Ch.47047 – Monday Worship 2

# 047 – Monday Service # 2

“That Dahui is seriously crazy. How could she think it’s okay to run away from home and just sleep at some guy’s house?”

Yang Juhui clicked her tongue disapprovingly after learning that Yu Dahui had spent the night at my place.

It seemed like something others would find quite shocking.

Thinking about it, she was right.

A gorgeous girl from an ultra-wealthy family asking to stay at my place?

That was definitely outside the realm of everyday occurrences.

I guess my threshold for what counts as “unusual” had risen considerably lately, after encountering ghosts, murder cases, disappearances, and all sorts of strange events.

“She’ll probably stay over tonight too. She might need to stay at our place until her mom gets discharged.”

Yu Dahui didn’t remember what happened in the Nightmare Corridor yesterday.

But the relationship between us had clearly become something that could be called more “intimate.”

We’d become close enough to open up to each other.

“Why did she give me the last talisman?”

She could have kept the talisman attached to the shrine on the first floor and escaped herself.

But she didn’t. She gave it to me instead.

And she deliberately acted as bait for the third ghost, which led to her death.

Thanks to her, I was able to retrieve the talisman and escape.

I was also bothered by what she said when that horrible Woman in Red caught her at the end.

I couldn’t make it out clearly, but…

Ding-dong-deng-dong—

Before I knew it, our lunchtime conversation had ended.

As we headed back to class, Jeongseok mentioned he had something to propose.

“I think as we gather more information, there’s a lot that’s becoming too difficult for just us to handle. We might need help from adults around us.”

“Hmm…”

“Yeongwon, what do you think about finding adults we can trust?”

“Adults, huh.”

Most adults were liars.

Could the words “trustworthy” and “adult” really exist together?

Hong Miri was the perfect example of why not.

“Hong Miri. The third ghost is probably the English teacher, Hong Miri.”

“What? Is that true? Ms. Hong Miri?”

Everyone looked skeptical.

Well, I wouldn’t have believed it either until I saw the evidence myself.

But the clear scar on that red woman’s neck and the butterfly-shaped birthmark on her face were undeniable evidence.

Looking back… English teacher Hong Miri’s behavior had many suspicious aspects.

“When she bought me soup, I suddenly got scared and left first. I felt like someone was following me. If I hadn’t met Yu Dahui then, I don’t know what would have happened to me.”

While eating soup, Hong Miri had also asked about Kim Geonho:

—Weren’t you close with Kim Geonho? Do you know why he’s not coming to school these days? He seemed to act strange after staying overnight at the old school building. Did he tell you anything? Like ghost stories.

—Ghost… stories?

—You know, like the Red Mask that appears on dark streets at night. Don’t kids these days know about the Red Mask? Wearing a red mask. High heels. Something like a trench coat. With a mouth split wide open.

Red Mask.

I didn’t think much of it at the time, but she was clearly talking about herself!

According to my deduction, Kim Geonho died at the hands of the third ghost in the nightmare!

That’s why he stopped coming to school!

So Hong Miri was trying to probe me about Kim Geonho’s condition by mentioning the Red Mask!

Holy shit!

The puzzle pieces were fitting together perfectly.

It was chilling.

Of course, Jeongseok still seemed confused about many aspects.

“So Ms. Hong Miri is a ghost? She didn’t look like one… Could this be related to the ‘Twin Experiment’ documents we found in the elevator?”

I don’t know.

I want to know too.

I also need to figure out how to deal with Ms. Hong Miri from now on.

# # #

Ghosts this, disappearance cases that.

You’d think experiencing such extraordinary events would make me appreciate ordinary life more.

But school classes were still boring as ever.

“Alright, everyone go home now.”

End of day at 3 PM.

Classes at Yeongji High School had been getting shorter, probably due to the increasingly unsettling atmosphere in the neighborhood.

I headed straight to the library.

I was hoping to meet Yu Dahui there, and I also wanted to gather more information about Gaeryong City and Yeongji High School.

But instead of Yu Dahui, I ran into Ms. Kang Haneul at the library.

“Teacher, it’s been a while.”

“Yeongwon, how’s your mother? Is she doing okay?”

“She’s fine. She’ll be discharged soon.”

“That’s great!”

Ms. Kang Haneul seemed genuinely happy, as if it were her own good news.

Suddenly, I remembered Jeongseok asking, “Aren’t there any trustworthy adults?”

Ms. Kang Haneul might qualify as a relatively trustworthy adult.

But… didn’t her life get entangled in some complicated issues when we dealt with the “Ajumma Ghost”? I became curious.

“How are you doing, teacher? Are you getting along with the apartment residents now? There was quite a commotion with the police coming because of me.”

“Oh, don’t even mention it! I thought I was going to die trying to clear up that misunderstanding!”

I see.

Dragging Ms. Kang Haneul, who had barely returned to normal life, into our ghost-filled party… that would be quite cruel.

She might not even believe us.

Of course, I had my own problems to worry about.

Having more allies would be better.

Having an adult in our party could expand our range of activities and options.

We could even go to PC rooms at night with adult supervision.

But… this matter required careful consideration.

I left the library without finding anything useful and headed out of school.

Since I was already out, I thought I’d visit my mom, but I heard laughter coming from her hospital room.

—And then I did that! Haha!

A man’s voice.

It didn’t sound like the doctor.

Creak—

When I opened the door, I saw a man with messy long hair and a beard on his nose and chin, chatting with my mom.

Who is he? He looked unfamiliar.

“Oh, Yeongwon’s here! Hey, this is my son, Ha Yeongwon.”

Mom introduced me.

I couldn’t help but look at the man with slight tension and wariness.

The man approached me and placed his hand on my head.

“Wow, I can’t believe it. Who would believe you have a son this age? You still look like an unmarried young lady.”

He reeked of cigarettes.

Just being near him felt like I might get cancer.

A complete carcinogen of a human!

“Who are you, sir?”

“Your mom never told you about me? I’m your mom’s ex-boyfriend.”

Mom’s ex-boyfriend?

I felt like I was witnessing a past I never wanted to know about.

Of course, my mom, sitting on the bed, burst out laughing.

“What nonsense! Bada, you were just my lackey.”

“—I wish I had been! If I had succeeded in dating your mom, you might have been my son, Ha Yeongwon. Nice to meet you.”

Swoosh—

The man extended his hand to me.

I cautiously shook it, and felt his strong grip squeezing my hand.

The man’s eyes, which had seemed lazy and unfocused, were now sharply examining me.

“You look alike. You really do. Spitting image.”

“Of course he looks like me, he’s my son.”

This atmosphere was hard to adjust to.

I decided to ask the man again.

“Who are you exactly, sir?”

“Yeongwon, have you seen Harry Potter?”

“What?”

“You know Professor Snape? The one who was bullied by the nasty James Potter during school days and had his crush Lily Evans stolen from him. That’s me. I’m Kang Bada.”

So the man’s name was ‘Kang Bada.’

He looked like an eccentric artist, but his name sounded feminine.

Wait… don’t I know a similar name?

“Are you related to Ms. Kang Haneul by any chance?”

“Ah, she’s my younger sister. You’re a Yeongji High student, right? Do you take my sister’s class? She should be a literature teacher. Or do they call it Korean language class these days?”

“Ah!”

I had heard that Ms. Kang Haneul had an “older brother.” The room I stayed in at Ms. Kang Haneul’s house was her brother’s room!

So this man, Kang Bada, was that brother!

And this Kang Bada seemed to be a friend from when my mom was in high school!

Not just a friend, but something more complicated?

My mom’s love life! Ugh. Not something I want to think about deeply!

“Ah, want my business card? Despite how I look, I’m a proper adult in society. Here.”

Swoosh!

The man handed me his business card.

But it was all in Japanese, making it difficult to read.

Since Japanese was my second foreign language, I could read some of it.

“Sakura…”

“Sakuras Co. President. That’s how you read it. A decent small to medium-sized game company.”

“A game company?”

“Yeah. We’ve had some hits. Have you heard of ‘The Abyss Corridor’? Or maybe ‘New Amnesia’ or ‘Lethal Industry’?”

“Oh!”

I know!

I know them!

Come to think of it, Jeongseok had mentioned that the president of the company that made The Abyss Corridor was Korean!

So that was true!

But I couldn’t be entirely happy about it.

The bearded man in front of me started to look even more suspicious.

He was like a huge box. A mysterious box with unknown contents.

Then my mom asked:

“What? Bada, didn’t you say you were going to be a novelist?”

“I did. But all the books I wrote were complete failures. Ah, writing horror novels isn’t for just anyone, I guess. But anyway—oh, look at the time—”

Swoosh—

The man checked the time on what looked like an expensive watch.

Then he messed up my hair once more before quickly leaving.

What a strange person.

“Mom, who exactly is that guy?”

“Someone who liked me back in the day.”

“That’s seriously shit.”

“What do you mean ‘shit’? When I was in school, I was known as the prettiest girl! I got confessed to at least three times a day! Bada was one of them. Hiya, he was such a timid kid back then. Time changes people, he’s become quite a smooth-talking adult! Seems like he’s made a lot of money too!”

Somehow, my mom seemed to have a favorable attitude toward the bearded man.

What? Am I about to get a new dad?

It was incredibly confusing.

In some ways, this was more mentally taxing than wandering through corridors with ghosts popping out and all sorts of terrible things happening.

Oh, shit…

So would I become Kang Yeongwon?

Swoosh—

I examined the business card I received from the mysterious man, Kang Bada.

And I discovered some strange dots written on the back of the card.

“.— . ..-. -.. …- .–. .- –. ..- –“

“What is this?”

It could be a meaningless scribble that I could ignore, but for someone like me who had been finding hints in small, trivial things, it was quite intriguing.

Wondering what it could be, I decided to take a picture and send it to Jeongseok.

Whatever it was, Jeongseok would probably know.

He was like having the internet in human form.

When I checked my phone, I saw that I had 20 unread messages.

“Ju Chanmi: Where are you?”

“Ju Chanmi: Where are you?”

“Ju Chanmi: What do you want to eat?”

…

..

.

“Oh, shit.”

Is this what life is like for popular guys?

I remembered that there was a “Monday Service” at Yeong-gwang Church today.

“Oh right, Mom, didn’t you used to attend Yeong-gwang Church?”

“Ah, yes. I received a lot of help from the pastor there since way back. When we moved to Gaeryong City, the pastor helped us settle in. With your school enrollment and everything.”

“Really?”

“When I get discharged, we should go together and express our gratitude.”

Ring ring—

Just then, my phone rang.

It was Yang Juhui.

“Phone call! Is it a girl? Is it Juhui? How far have you two gone?”

“Mom, it’s not like that! I don’t know! I’m leaving!”

Feeling annoyed, I left the hospital room.

When I answered the phone, I heard an unexpected voice.

—Yeongwon, where are you?

“Dahui? Are you calling from Yang Juhui’s phone?”

—We’re together right now! Let’s have dinner together!

So Yu Dahui and Yang Juhui were together.

This was awkward in many ways. I was planning to attend the Monday Service today.

“I was thinking of going to church today, so I might not be able to have dinner with you. I might have dinner with a noona from church. You two should eat without—”

Clank— Crash—

After some noise, Yang Juhui spoke:

—You’re planning to eat with Chanmi unnie, right? Perfect. I’ll contact Chanmi unnie, and we can all eat together. I’ll also attend the Monday Service.

And that’s how a strange dinner was arranged.