Filming the Self-Introduction Video (2)
After Neoul finished every last bite on his plate, Ha On-ha rose with a solemn look on his face. Neoul tilted his head, then got to his feet as well.
Why was he saying he wanted to go see ghosts separately when there were ghosts everywhere around this folk village?
Neoul waved to the little ghost who had squatted on the table and watched his mukbang from the best seat in the house, then followed Ha On-ha out.
At the entrance to the horror experience zone, Ha On-ha stood there, his face gone pale as he struggled to catch his breath.
"Don't run away first. All right?"
"...I understand."
When Neoul nodded, Ha On-ha took a deep breath and lifted his selfie cam high.
"Hello~ I'm the flower-like Ha On-ha, and I'm a handsome twenty-year-old. My birthday is March 5, I'm a Pisces, and my blood type is A. I used to go to concerts with my older sister, and after that I started dreaming of becoming an idol because I wanted to stand on a stage too. It turns out this is the thing that makes me happiest and makes my heart race. Right now we're at Jeju Folk Village, and I'm going to challenge myself to film a self-introduction video while going through the horror course."
He spoke very quickly.
Neoul, who had been hoping to learn how to film a professional self-introduction video from Ha On-ha, began to wonder whether that was really the right way to do it.
Even if he tried to imitate him, Neoul didn't even know what a constellation or blood type was. In the end, his own self-introduction became very brief.
"Hello. I am Gal Neoul. My birthday is September 15, and... I am a handsome twenty-year-old?"
...Was that right?
As they entered the horror experience zone, red lights bathed the place in a bleak glow, and ominous props greeted them from every side.
Eeehehehehe—! Aaaahhh!
Somewhere nearby, strange laughter and screams rang out.
Ha On-ha, even more frozen than before, kept rolling his blue eyes this way and that as he scanned their surroundings.
"Everyone, let me play you a song I like."
Even so, he was still trying earnestly to film properly.
Using his sweet, airy falsetto, Ha On-ha walked along while singing a song he liked, perhaps trying to ride the rhythm and forget his fear in the music.
Then, ahead of them on the path, a human in a white funeral robe, covered head to toe in fake blood, suddenly burst out with a grotesque laugh.
Kihihihihihi!
Ha On-ha let out a silent scream and froze in place.
Neoul, on the other hand, was startled for a completely different reason.
"You are bleeding quite a lot...!"
"...?"
"How did you get hurt like this?"
Alarmed, Neoul moved as if to wipe the blood away and tend to them, but the costumed actor panicked and bolted.
"Hey...!"
Was she all right?
The way she ran was no ordinary thing; she was incredibly nimble. A moment later, another person wearing a hideous mask with an axe slung across their back suddenly sprang out to scare them.
"Hahaha. Haha. Uwahaha..."
Ha On-ha was now laughing as if he had lost his mind.
Neoul stared blankly at the masked human. Since the person had both hands raised high, Neoul gave them a high five.
He had learned that from Baek Gi-yeom, who insisted he was a lion.
— Oh, so Gal Neoul can even do turns now! High five!
— Hello, five? Does that mean greeting someone five times?
— Huh? Ahahaha! Not hi, high five! You lift your hand high, spread out all five fingers, and slap palms together!
— Why would one do that?
— As a kind of celebration...? Because it's fun! Come on, let's be fun together!
Apparently something fun and good had happened to the masked human. Neoul was more than willing to be fun together.
The masked human looked awkward, then gave him a thumbs-up before disappearing. After that, more humans kept springing out at random.
"Oh dear. You seem to be coughing up blood, so please go to the hospital at once. I went there once myself, and the doctor was very kind."
Neoul politely advised the people who looked hurt to go get treated.
As they made their way around the horror course, a fork in the path appeared.
One way was wide and brightly lit by streetlamps. A sign out front said that if they followed that road, it would lead them to the exit. The other path was very narrow and dark, with a chilling atmosphere from the entrance onward.
The choice seemed obvious. But then—
"Please help me! Help me!"
From the side where the narrow, dark path continued, a mournful voice sobbed, "Waaahhh," followed by cries asking for help.
Neoul whipped his head toward the sound and, without even a second's hesitation, ran straight that way.
"Agh! Wait for me!"
Ha On-ha ran after him too.
There were tiny blue lights embedded at intervals in the floor, but the path was so dark it was hard to make out front from back.
Still, darkness was no obstacle to Neoul, who roamed the deep sea like a playground unlike the darkness of the surface where stars and moon hung overhead.
He ran without hesitation toward the place where the voice had come from. Ha On-ha stumbled a few times before managing to chase after him, keeping his eyes fixed only on Neoul's back.
Ugh. I can barely see anything ahead, so why is he so fast?
Honestly, Ha On-ha wanted absolutely nothing to do with the dark, narrow path. He wanted nothing more than to get out of the horror zone as fast as possible.
But the moment he heard someone calling for help, he immediately realized it was a trap prepared by the production team.
Then of course we have to go!
What an opportunity to grab screen time! What participant would dare pass that up?
Ha On-ha hated darkness and ghosts to an extreme degree, but if it was for debut, then fear was nothing he couldn't endure.
He assumed Neoul had dashed straight into the dark path for the same reason.
Surely no fool would actually think there was a real person in trouble here, crying out for help.
There were plenty of staff around, after all. If someone had truly been injured or was in danger, they would have called for assistance.
And staying behind alone is scary... no, it just looks bad, okay?
Leaving on his own would have looked weird and disloyal. So he could only follow with tears in his eyes and bitterness in his throat.
When they arrived, there was a single well sitting there alone. The voice asking for help had come from inside it. A bluish light, full of a chilly atmosphere, shone down onto the well.
Neoul reached the well in a single stride and looked inside, only to crack his forehead against the head of an actor who had just been about to rise up from the well in a water ghost costume.
"Ow!"
The actor, who had been trying to startle the contestants, staggered and sat down hard, clutching his head.
"Are you all right?"
Neoul stared at the actor with a grave expression. Deep inside the shallow, dry well, the woman in the funeral robe had a face so white and lips so blue they made her look like a corpse.
"Ughh..."
On top of that, after colliding heads with Neoul, she groaned in pain and misery, looking every bit like a patient.
They had clearly bumped into each other, but Neoul hadn't felt much pain, so he never imagined the other person's suffering might have been caused by him. He hurriedly asked,
"What happened? Were you attacked?"
Glancing around with sharp eyes, Neoul's whole demeanor suddenly grew fierce.
He had been wandering around with a blank, almost sculpted face, but now that he was alert and wary of his surroundings, Ha On-ha found himself amused.
Oh~ I thought he only knew how to sing, but he can actually act a little too...?
Earlier, he'd also happily played along, saying he was a prince and the adopted son of the Dragon King. He must have liked role-playing in his spare time.
Neoul didn't stop there. He held out a hand to the water ghost actor and even delivered a surprisingly dependable line.
"I shall escort you to a safe place."
Ha On-ha hated darkness and ghosts, but this? This he liked. Such a realistic setting, direction, and urgent situation, as if they'd stepped right into a movie or webtoon. And on top of that, Neoul was saying lines that somehow sounded cool.
Watching Neoul act so convincingly made Ha On-ha want to jump in beside him, play along, and trade banter in the moment.
He instinctively put on a sharp, vigilant expression too.
"Okay! I've got your back!"
* * *
The actor was flustered.
A handsome man who kept watch over the surroundings with a sharp gaze, yet looked at her with such gentle, reassuring eyes whenever their eyes met—it was enough to make her nearly thrust out her hand without thinking.
No! I'm a pro! Get a grip!
As the throbbing in her head from the collision eased a little, her mind cleared. It was her duty to scare these men until they were blinking back tears.
At the handsome man's question, What happened? Were you attacked? she was relieved she hadn't shouted, "You were the one who attacked me!" If she had, the immersion would have been badly broken.
She quickly half-climbed out of the well, then lowered her head dramatically before lifting it again, adding a chilling laugh for effect.
Eeehehehehe! Uhehehehehe!
But the black-haired handsome man, tall as a giant, didn't look afraid at all. Instead, he clicked his tongue.
"Ha On-ha. We ought to take this person to a doctor at once. Call one-one-nine."
"...You mean 119?"
Damn it. Did she look like a madwoman because she'd hit her head?
Or just an idiot?
"Your leg...! Give me your leg! Hand it over...! I don't have a leg! No leg at all! Uhehehehe!"
She flailed her hands wildly as if trying to seize him, and even rattled off her lines in a creepy voice, but the black-haired handsome man widened his eyes and took her hand gently in both of his.
Then he refused her with grave sincerity.
"I'm sorry. I need this leg very much right now too. I will be sure to lend it to you later."
Just when the actor was about to be dazzled again, she yanked her hand away in a hurry.
Grr...! Why aren't you running, and what are you even saying?
Was my acting that bad? That awkward?
Before long, the actor began to doubt her own performance and grew dejected. In doing so, the terrifying expression she had been forcing onto her face almost collapsed entirely.
She shifted her gaze to the other man standing a little farther back behind the black-haired one. This one was also strikingly handsome, with features that gave him a vaguely fox-like air.
When their eyes met, he gave her a bewitching eye-smile and took a step backward. Looking closer, she could see his fingertips trembling.
There we go! He's the coward!
She lifted the hem of her skirt and climbed out of the well. Then, hopping on one foot, she moved straight toward the fox-like man at surprising speed. She folded the other leg tightly and hid it under her skirt, so that at first glance she looked as if she only had one leg.
"Uhahahahaha! Give me your leg!"
Kihihihihihi! Eeeheehihi!
"Ack! Don't come any closer!"
The fox-like man yelped and stumbled back, then circled around her in a wide arc and grabbed hold of the black-haired man instead.
"Kyaaah! Gahhh! Neoul! Neoul! Run! Kyaaah!"
Screaming as he ran, he couldn't even finish a single sentence properly and threw the whole place into chaos.
All the while, he dragged the black-haired man away with him.
"Ha On-ha. Calm down."
"Kyaaah! Run! Run!"
"No? I thought you said you'd have my back?"
Only after the two of them had gone back the way they came and disappeared into the darkness did the actor collapse onto the ground and let out a long, exhausted groan.
It was the first time she'd ever had it this hard acting as a ghost.
She'd frightened countless little kids and adults over the years, well into the thousands.
I almost tarnished my career of three years as a ghost actor!
She was so flustered and tense that she'd broken out in a sweat. And all the while, that kind black gaze kept coming back to her mind.
"What was the name of this program again...?"
Once it aired, she might as well cast a vote or two.
After adjusting the knee pads that had slipped from crawling so realistically across the floor, the actor climbed back into the well.
* * *
From the actor's behavior while scaring Ha On-ha, Neoul realized that she was doing the same sort of work as the costumed people who had jumped out at them before.
He also immediately understood that both the cry for help and the plea for a leg were not sincere, but part of the performance.
So when Ha On-ha screamed and yanked him around by force, Neoul let himself be dragged along without resistance.
There were a few more events along the way back.
A snake-like decoration dropping from above their heads. A man who looked as though his mouth had been split all the way to his ears chasing after them, though of course it was just makeup.
Lights flashing on and off while thunder crashed overhead.
"Kyaaah!"
Ha On-ha, looking as though he might faint at any moment, raced back to the fork they had entered earlier and sprinted all the way to the exit.
Neoul, meanwhile, calmly admired the well-made set and trailed after Ha On-ha, who had already run far ahead.
As he wandered along at a leisurely pace, looking at everything with curiosity, he found something lying on the floor. It was a small, palm-sized box with a tiny flag bearing the show's logo attached to it.
What is this?
He walked over and picked it up. On the outside of the box were the words Random Item Box.
When he opened it, he found a crumpled note inside, and there was more writing on the underside of the lid as well.
If you're reading this, you have succeeded in the hidden mission! This is a random item box prepared by the production team. We present this brave contestant with a gift that can be used in the survival show!
Neoul tilted his head and unfolded the note inside.
Team Member Change Ticket (1 use)
When you meet a team member you don't want! Or when you can't join the team you want! You can change one team member exactly once!
(You may also use it on yourself. If you don't like your team, move to another one!)