I Became the Hidden Mastermind

004 – Abyss of the Boy #4

004 – Abyss of the Boy #4

“Eternal, I’m really relieved that you’re here. Truly…”

Click-.

Class president Jung Sojin hugged my neck again and shed tears.

It had a soft and pleasant smell.

“Hey, don’t cry.”

I comforted Sojin’s back like that, but I was a bit embarrassed by the touch of the bra strap.

Fortunately, Sojin wiped away the tears with her fingers as if she didn’t care.

“Eternal, you’re really reliable. Wasn’t it like that when we first talked? It must have been heavy, but you carried all my baggage….”

“Well….”

“I never knew you were so dependable. If you weren’t here, I might have really gone crazy.”

“Sojin, there’s something I want to ask. Are Yang Ju-hee and Kim Geon-ho here, by any chance?”

“….”

Even in the darkness, Sojin’s expression seemed to darken.

“Why are you asking about that?”

“No, you have Yang Ju-hee’s lighter. I thought maybe she’s in this strange corridor too.”

What Sojin was holding in her hand was the silver lighter I gave to Yang Ju-hee.

And I was the one who made Yang Ju-hee, Kim Geon-ho, and Sojin players in the “Nightmare Corridor.”

Maybe all the players are in this hallway. I wanted to prove my hypothesis, and Jeong Sojin trembled and cried.

“…Yeah. Juhee and Kim Gunho were here too. But we were attacked by that weird thing…”

“Weird thing? The bell girl? The woman in the shaman’s outfit, jingling her bell?”

“No, not that…! Besides that strange bell woman, there were others. I’ve seen at least three different types so far. So Yeongwon, let’s get out of here quickly. Hurry…! Please…!”

Does that mean there are three, including the bell girl?

Or does it mean there are three excluding the bell girl?

It was an important conversation in many ways.

“Can you tell me more about these three types of ghosts? I don’t know if they’re ghosts or monsters—”

“You f*cking idiot!!! Just get out of here already, I don’t care what they are!!!”

I was really surprised.

Sojin herself seemed equally surprised and trembled in confusion.

“No, I’m sorry… I’m not in my right mind… I really don’t know why this happened so suddenly… I don’t even know where we are… I have to go to school… Ah…”

It could be considered a hysterical state.

I decided to calm Sojin down, not knowing where she might go.

“Of course we have to get out of here. But if there are different types of ghosts or whatever, shouldn’t we find out about them first? We need to be prepared if we encounter them.”

For example, the bell girl seemed to be invisible—I guessed. Whenever she approached, I could hear the sound of the shaman’s bell in her hand, so it was easy to detect her presence.

But for the ones I couldn’t see, they were like unknown variables, and I didn’t want to stumble upon them and end up dead for no reason.

It seemed that Sojin was convinced by my opinion because she took a deep breath and said, “Yeongwon, you’re right. This is my first time experiencing something like this… Honestly, I was confused and lost my temper without realizing it. But it’s okay. Even if we make noise in this classroom, the ghosts won’t come.”

“Really? Are you sure?”

“Perhaps it’s because of the talisman? That’s why I could hide here too. I wanted to take it off and try taking it with me, but when I did, it turned into dust.”

The classroom marked as “1-4” is impervious to ghosts.

Keeping that fact well in mind, Jung Sojin removed her torn school uniform stocking, revealing her white leg.

“For better movement, this side would be more comfortable, right?”

It was the first time I witnessed a scene of a female student of the same age taking off her stocking, and unintentionally, I found myself concentrating on watching.

The stripping of a classmate’s stocking was stranger and more provocative than adult videos where people went further after undressing.

Of course, Jung Sojin seemed unfazed by it all.

“Before we leave here, I’ll explain as much as I know about what happened.”

# # #

“At lunchtime, the kids told me. Kim Geonho and others were smoking near the teacher’s office. Why? I’m the class president, you know? If our class causes trouble for no reason, it’s my responsibility….”

Jung Sojin said she went to the teacher’s office to lead the troublemakers like a delinquent.

And there, she encountered Kim Geonho and Yang Juhee. Kim Geonho managed to pick the lock of the teacher’s office and went inside.

“I thought I had to stop them somehow… But the teacher’s office is a bit scary. So, I suggested going in with Juhee… No matter what we did, the corridor seemed endless. The entrance we came through was gone too…!”

Class President Jung Sojin explained that during lunchtime, she entered the unlocked teacher’s office with Kim Geonho and Yang Juhee and got trapped in this strange corridor.

It perfectly matched the time and circumstances when I unlocked the “Shop” in the status window and freed the teacher’s lock.

No one answered our calls, no matter how many times we tried.

“President, what about your phone?”

“The phone is dead, and creepy sounds kept coming out, so I threw it away. After wandering around like that, the three of us found the exit. But Kim Geonho, on his own, decided to run off saying he’ll live alone….”

I remembered Kim Geonho.

No need for a long explanation; he was just a damn asshole.

“Following Kim Geon-ho, I encountered a head ghost. The head ghost had no arms or legs, only a face covered in hair like a ghost, and it looked really terrifying. Truly…”

A head ghost.

Damn, it’s horrifying just to imagine.

“But that head ghost, it just stays still. Maybe because it has no body. It spreads its hair like spider silk and stays still. It seems calm as long as you don’t step on its hair.”

“It uses its hair like traps… like a spider. Spiders are generally calm until their prey gets caught in the web.”

“Spiders… but it happened to be right in front of the exit. Suddenly, Kim Geon-ho pushed Yang Ju-hee, and I, in a daze, ran away without thinking.”

Swish-.

Jung So-jin handed me Yang Ju-hee’s lighter.

In the midst of a chaotic situation, it’s hard to say whether bringing a lighter was resourceful or not.

“Ju-hee gave it to me. She told me to survive too…”

Yang Ju-hee to Jung So-jin?

That’s impossible.

As far as I know, Yang Ju-hee detested Jung So-jin intensely.

Did they form some kind of friendship amid the crisis?

Feeling a slight discomfort, I casually asked, pretending nothing was wrong.

“So, what happened to Yang Ju-hee? Did she, too… die? Captured by the ghost.”

I felt a cold sweat soaking my back and armpits. I was too curious about what happened to Yang Ju-hee, caught by the so-called ‘head ghost.’

“I don’t know… Anyway, we ran until we saw the faculty office. If you get the key from the faculty office’s drawer, you can open the multi-purpose room! You know there’s an emergency exit in the multi-purpose room, right?”

Emergency exit.

Was there really such a thing?

“We used to have fire drills. Back in the old school, there was a big fire, and the firefighters came to create emergency exits in various areas of the building. They even provided training. Remember?”

“Yeah, it seems like I remember.”

There seemed to be something like that in the past.

In the end, going to the office to find the key was a sure thing.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the office was nearby.

Leaving the classroom “1-4,” filled with these talismans, felt somewhat regrettable, but I couldn’t continue hiding inside.

According to the status window, the “Nightmare Corridor” was a place where you had to ‘escape,’ not survive.

But leaving the classroom now was not the right choice.

“Captain, let’s wait for a moment.”

“Wait? For what?”

“Obviously, for the ghost girl.”

“Why…!?”

Jeong Sojin frowned.

It was an attitude as if she couldn’t understand, so I decided to give a brief explanation to the captain.

From what I saw, the ghost girl seemed to be wandering around this corridor at regular intervals. So sending the ghost girl ahead reduces the chance of meeting her. If we leave now, we might run into the ghost girl coming back this way soon.”

Jjallang-.

As if proving my guess, the sound of a bell started ringing in the distance.

Jjallang, jjallang, jjallang-.

Even though I heard that ghosts don’t come into the classroom “1-4,” my breath still stopped, and my shoulders tensed. It was only when the eerie atmosphere in the corridor disappeared that I could finally catch my breath.

“Did you see? Since I went to the left, I won’t be coming near here for a while. I have to go to the office now. The office is on the right, right?”

“You, Yeong-won….”

Jung So-jin’s eyes glistened, whether it was because she was impressed or convinced by my judgment.

“How did you know this? How?”

“Just because I had a feeling that I had played this kind of hide-and-seek game before.”

“A game… I guess you can think of it that way. Yeong-won, I feel safe because you’ve played a lot of games. If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have studied and just played games.”

I’m not sure if my evaluation went up or down.

“It really makes me feel safe. I felt like I was going crazy when I was alone. But Yeong-won, you’re calmer than I thought. I should say you’re manly… It’s pretty cool.”

“…Honestly, I’m scared too because I suddenly experienced something like this. I was sleeping and when I woke up, I was in this place. So don’t have too high expectations.”

We didn’t have much time to joke around, so I slowly opened the classroom door and stepped outside.

Squeak, creak, creak.

Relying on the lighter’s flame, I walked along the corridor for a while, and Jung So-jin, who had been following behind me, grabbed my side tightly with her hand.

“I’m so scared, Yeong-won….”

“Me too. I’m scared.”

“But I’m glad you’re here. Yeong-won, can you protect me…? Actually, I’ve had a good impression of you since the day you helped me at the entrance ceremony. If we can get out of here safely, I’ll…”

When her voice, as if wet with dew, stimulated a man’s protective instinct, I saw the word “office” written on a sign.

It was a place I couldn’t find when I relied on the faint light of the status window alone.

Honestly, I didn’t have the luxury to look deeply around me.

But there was a problem.

“Kka-deuk-kka-deuk-a-geuk-kka-deuk-yang-ju-hui-ne-ga-mun-jeo-ga-bwa-shi-ruh-eo-gim-geon-ho-ne-ga-eo-ddeon-hae-ya-ye-deul-a-ssa-u-ji-mal-go-il-dan-jin-jeong-hae-so-ri-neun-mot-deu-nneun-geot-gat-a─.”

There was something black crouching in front of the office.

It was a ghost with long hair spread out in all directions, creating traps like spider webs.

Only the face of a woman with wide open eyes floated in the midst of that black hair, and from her mouth, an incomprehensible story was playing.