Ch.153153 – Your Name 2

# 153 – Your Name Is # 2

High school students interrogating their classmates locked in a container box—

It sounded like something that would be reported as breaking news on the 9 o’clock news.

The fact that this was happening right before my eyes was absolutely shocking.

Even the tender-hearted Kwon Sua seemed deeply disturbed by it all.

“We’ve kidnapped people!”

Kwon Sua trembled violently.

She was really shaking in every possible way.

“What do we do now? Do we pull out their fingernails and sprinkle salt on the wounds? Or break their fingers one by one until they give us the answers we want?”

Ugh, shit.

I hadn’t even thought about doing that.

It sounds painful just hearing about it.

With Kwon Sua’s dramatic outburst, the tightly bound Lim Huiyeon and Gong Yerin began sobbing uncontrollably as if they were terrified.

Pssssh—

They even wet themselves.

This was a true human rights violation scene.

Even the notorious school bullies probably wouldn’t do something like this, so after much deliberation, I came to a conclusion.

“Let’s untie them and let them clean up first.”

“You mean set them free?”

Jeongseok was being Jeongseok.

I felt I needed to clarify my words.

“No, I mean let’s get them out of here for now.”

It wasn’t so much for Gong Yerin and Lim Huiyeon’s sake as it was for our mental health.

Though no one showed it, I felt like we were cornered rats at the edge of a cliff.

Everyone was backed into a corner, and there was no telling what they might do.

It was all because of the Nightmare Corridor.

We’d been through so much that our dopamine levels or something had gone haywire.

If I didn’t want to see my friends suffer any more, I needed to get to the fourth floor quickly.

“Hey, no matter how fast you run, I can catch you in three seconds. Don’t try anything stupid.”

Yang Juhui threatened Gong Yerin and Lim Huiyeon.

Coming from a former violent school bully, her words carried a certain weight.

Nod, nod—

Lim Huiyeon and Gong Yerin nodded frantically.

# # #

The Cheon family mansion had many rooms.

Among them were suspicious rooms whose purpose was unclear. This soundproofed room on the third floor was definitely one of those suspicious rooms.

Thanks to that, we were able to confine Lim Huiyeon and Gong Yerin.

“Talk.”

Yang Juhui pressed the two girls sitting on the bed.

After washing up and changing into borrowed clothes, Gong Yerin seemed to have gained a bit of confidence and shot back.

“About what?”

It was a timid act of defiance.

She was pretending to be a cool, unfazed high school girl, but her voice was trembling terribly, and her legs were shaking.

But her question was valid.

Talk about what?

You have to ask what you want to know to get an answer.

Jeongseok, the smartest among us, stepped forward.

“First, tell us about this object. This tissue-wrapped object. It’s something stolen from Wang Jahyeon’s house. Tell us what it is and how it’s used.”

“That’s…”

Lim Huiyeon began to speak.

But Gong Yerin quickly slapped her palm over Lim Huiyeon’s mouth.

“Mmph—”

“We can’t tell you.”

Hmm.

I expected this.

Jeongseok seemed to have anticipated this situation too and whispered to me.

Whisper whisper. Mumble mumble.

“Should we separate them? Whoever gives us more information gets set free?”

It was an excellent idea.

It seemed like a technique often used in movies with detectives interrogating two people simultaneously.

So we decided to separate Gong Yerin and Lim Huiyeon.

I, Yang Juhui, and Kwon Sua went into Lim Huiyeon’s room, while Jeongseok, Bong Jiyeon, and Yu Dahui went to interrogate Gong Yerin.

“……”

Lim Huiyeon had been trembling all day.

She must be the Wang Jahyeon party’s Jeongseok or Kwon Sua.

Compared to the bold Gong Yerin, she seemed more timid and fearful.

Watching her look as pitiful as a lamb made my guilt and sense of wrongdoing grow.

“Huiyeon, do you remember when you picked up my eraser for me?”

“……”

“You might not remember. But I do. It’s strange that we’re talking like this when we were in the same class. The world has become strange.”

“…You guys are the ones who did wrong.”

“Us?”

“You guys are stirring up trouble at school… doing bad things. We… we didn’t do anything wrong. We were told we’re protecting people.”

Lim Huiyeon was speaking more fluently than I expected.

While I was secretly relieved at this cooperative conversation, I didn’t show it and calmly asked.

“You were disposing of people in the old school building, right? Do you know that the people you’ve dealt with become strange, like they’re possessed?”

“…I know. But those people are widening the hole in the dam. They told us that for the greater good, a few must be sacrificed. Just like humans eat pigs or chickens to survive…”

Is this Lim Huiyeon’s own thinking?

No, she was just parroting someone else’s words like a parrot.

That’s how high school students, including myself, often are.

We speak as if they’re our own thoughts, but often they’re just things we’ve picked up from somewhere else.

It could be someone’s ideology or theory.

In this case, was it Wang Jahyeon’s theory of justice?

“Why are you doing such terrible things?”

Lim Huiyeon, seemingly emboldened by our conversation, asked me.

Her eyes were intensely serious.

I decided to answer seriously as well.

“I can take responsibility for everything. They say you can make a wish when you reach the fourth floor. When I get there, I’ll restore everything to normal. That’s the real way for everyone to survive.”

“Ha Yeongwon, are you stupid? You might as well say Santa Claus is real. There’s no way something that grants wishes actually exists. If there were, the world would have become a better place long ago.”

Lim Huiyeon’s argument was somewhat logical.

Whether there’s a wish-granting clock on the fourth floor or not—

I had only heard about its existence but hadn’t clearly confirmed if it was real.

‘Santa Claus, huh.’

As I became lost in thought, Kwon Sua, probably thinking the interrogation was going in a strange direction, gathered her courage.

“Don’t try to persuade us! We’re prepared! Climbing building walls! Do you know how scared and difficult it was for me to steal? We’re prepared too!”

“…You’re the idol Kwon Sua, right? From Dorangmul Girlz. Why are you with them?”

“W-we’re asking the questions! This finger! It’s a baby finger! There’s no way someone protecting the world would use such a cursed, grotesque object! Tell us what this is right now!”

Kwon Sua’s face turned red as she fumed.

I thought she was a coward, but she could be assertive when needed.

At Kwon Sua’s question, Lim Huiyeon began looking around nervously.

Then she spoke softly.

“They said it’s like a ticket to enter the other world. The ticket allows up to four people to enter at once… After that… don’t you already know? You enter the same way.”

A ticket to the old school building.

Could it function like a Status Window?

Does Wang Jahyeon have a Status Window too?

As I was wondering, Yang Juhui, who had been standing with her arms crossed, blurted out.

“Don’t be evasive. Speak clearly.”

“……”

Lim Huiyeon pressed her lips tightly shut.

She rolled her eyes nervously, looking extremely uncomfortable.

Her face turned redder than a tomato, and sweat beaded on her forehead. Just when I thought she was going to keep her mouth shut, Yang Juhui got angry.

“Aren’t you going to talk?”

Flinch-!

Lim Huiyeon was frightened by Yang Juhui’s question.

She mumbled as if she was about to share something extremely embarrassing and shameful.

“Yang Juhui. Come closer.”

“What is it?”

Whisper whisper—

“…What? You have to do that kind of thing with the finger’s owner to form a party? Look at these shameless girls! So that’s why there were so many condoms at your house! You perverts! Doing such things with that Wang Jahyeon!”

Huh? Perverted acts?

I felt like lightning had struck right in front of me.

That’s the function of the “Baby Finger”?

What kind of object is that?

“You’re going to do the same thing!”

Lim Huiyeon was starting to get angry now.

I could tell that Lim Huiyeon had a huge misunderstanding about us. And Yang Juhui couldn’t bear this truth either, as her face turned red and she shouted.

“What is this crazy girl saying! Do you think we’re like you? This is too disgusting to deal with. Ugh, you green high school students, ugh—”

It would be difficult for us to use the “Baby Finger” in many ways.

I had thought that maybe we could run two parties through the corridor using the finger, but with conditions like that, it was impossible.

# # #

“How is it going? Is Gong Yerin cooperating well?”

I came out into the corridor and spoke to Jeongseok.

Jeongseok, who had been tapping on his phone, looked at me and nodded.

“Better than expected.”

We compared the information we had gathered. Soon we discovered that Gong Yerin and Lim Huiyeon had said similar things. Besides learning about the finger’s function, there wasn’t much else.

While I was thinking this, Jeongseok continued tapping on his phone.

Wondering what he was doing, I looked and saw he was looking at what seemed to be an old Western painting.

“What are you looking at?”

“I’m concerned about the identity of the onmyoji. A priest from Spain. A monk who can be neutralized if his name is discovered. It doesn’t seem like a mere coincidence. Do you know about the Legion demon?”

“Legion demon?”

“The demon Jesus cast out. When asked its name, it answered, ‘We are Legion’—like that. Also called Legion. This is the basic principle of exorcism for casting out demons and evil spirits.”

I had no idea what he was talking about.

“So the core of exorcism is asking the possessed person’s name and using that name to cast them out. Doesn’t that sound similar to the onmyoji who can be neutralized if his name is discovered?”

Now that I heard it, it did seem similar.

So what Jeongseok was saying was:

“The onmyoji’s identity is not an ordinary ghost?”

“It might not be a ghost at all. It could be something more terrifying, like a demon.”

A demon? Like in stories?

Though it was Jeongseok’s deduction, it honestly seemed a bit exaggerated and hard to believe.

But Jeongseok seemed convinced.

“Remember when we went to church because of Seyeon? The elder pastor said that if you want to talk about heaven and salvation, you should also be able to talk about demons and hell.”

“Hmm…”

“In the West, the number 6 represents the time of creation. It symbolizes cosmic truth and creation beyond human existence. But it’s considered an imperfect number because it doesn’t reach 7, which includes the day of rest after creation.”

“Jeongseok, you seem to know more about this than me, and I’m a pastor’s son.”

“6 is also used as the number of the devil. Look at 666 in the Book of Revelation. A monk with six fingers and an onmyoji. They’re not ordinary beings, and they’re not simple ghosts. They might be major figures.”

Jeongseok was so serious that I couldn’t help but nod in agreement.

“Then how do we find out their names?”

“I think the iron box where the monk was supposedly confined must be somewhere in Gaeryong. If we find it, we might discover the name. They wouldn’t have thrown away such an object.”

Ding—

Just then, a message notification sounded.

It was a message from Teacher Hong Miri.

“Teacher Miri: I couldn’t find the customs record of the iron box being brought in, but I did contact one of the workers from that time lol. He’s in a bit of a strange state though”

So she found someone who might know about the onmyoji’s iron box?

Good timing.

I peeked into the room where Lim Huiyeon and Gong Yerin were confined.

Lim Huiyeon was hiding under the bed.

—Meow.

“Eek! Something bit me!”

The white cat, Baekseol, seemed to have bitten Lim Huiyeon’s foot.