~Chapter 89~
“Sob, sob…”
From the dark hallway came the sound of a woman crying sadly.
“Sob, sob… hic, sob…”
But slowly, it changed.
“Sob, sob… hehehe… hehe…”
The crying turned into a creepy laugh.
“Hehehehehehehe.”
Thunk.
When I raised my head, a bloodshot-eyed woman was hanging right in front of me.
“Kyaaaaaaa!”
The woman shrieked, and her long drooping hair suddenly spread out, creating a grotesque image.
“Wow, she looks like Kkigik.”
I clapped my hands, staring at the ghost woman under the red light with shining eyes.
When the red light turned off and the ghost mannequin went back up, Damien disagreed.
“Hmm, Kkigik’s hair is much messier.”
“Oh, that’s true. Since it’s half-curly, he says it’s annoying to straighten it all the time.”
“I see.”
Without stopping, Damien kept walking forward.
Honestly, the quality of the mannequin was better than expected, so I wanted to watch it more, but after a short while it went back up to the ceiling. A bit disappointing, but we had to move on.
As we walked through the hallway, suddenly the ground sank beneath my foot.
‘Oh, that surprised me a little more than I thought.’
They managed to scare people without expensive equipment.
Smart.
‘Usually, grabbing people’s ankles needs staff hiding in the dark. That requires skill and patience.’
When I looked down, bright red letters appeared on the floor, as if written in blood.
[Did you step into this place?]
[Oh dear.]
[There is no way out.]
“These days, they even have technology like this. I want to study it.”
Damien examined the blood-red letters that appeared on their own.
“Maybe they’re using magnetism.”
“If we come again, maybe we can study it more closely?”
“That’s a good idea.”
We kept walking until we reached the end of the first floor. Then we went up the stairs to the second floor.
“This looks like a hospital.”
A bloody patient jumped up from a bed, and a mad doctor banged on the glass window.
The morgue door burst open, and a blue corpse crawled out.
While we were evaluating all the jump scares, we reached the third floor.
This hallway looked like a school.
“Like an old noble school.”
“Schools, like hospitals, are places filled with grudges. A good choice.”
Right after Damien spoke, a cleaning tool in the corner fell over with a loud crash.
Even though it wasn’t much, it created a good sense of fear.
“Hmmm…”
But Damien didn’t even glance at the cleaning tool. Instead, he stared straight at me.
“Hmm? What is it, Damien?”
He didn’t answer right away, just kept looking at my face.
When I tilted my head, he finally spoke.
“As expected, you don’t get scared easily.”
I tilted my head even more at his reply.
“Uh… was I supposed to be scared? Did I make it boring?”
“Oh, no. Not at all.”
He told me not to mind it and suggested we move deeper into the third floor.
But I still saw a faint look of disappointment on his face.
‘What’s that about?’
I didn’t know why, but I followed him.
Then something caught my toe.
“Whoa…!”
There was a rock on the floor, maybe the maintenance wasn’t good.
My weight leaned forward, and my body tilted down.
‘Wait—!’
Right before my face hit the ground, strong arms wrapped around my waist.
“Are you alright?”
Unlike me, whose heart was pounding from nearly falling, Damien was calm.
He quickly caught me before I hit the ground and carefully pulled me back up.
“Yes, I’m fine. Thanks to you. That was close, whew.”
I was so clumsy. Walking carelessly in such a dark place.
“It’s hard to walk since it’s dark, isn’t it?”
After pulling me up, Damien naturally guided my hand to his arm.
It turned into us linking arms.
“Let’s go like this. That way, we can support each other.”
Honestly, Damien could support me, but me supporting Damien? That seemed impossible.
‘Still, if Damien trips, I can grab him right away.’
So I agreed and linked arms with him as he suggested.
“Alright.”
At that, a faint blush spread across Damien’s face.
I didn’t really understand why.
“Come closer. That way, it’s easier to hold each other.”
He pulled me even closer to his side.
Now I was almost half-hugged into his arm, like a cicada clinging to a tree.
‘Like this, if one falls, the other will too…’
But I didn’t pull away.
Because I saw a faint but satisfied look on Damien’s face.
“Let’s go.”
Like that, we explored the third floor.
The ghost of a girl with messy hair by a rainy window left a strong impression.
The design was so good I couldn’t tell if it was a real person or a machine.
The ghost crawling on the window and the bloody handprints were classic but well done.
After fully enjoying the school-themed third floor, we moved up to the fourth floor—designed as an old mansion.
Strangely, it resembled the Grand Duke’s mansion.
‘Well, our mansion really is the model of a haunted house.’
The fourth floor was detailed and high-quality.
But the more I looked, the more I thought, ‘Our house is scarier.’
So, the fourth floor ended up being a bit bland.
After finishing the fourth floor, we took the stairs back down to the first floor to exit.
The narrow, creaky stairs were difficult to walk through side by side while linking arms, but it did help us watch our steps better.
When we reached the first floor, we saw a dimly lit corridor with candles.
“Looks like we go that way.”
But with every step we took, the candles behind us went out.
Footsteps echoed from behind.
I turned back, but the darkness was so thick I saw nothing.
One by one, the candles went out, and when we reached the exit door, the last candle went dark.
Then—
“Kyaaaaaaa!!”
A woman with her mouth stretched up to her ears burst out from the door, screaming.
‘If it were a normal person, they’d be terrified.’
It was a good twist to end the course with another scare.
‘But this relied too much on jump scares.’
Still, overall, the quality was excellent.
Satisfied, we pushed the curtain aside—
And a whisper came from behind.
[Danihapyunghwan geol shino ejip uishin-gwi.]
“…Huh?”
When I turned back, nothing was there.
“What’s wrong?”
Damien, already outside in the sunlight, asked me.
“Oh, nothing.”
I stepped out of the exit too.
“How long were we in there?”
“About 40 minutes.”
“Wow, that’s really long. Normal haunted houses finish in 15 minutes.”
“Exactly. But this one had a lot to see.”
“I was very satisfied. I’d give it 9.1 out of 10.”
“Oh, that’s very high. I’m proud the place I recommended got such a score.”
Damien grinned.
I smiled back and pointed at the haunted house entrance.
“Then should we wait and go again—huh?”
Something was strange.
Before we entered, the waiting line was very long.
Even behind us, many people were lined up.
But now, not a single person remained.
Even the staff were gone.
“Where did everyone go?”
“Strange indeed.”
Damien checked his pocket watch.
“Hmm, maybe it’s break time.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
“Then let’s visit somewhere else first and come back.”
“Oh, look. They’re selling ice cream there.”
Perfect for passing time. A cute ice cream shop decorated in pink and sky blue caught my eye.
“Want to eat something there?”
“Sure.”
We walked over to the ice cream shop.
But again, something felt off.
“Is this place also on break? There’s no staff.”
Did ice cream shops even have break times?
‘Maybe the Liez Festival really cares about worker rights.’
Strange, but I moved my eyes to the display case.
“Oh? The case is open.”
Maybe the staff left it open by mistake.
Damien reached his hand out.
“We should close it.”
His long pale fingers carefully closed the glass case.
Just then—
[Kihihihihihi!!]
A frozen blue hand and face popped out of the ice cream.
[Kihihi, want to eat? Come here, come here!!]
With ice cream stuck all over, the creepy face and arm grabbed Damien’s wrist hard enough to break it.
But Damien only stared coldly at the creature.
As if studying it to find its weakness.
“Disappear.”
He whispered, activating his power.
With a bang, the blue arm and face turned to dust, scattering ice cream everywhere.
I stared at the now-empty ice cream tub and then at Damien.
“Damien, this is…”
“Yes.”
Taking out a handkerchief, Damien gently wiped my cheek and spoke meaningfully.
“It seems… we’ve entered a strange space.”
