Chapter 45: Corridor Strategy (5)

Yoo Dahee said that if we don't stay quiet, 'that woman' will come.

"Are you talking about the shaman ghost?"

I was more scared of Yoo Dahee than the shaman ghost right now. I wanted to ask Yoo Dahee what she had done to Yang Juhee.

Why had Yang Juhee, who went up to the broadcasting room, disappeared leaving only bloodstains!

I was going crazy with curiosity and fear about it! I felt so insane that it was like itchy, stinging ants were crawling all over my skin.

But I couldn't ask a single word because Yoo Dahee's palm was covering my mouth.

Time passed with all my senses working slowly, as if time had stopped. 5 minutes. 10 minutes.

Actually, I'm not sure.

Anyway, only after a long time did Yoo Dahee release my mouth.

"It seems there's no one around. But we can't be at ease. That woman freely roams the first-floor corridor. If we stay in this broadcasting room, it's only a matter of time before we're caught."

"Who exactly is that woman? The shaman ghost?"

Since it's come to this, let's ask Yoo Dahee about everything. You could say it's information I'll forget once I die, but there's always a 'what if'.

If I can survive this journey, the benefit of that information would be enormous.

"...It's not the shaman ghost. I don't know the exact identity of that woman either. I've never properly met her. But she's dangerous. If you encounter her, you'll definitely die."

"If you're talking about the third ghost... then what are you? Yoo Dahee. What exactly is your identity?"

Yoo Dahee was like an onion, with more layers appearing no matter how many you peel off.

I was almost going crazy with curiosity and wanted her to answer honestly.

"Yoo Dahee. You promised to grant my wish. What exactly are you! Are you human? A ghost? What are you!"

Even though I was holding the lighter, I couldn't see Yoo Dahee's face clearly because of the darkness.

Those uncertain features stimulated my fear even more.

What exactly is she?

I was so curious that if I died like this, I felt I wouldn't be able to sleep in the afterlife due to frustration. Soon, Yoo Dahee grabbed my hand and slowly put it inside her school uniform!

"W-What...!"

I was more shocked than I'd ever been in my life at the feeling of smooth skin.

It felt like my brain was stuttering, unable to properly process the current situation.

I recalled hearing once that the human optic nerve structure is quite inefficient, so most of the brain focuses on vision. Due to the darkness, my sense of touch and hearing were more distinct than my vision, and my hand inside Yoo Dahee's uniform became a kind of tongue, eyes, and nose.

Thump, thump, thump-

Under Yoo Dahee's clothes, her heart was beating very loudly.

"How is it? Do I still seem like a ghost to you?"

Thump thump thump thump thump-

A heart beating clearly between warm and soft things. For some reason, that heartbeat was as fast as mine, who was experiencing something embarrassing.

A half-dazed mind. I felt like a butterfly melting, falling into a soft and squishy hell.

Gasp-

Startled, I came to my senses and quickly pulled my hand out of Yoo Dahee's clothes.

"Ahem. Yoo Dahee. It's still true that you're hiding something from me. You seem familiar with the current situation, and I'd like you to tell me the truth. If not—"

"...If not?"

If not, what will I do? Hit her?

Suddenly, I found myself contemplating about the person named Ha Young-won.

Can I really hit a woman?

"If you don't tell the truth, I'll hit you hard. I'll hit you really hard."

This was almost like a spell I cast to reassure myself.

Then Yoo Dahee laughed, "Hehe-"

"You're lying. You can't do that, Young-won. You're a good person. Like the catcher in the rye."

"No! I'm a really bad guy, you know? I'll really hit you!"

"Wah!"

"Eek!"

I raised my hand and slapped Yoo Dahee's cheek hard! It was because I was so startled by Yoo Dahee's sudden shout.

Slap-!

The sensation on my palm was incredibly intense, and I was surprised at my own action. To think I'd slap a woman!

This bold action must be thanks to 《Strong Heart》! I was a real man right now.

"Kyaa!"

Yoo Dahee really didn't think I would hit her, so she ended up falling on her bottom. I was shocked too, but what's done is done.

I even warned her I would hit her, so it was Yoo Dahee's fault for startling me.

"Tell me the truth quickly! What exactly are you?"

"...Wait. I'm really shocked. I didn't think you'd really hit me. Ow, it hurts."

"...I could hit you again! So tell me everything you know!"

I really want to live, you know! I want to find out what killed Yang Juhee too!

I was on the verge of going crazy. Perhaps sensing my sincerity, Yoo Dahee asked in a subdued voice.

"...Do you know the story about dreams? A girl was studying for her final exams in the classroom. Then she realized it was a dream. So when she said, 'Ah, this is a dream. I don't need to study,' all her classmates glared at her."

Yoo Dahee's sudden story. It was in a form I had heard from Jung-seok before.

"The girl's dreams became more and more vivid like reality after that. As if trying not to be caught as a dream. Getting longer. More intricate..."

"S-So what?"

"As time passed, the girl came to live in between two worlds where she couldn't distinguish between dream and reality. In the end, which one is the dream... Here? Or..."

It was a creepy story. Is this Yoo Dahee's own story?

"Of course this is the dream! So please, let's get out of here!"

Swish-

Yoo Dahee, who had been sitting, stood up. Then she pointed to the map I was holding tightly in my hand.

"I'll mark the location of the sacred statue on the map. But it won't be easy. That woman will be guarding it. When someone touches the sacred statue, that woman starts moving. She's already active."

***

Swish-

Yoo Dahee marked the map.

First floor women's bathroom.

"This floor's sacred statue is here. I've seen it myself, so I'm sure. But there's a high chance that woman is guarding it. To prevent anyone from leaving this school carelessly."

Fortunately, the first-floor women's bathroom was very close to this broadcasting room. But the situation was that 'that woman' Yoo Dahee was warning about was likely to be in front of it.

"Young-won. There's only one talisman that can help us escape. Only one of us, you or me, can leave."

Yoo Dahee's voice somehow felt creepy. Does this mean we have to have a death match over the escape ticket?

For now, maybe I should think about that later...

If worst comes to worst, I could just snatch the talisman from Yoo Dahee by force since I'm physically stronger.

I asked Yoo Dahee,

"Dahee. You said you've been dreaming about this corridor for a while, right? Have you ever been caught by a ghost or died in this corridor?"

"...No. Not that I remember. I always escaped from the sacred statue in the basement."

Is this for real?

She might have been a beginner in the game "Abyss Corridor," but it seems she was an expert in the real "Nightmare Corridor."

Come to think of it, when we played "Abyss Corridor," Yoo Dahee said, "This is interesting. So this is how games move."

At that time, I thought it was just the impression of a girl playing a game for the first time, but thinking about it again, it was an exclamation comparing reality and the game.

Dahee said,

"It was like that that day too. I got the talisman from the basement that day too. For some reason, there were other people in this corridor besides me that day. Kim Geonho. Yang Juhee. Jung Sojin. And... you. Ha Young-won."

I felt like my breath stopped with a gasp. Because I knew exactly when 'that day' Yoo Dahee was talking about was.

"I'm rather curious. Young-won. How are you guys having this kind of dream?"

I guess we're both curious about different things... is that it?

I was wondering if I should tell Yoo Dahee about the "Nightmare Corridor" and the status window I had.

About the "Hero" and the "Observer." I remembered that I was actually the mafia in the mafia game.

"...I don't know either. Rather, I want to know too. Dahee, I thought you would know."

I decided to dodge the question vaguely. Then Yoo Dahee made a "Hmm..." sound. I'm not sure if she accepted it.

Anyway. We headed towards the first-floor women's bathroom for now.

Neither the head ghost nor the shaman ghost was visible nearby.

In a way, it could be considered fortunate among the misfortunes.

"Young-won. Are you really going to enter the women's bathroom?"

Yoo Dahee asked me.

It sounded like a joke, like "You're a guy, are you really going into the women's bathroom?"

Does she have the mood to joke in this situation? Or is she joking because of this situation?

With a slightly trembling heart, I entered the women's bathroom of the old school building.

Unlike men's bathrooms, the women's bathroom had no urinals and was structured with stalls lined up in a row. The smell was worse than I expected, making it very difficult to breathe.

"Is the sacred statue really here?"

I asked, covering my nose with my hand. Yoo Dahee pointed to the fourth stall.

"It's there in the fourth one. We're lucky. Seeing that there are no ghosts. It's just my guess, but it seems the ghosts don't know where the sacred statue is. So they can't guard it."

Swish-

I opened the fourth bathroom stall door.

And there really was something like a strange sacred statue. If the one in the basement had a Buddhist flavor like a half-seated Buddha, this one looked like a Western Madonna statue.

The head was still cut off, but the talisman was definitely attached to the chest. If we just burn that talisman, we should be able to escape.

But what if Yoo Dahee suddenly changes and goes for the talisman?

As I was starting to keep an eye on Yoo Dahee, I could sense a somewhat unsettled atmosphere.

It could be called an intuition honed from crossing the line between life and death many times, or it could be expressed as a kind of spiritual ability or sixth sense. So I unconsciously turned my head.

And I saw 'it' standing at the entrance of the women's bathroom.

It was incredibly large. It looked at least 2 meters tall, but it was hunched over, almost folding its body to enter this women's bathroom.

It was wearing a bright red dress and was barefoot.

Its eyes were all white without black pupils, and it was wearing a bright red mask.

"R-Red."

What would a mouse feel like suddenly encountering a snake? I was vividly experiencing that feeling right now.

All my nerves and muscles were stiff to the point where it was difficult to even breathe. Heart attack.

If it weren't for the newly acquired trait 《Strong Heart》, I might have suffered from something like that.

"D-Damn it!"

I came to my senses and grabbed the talisman.

The woman in the red mask grabbed Yoo Dahee. And she opened her mouth unimaginably wide, which seemed to snap Yoo Dahee back to reality.

"Young-won. This time, I'll send you out—"

Rip!

A mouth opened so wide it was beyond imagination. From inside, a murmur like the screams of hell could be heard.

Crunch crunch crunch- Crack crack crack-

Yoo Dahee melts into blood— I could only watch as a person disappeared without a trace through the jaws of hell.

Yes. I saw it.

That was all I could do at the moment.

Thanks to that, I could see the clear scar on that woman's neck and the butterfly shape roaming her face, which was terrifying enough to cause a heart attack.

It was something very familiar to me and an extremely important clue.

The third ghost whose identity is unknown because all witnesses die. I'm going to meet it and escape alive!

With trembling hands, I lit the talisman with the lighter's flame.

Whoosh-!