Casting the Unfearing
The Meeting Square at the entrance of Gwanaksan.
During the day, this place would have been teeming with hikers.
Perhaps because it was past 10:00 PM on a Sunday, only a bleak, eerie silence hung in the air.
I checked my wristwatch.
Exactly one hour and fifteen minutes left until midnight on Monday.
"Phew..."
Behind me, Minhye, Deokhu, and Seyeon stood with stiff, tense expressions.
"Senior, seriously... is this really the only way?"
Minhye asked, her eyes trembling with anxiety. I nodded.
"Yeah. There's no straightforward way to beat this. To break that crazy scenario I wrote, we need an even crazier variable."
I gestured with my chin toward a bench in the corner of the square, right in front of a closed hiking gear shop.
"Take a look over there for a second."
The team's eyes shifted to where I was pointing.
A middle-aged man sat there, wearing layers of worn-out padded jackets, pointing aggressively at the empty air with a half-empty soju bottle. His hair was a disheveled mess, his beard thick and unkempt. He was screaming at the top of his lungs in a hoarse voice, as if locked in mortal combat with an invisible foe.
"Hey, you bastards! Do you know who I am?! Huh?! Back in my day... *hic*! I was somebody! Come at me, all of you!"
A textbook homeless alcoholic with nowhere to go.
Or maybe a ruined exam-studying hermit?
The few pedestrians passing by grimaced and steered clear of him, as if trying to avoid stepping in dog shit.
Deokhu gasped in horror.
"You're going to cast him? He looks completely out of his mind!"
"That's exactly why we need him," I replied coldly.
"I've been watching him for the past few days. When he's drunk, he loses all sense of fear. Even when the cops come and kick him out, he just keeps coming back."
"...Whoa."
"Fear? A guy like him doesn't have room for that. He only has room for alcohol and rage against the world. Even if a ghost popped up and asked if he wanted red paper or blue paper, he'd probably just scream at it to give him more booze... though I can't speak for how he'd act sober."
I shifted my gaze, this time looking toward the public restroom maintenance office. There, an elderly woman with tightly permed hair was pushing out a cleaning cart.
Though small in stature, the sheer aura radiating from her stride was extraordinary. The moment she spotted a cigarette butt on the ground, she snatched it up with her tongs and let loose a stream of colorful, earthy curses.
"Tsk, tsk! What kind of rotten bastard throws a cigarette butt here! Brainless fools with nothing but shit in their heads!"
Her eyes were sharp and fierce.
"She seems like a workaholic. She takes immense pride in her job. Even though she's technically off the clock, she's still out here obsessing over cleanliness. See those apartments over there?"
"Huh? Yes!"
"I think she lives there. It's right around the corner, and she probably does this job to keep busy. That's why she often comes out here for walks, even when she's not on shift."
I clenched and unclenched my fists, releasing the tension.
"Alright, time to begin the casting. Everyone, get ready."
The first one I approached was the 'complaining customer.'
He was still sitting on the bench, waving his half-empty soju bottle and lamenting his lot in life. As I drew closer, the pungent stench of stale alcohol and sour sweat washed over me. Deokhu pinched his nose and took a step back, but I held my breath and stepped right up to him.
"Excuse me, mister."
"Huh? Who're you? The cops? Again? What're you gonna do about it, eh?!"
"No, I'm just a student."
"A student? Hankuk University?"
Park Chunsik looked up at me with bleary, bloodshot eyes that couldn't quite focus. He growled as if he were ready to bite my head off.
"Get lost!"
I reached into my pocket and pulled out an envelope I had prepared. Peeling the flap back slightly, I let him catch a glimpse of the crisp, yellow fifty-thousand-won bills inside.
Perhaps he caught the scent of money, because his pupils dilated instantly.
"...Wh-what's this?"
"I'm here to offer you a job."
I spoke in a tone that was as polite as possible, yet firm enough to show I wasn't someone to be pushed around.
"If you can help me out right now for just one hour, this envelope is yours. There's two hundred thousand won inside. And once we're done, I'll buy you a whole box of soju."
"Two... two hundred thousand won? And a box of soju?"
Park Chunsik swallowed hard. But then, his eyes narrowed with deep suspicion as he sized me up.
"Is this... one of those things where you steal my organs? My kidneys are rotten, they're useless, I tell ya!"
"No, nothing like that. It's a very simple job."
"What is it then? Hauling stuff? My back's shot, I can't do heavy lifting."
I let out a soft chuckle and pointed up toward the mountainside.
"No. You just... need to use a restroom."
"What?"
"We're... NewTubers filming a courage-test video."
I spun the lie I had prepared beforehand with practiced ease.
"It's a challenge to see who can last the longest in that abandoned restroom up there. We saw you and thought you looked like you had nerves of steel. All you have to do is go up there, sit in one of the stalls, and stay there. Even if you hear creepy ghost noises, just ignore them and yell back at them. Make it look real."
"G-ghosts? Are you pulling my leg?"
Park Chunsik snorted, utterly amused by the absurdity.
"You clearly don't know who you're talking to. I'm ex-Special Intelligence."
"Excuse me...?"
"Special Forces. Classified unit."
Whether it was true or not, he sounded incredibly convincing.
"Including my time in the service, I've spent decades rolling around in the dirt on these mountains! Ghosts? Please. Living people are way scarier! A ghost is nothing! Child's play!"
He pushed himself up from the bench.
He swayed on his feet, but the promise of two hundred thousand won and a box of soju was clearly more than enough to override his hesitation.
Besides, he was already completely wasted.
In other words, his immediate desires completely eclipsed any capacity for rational thought.
"Alright! Here's fifty thousand won upfront. I'll give you the rest when we come back down."
I handed him a fifty-thousand-won bill, which he snatched out of my hand and stuffed deep into his pocket.
"Alright! Let's go! Bring on the ghosts or whatever the hell they are! I'll show 'em how to drink!"
"By the way, what is your name, sir?"
"Me? Park Chunsik!"
He took a swig from his soju bottle with a grand flourish and marched forward.
First casting complete.
I shot a glance back at Seyeon. She nodded, looking visibly relieved.
Next was the harder target.
I figured she wasn't someone who could be swayed by money alone. She possessed fierce pride and a strong work ethic. I walked over to the storage closet where she was packing away her cleaning supplies.
"Excuse me, manager?"
"What is it? The restrooms are closed! Use the public ones down below."
Her hands were rough as she vigorously wrung out a mop.
"Ah, I'm not here to use the restroom. Actually... I came to ask for a favor."
I bowed as politely as possible.
"We're film students. We're shooting our graduation project, and... we desperately need the help of an expert."
"A movie? An expert?"
Only then did the elderly woman turn her head. Her wrinkled face was etched with confusion.
"What kind of expert am I? An expert at scrubbing piss and shit?"
"No, not just regular cleaning... a sanitation management specialist."
I spoke with passionate intensity, practically spitting as I delivered my pitch.
"Our movie is about... transforming a horribly filthy restroom into a pristine sanctuary. But no matter how hard we try to act it out, we just can't capture the presence of a true master like you. That... that absolute charisma of a perfect clean! That's what we need."
Minhye chimed in from beside me.
"She's right, ma'am! We saw you cleaning earlier, and you were amazing! One swipe of your mop and the floor was practically sparkling!"
The elderly woman's expression softened slightly.
No one is entirely immune to flattery.
"Hmph, well... I just wipe it down like normal."
"Manager, the location we secured for the shoot is that old restroom halfway up the mountain... and it is just... incredibly filthy. We honestly don't even know where to start..."
I trailed off, putting on a helpless, troubled face.
At the mention of 'filthy,' her eyebrows twitched.
"Where? Halfway up the mountain?"
"We got permission from the district office to film there, but the place is a total disaster. Could you please guide us on how to act out the cleaning scene? You'd be an extra... no, a special guest star! We'll compensate you very generously."
She seemed to ponder it for a moment. It was already late, and she had to be tired.
But perhaps the phrase 'filthy restroom' had struck a chord deep within her soul.
"...How much are you paying?"
"We'll pay you triple your daily rate. And we'll put your name in big letters in the movie's ending credits as our 'Sanitation Consultant.'"
She let out a dry chuckle.
"My word, the things you see if you live long enough. Well, since it's for a student project, it makes me think of my own grandkids. Put me down as Lee Yeosa in that credit thingy. Lee Yeosa. Got it?"
"Thank you! Thank you so much!"
We bowed a full ninety degrees. Grumbling all the while, she gathered her personal rubber gloves, a bottle of bleach, and her most prized, sturdy mop.
Second casting complete.
I had successfully recruited my two most powerful—and most bizarre—actors.
With our cast in tow, we began our ascent up the mountain.
As expected, the trail was pitch-black.
Only the beams from the lanterns Deokhu and I held illuminated the narrow dirt path.
"Ugh... I'm so wasted. Hey, when are the ghosts showing up? I'm gonna sober up at this rate!"
Park Chunsik stumbled and swayed, but managed to keep a surprisingly brisk pace.
Behind him, Lee Yeosa grumbled.
"Tsk, what a pathetic sight. Hey, you! Shut your trap! You're going to anger the mountain spirits!"
"Ah, you old hag, quit nagging! I'm talking with my own mouth!"
"How dare you glare at me like that?!"
"Ugh, this old lady..."
Their bickering was endless.
The rest of our team followed silently behind them.
Deokhu sidled up to me and whispered in a low voice.
"Hyung... is this really going to be okay? That guy is completely wasted, and the grandma is just furious... I mean, she definitely has a temper, but... can they really beat a ghost?"
Deokhu's eyes were filled with anxiety. It made sense. In any typical horror movie, characters like these were walking death flags—the loud, obnoxious extras who draw the monster's aggro and get brutally slaughtered first.
That was the standard cliché.
But I shook my head.
"No. They can't beat the ghost with physical force."
"Then how?"
"But they can completely ignore the ghost's rules."
I stared at the backs of the two walking ahead of us.
What is fear?
It is the dread of the unknown, the process of submitting to an overwhelming, incomprehensible force.
But Park Chunsik's brain cells were so thoroughly pickled in alcohol that his capacity for fear was entirely paralyzed. Even if a ghost appeared right in front of him, he would either dismiss it as a hallucination or view it as an easy target to pick a fight with.
And Lee Yeosa? To her, a restroom wasn't a place of terror; it was her workplace, a domain she managed and controlled. To her, filth wasn't scary—it was just something that needed to be cleaned.
I looked at Deokhu and continued.
"Ghosts feed on fear. They only have power when their target is terrified. But what happens if, instead of being scared, the target gets annoyed or tries to scrub them away? That absurd situation itself creates a system error."
Deokhu tilted his head, trying to process my explanation.
"Like... a bug in the system."
"Exactly. We're on our way to plant a fatal bug in this scenario."
Before we knew it, our destination was drawing near.
The clock was ticking closer to midnight.
And then,
The scenery around the trail began to shift subtly.
The howling of the wind died down, and the chirping of the insects abruptly ceased.
The shadows of the trees twisted into grotesque, elongated shapes.
A thick fog swirled around our ankles.
Then came a foul stench that stung our nostrils—the unmistakable ammonia of an old pit latrine, mingled with the metallic tang of fresh blood.
"Ugh... the smell."
Minhye pinched her nose.
In the distance, the silhouette of a dilapidated building emerged.
A solitary public restroom.
It was the stage of the horror scenario.
I stopped in my tracks and checked my smartphone.
Five minutes.
The preparations were complete.
I signaled my team with a look.
Minhye and Seyeon kept their distance, pretending to set up cameras as they prepared to broadcast the situation.
Deokhu stuck close to my back, just in case.
I led Park Chunsik and Lee Yeosa to the front of the restroom.
"Alright, we've arrived. This is our set."
"Whoa... what the, it really is a restroom? Look at those busted-up doors."
Park Chunsik kicked the restroom door with his foot.
"Good lord, the stench! How on earth do you manage this place for it to smell like rotting garbage?!"
Lee Yeosa grimaced from the very entrance, her grip tightening on her mop.
I took a deep breath and pulled up the Setting Addition button on my smartphone.
Through the cracks in the restroom door, I could see red and blue energies slithering out like snakes. It was already waiting inside, eager for its prey to step through.
Sorry, but the guests coming in today aren't the kind of prey you can handle...
I spoke, my expression grim and determined.
"Alright, actors."
"Stand by. I'll call action in a moment."