Ch.164164 – Remnants 2

# 164 – Residual # 2

I was planning to meet Gong Yerin and Lim Huiyeon, but they said they were changing clothes.

After waiting about 5 minutes, I opened the door and saw Gong Yerin and Lim Huiyeon sitting on the bed.

Unlike Lim Huiyeon who waved at me, Gong Yerin was irritable.

“You kidnappers. When are you planning to let us go?”

In the past, I would have felt guilty.

But now that Yang Juhui was going through something serious, I wasn’t in a position to be picky.

I needed to use this situation if I could.

“Letting you go depends on how much you cooperate. How many times have you been through the corridor?”

“More than 10 times, I think?”

Lim Huiyeon answered quickly.

Gong Yerin glared at her.

“Hey.”

“They said they’ll let us go if we cooperate.”

“You believe that lie? You’re still acting innocent even in this situation? Such a hypocrite.”

Gong Yerin seemed displeased that Lim Huiyeon was trying to be cooperative with us.

I asked Lim Huiyeon, who seemed more willing to talk than Gong Yerin.

“Then do you know about residual? When people can’t escape from the corridor. I mean staying in that corridor, different from dying or escaping with a talisman.”

“Huh? I don’t know about that.”

Lim Huiyeon shook her head.

Soon, Gong Yerin, who had been watching Lim Huiyeon, let out a deep sigh.

“Do you know why we were chasing people out of there? Because people who stay in the corridor too long become entranced by it.”

“Entranced?”

“If you stay in the corridor too long, you become a prisoner to its charm, so to speak. Like how a person who has committed a sin is drawn toward more sin. The corridor is the same.”

What is she talking about?

Gong Yerin continued explaining after that, but there were many points that were difficult to understand.

Jeongseok, who was probably the smartest among us, asked as if summarizing the story.

“So people who stay in the corridor for too long are entranced by the corridor itself and try to go deeper, higher?”

“Yes. We were getting people out before they became bound to the corridor. The method was somewhat extreme, but what could we do? The number of precious escape talismans is limited.”

Bound to the corridor…

While I was lost in various thoughts, Gong Yerin, sitting on the bed, crossed her legs differently.

“There are a lot of missing people in this city, right? We know something about you too. Your family or acquaintances went missing or died, right? Those disappeared acquaintances might have already been captured by the corridor.”

I recalled the nightmare corridor I had been through so far.

I didn’t remember meeting anyone who had been captured.

Of course, we hadn’t explored all parts of the corridor.

The third and fourth floors were still largely unknown.

“If this helped, why don’t you let us walk in the garden for an hour each day? I feel like I’m gaining fat just staying in this room.”

Gong Yerin and Lim Huiyeon requested one hour of daily walks.

When I looked at Dahui, she nodded.

“Alright. I’ll take responsibility and let you walk for an hour each day.”

“And please get rid of this cat! It keeps biting my feet!”

—Meow.

# # #

“Ugh, that Yang Juhui, she should have just died quietly. Why did she have to do something like residual and make everyone suffer?”

In the mansion’s garden.

Bong Jiyeon clicked her tongue. I couldn’t help but feel depressed, thinking that Yang Juhui was going through hardship because of me.

What could Yang Juhui be doing in the corridor right now?

Maybe she was waiting for us to save her.

But there was a cooldown period for going back and forth through the corridor.

『Re-entry waiting time – 25:15:44』

It would take at least two days before we could enter the corridor again.

Of course, there was one way to enter without waiting for the cooldown.

That was by using the terrible “Baby Finger.”

I took out an object wrapped in tissue from my pocket.

Wang Jahyeon, Gong Yerin, and Lim Huiyeon’s group used this object to enter and exit the old school building.

If I used this, could I enter and exit the old school building regardless of my status window’s corridor entry? Then I might be able to save Yang Juhui.

Just then, someone placed their hand on my shoulder.

It was Yu Dahui.

“Dying and residual. We all have that level of determination. Yeongwon, it’s not your fault.”

Was she trying to comfort me?

Bong Jiyeon chimed in.

“I didn’t have that determination!”

That’s right.

The reason Bong Jiyeon cooperated with us was to find her “sister.”

And we recently found Bong Jiyeon’s sister.

We had recovered her head.

“What about your sister’s head?”

When I asked, Bong Jiyeon shuddered.

“It’s in this mansion. How could I keep something so gruesome at home?”

It was her sister’s head that she wanted to find, but scary things are scary—is that it? I could completely understand.

Just then, a good idea came to my mind.

Senior Bong Seyeon was also someone who had stayed in the corridor for a long time.

Maybe she knew about residual, or how to save someone who had become residual.

“Kids, take this medicine.”

On the way to meet Senior Bong Seyeon.

Teacher Hong Miri gave each of us some medicine.

“You need this to cross that lily of the valley garden.”

Senior Bong Seyeon’s head was kept in the Chairman’s study.

The Chairman’s study was a building built in the center of a lily of the valley garden, and these lilies of the valley were said to be very poisonous.

The Chairman’s study, which I visited for the first time in a long while since the “Monkey’s Hand” incident.

Kwon Sua trembled at the sight of the place filled with various strange objects.

“It’s creepy. We’d be cursed if we touched anything carelessly, right?”

It really seemed that way.

Senior Bong Seyeon’s head was placed on a cushion inside a transparent glass case in a temperature-controlled collection storage.

Teacher Hong Miri opened the glass case and reached out to take the head.

“Teacher, you’re not going to do that again, are you?”

“There’s no other way. Hold my head for me.”

Ugh!

It was too scary.

While everyone had their eyes closed, Teacher Hong Miri and Senior Bong Seyeon’s heads were exchanged.

Just swapping heads like that.

I think there used to be a cartoon called Anpanman…

“What’s this?”

It seems Senior Bong Seyeon has regained consciousness.

Holding Teacher Hong Miri’s head, I hurriedly said to Senior Bong Seyeon.

“Not just Senior Yang Dohui, but Yang Juhui seems to be trapped in the corridor too! What should we do?”

“Captured by the corridor, huh.”

Senior Bong Seyeon also used the term “captured by the corridor.”

Now that I think about it, it seemed like a common occurrence.

“If that’s the case, the only option is to go and save her yourself. Like how Dohui tried to save me. Of course, there are often cases where the person trying to save the captured person gets captured themselves. That’s what happened to Dohui.”

Like becoming a hostage while trying to rescue a hostage.

“The longer they’re captured, the less likely they are to return to normal.”

That was the end of Senior Bong Seyeon’s words.

Back to the original state.

Watching that scene, Kwon Sua screamed as if she couldn’t bear it.

“Swapping necks like that. It’s too scary!”

I felt the same way.

Still, thanks to Senior Bong Seyeon, I was able to gain confidence.

There was hope.

The sooner the decision was made, the better.

# # #

“Ha Yeongwon, I didn’t expect you to ask to see me.”

At a cafe near the school.

When Wang Jahyeon appeared, the female customers sitting as guests turned their attention to him.

He was still someone who attracted attention.

Not wanting to be the center of attention, I decided to just state my business.

“Explain to me in detail how you entered the corridor.”

“Right here, right now?”

Wang Jahyeon narrowed his eyes.

He must have thought he had no choice, or perhaps for some other reason, he shrugged willingly.

“Alright. The object you stole from me. I call it a key. If you hold it close to your chest and strongly wish for it when you fall asleep, you can enter another world. You can think of it as a passport or a pass.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know the reason either. Maybe, well, it wasn’t originally from this world. Perhaps the owner of that finger was originally from the other side. What’s important is the function, not the principle, right?”

That was true.

So it’s an object that’s used when you wish to go to another world while holding the “key.”

“Of course, this is when you use it alone. If you want to use the key with multiple people, the method changes. It seems the key was originally meant for one person, so a special ritual is needed.”

I had already heard about that ritual from Gong Yerin and Lim Huiyeon.

It was essentially an impure and blasphemous idolatrous ritual.

“That’s… enough. We’re different from you.”

“That’s right. What exactly are you guys?”

Thinking I had nothing more to discuss with Wang Jahyeon, I pushed my chair back and stood up.

Wang Jahyeon asked me as I was leaving.

“You don’t think I’m alone, do you?”

“What?”

“The Guardians. You might not believe me, but I’m relatively mild.”

That was the end of my conversation with Wang Jahyeon. I needed to leave quickly.

He might be an unpleasant guy, but the knowledge he possessed was real, so it was a helpful conversation.

With the finger, I could enter the nightmare corridor regardless of the cooldown.

My plan was to enter the corridor alone and save Yang Juhui.

The responsibility as the person who got everyone involved.

Repayment for all the help I received from Yang Juhui.

And various emotions were swirling inside me.

“Did the conversation go well?”

When I came out of the cafe, Dahui was waiting for me. When did she arrive?

Maybe it was because of the hot weather, but Dahui’s expression looked slightly dark.

She also seemed to be hesitating.

“I came because I didn’t know what might happen if you met Wang Jahyeon alone. The others said they were going to investigate about the demon.”

The cicadas were still chirping in the summer.

I suddenly thought that this summer might continue forever.

Why is the world so hot?

“…You’re planning to enter the corridor alone, aren’t you?”

Dahui seemed to already know what I was planning to do.

“Did you read my mind?”

“If I couldn’t do that much, I wouldn’t survive as a high school girl in Korea. It’s really a war to get along with other girls.”

What is a high school girl?

It seems high school girls are more amazing than I thought.

Yu Dahui, who laughed to herself, said.

“In some ways, I envy Juhui. She’s like a captured princess.”

“Is that so?”

Feeling somewhat awkward, I scratched my cheek.

Just as my whole body started to feel itchy, Dahui pulled on my collar.

“I can go with you if you’d like.”