Chapter 171
Chapter 171
Translator: Penny
Chapter 171
Why is he suddenly getting so serious? You'd think there was a Drowned Ghost lurking in the valley.
I grimaced at the awkwardness, and Gyeon Hajun and Seo Yehyeon quickly tried to dissuade me.
"Yeah, Eden. It's dangerous to go near the water at night. You could slip, and if something happened, we wouldn't be able to call for help quickly in this remote valley. You've been drinking too. What if you lose your footing?"
"Exactly! Don't you know the most dangerous thing you can do is go near water at night after drinking?"
They had a point.
"Ah, that would be a disaster. Let's just eat the watermelon tomorrow."
It wasn't like I absolutely needed to eat watermelon right now. When I gave in so easily, Kim Dobin protested with a crestfallen expression.
"Stop discriminating against Gyeon Hajun!"
"Then give me a rational reason like Jun does. 'Creative works' is completely irrational, you idiot."
Everyone got up, tidied up, and headed to bed.
I desperately wanted to sleep in the master bedroom, fearing Kim Dobin's cowardice would disturb my sleep again, just like the night before. But the bed was barely big enough for two people, and there was no good place to lay out a blanket, so I reluctantly gave up.
The next morning, I woke up refreshed and undisturbed.
Seo Yehyeon, looking pale and tired, asked Gyeon Hajun as they left their room together, "Hajun-a, did you... happen to hear any whispering last night?"
"No? I didn't hear anything. I have a pretty light sleep, you know. But if even you heard it, Hyung, it must have been quite loud."
"No, I barely slept last night. I was completely paralyzed by sleep paralysis."
Seo Yehyeon rubbed the dark circles under his eyes and frowned. He preemptively shut down Kim Dobin's usual ghost-related panic before it could start.
"If you were paralyzed by sleep paralysis, you must have been really exhausted. Hyung, you did overdo it with the swimming yesterday. Take it easy today, considering your age."
"We're only eight months apart in age, you know?"
"Oh, if it's just eight months, can I drop the honorifics, Yehyeon-ah?"
"Do you think that's appropriate? Besides, you're already speaking informally! You're going to ditch the 'hyung' too? Have you no conscience?"
"But here's a question! Eden Hyung is eight months older than Yehyeon Hyung, and we speak informally to him. So why do we still use honorifics with Hajun Hyung, who's less than a month older than Yehyeon Hyung?"
"That's a good point! Jun-a, you should drop the honorifics with Yehyeon Hyung too."
"No, it's fine. I'm more comfortable with honorifics."
"Hey guys, could you at least ask for my opinion too?"
With that, the nonsense Seo Yehyeon had been hearing in the room came to an end as they moved on to the Reve family tree-breaking issue. After breakfast, they headed straight to the valley and immediately searched for the watermelon.
"How did the watermelon roll all the way over here? The current must have been pretty strong."
The watermelon had drifted a short distance from where they'd originally secured it. If they'd tried to retrieve it yesterday, they would have had to wade into the water.
Today, having brought a cutting board and knife, they enjoyed their last swim to the fullest, taking breaks to slice and eat the watermelon along the way.
Since it was the premiere of Drop The Beat Season 3, Seo Yehyeon showered in the master bathroom and immediately turned on the TV.
The doorknob was still stiff today, but after about ten forceful twists and shakes, it finally opened.
At the climactic moment when Yongcheol Hyung appeared on screen, the TV suddenly crackled with static, and the picture shattered into a mess of pixels. The sound distorted as well, slowing down and breaking apart as if in slow motion.
"Ah, this is the crucial part!"
I strode over and pounded on the TV. The static cleared, revealing Yongcheol Hyung's face in a crisp, clear image.
See? You just have to hit machines to fix them.
I filmed and photographed Yongcheol Hyung's performance in front of G1, capturing the moment he received his PASS, and chuckled to myself.
[Video]
[Live Broadcast Complete] 11:46 PM
[Yongcheol Hyung - Don't watch this, you little brat] 11:47 PM
[As expected of a strong contender for the win, his screen time is insane ㄷㄷㄷ]
[Can't wait for Wnet's evil editing] 11:48 PM
[Yongcheol Hyung: OMG, they've already given me the evil edit. ] 11:49 PM
[Yongcheol Hyung: I clearly said that to Junyeop, but they edited it to make it sound like I was talking to Kiljae Hyungnim. OMG, are those Wnet bastards out of their minds? ] 11:50 PM
No wonder he was so confident he'd be eliminated. It was the evil edit after all.
"Eden, the room light's out," Gyeon Hajun said, lying on the bed with his phone flashlight on as I entered the room after the first episode of Drop The Beat 3, where familiar faces had occasionally appeared.
Seo Yehyeon had given me her room, claiming she couldn't possibly sleep there after being haunted by sleep paralysis the previous night.
Remembering the note that said to sprinkle salt in the corner of the room if the small light went out, I rummaged through the refrigerator and grabbed the salt. The problem was, it wasn't regular salt—it was seasoned salt.
"Does sprinkling seasoned salt still produce ions?"
I poured a generous amount of seasoned salt onto the windowsill, but the malfunctioning light showed no signs of turning back on. It seemed that the addition of MSG prevented ion generation.
Since I was planning to sleep anyway, I posted the FROM message for the Weekly Quest and an update on the Official Account, then turned off my phone and closed my eyes.
Seo Yehyeon had even given up her bed, so I wondered how bad it could be. I hadn't heard the whispering she mentioned yesterday.
I thought I might have heard some mumbling in my sleep, but when I stopped paying attention, it faded away. I drifted into a deep sleep and woke up feeling refreshed.
Scissors? Nonsense. It's all just weak minds being suppressed.
After raiding the refrigerator for a final breakfast-lunch meal, I declared, "Alright, let's clean up!"
With the place spotless, we packed our bags and piled into the car for the drive back to Seoul.
"Oh, they're actually here filming?"
As we drove out of the forest path, we spotted a broadcasting station vehicle heading toward the pension.
"I wonder what they're filming," Ryu Jaehee said, his curiosity piqued.
Kim Dobin leaned out the window, craning his neck to read the sticker on the vehicle.
"Catch! Exorcist filming crew..."
His voice trailed off. Then he shouted, "That's it! The one Jaehee showed us when Eden Hyung was possessed!"
"Catch! Exorcist? That's a fake documentary. It's all staged, you know?"
"But Hyung was really possessed!"
I was caught in a dilemma.
Should I reveal that I'd cried sober, or maintain the facade of being possessed?
"Oh, so it must be a real documentary then."
Sorry, Dobin. But this Hyung can't let his pride take a hit just to reassure you, right?
Back at the dorm on the last day of vacation, I turned on OA Live to address the misunderstanding.
It all started with a photo I'd posted.
"Hello, Daydream."
- Eden, what was that photo you uploaded to FROM on Thursday?
- What was the original photo, Oppa?
"That's exactly why I'm here."
The photo that had become the issue was a group selfie Reve took in front of the karaoke machine on our first day. The problem?
- Why would you upload a ghost photo?! I almost had a heart attack! ㅠㅠㅠ
- It's definitely photoshopped, right? Tell me it's photoshopped! Please!
- Come on, would he really post something like that just to mess with the fans?
It had been labeled as a ghost photo.
In the lower right corner of the image, there was a blurry, indistinct shape. The problem was that it vaguely resembled a human face.
This sparked a heated debate online: was it a real ghost or not?
"If something had happened to us during our vacation, we might suspect it's a ghost. But since absolutely nothing happened, it's highly unlikely. Maybe it's just a lens flare?"
- Seriously? It was just a random shot? OMG, it must be a ghost!
- I'd rather believe it's photoshopped...
- Isn't it too perfectly placed to be a lens flare? ᅲ
- Salted red bean paste, salted red bean paste, salted red bean paste
Eden pressed a finger to his lips, strongly urging secrecy.
"But this has to stay a secret from Dobin. He won't be able to sleep. We've been desperately hiding it from him all this time."
- After seeing that ghost photo, I couldn't sleep either, fearing it would haunt my dreams.
- Hearing that it's real makes me think I won't be able to sleep either, Eden.
"Oh, right! Since some of you were scared, I've replaced the original with a sticker-covered version. Ta-da!"
He showed a photo where heart stickers concealed the light distortion.
- Eden, aren't you scared? We're just looking at a ghost photo, but you're the one who actually took it with the ghost!
- He still doesn't even realize it's a ghost photo! Look at his face—he genuinely believes it's just light distortion.
- Covering a ghost photo with heart stickers ㅋㅋ LJD's power level is off the charts ㅋㅋ
"Seriously, nothing happened. If anything had, Dobin would have already been freaking out to Daydream."
- I think I've heard the story about the karaoke machine turning on by itself at dawn like seven times on his live streams.
- And I've heard about the instructions to sprinkle salt on the windowsill about five times too.
"Anyway, the conclusion is! It's not a ghost photo, period. So don't be too scared, Daydream."
Of all the things I've done in my life, I never thought I'd have to explain that something that isn't a ghost photo isn't a ghost photo.
After some time passed, Catch! Exorcist: The Hongcheon Pension Episode finally aired. Everyone gathered in the living room late at night to watch it.
I expected Kim Dobin to refuse to watch, but it turned out his curiosity outweighed his fear.
Catch! Exorcist: The Nightmare Pension
Even the subtitle sounded ominous.
Today's tip comes from OO Pension in Hongcheon, Gangwon Province.
Numerous guests at this pension have reported experiencing strange phenomena...
Footage of the pension's exterior and screenshots of comments from Hongcheon Valley pension recommendation posts appeared as supporting visuals.
The comments mentioning the pension we stayed at all seemed to warn against it.
What exactly happened at this pension?
Caught! The production team of "Exorcist" personally visited and interviewed guests who claimed to have experienced paranormal phenomena at this pension.
Jung Minsu (pseudonym) | Last Summer's Pension Guest: I was showering in the master bathroom when the lights suddenly went out. At first, I thought my friend was playing a prank and told him to turn them back on, but they wouldn't come back on. When the lights suddenly went out, I got scared. So I just stood there, frozen, with the shower running, and kept hearing a woman's laughter mixed in with the sound of the water. We were all guys, so there's no way a woman could have been there.
Park Sungjun (pseudonym), a guest at the pension in the summer of 20XX: The master bathroom door wouldn't open. No matter how hard I pulled on the handle, it wouldn't budge. Then I started hearing a woman's laughter coming from somewhere. The sound sent chills down my spine. I was trapped like that for a while until someone outside broke the handle with a hammer, finally getting me out.
Jung Minsu and Park Sungjun aren't the only ones who've had similar experiences...
Their common claim? They all heard a woman's laughter!
I didn't hear any woman's laughter at all. See? I knew it was a fake documentary. Those TV jerks really know how to spice things up.
As I was scoffing, Ryu Jaehee nudged me and asked in a trembling voice, "Hyung, now that I think about it, didn't I tell you the master bathroom light and door handle were broken?"
"I didn't hear any woman's laughter."
"Maybe Hyung just didn't hear it...?"
"My hearing is perfectly fine."
Starting with that interview, a string of strange phenomena experienced by the pension guests were listed one after another:
Sudden static followed by the TV turning off by itself, whispers heard while sleeping in the master bedroom, sleep paralysis, the karaoke machine operating on its own, and so on.
Anything relevant here? None.
We should be thinking about fixing the machines by hitting them, not insisting they're possessed by ghosts just because they're broken.
"The whispers! The sleep paralysis! I told you I experienced them!"
"We also experienced the karaoke machine operating on its own."
"Jun, who slept with Hyung, didn't experience anything. And neither did I, even though I slept in that room. Besides, the karaoke machine was fixed after a few hits."
Seo Yehyeon and Kim Dobin, who had been desperately trying to pin the blame on ghosts despite my counterarguments, fell silent.
Lee Minjeong (pseudonym), Pension Owner: We kept fixing the door handle and the lights. We got so many complaints. But it kept happening. We bought the place for a steal. We never heard anything about ghosts. If we'd known it was like this, we wouldn't have bought it.
"It's Auntie!" Kim Dobin shouted excitedly, recognizing the middle-aged woman on the TV screen.
The scene shifted to show them visiting the pension with a shaman. The once-normal pension now looked eerily sinister on camera, reminding me once again of the power of editing.
A karaoke machine that selects songs on its own in the middle of the night, without being turned off or touched by anyone.
Crew: It won't turn on.
PD: It won't turn on?
Crew: No, it seems to be completely broken.
"Hyung, did you break it by punching it?"
"I don't know, you brat."
Shaman: Oh my, it's really worked up. The recent visitors must have had such strong energy that it got suppressed. Now it's just venting its frustration.
As I watched the segment about the Hongcheon Valley, where a sudden downpour had caused fatal accidents years ago, and the claim that malevolent spirits had settled here instead of the planned pension, I indifferently tapped the armrest of the sofa.
If we took that logic to its extreme, every valley in Korea would be haunted by drowned ghosts, making it impossible to visit any of them. Accidents happen in valleys all the time, it's not like there's only been one or two.
Shaman: The jerk inside here is strong, but the one in the valley is far more powerful. The one inside here torments people, but its true purpose is to drive them toward the valley. Anyone who gets near the valley is immediately possessed.
"No one got possessed, right? See? This is all fake documentary nonsense, just clickbait for ratings. Let's end this story here! Why are you all acting like this after having such a good time?"
Everyone still looked uneasy, but our vacation ended with this minor incident.
Summoned by CEO Kim Nodam, I entered his office with a tense expression.
The CEO himself wasn't intimidating, but the infuriating things he said were a threat to my blood pressure.
"Do all our Reve members speak English well?"
Just as I'd feared, fuck.
📝 Translator’s Note:
You may notice that certain lines or phrases in this novel appear both in their original Korean (or Hanja) form and in English translation.
This is intentional — these phrases are classical idioms, divine titles, or poetic expressions that carry layered meanings.
To preserve their original tone and authenticity, the raw text has been kept for reference, while the English interpretation is provided right before or after it. This helps convey both the literal and cultural nuance of the original work.
but if you guys dont want tha raw for future chapters or my future other novels u can just text me on discord and say so discord name Mr.Penny