Ch.60060 – Mountain Lodge of Horror 1

# 060 – The Cabin of Horror # 1

Yeongji High School had many troublemakers.

Kwon Suho’s gang was one of them.

I had formed a weak connection with Kwon Suho’s group through my entanglement with Bong Jiyeon.

I was slightly nervous that they might pick some childish fight with me this week. Fortunately, nothing like that happened, and I was able to enjoy a peaceful week for once.

Mom also said she would be discharged from the hospital this weekend and return home.

This meant my daily life was returning to normal.

Of course, one might question whether a life full of ghosts and nightmares could be called normal.

But just the fact that no incidents were occurring and no blood was being spilled was enough for me to feel at ease.

It was also fortunate that I needed to prepare for final exams.

Having to study while fighting ghosts—now that’s the real horror story.

Anyway, with that feeling, on Friday night before the weekend…

The cooldown for entering the corridor had finally expired, so it seemed like a good time to send farming parties into the corridor.

Arranging the entry members was surprisingly fun.

Looking at the player list after a long time, I noticed quite a few changes.

Both “Yang Juhui” and I, “Ha Yeongwon,” had leveled up.

『Name: Ha Yeongwon Lv.3

Traits: 《The Broken Clock》 《Holding Breath》 《Strong Heart》

Funds: 430 Points

Description: Once promising, you’ve been spending meaningless days killing time. But even a broken clock shows the correct time twice a day.』

『Shop ◀ Click to open』

『Clinic ◀ Click to open』

『Training Ground ◀ Click to open』

『Mercenary Corps ◀ Click to open』

I had reached level 3.

Nothing seemed particularly different about being level 3, though.

「Name: Yang Juhui Lv.3

Traits: 《Tool Expert》 《Fast Legs》

Disposition: Brave

Quirk: None

Possessions: Yeongwon’s cutter knife, Zippo lighter, multipurpose room key, Princess Magic Wand

An unstable street girl with many secrets. Her personality is bold, she enjoys adventure, and she’s proactive. This girl will generally be a reliable companion on dark and sinister journeys.」

「《Tool Expert》: You can enter the corridor with up to 3 tools. Tool durability increases by 2x. You can handle acquired items more effectively.」 – New

「《Fast Legs》: You can run 1.5 times faster for 10 seconds.」 – New

Yang Juhui had also reached level 3.

She had also completed training at the training ground and gained the 《Fast Legs》 trait.

And upon closer inspection, her previous trait 《Tool Use》 had changed to 《Tool Expert》.

So traits change with level!

The difference from before was that tool durability increased from 1.5x to 2x. And the sentence “You can handle acquired items more effectively” had been added.

Very interesting.

「Name: Jeongseok Lv.3

Traits: 《Calculator》 《Speed Reading》

Disposition: Romantic

Quirk: None

Possessions: None

A young master who has lived without hardship. He seeks stability and upholds order. However, he also dreams of adventure and tries to challenge himself with hardships.」

「《Calculator》: Thinking speed increases by 2x. You can better discover hints for puzzles and secrets. This trait is locked when the subject falls into great fear.」

「《Speed Reading》: You can read text at least 1.5 times faster.」

Jeongseok’s entry had also been unlocked.

Jeongseok had a character sheet that was exactly what you’d expect from him.

If anything was unexpected, it was that his personality was described as romantic.

But thinking about it, that wasn’t really surprising either.

A chivalrous life where he can’t forget his first love, Bong Jiyeon, and jumps into a horde of ghosts.

A life dreaming of becoming the world’s greatest prosecutor to eradicate all criminals.

These things are impossible without romance.

Anyway, I was able to update Jeongseok and Yang Juhui’s status windows.

Now my job is…

To push my friends into the Nightmare Corridor.

Today was the “Farming Party’s” turn.

The “Farming Party” was an exploration team led by our class president, Jeong Sojin.

This was Jeongseok’s idea, suggesting we alternate between the “Farming Party” and the “Conquest Party.”

The “Conquest Party” was a party centered around me, Ha Yeongwon, exploring to conquer the “Nightmare Corridor.”

『Chapter 1. Starting the Nightmare Corridor.』

『Please select players from the list below.』

『You can select up to 4 people.』

First, I definitely need to include Jeong Sojin.

She’ll bring back items again.

I gave Jeong Sojin a “Luxury Bag,” a “Map,” and a “Flashlight.”

「Luxury Bag: Allows you to start the journey with up to 2 items.」

「Map: A detailed map of the first floor of the Old School Building. Seems someone drew it diligently with an amateur hand. With this, you might be able to go deeper. But… who could have drawn such a thing?」

「Battery Flashlight: A flashlight powered by batteries. Brighter than expected, but increases the chance of being detected by specters.」

Good. Good.

Just looking at these makes me feel secure.

Now, who should I fill the remaining spots with?

I thought deeply and made my decision.

# # #

『Congratulations! You have safely returned from the Nightmare Corridor!』

『Beginning settlement for 2 survivors, 2 casualties.』

『Ghost encounters: 2 times + 20 P』

『Escaped personnel: 2 people + 200 P』

『Casualties: 2 people + 20 P』

『Item acquired: Someone’s Journal (Normal) + 10 P』

『Total: 250 P』

“Oh, shit… What’s this?”

Saturday morning.

6 AM.

The text floating before my eyes chased away my sleepiness.

It was because someone had survived the Nightmare Corridor.

『2 casualties acquire quirks.』

『Park Inbae ◀ Select to check』

『Park Eunjeong ◀ Select to check』

『Park Inbae: 《Dependence》 – A weak mind wants to believe in and rely on anything. Even if it’s a rotten rope.』

『Park Eunjeong: 《Loose Lips》 – An anxious mind cannot accept silence and stillness. It blurts out anything. The problem is it doesn’t consider time and place.』

Park Inbae was a bully in our class.

Park Eunjeong was an ugly older sister in Kwon Suho’s gang.

I had sent these two into the Nightmare Corridor as explorers yesterday, and they died.

Up to this point, it wasn’t surprising.

It was something I had expected.

But what made me tense was the two survivors.

“They survived…?”

This was an event I hadn’t anticipated.

It could be considered an unfortunate accident.

Jeong Sojin, whom I had dispatched as part of the “Farming Party,” survived?

How did she survive?

Did she survive for some unknown reason because I let her carry too many items?

Or was Jeong Sojin just that competent?

“I’m screwed.”

This could be a variable for future events.

It means Jeong Sojin remembers what happens in the nightmare.

Of course, Jeong Sojin would never dream that I, Ha Yeongwon, was the one sending her into the nightmare.

I also checked the character sheet of the other character I had sent with Jeong Sojin.

「Name: Hong Miri Lv.??

Traits: 《Lightly》 《???》

Disposition: ???

Quirk: None

Possessions: None

A beautiful female teacher. She has many secrets. It might be beyond your current ability to fully understand her.」

「《Lightly》: While holding your breath, you can completely eliminate footsteps in any situation.」

「《???》: ???」

“Oh, shit…”

Here was the variable in this journey.

I had included Teacher Hong Miri in this farming expedition.

It was to acquire Teacher Hong Miri’s character sheet and conduct various experiments.

I wanted to experiment with what would happen if Teacher Hong Miri, the ghost “The Woman in Red,” entered the corridor as a player…

But Teacher Hong Miri easily escaped the corridor, and because of that, Jeong Sojin also managed to escape. That was as much as I could guess.

“What’s with all these question marks?”

There were many question marks on Teacher Hong Miri’s player sheet.

Her level wasn’t visible, her disposition wasn’t visible, and one of her traits wasn’t visible.

Ring ring-.

It was already 7 AM, the alarm ringing.

I quickly washed up so I wouldn’t be late for the time I was supposed to meet everyone.

Ding dong-.

While I was drying my hair, someone rang our doorbell.

“Is that you, Jeongseok? You know the code. Just open it and come in.”

Didi didi-.

Although Jeongseok knew our front door code like Yang Juhui, he was a well-mannered friend and didn’t just open and enter.

“Hey, Yeongwon. What happened with the Farming Party you sent yesterday? Yesterday was the day to send the Farming Party, right? Did they bring back anything useful?”

Jeongseok expressed his curiosity.

I told Jeongseok what I had just learned, and he seemed greatly surprised.

“…They survived? Why?”

It was like Schrödinger’s expression when facing a cat that survived in a box full of poison gas.

I probably had the same expression this morning.

But Jeongseok quickly regained his composure.

“It’s not like we never anticipated something like this happening. The important thing is that we must never reveal that we’re the ones putting people into the corridor.”

Right.

Even if people survived, as long as we pretended to know nothing, there was no immediate danger.

I also showed Jeongseok the sheet of Teacher Hong Miri, the ghost teacher, which I had written in a notepad on my computer.

“Lots of question marks. I’ve memorized it, so I’ll delete this.”

Click.

Jeongseok deleted the notepad containing the information.

He said:

“It’s probably because of the level? In RPG games, monsters with higher levels than you are often displayed in bright red or with question marks. I think it’s because the teacher’s level is higher than yours?”

That’s a reasonable thought.

I actually thought the same about Teacher Hong Miri’s question marks.

“That means if I become higher level than Teacher Hong Miri, I’ll be able to see more information. To level up… I need to enter the corridor or fight ghosts.”

I felt the desire to level up.

Although the thought of having to meet ghosts to do so was terrifying!

“So did you get any items? Yeongwon, you know how important items are.”

At Jeongseok’s question, I recalled the new item I had acquired.

「Someone’s Journal: The ‘Dancing Ghost’ that should be on the second floor has somehow come down to the first floor. Aquaman was badly injured, and Darth Vader and I decided to retreat.」

“Hmm.”

Jeongseok frowned at the text I had written in the notepad.

I probably had the same expression when I first checked this item.

“It seems like an item that won’t be useful to take into the corridor. But it contains a lot of information. This ‘Dancing Ghost’ seems to be a ghost on the second floor? It’s a type of ghost we don’t know about.”

“I have no idea. I can’t even imagine. A dancing ghost, huh.”

I suddenly remembered the Placebo Ghost that had possessed Yang Juhui saying that dancing ghosts were scarier than regular ghosts.

It seems that even more terrifying ghosts lurk on the yet-to-be-opened second floor of the corridor.

But why did a ghost that should be on the second floor come down to the first floor?

“What are Aquaman and Darth Vader? What do you think, Yeongwon?”

Jeongseok asked.

I thought for a moment.

“Aren’t they movie characters? But they can’t be the actual movie characters. I think they might be nicknames. Maybe they’re the people who left the ‘Map’ item we obtained?”

There was one outline that was becoming clearer as we explored the corridor.

It was the point that there were people who explored the corridor before us.

‘Aquaman,’ ‘Darth Vader,’ and ‘the person who recorded this journal’ were probably them.

Didi, dididi-.

Just then, I heard the sound of our front door unlocking.

“Hey, are you guys ready? Let’s go quickly. Gaeryong Mountain. Yeongwon, why are you still in your underwear? Hurry up and get dressed. Geez, what are you trying to show me?”

It was Yang Juhui.

Yang Juhui was wearing a yellow tracksuit like Bruce Lee, and it suited her well.

Bong Jiyeon was there too.

Bong Jiyeon was wearing a pink hiking outfit.

“Dahui hasn’t arrived yet?”

Today was the day all the pirate crew members were hiking Gaeryong Mountain.

「I buried the rotting flesh at the rock platform of Gaeryong Mountain. All I need is the head. I am the keeper and liberator. I will faithfully fulfill my assigned mission.」

It was because of this hint I had obtained in the corridor earlier.

Something is buried at the rock platform of Gaeryong Mountain.

If we could just find it…