Room 102, The Room of Curses – Mansion of Terror (6)

We reached the place where the boat was moored.

I checked the lower right side again, the small crack where water had been seeping in. Left out all night in the storm, the gap had widened. Far more water than yesterday now filled the hull through that opening.

“The inside’s about a third full. We’ll have to get the water out before any real repairs are possible. Good thing we brought the pump.”

And so the pumping began in the middle of the storm.

It was filthy hard work.

Fortunately the inside and outside of the boat were still separate, so we weren’t trapped in some Sisyphean nightmare where the rain simply poured back in as fast as we bailed. Even so, hauling out the mass of water already inside was pure drudgery. I regretted talking Cha Jinchul out of coming along.

After maybe two and a half hours the floorboards finally started to show. The Butler gathered tools and set to work on the leak while I collapsed wherever I could and tried to catch my breath. Before long he stood up again.

“Butler, is the boat fixed?”

“This should do it. Nothing more seems to be coming in. Of course, once water’s gotten this far the boat is essentially finished, but if it can just hold together for a day or two—long enough for us to reach the outside—then we can scrap it later. That’s something, at least.”

“So we could leave today?”

“Hardly. Putting out on a dying boat in weather like this would only feed the lake a pile of corpses. The wind and rain won’t keep up forever. You’ll need to wait a day or two.”

Repairing the boat was one thing; escaping still required at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠least another day or two no matter how optimistic we were. I knew nothing about boats, so I had no counter-argument to offer.

Dragging my exhausted body back toward the house with the Butler, I carefully reopened the earlier conversation.

“About what happened with Ari earlier—I want to apologize on behalf of the group. Ever since Elena and Eunsol… Jinchul hyung hasn’t been able to calm down.”

“No need. Two people dying in as many days—if anyone stayed perfectly calm, that would be the strange part.”

“Ari seemed to flare up pretty hard for a moment there.”

“She’s still just a child… When the cathedral was whole, the priest looked after her well. After the fighting, once the cathedral fell and the priest left, she’s been lonely ever since. I sometimes wonder if that’s why a rougher side has started to show without me noticing…”

A dry laugh almost escaped me.

She already looked only thirteen or fourteen. She’d been living here since ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she was even younger? Then where exactly had she gone to elementary school? I couldn’t picture any school existing in a place this remote.

Of course, if you started demanding “historical accuracy,” the mere presence of a cathedral in a wilderness where the only human habitation was this mansion was already absurd. I didn’t press it. More important was the feeling that the two keywords Eunsol noona had left me had finally clarified themselves.

Maid. Cathedral.

One a person, one a place. Beyond taking the person to the place, nothing else had come to mind—and now I learned she had attended the cathedral since childhood.

Once we’re home, I’ll invent some excuse and take Ari to the cathedral.

By the time we reached the mansion the atmosphere had eased somewhat. At least Jinchul hyung wasn’t shouting anymore, and Seungyeop was flitting around Ari like a sparrow, helping so eagerly it was hard to tell who was the guest and who was the servant.

Frankly, the idea of a child who looked barely into her early teens managing an entire mansion still didn’t sit right with me.

In a house where two people had already died, no one was going to prepare a grand meal. Since the valley camping on the first day, meals had mostly been simple sandwiches, and no one felt like complaining.

While chewing a sandwich I thought it over. What excuse could I use to take Ari to the cathedral? The answer came quickly.

“Ari, you free for a bit?”

“Seungyeop’s been helping so much I’m actually free! Is there something I can do for you?”

The sharp edge from the morning had vanished as if it had never existed; her usual bright energy was back.

“Nothing major. The Butler mentioned you used to go to the cathedral a lot when you were little. I’ve got a few things I need to look for over there. Think you could show me around?”

“Yes! When should we leave?”

“Weather’s pretty bad, so the sooner the better.”

“I’ll get ready right away.”

Before long we left the mansion again, Ari at my side. Looking back at her, I couldn’t help a quiet note of admiration. Pretty people look good in anything, but this girl—already extraordinary—wore a raincoat that covered everything but her face and still looked like a fairy.

No wonder Seungyeop can’t keep his head straight…

I swallowed a sigh and kept walking toward the cathedral. At some point Ari stopped.

“Legs hurt? Want to rest a minute?”

“No… it’s just…”

“Just?”

“My head feels a little clearer… and I remembered old things. Times when I wandered around with Grandfather. Then I came to my senses and found myself settled at the mansion.”

?

Had she moved a lot as a child? The way ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she spoke of the past, far older than her years, felt strangely off. Or was it simply because I had brought her to the cathedral, exactly as noona’s message suggested?

Even after we stepped inside the cathedral, no immediate change appeared. Ari still looked around with that faintly wondering expression, exploring every corner.

If I leave her alone, something will probably happen. Staring wouldn’t make a difference, so I climbed first toward the place where the bell was supposed to be.

The bell tower at the top of the cathedral building felt like a later addition; getting up there was already difficult. Not so much a staircase as a rickety wooden ladder, poorly maintained and slick with rain. I climbed it with real unease and finally reached the tower.

Strange.

Judging by the state of the cathedral and the tower itself, no one could have been maintaining any bell—yet the bell was remarkably clean. Strange characters, strings of unreadable script, were engraved across its entire surface.

I had never seen a bell like this.

It was clearly no ordinary instrument. Eunsol noona’s message had mentioned a “bell,” but even without that, the thing looked ominous from the start. It wasn’t especially large.

Well, a bell is meant to be struck, isn’t it? Hitting it would tell me something, one way or another.

I scavenged a length of rope to replace the completely rotted fittings, jammed it into place as best I could, and somehow hung the bell. Then I picked up a scrap of metal nearby and gave the bell a light tap.

— Clang! Thrum!

Not clear and pure, but a rough, metallic tone. Whether the fault lay with the bell or with the one striking it, I couldn’t tell.

In that same instant I heard a sharp scream.

“Aaaaaaah! Kyaaaaaaah!”

I scrambled down from the tower in a panic. Ari was thrashing on the floor, clutching her head.

A flash of realization cut through me.

Was this the answer? The three words noona wrote—cathedral, maid, bell—meant bring Ari to the cathedral and ring the bell?

How did noona know any of this before she died?

Suddenly Ari shot to her feet and stared straight at me.

The same doll-like features I had seen many times, the same deep crimson eyes. Yet this was unmistakably someone else.

A colder expression. A piercing, direct gaze.

Her appearance was identical, yet the slightest shift in posture and presence made her feel like an entirely different person.

“So you made it this far after all, oppa?”

What…? Her way of speaking had completely changed—mocking, almost the same tone she had used when she shouted at Jinchul hyung earlier.

“But what a shame. You’re far too late. I’m already too late. Still, listen carefully. I can still sing the hymn!”

“Hymn? What are you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠talking about?”

Ari’s eyes rolled back without warning.

From her twisted mouth, turned toward empty air, black smoke laced with a terrible stench began to pour out.

Prophecy? Curse? Poem? Or, as she herself had said, a “hymn”?

After spewing those bizarre, half-comprehensible words, Ari collapsed as if she had simply fallen asleep.

I had no choice but to carry her back to the mansion on my back, thinking the whole way.

What did any of it mean? I had to interpret it in the most occult sense possible.

Even to someone as ignorant of the occult as I was, it sounded like a demonic entity that fed on sacrifices in order to be born.

The unborn one who dwells in the lowest place.

The reason that nightmarish song was called a “hymn” was probably because it was a hymn of praise to a demon.

Two have already been offered.

That almost certainly meant Elena and Eunsol noona.

The strange part was the claim that only three remained.

The survivors were me, Cha Jinchul, Yu Song-i, and Park Seungyeop—four of us. Did it mean killing only three of the four would be enough? Or was it something else…

A hypothesis surfaced.

I had actually first thought of it the moment Elena died. At the time I had set it aside, following noona’s advice to bury her first. Now, though, the pieces were quietly gathering.

I assembled the evidence one by one.

The picture grew clearer. What was threatening us.

A demon trying to be born by devouring sacrifices, and the faithful hands that offered them.

I had learned a great deal, yet the single most important thing still eluded me.

So what were we supposed to do about it?

After we returned to the mansion, the third victim appeared.