CHAPTER 037
Saint U’s “Peekaboo.”
According to the middle schoolers, it was the last group-activity album by a famous girl idol group that had made a dazzling comeback after breaking a years-long hiatus.
They said the addictive, bright, and cheerful pre-release track had stayed on the charts for a long time.
And now that song was echoing through a dark, eerie, fog-filled forest, accompanied by claps in step.
Clap.
“My sharp gaze catches you in an instant, but I still have no intention of approaching first….”
“I’ll wait, pretending otherwise, until you come to me, perfectly at ease.”
“Cuz Predators never move first….” Even the adults, awkward as they were, desperately tried to follow along with the song.
Clap.
“Right, get ready. I’m an elegant tiger, the moment you come close, peekaboo!”
The lively, exciting melody continued.
Maybe because so many of them were singing together, the children’s expressions gradually relaxed, and strength returned to their voices.
“Peekaboo! Here I come, so be tense! I’m a tiger. Even in the dark, my eyes sparkle, sparkle!”
“‘As you walk the path while offering the tune, place the sacrificial offering at the very rear.’”
But at the very end of the formation, instead of a person, a tiny purplish wild ginseng the size of a palm dangled and swayed like a bundle.
The Security Team captain had slung the pole from which the wild ginseng hung over his shoulder as if he were carrying a trash bag, and was following along at the very back.
Go Seonha kept casting suspicious glances at it from the side, while the man himself hummed the song rather cheerfully.
“Peekaboo! I’ll enchant you so completely you lose your senses. Peekaboo. Right, stay tense.”
Clap.
I signaled for everyone to stop.
‘The thirtieth.’
The people awkwardly bent down as if doing a deep formal bow, then rose again.
And the song continued.
“Peekaboo!”
The trail gradually became flatter and easier to walk.
“‘When the tune ends, the path ends. If you discover a small snake hole in a place without grass, thank the Mountain Lord for his mercy and put your hand inside.’”
“‘Your hand must be coated with well water mixed with salt.’”
By the time we reached the end of the second verse and were singing the final chorus, the scenery around us had changed as well.
The trees, which had been dense enough to smack our faces, had thinned out somewhat, while the pale fog had grown even thicker.
Instinctively, everyone realized it.
‘We’re almost there…!’
Their faces were streaked with tension, expectation, and vigilance.
But as calmly as possible, they kept singing all the way to the end.
“Peekaboo, right, stay tense….”
Clap.
Until the very last line.
“Now I’m coming closer.”
The footsteps stopped.
“……”
“……”
The path had ended.
Beyond the blocked-off trail was a wide-open clearing.
“T-there are no trees.”
People’s steps quickened. And there, in the thick fog, the result of the ritual finally revealed itself before our eyes.
“Now the snake hole…!”
A massive reservoir.
“……”
“……”
‘What is this.’
A vast, black shoreline from which fog seemed to pour endlessly outward.
Everyone stopped, faces full of bewilderment and fear.
Their expressions said they had no idea what was happening.
“Wh-why……”
“T-there was supposed to be a snake hole, b-but…”
What?
What went wrong?
I looked at the wild ginseng the Security Team captain had been carrying.
…It was fine.
‘It should have vanished…?’
Go Seonha spoke, her face drained blue-white.
“…A water ghost.”
“…!”
The words I had heard a few hours earlier immediately came back to me.
‘And… be careful around water. Changgwi originally also referred to a water ghost in the old days….’
“It was a trap! The ritual, the ritual itself was a trap!! We were bewitched by a water ghost…!”
“Aaah!!”
“We were all lured here, to the reservoir…!!”
Manager Lee Byeongjin screamed and tried to run backward, only to trip and fall. The children started sobbing, screaming, clutching at each other.
I nearly collapsed too, from the chill racing up my spine.
It felt like I had stepped into the scene of a horror movie where every character was just about to die.
“……”
‘At this rate, we’re going to di—’
…No.
No!!
At the very least, I need to know why.
No matter how I thought about it, there had been no mistake within the information we were given. Even including every exploration log from <Darkness Exploration Record> that I had read!
More than fear, my mind was seized by the irrationality of something I could not accept.
Go Seonha’s terrified shouting rang at my ears.
“Turn around, turn around and run! Back to the abandoned house…!”
…Huh?
Wait.
I turned toward Go Seonha.
“Do you know something?”
“Pardon?”
“The abandoned house is a deception too.”
“……What?”
“If you think about it, doesn’t it seem strange?”
Slowly, I spoke.
About the deliberate contradiction in this Ghost Story.
“We were lured into this place by changgwi, and yet somehow we can come to our senses in an abandoned house protected by talismans that changgwi can’t enter.”
“……”
“And on top of that, a ritual for escaping this place is conveniently written there.”
That was why, even in the comment section of the <Darkness Exploration Record> wiki, interpretations of that abandoned house had been divided. But I was almost certain.
‘This is a Ghost Story designed from the start to grind people down.’
Then the intended logic was this.
“It locks people in the abandoned house for half a month on purpose, wringing out their body and mind and weakening them.”
It handed them the hope of a ritual and kept them enduring in an extreme state, breaking down their psychological defenses.
“Then it becomes easy to lure them.”
Most decisively…
“If it can induce a mistake during the ritual in that state, even better. But even if not, that’s fine.”
I looked at the wild ginseng.
“Because there’s bound to be conflict when choosing the sacrifice, and someone will inevitably fall behind. It can always ‘take’ one sacrificial offering.”
“……”
“Of course, the ritual itself is probably real. That’s what makes people cling to it all the more desperately.”
And this was <Darkness Exploration Record>, after all.
A story can’t stuff in too many convenient lies. It ruins immersion and drains away the tension, so the ritual was definitely real.
That was why I had proceeded with it with near certainty, but…
“That’s why this is even more puzzling.”
I had read a lot of Ghost Stories.
At least, all the Ghost Stories uploaded to <Darkness Exploration Record>.
Even the ones that were difficult to read had become part of my routine at the company, so I had read them over and over again.
In the process, I had picked up a few bits of miscellaneous knowledge I hadn’t known before.
For instance:
“Peach tree branches are commonly known to drive away ghosts.”
“So?”
“And plums are a fruit changgwi like. That’s probably why those two preparations were necessary.”
“…Ah.”
“To lure the changgwi to the shrine, and in the meantime, the person conducting the ritual runs away holding incense made from something that repels ghosts.”
I lifted my head.
“And yet, among us, there just happens to be someone who was bothered by the smell of incense made from peach tree branches, and reacted to the plums as if tempted by them.”
“……”
Among seven people, the one who had specifically walked beside the Security Team captain at the very back.
As though trying to stay as far away as possible from the incense made from peach tree branches.
“Go Seonha.”
I looked directly at her.
“Are you sure the one speaking right now is really you of your own will?”
“…What are you—”
Maybe.
Maybe the real Go Seonha had already failed the ritual in the shrine and already…
“Right now, isn’t it not Go Seonha speaking at all, but a changgwi speaking through her?”
Thud.
Her feet stopped.
“You caught me.”
Go Seonha’s mouth split open.
But it was too late! Too late!
Her arms stretched out grotesquely, lengthening as they shot toward me, trying to seize and drag me—
‘Agh!’
I rolled across the ground and dodged her arms.
Behind me, the screams of the manager and the children echoed.
“Aaaah!!”
“A g-ghost!”
Reflexively, I pulled the knife from my front pocket. That wasn’t a full changgwi! It was a human possessed by one, so if I could somehow subdue her—
But then I realized.
‘I-I can’t charge at that thing!’
To use a short-reach weapon like this, I’d have to get right up in the face of a ghost-possessed person! I feel like I could pass out right now as it is!
Still, my burning brain instantly found the right person for the job!
“Captain!”
I threw the weapon toward the figure standing behind me.
“Please subdue it!”
Whoosh.
The bloodsucking knife sliced through the air.
“…Ah.”
The Security Team captain snatched up the bloodsucking knife I had thrown, looked it over once, then immediately lunged at the changgwi.
Hiiiiiik!!
Go Seonha’s face and arms twisted, and strange, grotesque shapes burst out wildly.
Countless arms, faces, hair, and eyes belonging to men, women, young, and old looked in every direction.
Excuse me! Excuse me!
“Hiiik!”
“Step back and close your eyes!”
Manager Lee Byeongjin scrambled backward up the mountain path with the children and crouched down.
Can you hear me? Someone please help me!
At that moment, the Security Team captain’s shape also began to twist.
A grotesque form.
His upper body, which had looked lean, swelled explosively and became huge. His mouth split open into a snout, and a tongue shot out.
That tongue ruthlessly seized and snapped the changgwi’s long arm.
Aaaagh!
No, it was a hallucination. The Security Team captain still looked like a normal human.
No, again, he was changing into something monstrous—
‘Wow, this is driving me insane.’
I barely managed to drag my focus elsewhere.
The reason the Security Team subdues Ghost Stories so well.
And yet the reason they are not the Field Operations Team.
It was appearing right before my eyes.
———————=
[Security Team]
: One of the three teams under the Security Department of Baekilmong Co., Ltd., a major power that appears in <Darkness Exploration Record>.
A team where related personnel who have been eroded by certain anomalies to the point that they can no longer be classified as human work.
It is a lifetime position, and resignation is impossible.
———————=
Did you know that?
If you are no longer judged human, then even if you clear a Ghost Story, the collector does not fill with concentrate.
There is no value in Field Operations.
So people who have become almost like monsters through assimilation with Ghost Stories are assigned to the Facility Security Team.
And especially… people contaminated by a certain violent Ghost Story with a strong territorial instinct,
Ow! Ow!
…to the Security Team.
To be used in suppressing the company-managed Ghost Stories whenever a serious problem occurs.
‘…And if he’s enough of the same kind to have become the captain there, then he’s the same too.’
In short, an employee specialized in confronting the monsters inside Ghost Stories.
Kyaaaaak!
The changgwi’s countless arms burst apart under the tongue, claws, and teeth jutting from the Security Team captain’s snout.
Even now, something like a strange shape was still rippling over the captain’s face as he clenched the bloodsucking knife in his mouth.
‘…A wolf?’
The illusion of saliva and blood dripping from a long-torn snout full of teeth overlapped and vanished.
Dizziness and nausea surged over me like waves, and I hurriedly stared at the ground.
‘…This feels like a nightmare.’
I was starting to understand, in a very practical way, why the Security Team clears out all the people whenever they suppress a Ghost Story in <Darkness Exploration Record>….
Still, for something I had risked on a gamble, things were proceeding pretty successfully.
“Keep your eyes closed!”
I too kept staring at the ground in silence and endured.
And then, the next moment.
“Oh, Mr. Roe Deer. The bizarre guest you brought has won!”
The situation was over.
When I lifted my head, there was the changgwi lying there with the bloodsucking knife driven into its right hand.
And the distorted, mutated figure of the Security Team captain clutching its head tightly….
“Ugh, what a low-grade thing. If it had come on my show as a guest, I would never have allowed it on air!”
I had never felt so grateful that only I could hear Brown.
I forced out the steadiest voice I could manage toward the Security Team captain, who was pinning down Go Seonha’s head.
“Captain, thank you.”
“Ueoeoh….”
“He says he’s tired. How rude can he get!”
You’re scarier for being able to translate that….
Then it happened.
A muffled sound came from beneath the Security Team captain’s hand.
A human voice.
“W-wait….”
“…!”
At some point, Go Seonha’s face had returned to normal, and she was groaning desperately with a terror-stricken expression.
“P-please save me! S-save—”
Let’s just leave this one behind….
“U-ugh….”
Her eyes rolled back, and the changgwi’s voice came out.
Let only you die… huh? You can die. You killed people. You were trying to kill the kids. I know everything. You can die.
Go Seonha struggled violently.
“No, don’t—”
Leave only this one behind. Leave only this one behind. Hmm? Uuuhhh?!
“Please save me, please save me!! Aaaagh!”
At that moment.
“Now.”
The Security Team captain asked in a human voice.
“You requested emergency rescue… from <Baekilmong Co., Ltd.>, right……?”
His face was hidden by the monstrous shape.
But his clear voice was unmistakably asking Go Seonha directly.
“This is an official request… at the level where a contract should be written up…, right…?”
…Something about that felt off.
Go Seonha stared up at him blankly, then, seeming to come to her senses, answered in a desperate voice.
“Right—”
Wait.
“No.”
I cut in through clenched teeth.
“This is not company-owned Darkness, we did not enter for the purpose of rescuing civilians, and above all, help was exchanged on both sides.”
“Huh…? That’s strange……”
The growling voice dropped dangerously low.
“Wasn’t she trying to stop us from leaving…?”
Gasp.
“…It doesn’t matter. In the end, she was still helpful.”
I said firmly.
“Then this is cooperation.”
“……”
The Security Team captain stared at me.
Then he looked at Go Seonha and…
“Ah… is that so……”
“……”
“I guess that might be right too….”
Slowly.
The strength went out of the captain’s voice, and it returned to its usual tone of mild, universal annoyance.
‘Phew.’
Something had felt off, so I cut in, and it looks like that was the right call.
‘The best policy is not to get involved with Baekilmong Co., Ltd….’
And to owe that company a debt? No matter how I thought about it, the feeling was bad.
“Hmm…… then what do we do….”
“One moment.”
I walked over to Manager Lee Byeongjin, who was still standing back with the children, eyes tightly shut.
At the sound of my footsteps, the manager nearly jumped out of his skin.
“Hiiik! You’re not about to use me instead, are you—!”
“The incense burner.”
“Huh…?”
“Give it to me.”
I snatched the incense burner from Manager Lee Byeongjin, who was still holding it.
The incense made from the peach tree branch had already burned out, but the ashes remained intact inside the burner.
‘It hated peach tree branches.’
Then…
I poured the contents of the incense burner over Go Seonha’s shoulder.
Kyaaaaaaak!!
Ssszzzz.
There was no way it could have actually been that hot, and yet the smell of burning and something salty rose from her shoulder.
I’m not going! I’m not going! I can just cling on again! I can cling on again—
Aaaagh!
I poured the rest over her head.
The body possessed by the changgwi convulsed, leapt like mad, and then…
“Huhk,”
her eyes flew open.
Eyes full of alertness and relief.
It was Go Seonha.
“I-I’m okay! I think I’m all righ—”
“No.”
“Pardon?”
“This is a space we entered because we were bewitched by changgwi in the first place, so I think it could come back again at any time.”
“I-if that’s the case…”
“So for now, let’s make it impossible for it to enter Go Seonha at all.”
“…?”
I happened to have brought one more pouch of apple juice.
I held the sealed pack out to Go Seonha.
“U-uhhh….”
“You just need to drink it all.”
When I pressed her, Go Seonha looked utterly confused, but in the end, while still pinned down, she gulped down the apple juice.
And a moment later.
Thump.
She fell into sleep, just like the wild ginseng.
Phew.
‘For now, that solves it….’
“You can take your hand off now.”
“……”
The Security Team captain obediently removed his hand, then asked in a subtle voice,
“Would you consider changing departments……”
“No.”
Please.
After thanking the Security Team captain once more, now that he had returned properly to a human shape, I gathered up Manager Lee Byeongjin and the children, who still had their eyes squeezed shut.
“You can open your eyes now.”
“Ah…!”
Relief crossed Manager Lee Byeongjin’s face.
But soon, glancing at the children, he leaned toward me with a despairing expression and whispered,
“B-but what do we do now?? How are we supposed to find a way out…!”
“……”
“It looks like dawn is coming soon!”
I looked up at the sky.
Beyond the hazy fog, it did seem as though some dim light was filtering in….
…The full-moon night was ending.
‘There’s no time to perform the ritual again.’
But…
“It’ll be all right.”
“…Pardon?”
“I think at least half of the ritual succeeded.”
I thought back to how the path had changed each time we walked while singing, and how the incense had burned properly.
‘Everything we prepared was correct.’
Strictly speaking, this ritual had two purposes.
To avoid the changgwi.
And to beg the Mountain Lord to reveal an escape route.
“And I think the latter part worked properly.”
The first part had failed because someone possessed by a changgwi had been mixed in among us, which was why we ended up right in front of the water…
“But perhaps the exit is somewhere nearby.”
“…!”
We stayed together in the thick fog and began searching the clearing, keeping some distance from the water and moving closer to the mountain.
Specifically, the area around the point where the trail we had walked during the ritual ended.
“‘If you discover a small snake hole in a place without grass, thank the Mountain Lord for his mercy and put your hand inside. Your hand must be coated with well water mixed with salt.’”
‘A place without grass…, a place without grass.’
And shortly after that,
“I-I found it!”
“…!!”
One of the middle schoolers found a small hole at the foot of a tree.
Moonlight was shining down beneath it, as if piercing the fog itself.
Onto a pitch-black hole, like a pool of spilled ink.
“……”
A snake hole.
I had everyone quickly dip their hands into the salt water. We were too pressed for time for fear to come first; everyone moved immediately.
‘Hurry, hurry.’
And so, just before the sun rose,
we put our hands into the snake hole.
If you want, send me the next pair of chapters and I’ll keep the same locked terminology and style.
