Ch.165165 – Remnants 3

# 165 – Residual # 3

In front of the cafe.

Dahui tugged at the edge of my sleeve and said.

“I can help you look for Juhui.”

Wandering alone through the Nightmare Corridor would be dangerous even for me now.

When Dahui said she would help me find Juhui, I felt a surge of strength.

“But Dahui. When you say you’ll come with me…”

Dahui was present when we interrogated Gong Yerin and Lim Huiyeon.

That meant she also knew how they formed parties and navigated the corridor.

Hot flash-

Blood rushed to my face. Whether it was because of the weather, said to be the hottest day of the year, the heat waves rising from the distant road seemed particularly squirmy.

“Pfft, I’m just kidding.”

Slip-

Dahui released my collar.

Only then did I feel a sense of reality returning. Apparently, I had been so caught up in Dahui’s lie that I’d forgotten to breathe and was now gasping for air.

My heart was pounding wildly.

“But I really do want to go with you. Maybe there’s another way we could enter the corridor together, besides the method Gong Yerin and Lim Huiyeon chose?”

Another way to enter the corridor together?

Could such a thing exist?

I couldn’t say for certain. The opposite was equally true.

Dahui said.

“My mother was a shaman who protected the spiritual veins of Gaeryong City. So was my grandmother. Maybe I have some mysterious power too.”

“Is that so? You did wander the corridor alone before.”

Buzz buzz buzz-

I thought we should escape this heat first.

“Let’s walk for now. It feels weird just standing here.”

“Sure.”

Dahui and I wandered around my neighborhood.

We just walked aimlessly, but even that was quite fun.

We chatted too. Dahui was quite talkative.

“By the way, the mister sent me a letter.”

“The mister?”

“Kang Bada.”

Kang Bada sent Dahui a letter?

I hadn’t been in touch with him lately. I was trying to keep him and Dahui apart, worried that she might arbitrarily die again if they met.

I never expected him to send her a letter.

I wondered what it contained.

I hoped Dahui wouldn’t drink poison and die in front of me again.

The mere thought was horrifying.

“What did it say?”

“He said he knew my mom well. I received my mom’s diary.”

“Diary?”

“Apparently my mom kept a diary. She dreamed of becoming a poet. Similar to me wanting to be a novelist, right? I also got a photo of her. Look.”

Slide-

Dahui handed me a photo.

It was very worn.

A woman who resembled Dahui was smiling brightly—someone might mistake her for Dahui if they didn’t know better.

The unusual thing was that she was holding a fox-like mask in her hand.

It was a bit eerie.

“The diary contained this photo and a zoo ticket my mom had bought hoping to go with me when I grew up. She loved animals too.”

So Dahui’s love for animals was inherited from her mother.

Yesterday she was excited about catching a raccoon in the garden.

“Dahui, about that raccoon at your house. If it’s wild, couldn’t it have rabies or something? Isn’t that dangerous?”

“I got it vaccinated. I’m raising it in the garden. Its name is Leaf. Because I found it in the foliage. Leaf as in leaves. It’s also leaf-colored. Raccoon Leaf.”

“Leaf. That’s cute. You must really like raccoons.”

“Isn’t it cute how they waddle? They look silly. A bit quirky.”

“Hmm.”

Cute? When I showed an ambiguous reaction, Dahui started jumping around making “keng-keng” sounds.

She must be imitating a raccoon.

“A raccoon?”

“No, a fox!”

I see. Dahui was unpredictable in a different way than Jeongseok.

But while raccoons might be cute, is it really okay to just catch a wild raccoon and keep it as a pet?

There were surely legal issues.

But Dahui’s grandfather was something that transcended even the law.

He was practically like a shadowy figure controlling Korea, so allowing her to keep a raccoon wouldn’t be difficult.

Come to think of it, Dahui really comes from an extraordinary family.

Why did my father leave such a good family?

Why did he live estranged from them? There must have been a reason.

I wondered what would have happened to me if my father hadn’t cut ties with his biological father.

Would I have gone to school in a limousine?

Would teachers tremble before me?

Would that rude English teacher Hong Yeri bring me water if I just said “Water”?

That’s funny.

Me, a young master from an incredibly wealthy family?

Honestly, I couldn’t imagine it.

It didn’t seem to suit me at all.

“Actually, I might know a way to enter the corridor without fingers or a status window. It was written in my mom’s diary.”

“Really?”

“Long ago, there was a huge tree in Gaeryong. This was before the city was even called Gaeryong. My mom and grandmothers have been protecting that tree for generations.”

“A huge tree?”

“It was enormous. Its roots went so deep into the ground that no one knew how far they extended.”

An enormous tree. Could it be referring to the dangnamoo tree that was in Gaeryong?

“Ancient people believed the tree was connected to the afterlife. So the grandmothers who protected the tree could communicate with people from the afterlife.”

“So you’re saying if that tree still existed, we might be able to enter the old school building?”

“The tree is gone. It was cut down. But when it was removed, a fox mask was made from its wood and given to my mother. The mask in this photo is that very one. The fox mask.”

Yu Inna, Dahui’s mother, possessed a fox mask.

“By wearing this fox mask, my mom could connect with other worlds. That’s what was written in the diary.”

“Where is the mask now?”

“I don’t know.”

Dahui shook her head.

My heart, which had swelled with new possibilities, instantly cooled.

The dangnamoo tree of Gaeryong.

Dahui’s blood could connect with that tree to access the other world.

But now that both the tree and the fox mask made from it were gone, it was just a story that left us with regret.

Then suddenly, a thought crossed my mind.

“Maybe… there might still be a way.”

# # #

I hurriedly made my way to where Gaeryong’s dangnamoo tree once stood.

In its place now stood Yeong-gwang Church.

—There was a big tree. Quite an eyesore. We needed to start construction, but no one would cut it down. They said they’d be cursed. So I cut it down myself with an axe and chainsaw.

—My office chair and desk are made from that shrine tree.

Pastor Cheon Aesu had cut down the large tree to build the church.

And he boastfully made a chair and desk from that wood.

‘Yu Inna’s mask was made from the processed wood. If it was effective… wouldn’t the chair or desk have the same effect?’

My theory seemed quite plausible.

If we went to Yeong-gwang Church and tested it directly, we’d know.

The problem was how to steal the pastor’s chair.

We’d surely be caught before we could escape the church.

‘At least sneaking into the church itself shouldn’t be too difficult.’

I took out an item I had acquired from a gacha in the Hell Surgery Room not long ago.

Rustle rustle, slide-

“Master Keycard: A keycard that can open electronic doors. Can open any electronic door.”

It was a useless item in the ‘Nightmare Corridor’ where there were no electronic doors, but in reality, it was quite valuable. In an illegal way.

With this, infiltrating the church shouldn’t be difficult.

As I walked while formulating various plans, the church building came into view.

In the reddish early evening of summer, the towering building and cross looked just like a castle.

I honestly wasn’t sure if it was possible to sneak in there and take the chair.

But-. Thinking about Yang Juhui suffering while trapped in the corridor motivated me.

If I didn’t do it, who would?

It had to be me. I had to do it.

“Let’s go in when everyone leaves for dinner. Yeong-gwang Church isn’t big enough to have a dining hall, so everyone will eat outside.”

We waited near the church for about 10 minutes.

A group of people who appeared to be deaconesses and elders came out.

“Pastor, shall we go? I’ve made reservations.”

“Shall we then?”

“Juhui’s mother is in such a pitiful state.”

As I expected, they were going out for dinner.

Taking advantage of their departure, Dahui and I moved swiftly—sha-sha-shak—and infiltrated the church building.

There was no evening service today, so the emptied church building felt like a large coffin, quiet and desolate.

It was eerie, but this coldness would be our ally.

Pa-ba-bat-!

Using the stealth and infiltration skills I had honed while avoiding ghosts in the corridor, I managed to reach the second floor where the senior pastor’s office was located.

It was securely locked.

But when I held the prepared keycard against the door lock, there was a beep sound, and the door opened.

‘It worked!’

Inwardly rejoicing, Dahui and I quickly entered the office.

That’s when a problem arose.

“Is the pastor treating us today?”

“Seems like it, seeing as he asked us to bring the card. Did he say it was on the desk?”

“These days, you can pay for everything with your phone.”

We heard the voices of young women.

They were approaching the office where we were hiding.

I was startled and thought we needed to hide somehow.

“The wardrobe! Dahui, let’s hide in that wardrobe!”

There was a large wardrobe in the office.

Creak-

Opening its door, I saw enough space between various clothes for at least one person to fit comfortably.

Dahui and I hurriedly hid inside.