Ch.34034 – Courage Test 3

# 034 – Courage Test # 3

Jeongseok said.

Yu Dahui had been involved in a major incident during her elementary school days.

And this seemed to be a different case from Yang Juhui’s disappearance.

“I don’t feel comfortable talking about it myself.”

Jeongseok, who usually enjoyed explaining things, was showing an unusually reluctant attitude this time.

I wanted to press him further, but I figured there must be a good reason for his hesitation.

Everyone has their own circumstances, after all.

Beep beep-

When I opened the door, Yu Dahui had already packed all her belongings.

“Guys, I think I’m just getting in the way. Sorry. I should go now.”

Is she planning to go home?

Given the current atmosphere, it didn’t seem like we could continue playing games or anything like that.

Eventually, Yu Dahui left the house.

Only Jeongseok and I remained.

The house that had felt noisy and cramped until just a while ago suddenly seemed spacious.

“What a strange turn of events. I didn’t expect Yang Juhui to yell like that and leave.”

Jeongseok commented.

He seemed completely unaware of what had happened between Yang Juhui and Yu Dahui.

I briefly explained what Yang Juhui had told me, and Jeongseok was shocked.

“She gave a false witness statement? No wonder Yang Juhui was angry. But why would she do such a thing? What did Yu Dahui gain by lying to the police?”

It seemed Jeongseok had hit the same roadblock as me.

Why would she do such a thing?

It was naturally difficult to understand from a common sense perspective.

“Since she was in elementary school, maybe she just wanted to try lying to adults. Kids pull all sorts of pranks at that age. It was probably just a child’s innocent malice.”

That was as far as my speculation could go.

However, Jeongseok, who had attended the same private elementary school as Yu Dahui, had a different assessment.

“From what I remember, Yu Dahui was… the kind of kid who took the most care of the rabbits and hamsters at school.”

“Really?”

“She suddenly recanted… I think there’s something significant about that point.”

Sudden recantation…

Suddenly unable to remember…

Come to think of it, isn’t there someone around me experiencing a similar situation these days?

My mother.

My mother’s whereabouts were unclear during the three days she was missing, and her memory and mental state were fluctuating to the point where she even forgot about me, her son.

Yu Dahui’s recantation of her testimony about Yang Juhui’s disappearance.

And my mother’s memory loss.

What if these incidents, which seemed completely unrelated, were actually similar situations?

“Jeongseok, when was that major incident you mentioned? You said Yu Dahui was involved in a pretty big incident during elementary school. Can you at least tell me when it happened?”

“…It was the summer of 6th grade. After that, Yu Dahui started coming to school with a driver. I didn’t know she still came to school by car until now.”

Summer of 6th grade.

I could almost hear cicadas in my ears, and an unpleasant feeling washed over me as sticky sweat ran down my back.

To shake off this sudden feeling of being thrown into midsummer, I spoke with deliberate seriousness.

“Yang Juhui was attending Yeongji High School when she disappeared. Even if it was four years ago, a high school girl’s disappearance would have been big news, right? Shouldn’t we be able to find something if we search online?”

We searched the internet for missing person cases in Gaeryong City and high school girl disappearances.

And… quite a few cases came up.

Just earlier this year, a Yeongji High student had gone missing.

And five years ago, a student who had disappeared was found with only her head missing…

Four years ago, another student had disappeared.

“Series of Disappearances of High School Girls in Gaeryong City”

“Police Still Struggling with Investigation…”

“This seems to be about Yang Juhui. The article was written in spring. Juhui disappeared in spring. But according to you, the incident Yu Dahui experienced was in summer. The timing doesn’t match.”

I had thought Yu Dahui experienced a major incident and lost her memory, leading to her recanting her testimony about the disappearance.

But the major incident Yu Dahui experienced was chronologically much later than her recantation.

I don’t know.

If we asked them directly, we’d probably get a clear answer.

But these are such sensitive matters that it would be difficult to bring up easily.

# # #

“More importantly, why are there so many disappearances in this city?”

It was an ominous city in many ways.

Maybe because the city itself was built on a large water vein?

“Could they be the work of the same perpetrator?”

“No, I don’t think so. This headless case—they caught someone who was suspected. He even confessed to committing the crime. But he wasn’t connected to the other cases.”

Jeongseok pointed to an article about the “headless high school girl” case from five years ago.

He seemed to know quite a bit about it.

“But the culprit was released due to lack of evidence.”

Someone who even confessed was released due to lack of evidence?

As I was feeling puzzled, Jeongseok explained.

“I also think it’s impossible. Back then, my father was known as an undefeated prosecutor. But after handling this case, my father changed.”

I recalled that Jeongseok had dreamed of becoming a prosecutor.

He had joined the “Ha Yeongwon Pirates” ghost-hunting group to become the world’s strongest prosecutor who could take down all criminals.

When I first heard about his career aspirations, I didn’t think much of it.

But now it seemed that Jeongseok had quite complicated circumstances of his own.

“And they still haven’t found the missing head. Remember when I saw a rolling head in the elevator and fell over in shock? I was afraid it might be that head.”

“Was the head you met in the elevator this high school girl’s?”

“No, it looked different. This high school girl—she was a noona who lived next door to us. If it had been her face, I would have recognized it for sure. It was someone else.”

So Jeongseok experienced the murder of a neighbor who was found with her head missing.

His father, who was a prosecutor, handled the case, but the culprit was released.

How should I put this…

We just had four people gather at my house today, but I’ve learned so much unexpected information that my head was starting to throb.

All I wanted was to play games, eat chicken, and talk about the “Nightmare Corridor.”

Severed head…

Suddenly something flashed in my mind.

“Oh right, Jeongseok. Don’t you think Hong Miri, our English teacher, is suspicious?”

“The English teacher? She does drive a sports car that would be difficult to afford on a teacher’s salary. It’s definitely suspicious. Though she could be from a wealthy family.”

“No, not that.”

I told Jeongseok about what had happened recently.

The blood flowing from her neck.

How her face and body were different colors.

Rustle-

Jeongseok pulled out some documents from the bag he had brought today.

“Are you saying it might be related to… the twin experiment?”

“Twins are truly remarkable.

The development of the sisters—Yeri and ——’s progress over the past five years has been outstanding among the children in the facility. Especially the younger sister ——’s aptitude as a watcher far exceeds expectations.”

“The younger sister has a peculiar birthmark that the older sister doesn’t have. Could this difference create a gap in stages even between twins who share the same blood? Either way, it’s clear these sisters will take us to —.”

“The experiment has failed.”

“The sisters’ names are Yeri and… Miri? Hong Yeri and Hong Miri? Yeongwon, this sounds quite plausible. Usually, the older sister’s name is written first. So the younger sister mentioned here is Hong Miri…”

Jeongseok seemed to be deep in thought.

Then he came to a conclusion.

“It says here that the younger sister has a peculiar birthmark. If we could check directly, we might be able to confirm her identity. Since it’s described as a ‘peculiar birthmark,’ it must be distinctive enough to notice.”

Let’s check if Hong Miri has a birthmark on her body…

Is that what he’s suggesting?

“How are we supposed to check that?”

How exactly do we confirm if a female teacher has a peculiar birthmark on her body?

Even Jeongseok couldn’t come up with a plausible method for this.

Then he said:

“You know the rumor about Kim Geonho hanging around motels with the English teacher? If it’s true, maybe Kim Geonho would know whether Hong Miri has a birthmark or not.”

“Come on, that rumor seems fake.”

“Are you 100 percent sure it’s fake?”

Am I 100 percent sure?

When asked like that… I couldn’t be certain.

“Kim Geonho isn’t coming to school these days, right? And even if he was, asking him whether the English teacher has a birthmark or not would be… difficult. Anyway, since we’re on the topic…”

I took the opportunity to tell Jeongseok about the Nightmare Corridor.

Jeongseok was my trustworthy friend and he was smart.

“Is that real? You can put people into a place like a death floor in an elevator? Like players entering a dungeon?”

His quick understanding was impressive.

I also told him that dying in the corridor gives you a “Quirk,” and that accumulating two “Quirks” leads to death.

“Quirk… Is it related to why my cousin Jeong Sojin freaked out saying her body smelled and stopped attending classes?”

Jeongseok’s deduction was accurate.

Just from mentioning “Quirk,” he had guessed that Jeong Sojin was a player.

I wondered if he would get angry that I had put his cousin into a terrifying urban legend… but then Jeongseok said:

“Interesting story. Maybe everything we’re experiencing is connected to that ‘Nightmare Corridor.’ If we keep increasing that ‘progress’ thing, we might find some clues.”

Jeongseok didn’t seem to care much about me putting his cousin into the corridor.

However, something else was bothering him.

“Can anyone enter that corridor? Or is there some criteria for appearing on the player list? Am I on it?”

“You… are. I can see you on the list now. Some people are on it, and some aren’t. I’m not sure what the criteria is. Yu Dahui was added today too. Maybe it’s people I’ve met?”

Looking at the player list again, I noticed Hong Miri had been added as well.

I was thinking how strange it was when Jeongseok made a fuss.

“Do you have any idea how incredible this is? You’ve become someone who can kill people without leaving evidence. Have you seen the manga Death Note? You’re like the protagonist in that!”

“Death Note… the one where you write people’s names in a notebook to kill them?”

“Yes! If you somehow became friends with the US President, you might be able to put him in that corridor and kill him. And there would be no evidence!”

When I thought about it that way… it certainly seemed possible.

“I guess we were right about being the mafia or imposters in the mafia game. And Ha Yeongwon, wouldn’t it be possible for you to secretly kill the culprit from that case five years ago?”

Jeongseok pointed to the case of his next-door neighbor displayed on the monitor.

“Passing judgment on those who escaped the net of law. It’s not right for someone who clearly committed a crime to live proudly just because they repented a bit in church, especially when the victim hasn’t forgiven them.”

I started to imagine what would have happened if Jeongseok had received this status window instead of me. Would people have started dying mysteriously?

“Hey, Jeongseok. That’s going too far. What if, hypothetically, you killed people and their ghosts all came after me? I’d be the only one getting screwed. Are you confident you could handle the ghost of the US President threatening me with a nuclear missile button? If a murderer’s ghost came after me, I’d literally pee my pants.”

“…That’s… that’s true. Ghosts…”

Jeongseok nodded as if he accepted my point.

But his eyes still showed he was troubled by various thoughts.

Afraid he might say something disturbing again, I preemptively said:

“Originally, we were planning to explore the corridor today. Given how things turned out, it might be better to skip it for now.”

Buzz-. Ding-

Just then, my phone rang.

I wondered who it was—it was Yu Dahui.

“Yu Dahui: I’m going to the old school building now because I think I might remember things if I go in”

“Yu Dahui: But I’m a bit scared to go alone, would you come with me?”

The old school building…

Not entering the Nightmare Corridor, but the actual old school building?

“T-that’s a bit s-scary”

That’s crazy.

Why would I go to a place that already seems haunted?

Do I, Ha Yeongwon, who could supposedly control even the US President, look like someone who would unconditionally grant a pretty girl’s request?

“Yu Dahui: If you come with me, I’ll grant you one wish”

“Hey, Seok. Want to do a courage test today?”