Ch.123123 – Fully Armed 1

# 123 – Fully Armed # 1

—Boom-boo-boom-pow, garigek-gek.

“Look at this, it really makes weird sounds. But it’s so cute! Its tail is so chubby! And it follows people well!”

Yu Dahui, who was visiting my house, was absolutely delighted with my pet Giganoto. Dahui loved animals, and apparently she even liked reptiles, which some women might find off-putting.

“Aaaah—”

Dahui opened her mouth wide.

Then she pretended to put Giganoto, which she had lifted in her palm, into her mouth.

She had previously tried to put a squirrel halfway into her mouth as if she was going to eat it, and now she was doing the same with the lizard.

Pop!

Of course, Giganoto was a swift lizard and could quickly escape from Dahui’s mouth.

Sha-sha-sha-shak—

The little lizard hid under the refrigerator. It seems afraid of Dahui.

In about 30 minutes, it’ll come out on its own and eat its food.

Jeongseok, who was carefully watching Giganoto, said:

“So that’s the unidentified creature that was attached to Jin Seoyeon? It looks like a lizard, but there’s a chance it’s not actually a lizard.”

“Yeah. I thought about getting rid of it, but it chases away all the bugs in our house, so I’m keeping it. It doesn’t seem like it’ll harm us either. I think we can just live together like this.”

The true identity of that lizard was actually one of those ghost or urban legend types. I could get points for exorcising it, but I decided to keep it because its ability to chase away bugs was more valuable.

—Gecko. Gecko.

And so, our pirate crew’s regular meeting proceeded at my house.

The people attending the regular meeting were Jeongseok, Yu Dahui, me (Ha Yeongwon), and Kwon Sua.

By the way, Kwon Sua was recently unemployed because her idol group had disbanded.

“I’m thinking of transferring to Yeongji High when the new semester starts. It might be fun if we all go to school together.”

An idol transferring to school.

It felt a bit surreal to think that something that usually only happens in games or comics was happening in real life.

Of course, after going through so much together and seeing each other at our worst, Kwon Sua was no longer an idol to me but rather a timid crew member.

Literally, after surviving several life-threatening situations together, we’re now friends. Comrades.

“Seok, how’s Seoyeon doing? Is she okay?”

Yu Dahui asked Jeongseok about Jin Seoyeon’s well-being.

I was also a bit worried about the cool beauty Jin Seoyeon who had been enchanted by the unidentified animal.

“She seems fine.”

Jeongseok answered indifferently. He didn’t seem particularly interested in Jin Seoyeon.

From what I could tell, Jin Seoyeon seemed to like Jeongseok.

Who would have thought Jeongseok would take on the position of being uninterested in a pretty girl who was showing interest in him?

While I was feeling quite envious, Kwon Sua made a fuss.

“I can’t believe you chased a strange animal in Seoul. I wish I could have been there too. I had an appointment because of the group disbandment, so that’s too bad.”

“Sua, we’re all the same age, so you can speak casually to us.”

I instructed Kwon Sua, who kept speaking formally to us, to speak more casually. But Kwon Sua shook her head.

“I’m more comfortable this way! There were many older members in my group, and all the seniors I met at broadcasting stations were adults, so I got used to it.”

If that’s what she’s comfortable with, there’s no need to interfere.

Is she still shy? It doesn’t seem like she’s putting up a wall though.

She’ll probably adjust with time.

Now, let’s get to the main topic of the meeting.

“We’re going back into the corridor tonight. This time, our goal is to reach the third floor, so everyone stay alert. We’re going with an elite team. No one knows what will happen on the third floor.”

The first floor of the Nightmare Corridor had scary ghosts, and the second floor had even scarier ghosts.

I honestly have no idea what might be on the third floor.

Since it’s showing a strangely game-like system, if we think of it in game terms, it’s natural that the difficulty increases as we go up.

If we had a low survival rate on the second floor, can we survive on the potentially more hellish third floor? If there’s a way, it would be to rely on my status window.

“I currently have 1,520 points. Let’s use them for draws. I’m planning to use at least 400 points.”

One draw costs 80P.

And since one out of every five draws yields an “Escape Talisman,” I decided to make five draws at once as my basic strategy.

“Going for a 5-draw!”

Beep-boop—

Beep-boop—

Beep-boop—

Beep-boop—

Beep-boop—

I pressed the draw button five times.

Every time I do a draw, I feel my hands and feet getting cold, a chill running down my spine, and my hair standing on end.

So this is why people can’t quit gambling.

Swoosh—

I brought five boxes that were placed in front of our house.

The sizes of the boxes varied, with the smallest being smaller than my palm and the largest about the size of a watermelon.

“This is so amazing! I can’t wait to see what’s inside!”

Kwon Sua, who was experiencing the draw event for the first time, was the most excited. I’ve noticed recently that Kwon Sua has very big reactions.

Is it a response trained during her life as an entertainer? Thanks to that, the pirate crew’s atmosphere has become quite cheerful.

“Let’s open the biggest one first.”

Swoosh—

I cut open the packaging of the box with a kitchen knife.

The packaging was more thorough than I expected, making it difficult to open.

Seeing this, Jeongseok asked:

“Who packs and delivers these things anyway? Or do they just suddenly appear out of thin air?”

I don’t know either.

What’s more important than the packaging is the contents, right?

Crack, crack-crack—

Rip-rip-rip—

I tore the boxes apart.

I was the death and destroyer of boxes.

“Strange Walkie-Talkie: A walkie-talkie that works well anywhere. It can transmit voices no matter how far apart you are. Sometimes strange sounds can be heard.”

“Devil’s Doll: A cute little devil plush doll. It’s a dud item. It has no effect or efficacy whatsoever. How about using it to decorate your room or office?”

“First Aid Kit: A first aid medicine box that treats injuries. As long as you’re alive, it can perfectly heal any wound or disease. Disappears after one use.”

“Mysterious Talisman: A talisman made through mysterious methods. As its name suggests, it has mysterious effects. Looking at the characters written on the paper makes you feel slightly dizzy.”

“Old Camera: An extremely old and worn camera. The remaining battery is displayed. It has an antique butterfly engraved on it. It’s questionable whether it can take good pictures.”

“These are the descriptions of the five items.”

I wrote down the text that appeared on my status window in a notebook and showed it to everyone.

We had acquired various items with diverse effects, and the reactions were also varied.

“This doll is cute! How is this a dud?”

Yu Dahui picked up the “Devil’s Doll.”

It was about the size of Dahui’s face, and it looked like someone had clumsily sewn together cotton and fabric.

Although it was called a “Devil’s Doll,” it looked like a woman with long hair.

On the buttocks, there was also a round devil’s tail curled up like a squirrel in a cartoon.

“If it’s a dud, can I have this doll?”

“No. We don’t know what side effects it might have. It’s called a Devil’s Doll, after all.”

Jeongseok firmly rejected Dahui’s proposal.

Dahui frowned slightly as if she was a bit upset.

But I agreed with Jeongseok’s opinion.

Do you think it’s called a “devil” for no reason?

Let’s just display that in our secret base.

Jeongseok said:

“I’m curious about this ‘First Aid Kit.’ It says it can perfectly heal any wound or disease. Does that mean it can even treat terminally ill patients in intensive care?”

Now that I think about it, it’s quite remarkable.

If it can cure incurable diseases, isn’t that a miracle?

But it’s an item that disappears after one use.

That means we can’t test it on someone else.

Bang!

Suddenly something flashed.

As if lightning had struck our house.

“Ahhh!”

“Eek!”

“Ugh.”

Dahui, Jeongseok, and I all screamed.

Beeeeeep—

It felt like there was a ringing in my ears.

What on earth?

Did North Korea fire a missile at our house?

After thinking that for about 10 seconds, my vision gradually returned.

In the slightly hazy vision, Kwon Sua was scratching the back of her head and laughing awkwardly.

“I just pressed the camera once…”

Camera.

I see.

I could viscerally feel the power of the “Old Camera.”

I really thought I’d been hit by a flash grenade. That’s something that shouldn’t be used on people. Then what about ghosts? What if we set off this camera’s flash at ghosts? They’d absolutely hate it.

“We can use the camera right away. The talisman is an escape talisman. And then there’s the walkie-talkie. How do we use this?”

It was slightly larger than my palm and quite heavy.

While I was examining it from all angles, Jeongseok, who had searched for walkie-talkies on his phone, said:

“Usually, you need two of these for them to be effective, right? Having just one is useless.”

That was true.

So this could also be considered a dud item for now.

Five draws.

My assessment was fairly satisfactory.

I got a talisman, acquired a camera, and obtained a first aid kit.

“When your character level reaches 5, you can carry two items at once. That means our strategy will gain momentum. With items like these, even the creatures on the second floor are no big deal.”

What existed on the second floor were Japanese ghosts.

They were bastards who tainted everyone who approached them with malice, without any grudge or reason.

But it wasn’t like we had no way to deal with them.

# # #

“The camera. It’s still here. And the talisman too.”

Opening my eyes in the dark and gloomy corridor, I picked up the camera that had fallen near me.

Today wasn’t a random matching day but a formal exploration day.

My goal was to reach the third floor.

“Gu Hyena, you’re here today? It’s been a while.”

As always, I first headed to the basement of the old school building.

In the basement, Gu Hyena was sitting on the altar.

The fact that Gu Hyena was here meant that Wang Jahyeon’s party wasn’t in this corridor. When Wang Jahyeon’s party entered the corridor, Gu Hyena would flee to avoid their crosses.

“I’m bored.”

The high school ghost, Gu Hyena, seemed bored.

I told her all about what had been happening lately.

“Dorangmul Girlz disbanded?”

“That’s right. And one of the members, Kwon Sua, joined our pirate crew.”

“Wow. I actually met and talked with her before. I wonder if she remembers me? If I become friends with her, it might be easier to debut in the entertainment industry when I become human again.”

Gu Hyena was a high school ghost, but she had a dream of returning to being human.

That dream was also why she was cooperating with us.

“Next time I come, I’ll bring Kwon Sua with me. You two can have a good chat.”

“Great!”

Gu Hyena laughed “hahaha—” but it was really scary.

After all, Gu Hyena was still a ghost.

The easily frightened Kwon Sua might faint if she saw this…

“Hey, why did you pack so many items? Is this right? Your bag’s going to burst.”

Yang Juhui, carrying an Hermès bag, appeared in the basement.

Jeongseok and Yu Dahui also showed up.

“We’re going to the third floor today, right?”

“Maybe it’s because we’re all together, but it doesn’t feel that scary.”

This combination definitely feels the most stable.

Although Kwon Sua, who recently joined as a party member, had quite good traits, her level was only 3, which meant she could only carry one item, so we left her out today.

Yang Juhui’s 6 items – Cutter knife, Magic Wand, 1st floor map, First Aid Kit, Zippo lighter, Straw Doll.

My 2 items – Camera, Escape Talisman.

Jeongseok’s 2 items – Glow Pen, Walkie-Talkie.

Yu Dahui’s 2 items – Paper Crane, Shaman Bell.

A party with a total of 12 items.

Even Wang Jahyeon and his maids probably haven’t experienced this.

Neither would the “Film Club” from back then.