Ch.55055 – Ghost Mansion 1

# 055 – The Ghost Mansion #1

An incredibly long, black car.

How much could it cost?

It was definitely more expensive than my house.

Vroooom-

The ride was extremely smooth.

Someday, I’d like to ride in a car like this too.

While I was thinking that, the girls were squealing.

“Dahui, your skin is so good. What cosmetics do you use?”

“Me? I just use whatever’s at home, so I don’t really know the names. We have tons at home, should I give you some when we go back today?”

“Really? Amazing! Dahui, I love you!”

Bong Jiyeon was being particularly noisy.

From what I could tell, Bong Jiyeon had just started talking to Yu Dahui today, but she was acting as friendly as if they’d been best friends for 500 years.

Is this the social skill of Bong Jiyeon, who’s lived as a popular queen bee? Her attempt to be the Hyangdan to Yu Dahui’s Chunhyang was quite impressive.

Yang Juhui said:

“‘I love you,’ my ass. Hey. No matter how much you suck up, you won’t get any scraps. You’re just trying to get in with Yu Dahui’s crowd since you lost your connection to Kwon Suho, right?”

“What are you talking about? Dahui and I are so close. Yang Juhui, if you’re jealous of our relationship, just say so. Your personality is as ugly as your face. Right, Dahui? Oh! Your nails are so pretty. How do you take care of them?”

“Hehehe, Jiyeon, you’re such a funny girl.”

…The world of women was an unknown territory that I, as a man, couldn’t understand at all.

Then what about the world of men?

I spoke in a voice only Jeongseok could hear.

“Hey, Jeongseok. You made a big mistake today. Talking about her sister. That information isn’t even confirmed yet, and we don’t know what will happen, but you said too much.”

Finding Bong Seyeon, Bong Jiyeon’s older sister, was something like a confidential matter for our pirate crew.

But Jeongseok had blurted it out, which might create a dangerous situation.

“…I know. I’m sorry.”

Of course, Jeongseok was a smart guy who knew what the problem was and how to fix it without me saying more.

“I’ll cover it up well. Obviously, I won’t mention anything about the Status Window. I know I was a bit shameful today, but I do know where to draw the line.”

Responsibility.

Duty.

This is the world of men.

The car rolled on for quite some time.

We were heading to the outskirts of Gaeryong City, where there were many mountains.

“It’s farther than I thought.”

Yu Dahui’s house was much farther away than I expected.

No wonder she commuted to school in her driver’s car.

Ding-

Just then, my phone rang.

Wondering what it was, I saw that Jeongseok had sent a message to our group chat.

“Jungle Jeongseok: Because of the situation, I couldn’t say this earlier, but Chairman Cheon Daegon, who we’re meeting today, might be at the center of various incidents. If you have a conversation with him, think carefully before speaking.”

“OK”

Actually, the person I should be most wary of today wasn’t the delinquent rich kid Kwon Suho.

It was the wealthy man who ruled Gaeryong Metropolitan City, a person who had established roots in this land since ancient times.

“Wow. Is that the main gate? Do we have to drive through the gate too?”

Bong Jiyeon was making a fuss.

As Bong Jiyeon said, Yu Dahui’s house had a gate that looked like something from a movie, and beyond it stretched a vast garden.

There was a fountain and a swimming pool.

Unnamed trees stretched tall, and golf carts like those you’d see on a golf course were parked here and there.

Just how rich were they?

Bong Jiyeon asked:

“Wow. This is amazing. Dahui, your grandfather must be super rich. Does a school chairman usually make this much money? Does he have other jobs?”

What a blatant gold-digging investigation.

Bong Jiyeon seemed to be trying to gauge Yu Dahui’s wealth, possibly looking for a new shelter.

Soon Yu Dahui said:

“I don’t think he has other jobs. But apparently, a long time ago, one of our ancestors was a great alchemist. That’s how they were able to make a ton of money.”

“Alchemist? What’s that?”

Bong Jiyeon frowned.

I also felt something odd.

An alchemist, huh.

Soon Jeongseok, who seemed to want to show off in front of Bong Jiyeon, opened his mouth.

“Alchemists were people who tried to turn metal into gold. It was a field of study popular in Europe and the Arab world. While turning metal into gold was impossible, the process contributed to the development of science.”

The male peacock tried to attract the female with his colorful feathers.

For Jeongseok, those feathers were his knowledge.

Of course, I’m not sure if that feather display worked well on Bong Jiyeon.

# # #

Could there be a house more deserving of the word “mansion”?

The ceiling was high with European-style pillars soaring upward, and red carpets were spread throughout, creating an atmosphere that didn’t feel like Korea at all. I felt like I was the protagonist in a novel.

A wealthy mansion that could appear in a detective novel.

That’s what this place was.

In places like this, creepy incidents always seem to happen.

“……”

Even Bong Jiyeon, who had been making a huge fuss, seemed overwhelmed by this atmosphere and was just standing with her mouth open.

No matter how tough or fatal she tried to act, Bong Jiyeon was just a first-year high school girl.

As my evaluation of Bong Jiyeon went down, my evaluation of Yu Dahui soared.

I knew she was rich, but I didn’t expect her to live in such a magnificent place.

“You guys want to see my room? It’s on the third floor. Let’s take the elevator up.”

What kind of house has an elevator?

I took the transparent elevator up to the third floor.

The third-floor corridor, decorated like an old-fashioned hotel, was full of expensive-looking decorations like porcelain and frames. There were especially many portraits.

“These are the ancestors of the Cheon family.”

At Dahui’s explanation, I looked at the framed pictures again.

For portraits of Joseon Dynasty ancestors, they were painted in a Western style.

Come to think of it, she said her ancestor was an alchemist.

Perhaps the Cheon family quickly accumulated wealth by accepting Western culture through practical learning while the Confucian Taliban filled the Joseon Dynasty.

First-mover advantage really has an amazing effect.

“This is my room.”

Yu Dahui introduced her room.

Yu Dahui’s room had black carpet, an extremely plush-looking bed, and its size was almost similar to my entire house.

A room as big as my house.

How is this possible?

“Ahhh! What is this?”

Soon Yang Juhui screamed.

What was it? A fluffy white furry thing was rubbing itself against Yang Juhui’s legs. It looked like an expensive, pedigreed cat.

“That’s Baekseol. She’s usually wary of strangers. Strange. She must like you, Juhui.”

Unlike a cat that’s supposed to be wary of people, it jumped onto Yang Juhui’s lap or wandered around her shoulders. Of course, Yang Juhui was disgusted.

“Hey! Get away! What’s wrong with this cat! Get it off me!”

Now I realized that Yang Juhui just didn’t like cats.

Her dislike of cat moms and stray cats was simply because she disliked cats themselves.

And Yu Dahui seemed to like cats because she raised one at home.

Swish-

Yang Juhui almost threw the cat off.

She looked annoyed as she tried to remove the fur stuck to her body, but her face suddenly brightened.

“Wow. What’s this? It’s a Princess Castle! You have all types of Princess dolls!”

What’s a Princess Castle?

When I turned my head, there was a fairly large castle in one corner of Yu Dahui’s room.

There were many princess-like dolls placed there, and although I didn’t know much about it, it seemed to be something girls would want.

Anyway, seeing Yu Dahui’s room made me feel how unfair life is.

What do you have to do to be born with such a silver spoon?

Is it just luck?

Anyway.

While it’s true that I was excited about being in a high school girl’s room, the level was completely different from what I had imagined, so I felt more amazed than excited.

Knock knock-

Just then, someone knocked on the door.

Click- the door opened.

The cat Baekseol hissed and quickly ran to a corner.

Soon, a woman dressed in black mourning clothes poked her very pale face into Yu Dahui’s room.

Her hair was elegantly tied, but her face was completely bloodless, making her look eerie.

She seemed to be between forty and fifty years old.

“Yu Dahui. Your grandfather will be here soon. Stop chatting and get ready for dinner.”

Her voice was as eerie as her appearance. Somehow, she seemed angry at Yu Dahui.

“And you all, don’t be rude or talk carelessly. Whoever you are, behave with manners in this house. This mansion hears all your conversations. I’ve warned you.”

Soon Yu Dahui said:

“Yes. I’ll come down soon.”

Swish-

The woman moved away after those words.

While doing so, she briefly met my eyes, and somehow I got goosebumps from that pale face and expression that didn’t seem human.

“Who was that just now? Your mother?”

Bong Jiyeon asked.

Soon Yu Dahui seemed to hesitate a bit before saying:

“She’s a new housekeeper who came recently. The previous one quit recently, and I don’t know what this new one did before. The previous housekeeper was really fun and nice. This one particularly hates cats, so she dislikes Baekseol too…”

Saying the previous one was nice implied that the current one wasn’t so great. Indeed, dressed in black and looking pale, she was a creepy and eerie woman.

Jeongseok said:

“A gloomy housekeeper. She’s like Mrs. Danvers herself.”

“Guys, let’s go downstairs then.”

“Dahui, I need to use the bathroom for a moment.”

# # #

While everyone went down to the dining room on the first floor for dinner, I was still wandering around the third floor.

I had gotten lost while trying to find the bathroom.

“Where on earth is the bathroom?”

As I wandered unintentionally, I discovered strange marks throughout the mansion.

They looked like small wounds someone had made, or like some kind of markings.

“→”

An arrow.

There was an arrow at such a low position that you’d have to kneel and bend your waist to barely see it.

I had seen such markings somewhere before.

“This is similar to what was in the elevator.”

It reminded me of the markings I had seen in the elevator of the death floor.

I unconsciously followed these markings that seemed to have been carved with a knife.

Then I saw a painting hanging in the corridor.

It was a painting of a man with sunken eyes.

It had a rather depressing impression, reminiscent of the ear-cutting Van Gogh, and below it was written “Self-Portrait.”

That aside, why did the markings stop here?

Just in case, I examined the frame from various angles.

“There’s nothing here.”

It was when I was examining the frame after taking it off.

Flutter-

A paper that had been overlapping with someone’s self-portrait fell to the floor.

It was a page from a sketchbook.

Two people were drawn with crayons, and it looked like a child’s work.

“Dahui♡Auntie”

So Yu Dahui drew this.

Who is this “auntie” here?

Could it be the previous housekeeper of this mansion?

“What are you doing?”

“Ah!”

I was startled.

When I turned around, the gloomy housekeeper was looking at me.

“What are you doing? Not going downstairs. And what’s that?”

Swish-!

The housekeeper rudely and forcefully snatched the paper from my hand.

Soon she made a goblin-like scary expression and tore up the sketchbook.

“This crazy girl! She hid this in the house? How dare she! Ominously!”

“Excuse me?”

“You. How dare a rolling stone like you—. Hiding this in the house! You thief!”

Mumble mumble-

She was muttering something, but this housekeeper didn’t seem normal.

“I know. I raised the master. From the moment he was born, I raised him. I nursed him with my milk. In a way, he’s half of me. My masterpiece—”

Grab-!

The housekeeper strongly grabbed my arm.

“Why, why are you doing this!”

“The master will return soon. Everything in this mansion belongs to the Cheon family. Don’t even think about coveting a single pebble from this house, Yu Dahui. You thieving cat! I know your schemes!”

I could tell this housekeeper was completely insane.

“You can’t fool me! You can’t fool my eyes! Now that I’ve returned to the mansion, you won’t have your way, Yu Dahui!”

She’s mistaking me for Yu Dahui?

I’m a man and Yu Dahui is a woman!

“…I’m not Yu Dahui, I’m Ha Yeongwon!”

I struggled desperately.

Then the housekeeper took out glasses from her pocket.

She looked at me and frowned deeply.

“What? You’re not Yu Dahui. Who are you?”

Her corpse-like cold fingers grabbed my face and rubbed it roughly.

I got goosebumps and chose to run away!