Chapter 44: Corridor Strategy (4)

This "Princess Magic Wand" belonged to Yang Juhee, and such toys usually come with some kind of magic spell.

"Yang Juhee! The spell! The spell! Chant the spell!"

Our fate rested on Yang Juhee's magic wand, so I had no choice but to push Yang Juhee in various ways.

Flinch-

Yang Juhee seemed very tense, unlike her usual bold and brave self.

What on earth was about to happen? As I was thinking this, Yang Juhee handed me the lighter.

"Ah, damn it! I don't know either! If you guys laugh or make fun of me, I'll seriously kill you! For real!"

Hesitantly-

Yang Juhee held the magic wand with both hands in a visibly awkward manner. Then, waving the wand left and right, she shouted,

"...Ahem, ahem, J-Jewel fairy! With light! R-Ru-Shine Ruby Power!"

It was a truly bizarre spell. To think Yang Juhee, the bully who ruled "1-D", would act cute like a child in a school play.

In a way, it was as shocking as the severed head ghost or the enraged shaman ghost.

"Wow!"

I exclaimed briefly.

Scratch scratch-

Jung-seok, unable to bear this awkward and embarrassing scene, turned his head and scratched it vigorously.

What would happen now?

Flash flash-

Yang Juhee's ruby-colored magic wand began to emit light.

It was a colorful rainbow light.

In this pitch-black darkness, that light source looked almost like some kind of barrier or shield.

"Did it work? It worked, right? I did it!"

Yang Juhee was overjoyed. Soon, Jung-seok asked,

"Can you move while keeping that light on?"

"I don't know! Let's give it a try!"

Slide-

Yang Juhee moved her foot. But at that moment, didn't the light flicker severely?

"No good. The light seems like it'll go out if I move. This is an old toy, you know. I bought it ages ago. When I was about seven years old. It's almost on the verge of breaking!"

What a shame!

Not knowing how long the barrier would last, I prepared for my next action without wasting time, taking a deep breath.

Now, if I just run and... tear off that talisman attached to the sacred statue, it's over!

I've finished the simulation in my head!

"Guys, I'm going! Jung-seok! I'll give you the talisman! As soon as you wake up, write down everything you remember in a notebook, just like I said! Got it?"

"Got it. I'll definitely do that."

"I'm going! Me! Really! I'm going! I'm gonna go! Don't stop me! Aah! I'm going! Really going! Going!"

How nice it would have been if there was a magic spell to instill courage in people.

After several shouts, as if hypnotizing myself, I finally managed to move my feet.

Splash splash splash-!

I ran madly through the water that reached up to my ankles.

Even I thought I was running at an incredibly fast speed, and I managed to tear off the talisman from the sacred statue accurately and concisely.

"I did it!"

"Did it did it did it."

The problem was that my movement had stimulated the head ghost. Probably because I stepped on its hair submerged in the water!

The head ghost opened its cracked eyes like broken glass, raised the corners of its mouth to the limit, and lunged at me.

"Aack! Shit!"

Should I call it a flashback?

The scene of Jung Sojin dying from the head ghost earlier flashed before my eyes.

Arms and legs entangled, hair entering all the holes in the body like eyes, nose, mouth, ears, dying horribly, disgustingly, and painfully!

I didn't want to end up like that!

"Waaaaaaaaah!"

I screamed in a way that even I thought was unsightly and ran towards Yang Juhee.

I felt hair wrapping around my arms and legs, but I gritted my teeth and pushed forward! And forward again!

"Hey! T-Take this!"

I stretched out my hand and held out the talisman.

Then Jung-seok, who had been waiting inside the barrier, approached me and took the talisman, and at that moment, I felt some strength leaving my body.

Should I say I felt slightly relieved?

"Take it take it take it take it."

Of course, I hadn't completely shaken off this head ghost.

I gritted my teeth and desperately moved forward, and finally managed to step into the rainbow light created by Yang Juhee's magic wand.

"D-Did it work!"

What happened next was quite encouraging and surprising.

The hair that had been wrapping around me retreated from the light with a swish, like cockroaches caught by humans!

The head ghost could no longer approach me and just clicked its teeth inside its mouth, then floated up into the air and disappeared into the high darkness.

"...Is it gone? Did it go to the first floor?"

I felt all the strength leaving my body and slumped down.

My underwear got wet because of the water on the floor, but I didn't care.

I might have even peed a little, to be honest. It might be better to let it get wet in this water.

"Young-won. You really did well. I see you in a new light. I didn't know you were such a courageous person."

Jung-seok praised my efforts.

It might not have been enough to compensate for my recent hardship, but it didn't feel bad.

Swish-

Jung-seok held out the talisman to me and said,

"Young-won. Would it be okay if I go instead of you escaping?"

"......"

I thought for a very short moment.

There was one escape ticket for three people in this hellish nightmare. It meant two had to stay behind inevitably.

"I... don't need it. I need to look for my sister more."

Yang Juhee seemed to ponder for a while before giving up her claim to the escape ticket.

I had to think hard too, because honestly, I didn't want to stay in this place any longer.

I was scared about where the head ghost had gone… Should I just leave?

As I was thinking that, I ended up shaking my head.

"Jung-seok. You go. Honestly, you have the best memory among us."

"Then... should I hold onto it and use it later? We could use it as bait for ghosts like just now and then escape in an emergency."

Jung-seok's opinion seemed quite plausible. But we still didn't know the 'escape' mechanism.

It wouldn't be bad to just try escaping once.

"No. Leave while we have the chance. Leave now! Right now! Before I change my mind!"

I squeezed my eyes shut. I had made up my mind to let Jung-seok go.

"Go! Leave this place! Never come back!"

"Alright. I'll never forget what happened here! Never!"

Jung-seok gripped the talisman in his hand even tighter. I lit the talisman for him, and something amazing happened.

Whoosh-!

As soon as the talisman caught fire, Jung-seok's body also caught fire. Jung-seok's body seemed to burn like the talisman he was holding and quickly disappeared.

Only Yang Juhee and I were left.

With just two of us remaining in a place where there were three, everything was enveloped in an unsettled silence.

"Did it work? Juhee. What do you think? That bastard Jung-seok must have escaped, right?"

"I don't know."

Swish-

The light from Yang Juhee's toy magic wand went out too. So the magic wand's duration is about 2 minutes, I guess.

"Hey. I think the magic wand is broken."

"So what do we do now?"

I asked Yang Juhee while looking around. Yang Juhee was also surveying the surroundings.

"Since that head ghost disappeared, let's look around more. There might be something useful."

Alright. That was a good idea.

Yang Juhee was always good at searching around.

***

"Yang Juhee, look at this! It's a rope!"

We managed to get our hands on a rope near the sacred statue. It looked about 2 meters long.

"With this, we can at least escape from this basement!"

I chose to retrace our steps with Yang Juhee and go back up to the broadcasting room. It was to get our hands on the second talisman.

[Escape Talisman - Can escape by burning this talisman. One talisman per person. One is definitely attached to the front of the sacred statue. There's one sacred statue on each floor.]

According to the records, there's one sacred statue on each floor. The one just now was in the basement, so there should be one on the ground floor too.

Since there should definitely be an escape talisman attached to the sacred statue on the ground floor, it meant that one of us, either me or Yang Juhee, could escape.

"Hey. Young-won. Lift me up. I'll go up with the rope and pull you up."

We had already arrived at the hole in the broadcasting room. 2 meters. It seemed quite high when thinking about climbing up rather than jumping down.

"Hey. Lie down here."

Yang Juhee pointed at the floor and instructed me.

I lay down in an "OTL" position, and Yang Juhee took off her shoes and wet socks and stepped on my back.

"Ah, damn. I can't reach! Hey! Just lying down won't do! Try lifting me up!"

"Lift you up?"

It was a situation where we had to do anything to escape. I grabbed Yang Juhee as if hugging her and lifted her up with all my strength.

"Hey! What are you doing! Put some real strength into it!"

"Nnnngh!"

Even in this situation, maybe because I was embracing a girl. It felt strange. She smelled nice and was soft.

A little... no, quite embarrassing? Of course, the sturdy Yang Juhee moved smoothly as if being held by me was nothing.

"Hold on tight! I'm going to step on your shoulders!"

Yang Juhee stepped on my shoulders. I staggered while holding onto Yang Juhee's legs.

Whoosh!

Using my shoulders as a foothold, Yang Juhee grabbed the edge of the broadcasting room hole with her excellent athleticism.

"Got it!"

"You got it? You got it?"

I unconsciously looked up.

Then Yang Juhee, wearing her school uniform skirt, stepped on my face with her foot.

"Ugh!"

"...Hey! Where are you looking! I'll kill you if you look up!"

"Hey! I didn't see anything!"

"Hnngh!"

Yang Juhee struggled and climbed up to the first floor. Yang Juhee, who had disappeared above the hole, said,

"Hey! I'll lower the rope now!"

"Okay!"

I waited for the rope.

...

......

.........

"Hey! You said you'd lower the rope!"

But even after 5 minutes, there was no sign of the rope coming down.

What on earth happened?

"Hey! Yang Juhee! Juhee? Juhee, where are you? What are you doing? Pull me up quickly!"

Somehow, I felt anxious enough for my legs to tremble, and I desperately wanted to escape from this basement. But there was no response from Yang Juhee who had gone up.

Just as I was about to go crazy, a rope came down from above with a flutter.

"Oh!"

I grabbed the rope and climbed up with all my might.

Since it was my first time climbing a rope, my arms felt scraped and my thighs felt chafed, but who cares! As long as I can survive!

But... when I finally reached the top, I couldn't help but be shocked.

Yang Juhee, who I thought would be waiting for me, was nowhere to be seen, and instead, a white face I never expected was illuminated by the lighter.

"Y-You're Yoo Dahee!"

"Young-won."

"You, y-you bitch! Where! Where did Yang Juhee go!"

I looked around in horror.

Red puddles all around Yoo Dahee. Blood.

It was blood pooled like puddles! And hair damaged from repeated dyeing and bleaching was strewn on the floor.

"Urgh. Urrrgh-!"

Unable to hold back the rising vomit, I threw up everything into the basement hole.

As I was rolling on the floor, I saw the "Louis Vuitton school bag" and the blood-soaked "Princess Magic Wand" lying in front of me.

This could only mean one thing.

"She's dead..."

Yang Juhee was dead.

Without even a chance to scream. And these traces... were too similar to the traces of Kim Geonho's death in front of the multipurpose room lock.

Traces of the third ghost. Yoo Dahee. The disappeared Yang Juhee.

"Y-You evil bitch!"

I was so frustrated, angry, and scared that I was almost foaming at the mouth. But Yoo Dahee frowned deeply and slapped my cheek.

"Ow!"

"Young-won. Calm down. This. I didn't do it."

"You didn't do it?"

"That's right."

If Yoo Dahee didn't do it, then who did? I... while having various doubts, wanted to believe Yoo Dahee.

It's human nature to want to rely on, depend on, and believe in something in extreme situations.

However... as Yoo Dahee said, I needed to calm down.

"Yoo Dahee. What exactly are you? What's your true identity!"

"Shh...!"

Yoo Dahee's hand covered my mouth. It was a soft and warm hand.

"If you make too much noise, that woman will come back to the broadcasting room. You guys got the talisman from the basement, right? When you get the talisman from the basement, the head ghost starts moving. That woman noticed it too. We need to be careful."

That woman?