Chapter 15
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: FILE 1.5. Ghost Bridge Society
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August 28th.
Kang Ibi had never slept under such a soft blanket in her entire life. Even during that so-called ultra-luxury hotel vacation she'd scraped together part-time wages for two years ago, she hadn't gotten to lie in a bed this nice.
Now that she was tucked into such a heavenly spot, she figured she might as well savor it to the fullest. With that stubborn resolve kicking in, Ibi wriggled around happily, burying her face in the pillow.
But... why am I lying here?
The obvious question finally dawned on her. And with it came memories that chilled her to the core—images of herself wandering endlessly through that infinite labyrinth, lost again and again.
Sleep vanished in an instant. Still, some contradictory part of her refused to give up this top-tier bed, so she kept her eyes squeezed shut and just thought things through.
Am I dead? Someone definitely saved me... or was that a dream? Is this heaven? I don't remember living a life saintly enough for heaven. But I haven't been wicked enough for hell either... and this blanket is way too comfy for hell, right?
In the end, she concluded there was no way to make sense of this without opening her eyes.
Propping herself up while still lying down, the thick blanket slid down to her waist with a soft thud. The place where Ibi lay was an antique tea house, rustic and full of old-world charm.
For a brief moment, she wondered if she'd time-traveled to the Joseon era. But then it all came rushing back—the events of yesterday.
"Um, excuse me?"
Ibi finally dragged herself out of the bedding and stood awkwardly. Only then did she realize she'd been sprawled out across what was clearly a guest table, and her face burned with embarrassment.
At least the tea house was empty of customers. Was it a day off? Spotting her shoes nearby, Ibi cautiously began scanning the interior.
"Hello?"
"Oh, you're awake."
A voice came from behind a partition, so she headed that way.
What Ibi witnessed there was a girl in a sailor uniform pouring tea into a massive crack running straight down the top of her head.
The fissure extended almost to her neck, deep and jagged. Jagged teeth protruded in such numbers it was impossible to count them. At a glance, her head looked like the maw of some enormous, larval monster.
"Kyaaah!"
She'd seen this once before yesterday, but she'd passed out right away, so the memory was hazy. Now that the thing popped up right in front of her without warning, Ibi's mind reeled once more.
"Annoying."
The girl stared at Ibi's piercing scream with a look of pity and disdain.
"Aigoo, that'd wake the dead. You look full of energy, so no need for a hospital, I guess?"
Just as Ibi felt like she might hyperventilate, someone came up behind her, steadying her back and preventing disaster.
It was a tall woman in an unusual hanbok dress, white fabric embroidered with gold thread. Ibi recognized her immediately.
"Mina, you're getting pretty good at it. Clean up now—we need to eat breakfast."
"Okay."
Ibi just stared blankly as the two cleared the various tea utensils from the table, then set out a full meal spread.
She wondered if she should help, but since her very presence here felt out of place, she hesitated to butt in.
How much time passed? The woman emerged from the kitchen carrying a massive tray, the kind you'd see in a high-end Korean restaurant, and set it on an empty table.
She wasn't even using a cart—just hefting it effortlessly with both hands. The woman was way stronger than she looked. Ibi's eyes drifted to the food on the tray, and she let out an involuntary gasp of admiration.
There were so many side dishes she couldn't even guess the count without tallying them up—a lavish spread straight out of a luxury hotel. Was this place a restaurant?
"Haven't gone all out like this in a while."
"Gotta do it occasionally to keep my skills sharp."
From their conversation, this wasn't an everyday thing, but not all that rare either. And it looked like this woman had prepared it all herself... Was she the chef?
"What are you doing? Come sit."
The woman beckoned Ibi over. Ibi flinched and replied.
"M-Me? Is that okay?"
"Of course. You must be starving. Hurry up."
Ibi shuffled over hesitantly and sat. The woman had switched to casual speech at some point, but Ibi didn't mind.
She looked older anyway. More importantly, the dazzling array of food had her mesmerized.
"W-Well then... thanks for the meal."
She had a mountain of questions about what had happened to her, but her stomach was growling fiercely. With all this deliciousness piled up in front of her, filling her belly came first.
"Nom nom."
But then something killed her appetite dead. The sailor-uniform girl across from Ibi reached straight for the food with her bare hand, skipping chopsticks entirely.
Before Ibi could even wonder what she was doing, the girl's right hand split wide open from top to bottom—just like her head. Rows of horrifying teeth bristled inside.
That hand scooped up an entire grilled mackerel from the plate and chomped away viciously.
"Gulp."
"......"
Watching it all, Ibi was stunned to learn that even the fiercest hunger could shatter in an instant. She barely held back a scream, but losing her appetite felt like a devastating loss.
"Mina!"
"What?"
"Don't touch the plates. They're expensive."
To an outsider, it might seem like a simple lesson in table manners. But what was unfolding before her eyes was utterly divorced from common sense.
At that point, Ibi gave up thinking and picked up her chopsticks. She forced down her nausea and started on the rice. Humans had to eat to survive, after all.
That resolve held... until she saw the girl spit out the mackerel's cleanly picked skeleton. Her stomach twisted again.
"Your name's Ibi, right? Kang Ibi."
Ibi swallowed her bite and answered.
"Y-Yeah. How'd you know?"
"You'll find out everything eventually. I'm Aerin, and this cute kid here's Shionji Mina. Just call her Mina."
Shionji Mina?
"Uh... Japanese?"
"Something like that."
She spoke Korean awfully well for someone like that. Her sentences were short, but it didn't seem like she couldn't speak at length...
Ibi, who'd been stealing glances at Mina's eating habits, ducked her head and focused on her own food. Aerin's voice explained from the side.
"She's a 'Kuwaznyobo.' A Japanese yokai."
"A yokai?"
"Yeah. Aside from her huge appetite and playfulness, she's no different from a human."
Ibi sneaked another peek at Mina. Humans don't drink water with their elbows. Or turn their hands into toothy maws. But it felt rude to say so, so she swallowed the thought and looked at Aerin.
"What about you, then?"
"Me?"
Aerin just blinked at her with a baffled expression. Ibi tilted her head.
"Aren't you... something too?"
With all these bizarre events piling up, Ibi planned to gather info first, then piece it together or toss it out later. That was why she'd asked about Aerin's true nature.
"What are you talking about? Do I look like a yokai or ghost to you?"
"Honestly, I can't trust my eyes anymore. Or my sanity. Ah... this isn't a dream, is it? Or some hallucination while I'm drowning in a bathtub or something..."
Aerin and Mina watched Ibi claw at her hair mid-bite with strange looks on their faces.
"Yeah, guess it's not a dream. So everything that's happened is real...?"
Ibi jumped to her own conclusion and sank into thought.
Let's sort this out. She'd been working her part-time shift as usual when some freaky ghost or whatever attacked her. It stuffed her into a fist-sized box. Inside was a maddening labyrinth that drove people insane just by existing, and she'd wandered it desperately before barely escaping. A mysterious group had saved her. And now they were treating her to this meal...
A sudden question popped up while reviewing her memories. What day was it?
She fumbled for her pocket. Her smartphone was still there, thankfully. She pulled it out to check the date, but the battery was dead.
"It's August 28th today."
Guessing from Ibi's actions, Aerin supplied the info. Ibi blinked in shock.
"The 28th? I got attacked on the 2nd. No way a whole month passed... Did I lose consciousness for a full month or something?"
Aerin didn't answer, just lowered her gaze gracefully and used her chopsticks to deftly flake off some fish into her mouth.
"Eat first. You've been starving for a month—gotta get something in you."
"But still..."
"Explanations will just confuse you more. Better to hear the full story from Nati. Rest up for now."
"Nati?"
Aerin offered no more. She just continued her elegant meal.
Ibi recalled the four people she'd glimpsed before passing out yesterday. Two were here; the other two men were absent. Was one of them Nati? Which one?
Her mind lingered on the man who'd wielded that eerie fan to subdue the Guest in one blow and seal it in the box. No certainty, but he felt like the Nati type.
"......"
For a while, the tea house filled only with the clatter of eating. Mina's method was a bit savage, but Ibi was starting to get used to it—bearable, at least.
After a long silence, Ibi blurted out a question.
"What the heck is this place?"