who participated as players!
Then where can I meet up with the kids?
I had mentioned before that Class "1-4" was a safe zone.
If my guess is correct, the smart Jung-seok would have noticed the existence of a 'meeting point' and was likely to be in "1-4". Let's meet up with Jung-seok first.
As I was walking down the corridor with that in mind... something felt off.
"What's this."
Although it was too dark to distinguish objects clearly, I could tell for sure.
The corridor is different from last time.
"Staff Room"
After wandering for a while, I saw the 1st year staff room.
I could tell it was the staff room because a small light was on inside...
Clank, clank-
The door of the staff room was very firmly locked. Wasn't the staff room door open when I came last time?
And there should have been a 'multipurpose room' near the staff room. But the multipurpose room that should have been there was nowhere to be seen.
"...It's changed."
The Nightmare Corridor. The structure of its first floor was different from my memory.
How could this be?
Is it changing because this place is based on 'dreams'? Come to think of it... in the game "Abyss Corridor," the layout of corridors and item placements changed with each round.
That's why we could approach each round with a fresh mindset.
I never thought the real "Nightmare Corridor," not just the game, would have randomly shuffled maps...
The one fortunate thing was that I had a map.
Flutter-
When I illuminated the map with the light coming from the staff room, an image appeared that looked like someone had drawn on a sketchbook with crayons.
It was a real map. And the map was undoubtedly showing the geography of the first floor.
The walls near the staff room, the corners, and the blocked-off, inaccessible bathroom were proof of that.
My hypothesis is that the corridor's structure changes with each entry. Then what about the map?
"...Does the map change along with the corridor every time we enter?"
I'm not sure.
The important thing is that I've found the location of "1-4". Fortunately, it was nearby.
I headed towards "1-4," which was a safe zone.
***
Creak-
As I opened the door to "1-4" and entered, a shadow inside rustled as if greatly startled.
"W-Who's there?!"
It was Jung-seok's voice.
Jung-seok, you rascal, you were in the safe zone "1-4" just as I expected.
"Hey. Jung-seok. It's me. Ha Young-won."
"Prove it!"
"Top laner. Nasus one-trick. Jung-seok, you have a crush on Bong Ji-yeon and a fetish for being bullied by delinquent girls, right? You only told me that."
"Oh. The fetish part is nonsense, but you must be Ha Young-won."
Jung-seok slowly approached me.
"1-4" was dark, but if you got close enough, you could more or less make out each other's faces.
"Hey. Young-won. I suddenly found myself in this place when I opened my eyes. This is because of what you talked about, right? That 'Nightmare Corridor' thing."
"That's right. Looks like you remembered what I said well. Seeing that you were waiting in '1-4'. I think ghosts can't enter here, maybe because of all the talismans stuck around."
"Yeah. I knew you'd come here. But are you sure ghosts can't enter?"
Am I sure?
When asked like that, I couldn't be absolutely certain. Yang Juhee died in "1-4" last time, after all.
"Let's find Juhee first. She's probably somewhere nearby."
Juhee had a lighter to illuminate her surroundings.
She also had a knife and a magic wand, so she probably hadn't been caught by ghosts yet.
Jung-seok said,
"This is a dream, right? Can it be this vivid even when you know it's a dream? It feels so real. It even hurts when I pinch myself. Is this really a dream?"
Jung-seok seemed to find it hard to believe that the situation we were experiencing wasn't reality but a 'nightmare'.
"They say dreams become more elaborate to prevent humans from realizing they're dreaming. You know that story, right? About someone who realized they were dreaming while at school. When they said, 'Ah - this is a dream,' all the classmates closed their mouths and stared at that person."
"......"
"The story goes that from then on, their dreams became so elaborate that they couldn't tell they were dreaming. Young-won. Have you heard stories like this?"
"I haven't heard that before. You always tell scary stories when you're scared. Man. It's already scary enough, and you're making it even creepier with stories like that."
Jung-seok had a peculiar defense mechanism.
He always tells scary stories when he feels afraid. Is he trying to control his fear of external factors by muttering scary stories to himself?
I don't know. I'm not a psychologist.
"Anyway. I'm going to call for Yang Juhee now."
"Call?"
Jung-seok seemed puzzled.
I pointed to the talismans plastered all over "1-4".
"Ghosts can't enter this classroom, right? So it should be safe to make noise in here. That's why I'm going to call out loudly for Yang Juhee."
Of course, there was the risk of the variable "??? Ghost"...
But the return on quickly meeting up with Juhee seemed greater.
Creak-
I opened the classroom door of "1-4" and shouted.
"Yang Juhee! Come to Class 4! You have a lighter, right? Come this way while shining the light!"
Thanks to the stamina developed by 《Strong Heart》 and the lung capacity from 《Hold Breath》, my voice was thunderously loud even to my own ears.
Now.
What will happen next... As I was thinking this, I felt someone running towards us with a patter of footsteps from far away.
"Yang Juhee?"
Is it Yang Juhee?
As I was looking down the corridor with hope and anticipation, I had to admit that my thoughts and guesses were way off.
The woman was Yoo Dahee!
"Guys!"
Yoo Dahee, running breathlessly towards "1-4". Seeing her panting, Jung-seok seemed slightly taken aback.
"Oh. It's Dahee. Young-won. Did you put Dahee in too?"
"......"
No.
I only put in exactly three people this time. Me. Jung-seok. Yang Juhee.
Yoo Dahee... I considered it but didn't include her.
I hadn't explained about the "Nightmare Corridor" to Yoo Dahee.
It meant she wasn't an official member of the "Ha Young-won Pirate Crew" yet.
Why is Yoo Dahee in the "Nightmare Corridor"?
I swear to heaven, the players should only be me, Jung-seok, and Yang Juhee!
Yoo Dahee said.
"Guys! You made too much noise! Get out of there quickly! We need to get away from here! We need to leave this place right now! Guys, get out of that classroom quickly!"
Yoo Dahee, standing in the corridor, shouting towards "1-4".
Her urgent manner seemed quite desperate, but also puzzling.
Why is she telling us to come out?
Shiver-
Just then, a chill ran down my spine.
A classmate who shouldn't be here.
Could the identity of the third ghost "???" be...!?
"...Dahee. I'm sorry, but could you come into this Class 4 for a moment?"