Corridor Conquest (4)

This “Princess Magic Wand” belonged to Juhui.
And generally, such toys come with some kind of magic spell.

“Juhui! The spell! Recite the spell!”

Our fate was in Juhui’s hands with her magic wand.
I had no choice but to urge Juhui.

*Gulp*

Juhui, who usually showed boldness and courage, seemed very tense.
What on earth was going to happen?
While I was thinking that, Juhui handed me a lighter.

“Ah, fuck it! I don’t know! You… If any of you laugh or make fun, I’ll kill you! Seriously!”

*Shuffling*

Juhui awkwardly grabbed the magic wand with both hands.
Then, waving the wand left and right, she shouted.

“…Ahem, ahem, B-…Bejeweled fairy! With light! Ru…Rushine Ruby Power!”

It was an incredibly absurd spell.
Juhui, who ruled over “1-D,” acting cutely like a child in a school play was shocking.
In some ways, it was as shocking as the head ghost or the furious shaman ghost.

“Wow!”

I was impressed.

*Scratch, scratch*

Seok, unable to endure the awkward and embarrassing scene, turned his head and scratched his head.

What was going to happen now?

*Flash, flash*

Juhui’s ruby-colored magic wand began to shine.

It was a colorful, rainbow light.
In this pitch-black darkness, that light source seemed like a barrier or shield.

“Did it work? It worked, right? I did it!”

Juhui was extremely happy.
Soon, Seok asked.

“Can you move with that light on?”

“I don’t know! Let’s try!”

*Sneak*

Juhui moved her foot.
But at that moment, wasn’t the light flickering badly?

“No. If I move, the light seems like it’ll go out. This is an old toy. I bought it when I was about seven. It’s almost broken!”

Too bad!
Since I didn’t know how long the shield would last, I prepared for the next action without wasting any time, catching my breath.

Now, if I just run and take off the talisman attached to that statue, it’s over!
I had already run simulations in my head!

“Guys, I’m going! Seok! I’ll give you the talisman! Write down everything you remember as soon as you wake up, like I told you! Got it!”

“Got it. I’ll definitely do that.”

“I’m going! I really am! I’m going! Don’t stop me! Aaaah! I’m going! Really going! Gooooing!”

If only there were a magic spell to instill courage in a person.
I was able to move my foot after several shouts as if I was brainwashing myself.

*Splash splash*
I ran wildly over the water that reached my ankles.

I was able to accurately and concisely remove the talisman from the statue at a speed that I thought was incredible.

“Got it!”

“Got it, got it, got it.”

The problem was that my movement had triggered the head ghost. Maybe because I had stepped on the hair submerged in the water!

The head ghost, with eyes cracked like glass, bared its teeth at me and lunged.

“Ah! Fuck!”

Should I call it a flashback?
The scene of Sojin being killed by the head ghost flashed before my eyes.

Her limbs were entangled, and hair entered every hole in her body, making her death excruciatingly painful and disgusting!
I didn’t want to end up like that!

“Aaaaaargh!”

I screamed pathetically, running towards Juhui.
Feeling hair wrapping around my limbs, I gritted my teeth and pushed forward! Forward again!

“Hey! Take this!”

I reached out and handed over the talisman.

Then, Seok, who had been waiting inside the shield, came to me and received the talisman, and I felt some strength leave my body at that moment.

Should I say I felt slightly relieved?

“Take it, take it, take it.”

Of course, I hadn’t completely shaken off the head ghost.
I gritted my teeth and pushed desperately, and finally, I was able to step into the rainbow light created by Juhui’s magic wand.

“Did it… work!”

What happened next was quite encouraging and surprising.

The hair that had been wrapping around me recoiled from the light like cockroaches being discovered!

The head ghost couldn’t approach me anymore and just clashed its teeth in frustration before floating up into the air.
Then, it disappeared into the high darkness.

“…Is it gone? Did it go to the first floor?”

I collapsed, feeling all my strength leave my body.
My underwear got wet from the water on the floor, but I didn’t care.

Actually, I might have peed a little.
It might be better to be soaked in this water.

“Youngwon. You really did well. I didn’t know you were this brave.”

Seok praised my hard work.
Although a few words couldn’t compensate for my recent struggles, I didn’t feel bad.

*Swipe*

Seok handed me the talisman and spoke.

“Youngwon, can I go instead of you?”

“……”

I thought for a very short moment.
In this hellish nightmare, there was one escape ticket for three people.
Inevitably, two had to stay behind.

“I… don’t need it. I have to keep looking for my sister.”

Juhui hesitated for a long time before giving up the ownership of the escape ticket.

I had to think about it in many ways, but honestly, I didn’t want to stay in this place any longer.
I was scared of where the head ghost had gone…
Should I just leave?
As I thought about it, I shook my head.

“Seok, you go. Honestly, you have the best memory among us.”

“Then… should I hold onto it and use it later? Like using it to escape urgently if we play bait for the ghost again.”

Seok’s opinion was quite reasonable.
But we still didn’t know the mechanism of ‘escape.’
It wouldn’t be bad to just try escaping once.

“No, leave when you have the chance. Go now! Before I change my mind!”

I tightly closed my eyes.
I had decided to let Seok go.

“Go! Leave this place! Don’t come back!”

“Got it. I won’t forget what happened. Never!”

Seok clenched the talisman even tighter.
I lit his talisman, and an amazing thing happened.

*Whoosh!*

As soon as the talisman caught fire, Seok’s body also caught fire.
Seok’s body burned like the talisman he was holding and quickly disappeared.

Only Juhui and I were left.
With only two of us left in the place where three had been, everything was engulfed in a messy silence.

“Did it work? Juhui, what do you think? Did that bastard Seok really escape?”

“I don’t know.”

*Swipe*

The light from Juhui’s toy magic wand also went out.
Should I say the wand lasted about 2 minutes?

“Hey, I think the wand is broken.”

“So what do we do now?”

I looked around and asked Juhui.
Juhui was also looking around.

“Since the head ghost is gone, let’s look around. There might be useful things.”

Good.
It was a good idea.
Juhui always thoroughly searched her surroundings.

“Juhui, look! It’s a rope!”

We found a rope near the statue.
It looked to be about 2 meters long.

“With this, we can escape from this basement!”

I decided to go back to the broadcasting room with Juhui.
To get the second talisman.

Escape Talisman - Burn this talisman to escape. One talisman per person. There is one confirmed attached to the statue. There is one statue per floor.

According to the records, there was one statue per floor.
Since the last one was on the basement 1st floor, there must be one on the ground 1st floor, too.

There must be an escape talisman attached to the ground 1st floor statue too. That meant one of Juhui and me could escape.

“Hey, Youngwon. Lift me up. I’ll climb with the rope and pull you up.”

Before we knew it, we had reached the hole in the broadcasting room.
2 meters.
It seemed quite high, thinking we had to climb up rather than jump down.

“Hey, lie down here.”

Juhui pointed to the floor and instructed me.
I lay down like “OTL,” and Juhui took off her shoes and wet socks and stepped on my back.

“Ah, damn. I can’t reach it! Hey! Lying down won’t work! Lift me up!”

“Lift you up?”

We had to do whatever it took to escape.
I hugged Juhui and lifted her with all my strength.

“Hey! What are you doing? Use more strength!”
“Nuuuuh!”

Despite the situation, maybe because I was hugging a girl, it felt weird.
She smelled nice and felt soft.
I felt… quite embarrassed.
But Juhui, strong as ever, moved confidently even while being held by me.

“Hold on! I’m going to step on your shoulder!”

Juhui stepped on my shoulder. I staggered while holding her legs.

*Snap!*

Juhui, using my shoulder as a stepping stone, grabbed the hole in the broadcasting room with her excellent athletic skills.

“Got it!”

“Got it? Got it?”

I reflexively looked up.
Then Juhui, wearing a school uniform skirt, stepped on my face with her foot.

“Ugh!”

“…Hey! Where are you looking? If you look up, you’re dead!”

“Hey! I didn’t see anything!”

“Huff!”

Juhui climbed up to the first floor, flailing around.
Juhui, who had disappeared above the hole, spoke.

“Hey! I’ll drop the rope now!”

“Okay!”

I waited for the rope.

…
……
………

“Hey! You said you’d drop the rope!”

But even after 5 minutes, the rope didn’t come down.
What was going on?

“Hey! Juhui! Juhui, where are you? What are you doing? Pull me up quickly!”

I was getting so anxious that my knees were shaking, and I desperately wanted to escape this basement.
But there was no response from Juhui, who had gone up.
Just as I was about to lose my mind, the rope fluttered down from above.

“Oh!”

I grabbed the rope and climbed up with all my strength.

It was my first time climbing a rope, and my arms were burning, and my thighs were chafing, but who cared!
As long as I could survive!

But… when I finally got up, I was horrified.
Juhui, who I thought would be waiting for me, was nowhere to be seen, and instead, a white face was illuminated by the lighter.

“You…you’re Yoo Dahee!”

“Youngwon.”

“You, you bitch! Where’s Juhui? Where did Juhui go!”

I looked around in a panic.

There were red puddles all around Yoo Dahee.
Blood.
It was blood pooling like puddles!
And hair, damaged from repeated dyeing and bleaching, was strewn on the floor.

“Ugh. Uweeeek!”

I couldn’t hold back the vomit and threw up everything into the basement hole.
Rolling on the floor, I saw a “Louis Vuitton school bag” and a blood-soaked “Princess Magic Wand.”
This could only mean one thing.

“Dead….”

Juhui was dead.
Without even a moment to scream.
And these traces… were eerily similar to the scene where Kim Geonho was found dead in front of the multipurpose room.
The third ghost’s trace.
Yoo Dahee.
The vanished Juhui.

“You… you bitch!”

I was so upset, angry, and scared that I was almost foaming at the mouth.
But Yoo Dahee frowned and slapped me on the cheek.

“Ouch!”

“Youngwon. Calm down. This. I didn’t do this.”

“You didn’t do it?”

“Yeah.”

If Yoo Dahee didn’t do it, who did?
I… wanted to believe Yoo Dahee despite my doubts.

Because in extreme situations, people tend to want to rely on and believe in something.
However… I had to calm down, as Yoo Dahee said.

“Yoo Dahee. What are you? What’s your identity!”

“Shh…!”

Yoo Dahee’s hand covered my mouth.
It was a soft and warm hand.

“If you talk too loudly, that woman will come back to the broadcasting room. You got the talisman in the basement, right? When you get the talisman in the basement, the head ghost starts moving. That woman noticed that, too. We have to be careful.”

That woman?

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