I Became the Hidden Mastermind

003 – The Abyss of the Boy #3

003 – The Abyss of the Boy #3

Jjang, jjang, jjang-.

The peculiar sound of droplets became increasingly closer.

I forgot even to breathe, my eyes wide open, frozen stiff.

A sensation of all vitality draining from my body.

Jjang, jjang, jjang-.

Finally, as the sound of droplets passed right before my nose, I saw something bizarre through a hole in the door of the cleaning utility room.

To describe her overall appearance, she wore multicolored clothes with a vibrant hue. Notably, the indication that she was a woman came from her long, disheveled hair peeking through a torn upper garment, revealing fair skin.

Her legs were also fair and slender, and what was peculiar was that she wore something like stockings instead of socks.

Jjang!

In one hand, she held a stick adorned with numerous droplets, and in the other, a candle. Her mouth, torn up to the ears, stretched her tongue grotesquely down to her chin, looking terribly horrifying.

“Where are you? Can’t see. Can’t see. Where are you? Can’t see. Can’t see. Where are you? Where, where, where, where.”

A voice searching for something incessantly burst out from her wide-open mouth like a leaking faucet, repeating the same words without a pause. It was an absurd volume of breath, as if she were rapping.

Looking closely at her face illuminated by the candle, the area around her eyes was grotesquely twisted.

Seeing a hole instead of where the pupils should be, my heart sank as if it had hit a lump.

…Damn, what the hell is that!?

Even at a glance, it was an appearance that was not human.

A ghost, undoubtedly a ghost!

I tightly shut my eyes, wondering if the pounding heartbeat might be audible outside.

I don’t know what it’s searching for, but I hope it’s not me!

Drip, drip, drip…

The only relief was that the dreadful ghost or monster-like thing passed by the janitorial storage room where I was hiding.

Honestly, I questioned whether it was okay to hide in such a shabby place, but thanks to the fact that the ghost’s eyes were squinted, it seemed like it just passed by without noticing.

“….”

Even after the sound of droplets ceased to be heard, I stayed hidden in the janitorial storage room for about 5 more minutes.

Honestly, I didn’t want to go out.

If I stayed like this, daylight would come, and maybe the police or rescuers would rush in to help me – such hopeful thoughts filled my mind.

“Ugh.”

At that moment, the foul smell of the rotting mop emanating from the janitorial storage room became increasingly unbearable. It was to the point where I couldn’t endure it even if I breathed through my mouth.

What on earth?

Something flashed in my mind, and I recalled the advice I had just read.

『Advice from the “Broken Clock”: In the nightmare corridor, there are hiding places such as janitorial storage rooms and lockers where you can evade abnormalities for a certain period. Who could have prepared such things?』

“Could it be…?”

Is it because of the “certain period”?

You can’t hide in these hiding places permanently!

That was clear!

Damn it!

I’m going to hide here for the rest of my life!

“Wooh, wuack…! Gu-eack…!”

I desperately held on.

But the nausea persisted, and I feared that if I continued like this, the droplet girl might return to hear the sound of my retching.

What would happen if the droplet girl found out?

I didn’t know, but it couldn’t be anything good!

Ah, damn!

I don’t even know.

Giiick.

I quickly escaped from the cleaning supplies room.

As soon as I did, the smell that had been making my stomach churn disappeared as if it were a lie.

I had worried about the smell sticking to my body, but fortunately, that didn’t happen.

What on earth is going on?

Have I finally gone insane?

There was a possibility, but… there was a glimmer of sanity.

“…Status window.”

『One day, when you opened your eyes, you were lying in a dark corridor.

From that dark corner, horrifying sounds echoed, and ominous footsteps gradually approached.

In this bizarre situation, you had no choice but to move forward to survive and escape. Eventually, you reached a shocking secret and a bizarre taboo….』

Here was undoubtedly the “Nightmare Corridor,” as advised by the status window.

There was no need for anyone to explain why I was in such a place.

I came here of my own accord.

Looking back, what I did in the past, almost wanting to strangle my past self, was foolish. But now, what matters is not that kind of thing, but how to somehow survive.

What did they say about this nightmare corridor?

“You had to move your steps to survive and escape this bizarre situation. Eventually, you would reach a horrifying secret and a strange taboo, only to…”

Escape!

If there’s a way to escape, there must be an exit somewhere in this corridor!

Regardless of what it was, since I couldn’t hide in the cleaning supply room anymore, I had no choice but to move my steps.

The only fortunate thing was that the holographic status window, shining like a hologram, illuminated the ground right in front of my feet. If I didn’t have this, I would have died in the darkness.

“Phew….”

After taking a deep breath, I carefully listened to my surroundings and fumbled my way through this strange corridor.

Creak, creak…

The floor of the corridor was made of wood, and it made a sound every time I walked, which was a bit annoying, but there was nothing I could do.

But the layout was quite familiar.

It looked like the corridors of Yeongji High School.

Maybe this is the corridor of Yeongji High School?

If my guess is correct, when I turn this corner, Class 1-D should appear—

“1-4.”

My guess was correct.

But the details were a bit different.

It wasn’t Class D; it was Class 4.

Did Yeongji High School divide its classes from Class A to Class G by alphabet?

Originally, they divided the classes by numbers, but I heard they switched to alphabet when they hired new teachers…

“New teacher…old teacher….”

Yes, this was the old teacher’s domain.

The building from the old days at Yeongji High!

Suddenly, I remembered that I had unlocked “old teacher” from the store window.

It was the classroom that had been securely locked to keep students out.

This was the old teacher’s corridor!

That meant there had to be some sort of entrance or exit in the building somewhere!

If the layout of the old and new teachers’ areas was similar, there should be stairs nearby…

With that thought in mind, I slowly moved forward.

However, strangely, there were no stairs in sight, only an endless corridor that seemed like an unbreakable nightmare.

Jingling, jingling, jingling…

Ah…

At the end of that corridor, a faint light appeared, and the sound of drops started again.

The problem was that there were no lockers or cleaning supply closets around me right now.

“….”

Desperate to survive somehow, I looked around and found a classroom labeled “1-4.”

Wasn’t I passing through here earlier, though?

No, it didn’t really matter at this point!

Drrr-.

Fortunately, the classroom door was open.

I hid among numerous desks, and the sound of footsteps echoed through the surrounding hallway – clink, clink.

# # #

How much time had passed?

The sound of footsteps gradually faded away.

A strange sense of accomplishment flowed through my body along with a feeling of relief at having survived.

“What the hell, it’s not over yet.”

Humans were creatures of adaptation.

In a slightly more relaxed state than before, I could now look around.

“….”

And I slightly regretted my actions.

It was because I discovered that the classroom of the first-year, class 4, was filled to the brim with talismans bearing scribbled, ominous characters.

It was an incredibly eerie and creepy place. It could easily appear in nightmares.

But what was even more horrifying was when I realized I wasn’t alone in the classroom.

Gik, gik-.

The sound came from under the teacher’s desk.

It sounded like a monkey, or perhaps like the creaking of a tree.

Damn it…

Come to think of it, didn’t the status window say something like this?

In the corridor of nightmares, there were hiding places such as cleaning supply closets and lockers where you could avoid the grotesque creatures─so it said.

The expression “grotesque creatures” caught my attention.

If there were other horrifying ghosts besides the Bell Girl roaming this corridor…!?

In an instant-.

At that moment, the light from my status window illuminated, and I locked eyes with the glowing blue gaze.

I was so taken aback that it felt like I couldn’t breathe, but it seemed like they recognized me too.

“Youngwon, it’s you…!?”

It was a small but loud voice.

Small but loud, honestly, it didn’t make much sense as an explanation, but that’s how it was.

Swoosh-.

The thing crouching under the teacher’s desk crawled towards me on all fours.

Only then could I clearly see the identity of the glowing gaze.

It was glasses!

“Jung Sojin…? Class president…?”

“Youngwon…!”

With a swoosh, Jung Sojin, the class president of Class D and someone I had admired quite a bit at the beginning of the semester, pulled me into a tight embrace.

“Youngwon…! I’m so glad to see you…!”

The scent of cosmetics wafted in the air, and something soft touched my chest.

Jung Sojin was bigger than I had imagined.

And even the top student, Jung Sojin, is putting on makeup – such thoughts came to mind, accompanied by a foreboding feeling.

“Hey, are you really Jung Sojin? Show me the evidence!”

Perhaps the ghost of this corridor was trying to deceive me!

I hastily pulled myself away and stepped back, and that entity, whether it was Jung Sojin or a ghost, with a slightly chubby expression, instead of being anxious, laughed like an relieved person.

“hehehehe, Youngwon, you’re really amusing, you know? Do you remember when you shared textbooks with me before? We went together to the warehouse to get the textbooks. At that time, after you moved all the boxes…”

That’s right.

On the day of the entrance ceremony when classrooms were assigned, I had to move boxes containing textbooks along with Jung Sojin at the request of the homeroom teacher.

At that time, I, like someone who had gone through three years of middle school, was a bit nervous and excited about being with a pretty girl like Jung Sojin… I did silly things like saying, “Sojin, if it’s heavy, I’ll carry your box too,” and such.

Maybe Jung Sojin liked my manly and gentlemanly attitude, and she said, “Oh, you’re a good guy!” We became close, studied for exams together, got married, and even had grandchildren… I had such fantasies.

I know.

It was a foolish thought.

But after three years of middle school life, everyone ended up like that.

Anyway, knowing about that incident.

This is really Jung Sojin.

As I was feeling a bit relieved, Jung Sojin lit a small lighter with a click.

Even a tiny flame has a way of soothing a person’s heart.

“Youngwon, we need to find the key! The entrance key! I don’t have time for detailed explanations, so I’ll speak quickly. To escape from this corridor, we need the key! I’m not sure about the entrance location!”

Key.

It was quite a positive keyword.

A word that literally becomes the key.

“The key should be in the office key storage! But going alone is too scary for me, so… Eternal, I’m really relieved that you’re here. Truly…”