Chapter 46
My consciousness was clear, but my body wouldn't move. It felt like my mind was trapped in the massive prison of my flesh.
This feeling. This is sleep paralysis!
How long has it been since I've had sleep paralysis?
At first, I didn't think much of it, but as time passed, I started to get scared. I could feel someone's gaze constantly watching me.
Suddenly, I remembered the story about how if you sleep with a chair at your bedside, a ghost will sit on it and watch you sleep all night. What if that's true...?
I need to wake up quickly!
"Gasp!"
After straining with all my might, I finally managed to come to my senses. Soon, my eyes met the gaze that had been watching me.
"Dahee. What are you doing?"
"Watching."
Yoo Dahee was sitting in a chair, looking at me. She was already fully dressed in her school uniform.
"Young-won. We need to go to school."
"School?"
I was disoriented.
Come to think of it, today was Monday.
The time was 7 AM on Monday. If we got ready at a reasonable pace, we wouldn't be late for school.
"You're sweating a lot. Young-won. Did you have a bad dream?"
Yoo Dahee asked me.
That's right. I had a nightmare last night!
Ding-
Soon, text appeared before me.
『Congratulations! You have safely returned from the Nightmare Corridor!』
『Calculating rewards for 2 survivors and 1 casualty.』
『Ghost encounters: 3 times + 30 P』
『Escapees: 2 people + 200 P』
『Casualties: 1 person + 10 P』
『Item acquired: Luxury bag (Rare) + 100 P』
『Nightmare Corridor progress: 20% + 200 P』
『Total: 540 P』
Oh, damn-!
Incredible points!
540 points is... like 5.4 million won in cash!
I earned 5.4 million won in one night! I also acquired an item.
"Luxury bag: You can start the journey with up to 2 items."
Oh...!
It's like an inventory that lets you increase your starting items to 2!
It was a downgraded version of Yang Juhee's trait 《Tool User》, but still, it's better than nothing!
For a moment I felt happy, but the next text that appeared cooled my reason.
『1 casualty acquires a quirk.』
『Yang Juhee ◀ Click to check』
『Yang Juhee: 《Kleptomania》 - There are many reasons why they steal things. But the thieves' excuses are mostly similar.』
Death.
Even though I had just woken up and was disoriented, I could clearly recall Yang Juhee's death.
We entered the Nightmare Corridor, used the talisman we got from the basement to help Jung-seok escape, Yang Juhee was killed by an unidentified ghost, and I somehow managed to escape.
Everything started to come back clearly.
"......"
I looked at Yoo Dahee, who was sitting in the chair swinging her legs.
Last night, we met Yoo Dahee in the corridor. And in my case, I even saw Yoo Dahee being horribly eaten alive.
"What?"
But Yoo Dahee tilted her head as if she knew nothing.
She looked very innocent and pure.
Really? Is it really like that?
Is Yoo Dahee really innocent and pure?
I asked Yoo Dahee,
"Dahee. Did you have any dreams last night?"
"Dreams?"
"Just. I heard that many people have bad dreams when they sleep at my house. I was wondering if you were okay. Didn't you have any nightmares?"
"Hmm... hmm... I don't know. I don't think I had any dreams. I slept well."
Is she lying? Or is it true?
I thought I had learned a lot about Yoo Dahee in this "Nightmare Corridor," but she was still a girl with many question marks.
I decided to wash up for now. And while Yoo Dahee couldn't see me in the bathroom, I removed Yang Juhee's quirk.
"Status window."
[Status window details omitted for brevity]
My available points were 978P.
It was a very large number, and I felt full even though I hadn't eaten breakfast.
There were so many things I could do with these points. I could upgrade the shop, copy my traits, or acquire a bunch of items.
[Shop details omitted for brevity]
Do I need to raise the shop level to 3 to unlock new locked items?
I was really excited to see what would be unlocked this time.
Also, the text "4. Open 2nd floor of old school building - 900P" started to really catch my attention.
My available points were 947. If I wanted, I could open the 2nd floor of the old school building.
Until recently, I thought, 'Is there really a need to spend such expensive points to open it?' but now it's different.
I learned that there's a special "sacred statue" on each floor, and each statue definitely has an escape talisman attached to it.
Right now, the only places I can go are the 1st basement and the 1st floor.
There are only two sacred statues and two talismans. If I open the 2nd floor, I can get one more talisman through the sacred statue on the 2nd floor.
It means up to three people can escape.
"I need to think about this a bit more."
***
Whoosh-
I finished washing my hair and face and came out. Yoo Dahee was staring at me with round eyes.
"What?"
"It's my first time seeing a man wash up."
Is that so? Somehow it felt like we were living together, which made me a bit embarrassed.
Suddenly, I remembered that Yoo Dahee had run away from home.
What... is she planning to do from now on? Don't tell me she's going to stay at my house tonight too?
Anyway, we went to school together.
I thought it would be fine since I had experienced going to school with Yang Juhee a few times, but walking with Yoo Dahee was awkward and embarrassing in many ways.
"Young-won. Look over there! A cat!"
Yoo Dahee seemed to find everything fascinating, like an elementary school student going to school for the first time.
Her behavior attracted people's attention, which made me feel embarrassed.
"Dahee. We'll be late if we don't hurry."
"Really? I didn't know. I always go to school by car, so this is my first time walking!"
Come to think of it, that's right.
Yoo Dahee said she's been driven to and from school by car ever since something happened in elementary school.
It was summer of 6th grade, she said.
Hot-
Maybe because I was thinking about summer, the weather already felt hot.
Suddenly, I became curious.
What happened to Yoo Dahee in the summer of 6th grade?
Could the 'dreams' Yoo Dahee experiences be related to what happened then?
"Ouch."
Just then, Yoo Dahee stopped walking abruptly. The flip-flops I lent her must have been uncomfortable.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. But we're almost at school. Oh! I just remembered I'm on duty today! Young-won! I need to go ahead! I'll see you this evening then! I'll cook something delicious for you today!"
Pitter-patter-
With those words, Yoo Dahee ran off quite quickly.
See you this evening? She'll cook something delicious? Does that mean she's staying at my house again tonight?
"Did you hear that? She said she'll cook dinner."
"Wow. Damn. First-years these days are something else."
Students who were walking to school whispered something as they looked at me left behind.
I wonder if Yondo Dahee and I looked like a couple.
Somehow, I felt a sense of superiority. In reality, it's been days full of creepy and scary incidents, though.
With that feeling, I arrived at school to find quite a commotion near the playground.
When I looked to see what was going on, wasn't that Yang Juhee running on the playground?
"Wow. She runs really well. Is she a first-year? Did we have someone like that in our school?"
"At that level, isn't she running better than Bong Ji-yeon, who used to be a promising athlete?"
I was wondering why Yang Juhee was running on the school playground from the morning, but then I remembered something like a mission or quest she got from the 'training ground'.
[Yang Juhee's training details omitted for brevity]
"Wow."
When I checked the training ground, her progress was faster than I expected.
I guess she worked hard while I was going through various troubles trying to find my missing mom.
I thought about saying hello, but she looked busy, so I decided not to.
I didn't have the confidence to handle the attention from people crowding around Yang Juhee.
"What's with Yang Juhee. So annoying. Tch."
Just then, I saw Bong Ji-yeon mixed in with the crowd.
Bong Ji-yeon was openly showing her dislike towards Yang Juhee running on the playground.
Come to think of it, didn't Jung-seok say that Bong Ji-yeon used to do track and field?
I entered the classroom.
It felt like it had been a really long time since I'd been here.
I hadn't properly attended classes for the past few days because I was busy looking for my mom and doing other things.
"Hey. Ha Young-won. Good to see you."
Swish-
Jung-seok, who seemed to have been waiting for me in the classroom, approached me and handed me a notebook.
"This is the assignment Teacher Kang Ha-neul gave us before. I wrote it down diligently."
Assignment? What's this sudden assignment?
Rustle-
When I opened it, I saw very neat handwriting.
[Nightmare Corridor 2nd Entry Report
Participants: Ha Young-won, Jung-seok, Yang Juhee
Contents: Encountered shaman ghost. Explored 1st basement. Encountered Yoo Dahee-]
"Ah."
Come to think of it, I had told Jung-seok to write down everything he remembered in detail as soon as he woke up.
Jung-seok seemed to have written down everything he remembered exactly as I said, in this report format.
He looked a bit tired, either from writing all night or because of the nightmare.
"You wrote it well, Jung-seok. I also survived last night."
"What? Damn, how?"
Is it bad enough to swear? I probably would have sworn too if I were him.
After all, a friend he thought had surely died had come back alive.
"Yang Juhee died and I survived. I found the talisman from the first floor sacred statue and escaped with Yoo Dahee's help. I also roughly figured out the identity of the third ghost. It's a long story if I tell you in detail."
"Hey. I'm so glad you actually remember!"
Jung-seok looked like he was about to hug me and jump up and down. But we can't talk too much here.
It would be better to discuss the details via chat.
"Jung-seok. I'll show this notebook to Yang Juhee first."
"Okay. Oh, and remember in the note we found in the basement, it said something about 'burying something at Gaeryong Mountain's rocky area'? How about we go check it out ourselves this weekend?"
Should I say it's a good idea? We needed all the hints and clues we could get, so it seemed okay to accept.
"Let's ask Juhee about her schedule too. Without Juhee, we're completely useless. If just the two of us go up the mountain and mess things up, it could be really bad."
"That's true."
That's how the day started.
Today's tasks are using the points that exceeded 900P and holding a 'Pirate Crew Meeting'.
Also...
Ding-
My phone rang.
「Joo Chan-mi: Young-won, it's Noona Chan-mi hehe You're free this evening, right? We have Monday service today and you must attend! I'll give you a gift if you come!」
Right, I almost forgot.
There's also the Monday service at Glory Church.
With that feeling, during lunch break.
"Hey! Ha Young-won! Jung-seok! You guys come out behind the old school building!"
Yang Juhee growled. The other students in the class trembled at the sight.
"Yang Juhee was quiet lately, but she's starting again."
"I can understand Young-won, but even the vice class president?"
Anyone watching would think she was calling us out to bully us and extort money. Soon, Jung Sojin got angry.
"Hey! Yang Juhee! I told you I'd report directly to the principal if you keep doing this!"
"What. I just wanted to eat some bread from the school store together."
Yang Juhee showed an indifferent attitude. Soon, Jung Sojin asked me.
"Young-won. Is Yang Juhee bullying you?"
"No, Sojin. We're really just going to eat bread together."
Jung Sojin looked at me with an expression like she was looking at a pitiful person.
I felt terrible.
When I was being bullied before, everyone ignored it so much, why now...!
It's so annoying. Anyway.
We headed to the back of the old school building.
It was gloomy even in broad daylight. There used to be a truckload of kids smoking here, but since teachers started patrolling frequently, there wasn't a single one.
"Damn, I died?"
Yang Juhee frowned deeply.
She couldn't believe she had died. Jung-seok asked.
"What's this about getting help from Yoo Dahee?"
"It's exactly what it sounds like. Wow, dammit. It still gives me chills thinking about it."
I explained everything from start to finish. After hearing the story, Jung-seok asked again.
"So Yoo Dahee died too, right? Did you ask her if she remembers everything from last night?"
"I asked her directly as soon as I woke up, but she didn't know. Looking at her face, it didn't seem like she was lying."
Hmm... Jung-seok stroked his chin.
Yang Juhee also chimed in.
"How could you ask her face-to-face as soon as you woke up? Did you sleep with Yoo Dahee last night or something?"