Courage Test (3)

Jeong Seok said that.
Yoo Dahee was involved in some big incident in elementary school.
And this seemed to be a different case from the disappearance of Yang Juhui.

“It’s a bit awkward for me to talk about it myself.”

Jeong Seok, who usually liked to explain things in detail, was showing a passive attitude for some reason in this situation.

In many ways, I wanted to press further, but I thought there must be a good reason for Jeong Seok to say this.
Everyone has their own circumstances, after all.

*Beep beep*
When I opened the door lock and went inside, Yoo Dahee had already gathered all her things.

“Hey, guys. I think I’ve been a bother. Sorry. I should get going now.”

Was she thinking of going home?
Certainly, judging from the current mood, it didn’t seem like we could continue playing games or anything like that.

In the end, Yoo Dahee also left the house.
Only Jeong Seok and I remained.
The house that had felt noisy and cramped until just a moment ago suddenly felt spacious.

“Wow, so many things are happening. I didn’t expect Yang Juhui to yell like that and leave.”

Jeong Seok remarked.
It seemed Jeong Seok also had no idea about the situation between Yang Juhui and Yoo Dahee.
I briefly explained what I had heard from Yang Juhui, and Jeong Seok was very surprised.

“She gave a false eyewitness testimony? No wonder Yang Juhui was angry. But why did she do such a thing? What did Yoo Dahee gain by lying to the police?”

Jeong Seok seemed to have hit the same wall as me.
Why on earth would she do that?
It made no sense from a common sense perspective, so that was natural.

“Maybe as an elementary school student, she had the urge to deceive adults and tell lies. Kids do all sorts of mischief at that age. It was probably a child’s pure malice.”

That was the extent of what I could speculate.
However, the judgment of Jeong Seok, who attended the same private elementary school as Yoo Dahee, was different.

“As I recall, Yoo Dahee was… the one who most diligently took care of the rabbits and hamsters at school.”

“Really?”

“She suddenly retracted her statement… I think there must be some key point here.”

A sudden retraction…
Suddenly, being unable to remember…
Come to think of it, isn’t there someone close to me who’s going through a similar situation these days?

It was my mom.

My mom’s whereabouts during the three days she went missing were unclear, and her memory and mental state were shaky enough that she even forgot about me, her son.

Yoo Dahee’s retraction of her testimony about Yang Juhui’s disappearance.
And my mom’s memory loss.
What if these events that seemed completely unrelated were actually similar situations?

“Jeong Seok. When was this big incident you mentioned? You said Yoo Dahee got caught up in a pretty big incident as an elementary school student. Can’t you at least tell me around when that was?”

“…It was the summer of 6th grade. After that, Yoo Dahee started coming to school in a chauffeur-driven car. I didn’t know she’d still be coming to school by car.”

Summer of 6th grade.
I felt like I could hear the sound of cicadas ringing in my ears, and unpleasantly sticky sweat flowed down my back, putting me in a very uncomfortable mood.
To shake off the sudden feeling of being thrown into midsummer, I spoke with deliberate seriousness.

“Yang Juhui was attending Yeongji High School at the time of her disappearance. Even if it was 4 years ago, a high school girl’s disappearance would be a big deal, right? Wouldn’t it come up if we search online?”

We searched the internet for missing person cases in Gaeryong City and cases of missing high school girls.
And then… quite a few cases came up.

Just earlier this year, another student from Yeongji High had gone missing.
And 5 years ago, a student was found with only her head missing after disappearing…
4 years ago, another one went missing.

Series of Disappearances of High School Girls in Gaeryong City
Police still struggling with investigation...

“This seems to be about Yang Juhui. The article is from spring. Juhui went missing in spring. But according to what you said, Jeong Seok, the incident Yoo Dahee experienced was in summer. The timing doesn’t match up between the two.”

I thought Yoo Dahee had experienced a big incident and lost her memory, and that led to her retracting her testimony about the disappearance.
But the big incident Yoo Dahee experienced was much later than the retraction, in terms of timing.

I don’t get it.
If we asked her directly, we could probably find out for sure.
But it seemed like such a sensitive matter that it would be hard for her to talk about it easily.

“More importantly, why are there so many disappearances in this city?”

It was an ominous city in many ways.
Was it because the city itself was built on top of a large water vein?

“The work of the same culprits?”

“No. I don’t think so. This case with the missing head. A suspect believed to be the perpetrator was caught. He even confessed to committing the crime. It wasn’t related to the other cases.”

Jeong Seok pointed to the article about the ‘headless high school girl’ case from 5 years ago.
He seemed to know quite a bit about it.

“But the culprit was released due to lack of evidence.”

Someone who even confessed was released due to lack of evidence?
As I felt doubtful, Jeong Seok said,

“I also think it’s impossible. At that time, my father was known as an undefeated prosecutor. But after being in charge of this case, my father changed.”

I recalled the fact that Jeong Seok dreamed of becoming a prosecutor.
The reason he joined the ‘Ha Youngwon Crew’ that exorcised ghosts was to become the world’s strongest prosecutor who could catch all criminals.

When I first heard about his dream job, I didn’t understand well.
But looking at it now, it seemed Jeong Seok also had quite complicated circumstances.

“And the missing head from that time still hasn’t been found. Remember when I fell over after being really surprised to see a head rolling around in the elevator? I wondered if it might be that head.”

“Was the head you encountered in the elevator this high school girl’s head?”

“No. It looked different. This high school girl. She was the big sister who lived next door to us. If it had been her face, I would have definitely recognized it. It was someone else.”

Was it that Jeong Seok had experienced his next-door neighbor being murdered with only her head disappearing?
His father, who was a prosecutor, was in charge of that case, and the culprit was even released.

How should I put it…
We only had four people gathered at my house today, but my head was throbbing from learning too much unexpected information.
I had just wanted to play games, eat chicken, and talk about the “Nightmare Corridor.”

A severed head…
Suddenly, something flashed in my mind.

“Ah, right. Jeong Seok. What about Hong Miri, the English teacher? Don’t you think she’s a bit suspicious?”

“The English teacher? She definitely drives a sports car that would be hard to afford on a teacher’s salary. No matter how I think about it, it’s suspicious. But her family could be wealthy.”

“No. Not that.”

I told Jeong Seok about what had happened not long ago.
The blood flowed from her neck.
The different colors of her face and body.

*Swish*

Soon, Jeong Seok pulled out some documents from the bag he had brought today.

“It might be related to the twin experiment…”

Research shows that achievements are passed down through blood. Parents and children. Twin sisters will prove our theory.  
Twins are indeed remarkable.  
The development of sisters - Yeri and ██ has stood out among the children of the facility over the past 5 years. Especially the younger sister ██, her aptitude as a Watcher far surpasses expectations.  
The younger sister has a unique birthmark that the older sister does not have. Could this difference create a disparity in levels even between twins who share the same blood? In any case, if it's these sisters, they will surely take us to ███.  

The experiment has failed.  

“The sisters’ names are Yeri and… Miri…? Hong Yeri and Hong Miri? Youngwon. This seems quite plausible. Usually, the older sister’s name is written first. The younger sister mentioned here is Hong Miri…”

Jeong Seok seemed to be deep in thought about something.
Then, he reached a conclusion.

“It says here that the younger sister has a unique mole on her body. If we directly confirm it, wouldn’t we be able to clearly identify her? If it’s called a ‘unique mole,’ it must be distinct enough to catch the eye.”

Let’s check if there’s a mole on Ms. Hong Miri’s body…
Is that what we’re doing now?

“How can we… confirm it?”

How are we supposed to check for a unique mole on a female teacher’s body?
Jeong Seok also couldn’t come up with a plausible method for this.
Then Jeong Seok said something.

“You know the rumor about Kim Geonho wandering around the motel district with the English teacher? If it’s true, maybe Kim Geonho would know whether there’s a mole on Ms. Hong Miri’s body or not.”

“Hey, that rumor seemed fake.”

“Are you 100% sure it’s fake?”

100% sure?
If he asked like that… I couldn’t be certain again.

“I heard Kim Geonho isn’t coming to school these days. No. Even if he is, it’s a bit… difficult to ask him if the English teacher has a mole on her body or not. Anyway, since we’re on the topic, let me explain…”

While I was at it, I told Jeong Seok about the Nightmare Corridor.
Jeong Seok was a trustworthy friend of mine, and he was smart.

“Is that for real? That you can put people in a place like the Elevator Death Floor? Like a player entering a dungeon in a party play?”

He catches on quick. That’s good.
I also told him that you gain an [Eccentricity] if you die inside the corridor.
And that if this [Eccentricity] stacks twice, you die.

“Eccentricity… Is it related to when my cousin Jeong Sojin suddenly freaked out, saying her body smelled and didn’t attend class?”

Jeong Seok’s deduction was accurate.
Just from mentioning the Eccentricity, he even guessed that Sojin was a player.
Would he get angry that I threw his scary cousin into a creepy story…? As I was thinking that, Jeong Seok said,

“It’s an interesting story. Maybe all the things we’re experiencing are related to that ‘Nightmare Corridor.’ If we keep raising that ‘progress,’ we might find a clue.”

Jeong Seok didn’t seem to mind much about putting his cousin in the corridor.
But he seemed concerned about something else.

“That corridor thing. Can anyone enter? Or is there a criteria for appearing on the player list? Am I on it?”

“You’re… on it. I see you on the list now. Some people are on it, and some aren’t. I’m not sure what the criteria are. Yoo Dahee was added today, too. Maybe it’s based on people I’ve met.”

Looking at the player list again, Ms. Hong Miri had been added too.
Just as I was thinking it was really strange, Jeong Seok made a fuss.

“You. Do you realize how incredible this is? You’ve become someone who can kill people without leaving any evidence. Have you seen the manga Death Note? You’re like the protagonist from there!”

“Death Note… The one where you write people’s names in a notebook, and they die?”

“Yeah! If you, for example, become close with the U.S. President… You might be able to put the U.S. President in that corridor and kill him. And no evidence would be left!”

Thinking about it like that… It certainly seemed possible.

“I knew we were more suited to be the mafia or impostor side in the mafia game. And Youngwon, don’t you think you could secretly kill the culprit of this case from 5 years ago?”

Jeong Seok pointed at the case of the girl next door shown on the monitor.

“Imposing the death penalty on those who have escaped the nets of the law. It doesn’t make sense for someone who clearly committed a crime to live righteously just because they repented a bit at church when the victim hasn’t even forgiven them.”

I started imagining what would have happened if Jeong Seok had gotten this status window instead of me. Would people have started dying suddenly?

“Hey. Jeong Seok. That’s going too far. What if I kill people like that, and then all their ghosts come flocking to me? Then, I’d be the only one getting harassed. Are you confident you could handle it if the ghost of the U.S. President threatened me with the nuclear missile button? If murderer ghosts chase me, I’ll seriously pee my pants.”

“…That’s… That’s true, too. Ghosts…”

Jeong Seok nodded as if convinced by what I said.
But his eyes still looked troubled by various thoughts.
I spoke preemptively as if to prevent Jeong Seok from saying something ominous again.

“Originally, I was planning to explore the corridor today. But with the mood like this, I think it’s best to pass for today.”

*Woo woong… Chirp*
Then my cell phone rang.
I wondered who it was, but it was Yoo Dahee.

Yoo Dahee: I'm going to the old school building now. I think I'll remember this and that if I go inside.
Yoo Dahee: But I'm a bit scared to go in alone. Will you come with me?

The old school building…
She’s saying to actually enter the old school building, not enter the Nightmare Corridor?

That's a bit scary.

It’s crazy.
Why would I go to a place that seems like ghosts would pop out?
Do I look like the kind of guy who would unconditionally accept a pretty girl’s request just because I’m Ha Youngwon who could push around even the U.S. President?

Yoo Dahee: If you come with me, I'll grant you one wish.

“Hey, Jeong Seok. Wanna do a courage test today?”