Chapter 57
I decided to leave the first floor to the housekeeper and went up to the second floor. But the cat was nowhere to be seen, and I happened to run into Yang Juhee who was wandering around the second floor.
"Yang Juhee. Did the cat run away because you chased it and bullied it?"
"...What did I do?!"
Maybe in my mind, the cat really liked Yang Juhee, climbing on her shoulders and showing affection. But being rejected, it might have been hurt and hidden somewhere.
As I went up to the third floor, I glanced at Yang Juhee in the second-floor corridor.
"Meow. Meow."
Yang Juhee was kneeling on the floor, secretly imitating a cat. What a funny girl.
"Hey. You're really good at imitating a cat. You're just like a cat yourself."
"I'm seriously going to kill you!"
Yang Juhee got angry. She seems embarrassed about being caught imitating a cat.
I avoided Yang Juhee and went up to the third floor.
On the third floor, there was Yoo Dahee, with Bong Ji-yeon following her around, and Jung-seok subtly following Bong Ji-yeon.
I asked Yoo Dahee,
"The housekeeper said she'd look for the cat on the first floor. She told us not to go down to the first floor after 11 PM. Is there a reason for that?"
"Hmm... I'm not sure. Where on earth could Baekseol have gone? Come to think of it, there were times before when things would disappear without a trace. Back then, the previous housekeeper would find them..."
According to Yoo Dahee's memory, things often disappeared like this in this mansion. Some were found, some weren't.
Is this a haunted mansion or something? Ghost mansion.
Feeling a bit creeped out, I went back down to the second floor.
On the second floor were the rooms of the people working in this mansion. It seemed to be the kind of job where they lived in the mansion, getting room and board along with their salary.
Chatter chatter-
I heard women's voices talking from somewhere, and through a slightly open door, I could see pretty older girls. They were taking off their dresses or stockings.
"It's nice to have so many people today."
"Yeah. Dahee brought all her friends. My goodness, what a strange turn of events."
"Hey. What are you doing here?"
"Oh my god!"
Someone grabbed my ear hard, and I was really startled. Even a cat seeing a cucumber couldn't have jumped higher than me.
I almost jumped 2 meters into the air and nearly hit the ceiling.
"What are you doing here?"
"...Ms. Hong Mi-ri."
Ms. Hong Mi-ri had appeared behind me without making any sound, despite wearing incredibly high heels. I don't know how she managed that feat.
Is it because she's actually a ghost?
Come to think of it, the "Red Woman" I met in the Nightmare Corridor also appeared suddenly without any footsteps or presence, grabbing and eating Yang Juhee, and then appearing again to eat Yoo Dahee.
Maybe the ability to move without making any sound is Ms. Hong Mi-ri's ghostly power.
"You naughty boy. Did you just see the women changing clothes inside?"
"Teacher, what are you talking about? I'm looking for the cat right now. Don't falsely accuse an innocent person."
I had to desperately defend my dignity.
I earnestly appealed that Yoo Dahee had lost her cat, and that all the students were wandering around looking for it.
Ms. Hong Mi-ri narrowed her eyes and looked at me very suspiciously, but eventually let go of my ear.
"Ha Young-won. The teacher might seem gullible, but I'll believe you. Have you seen the cat on the second floor?"
"The cat, you mean Baekseol? No, I haven't seen it on the second floor~"
"By the way, who was that? He's cute."
"Look how red his face is."
The housemaid sisters working in the mansion chattered away. Suddenly, I became curious about the identity of these sisters working in such a mansion.
"Do you sisters live here?"
"Yeah. We've lived here since we were young. Mi-ri and all of us are from the same orphanage."
"We're all family."
"Hahahahaha."
As the sisters laughed and chatted, I felt a bit dizzy.
It seemed that the people working in this mansion were children from an orphanage who were brought here, educated, and put to work. That's why they could all stay and work here. Because they didn't have families to begin with.
Suddenly, I remembered the photos I saw on the death floor of the elevator.
They looked like photos of children taken at a kindergarten. But what if it wasn't a kindergarten but an "orphanage"?
Ms. Hong Mi-ri is from an orphanage─
I stored this information well in my head.
"By the way, you're cute. What's your name? Are you Mi-ri's student?"
"You crazy girl. She thinks all young guys are cute."
"Should noona give you some candy?"
Giggle giggle-
I keenly felt like I was being sexually harassed by older women. I felt somewhat embarrassed, but honestly, it wasn't a bad feeling.
Anyway. The housemaid sisters didn't seem to have seen the cat.
"Come to think of it, I often lost things too. Sometimes my stockings would disappear after I took them off."
"I've lost a lot of lipsticks too."
"Didn't someone find them all? The housekeeper who used to be here found everything..."
It seemed things often went missing in this mansion.
"Do you know why they disappear?"
This might be important information.
So I asked the sisters, but Ms. Hong Mi-ri answered this one.
"There's a ghost living in this mansion. A ghost that eats curious kids like you who don't listen to adults."
"......"
When Ms. Hong Mi-ri says it, it doesn't sound like a joke. That's when it happened.
One of the sisters who liked younger guys said,
"By the way, what was that housekeeper's name? The one who worked before the current head sister."
"...Yeah? What was her name?"
"I can't remember. What was her name?"
Everyone seemed to have forgotten the name of the housekeeper who had quit recently.
According to Yoo Dahee, it hadn't even been a month since she quit. Is it possible to forget a name in such a short time?
It was truly a mysterious mansion.
Thinking this, I received a bunch of candy from the sisters and came out into the corridor to find the creepy housekeeper holding a lantern in the dimly lit hallway.
"You. Stop wandering around and go upstairs to sleep."
"I told you I need to find the cat. Did you search the entire first floor?"
"I searched everywhere. It's not there."
This was a lie. The first floor was very large, so it would take at least an hour to search alone. It was impossible to have searched the entire first floor in less than 30 minutes.
She must have done a cursory search and was just making excuses.
Suddenly, I remembered hearing that this new housekeeper disliked Yoo Dahee and really hated her cat, Baekseol.
Could this scary housekeeper have gotten rid of the cat somewhere? It was entirely possible.
"Then, good night."
I pretended to go up to the third floor to shake off the housekeeper, And after she was out of sight, I slowly went down towards the first-floor stairs.
─Meow. Meow.
With impeccable timing, I could hear cat sounds coming from the first floor! I quickly went down to the first floor.
─Meow. Meow.
The cat sounds were coming from what seemed to be a dark storage room.
It was a somewhat creepy place.
***
"You think it's on the first floor?"
Jung-seok frowned as he heard my story.
My suggestion to go together to the first floor where the cat seemed to be sounded strange to him.
"Didn't the housekeeper say she searched the first floor and didn't find the cat? And didn't she tell us not to go to the first floor after 11 PM?"
"That's why I'm saying it sounds like a lie and it's suspicious. I clearly heard the cat's sound from the first floor, I'm telling you. Let's all go to the first floor together."
I decided to summon all my friends.
Wandering around the first floor alone was scary as hell, but if we all went together, it felt like we could overcome any adversity or hardship.
Comrades. Adventure. Friendship. Isn't that the essence of a pirate crew?
With that feeling, we headed down to the first floor. But a problem arose.
"Hey, you kids. What are you doing not sleeping? Go back upstairs quickly."
On our way down to the first floor, we were caught by the ghostly housekeeper who was standing guard, whether on night duty or as a night watch.
The housekeeper particularly scolded Yoo Dahee harshly.
"Yoo Dahee. Just because you brought your friends, do you think it's okay to wander around the house making a mess?"
"...But Baekseol..."
"I can buy you the exact same cat tomorrow. That'll do, right?"
She was a housekeeper with a very progressive mindset. Is exploring the first floor impossible now?
The time was approaching midnight. Everyone looked tired too.
We decided to go to sleep for now.
Well, there was no other choice. Then, around dawn, I woke up from my unfamiliar bed.
─Meow. Meow.
I could hear the cat's cry loudly in my ears.
When I slowly went out to the corridor, the crying sound was coming from the first floor below the stairs.
As I carefully went down the stairs, I saw the housekeeper nodding off while sitting in the corridor. How could she not wake up with the cat crying like this?
Thanks to my experience in the corridor, or maybe due to the effect of the 《Strong Heart》 trait, I went down to the first floor in one go with what I thought was a courageous step.
The place I arrived at, following the cat's sound, was what could be called a 'food storage'.
There were boxes stacked with things like potatoes, onions, and apples. Fans were turned on here and there, seemingly to keep the ingredients fresh.
─Meow.
As I was looking around the food storage, my phone's light revealed white fur. It's the cat!
"Baekseol!"
I called out to the cat with joy.
But the problem came next. As if from a ginkgo tree, a long, stiff hand suddenly appeared from somewhere and grabbed the cat Baekseol's body.
It was a hand that looked about 2 meters long. The hand took the white cat Baekseol through a dog hole in the wall of the food storage and disappeared.
"......"
I froze on the spot. I couldn't believe what I had just seen.
The hole was big enough for a large dog to pass through.
It was very dark, and there were talismans stuck all around, but the talismans near the hole were torn, with paper fluttering. And from inside that hole, I could hear continuous meowing.
"Do you want to take the cat?"
Suddenly, a human voice was clearly heard from inside. It was a very thin and faint woman's voice.
I was startled.
"W-Who are you?"
"I am the owner of this house. The real owner."
Oh, shit.
I felt the hair all over my body stand on end. Whatever was in this dog hole was clearly a ghost.
"If you want the cat, put your hand in here."
Put my hand into the dog hole? Fuck that!
Who in their right mind would do something that obviously looks like it'll end badly?
"...Um, is there no other way I can get the cat?"
"Do you have anything to trade for the cat?"
An object! Barter!
Right, this is a capitalist society.
I rummaged through my pockets.
My pockets were full of candy I had received from the older girls.
"H-Here."
Swish-
As I held out the candy, an extremely bony and skinny hand stretched out almost 2 meters from inside the dog hole and swept away my candy.
It was such a terrifying sight that I felt like I was about to foam at the mouth.
"This is much lighter than the cat. This is all you can get for this."
Plop-
Something fell out of the dog hole. It was a rolled-up drawing paper.
I picked up a nearby stick and used it to retrieve the drawing paper.
Flutter-
When I unrolled the paper tied with a rubber band, there was a picture. It looked like someone had drawn it diligently with crayons.
It seemed to be a drawing of a woman, and there was writing below it.
"Thank you, Auntie Ha Chae-yeon"
"......"
Ha Chae-yeon. That's the same name as my mom.
"Who is this Auntie Ha Chae-yeon here? Are there more things like this?"
"There are. I can give you the cat too. If you just put your head in here. Put your head in. Kihihihi. If you don't put your head in, I'll come to you at night!"
My head? What are you trying to do with my head!
"You dirty ghost bastard! You've shown your true colors!"
I had no doubt that the ghost crouching inside that dog hole was an evil kind.
At this point, there's no choice but to fight. I opened my status window and checked the Mercenary Group.
It was to dispatch a ghost.
『Placebo Effect』
The ghost I was going to dispatch to myself was the placebo ghost.
Having been interested in dinosaurs since childhood, I thought of lots of small raptors, and soon, perhaps thanks to the placebo effect, I could hear the ferocious roars of dinosaurs.
"Arghhhh!"
I also heard a strange woman's scream. Soon, text appeared before my eyes.
『Congratulations! You have defeated the 'Invisible Hand'!"
"Calculating rewards for 1 survivor."
"You gain 100P.』
Invisible Hand? Was it Adam Smith's ghost?
No wonder it kept wanting to trade things.
『Your 'Placebo Effect' has passed on.
You can no longer dispatch 'Placebo Effect' from the 'Mercenary Group'.』
Oh, shit, my ultimate move, the dinosaur ghost!?
Why did it pass on on its own!?
Does a ghost pass on once it's dispatched from the Mercenary Group!?
─Meow. Meow.
Just then, I heard the cat's cry from inside the dog hole.
When I shone my phone light, I could see a white ball of fur moving in the pitch-black hole. And inside, there were all sorts of miscellaneous objects.
I reached in and grabbed a handful of the objects inside. And among the odds and ends, I found a strange piece of paper.
"This..."
It was a photo that seemed to be of a male student at his high school entrance ceremony.
It was a photo taken with an instant camera and developed, but it seemed quite old as the colors had faded.
"This is a photo of me."
It was a photo of me and my mom taken at the Yeongji High entrance ceremony. Why is a photo taken by my mom here?