episode_0020

When I picked up the notebook and opened it, for some reason all the hospital rules had disappeared. I quickly flipped through the pages to see if there was anything new, but I couldn’t see anything different.

Still, when I confirmed the existence of the notebook, I felt reassured. After receiving it back from a senior, he put it in his pocket and forgot about its existence, so did he drop the notebook as a sign of protest?

After carefully putting the notebook back in my pocket, I looked in the direction it had disappeared. Judging by the fact that there was no creaking sound at all, it must have moved quite far.

I carefully passed the window door that was broken and not functioning properly. As I moved forward with a nervous mind, wondering if the stuffy, heavy-feeling hallway would return again, I found myself in a completely different space.

An unlit furnace and rusty and broken kitchen utensils were strewn everywhere. When I looked at the wall, I saw some unidentified meat hanging there, giving off a rotten smell.

Simply standing still made me feel nauseous and suffocating. Judging by the fact that the hallway I walked down earlier was not there, it was clear that the space of this hanok was distorted, but before even thinking about that, I wanted to get out of this place as quickly as possible.

When I looked back, I saw that there was a window print that didn’t match the kitchen. Thinking that that door was definitely a place to escape from this space, I covered my nose and headed for the door as quickly as possible.

Clatter rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle

As I passed by the furnace, the lid of the cauldron began to move even though the fire had clearly gone out. At the same time, hot heat filled the kitchen.

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My brain was refusing to hear that sound. Now, a terrible sound is constantly coming from inside the boiling cauldron.

When I covered one ear, the impact of the sound lessened, but this time, a very disgusting smell, like boiled meat, ate away at my nose. Even if I breathed through my mouth, I couldn’t avoid the smell.

I wanted to cover my ears and nose, but I couldn’t let go of my stomach, which was like my lifeline.

I was in pain and ran and ran and ran as much as I could. The window paper, which seemed to be close, became farther and farther away, no matter how hard I walked.

As I run, the furnace becomes longer and more boiling cauldrons begin to form. And when the window prints became so long that they were not even visible, human silhouettes began to appear in each cauldron.

“Forgive me….”

Someone’s mournful sounds and the sound of chopping meat are heard again. I almost listened for a moment to a sound I heard somewhere, but the terrible roar made me divert my mind as much as possible.

I became increasingly tired of the foul smell and the sounds coming through the cracks. I couldn’t even see the window print anymore, but I kept moving my legs again and again.

The silhouette gradually became darker and began to take on the shape of a person. Soon, the image of a woman beautifully dressed in Hanbok was visible except for her face.

As the woman struck down the knife, a terrible scream and the dull sound of bones being cut were heard. Soon the woman dropped the knife, sat down, and began to cry.

Ugh…Ugh…Ugh…Ugh…Ugh…Ugh…Ugh…Ugh…

The woman’s crying soon turned into maniacal laughter. Slowly, the woman’s face, which had been hidden in black shadow, begins to fill in.

And when the woman’s smiling lips were completed, the nape of my neck was grabbed by someone’s hand sticking out from the side. The hand that grabbed the back of my neck dragged me into the black space without delay and started running.

I followed the directions without even knowing what was going on, and before I knew it, I was out in a bright space. Only then was I able to confirm the identity of the owner of the hand that released me.

A young woman in her early 20s, wearing very revealing short jeans and a tight black short-sleeved T-shirt, was wiping the sweat from her forehead and sighing.

Although the woman was dressed in a way that made it difficult to focus her eyes, I was certain that she was the one who saved me from that hellish kitchen. I bowed my head deeply because I didn’t know what would have happened if it weren’t for her.

“Thank you so much. Thanks to you, I survived!”

“It’s okay to say thank you. Because I wanted to save you, so I saved you.”

The way she spoke as if it was nothing special seemed very cool. Unlike me, who wanted to save the man I saw earlier but couldn’t, she did it herself and what a wonderful and good person she is.

“Anyway, I think this is my first time seeing someone alive and well here. Did you also come here because of a haunted house experience and then get locked up?”

“Um, uh…similar.”

If I tell you the truth, who on earth would believe me when I say that I am playing hide and seek with ghosts to buy time so that I can treat them as gods?

Just like what the man said and what the woman said just now, it seemed like there were a lot of people who came to this hanok to experience a haunted house or to test their courage and then got locked up.

I wondered why I did that in such a dangerous place, but the fundamental reason why I came here was to go to the hospital to test my courage, which was where it all started, so I was in no position to criticize others.

“Then it’s similar to me. I also happen to be tied up here.”

She shrugged her shoulders and shook her head, looking very calm even though she was the one who said she was tied up in such a dangerous place.

“It looks like you’re walking alone. Would you like to walk with me? There are a lot of dangerous places here and there are some monsters roaming around, so it’s dangerous.”

She said, holding out her hand to me. I received help just a moment ago, but is it okay for me to hold this hand? Even after reflecting on the precautions my grandmother gave me, I have never encountered a situation like this.

I thought about it for a moment. The time limit was for me to run away until the grandmother finished preparing to bring Myeongdo to Somin, the god, and as I saw in the situation where I was hiding in the market, the absolute target of that was me.

In that case, I could be the bait and save her, and in that case, if I use the boat that I couldn’t use a little while ago for some reason, I could save her.

And just like she saved me, she seemed to be somewhat familiar with the strangely changing structure of Hanok, so I thought that if we worked together, our survival rate could increase even further.

“…Yes. Please!”

After thinking about it, I held her hand tightly. I felt warm body temperature and soft touch. After confirming that she was human, I felt even more reassured.

“Ahaha! You shouldn’t trust people in places like this. I’m fine though. I am Sohye, please call me Sohye.”

“Please call me Sihyeon. Sohye!”

Exchanging bright smiles with each other, we were able to put our minds at ease in this place, even if only for a moment.

“Okay, then let’s take a little rest. Time is also strange here, time passes differently in each room and the structure changes. This room I’m in right now won’t change for at least an hour, so it’s safe.”

She sat down against the wall, patted her side with her palm, and looked at me. Under the unspoken pressure to sit next to her, I cautiously walked next to her and gently sat down.

When she saw me, she hugged me with her hands and pressed our bodies against each other. I was embarrassed and tried to fall, but her hand was holding my shoulder so strongly that I couldn’t.

I felt her smirking at me. The sweet scent of fruit tickled my nose, and my face gradually grew warmer at the soft texture.

“Hehehe. By the way, since there is a short break, does Sihyeon know what kind of place this is?”

“If this is…isn’t it a place where God is worshiped?”

“Well, even if it is made like that, if it is a god, it might be possible to call it a god.”

When I turned my head to look at her, I saw that she was staring at the ceiling with empty eyes. For a moment, she looked at me again with lively eyes and continued speaking.

“This is the place where the prince’s ear made of ‘Yeommae’ is enshrined.”

Yeommae. As soon as I heard those words, I felt my body instantly become cold.

“Yeommae begins with bringing a child and putting him in a crockpot. Next, starve the child again and again for several days until it reaches a level where it will not die.”

” Then, slightly open the lid of the cabinet containing the child and place a piece of meat on top. ”

She grabbed one of my hands holding her stomach as if it were a lifeline. I placed the hand I was holding on to her voluptuous chest and forced my fingers to spread out and grab it, but it didn’t feel erotic at all.

“Then the child will raise his hand and grab the fish like this. Because I want to eat. Because I’m hungry. The child was so hungry and wanted to eat that he had no choice.”

She spread her hand like a blade and placed it on my wrist. Crumbling–I started pretending to use my wrist while making a sound with my mouth.

It didn’t hurt, but it felt like I was actually getting cut, so I wanted to take my hand away, but at some point, he grabbed my arm so strongly with his other hand that I couldn’t get my hand out.

“Then, put the cut off hand into a small box and use it as a body. Don’t let your child run away somewhere. Then, the remaining body of the child is cut into 48 pieces and burned, and the powder is placed in a box.”

She finally let go of my hand. As I hid my barely free hand behind my back so that she couldn’t see her, she started giggling.

“Don’t be so scared~ The story is almost over now. Once all processes are completed, the child’s soul is left to be consumed by the shaman. And it grows like that. With a constant hunger, with a hunger that cannot be resolved.”

After finishing speaking, she stood up. When he patted my stiff shoulder, I was finally able to move my body as if I had been freed from a spell.

“What, did I say it so realistically that you got scared? It’s a story that is told forever. You don’t know what’s going to happen in reality, so don’t be too scared.”

“Surprise…I was surprised…”

“Hehe, you are really cute. Since it seems like the time has come, shall we move to a different place?”

She held my hand and walked towards the window door that had suddenly appeared. I tried to ignore the ominous feeling I had and walked towards the door with her.

Arriving at the door, she opened it first and went outside. The moment I tried to follow, I felt something blocking my foot.

“Aya!”

I fell awkwardly and found myself in a situation where my upper body was outside the door and my lower body was outside the door.

“Huh? Is it dangerous to do this?”

She pulled me with strength, but my body didn’t move as if it was being held by something. I tried to stay still and tried to get up, but my body was so heavy that I couldn’t get up.

“Uh, uh…Sohye, my body isn’t moving…”

When I looked at her with anxiety, she also had an expression on her face that suggested something was wrong.

“I’ve never done anything like this on my own…I’ll find a tool to help you soon, so just wait! Hold on somehow!”

After saying that, she disappeared somewhere. I wasn’t worried because he didn’t seem like the kind of person who would give up on me and run away, but the fact that I was left alone in a situation where I couldn’t move made me very, very anxious.

And that anxiety immediately became reality and I felt something wet and warm at the tip of my toes. Even though I tried to avoid it by moving my legs as much as possible, the feeling followed my legs.

“Sohye, please come quickly…!!”

Isn’t the biggest crisis of your life right now?