Ch.152152 – Your Name 1

# 152 – Your Name Is # 1

Once upon a time, on Christmas Eve.

My mom asked me.

“Did you pray to Santa for a gift you want? It’s almost midnight. You need to make a wish quickly for Santa to bring you a present.”

“I can’t decide!”

I could only make one wish to Santa.

Why did it have to be just one wish?

Couldn’t he give me a robot, Lego, and a Pikachu doll?

Whenever I had to choose just one thing, I’d always been thrown into panic since I was young.

‘I’ve decided!’

After much deliberation, I was able to make up my mind.

It was the transforming robot my friend had bragged about.

He boasted that it cost over 2 million won, which made me envious.

The next morning.

At my bedside was a carefully wrapped box of crayons.

But my wish had been for a transforming robot.

That day I realized.

Wishes aren’t easily granted.

Since long ago, what I wanted rarely came true.

Perhaps “wishes” are the things furthest from me, Ha Yeongwon.

“They’re still alive.”

Hearing Dahui’s words, I felt my soul fly to the farthest reaches of the universe.

I had been agonizing alone because I didn’t want to make my friends do bad things.

But Dahui had gone ahead and smacked Gong Yerin and Lim Huiyeon on the backs of their heads and kidnapped them.

Did she do it alone?

“Did you do it alone?”

“Juhui helped me. I figured it would be hard to move them by myself. Ms. Danvers and the sisters helped too.”

“…”

“I was actually going to keep it secret, but I just can’t lie to you, Yeongwon.”

Dahui laughed with a playful “puhehe-” mixed with aegyo.

“I just wanted to protect your everyday lives…”

“Yeongwon. We’re not so weak that we need your protection.”

Thinking about it, that was true.

I’ve always been in the position of being protected, never the protector.

Everyone was strong. Was I actually the one in the captured Princess Peach position…!?

What exactly was this “everyday life” I wanted to protect? Maybe it never existed in the first place, just a mirage on a summer day.

We came together because we were strange people from the beginning.

Suddenly I remembered what Dahui had said.

That a woman can do anything for the person she loves.

Dahui was a friend who “could die for me.” I hated that.

So when I told her not to be that way, she became a friend who “could kill for me” instead.

“Yeongwon, want to go see them together today?”

Dahui asked me.

It felt like she was asking, “I have a cat at home, want to come see it?”

I hesitated, not knowing how to answer, and Dahui seemed to notice my discomfort.

“I know. It’s a bad thing. Do you hate me now?”

Do I hate Dahui?

Dahui once told me that no matter what I did or how awkwardly I behaved, she wouldn’t hate me. I didn’t fully grasp it then. But this moment was exactly that.

“No, I don’t hate you at all.”

Dahui is pretty.

I instinctively knew in that moment that I could never hate Dahui no matter what she did.

“Who else knows?”

“Just me and Juhui. Well, now you too, Yeongwon. I actually wanted to catch Wang Jahyeon too, but maybe because he’s a guy, he ran away quickly and I missed him.”

She talks like someone who missed catching a Pokémon because they ran out of Poké Balls.

Anyway, it was something the two of them planned. With help from people at the mansion.

After much deliberation, I came to a conclusion.

“Then let’s all go see them after lunch.”

I said it like we were going on a field trip.

The surreal nature of suggesting we go see high school girls kidnapped by my friend.

My daily life had aspects more astral than a nightmare with ghosts.

# # #

“The Red Flower Shrine”

The next series after the Abyss Corridor had a different name.

The Red Flower Shrine.

As the title suggested, it was a game about exploring a Japanese-style temple filled with red flowers.

“Isn’t this exactly like the place we wandered around?”

Kwon Sua was playing the game.

Among us, Kwon Sua, the most popular and idol-like, was the best at games.

Even with ghosts chasing and no items to help, she played well without showing fear.

“Aren’t you scared?”

I gave Kwon Sua an admiring look.

It’s kind of amazing that Kwon Sua, who was actually quite timid, is good at horror games.

“It’s just a game.”

A game is just a game, is that it?

“Wow. Wooow. Amazing. That’s amazing.”

“You can compliment me more if you want?”

“Amazing! Being an idol isn’t something just anyone can do!”

“Yay!”

However, there were many concerning points about “The Red Flower Shrine” that made it hard to dismiss as “just a game.”

First, the monsters appearing were identical to our memories.

A spider woman with eight arms.

Getting caught meant death.

To evade the spider woman, you must never make eye contact with her.

Ding-a-ling-.

When the bells hanging around started ringing like a warning, burying your head to the floor was the only way to survive.

“The strategy is exactly the same.”

Perhaps “The Red Flower Shrine” was directly based on the third floor corridor.

The second ghost appearing in this red temple was an onmyoji chanting mysterious spells.

Jeongseok, who had been staring at the monitor, spoke after a long silence.

“We know nothing about the onmyoji. We should either deliberately die to learn more or find documents in the game. We can collect notes while exploring this temple.”

In the game, you could collect items called “Notes.”

The premise was that the “protagonist,” who suddenly found themselves in this temple, would uncover secrets and plan their escape through “Notes” and “Items” left by someone—that was the game’s concept.

These notes contained information about the ghosts.

They were something like this:

“Note about the Onmyoji 1

A man who chants unholy mantras. Nothing is known about his identity or purpose. He is a completely unknown entity. Running away is the only answer for now.”

“Note about the Onmyoji 2

I remembered my cousin’s story from Kyoto. Long ago, there was a monk with six fingers who granted people’s wishes but took their precious things in return. After the monk passed through, many people became strangely ill, so the shogunate, considering the monk ominous, sought help from powerful shamans and monks to stop him, but they all died from strange illnesses.”

“Note about the Onmyoji 3

Hearing rumors of the strange monk, a priest came from far-away Spain. The foreign priest was a Christian who came all the way to Japan in search of the gates of heaven. He met and spoke briefly with the monk, then told people:

‘The six-fingered being is a foreign entity. Such entities mislead and tempt people. But if you discover its name, there is nothing you cannot overcome.'”

“Note about the Onmyoji 4

After many sacrifices, people discovered the monk’s name and imprisoned him in an iron box weighing 1000 kan, burying it in a pit so deep he could never escape. The health of those suffering from unknown illnesses also improved.”

“Note about the Onmyoji 5

The onmyoji in this red temple had six fingers. Like that monk, the onmyoji must have a name. Discovering a name has great magical significance… there might be hints nearby.”

“That’s all the notes about the onmyoji.”

Kwon Sua, who had been diligently exploring the game world, tilted her head.

“No matter how much I look, I can’t find any hints about the name?”

Games typically have solutions.

If there’s a monster, and notes about how to defeat that monster, it should be designed to work that way.

But this game had no hints whatsoever about the onmyoji’s name.

“I thought it seemed rushed for a free release. Is it unfinished?”

Jeongseok frowned.

I thought it would be good to contact Mr. Kang Bada.

But he still hadn’t checked my messages.

Soon, Bong Jiyeon asked.

“Was it a real event?”

What does she mean?

As we all looked at Bong Jiyeon, she said:

“This story about the strange monk. Was it a real event?”

Bong Jiyeon wasn’t familiar with games.

I couldn’t help but smile at her innocence in believing a game story could be real.

Is this what Jeongseok likes about her?

Still, we all knew this wasn’t an ordinary game.

Maybe it could be real.

“Ms. Hong Miri. What are the chances that the monk mentioned here… is the onmyoji from the basement?”

“I heard that when the Chairman built Buldansa, she delegated most of the work to a shaman. The temple materials were also expensive imports from Japan. If this monk’s iron box… came to Korea and the seal was broken… the probability that the onmyoji and the monk are the same person… They probably didn’t bring it by plane. It would have come by ship, so there might be customs records from that time? I’ll make some calls.”

In my opinion, the old Japanese monk and the onmyoji were likely the same person.

My ominous premonitions had always been eerily accurate.

Suddenly I felt angry.

Why would they bring a box containing an evil monk to Korea?

I felt rage rising toward Yang Juhui’s grandmother, whom I’d never even met, to the point where I thought I might really lose it.

So I ended up glaring at Yang Juhui.

This Yang Juhui.

Keeping secrets from me and kidnapping Gong Yerin and Lim Huiyeon.

Creating secrets between us?

It was truly vexing.

I felt like poking her side would make me feel a bit better.

Poke-.

When I jabbed Yang Juhui’s side, she suddenly jumped like a startled cat, almost hitting the ceiling.

“Hyak!”

“What! What’s wrong?!”

Kwon Sua jumped up from the computer desk in surprise, and as everyone’s attention turned to us, Yang Juhui, her face turning red, pinched my arm.

“She poked my side!”

“Kids, that’s all fine, but save the affectionate gestures for when you’re alone.”

Ms. Hong Miri chuckled with a “hehe-“.

Feeling the awkward atmosphere, I decided to change the subject by bringing up something that needed to be discussed anyway.

“I don’t think we can learn anything more from the game. Let’s go to Dahui’s house now. Dahui and Juhui have kidnapped high school girls and locked them in a storage room.”

Even as I explained it myself, it didn’t seem real.

Jeongseok, Bong Jiyeon, Kwon Sua, and Ms. Hong Miri were greatly agitated-.

Yang Juhui got angry.

“Hey, Yu Dahui! How could you tell them that!”

So she was planning to keep it secret from everyone.

But at this point, there were no more secrets.

# # #

Behind Yu Dahui’s mansion were many containers.

It meant that even if a person was locked in one of the countless metal boxes, it would be hard to notice.

Clank, creak-.

As the container opened, the darkness receded to reveal high school girls tied up and lying face down on the floor.

Their heads were soaked in blood, and their eyes were filled with fear like rabbits facing hunters.

“Mmph!”

“Mmph!”

The high school girls squinted at the dazzling light and tried to back away.

With their hands and feet tied, they looked like wriggling worms or earthworms.

They must be terrified of us.

Conversely, imagine if I were kidnapped by Kim Geonho. If I were locked in a container, and then Wang Jahyeon, Gong Yerin, Lim Huiyeon, and Kim Geonho opened that door and looked at me?

I would definitely have wet myself from fear.

“I never imagined this.”

Jeongseok said quietly.

Even to Jeongseok, this situation seemed surreal.

“But it’s effective.”

Yet Jeongseok was a cold boy.

He was surprised, but honestly, he seemed to be admiring the situation.