Corridor Conquest (5)

Yoo Dahee said.
If you don’t stay quiet, ‘that woman’ will come.

“Are you talking about the Shaman ghost?”

Right now, Yoo Dahee was scarier than the Shaman ghost.
I wanted to ask Yoo Dahee what she did to Yang Juhui.

Why did Yang Juhui, who went up to the broadcasting room, disappear, leaving only bloodstains behind?
I was so curious and scared that I was going crazy!
It felt like prickly and itchy ants were crawling all over my skin, driving me insane.

But I couldn’t ask a single word.
Because Yoo Dahee’s palm was covering my mouth.

Time passed so slowly that I wondered if it had stopped.
5 minutes. 10 minutes.
Actually, I didn’t know.
Anyway, a long time passed before Yoo Dahee released my mouth.

“I don’t think she’s around. But we can’t be too sure. That woman roams freely on the first-floor corridor. If we stay in this broadcasting room, it’s only a matter of time before she finds us.”

“Who exactly is that woman? The Shaman ghost?”

At this point, I decided to ask Yoo Dahee various questions.
Even if I forget all this information after I die, there’s always a chance.
If I survive this journey, the benefits of that information would be enormous.

“…It’s not the Shaman ghost. I don’t know much about that woman either. I’ve never met her properly. But she’s dangerous. If we run into her, we’ll definitely die.”

“If that woman is the third ghost you’re talking about… then who are you, Yoo Dahee? What are you really?”

Yoo Dahee was like an onion. Layers upon layers kept coming off.
I was almost going crazy with curiosity and wanted her to answer honestly.

“Yoo Dahee. You promised to grant my wish. What are you really? Are you a human? A ghost? What?”

Even with the light from the lighter, I couldn’t see Yoo Dahee’s face well because of the darkness.
That uncertain face only heightened my fear.

What on earth are you?
I was so curious that if I died like this, I wouldn’t even be able to sleep out of frustration.
Soon, Yoo Dahee grabbed my hand and slowly put it inside her uniform!

“Wh… what…!”

The smooth touch of her skin surprised me more than anything since I was born.

My brain felt like it couldn’t process the situation properly.
I recalled that human optic nerves are quite inefficient, with most of the brain’s power going to vision.
In the darkness, where my sense of touch and hearing were sharper than sight, the hand inside Yoo Dahee’s uniform acted like a tongue, eyes, and nose.

*Thump, thump, thump*

Under Yoo Dahee’s clothes, her heart was beating very loudly.

“How is it? Do I still seem like a ghost?”

*Thump, thump, thump*

The heart is beating warmly and clearly among the soft and warm things.
Somehow, that heartbeat was as fast as mine, who was going through an embarrassing situation.

My mind was half-dazed.
I felt like a butterfly melting in a soft and tender hell.

*Gasp*

Startled, I quickly pulled my hand out from Yoo Dahee’s clothes.

“Ahem. Yoo Dahee. It doesn’t change the fact that you’re hiding something from me. You seem familiar with this situation, so I’d like you to tell the truth. Otherwise…”

“…Otherwise?”

Otherwise what?
Hit her?

Suddenly, I pondered about myself, Ha Youngwon.
Could I really hit a girl?

“If you don’t tell the truth, I’ll hit you. I’ll hit you hard.”

It was almost like a chant to soothe myself.
Then Yoo Dahee laughed, “Puhuhu.”

“Liar. Youngwon, you can’t do that. You’re a good person. Like the catcher in the rye.”

“No! I’m really a bad guy! I’ll really hit you!”

“Ack!”

“Yikes!”

I raised my hand and slapped Yoo Dahee’s cheek hard!
I was so surprised by Yoo Dahee’s sudden scream.

*Slap!*

The sensation in my palm was tremendous, and I was surprised at my own action.
I hit a girl’s cheek!
I could only do such a bold thing because of the [Strong Heart]! I was a really tough guy now.

“Eek!”

Yoo Dahee fell to the ground, seemingly not expecting to get hit.
I was also flustered, but it didn’t matter since it already happened.
I had warned her that I could hit her, and Yoo Dahee had startled me.

“Hurry up and tell the truth! What are you!”

“…Wait. I’m really shocked. I didn’t think you’d actually hit me. Ouch, it hurts.”

“…I can hit you more! So spill everything you know!”

I really wanted to live!
I also wanted to find out what killed Yang Juhui!

I was on the verge of going insane.
Yoo Dahee, sensing my desperation, spoke in a subtle voice.

“…Do you know the story about a dream? A girl was studying for finals in the classroom. She realized it was a dream and said, ‘Ah, this is a dream. I don’t need to study.’ Then all her classmates stared at her.”

Yoo Dahee’s story started abruptly.
It was a format I had heard from Jeong Seok before.

“The girl’s dreams became more vivid as time passed as if they were trying to hide the fact that they were dreams. They became longer and more cunning…”

“So… what?”

“As time passed, the girl ended up living between two worlds, unable to distinguish whether she was dreaming or awake. In the end, which one is the dream? Here? Or…”

It was a spooky story.
Was Yoo Dahee talking about herself?

“Of course, this is the dream! So let’s just get out of here!”

*Swoosh*

Yoo Dahee, who was sitting down, stood up.
And pointed to the map I was holding tightly.

“I’ll mark the location of the shrine on the map. But it won’t be easy. That woman is guarding it. If someone touches the shrine, that woman will start moving. She’s already active.”

*Swoosh*

Yoo Dahee marked the map.
The first-floor girls’ restroom.

“The shrine for this first floor is here. I’m sure because I saw it. But that woman is probably guarding it to make sure no one leaves this school.”

Fortunately, the first-floor girls’ restroom was very close to this broadcasting room.
But the probability of ‘that woman’ Yoo Dahee warned about being there was high.

“Youngwon. There’s only one talisman that allows escape. Only one of us can leave, you or me.”

Yoo Dahee’s voice somehow felt eerie.
Were we supposed to have a death match over the escape ticket?

I guess I should think about that later…
If it came to it, I could use my superior physical strength to take the talisman from Yoo Dahee.
I asked Yoo Dahee.

“Dahee. You said you’ve been dreaming of this corridor for a while. Have you ever been caught or killed by a ghost here?”

“…No. Not as far as I remember. I always escaped from the shrine in the basement.”

Is that for real?
She was a novice at the game “Corridor of the Abyss,” but she seemed like an expert in the real “Corridor of Nightmares.”

Come to think of it, when Yoo Dahee played “Corridor of the Abyss,” she said, “It’s interesting. This is how the game works.”

At that time, I thought it was just a girl’s impression of playing a game for the first time, but looking back, it was an exclamation comparing reality and the game.
Yoo Dahee said.

“It was the same that day. I got the talisman from the basement shrine. But for some reason, that day, there were other people in this corridor besides me. Kim Geonho, Yang Juhui, Jeong Sojin, and… you, Ha Youngwon.”

I felt like I stopped breathing.
I knew exactly what day Yoo Dahee was talking about.

“I’m rather curious, Youngwon. How are you all having this dream?”

We both had questions about the same thing.
I was contemplating whether to tell Yoo Dahee about the “Corridor of Nightmares” and my status window.

About the “Hero” and the “Watchers.”
It reminded me of being the Mafia in a Mafia game.

“…I don’t know either. I actually want to know, too. Dahee, I thought you might know.”

I decided to be vague.
Then Yoo Dahee made a “Hmph…” sound.
I wasn’t sure if she accepted my answer or not.

Anyway.
We headed towards the first-floor girls’ restroom.

The Hair Ghost and Shaman Ghost weren’t around.
In a way, it was fortunate amidst the misfortune.

“Youngwon. Are you really going to enter the girls’ restroom?”

Yoo Dahee asked me.
It sounded like a joke as if questioning why a boy would enter the girls’ restroom.

Did she feel like joking in this situation? Or was it because of the situation that she was joking?
With a slightly trembling heart, I entered the old school’s girls’ restroom.

Unlike the boys’ restroom, the girls’ restroom didn’t have urinals and was filled with stalls. The smell was worse than I expected, making it difficult to breathe.

“Are you sure the shrine is here?”

I asked while covering my nose with my hand.
Yoo Dahee pointed to the fourth stall.

“It’s in the fourth stall. We’re lucky. There are no ghosts around. My guess is that the ghosts don’t know where the shrine is. So they can’t guard it.”

*Swoosh*
I opened the door of the fourth stall.

And there really was a strange shrine-like thing. If the basement shrine had a Buddhist tone, this one looked like a Western Madonna.

The head was still severed. Instead, the talisman was clearly attached to the chest.
If I burned that talisman, I could escape.

But what if Yoo Dahee suddenly turned and aimed for the talisman?

I started to feel wary of Yoo Dahee.
I sensed a chaotic atmosphere.

It was a feeling honed from crossing death many times, a sort of spiritual ability or sixth sense.
So I turned my head without thinking.
And I saw ‘it’ standing at the entrance of the girls’ restroom.

It was very big.
At least two meters tall, it bent almost double to enter the girls’ restroom.

It was wearing a bright red dress and was barefoot.
Its eyes were entirely white without pupils, and it wore a very red mask.

“Red… red.”

How would a rat feel facing a sudden snake?
I was experiencing that feeling vividly.

My nerves and muscles stiffened so much that it was hard to breathe.
A heart attack.
If not for the newly acquired [Strong Heart] trait, I might have collapsed from something like that.

“You, you damn!”

I pulled myself together and grabbed the talisman.
The Red Masked woman grabbed Yoo Dahee. She opened her mouth so wide that I couldn’t even imagine it, and Yoo Dahee seemed to come to her senses at that moment.

“Youngwon. This time, I’ll let you…”

*Rip!*
The mouth opened so wide it was unbelievable.
Inside, there was a murmur like the screams of hell.

Crunch, crunch, crunch-.
Yoo Dahee turned into a stream of blood…
I could only watch as a person disappeared without a trace into the hellish maw.

Yes, I saw it.
That was all I could do at the moment.

Thanks to that, I saw the distinct scar on the fearsome woman’s neck and the butterfly pattern on her face.
It was something very familiar to me and a crucial clue.

The third ghost, whose identity no one knew because all the witnesses died.
I would meet and escape from it alive!

With trembling hands, I burned the talisman with the lighter’s flame.

*Flame!*