Ten Ghosts Night Parade (7)
How should I play this? Honestly, if the youkai was going to help me out, I was all for it. Kim Eat-Chil was already right there by my side, lending a hand. But the gamble was whether it would actually keep its word. Kim Eat-Chil might slack off sometimes, but at least it never stabbed me in the back.
I mulled it over, then looked up. In my line of sight was the cat youkai, sitting quietly and staring at me. That cat was perched right on top of the shadow, yet it wasn't sinking in or anything—it was perfectly fine.
"Why's that youkai totally chill?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"The one sitting next to you."
"...How do I even eat this?"
I took that to mean every youkai had its own weight class. Thinking about it, that made perfect sense. I couldn't picture someone like Soonbaek-i or Kkamang-i getting gobbled up just by stepping on that shadow. On the flip side, if a youkai ranked higher than the rules, it could probably break them without much fuss.
I fiddled with the baseball in my hand, moving it this way and that. The female student youkai flinched every time I did. The cat youkai turned its head to follow the motion. Two facts stood out from that. The cat seemed to prioritize objects over me. And even the cat couldn't ignore the stairwell rules.
Since the rules were probably set by the likes of Kkamang-i or Soonbaek-i, I didn't have to worry about youkai ignoring them outright.
"I'll spare you, but on one condition."
I'd never planned to exorcise the female student youkai from the start. The drunkard hadn't been open to talk, so I'd taken it out. But this one? We could communicate.
A fragile guy like me with no special powers needed every card I could play if I wanted to fight. Whether a youkai acted out of grudges was anyone's guess, but they seemed to honor deals—at least I could use that.
"Condition? Isn't helping with door duty enough?"
"Sure. Then stick with me until I escape."
"That's... impossible."
"Why?"
"I'm not free. And that's too much to ask."
"Seems like a bargain for your life."
The high school girl youkai shook her head slowly. Apparently, a youkai's life wasn't worth all that much. That bit about not being free nagged at me a little, too.
"You asked me to name you earlier, right? I want to know why."
"...Don't tell me that's the condition."
"Yeah. Otherwise, I'm taking a total loss here."
I said it like I was being generous, but I'd never planned to push too hard anyway. Get cocky about having the upper hand, corner it, and who knows—youkai could flip in an instant. Plus, I was curious as hell about what secret lay in naming one. Even Kim Eat-Chil had just said it let it leave the third floor and clammed up after that.
But my hopes of uncovering some big secret were dashed quick.
"I want to get off the third floor."
The female student youkai gave the exact same answer as Kim Eat-Chil. At this point, was escaping the third floor some kind of universal wish for third-floor youkai?
"Can't you leave now?"
She nodded in reply.
"Then how do you go home after school?"
"Ever seen one?"
"Of course."
"When?"
"Yesterday—"
The only image that came to mind was Song Ha-yeon and Kim Eat-Chil passing the guard room. It was something I'd questioned before, but now I just accepted it. I'd half-fantasized they flew into the sky or sank into the ground or something.
But what if that assumption was wrong? What if youkai didn't actually "go home" at all?
Suddenly, the second-year class 2 rule popped into my head. As long as you didn't sit in chairs or desks, you were safe. What if that meant something was already there?
In other words, when everything seemed normal and the school felt empty, maybe it wasn't. Of course, plenty of classrooms had baffling rules, so this was just my theory.
Back to going home—did Song Ha-yeon and Kim Eat-Chil really do it, then? I turned to Kim Eat-Chil right there.
"Eat-Chil. Where do you go after school?"
"Home, obviously."
"Where's that?"
"You didn't seriously expect an answer, did you?"
Yeah, figured. It was like there was a rule against spilling even the tiniest detail to me.
But this time, I wasn't backing down.
"Fine, you want payment? How about the leftover cafeteria food after my shift?"
"There's an apartment near the school. I live there."
"...?"
"That settles it? No food after shift, and I'll eat you instead, mister?"
I'd gotten info easier than expected. Utterly useless info. Couldn't shake the feeling Kim Eat-Chil had played me. And just like that, I lost another meal. Skipping a day wouldn't kill me, though.
I turned back to the female student youkai. "Is wanting off the third floor the only reason you need a name?"
She nodded again. If that was really it, then just the act of leaving the third floor must hold some meaning—but I couldn't figure it out.
No point agonizing over it forever; no answers would come. Time to just go for it. To escape, I had to think outside the box anyway. Weird world, weird solutions.
"Kim Geu-rim."
"Huh?"
"I'll call you Kim Geu-rim."
"Wait, you just named me now?"
Kim Geu-rim sounded like she couldn't believe what I'd done.
The reason was simple: having a potentially helpful youkai stuck on the third floor was inconvenient for me. Kim Eat-Chil had gotten its "payment" later, so Kim Geu-rim might demand the same eventually.
True to my word, I lightly tossed the baseball toward the staff room to save her. The cat youkai leaped up and shredded it midair.
"Whoops."
I threw harder next time. But the cat's reflexes were way better than I'd thought. Two innocent baseballs sacrificed for nothing already.
"Eat-Chil, wanna give it a shot?"
Expected a no, but Kim Eat-Chil took the ball and casually swung its right arm. The ball rocketed past the cat like a bullet, ricocheting wildly off the walls. What the hell kind of strength was that? Even without planning to fight it, I knew better than to tangle with something like that. Guess the drunkard really was the weakest youkai around, since I could even brawl it physically.
Seizing the moment the cat youkai chased the ball off the stairs, we bolted up to the third floor. Kim Geu-rim stepped aside so I wouldn't touch her shadow. Looked like no backstab for now.
While the cat was distracted, I started on door duty. None of the second-year classrooms were locked, so I began with class 2, methodically securing each one. If the cat got close, Kim Eat-Chil chucked a baseball far away. Before I knew it, class 5 was done. First floor fully locked down. I set off mental fireworks in celebration.
Now with one more youkai helper, things might keep going smoothly. Plan was to head down to the first floor, regroup, then tackle the others.
But as I went for the right stairwell, Kim Geu-rim hesitated at the threshold. She really wasn't sure if she could leave.
"I'll hang back here a sec."
"Scared?"
"N-no, it's not that!"
"It's fine. I was a total coward at first, too."
"I said it's not!"
Even with my teasing, Kim Geu-rim just trembled—no dice on moving. In the end, she stayed put on the third floor. Down one youkai ally.
The unknown second floor and the fourth floor, where only classes 4 and 5 needed locking—easy stuff first, naturally. I headed to the fourth.
Up the left stairs, I peered down the hall. Empty. Then the emergency light flickered on. I froze. Kim Eat-Chil froze too.
It flickered off my back, then died completely. I immediately asked what I'd been wondering.
"Eat-Chil. You know the rules for this hallway too, right?"
"Yeah."
"Do you have a rulebook or something?"
"Nah, I just know 'em."
Handy not to forget if it's innate. Beats relying on my memory.
"Then you know the annex rules cold too?"
"I don't go there."
"Huh?"
"Can't help with the annex, so no deals."
I pressed for reasons, but got silence, as expected. My curiosity about the annex rulebook in the guard room spiked. Should've peeked before door duty. Even youkai avoided it—what the hell was in there?
Lost in thought, I reached the central stairs. Flicker—rrrrumble—lights on. Then, doors creaking open.
This time, facing front, I saw it clear as day. The door to third-year class 4 swung wide. Black hair slithered out.
Long hair. It ignored the hallway rules, crawling across the floor toward me. Lights out.
I bolted straight for the central stairs.
A hair youkai guarding the entrance? How the hell was I supposed to get past that?