Chapter 71: Walking into Hell (3)

Buzz, buzz-

The woman swinging widely left and right kept the beat with her mouth.

"Tick tock, tick tock."

It was an incredibly strange and bizarre sight. Even for me, who had faced various ghosts, it was completely incomprehensible.

Why on earth? Why on earth was it doing such a thing?

The Rhythm Ghost. That's the name I gave to this ghost in the music room.

Fortunately, the Rhythm Ghost just hung in the air, swinging left and right and ticking. But I thought it was important not to let my guard down.

Thump thump thump thump thump thump-

Soon, a very busy and chilling presence passed by the music room.

Thump thump-thump thump-thump thump thump-

The presence disappeared after about 10 seconds.

I could barely gather my wits. The identity of the big presence that passed through the corridor.

It was...

"It was dancing..."

The Dancing Ghost.A ghost that stomped its feet heavily and shook its arms chaotically in all directions.

I couldn't understand why it was behaving like that.

"Tick... tock... tick... tock..."

That's when it happened. The sound of the ghost keeping time with its mouth gradually decreased.

When I looked to see what was going on, I noticed that the amplitude and interval of the pendulum-like swinging left and right had significantly decreased compared to before.

If this continues, the swinging will stop.

And... whether it was my imagination or a warning from what could be called instinct or intuition, I felt that if that swinging stopped, something very bad would happen to me.

"Damn it."

I pretended to be strong and cursed to gather courage as I left the music room.

I need to get out of here!

"...Paper crane..."

Where on earth is the paper crane?!

I desperately looked around to find the paper crane that must have flown off somewhere while I was hiding in the music room. But I couldn't see it.

"You paper crane bastard! Did you go too fast?"

I thought the paper crane's speed was slow. I didn't expect it to disappear so quickly while I was hiding in the music room.

Thud-!

Just then, I heard a big, dull sound from the music room I had just left.

It sounded similar to 'something of human weight falling to the floor after being suspended high up'.

I don't know why I made such a guess. I didn't really want to know... but the important thing was that the music room door had opened.

Rattle-

Soon, someone's head poked out of the music room.

Just the head. The face, slightly tilted to the left, peeking out made eye contact with me. It was the Rhythm Ghost.

"Hello?"

The ghost with bloodshot eyes spoke to me.

Is conversation possible...? For a moment, I thought of Gu Hyena. After it became possible to talk with her, she became a bit less scary.

Like that, if it's a ghost that can communicate... it might be a little less frightening-

"Hello?"

The Rhythm Ghost greeted me again.

I... how should I...?

"H-hello?"

Hiss-

The Rhythm Ghost smiled at my response. Soon, the ghost's face came closer as if approaching me.

I felt dizzy as I thought how terrifying the neck, which must be at least 1m long, was.

"Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello?"

"D-damn it."

It was a mistake to think conversation was possible! I could see that this wasn't a conversation but a sound made to lure in prey, so I turned my head and chose to run away.

"Damn it!"

Run! Run with all your might!

And the Rhythm Ghost followed behind me.

"Hello? Hello? Hahahahahahaha! Hahahahahahahahaha!"

What's so happy and fun about this!

When I glanced back, I saw the crazy ghost lunging at me with its mouth wide open, and its appearance was so harmful and vicious that I felt like I might have a heart attack.

Still, running blindly to avoid the ghost helped. I found the flying paper crane!

Spin spin-

The paper crane was spinning in circles in front of a certain place. It said "Principal's Office".

I entered the principal's office, hoping the door would be open, and locked it.

Soon I heard a thump thump thump─ sound of someone knocking on the principal's office door.

"Hey! Come out! Teacher's not scary at all. Hey. Come out here. Come out here. Teacher will put their tongue in your ear and suck your brain. It's not scary at all. It doesn't hurt at all."

The Rhythm Ghost was calling me from outside. I shouted at the Rhythm Ghost,

"Go to hell, you bitch!"

"Hehehehe! Hehehehehe! I memorized your voice! Your voice! Memorized it!"

I really wanted to cover my ears.

That's when I noticed an altar (神像) in the principal's office. It was in the form of a saint crucified on a cross.

However, its neck was missing, just like the altars on other floors.

The talisman attached to the altar.

As I acquired it, I felt much better, and I felt a surge of confidence in my body, whether it was adrenaline or endorphins or insulin or whatever.

"Come in, you bitches! Come in! You damn fucking bitches! Come in!"

I can escape just by tearing this. With that thought, I became as excited as a hero holding a holy sword.

And I got angry.

Why do I have to go through this? Why on earth!

"You damn bitches! You pest bitches causing trouble even after dying! You fucking selfish ghost bastards!"

Shouting to my heart's content made me feel a bit better.

And whether my cursing was effective or for some other reason, I could no longer hear the noise of the Rhythm Ghost from outside the principal's office.

It was quiet. So quiet it was rather scary.

Let's escape quickly.

As I was thinking this and about to tear the talisman, I saw a lamp. A desk lamp on the table.

Click-

When I pressed the button, the lamp lit up and the interior of the principal's office became a bit brighter. I soon made eye contact with a portrait hanging in the principal's office.

It said "Self-portrait". It was identical to the picture of Cheon Dae-gon I had seen at the mansion.

"Ugh, damn. Creepy."

I moved my hand to take down the picture and place it face down on the floor.

When I picked up the frame and put it on the floor, I noticed there was something like a small safe behind the frame.

It was a safe that opened by pressing numbers, like a door lock.

"This is super suspicious."

There was also writing next to the safe that looked like someone had written with a highlighter.

"ㅁ4ㅁ1"

Could it be a password?

It looked like a four-digit number, but the first and third digits were erased, making it hard to read. I could make out that the second and last digits were 4 and 1.

Does this mean I have to try each combination? How many possibilities could there be...

It would've been nice if Jung-seok were here.

Anyway. With the peace of mind from having the talisman, I took a quick look around the principal's office. I was curious if there was anything else to farm.

There might be a hint for the safe's password. I don't know what's inside the safe, but there might be something good?

As I was thinking this, I noticed a piece of paper on the floor.

Flutter.

[Note content omitted for brevity]

The story on the paper ended there. There were many concerning points, but the most troubling was the talk about the frame.

No frame in the principal's office? Then what did I see? I examined the frame I had dropped on the floor.

My face was reflected in it. This wasn't a frame... it was a mirror!

"Agh, damn it!"

I was so startled that I tore the talisman. It's time for an emergency escape!

***

[Escape results and point calculations omitted]

I opened the fridge to get some water.

"Aah! Damn it!"

Rustle rustle-

What almost made me wet myself was two cockroaches as big as my thumb crawling around the living room. They were really huge and black ones.

Scuttle. Scuttle scuttle. Scuttle.

"Aaargh!"

Two cockroaches from dawn! This was a disaster and hell!

It was so unfair! Why am I the only one suffering like this?!

"Young-won. Son. What's all this fuss about in the morning?"

Creak-

Mom opened the door and came out.

It was 6 AM.

Mom frowned at the messy living room.

"Hey! What are you doing from dawn! Why is the living room such a mess? The dishes are all broken too."

"No. I didn't do it."

The living room was a mess as if burglars had broken in. Checking my phone, I learned there had been a magnitude 6 or higher earthquake in the Gaeryong area.

What a strange turn of events.

Thinking this, I washed up, had breakfast, and set out for school.

On the way to school, I saw unfamiliar sights like cracks in the asphalt on the streets or tilted utility poles.

Could it be damage from the earthquake they said happened last night? Students walking around were all talking about the earthquake.

"It shook so much yesterday."

"I woke up because of the apartment swaying and haven't slept since."

"My whole family woke up and hid under the dining table-"

The earthquake seemed stronger than I thought. Was it enough to wake everyone up?

I didn't know because I was in the Nightmare Corridor.

As I was walking, someone called out to me.

"Ah! Young-won!"

"...Sojin."

It was our class president, Jung Sojin.

"Young-won. Yesterday's earthquake was really something, wasn't it? They say it was the largest in Korea since the 20th century?"

"Oh. I see."

"They say Gaeryong City was the epicenter. Apparently, Gaeryong City shook like a boat floating on water."

My condition was already bad because of the nightmare and cockroaches, and talking with Jung Sojin from the morning was killing me. Jung Sojin kept chattering away.

"I think this earthquake might be because of the water vein said to exist under Gaeryong City. Did you know? They say there's a huge river flowing under this Gaeryong City. I heard it wasn't originally suitable for building a city?"

Jung Sojin is going on about water veins too. What's gotten into her?

Has she become interested in ghost stories, urban legends, and occult stuff after escaping alive from the corridor?

I arrived at the classroom while listening to Jung Sojin's story. The classroom was also in chaos with desks fallen over and chairs tipped over.

"Guys! There's a crack in the schoolyard!"

"No way!"

"I heard there are cracks in the corridors too!"

The new school building was damaged by the earthquake all over.

While the kids were making a fuss, I looked at the old school building visible through the window.

While the school was in chaos from the earthquake, only the old school building remained unchanged, existing like an eyesore.

Tap!

Just then, someone put their hand on my shoulder.

"Hey."

"God, you scared me!"

I was so startled. When I turned my head, Ms. Hong Mi-ri was frowning at me.

She approached without making a sound and surprised me again!

"Ms. Hong Mi-ri. What's the matter?"

"What happened to you last night?"

"......"

I could tell Hong Mi-ri was trying to test me. She's asking if I remember what happened in the corridor.

"Wasn't yesterday's earthquake really scary? I almost wet myself thinking North Korea had launched a missile."

I talked about the earthquake, pretending to know nothing. Hong Mi-ri looked at me with narrow eyes and then left without a word.

I felt like she was suspecting me. This is going to be troublesome from now on.

Given this situation, I thought I should take some action regarding Ms. Hong Mi-ri within this week.

Well, I did have some ideas in mind.