Corridor Conquest (3)
“Ha Youngwon. Have you seen anything like this before?”
Jeong Seok asked my opinion as he looked at the large hole in the floor of the broadcasting room.
“No. This is my first time seeing this, too. It’s my first time in the broadcasting room.”
The hole in the broadcasting room was a first discovery for me as well.
The hole in the floor was so dark that the lighter’s flame couldn’t gauge its depth.
But logically, it seemed to be a hole leading to the basement level 1.
The basement level 1 of the old building.
It was the place we went with Yoo Dahee and Jeong Seok to get the magic wand.
Anyway, we had a new choice.
- Go down.
- Don’t go down.
While we were deep in thought about these two options, a sound echoed in my ears.
*Ring-! Ring-! Riiing-!*
It was the sharp sound of a bell.
“Aaaaaaah!”
A scream filled with hatred followed.
The Shaman ghost, enraged by Yang Juhui’s stabbing, must have already reached here.
*Clank*
*Rattle!*
The sound of doors opening was loud.
Was it opening each room in the corridor one by one?
Jeong Seok, realizing this as well, asked anxiously.
“Hey. What do we do? If we hide here, we’ll be cornered. Make a decision.”
After much deliberation, I made a decision.
“Alright. Damn it. Let’s go! What more can happen? We might just die! Let’s go! Let’s get in!”
Surviving in this terrifying place alone has no meaning.
If there’s a game called Nightmare Corridor, it’s not just survival but strategies and progression that matter.
Jeong Seok nodded at my conclusion.
“Good idea. But how do we get in?”
Jeong Seok threw a box lying on the floor into the hole.
*Thud*
The sound came from the bottom immediately.
“Considering it took about a second for a roughly 1kg object to hit the bottom after falling, with gravitational acceleration, it should be… about 2 meters. The height seems to be around 2 meters.”
Two meters. Is there a ladder or a stepping stone?
Yang Juhui spoke while I was looking around.
“Hey! You won’t get hurt jumping down 2 meters! I jumped from the second floor when I was in middle school!”
It seems Yang Juhui had jumped from the second floor in middle school.
I had a lot to say, but Yang Juhui, seemingly frustrated with our conversation, loosened up and sat on the edge of the hole.
And then, like someone who had made a big decision, she jumped down!
*Thump*
“Agh!”
Yang Juhui screamed as she landed.
I asked.
“Hey! Are you okay?”
“I’m fine! Hey! It’s not as high as I thought!”
She seemed okay.
Jeong Seok and I were impressed by Yang Juhui’s recklessly bold courage.
Now, it was the next person’s turn.
I said.
“I’ll go.”
*Hoo*
After taking a deep breath, I jumped with all my might!
Two meters.
It was slightly scary because of the awkward height, but the sound of the bells behind us was even scarier.
“Done!”
Yang Juhui caught me.
Now, it was the last turn for Jeong Seok.
“Hey! I’m coming down! Catch me!”
Jeong Seok, sitting on the edge of the hole, jumped towards us.
Yang Juhui and I caught him well, and we all got down to the basement without major injuries.
*Whoosh*
Yang Juhui used the lighter’s flame to look around.
Contrary to the expectation of being chilly, the basement was very hot.
It was warm, and a foul, fishy smell was coming from all directions.
‘Save me’ ‘Save me’ ‘Save me’
‘Save me’ ‘Save me’ ‘Save me’
‘Save me’ ‘Save me’ ‘Save me’
‘A ghost lives here.’
The walls were filled with scribbles as if someone had hastily written them.
It was a similar yet more eerie situation compared to the first floor where the ghost roamed.
“Look at that.”
Yang Juhui pointed at something with her hand.
It looked like a black thread.
But as we got closer, it was not thread but human hair.
Strands of fallen hair were scattered everywhere.
Judging by the length, it seemed like a woman’s, but I couldn’t be sure.
“So what do we do now?”
Yang Juhui asked as she looked around with the lighter.
We had come down to the basement to escape the enraged Shaman ghost, but without a clear goal.
I made a very intense decision in a very short time.
“Let’s look around and find anything that might be a clue or useful.”
It was our first time in the basement of the Nightmare Corridor.
We had to find something useful and then escape this place alive.
Right. Find the escape spot.
How long had we walked?
It felt like about five minutes.
“But… is the corridor usually this straight?”
Yang Juhui, holding the lighter, asked us as we walked.
She seemed to question the straight corridor structure of the basement.
Jeong Seok spoke.
“The basement corridor we went to with Yoo Dahee wasn’t like this. That was reality, and now we’re in a nightmare, so there might be differences.”
*Step. Step.*
Only the sound of our footsteps echoed in the basement.
Just when we thought we might be repeating the same place, something strange appeared ahead.
“It’s a bag. Wow, it’s a Louis Vuitton school bag!”
Yang Juhui fearlessly picked up the item lying on the floor.
What on earth could it be?
“This is over 3 million won! I’ve always wanted one!”
It was an extremely expensive luxury school bag.
*Zip*
Yang Juhui opened the bag’s zipper.
And took out the school supplies and textbooks inside.
*Whoosh*
The textbooks reflected in the lighter’s flame seemed to belong to a first-year student of Yeongji High School.
A name was also written.
“Gu Hyena.”
Just as I thought I had heard the name somewhere, Jeong Seok spoke.
“If it’s Gu Hyena… isn’t she the girl who went missing at the beginning of the semester?”
Right!
It was as Jeong Seok said!
The name of the girl who caused a commotion when she went missing at the beginning of the semester was Gu Hyena!
Why is something belonging to that girl here?
“Oh wow. Jackpot.”
Yang Juhui rummaged through the Louis Vuitton bag.
It didn’t seem to bother her that it belonged to a missing person.
*Rustle*
At that moment, something fell out of the Louis Vuitton bag.
It looked like a torn piece of a notebook.
There was also writing on it.
Shaman -- No eyes. Can hear well. Carries a bell. Doesn't seem very dangerous if not provoked. But once caught, it chases endlessly. Can't leave the first floor.
“It seems to be a paper describing the ghost!”
Jeong Seok shouted in surprise.
We decided to read the rest of the story written below.
Escape talisman -- If you burn this talisman, you can escape. One talisman per person. One is definitely attached in front of the deity. There is one deity per floor.
There was also a picture depicting the talisman.
It looked like an object with the character “出” on it.
You can do it. You can do it. The longer you stay, the more you feel like you're being swallowed by this place. You have to find it quickly and get out. But is it really possible? I don't know how long I've been here. I am a prisoner trapped in an eternal cave... What was my name again?
It was someone’s journal.
As the writing went on, it became harder to recognize, but it was crucial information!
Jeong Seok shouted.
“If we find this ‘escape talisman,’ we can escape!”
“At least one of us must escape no matter what. If we die here, we’ll lose our memories. At least one of us must remember this information. No matter what!”
Valuable information was obtained at last.
We couldn’t afford to lose it all.
*Rustle*
At that moment, Yang Juhui turned the notebook over.
There was writing on the back as well.
The decaying flesh was buried in the rock site of Gaeryong Mountain. Only the head is needed. I am the jailer and the liberator. I will faithfully perform my duty.
Yang Juhui spoke.
“…Is this written by the missing Gu Hyena? No, it doesn’t look like a girl’s handwriting, does it? The content at the back is also creepy. Who would write such a thing?”
It was creepy. I thought so, too.
Today, I planned to explore the Nightmare Corridor thoroughly, but the more I knew, the more I just wanted to get out of this place immediately.
Jeong Seok spoke.
“…What did they bury at the rock site of Gaeryong Mountain? Am I the only one bothered by this?”
…I don’t know, damn it.
Honestly, I thought we had gathered enough information for today.
This should be enough to escape.
To shake off the chill, I pretended to be calm as I looked around.
“So where can we find this ‘escape talisman’? It says there’s definitely one in front of the deity… but where is the deity? It must mean a statue or something like that, right?”
There was nothing around that could be called a deity.
“Since it says there’s one on each floor, there should be one in this basement, too.”
We should move forward for now.
We continued down the corridor and finally reached a dead end.
“The path is blocked.”
Jeong Seok tapped the wall.
The wall looked thick and solid.
At that moment, Yang Juhui found something in a corner.
“Hey! Here! There’s a hole!”
As expected of Yang Juhui, who had a lot of experience crawling through holes as a delinquent, she found a hole on the floor almost like an expert.
We crawled into that hole.
Fortunately, the length of the hole wasn’t too long, and finally, a wide cave-like place appeared.
“What is this cave?”
*Splash-splash*
It was a cave submerged in water up to the ankles.
And in that cave, among the burning candles, there was a strange figure.
It looked like a headless Buddha statue, but there was a head placed between the legs crossed in a half-lotus position.
But that head didn’t seem to belong to the statue.
Because it had black hair spread in all directions.
As if sleeping, the eyes were closed, and the expression was calm, but I couldn’t forget that face.
“Damn it, it’s the Hair Ghost…”
Honestly, I had been wondering.
While the Shaman ghost was rampaging, where was the Hair Ghost?
I didn’t know, but I was relieved it hadn’t appeared, only to find it in such a place.
“…Is that the Hair Ghost?”
Yang Juhui trembled.
Soon, Jeong Seok also frowned with rough breaths.
“Ha Youngwon. Is that the Hair Ghost you mentioned? Is that Bong Seyeon’s head?”
Jeong Seok seemed to be facing the current phenomenon despite his fear.
But soon, he shook his head.
“No. That’s not Seyeon’s head. She had a big mole near her eye, and her nickname was Dotty! That head doesn’t… have a mole! There’s no mole!”
“What?”
…Are you serious?
Soon, Yang Juhui also spoke.
“I know Seyeon too. That’s not her.”
Ah…
I realized I had made a fatal mistake in my deduction.
Yang Juhui knew Bong Seyeon’s sister, Bong Jiyeon.
Yang Juhui met the Hair Ghost in the first round.
But Yang Juhui didn’t recognize the Hair Ghost in the first round!
Why am I only realizing this now?
“Damn it, then what the hell is that head?”
I was almost in a panic.
As Yang Juhui also looked around in confusion, Jeong Seok spoke with rough breaths.
“I got it. That’s… Gu Hyena. I knew her from the same cram school in middle school! That’s Gu Hyena! The owner of the bag we found!”
The identity of the Hair Ghost was revealed.
It was a first-year girl from Yeongji High School who went missing earlier this year.
“…Hey. Gu Hyena or whatever. Look at that! There’s a talisman on the statue! Isn’t that the escape talisman!?”
Yang Juhui, with large courage, pointed at the statue.
Indeed, there was a talisman attached to the statue’s palm, as she said.
“But… how do we get close?”
The Hair Ghost’s hair was spread out in all directions.
The Hair Ghost was a ghost that spread its hair like a spider web and killed anyone who touched it horribly.
Though it looked calm now if we touched it… something terrible would happen.
At times like this, we must take a chance.
And fortunately, that chance was with Yang Juhui.
“Yang Juhui. You have the magic wand, right? It’s time to use it. They say you can create a shield with it. Use it while I run to get the talisman.”
“The magic wand? This?”
“And Jeong Seok. If we get the talisman, you with the best memory should go. Write everything you remember as soon as you wake up! Got it? Alright, Yang Juhui! Cast the spell!”
“Spell? What spell! The magic wand spell? What spell?”
“I don’t know! I don’t know either! Spell! Whatever comes to mind! Princess spell or something?”