episode_0085

Late in the evening, Hyejin, who was sitting at the counter, looked at the wall clock.

It was already 9 PM.

It was getting closer to time for Hyejin to get off work. Originally, Seok-ho came to change shifts around this time, but not anymore. Seok-ho, who worked at the motel next to Hye-jin, fell into the Han River and died. Since they had not yet hired a new employee, the president was working on Seok-ho’s days of the week.

“Hyejin. Thank you for your hard work.”

President Park Jae-ho came to the counter and spoke to Hye-jin.

“Did something happen during the day?”

“Nothing happened except a reporter came in the morning.”

“Please do some cleaning and then leave work.”

“Yes. Boss.”

All Hyejin had to do today was simply clean the empty room.

The work of the Sunshine Motel employees did not end with just looking at the counter. Hyejin’s job was to simply clean up guest rooms so that the cleaning team that visited later would have less trouble.

Hyejin went upstairs with cleaning tools. Perhaps because it was the weekend, there were many guests at the motel. That meant there were a lot of rooms that needed to be cleaned.

‘I hope there’s nothing strange in the room… .’

While cleaning the motel, there were many times when I found unusual items. There were also adult toys that appeared in AVs, and there were even times when baby bottles and baby dolls appeared in a room where a man and a woman entered. It was difficult to imagine why baby dolls were even introduced.

Still, I had to work because I was getting paid.

Hyejin went around cleaning each floor of the motel and arrived in front of a room.

Room 404.

It was the last room to be cleaned.

The moment Hyejin opened the door and went inside, she heard a strange sound in her ears.

━━Shooaaa

It was the sound of water.

The sound of water was echoing loudly from the bathroom of room 404.

It was clear that the water was turned on.

‘The boss will probably swear at you.’

It seemed that the guest who had booked room 404 had left the bathroom without turning off the faucet. It may not have been a mistake, but it could have been left out on purpose. Among the guests who came to the motel, there were many strange people. There were people stealing computer parts, and there were also customers leaving the water running.

Hyejin opened the door and went into the bathroom.

When I turned on the light and looked, I could see why the sound of water was loud.

“Holy shit!”

Not only the sink but also the bathtub faucet was turned on to its maximum capacity. Water was flowing like a waterfall from the sink and bathtub. No matter how you look at it, this was a malicious prank.

Hyejin first turned off the faucet in the sink.

“I have no manners.”

It was a moment when I muttered to myself.

Suddenly, I felt a chill on the back of Hyejin’s neck.

“… Huh?”

Hyejin shrank back and looked at the mirror in the sink.

There was nothing in the mirror reflecting back. It felt like something cold had grazed the back of my neck, but it didn’t.

Hyejin was the only one in the bathroom with the light on.

Although she was doing what she always did, Hyejin was in a strange mood today.

‘I want to leave quickly.’

Hyejin approached the bathtub. I turned on the water so hard that it wasn’t even enough to fill the bathtub, so water was leaking out. The bathroom floor became a sea of water and was slippery.

Hyejin grabbed the faucet and turned it to close it.

But for some reason, the faucet did not work well.

“Ugh… .”

It was right then.

━━Chaaa!!

A pale hand reached out from a bathtub full of water.

A pale, bloodless hand grabbed Hyejin’s face, scattering water.

“Ugh.”

There wasn’t even time to scream.

Pale hands grabbed Hyejin’s face and dragged her into the bathtub.

Hyejin was unable to breathe properly as she was immersed from head to waist in a bathtub full of water.

“Crrr.”

Hyejin barely opened her eyes and looked inside the bathtub. All I could see was a pale hand clutching my face.

It could not possibly be said that it was human hands that threw Hyejin into the water. It was impossible for someone to suddenly jump out of a bathtub that was empty and filled with water.

The bathroom door was closed.

I couldn’t scream, so there was no one to come to my rescue.

“Rrrr!”

Hyejin was frozen and thought she was dead.

‘Help me! Please save me!’

At that moment, a miracle happened.

The closed bathroom door was wide open.

The voice of a man I had heard somewhere rang out.

“Hyejin!”

It was Jinwoo who opened the bathroom door and appeared.

Sarah heard Jinwoo’s voice and ran into the bathroom. Jinwoo and Sarah found Hyejin struggling in the bathtub.

“Still alive!”

The two immediately ran to the bathtub and pulled Hyejin in.

━━Grudge

The pale hand that was clutching Hyejin’s face slowly relaxed.

The pale hand stretched out and Hyejin’s body popped out of the bathtub.

“Kkeok… . Ugh… .”

As soon as Hyejin got out of the bathtub, she spat out a lot of tap water.

“Hyejin! are you okay? Can you breathe?”

“Cough! Cough!”

Although she couldn’t answer properly, Hyejin could breathe now. Breathing was just painful because of the tap water I was forced to drink.

After some time, Hyejin calmed down and spoke to Jinwoo.

“Gi, reporter! Cough… Careful! Something just came out of the bathtub!”

“The one that looks like a human hand? I saw it too.”

“It was trying to kill me!”

Hyejin opened her eyes wide and looked into the bathtub. However, the pale hand that tried to kill Hyejin just moments ago was nowhere to be found. The bathtub was just full of water.

“Uh, huh? I just had a hand… ?”

“It was there, but it’s gone.”

Hyejin was so embarrassed that she couldn’t speak. The pale hand that was clearly in the bathtub disappeared like a mirage. Although Hyejin’s face had been grabbed just a moment ago, there were no traces of being crushed on her face.

“What… .”

Something threatened his life, but no evidence was left behind.

At this point, it was obvious that even if I reported it to the police, it would be treated as an unfortunate accident.

Just like when Seok-ho died.

Jinwoo spoke to Hyejin, who was embarrassed.

“Anyway, I’m glad Hyejin is alive.”

“Yes… .”

“I heard the loud sound of water splashing, so I came, and it was a good thing I came.”

“The sound of water splashing? Did you hear that outside?”

“I have good hearing.”

I succeeded in saving Hyejin before it was too late.

Jinwoo and Sarah came out of room 404 with Hyejin.

*

thank god.

Sarah and I were able to save the drowning person before it was too late.

I never imagined that someone would drown in a motel bathtub.

We went down to the motel lobby with Hyejin, who looked like a wet rat. President Jaeho Park, who was sitting at the counter, looked surprised when he saw Hyejin dripping with water.

“Hye, Hyejin! What happened?”

“Boss… Room 404 It’s strange right now. I almost died while cleaning the bathroom.”

Hyejin explained to CEO Jaeho Park what happened in room 404. All the faucets in the bathroom were turned off, or a pale hand sticking out of a bathtub full of water.

“… Did your hand come out of the bathtub? Does that make sense?”

“It’s real! Not only did I see it, they all saw it too!”

“I understand first of all. Let’s report it to the police tomorrow.”

Hye-jin explained, but President Park Jae-ho did not easily believe it.

“Hyejin. We’ll just go now.”

“Yes! Thank you so much for saving me earlier!”

After leaving them in the lobby, we went back to the room.

I needed some time to sort out what had just happened at the motel.

I talked to Sarah for a while.

“So, the water turned on in the bathroom even though no one was there?”

“It’s the actions of a murderer. They turned on the water on purpose to lure people.”

It was clear that causing a water crisis in the bathroom was an act of assassination. It was a ghost whose area of activity was wider than expected. Usually, if it was a water ghost, it would attract people near the water and kill them. However, the snail we saw seemed capable of killing people anywhere there was water, even if it was not near water.

Suddenly, something bothered me.

Jeong Hye-jin, who had just almost died, was an employee at the Sunshine Motel.

Choi Seok-ho, who was murdered last time, also worked at the same motel.

Two people who worked at the same motel almost died.

“But why did Susalgwi try to kill Jeong Hye-jin? You tried to kill two motel employees. Is there a story to this building?”

“Well… . I’ve never heard that this is a building with a story.”

Maybe there was a reason why they were targeting the lives of the motel employees.

I thought about it, but the answer didn’t come to mind right away.

Before I knew it, it was 1 am.

It was time to go soul-saving.

“It’s almost time. Let’s go out.”

We took the soul bowl, wedding band, and cheesecloth and headed out of the motel.

The fishing spot on the Han River where the accident occurred was not far from the motel.

After walking for about 10 minutes, we arrived at the fishing spot.

There was no one else in the dark fishing spot except us.

There seemed to be a recent drowning accident, so there were no anglers fishing at night.

It’s a good thing.

It was now possible to proceed with the ceremony without having to worry about what people thought.

“Sera. What should we do now?”

“Just soak the soul bowl in water and wait until the ghost comes. You take the blame.”

I did as Sarah told me and took the horn.

The wedding band and soul bowl were connected with cheesecloth.

“Let’s get started.”

Sarah grabbed the soul vessel and threw it far into the river.

The soul bowl flew away with the cotton cloth fluttering and fell into the depths of the river with a popping sound.

As I was holding the long fishing pole, I felt like I was fishing.

“How long do I have to wait?”

“You have to keep waiting until the ghost comes. I don’t know when it will come.”

Even Sarah didn’t know when the ghost was coming.

I held my breath and waited patiently. I could feel the soul vessel sunk in the river shaking with the current.

There was nothing to do while waiting.

The night view of the city sparkling nearby was great, but I was tired of just looking at the scenery.

I spent some time chatting with Sarah.

It was mainly me asking and Sarah answering.

“What is the reason why a beast goes around killing people?”

“That’s obvious. Susalgwi is a spirit whose soul is tied to water. To get out of the water, you have to kill other people by drowning them in the same way. Otherwise, a medium like a shaman can retrieve the soul and transfer it to heaven.”

I also heard it once.

It is said that in order to escape from drowning, one must kill other people by drowning them. Among all ghosts, it was a beastly ghost that was considered particularly vicious. Because they will kill people at random, regardless of personal grudges.

“Then maybe the beast can be gently captured by us? Even if you don’t kill anyone, it’s a chance to be released from the water.”

“There is no guarantee that you will be treated calmly. Our goal is to transfer the capital and attain Buddhahood. But, a demonic spirit may not want to attain Buddhahood. If it is a ghost that has attachment to this world, it must be forcibly exterminated.”

“I hope you catch me calmly.”

“I hope so too.”

Time passed and it was three in the morning.

A considerable amount of time has passed since the soul bowl was immersed in the river, but there has still been no response.

‘Is nothing happening?’

That was when I had that thought.

Suddenly, something pitch black floated on the river water.

I opened my eyes wide and looked at the river.

I saw something that looked like black waterweed on the river water.