Ch.126126 – The Shrine Where Red Flowers Bloom 2

# 126 – The Shrine with Red Flowers # 2

Nightmare Corridor, 3rd floor.

A dark shrine.

We had fled into a nearby sanctuary, frightened by the jingling bell sounds. When we heard Yang Juhui’s story, we were shocked.

“You’re saying that’s your sister’s clothes?”

The reason Yang Juhui was actively cooperating with us was to find her missing sister and restore her family’s happiness.

The downfall of a once-happy home.

Having experienced that process firsthand, I knew well that Yang Juhui’s wish was by no means small.

For a child who had endured an unhappy childhood, a harmonious family was practically everything.

“Look at that! It says ‘Yang Dohui’ on the school uniform!”

The clothes hanging above the altar were covered in something red.

Looking closely, I could see it was an extremely shortened women’s school uniform top.

The name tag had “Yang Do-” written on it, with one more character after that, but it was difficult to make out due to the red stains. Nevertheless, Yang Juhui firmly believed it was her sister’s uniform.

“Sister! She was here!”

“Shh! Be quiet!”

Jeongseok covered Yang Juhui’s mouth with his palm.

Then he put his index finger to his lips and made a shushing sound as if warning us.

Since we had all fallen silent, the bell sounds from outside the sanctuary seemed even louder.

Jingle! Jingle!

Jinglinglingling!

Jingle! Jinglinglingling!

The bell sounds grew so loud they seemed to reach a piercing high pitch.

Flicker, flicker-

The candles lit in the sanctuary where we were hiding began to shake violently.

Whatever it was, I was terrified and cold.

Wanting to feel human warmth, I grabbed Yang Juhui’s side and hid behind her. Hiding behind Yang Juhui’s back always made me feel more secure.

Usually, whenever I grabbed her side, she would get angry saying, “That tickles!” but now she seemed too preoccupied to react and kept her mouth shut.

Jingle, jingle…

Jingle…

The loud bell sounds gradually diminished.

The world became quiet again.

The candles that had been flickering as if about to go out stabilized.

…Whatever it was, has it passed?

I thought so but didn’t say it out loud.

It might be superstitious, but speaking ill-omened words might bring misfortune.

Squeeze-

I tightened my grip on the talisman in my hand.

Then I said to everyone:

“I’ll open the door slightly and look. We need to see if there’s anything out there. We can’t stay in here forever. I’ll check. I have the talisman… I’ll go out…”

I summoned my courage.

With the resolve to escape if necessary, I slowly opened the sanctuary door with a creak and extended my foot outside.

It was quiet.

As if everything was dead silent.

I wished I had a flashlight.

I looked around thinking that.

Then I came to regret it.

“……”

Beyond where the torchlight reached.

Something was partially showing its face from behind a thick pillar.

A face revealed between long, ink-black hair.

The face was so pale it appeared bluish, with no eyebrows and eyes so large in the whites that the pupils looked like dots.

Even more horrifying was the mouth. The mouth was brutally sewn shut with something like black thread, and those stitches were so ominous and terrifying that I felt like wetting myself.

It wasn’t smiling or angry.

Complete expressionlessness.

That inhumanly emotionless face felt like it was stealing the warmth from my heart.

“…Huk…”

Having encountered various ghosts before, I could tell.

This was completely different from the ghosts we had seen on the first floor, and entirely different from those we had seen on the second floor.

“…Oh shit…”

I wanted to cry.

No, perhaps I was already crying.

Jingle! Jinglinglingling! Jingle! Jinglinglingling!

Jingle! Jinglejinglejingle!

The piercing bell sounds began to ring as if torturing our ears.

My reason flew away, leaving only instinct.

And my instinct wanted to confront it.

Squeeze-

I raised the camera I was holding, aimed, and… pressed the button.

FLASH-!

The camera’s flash exploded with tremendous brightness.

The light was so blinding that even I, taking the photo, had to squint.

It was like lightning striking before my eyes, but the woman continued to stare at me as if the light didn’t affect her at all.

“Ah…”

At that surreal scene, my reason coldly returned.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!”

Screaming loudly, I rushed back into the sanctuary where everyone was hiding.

I had no time to look back.

“It’s there! It’s there! It was still there! It was hiding!”

“…We saw it too when we opened the door. With eight arms… like a spider…”

Jeongseok was frozen stiff like a mouse before a snake.

Could this thin sanctuary door protect us from that thing?

We might really all die.

Creak-

Just then, the sanctuary door that I thought I had firmly closed opened by itself.

Slide-

Long, slender fingers gripped the edge of the open door.

And through black hair, a bluish woman’s face appeared, clinging to the floor.

Oh god, we’re definitely going to die.

“Jewel fairy! With light! Lulu Shine Ruby Power!”

Just as I was giving up on life, Yang Juhui chanted a very strange spell.

Swoosh-

The toy magic wand in Yang Juhui’s hand emitted light.

Right! The barrier-creating magic wand!

With that, we could block even the most terrible evil spirit.

While I was feeling relieved, an unexpectedly long arm reached into the sanctuary.

There was a flower tattoo on the back of the hand, though it was hard to tell what kind of flower it was, but that wasn’t important right now. What mattered was that Jeongseok’s ankle had been grabbed.

“AAAAHH! Help me! AAAH!”

Jeongseok screamed like a dog being dragged by a speeding bus, his ankle bound as he disappeared outside the sanctuary. The expressionless woman vanished with him.

# # #

When Jeongseok’s screams could no longer be heard, the bell sounds also stopped.

Everything was quiet and still.

“…Spider. Didn’t it look like a spider?”

The first to speak was Yang Juhui, the bravest among us.

But even the brave Yang Juhui now seemed quite frightened.

That thing just now.

The woman who existed only as an upper body had eight arms.

She looked just like a spider, and as far as I knew, Yang Juhui was uniquely afraid of spiders.

“…What the hell was that! What kind of ghost is that! What happened to Jeongseok! That bastard!”

Scratch scratch scratch-

Yang Juhui nervously scratched her head.

Her fear seemed to have pushed her stress to the limit.

Was that a ghost?

No, I didn’t think so.

That was something beyond a ghost or evil spirit.

I didn’t know exactly what it was… but normal progress was no longer possible.

The camera didn’t work, and we didn’t have a box cutter either.

Even Yang Juhui, who had been our most reliable companion, had lost her fighting spirit.

Just when I thought there was no hope left, Yu Dahui, who had been quiet all this time, stood up.

“I’ll go out and look around.”

“Dahui! This place is hell!”

“We can’t just stay here forever. You rest here.”

Yu Dahui’s attitude was quite detached.

Wasn’t she scared?

Suddenly, I recalled Dahui’s status window.

「Name: Yu Dahui Lv.5

Trait: 《Elegance》

Disposition: Innocent

Quirk: None

Possession: Lucky Paper Crane

She’s like a rich young lady who stepped out of a story. She loves playing pranks and creating and keeping secrets. This girl will prove to be a surprisingly excellent companion in times of great crisis.」

Elegance that never loses its dignity.

Perhaps that’s what gives her superhuman resolve in major crises.

“Wait here.”

Whoosh-

Yu Dahui slipped out of the sanctuary before I could stop her.

Now only Yang Juhui and I remained.

Yang Juhui was trembling, holding what was presumed to be her sister’s uniform.

“Spider…”

Spider.

Yang Juhui, who had entered the science lab where the Mirror Ghost lurked without hesitation, still couldn’t escape her fear of spiders.

While it was girlish to dislike scary insects, I thought there must be some reason why the brave, hot-blooded Yang Juhui was so afraid of spiders.

“Did something happen with spiders? Why are you so afraid of them?”

“……”

Yang Juhui, who had been in a daze for a while, glanced at my face.

She seemed about to say something, her lips moving slightly, but then she started retching with a “Ugh-“

“…I don’t want to talk about it right now.”

Yang Juhui, having barely regained her composure, drew a line.

She clutched her sister’s uniform even tighter and stood up.

“We can’t just stay like this. I need to find my sister. I think she was definitely here. This uniform is proof. She must have been nearby.”

Yang Juhui regained her courage.

“Ha Yeongwon. I’ll protect you. If it seems dangerous, use the talisman to escape.”

As Yang Juhui regained her strength, I was also able to somehow recover mine.

So we left the sanctuary.

I looked around nervously, wondering if that strange spider woman would jump out from somewhere, but she hadn’t shown herself since taking Jeongseok.

Come to think of it, whenever that woman appeared, the bells hanging around would ring loudly.

Like they were giving us a warning.

I thought that if we used that well, we could navigate this 3rd floor.

Tap tap tap-

Light footsteps were heard from far away.

It was Yu Dahui.

“Hey guys, you came out! I found something interesting! Come see!”

Something interesting?

Yu Dahui’s expression was always relaxed and gentle. Now her face seemed to radiate hope, and I wanted to trust her.

In this situation, if she asked me to vouch for her, I’d probably do it without hesitation.

“It’s close by!”

Yu Dahui began walking ahead.

We walked through this ominous and eerie shrine.

Broken stone statues stood here and there, and red flowers were blooming in the flower beds visible here and there. Flowers. I was surprised to see flowers in a place like this, and Dahui explained:

“It’s stone lotus. Also called flowers of the other shore. The flower meanings are reincarnation, sad memories, death…”

Flowers of the other shore.

Flowers of death.

It was creepy.

“It’s over there.”

Where Yu Dahui pointed, there was a small storage-like structure among the stone lotuses.

When we entered, warm air touched the tip of my nose.

“Wow, fire.”

It was a place with a bonfire burning.

The warmth of the flames seemed to melt away my cold and tense feelings.

What is this place? It’s about the size of a single room.

The interesting thing was that various items were displayed, like in a countryside stationery store I had visited when I was very young.

The types of items were very diverse, from common things like lighters, bandages, and cigarettes to plenty of strange items whose purpose I couldn’t quite understand.

An antique shop?

That was my first impression.

I called it a shop because there were signs with numbers like “100,” “200,” etc. in front of the items. Anyone could see they were price tags.

“Is that a real gun?”

Yang Juhui showed interest in an item hanging on the wall.

There was a handgun in an elegant-looking case.

The case was locked with a padlock and looked very sturdy.

“How is it? Warm, right?”

Dahui, who had discovered this place and guided us here, chuckled.

It was indeed a perfect place to hide.

Just then, text appeared before my eyes.

『Mysterious Shop』

『You can buy and sell various items using mysterious currency.』

『However, absolutely do not steal. We take no responsibility if caught!』