episode_0031

Joo-hyuk promised to show her what the gift was after school.

“Joohyuk, can’t you just show it now?”

“There are too many onlookers to show it right now. I’ll show you after school.”

Joo Hyuk shook off his red hands and pointed to the students gathered around him. There were definitely too many students gathered together, so it wasn’t a situation where they could have a comfortable conversation. The students were whispering with surprised eyes as they looked at Jinwoo.

“… Did you win the judo national team by force? Does this make sense?”

“No, aren’t those two playing together?”

” Lee Joo-hyuk seemed too sincere to say he was just playing it off. ”

“But the curly haired boy over there is really handsome. I think I look like a celebrity.”

There seemed to be various rumors going around at school about Jinwoo in the future.

A male student defeated a national judo player in arm wrestling.

“Oh, I want to see the gift.”

“I’ll show you.”

The bell rang and Joo-hyuk returned to his classroom.

All the students who were watching went to their classrooms as it was time for assembly.

Soon the teacher came in, called attendance, and class began as usual.

Time passed and it was after school.

Jinwoo and Sarah met Joohyuk and went to a cafe near the school.

They ordered menus from the waiter and sat down at the window seats.

“Customer order number 312! Americano and iced tea came out.”

The drink I ordered arrived.

Joo-hyuk took a sip of iced tea and then started talking.

“What I received as a gift from a Japanese fan was a psychic photo. He actually said it was a photo he took of a ghost and sent it to me by international mail.”

“Are you talking about Yukio? The photo was taken by that person himself.”

“You can say that.”

Jinwoo asked Joohyuk with a puzzled expression.

“But why does a so-called fan send me a psychic photo as a gift? Aren’t you a bit of a strange person?”

“Yukio is not a strange person! You’re just someone who’s interested in mysteries. The person called me and said he would send me something valuable. They said it was a psychic photo of a ghost. That’s it.”

Joo Hyuk took out a photo from his bag.

“This is a photo of the Inunaki Tunnel.”

Inunaki Tunnel.

The moment Jinwoo heard that, he became interested. The Inunaki Tunnel was one of the largest psychic spots in Japan. There are countless sightings of ghosts, and it was a place where terrible murders occurred in the past. It would be no exaggeration to say that most fictional ghost stories related to tunnels were based on the Inunaki Tunnel.

It was rewarding to win the arm wrestling match.

Jinwoo nodded while looking at the photo.

Sarah, who was sitting next to me, also stared at the photo of the tunnel.

“It’s a good gift.”

“Right? I thought you might be interested.”

“I wanted to go here at least once before I die.”

“… Haha.”

As for the Inunaki Tunnel, Jinwoo had also seen quite a few photos posted on the Internet. However, among the photos on the Internet, there were very few that clearly captured the ghost’s appearance. If there really was a ghost in this photo, it was a valuable item to Jinwoo. You will be able to check in advance what lives in the place you plan to visit someday.

“This photo was taken by Mr. Yukio from the tunnel entrance.”

“I’ll take a look.”

“I’ll see you too, Jinwoo.”

Jinwoo looked closely at the photo of the Inunaki Tunnel with Sarah.

“Hmm.”

The photo showed a dark interior of the tunnel. The person who took the photo must have used a flashlight to illuminate the tunnel, and a faint light was illuminating the inside of the tunnel. At first it was just a dark landscape. However, as Jinwoo continued to look, the visible scenes began to change.

“… … .”

Strange things were visible deep inside the tunnel. It was the shape of countless ghosts shaking in pitch black color. The number was very large.

‘How many are there?’

The number of ghosts that could be clearly seen was twenty. Including the ones swarming in the back, I couldn’t even guess how many ghosts there were. Jinwoo spoke to Sarah, who was looking at photos together.

“Sera, can you see it too?”

“… I’m watching. That’s a huge number! I can’t believe it’s a photo taken of the afterlife, not this world.”

It was a place that could be called Magul.

Jinwoo’s whole body felt cold just by looking at the photo.

If the day comes when I go to the Inunaki Tunnel, I need to be well prepared.

“Why are the spirits tied up in the tunnel? Is the land itself a cursed place?”

“Maybe there is a monster living in the tunnel.”

Jinwoo and Sarah had a conversation, but they couldn’t figure out the identity of the tunnel just by looking at the photo.

I just knew that it was too dangerous an area to travel to right away.

7:00 pm.

As we chatted about the identity of the tunnel, time flew by.

It was time to return home.

Joo-hyuk gave Jin-woo a photo of the Inunaki Tunnel as a gift.

“Jinwoo. If you want that photo, take it.”

“I’ll take it.”

“Wow! You take it right away without even thinking about it… Aren’t you scared when you look at psychic photos?”

“Still, I have to solve the mystery.”

After giving the photo, Joo Hyuk went home first.

Jin-woo and Sarah also left the cafe and walked down the street together. The place where the two people naturally headed was Hyehwadang, which could be called home. Of course, it was not Jin-woo’s house, but it was a place that felt like home to Jin-woo as well.

*

It was when I arrived at Hyehwadang.

After going inside the house, Jinwoo spoke to Sarah.

“Sera, I’ll sleep in today.”

“Anyway. Would you like some food?”

Jinwoo staying at Hyehwadang was a happy thing for Sarah.

It was always a happy thing to hear, but Sarah didn’t say it outwardly.

Jinwoo shook his head towards Sarah who offered to prepare dinner.

“No. I’ll make dinner today.”

“Really? Then I want to eat pasta.”

“Pasta.”

In fact, when Jinwoo and Sarah were alone at Hyehwadang, Sarah did not cook alone. Although no one specifically ordered it, Jinwoo often cooked on his own. It wasn’t like they had a set duty, but the two of them took turns cooking.

“I’ll make it soon so I’m waiting.”

“Oppa, I’m hungry!”

“Who says he’s my brother.”

Jinwoo went into the kitchen, took out the cooking utensils, and started cooking. Jinwoo came and went to Hyehwadang as if it were his own home, so he knew where everything was. I even knew about the types of ingredients in the refrigerator. Because Jinwoo and Sarah had purchased the ingredients by going shopping together.

━━Bubbling

After boiling the noodles, Jinwoo made seafood pasta with clams and squid.

Meatballs and vegetable salad that go well with pasta.

The dish ended with a fragrant stir-fried mushroom. The rest was just a matter of taking out the side dishes from the refrigerator.

“Let’s eat.”

“Yay.”

The dishes prepared by Jinwoo were placed on the table at Hyehwadang. Sarah sat down at the table and started eating seafood pasta. That was the moment Sarah rolled up the pasta full of seafood and put it in her mouth.

Sarah thought while eating pasta.

‘delicious.’

Not only was there a pod on my tongue, but the pasta Jinwoo made was really delicious. Even though I thought it wasn’t a boy who did the cooking, but a skilled housewife, I could almost believe it. Sarah also tasted meatballs, salad, and stir-fried mushrooms.

The meatballs melted gently on my tongue.

The freshly stir-fried mushrooms had a rich flavor.

The salad was well mixed with vegetables and sauce.

The words “delicious” naturally flowed out of Sarah’s mouth.

“… It’s delicious.”

It wasn’t the first time I felt this way.

Whenever Jinwoo cooked, Sarah always had a satisfying meal. Sarah remembers being quite surprised the first time she ate the dish Jinwoo made. From a young age, the boy was good at cooking.

“You like pasta.”

“No, it’s just delicious.”

“Yes, eat a lot.”

After a while, the meal was over.

After washing the dishes, Jinwoo and Sarah watched TV together in the living room.

The time was 9pm.

The nine o’clock news was running on the TV channel.

“Watch the news?”

“No, I’m going to watch a movie.”

Jinwoo and Sarah didn’t usually watch the news on TV. Anyway, if it was something that was going to be on the news, you could find out about it on the Internet.

Sarah, who was holding the remote control, tried to change the movie channel.

However, what was coming out of the news made me stop changing the channel.

[This is urgent news. A stabbing incident occurred at a camping site in Cheonggyesan, Seoul. This is an incident in which 12 people were brutally murdered at a camping site. Reporter Kim, first, please explain how the incident occurred.]

A stabbing incident occurred in Seoul.

It was such a heinous crime that it was being covered as breaking news on the news.

The screen showing the anchor shifted to the reporter at the scene.

[yes. Around 7 PM today, an unknown assailant brandished a weapon at a camping site in Cheonggyesan Mountain. The male-looking gunman was wearing a pure white traditional mask, so his identity could not be confirmed. 12 people died while swinging weapons while going to and from the campsite.]

[Because it was a camping site, there must have been many witnesses. What is the current situation?]

[yes. Currently, the criminal is running away after killing more police officers. The direction in which the criminal is fleeing is expected to be toward Gwangmyeong City. Residents near Seoul are requested to pay special attention.]

[It’s a monster wearing a traditional mask. Has anything been confirmed through additional investigation?]

[The identity of the gunman has not yet been clearly revealed… .]

Breaking news about a murder case continued to flow on TV.

The gunman who brutally killed people has not yet been caught by the police.

It was even said that he killed an armed police officer and escaped leisurely.

“Did you kill someone while wearing a mask?”

“Wait a minute… .”

While Jinwoo was watching the news, an important fact suddenly occurred to him.

“Gwangmyeong is near my neighborhood.”

“That’s right. They might come our way.”

Seungcheon-gu, where Jinwoo and Sarah lived, was very close to Gwangmyeong City. To get from Seoul to Gwangmyeong, the fastest way was to go through Seungcheon-gu. The moment Jinwoo and Sarah noticed that fact, they looked outside through the window. I saw a dark neighborhood scene.

The evening passed like that.

There was no news that the assailant wearing the pure white mask had been arrested.

Even the next day.