Ch.141141 – Gun 1

# Chapter 141 – Total #1

“Done! We did it!”

The moment Kwon Sua locked the door and finished escaping through the window, we hugged each other and jumped up and down.

It had been a long time since I felt this good.

“Let’s get out of here!”

Padadadadat-!

We fled without looking back!

Our meeting place was, of course, our secret base.

We arrived at the secret base like that.

Jeongseok and Yang Juhui were already there.

“How did it go?”

In response to Yang Juhui’s question, I pulled the talismans out of my pocket.

Ten talismans.

When I waved them around, everyone’s expressions brightened.

Only Jeongseok remained the cold boy he was.

“Are you sure you did it right? Did you make the switch properly? The switch is the key.”

The talisman switch.

We exchanged fake talismans drawn by Yu Dahui with the original ones.

Maybe it’s because Dahui usually draws a lot, but she drew the talismans really well.

“Don’t worry. We did everything. We erased all our traces, so we won’t be caught for a while. And besides the talismans, I brought this too. I don’t know what it is. It was with the talismans.”

Shwoop-.

I held out an object wrapped tightly in tissue paper to everyone.

People’s expressions became subtle at that moment.

Just as I was wondering what this could be, Dahui trembled.

“This… gives me a bad feeling.”

A bad feeling?

But Yang Juhui was very brave.

“What is this? Let me see.”

Shwoop-.

After the “Sacrificial Virgin” incident last time, Yang Juhui seemed fearless as she unwrapped the tissue paper.

Soon her expression contorted.

“What is this?”

What had been wrapped in the tissue paper was an object about the size of the first joint of my pinky finger.

Its rough surface, color, and texture resembled a dried persimmon.

“…What on earth is this?”

Even our computer genius Jeongseok frowned as if seeing this object for the first time.

What could this be?

Why was it kept with the talismans?

While we were deeply pondering its identity, Teacher Hong Miri entered the secret base.

“Kids, did you resolve everything well?”

I thought this was perfect timing, so I showed Teacher Hong Miri the object we had acquired.

“This….”

Teacher Hong Miri made a chilling expression as if she had realized something, then carefully rewrapped the object in tissue paper. Then she put it in her pocket.

“Can I have this analyzed by someone I know? I think we’ll have results by the end of today.”

“Go ahead.”

It’s an object we don’t even know about anyway.

It would be good to find out what it is.

In my opinion, there must be a reason why Wang Jahyeon’s group kept it hidden with the talismans.

Could it be something extremely valuable?

With that feeling, we celebrated our first theft at the secret base.

Everyone was excited with the thrilling feeling of this deviation from normal behavior.

“So I jumped over the wall… and opened the door!”

“If I hadn’t unlocked that lock, we would have been done for!”

It was truly a festive atmosphere.

We discovered we had a talent for theft.

Honestly, I had prepared myself to turn back time at least once, but we succeeded on our first attempt.

I felt proud thinking that sometimes life can go this smoothly.

‘That’s right, you can’t just have bad days all the time. You need good days too.’

Before we knew it, it was evening.

While we were deciding on dinner, Teacher Hong Miri came in.

Teacher Hong Miri said:

“What you brought back. It’s human.”

“…What?”

I was shocked.

How could that be human?

“To be precise, it’s a human finger.”

I was still confused.

How could that be a human finger?

While we were all wondering, Jeongseok spoke.

“Is it a baby’s finger?”

“Yes. They say it’s the finger of a baby around 0 to 1 year old. It was dried and mummified. Creepy, isn’t it?”

Why would someone cut off a baby’s finger and preserve it like this?

And why did Wang Jahyeon have it?

I couldn’t understand.

# # #

Wang Jahyeon was causing a scene, practically turning his house upside down.

He was searching for the missing object.

“It’s gone! Gone!”

But no matter how much he searched, the missing object was nowhere to be found.

Anger flared in his chest like flames.

Wang Jahyeon’s eyes now turned to the girls.

“Did you take it?”

“Wh-what are you talking about? We don’t even know what’s in that box.”

“You’re the one with the key.”

Gong Yerin and Lim Huiyeon trembled at the man’s anger.

Veins stood out on Wang Jahyeon’s forehead, and his eyes were bloodshot.

“Yerin, let’s search together.”

“Okay, okay.”

Gong Yerin and Lim Huiyeon pretended to search, not knowing what they were looking for, afraid of becoming targets of his anger.

They thought this was better than getting hit by Wang Jahyeon.

Wang Jahyeon was the type who would hit even women.

‘It’s not here.’

After rummaging through the house for a while, Wang Jahyeon gave up searching.

There was no way that thing, which had been locked in a heavy metal box, could have disappeared on its own.

Theft.

It made more sense that someone had stolen it.

Ding-dong-.

Just then, someone rang the doorbell.

Gong Yerin, who had been sitting anxiously as if on pins and needles, brightened her expression.

“That must be Kim Geonho! I’ll open it!”

Click, creak-.

When she opened the door, Kim Geonho entered the house and frowned.

“Why is the house such a mess? It was already chaotic, but now it’s even worse.”

Wang Jahyeon looked at Kim Geonho.

He briefly wondered if it could be him, but soon shook his head.

‘Kim Geonho is an idiot.’

Kim Geonho wasn’t bold enough to betray him.

From the beginning, he was essentially a “coward.”

‘Someone from outside stole it.’

Would it be someone who knew the true value of that object?

It was a treasure that existed only twice in the world.

There were plenty of people who wouldn’t hesitate to kill to obtain it.

That’s why he, as a chosen one, had been keeping it….

Wang Jahyeon decided to honestly admit his mistake.

“The key to the corridor entrance is gone. That means we can’t enter the corridor anymore.”

“What?”

“What are we going to do!”

Gong Yerin and Lim Huiyeon looked upset.

Thinking they were useless, Wang Jahyeon looked at Kim Geonho.

Suddenly, he recalled how Kim Geonho had been curled up in the corner of a room when they first met.

It could be called a kind of “quirk.”

Though he didn’t remember it himself, it might have been related to that cursed old school building.

It didn’t seem like a mere coincidence.

‘Besides us, there’s someone else wandering the corridor. I’m also concerned about Gong Yerin and Lim Huiyeon coming back from the dead recently. It’s probably not done by one person, but by a group of two or more.’

Wang Jahyeon reached a conclusion.

Someone was out there.

And to find out who, it seemed best to investigate Kim Geonho.

“Kim Geonho. Do you remember in detail what happened before you refused to go to school? Tell me everything, even the smallest details. And if there’s anyone else who suddenly changed, tell me about them too.”

“Suddenly?”

Kim Geonho crossed his arms and fell into thought.

The girls, who were more tense than Kim Geonho, spoke first.

“Jeong Sojin! Kim Geonho, you used to get along well with Jeong Sojin, but suddenly you didn’t!”

“That’s right! Jeong Sojin! She suddenly had a seizure!”

“Jeong Sojin, the class president of Class D?”

Wang Jahyeon also knew about the class president.

He had once wanted to live in the same apartment complex as her.

‘Kim Geonho and Jeong Sojin. It might be someone close to these two people.’

Originally, the stolen treasure was one of only two such objects in the world.

It was entirely possible that the person who had the other one had stolen his.

Just then, Gong Yerin asked:

“So, what exactly is this treasure?”

Wang Jahyeon kept his mouth shut.

He was concerned about the one missing talisman.

He thought there might be a traitor within this group.

Otherwise, this crime would have been impossible.

# # #

Our talisman theft was a perfect crime.

At the same time, we had also left behind a huge clue.

“We might be found out soon for stealing the talismans. If they narrow down people who know the value of the talismans, they’ll eventually reach us.”

My life has been unlucky.

In that sense, it was almost a foregone conclusion that Wang Jahyeon’s group would discover our theft.

It meant we had limited time.

“We need to complete the corridor conquest before that. They say the 4th floor is the end, so we’re really close.”

If the “Nightmare Corridor” were a game, it would be closest to musical chairs.

There’s only one finish line.

Multiple teams.

If we arrive first, we wouldn’t need to fight with others.

Let’s speed up.

With that thought, we immediately prepared for the next expedition.

We felt confident with the many talismans we had stolen.

In that sense, I was thinking of making some changes for this expedition.

When I returned home after a long time and manipulated my status window, there were many items marked “NEW.”

First, there were 10 additional escape talismans.

And second, there was the “Finger.”

“Finger: A finger that allows entry into the Nightmare Corridor. Slightly increases the luck of its possessor.”

“Oh, shit…!”

This was another first-time item, wasn’t it?

It was a totally amazing item.

The item we had stolen without knowing what it was turned out to be a finger that allowed entry into the corridor.

“So that’s what it was.”

The reason Wang Jahyeon’s group could enter the corridor.

It was because of this finger.

Was this like a cow catching a mouse while backing up?

The problem was that since such an important object had disappeared, Wang Jahyeon’s group might pursue us more fiercely.

If I had such an object and lost it, I would have gone crazy.

For me, it would be like losing my status window.

There’s no telling what the deranged Wang Jahyeon might do.

So we needed to work harder.

I had to think hard and decided on the members and items for this expedition.

Yang Juhui: Box cutter, Magic Wand, School Uniform, Zippo Lighter, Straw Doll, Escape Talisman

Me – 2 items: Spiral Key, Escape Talisman

Hong Miri – 2 items: Camera, Escape Talisman

Yu Dahui – 2 items: Paper Crane, Escape Talisman

I left out Jeongseok.

Jeongseok wasn’t much help on the 3rd floor of the corridor.

‘Alright.’

Swoosh-.

I closed my eyes.

When I opened them again, the chilly corridor greeted me.

This time, I was determined to break through the 3rd floor.