Chapter 92
The most annoying thing about being troubled by ghosts is that there's nowhere to complain.
If I had been robbed or hit by a person, I could at least report it to the police and threaten to have them put in handcuffs. It made me angry that I couldn't retaliate against ghosts because the law doesn't apply to them.
But thinking about it the other way, that could actually be an advantage. Ghosts don't have human rights or legal rights.
"Show me your chest. Then I'll get in the water too."
I said to the water ghost imitating high school student Yoo Dahee.
My voice trembled a bit from tension, excitement, and anticipation, but there was no need to worry about it.
"What did you just say? I can't hear you well."
The water ghost smiled sweetly, as if she hadn't heard well.
"Come a little closer and say it. What did you just say? Why don't you whisper it in my ear in a soft voice?"
The water ghost showed me her white ear peeking through her wet hair.
Alright, so that's how you want to play it?
It was really annoying. I shouted even louder so that the excuse of not hearing wouldn't work.
"I said show me your chest! Your chest!"
Opportunities to see a high school girl's chest are quite rare.
Although it was a water ghost in Yoo Dahee's form and not a real high school girl, on the other hand, it means the appearance is exactly the same.
If I had said this to a real high school girl, it would have made the news as "Sexual harassment by classmates increasingly crossing the line" and I would have become public enemy number one, but the other party was a ghost.
It meant that no matter how badly I behaved or spoke, she couldn't report me to the police or tip off the news.
Anyway, I demanded to see her chest.
Making such a rude and fatal request to a ghost was really a brave act, and I felt proud and admirable of myself. Maybe I was able to say such a bold thing because the water ghost didn't look like a scary ghost but looked like Yoo Dahee.
"Wow, Young-won, you're really desperate. Did you want to see my chest that badly? I'm really disappointed in you. I didn't know you were this kind of person."
Frown-
The water ghost frowned and made an expression of real disappointment.
An ordinary person might have been discouraged by that undisguised look of contempt, but I had built up a tolerance thanks to my experience of receiving contempt from many people so far.
At times like this, you have to push harder.
"You don't want to? If you don't want to, I'll just go back inside and sleep. I'm really sleepy."
Swish-
I pretended to turn my back. Then the water ghost splashed water on my back from behind.
"Ah, cold!"
"Okay. I'll show you if that's what you want."
"Really?"
Honestly, even though it was my suggestion, I was half in doubt.
I had just been focused on wanting to mess with the water ghost, but she's really going to show her chest?
My heart was pounding for various reasons.
Slowly-
The water ghost Yoo Dahee slowly untied the sash around the waist of her clinging silk robe.
Did the hearts of newlywed grooms watching their brides untie their jeogori ribbons in the Joseon era throb and pound as wildly as mine is now?
But whether she knew my feelings or not, the high school girl water ghost tightly closed her robe again and even tied the knot.
"On second thought, I won't show you."
"Why?!"
"If you really want to see, come into the water and untie this knot yourself."
The water ghost laughed very annoyingly.
I got angry. In the end, this water ghost was clearly toying with me.
How can I make the water ghost angry? If things continue like this, I'll end up being the loser who got played by the water ghost.
As I was feeling frustrated with such thoughts,
Splash-
The water ghost quickly disappeared into the water.
I wondered what on earth was happening, but soon someone appeared over there. It was Yoo Dahee.
Yoo Dahee, wearing a silk robe as pajamas, was approaching me in slippers under the moonlight.
"Young-won, what are you doing there? Who are you talking to? I heard you asking to see someone's chest."
"......"
I became very embarrassed.
What would happen if Yoo Dahee or the other girls found out that I had asked to see the chest of a water ghost that looked like Yoo Dahee? A contempt colder than the water ghost's touch might attack me.
I thought I should keep this to myself for the rest of my life. But just in case, I looked at the pond again.
The pond was calm without even a ripple, as if there had never been any commotion. Yoo Dahee asked:
"Did you ask the water ghost to show you her chest?"
"...No, there's a reason for that. I always get bullied and mocked by ghosts, so I felt a bit unfair... Dahee, could you keep this a secret...?"
I spoke to Yoo Dahee almost pleadingly.
Even a dog starved for days and faced with a snack couldn't have been more desperate than me.
Soon, Yoo Dahee nodded with a serious expression.
"Okay. But what did the water ghost look like? I wanted to see the water ghost too."
Yoo Dahee seemed to find ghost stories interesting. I became afraid of what would happen if I honestly said, "She looked exactly like you."
Asking to see the chest of a water ghost that looked like Yoo Dahee. This is grounds for dropping out of school.
Soon, Yoo Dahee chuckled.
"Did she perhaps look like this?"
Thud-!
Yoo Dahee pushed my body hard with her hand. That hand was very wet, and now I noticed that the ground under Yoo Dahee's feet was damp like a shaded area!
"Huh?"
Splash-!
My body, which had briefly floated in the air, ended up falling into the pond. Water rushed into my nose, ears, and mouth.
"Ack! Blurgh! Aah! Help meeee! Aaaaah!"
Splash splash, plop plop-!
I shouted desperately. I struggled to get out of the water, but I felt someone grab my ankle tightly and try to drag me down to the deep bottom.
Oh no, I'm definitely dead.
As I was thinking this, something grabbed my hand tightly and pulled me out onto the shore.
***
"Hey, what were you trying to do in the pond at this hour?"
The one who pulled me out was Yang Juhee. I collapsed in Yang Juhee's arms, coughing and spitting out water from almost every orifice.
"Cough, cough, blech, bleeeech!"
"Didn't you hear not to go near the pond? You would've died without me. Geez, I'm soaked. You're nothing but trouble, really."
I would've died without Yang Juhee. That's absolutely true. Who would've thought even the second Yoo Dahee who appeared was a water ghost.
Could this Yang Juhee be a water ghost too?
I had such doubts, but Yang Juhee's hand patting my back was quite stinging and warm at the same time. Unlike the water ghost's hand that pushed me earlier, which felt cool and damp like something from the deep sea that made even my soul feel wet, the current Yang Juhee was completely different.
Flash-
Soon, as if sensing the commotion, the lights in the villa came on brightly, and the ajumma, ahjussi, and the kids who seemed to have woken up came out.
I was completely soaked like a drowned rat and had swallowed a lot of water, feeling absolutely miserable.
Finally, morning came after a restless night. I calmed down a bit and explained the whole story of last night to everyone.
"A water ghost that looked like Yoo Dahee appeared and tried to make me fall into the water! She even pushed me, trying to take me into the water!"
I left out the part about asking the water ghost to show her chest. Soon, Yoo Dahee, who was listening to the story, put on a quite serious face.
"The water ghost imitated me. Why me of all people?"
I couldn't understand either why the water ghost imitated Yoo Dahee to trick me. Soon, Jung-seok, who was listening to the story, said something.
"Water ghosts lure people into the water, right? It's like baiting, like an anglerfish luring deep-sea fish with light. Maybe it thought Yoo Dahee's appearance would be the most effective for seduction?"
That made sense.
If the water ghost had taken the form of Jung-seok or Bong Ji-yeon, would I have been interested at all?
I would've just ignored it and gone to sleep. Or I might have just cursed at it.
Thinking about it that way, I felt newly scared and angry, realizing how maliciously sincere and evil it was for the water ghost to take Yoo Dahee's form to seduce me.
However, Yang Juhee, as if not agreeing with Jung-seok's words, asked grumpily:
"Then it could've been my appearance, right?"
What if the water ghost had appeared in Yang Juhee's form? As I was imagining this, Ms. Hong Mi-ri said something.
"Anyway, it's really a dangerous pond. To think a water ghost really appears. They say people often fall in and get hurt, I wonder if someone might really die at this rate."
I, who almost died, knew well how dangerous that pond was.
After thinking for a while, I came to a conclusion.
"Let's exorcise the water ghost."
We can earn points too, which is good. And the method to exorcise the water ghost was easy.
"So, this is the method to exorcise the water ghost?"
Yang Juhee, wearing red-coated work gloves, frowned while holding a shovel. I nodded as I took the shovel from Yang Juhee's hand.
"We just get rid of the pond. It's not a big pond, so if we shovel all day, it should be gone. Hey! Jung-seok! Bring some big rocks from over there! Let's throw them all into the pond!"
We decided to get rid of this pond today.
The problem was what if the Chairman, who owns this villa, objected, but the Chairman didn't seem to care much about the villa and told Yoo Dahee to do as we pleased when she called.
Shove-! Scoop-! Thud-!
With that feeling, we shoveled hard. Mainly Jung-seok and I did the shoveling.
"Hey! Bong Ji-yeon! Yoo Dahee! Why are you only splashing water on me!"
"Dahee! Let's dunk Yang Juhee quickly! Splash her a lot!"
"Kyah!"
The girls, wearing dolphin pants and t-shirts borrowed from the villa, seemed to be having a lot of fun swimming and splashing in the pool.
"Young-won! Jung-seok! When you're done, let's swim together! The water's cool and feels great!"
A soaked Yoo Dahee waved at me. Yoo Dahee trying to make me get into the water.
Somehow, it felt familiar and scary.
Anyway, after half a day of shoveling, moving rocks, and pouring sand and cement, the pond was completely covered. Actually, the villa caretaker ahjussi did more than half the work.
"Now you can't drown even if you want to."
Soon, welcome text appeared before me.
『Congratulations! You have defeated the 'Damp Water Ghost'!』
『Starting settlement for 1 person's survival.』
『You gain 100P.』
All this trouble for just 100P. It's stingy if you call it stingy. But it was better than nothing.
Serves you right, water ghost bitch.
"Now that I have these 100 points, I can take on the ghost dancing on the tomb again."
Hehehe-
I licked my lips while looking at the mercenary group list. Seeing me like this, Jung-seok asked with a slightly uneasy look:
"You're going to take it on again?"
"Yeah."
The mercenary group list I currently have is as follows:
Curse of becoming a ghost after answering three times
Death game
Ghosts come when you talk about them
Electric Fan Ghost Story
Invisible Hand
Damp Water Ghost
What I focused on here was 'Ghosts come when you talk about them'.
"If I do well, I might be able to summon the Tyrannosaurus ghost again. No matter how powerful an evil spirit is, it can't beat a dinosaur. They're all screwed. Hehehe."