Ch.44044 – Hallway Conquest Strategy 4

# 044 – Corridor Strategy #4

I found the “Princess Magic Wand” belonged to Yang Juhui.

And toys like this usually come with some kind of magic spell.

“Yang Juhui! The spell! The spell! Say the spell!”

With our fate resting on Yang Juhui’s magic wand, I had no choice but to pressure her.

She flinched.

Yang Juhui, who normally showed boldness and courage, seemed extremely nervous, unlike her usual self.

What was about to happen?

While I was thinking this, Yang Juhui handed me the lighter.

“Ah, damn it! I don’t know! If… if any of you laugh or make fun of me, I’ll seriously kill you! For real!”

Awkwardly, Yang Juhui held the magic wand with both hands in a manner anyone could see was uncomfortable.

Then, waving the wand from side to side, she shouted.

“…Ahem, ahem, Je…Jewel fairy! With light! Ru…Rushine Ruby Power!”

It was an incredibly cringeworthy spell.

Yang Juhui, who once ruled “1-D” as a school bully, was now acting cute like a child in a school play.

In some ways, that sight was as shocking as the Head Ghost or the enraged Shaman Ghost.

“Wow!”

I exclaimed briefly.

Scratching his head, Jeongseok turned away and vigorously rubbed his head, seemingly unable to bear this awkward and embarrassing scene.

What would happen now?

Flash, flash!

Yang Juhui’s ruby-colored magic wand began to emit light.

It was a colorful rainbow light.

In this pitch-black darkness, the light source looked almost like some kind of barrier or shield.

“Did it work? It worked, right? I did it!”

Yang Juhui was extremely delighted.

Soon Jeongseok asked.

“Can you move while keeping that light on?”

“I don’t know! Let’s try it!”

Slightly, Yang Juhui moved her foot.

But at that moment, didn’t the light flicker severely?

“No, it seems like the light will go out if I move. This is an old toy. I bought it ages ago. When I was about seven years old. It’s almost broken!”

What a shame!

Since I didn’t know how long the shield would last, I took a deep breath and prepared for my next move without wasting time.

Now I just need to run… and remove the talisman attached to that statue!

I’ve already completed the simulation in my head!

“Guys, I’m going! Jeongseok! I’ll give you the talisman! As I told you, write down everything you remember as soon as you wake up! Got it?”

“Got it. I’ll definitely do that.”

“I’m going! Me! For real! I’m going! I’m really going! Don’t stop me! Ahhh! Going! Really going! Gooooing!”

How nice it would have been if there was a magic spell to instill courage in people.

After several self-hypnotic shouts, I was finally able to move my feet.

Splash-splash-splash!

I ran through the water that came up to my ankles.

Even I thought I was running at an incredibly fast pace, and I was able to remove the talisman from the statue accurately and concisely.

“Got it!”

“Got it, got it, got it.”

The problem was that the Head Ghost was provoked by my movement. I probably stepped on its hair that was submerged in the water!

The Head Ghost opened its cracked glass-like eyes wide and raised the corners of its mouth to the limit before lunging at me.

“Ugh! Shit!”

Should I call it a flashback?

The scene of Jeong Sojin dying at the hands of the Head Ghost earlier flashed before my eyes.

Her limbs were entangled, and hair entered through all the holes in her body—eyes, nose, mouth, ears—killing her in an extremely horrific, disgusting, and painful way!

I didn’t want to die like that!

“Waaaaaaaahhh!”

I screamed in a way that even I thought was pathetic as I ran toward Yang Juhui.

I could feel hair wrapping around my arms and legs, but somehow I gritted my teeth and moved forward! Forward again!

“Hey! T-take this!”

I stretched out my hand and held out the talisman.

Then Jeongseok, who had been waiting inside the shield, approached me and took the talisman, and at that moment I felt some strength leaving my body.

I felt slightly relieved, I suppose.

“Take this take this take this take this.”

Of course, I hadn’t completely shaken off the Head Ghost.

I gritted my teeth and desperately moved forward, and finally managed to step into the rainbow light created by Yang Juhui’s magic wand.

“D-did it work!”

What happened next was quite encouraging and surprising.

The hair that had been wrapping around me retreated like cockroaches exposed to light, with a swish-swish sound!

The Head Ghost could no longer approach me and just clicked its teeth inside its mouth before floating up into the air.

Then it disappeared into the high darkness.

“…Is it gone? Did it go to the first floor?”

I collapsed with a thud, feeling all strength drain from my body.

My underwear got wet because of the water on the floor, but I didn’t care.

Actually, I might have peed a little.

Maybe it’s better to get wet in this water.

“Ha Yeongwon. You really did well. I’m impressed. I didn’t know you were such a courageous person.”

Jeongseok praised my efforts.

He couldn’t possibly compensate for my recent hardship with just a few words, but I didn’t feel bad.

Swish. Jeongseok handed me the talisman and said.

“Yeongwon. Would it be okay if I escape instead of you?”

“……”

I thought for a very brief moment.

In this hellish nightmare, there was one escape ticket for three people.

Inevitably, two would have to stay behind.

“I… don’t need it. I need to look for my sister more.”

Yang Juhui seemed to contemplate for a while before giving up her claim to the escape ticket.

I also had to think about it in many ways because honestly, I didn’t want to stay in this place any longer.

I was scared about where the Head Ghost had gone…

Should I just leave?

After thinking about it, I shook my head.

“Jeongseok. You go. Honestly, among us, you have the best memory.”

“Then… should I hold onto it and use it later? We could act as bait for ghosts like just now and then make an emergency escape.”

Jeongseok’s opinion was quite plausible.

But we still didn’t know the “escape” mechanism.

It wouldn’t be bad to try escaping once.

“No. Leave while we have the chance. Go now! Right now! Before I change my mind!”

I closed my eyes tightly.

I had made up my mind to let Jeongseok go.

“Go! Leave this place! Never come back!”

“Alright. I’ll never forget what happened here! Never!”

Jeongseok clutched the talisman in his hand even tighter.

I lit the talisman for him, and something amazing happened.

Whoosh!

As the talisman caught fire, Jeongseok’s body also caught fire.

His body seemed to burn like the talisman in his hand, then quickly disappeared.

Only Yang Juhui and I remained.

With only two left in a place where there were three, everything fell into a disorderly silence.

“Did it work? Juhui, what do you think? That bastard Jeongseok escaped, right?”

“I don’t know.”

Swish.

The light from Yang Juhui’s toy magic wand went out.

So the duration of the magic wand is about 2 minutes.

“Hey. The magic wand seems broken.”

“So what do we do now?”

I looked around and asked Yang Juhui.

Yang Juhui was also looking around.

“Since that head ghost is gone, let’s look around more. There might be something useful.”

Good.

That was a good idea.

Yang Juhui always searched the surroundings well.

# # #

“Yang Juhui, look at this! It’s a rope!”

We were able to get a rope near the statue.

It looked about 2 meters long.

“With this, we can escape from this basement!”

I chose to retrace our steps with Yang Juhui and go back up to the broadcasting room.

It was to get the second talisman.

“Escape Talisman – Burn this talisman to escape. One talisman per person. One is definitely attached to the front of the statue. There is one statue on each floor.”

According to the records, there is one statue on each floor.

The one just now was the basement statue, so there should be one on the ground floor too.

Since there would definitely be an escape talisman attached to the ground floor statue, it meant that one of us, either me or Yang Juhui, could escape.

“Hey. Ha Yeongwon. Lift me up. I’ll go up with the rope and pull you up.”

We had now arrived at the hole in the broadcasting room.

2 meters.

It seemed quite high when thinking about climbing up rather than jumping down.

“Hey. Lie down here.”

Yang Juhui pointed to the floor and instructed me.

I lay down in an “OTL” position, and Yang Juhui took off her shoes and wet socks and stepped on my back.

“Ah, damn. I can’t reach! Hey! Lying down won’t work! Try lifting me up!”

“Lift you up?”

In a situation where we had to do anything to escape.

I grabbed Yang Juhui as if hugging her and lifted her up with all my strength.

“Hey! What are you doing! Put some real strength into it!”

“Nnnngh!”

Even in this situation, maybe because I was embracing a girl.

The feeling was strange. She smelled nice and was soft.

A little… no, quite embarrassing?

Of course, the dependable Yang Juhui moved smoothly as if being held by me was nothing.

“Hold steady! I’m going to step on your shoulders!”

Yang Juhui stepped on my shoulders. I staggered while holding onto Yang Juhui’s legs.

Swish!

Using my shoulders as a foothold, Yang Juhui grabbed the broadcasting room hole with her excellent athletic ability.

“Got it!”

“You got it? You got it?”

I unconsciously looked up.

Then Yang Juhui, who was wearing a school uniform skirt, stepped on my face with her foot.

“Ugh!”

“…Hey! Where are you looking! Look up and you’re dead!”

“Hey! I didn’t see anything!”

“Hmph!”

Yang Juhui struggled and climbed up to the first floor.

Yang Juhui, who disappeared above the hole, said.

“Hey! I’ll lower the rope now!”

“Yeah!”

I waited for the rope.

…

……

………

“Hey! You said you’d lower the rope!”

But even after 5 minutes, there was no sign of the rope coming down.

What was going on?

“Hey! Yang Juhui! Juhui? Juhui, where are you? What are you doing? Get me up quickly!”

Somehow I felt anxious enough to make my knees weak, and I desperately wanted to escape from this basement.

But there was no response from Yang Juhui who had gone up.

Just when I was about to go crazy, a rope came down from above with a flutter.

“Oh!”

I grabbed the rope and climbed up with all my might.

Since it was my first experience climbing a rope, my arms felt scraped and my thighs felt like they were being skinned, but who cares!

As long as I could survive!

But… when I reached the top, I couldn’t help but be shocked.

Yang Juhui, who I thought would be waiting for me, was nowhere to be seen, and instead, a white face I never expected was illuminated by the lighter.

“You… you’re Yu Dahui!”

“Yeongwon.”

“You, you, you bitch! Where! Where did Yang Juhui go!”

I looked around in horror.

Red puddles all around Yu Dahui.

Blood.

It was blood pooled like puddles!

And hair damaged from repeated dyeing and bleaching was scattered on the floor.

“Ugh. Uweeegh-!”

I couldn’t hold back the rising vomit and threw up everything into the basement hole.

As I rolled on the floor, I saw a “Louis Vuitton book bag” and a blood-soaked “Princess Magic Wand” lying in front of me.

This meant only one thing.

“She’s dead…”

Yang Juhui was dead.

Without even time to scream.

And these traces… were too similar to the traces where Kim Geonho was found dead in front of the multipurpose room lock earlier.

Traces of the third ghost.

Yu Dahui.

The missing Yang Juhui.

“You… you evil woman!”

I was so upset, angry, and scared that I was about to foam at the mouth.

But Yu Dahui frowned and slapped me across the cheek.

“Ah!”

“Yeongwon. Calm down. This. I didn’t do it.”

“You didn’t do it?”

“That’s right.”

If Yu Dahui didn’t do it, then who did?

I… despite having various suspicions, wanted to believe Yu Dahui.

It’s human nature to want to rely on, depend on, and believe in something in extreme situations.

However… as Yu Dahui said, I needed to calm down.

“Yu Dahui. What exactly are you? What’s your identity!”

“Shh…!”

Yu Dahui’s hand covered my mouth.

It was a soft and warm hand.

“If you make too much noise, that woman will come back to the broadcasting room. You guys got the talisman from the basement, right? When you get the talisman from the basement, the Head Ghost starts moving. She noticed that too. We need to be careful.”

That woman?