Ch.40040 – The Haunted House

# 040 – Haunted House

Yu Dahui was waiting for me in front of my house.

Somehow, that presence didn’t feel quite human, so I thought I needed to check.

I was going to determine whether she was a ghost or not!

“Don’t suddenly scream or anything! I’m warning you! If you suddenly scare me or startle me, I’ll really get angry!”

They say ghosts don’t have heartbeats because they’re already dead.

If I reached out my hand to check Dahui’s heartbeat, everything would be clear.

But placing my hand on a high school girl’s chest… in some ways, it was more tense and frightening than heading down to the basement of the old school building.

Dahui asked:

“…Why aren’t you checking?”

“Well, I can’t do it while you’re watching me like that.”

“Okay. Then I’ll cover my eyes.”

Swoosh-

Dahui covered her face with both hands.

With her gaze gone, my heart felt much more at ease.

“I’m really going to check now. I don’t have any weird intentions, I’m just a scaredy-cat. Please understand.”

I genuinely wanted to know if Dahui was a ghost or not, without any ulterior motives.

So I slowly reached out my hand and gently… placed it on Dahui’s chest!

And then I felt as if all the blood in my body suddenly froze.

My hair stood on end, and it felt like the ground beneath my feet had suddenly collapsed.

“Your heart…”

…Her heart isn’t beating?

Even though I placed my hand on her chest, Dahui’s heart wasn’t beating!

This could only mean one thing.

“…!”

Oh no.

Ha Yeongwon, you stupid idiot!

You’ve fallen for such an obvious trap again!

“Your heart… isn’t beating!”

What’s going to happen to me now?

Will I be absorbed starting from the hand that touched this high school girl ghost who looks like Dahui, and disappear completely?

As I was thinking this, the high school girl Dahui, who still had her face covered with her hands, said:

“…You caught me?”

“Eek!”

“Pfft. Just kidding. If I were really a ghost, I would have visited Yeongwon every day. It’s fun teasing you. For the heartbeat, you need to go more toward the center. Here.”

Swoosh-

One of the hands covering her face came down and grabbed my hand.

Then she guided it more toward the center of her chest and pressed firmly on the back of my hand.

Thanks to that, my hand could feel a softness I had never experienced before in my life.

A high school girl’s uniform vest.

Her shirt.

And beneath that…

Click-

At that moment, the sensor light illuminating the fourth-floor stairway went out again.

Darkness covered us like a blanket, and I felt as if I were dreaming.

“How is it? Can you feel my heart? It must be beating really fast. This is the first time I’ve felt my heart race like this.”

…Actually, I couldn’t really tell.

Maybe it was because Dahui was wearing her school uniform, with multiple layers of clothing.

Especially since women wear one more type of undergarment compared to men.

Squeeze-

But Dahui’s hand pressing on the back of mine was very warm and soft.

It didn’t feel like a ghost at all.

Slip-

Feeling somewhat embarrassed, I pulled my hand away.

Although I couldn’t feel Dahui’s heartbeat because of the thick clothes, I believed she was human. And then I felt extremely embarrassed about what had just happened.

“…Is this a dream too?”

I muttered to myself, feeling disconnected from reality.

Dahui responded:

“What are you talking about? A dream?”

The fourth floor was shrouded in darkness, so I couldn’t see Dahui’s expression.

And fortunately, she probably couldn’t see my embarrassed face either.

“Ahem. Dahui, I hope you understand there was no ulterior motive or personal feelings in what just happened. Anyway, let’s not stand around here and go inside.”

I moved around a bit.

The light came back on.

Beep, beep beep-

As I was entering the door lock code, Dahui standing next to me carefully observed my hand.

Does she want to hijack the code?

Click-

When I opened the door and went in, the interior was dark.

It was already evening.

When I turned on the lights, the house brightened up.

“……”

I looked around cautiously like a sentry on duty.

I was worried there might be cockroaches hiding somewhere.

Checking for cockroaches was always part of my routine whenever I came home and turned on the lights.

Fortunately, none were visible today.

“Dahui, are you sure this is okay? Won’t your family file a missing person report and make things complicated?”

Dahui had said she ran away from home.

That means she didn’t leave home legally.

Didn’t she say her phone was confiscated at home?

If a daughter left without any means of contact, who could be at ease?

If I were a father with a daughter like Dahui, I would set curfew at 4 PM so she would come home early.

The world is dangerous.

Especially boys the same age as Dahui are like wolves, constantly looking for opportunities to get closer to girls.

If I were her father, I would have cracked all their skulls.

Anyway.

Dahui said:

“I don’t know.”

…No.

You’re the one who should know.

Was this the thoughtless tantrum of a rich girl? Dahui didn’t seem to consider what disadvantages Ha Yeongwon, a commoner caught up in her running away, might face.

Swoosh-

Dahui sat down at the dining table chair.

And swinging her legs back and forth, she said:

“It’ll probably be fine. I once stayed away from home for about a month before. They didn’t look for me. It’ll probably be the same this time.”

“A whole month?”

Is Dahui more delinquent than she appears?

Running away for a month is quite something.

How did she manage to stay away from home for a month?

“…But Yeongwon, I’m hungry. And thirsty.”

I see.

Dahui said she had been waiting for me in front of our house since this morning.

She probably hadn’t eaten or had much to drink.

I was hungry too.

# # #

For dinner, we ordered chicken mayo boxed meals.

Dahui seemed like she was trying chicken mayo for the first time in her life.

“This is delicious.”

I wasn’t sure if she was just being polite or sincere.

After eating, Dahui borrowed our bathroom to wash up.

Thanks to Yang Juhui’s experience of staying at our house with Jeongseok, I was able to prepare clothes that Dahui could wear.

I could give her my sweatpants.

Black Adidas sweatpants.

After about 30 minutes, Dahui appeared in the living room wearing my sweatpants and smelling of soap.

Although her face was completely free of makeup, perhaps because she had showered with hot water, there was a slight flush to her cheeks that surprised me.

Dahui was incredibly pretty even with a bare face.

“What?”

“…Nothing. Shall we go to sleep now? Dahui, you can use my mom’s room.”

“Okay! But I’m really excited. This is my first time sleeping over at a friend’s house.”

It’s her first time sleeping at a friend’s house.

Then I suddenly became curious.

She said she ran away from home for a month before.

Where did she sleep then?

Something I’ve felt during the few days I’ve been involved with Dahui:

She always makes me question things.

Like an onion, there are always more layers of mystery no matter how much you peel.

My “wish token” should be able to solve these curiosities.

I need to use it wisely.

“Dahui, you said you’d grant me a wish if I went to the old school building with you.”

“…Huh? Did I say that? I don’t remember.”

“What?”

“Pfft. Just kidding.”

“I see.”

First pretending to be a ghost to scare me, and now this.

Dahui seems to be a friend who enjoys jokes.

Actually, her jokes weren’t that funny, but maybe because she was pretty, I found myself laughing anyway.

If I were an extremely handsome guy, women would probably be giggling and squealing just because I said “delicious” while eating.

“By the way, Yeongwon, I noticed this last time I was here too, but the room arrangement doesn’t seem very good. Did you know there’s a correct way to place furniture according to feng shui?”

“Furniture?”

“Look here. The fan is placed at the head of the bed. They say it can be dangerous to sleep with a fan blowing at your head. It’s better to place it at the foot of the bed like this.”

Swoosh-

Dahui moved my fan to the foot of the bed.

But there was a problem.

“There’s no outlet there, so I can’t plug in the fan.”

“Really? Then… would you at least move this chair?”

“The computer chair? Why?”

“Haven’t you heard that if you sleep with a chair at the head of your bed, a ghost will sit on it and watch your head until morning?”

A ghost sitting on a chair watching me sleep if I place it at the head of my bed?

I’d never heard that before.

But somehow it made me uneasy.

Whenever I get this uneasy feeling, real ghosts tend to appear.

After much consideration… I came up with a solution that could tackle both the fan and desk issue at once!

I could simply turn around and sleep with my head at the opposite end!

“What if I sleep with my head at this end?”

“No, that won’t work! That’s the north side. They say you shouldn’t sleep with your head pointing north. The north has a lot of negative energy, so you might have nightmares or sleep paralysis!”

“…Really?”

What should I do then?

As I was feeling perplexed, Dahui said:

“…Am I being too picky? My grandfather is sensitive about these things, so I guess I take after him.”

“Your grandfather… the school chairman?”

I vaguely heard it when Teacher Hong Miri was scolding Dahui.

Something about the school chairman.

So Dahui’s grandfather is currently the chairman of the Yeongji High School Foundation.

Ding-

Just then, my phone rang.

“Ju Chanmi: Hehe Yeongwon, it’s your church noona. It was nice meeting you today”

“……”

What’s this?

It was Ju Chanmi noona, the high school teacher at Yeong-gwang Church.

How did she get my number?

I didn’t give it to her.

“Who is it?”

Dahui was curious.

I answered simply!

“A noona from church.”

“Church? Yeongwon, did you go to church?”

“…Why? Do you dislike people who go to church?”

Maybe I should stop going next week.

As I was thinking that, Dahui said:

“No, just… My grandfather used to go to church too. We even have a prayer room at home.”

Isn’t Dahui’s grandfather the one who called in a shaman when building the school?

Strange that someone who called a shaman would also go to church.

It reminded me of politicians who visit Buddhist temples, then churches, and even consult shamans during election season.

Well… I guess it’s something like that.

Ding-

“Ju Chanmi: You remember noona, right? I got your contact from Pastor Cheon Aesu hehe”

What’s this?

Is she interested in me?

Is this a green light?

“Ju Chanmi: I heard from the pastor that you’re a PK? Pastor’s kid. We have space in our advanced Bible study group, would you like to join? It’s on Monday evenings during Monday service time.”

Oh come on. This was an invitation to attend church service.

And Monday service at that.

Shouldn’t Monday gatherings be called prayer meetings or something like that, not services?

Come to think of it, Yang Juhui also mentioned that her mother, Deaconess Kim Yeook, attended Monday services.

That’s when she was possessed by the shaman ghost and I defeated it as a Tyrannosaurus.

Anyway, how zealous must a church be to hold services even on Mondays?

Getting caught up in a place like this would be serious trouble.

You’d have to participate in high school and young adult activities without missing any, become a church officer, teach Sunday school, lead worship, volunteer, and so on—basically dedicating your life to the church.

And all unpaid!

“Ju Chanmi: I’ll contact you tomorrow! If you’re free in the evening, let’s have dinner together!”

…Damn it.

The church noona I had a brief crush on is asking me to have dinner with her, and I’m not even happy about it!

I need to think of an excuse to get out of this.

“Yeongwon, you’re popular. Messages keep coming in. Well, Yeongwon, good night.”

Dahui went into my mom’s room.

Afterward, I fell asleep so deeply that I didn’t know when I dozed off, but I woke up feeling very cold. When I turned my head, I saw the fan was turned on at the head of my bed.

“What? When did that turn on?”

Click-

When I pressed the stop button, text appeared.

『Congratulations! You have defeated the ‘Electric Fan Urban Legend’!』

『Beginning calculation for 1 survivor’s share.』

『50P acquired』

『Balance: 538P』

“What the hell? Is this a point duplication event?”

This is ridiculous.

The current time is midnight.

I felt like I had forgotten something, and after thinking for a while, I finally remembered.

“Ah. Today’s the day to enter the corridor. Status window.”

I manipulated the status window.

『Chapter 1. Starting the Nightmare Corridor.』

『Please select players from the list below.』

『You can select up to 4 players.』

To the Nightmare Corridor… Let’s go!

But first, let me check the player sheet?

“There’s something new here.”

There was text marked ‘NEW’ on the player sheet.

It was a new item Yang Juhui had acquired.

「Princess Magic Wand」 – New!