Ch.61061 – Mountain Lodge of Horror 2

# 061 – The Cabin of Horror # 2

It was my first time hiking at this age.

Honestly, I thought it would be easy, but it was extremely difficult.

“Huff! I’m dying. Hey! Let’s slow down a bit!”

I asked the group ahead of me to adjust their pace.

Yang Juhui and Bong Jiyeon were moving swiftly across stairs and rocks as if they were in some kind of competition.

Both Yang Juhui and Bong Jiyeon were high school girls from the arts and physical education departments who enjoyed physical activity.

Their walking style was completely different from quiet students like me or Jeongseok, who preferred sitting down to read books and study.

“Hey, Yeongwon. Let’s rest a bit.”

Jeongseok, who had been gritting his teeth and enduring until halfway up the mountain to impress Bong Jiyeon, finally collapsed.

Jeongseok and I slumped down on a rock halfway up the mountain, and Yu Dahui approached us, offering an ion drink from her bag.

“Are you two really tired? Should I carry your bags for you?”

Yu Dahui had been walking at a similar pace to us but didn’t seem particularly tired.

Who knew Yu Dahui, who commuted to school by car every day, would be this sturdy?

Wasn’t she supposed to be a literature girl?

Anyway, we decided to take a short break at the middle point.

We also needed to find this “Rock Terrace.” While we were rummaging around the rocks, some middle-aged women in sun caps who seemed to be descending after climbing up had something to say to us.

“Young kids are even hiking these days!”

“Oh my, how pretty they are.”

“What are those boys doing sprawled out like that! Get up and keep climbing!”

It certainly wasn’t a common sight to see a group of high school students, both boys and girls, hiking together.

We’re probably the only ones who would wake up on a Saturday morning during final exam season to go hiking.

Jeongseok and I spread out a mat and ate kimbap among the middle-aged women who were drinking some unidentifiable beverages, and we decided to ask them for information while we were at it.

“Excuse me, do you know where the Rock Terrace is?”

“Rock Terrace? I’ve heard of a mineral spring, but…”

“Rock Terrace? First time hearing that… Are you talking about the mountain cabin?”

“Gaeryong Mountain Cabin? That’s right! There are tons of rocks near the cabin!”

Hikers generally enjoyed butting into others’ business.

They liked chatting with strangers and sharing food. I wasn’t sure why.

Maybe they were just naturally sociable people?

The important thing was that we had obtained some useful information.

Soon, Yang Juhui, who had gone far ahead, came back down with Bong Jiyeon.

“Hey, why are you guys sprawled out here?”

Yang Juhui, with her excellent stamina, couldn’t understand human limitations.

Despite having already climbed to a high point and come back down, she didn’t look tired at all. However, Bong Jiyeon seemed a bit exhausted.

“Haa… haa…”

Unable to contain herself, Bong Jiyeon unzipped her windbreaker wide open and heaved deep breaths. Her eyes seemed to be watching Yang Juhui with a hint of inferiority.

Anyway.

We regrouped at the middle of the mountain.

The time was 10 AM.

It was still too early for the sun to be high, and the weather was cool.

“Look at that! A squirrel!”

On our way to the cabin, Yu Dahui pointed at a tree.

A squirrel was jumping around on the tree, fidgeting left and right in a very distracting manner.

Of course, Yu Dahui was delighted like a child.

“Look at the squirrel’s stripes! So cute! Will it come if I feed it?”

With a rustle, Yu Dahui opened a small bag of nuts and offered them to the squirrel.

Soon, the squirrel approached fearlessly and picked out almonds from her hand.

Do animals recognize pretty people too?

While I was slightly surprised, Yang Juhui, who had been walking slowly beside us, shouted:

“Wak!”

With a scurry, the squirrel ran far away after hearing Yang Juhui’s loud cry. Now that I thought about it, Yang Juhui seemed to enjoy scaring away not just stray cats but squirrels too.

Maybe she just disliked animals in general.

Yu Dahui soon frowned.

“Hey, you scared the squirrel away.”

“Don’t keep feeding wild animals. Haven’t you heard that it makes them lose their wild instincts?”

Yang Juhui frowned and curled up just the corners of her mouth in a very mischievous smile. I was reminded again that Yang Juhui had been a school bully. Bullying is what mean kids do.

But Bong Jiyeon, who was also a bully, criticized Yang Juhui harshly.

“That crazy girl. She’s always been like that with animals. Total psychopath.”

Bong Jiyeon usually took Yu Dahui’s side in most matters.

She must like rich people.

Actually, everyone liked rich people.

# # #

“700m to Gaeryong Mountain Cabin”

The slope was getting steeper, and the well-formed steps were disappearing.

One wrong move and you could easily tumble down.

“Wow, these students are walking the expert course.”

“That’s youth for you, struggling is part of growing up.”

The equipment of the adults climbing the mountain looked more professional than the middle-aged women from earlier.

Jeongseok, who was checking his phone, said:

“Apparently the path to the cabin isn’t recommended for beginners.”

It seemed that way.

Then, as if he had overheard our conversation, a man in sports sunglasses who was coming down the mountain said:

“Are you kids heading to the cabin? There’s nothing there. Gaeryong Cabin closed down a few years ago. There were too many accidents and people getting hurt, so they shut it down completely. There’s nothing to see there.”

The cabin was closed?

It was shocking news, but in a way, it made our reason for going to the cabin even more compelling.

A cabin closed due to frequent accidents…

“Something smells.”

“What! I’m not sweating that much! It’s not me!”

Thwack!

Bong Jiyeon punched me in the side.

It seemed like a playful hit, but it really hurt.

While I was clutching my side in pain, the sunglasses man, who looked like an experienced hiker, said:

“If you do go to the cabin, make sure to come back down before sunset.”

“Why?”

Yu Dahui asked.

The expert man thought for a moment and then said simply:

“When it gets dark around here, you really can’t see anything.”

I see.

Anyway, it was only 10 AM now.

We had plenty of time and planned to descend before sunset, so there shouldn’t be any problems.

With that in mind, we headed toward Gaeryong Cabin.

Because the course was difficult, our progress was slow, and it seemed like we would arrive after 11 AM.

That’s when Yang Juhui discovered something.

“Hey, look at this. There’s an iron stake stuck here. Isn’t this one of those stakes that Japanese people supposedly drove into Korean mountains to cut off their spiritual energy? Japanese people are so devious.”

Yang Juhui frowned and snickered.

The story about stakes in mountains…

I think I’d heard it as an urban legend too.

But Jeongseok shook his head.

“I heard that story is distorted. They say it’s not from the Japanese colonial period but stakes left over from land surveys after the Korean War. This is probably just construction debris.”

With a tug, Jeongseok pulled out the stake in front of Bong Jiyeon as if showing off his strength.

The approximately 1.5-meter rusty stake came out more easily than expected, but its appearance was strange.

“What is this?”

The sharp end of the stake that Jeongseok pulled out had some kind of paper wrapped around it.

I noticed that these papers had strange writing all over them.

Talismans.

They were talismans.

Someone had attached a bunch of talismans to the stake, wrapped them around it, and driven it into the ground.

It was a very strange object, and Yu Dahui, who had been quiet perhaps due to fatigue from the difficult course, suddenly exclaimed as if startled:

“Put it back! Quickly!”

“Uh, okay.”

At Yu Dahui’s cry, which was unusual for someone who rarely raised her voice, Jeongseok fearfully tried to put the stake back.

But for some reason, the stake wouldn’t go back in the way it was originally, and it wouldn’t go in deep.

Clang! Clang clang!

“…It won’t go back in.”

Jeongseok seemed quite flustered.

Soon, Yu Dahui said with a serious face:

“I read about this in a feng shui book. There’s a spell where you drive a pillar into evil ground to cut off its energy. This must be it. You should never pull out pillars like this.”

Jeongseok’s face was turning pale at an alarming rate.

That’s because Jeongseok was a coward.

Caw, caw, caw, caw-

For some reason, crows suddenly started cawing.

I felt a chilling sensation.

“Hey! Jeongseok! Let’s put it back quickly! Hurry! Drive it back in!”

Jeongseok and I struggled to drive the stake back in.

It seemed like we would need a giant hammer to do it properly.

Maybe there were a lot of rocks underground, but it wouldn’t go in even 30 centimeters.

It felt like the ground was rejecting the stake.

…Rock Terrace! Suddenly, that term flashed through my mind.

Yu Dahui, with a colder expression than I’d ever seen on her, said:

“I don’t know much, but that stake definitely has some magical significance. Since you pulled out a stake driven into evil ground, normal methods might not work…”

Oh, shit…

Did we get cursed or something?

Jeongseok, you bastard!

That’s what I was thinking when:

“You kids! What are you doing! What are you doing! Oh my! This is terrible! Terrible!”

Someone shouted at us loudly.

When we turned around, there was a man standing there.

He was wearing what looked like very expensive hiking clothes and was holding two golden rods in his hands.

They could be called ‘dowsing rods.’

“Oh my! You kids! How could you just pull out the pillar!”

“…Who are you, sir?”

I asked.

The man replied:

“Me? I’m Dr. Ji! More importantly, you kids! How could you pull this out! Don’t they teach you in school not to touch other people’s things? Especially things with talismans attached!”

The man had a very frivolous voice.

He soon took out talismans and a bell from his pocket and started ringing the bell while setting fire to the talismans.

“I’ll perform a temporary pressing ritual, so all of you give me money! I don’t do this for free! There must be compensation! That’s how the ritual gains power!”

Money? He’s asking for money?

While Jeongseok and I were rummaging through our pockets, Yang Juhui clicked her tongue.

“Pressing ritual, my ass. Hey, you guys. Are you men that weak? Give it here!”

With a swipe, Yang Juhui, who had been listening, took the stake from our hands as if she couldn’t believe us.

Then she shoved the large pillar right back into the hole, and it went in smoothly, unlike when Jeongseok and I had tried with all our might.

Jeongseok and I were greatly surprised, and Yu Dahui seemed quite surprised too. Dr. Ji also seemed quite shocked.

“Wow, that’s amazing. Miss, you must have a shaman’s constitution. This area is spiritually so hard that it’s called the Rock Terrace. I heard even the old Gaeryong head shaman had trouble driving stakes here.”

Dr. Ji took Yang Juhui’s palm and read her fortune.

When Yang Juhui pulled her hand away as if disgusted, Dr. Ji seemed greatly surprised.

“Wow, I’ve never seen such a terrifying palm with so much killing energy. If you were born a man, you could have been a general who could become president… but as a woman… I’ve seen a similar palm once in my life… Student, may I ask what your mother’s or grandmother’s name is?”