Chapter 64
As soon as class ended, I quickly headed to Eden Hospital with Dan Seohyeok.
“Not telling the others?”
Dan Seohyeok asked while waiting for the bus. He probably meant Yu Chaesong and Tak Yeonho.
“If the ghost in the photo really is the Kiring ghost, I don’t want to involve them.”
Especially Yu Chaesong—he’s already been involved once.
I didn’t want him to encounter that ghost again and risk some harm. It was already unsettling enough that it had reappeared near Jang Hyunwoo.
“I thought we’d dealt with it back then…”
“The Kiring doll hasn’t changed.”
Dan Seohyeok pulled the Kiring doll out of his bag.
“I brought it just in case.”
“…You’re bold, I guess. Do you really want to carry that thing around?”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. I didn’t even want to look at the creepy doll, so I turned my head away.
We got on the bus that had just arrived and sat together in the back. His long legs kept bumping my knees, so I smacked his thigh, and he immediately curled them up in response.
I should’ve done that earlier!
“Do you think the method we used back then didn’t fully work?”
“You mean the dagger?”
Dan Seohyeok lowered his voice, and I nodded.
“Yeah. I brought that too, just in case.”
His eyes shifted toward my bag slung in front of me.
“That’s the one the ghost circling you gave you, right?”
“Yeah.”
“What did it say?”
From the time I saw the photo Jang Hyunwoo sent in the morning until leaving school, it felt like he was asking if Milly had any reaction.
I had thought of sneaking to the bathroom or pretending to call someone to ask, but…
“…It didn’t show itself.”
“I thought so.”
“What do you mean, ‘thought so’!”
“There’s no such thing as a friendly ghost. You were being toyed with.”
“There is! You saw it too! Not Milly, another ghost…!”
I realized I was on a bus and quickly lowered my voice.
“…Even Shindo helped me!”
I meant like the quick-service ghost! “But look, the one we thought we defeated has reappeared and is targeting your friend.”
“That’s…!”
“And when you actually need help, it doesn’t show up.”
“That’s…!!”
“So, what excuse will you make this time?”
Annoyingly, everything he said was correct. I could only open my mouth slightly. Even if I said Milly wasn’t that kind of ghost, he wouldn’t listen.
In the end, I turned away from Dan Seohyeok and stared out the window.
“Pouting?”
I didn’t answer his question. If he just wants to argue, I don’t see why he even came along.
Thanks to the dagger, we had gotten out of danger back then!
“Peanut.”
“Don’t talk to me.”
“Really?”
Dan Seohyeok stood up. At the same time, the bus announcement came on:
—Next stop, Eden Hospital. Eden Hospital. Please watch your step…
“Hey, Dan Seohyeok!”
I needed to tell him we had to get off!!
I hurriedly stood up, sling bag in place, only to see Dan Seohyeok already getting off the bus.
I ran toward the closing rear door. The driver, startled, reopened it and shouted:
“Student! Don’t run like that!”
“I’m really sorry! It won’t happen again!!”
I jumped off the bus like fleeing, and there he was, leaning casually at the bus stop with his arms crossed.
That annoying guy!
“You should’ve told me we’re here!”
“You told me not to talk to you.”
“Ugh, childish! Separate work from personal matters!”
“What work and personal matters are there in this?”
Snorting, he turned and walked toward Eden Hospital, his back slowly disappearing as if telling me to hurry.
His leisurely stride annoyed me so much I ground my teeth.
Someday, I’ll crush that smug expression!
Since I’d been to the hospital before, we didn’t stop at the desk this time and went straight to the ward.
Outside room 303, two names were written:
Jang Hyunwoo, Park Choongman.
“Looks like it’s just the two of them now.”
“The other person seems older, so if you go in, don’t yell like before. Speak quietly.”
“When have I ever just yelled…!”
“Now again.”
Dan Seohyeok pressed his index finger to my forehead.
“Your voice is getting louder.”
“Ugh! Seriously. Talking to you just raises my blood pressure.”
“Blaming others is a bad habit.”
“That’s true, but!”
I just closed my mouth.
I sighed deeply and carefully knocked on the door.
A familiar voice replied from inside:
“Yes, come in!”
Jang Hyunwoo knew we were visiting.
Inside, he was using the bed on the right near the door. On the opposite side by the window was an elderly patient.
‘That must be Park Choongman.’
Even with a stranger entering, he didn’t move a muscle.
I awkwardly stared at him to greet him, and Jang Hyunwoo gestured.
“He’s hard of hearing. Even if I talk, he just looks out the window.”
“Really?”
Still, you’d think he could sense someone’s presence.
I nodded, a little confused.
“What happened with the photo? Let me see your hand.”
“Wow, no one else could see anything, but you could?”
Jang Hyunwoo quickly held out his left hand. The messy vertical writing on the back of his hand was familiar:
“Please save me.”
It was the same writing that had covered the Kiring ghost’s body.
“Dan Seohyeok, can you see it too?”
“Yeah. Same as what was on the ghost attached to the Kiring.”
“Right. But suddenly it appeared on Hyunwoo….”
“Am I… cursed to die? I’m not sick anywhere yet!”
“No, that’s not it.”
“You don’t understand, Choyeon! I’ve been so anxious lately!”
Jang Hyunwoo recounted in a terrified voice everything that had happened recently: the nurse ghost visiting nightly, the suspicious notebook full of ward records that keeps adding entries, and no one hearing his screams.
“This is that notebook.”
He frowned and pointed at a notebook on the bedside drawer.
I picked it up and began reading carefully. Dan Seohyeok came closer and read with me.
Patient Lim Kyungmi, guardian Park Choongman, boyfriend.
‘The writing on Lim Kyungmi’s back?’
He couldn’t have written it himself—someone else had.
And we didn’t even know with what… The contents felt suspicious.
“Wait.”
Dan Seohyeok asked for my permission and took the notebook, slowly scanning it from the first page.
After a while, he frowned and asked Jang Hyunwoo:
“Is this guardian mentioned here him?”
“I don’t know. Might just be a namesake…”
“Then why was the nurse ghost acting suspicious?”
“Yeah. Every time, she writes new ward records in front of the grandfather and leaves them by my bed.”
Jang Hyunwoo frowned.
“I don’t understand why she’s showing me this.”
Maybe she wants revenge on Park Choongman?
“Th-That wouldn’t happen!”
As I said this, Jang Hyunwoo paled and shook his hands. I patted his back to calm him.
“Don’t worry. I’m just speculating. We can ask the staff to see if anything like this really happened.”
“…Oh, that’s true.”
Apparently, seeing the ghost had shaken him too much to think clearly.
I’ve only become immune to this kind of thing because I’ve been through so much with Dan Seohyeok.
We don’t know if Park Choongman is really the criminal in the notebook. Still, I didn’t want to leave Jang Hyunwoo alone, so I told Dan Seohyeok:
“You stay here. I’ll ask.”
“Are you sure you’re okay alone?”
“I’m not a kid. I’ll be fine. Hyunwoo, can I borrow the notebook?”
“Sure! Take it! Might as well burn it after!”
That might curse me.
Jang Hyunwoo probably said it without thinking, but I chuckled and quietly left room 303.
Suddenly, the hallway lights flickered.
“Huh?”
It was just a brief moment.
The lights returned to normal, so I tilted my head and headed to the central desk.
“Excuse me.”
“Yes, guardian. How can I help you?”
The staff at the desk smiled at my school uniform.
“I want to see the nurse who wrote the ward records. Is that possible?”
“Ward records?”
The nurse looked puzzled and took the notebook. Flipping through a few pages, she frowned.
“We don’t record by hand; we enter everything on the computer.”
“Excuse me?”
“Also, room 303 is currently a male ward. The patient Lim Kyungmi in this notebook seems to be female.”
“Are female wards on another floor?”
“Yes, the third floor is all male wards.”
So the notebook’s information is meaningless?
I was about to take it back, understanding, when someone suddenly snatched it.
“Ah! …Huh.”
The nurse, startled, raised her voice but quickly covered her mouth and bowed.
The person who took it was a stern-looking middle-aged woman.
Judging by the nurse’s reaction, she must be in a higher position.
The woman looked at me.
“Where did this come from?”
“Oh, my friend is admitted in room 303, and it was under the bed. Park Choongman is also admitted, so I was curious and came to ask.”
I told the prepared lie without batting an eye.
“The third floor is all male wards.”
She let out a short sigh, closed the notebook, and handed it back.
“…Not until two years ago, though.”
A meaningful statement, leaving me curious.
