Chapter 3
The male student must not have been completely clueless either—he had been holding his breath all this time. Our eyes met.
He must realize this is just a temporary measure.
I gave him a small nod of my chin. He looked at me questioningly in return.
Feels like he knows more than he’s letting on.
The problem was, we had already used the only object in this place—the bicycle—to distract that thing. Now there was nothing left to draw its attention away.
We had to get as far away from it as possible.
“……”
“……”
When I gestured upward with my chin, the boy seemed to understand this time. Quietly, cautiously, he began to move.
I followed, matching his soundless steps.
Now what do we do?
Should I keep dropping my belongings down to the first floor?
But everything I had was smaller than the bicycle. They might only fall to the third or second floor instead.
That’d be even worse—whatever that thing was might hear the noise and climb up.
We need to find Chohae, fast…
I was biting my lip anxiously when—
Tap, tap.
The boy lightly touched my shoulder.
[If we get caught, it’s over.]
It was written on his phone screen, the brightness turned down to the lowest setting.
He must’ve silenced it too—there wasn’t even the sound of typing.
Just how much does this guy know?
[The only way to escape is to survive unnoticed until morning.]
[Think of it like hide-and-seek.]
Until morning? You’re telling me to endure this nightmare until morning?!
How could he wrap such a terrifying idea in a cute word like hide-and-seek?
His mental state was clearly not okay.
Where exactly are we supposed to hide, anyway?
We were on the fourth-floor hallway. Despite the loud crash of the bicycle earlier, no one had come out to check.
I stared down the quiet corridor.
Would anyone even live in a villa with something like that inside? If my younger sister had been dragged away by it…
If that’s true, how am I supposed to get Chohae back…?
At this point, I wasn’t even sure we could safely return to the dorm.
My throat tightened and my eyes burned with tears when suddenly, a phone was thrust in front of my face.
[We have to find an empty house.]
It was such a cold, merciless message that even crying felt like a luxury.
What a heartless guy.
Still, it helped me pull myself together.
He showed me another message:
[But I’ve never done it with just two people. There’s no guarantee it’ll work.]
Just the two of us?
Did that mean he’d been through this before? The way he seemed to know things—maybe so.
I thought weird things like this only happened to the main character in the original story.
I studied his face again. His profile, focused on typing another message, was…
…really handsome.
The original novel’s protagonist was described as good-looking too. And a student.
But unlike this guy, he wasn’t dark and weary like this—he was a little high-strung, sure, but scared of ghosts.
This boy didn’t seem frightened, even in the face of danger.
Maybe he’s a side character? Would I recognize the name if I heard it?
Honestly, I wouldn’t know. I only read up to the middle of the story before quitting—the later episodes got too gruesome.
[Don’t do anything on your own like before. Just follow my lead. One mistake, and you’ll die.]
Why did he say you’ll die—like it wouldn’t happen to him?
Does that mean he’ll kill me himself if I don’t obey?
Should I be more afraid of the ghost downstairs—or the person beside me?
I forced my trembling body to stay still and nodded.
But can I really trust this guy?
Was there even a way to find an empty house without making a sound?
If he said we have to find it, didn’t that mean he didn’t know where it was either?
Tap, tap.
I touched his shoulder. He turned to me, visibly irritated.
Wow. I may be the sidekick here, but what a rotten look.
I took a deep breath instead of glaring back and pointed at his phone, asking silently to borrow it. He reluctantly handed it over.
I typed quickly:
[Do you know where the empty house is?]
He took the phone back, stared at the screen for a moment, and sighed silently.
What? Don’t I have a right to know? I’m scared to death here!
[Can’t say for sure. It changes every time.]
Every time?
I stared at him.
[We don’t have time for questions. Just do what I say.]
He didn’t even give me time to protest. Sure, the situation was urgent, but his bossy attitude was infuriating.
Still… not now, Ma Choyeon. Not now.
[I’m going to open every door on the 4th floor. You stay put and don’t make a sound. If you make noise—]
Ah.
I peeked at his phone as he typed. He paused, then erased that last line.
[You stay put and don’t make a sound. Absolutely no noise.]
What happens if I do make noise?
Actually, never mind—I probably don’t want to know.
Basically, he meant stay still and let me handle everything.
I just nodded.
Internet ghosts are liars.
It said I’d find my sister if I came here, and now I was stuck with a nasty-tempered guy and a literal ghost.
While he carefully turned the doorknob of one room, I crouched by the wall facing the staircase.
Even if I noticed the ghost coming up, I’d have no way to warn him—but better than doing nothing, right?
Sitting still, my mind began to wander.
I miss Chohae…
I just wanted to see her, make sure she was safe, hug her tight, ask if she’d been scared.
I was on the verge of crying again when—
Creeeeak.
A faint sound reached my ears. I turned my head.
The door closest to where I was sitting had opened.
Huh?
It had been closed before.
And through the gap… I saw a familiar face.
Oh, oh no way—holy crap.
A small child in red overalls.
The little ghost was crouched just like me, peeking out from the crack, staring up at me.
It was terrifyingly eerie.
When did it get in here? And why is it here?
But that wasn’t even the worst part.
The boy had stopped turning the doorknob and was staring at me, shocked. He must’ve heard the door open too.
Of course he did—this place was dead silent!
Which means…
Thud!
The thing downstairs probably heard it too!!
I shot to my feet. From below came the sound of something—or some things—charging up the stairs.
Thud-thud. Thud-thud-thud!!
And there was more than one.
“Get over here!!”
“What are you—?!”
I frantically waved at the boy. His face twisted in confusion and alarm.
“You said we just have to hide in an empty house, right?!”
“Well, yeah, but what are you—!”
Even as he shouted, he ran toward me. I grabbed his wrist.
No time to explain.
“Logically, ghosts don’t live in houses with people in them!”
I squeezed my eyes shut and yanked open the half-ajar door beside us. Pulling the boy inside, I stumbled—and my foot hit something.
No way…
It couldn’t still be sitting there, right?
Thunk—
The door slammed shut behind us, echoing down the hallway.
Pant, pant.
Inside the closed, silent room, only our ragged breathing filled the air—barely restrained gasps of panic.
“You idiot peanut…” the boy hissed at me.
“I said hide in an empty house, not show them exactly where we’re hiding.”
Bang!
Bang, bang!!
As if to prove his point, something started pounding on the door—furiously, relentlessly, like dozens of fists all at once.
“But—but still—!”
There was no time to check every door for emptiness after we’d already been spotted!
I wanted to argue, but he didn’t let me.
“And for the record, I didn’t mean a house with ghosts in it, either.”
After that, he sighed and muttered under his breath:
“You really are the type who only understands half of what you’re told.”
Excuse me?! Even when I’m helping, it’s a problem now?
I bit back the urge to retort and looked toward the entrance.
There, the child ghost in red overalls—
too long a name; I’ll just call it Red—
was lying on the floor, sprawled out.
As if it had been kicked.
Wait. Don’t tell me… that thing I tripped on earlier…
I slowly turned to the boy, wide-eyed. He was the only one who hadn’t closed his eyes when we came in.
But he didn’t seem to care who had sent Red flying. He just stood, scanning the room calmly.
“Um, hey…”
Which left me alone with Red near the doorway.
Even if I wanted to ignore it, the sight of that motionless little ghost, sprawled right there, was impossible to overlook.
“I was in a rush and—if I shoved you coming in, I’m sorry, okay?”
No response. Maybe it was sulking… or maybe ghosts just couldn’t talk?
Then, slowly, Red pushed itself upright, rubbing its forehead where it must’ve been hit.
[I got hit…]
I gasped. It can talk?!
That was shocking enough—but what it said was worse.
“It wasn’t a hit! It was an accident!”
[No, you hit me…]
“Ugh—it was an accident! I’m sorry!”
What if it cursed me now?!
Terrified, I dropped to my knees in front of it.
“What are you doing,” the boy muttered, sounding exhausted, as he returned from inspecting the room.
He looked down at me with a face full of disbelief.
