Courage Test #1
“No. Seriously, why the hell is Yu Da-hui even here?”
Yang Ju-hui had been fuming the entire walk home. It was because she’d heard that Yu Da-hui was waiting in front of my house with Jeong Seok.
“Isn’t this supposed to be something only you, me, and Jeong Seok know about? Did you seriously tell Yu Da-hui everything that’s been going on?”
“No. I didn’t.”
“Then what are we supposed to do? You said we were going to talk things over and make plans today. How are we supposed to talk about ghosts or the elevator with her sitting right there?”
Yang Ju-hui’s irritation came from a pretty reasonable question. Today was the day the chaotic atmosphere of the past few days had finally settled, and Ha Yeong-won’s Pirate Crew was officially gathering. It was the perfect time to look back on everything that had happened and lay out future plans.
In fact, I’d been planning to tell everyone about the Nightmare Corridor today. The waiting period to enter the corridor had just ended, too.
Looking back now, the hardships we went through on the fourth floor—the death floor—of that elevator had actually been… pretty beneficial for me. No, for all of us. Because that place resembled the Nightmare Corridor so closely, it helped Jeong Seok and Yang Ju-hui understand when I explained things about the corridor. You could say we got a taste of the Nightmare Corridor on that fourth floor. Like we’d gotten a preventive shot.
And then there was the English teacher. I’d wanted to warn Jeong Seok and Yang Ju-hui to be careful around Hong Miri. Anyway.
I’d been in a good mood thinking about all the things we had to talk about and the chicken we’d eat together, but now that Yu Da-hui had suddenly crashed the party, even I felt a little awkward. Yang Ju-hui, who had never particularly liked Yu Da-hui, was outright throwing a fit.
“Ugh, seriously. Jeong Seok should’ve just told her to piss off. Why’s he letting her tag along? Is that so hard? He’s the one who kept saying how important it was to keep it secret. God, what a pushover.”
I could feel Yang Ju-hui’s opinion of Jeong Seok plummeting in real time. Still, I understood where he was coming from a little.
A first-year high school guy. Boys going through that hormone-fueled phase generally couldn’t stand up to girls. I knew that better than anyone. And Jeong Seok had spent three whole years at an all-boys middle school, just like me! Guys like that find it incredibly hard to turn down a girl’s request. Especially when it’s coming from a pretty girl like Yu Da-hui!
Besides, Yu Da-hui had this weird way of closing distances. She’d approach people like she’d known them forever. I’d only ever seen her in the library as the library committee member, but one day she suddenly came up to me, started talking, and even gave me her phone number.
Thinking about it now… it felt like I’d been possessed by a fox or something. Maybe she only did that to me, but…
If she walked up to Jeong Seok the same way and said, “Seok-ah. What are you doing here? Waiting for a friend? Yeong-won? Perfect. I’m friends with Yeong-won too. Let’s hang out together,” could Jeong Seok really refuse? No. The result was exactly what we were dealing with right now.
“Uh, hello? Hey. Jeong Seok. Is Yu Da-hui there? If she is, put her on. If you can’t do it, I’ll tell her to get lost myself.”
Yang Ju-hui couldn’t hold back anymore and called Jeong Seok while we were still walking. As expected, her reckless drive was the best among us. Even though the Boiling Blood quirk was gone, maybe some of the aftereffects still lingered.
“Hey, wait. Ju-hui. Give me the phone. Let me talk. Give it here.”
“Hey! Get off my phone! Yah!”
I snatched the phone from Yang Ju-hui’s hand. Maybe because her breath had been on it just moments ago, it smelled like cherries. Was it because she’d been sucking on a cherry-flavored candy?
“Hey. Jeong Seok. It’s me, Yeong-won.”
So Jeong Seok and Yu Da-hui had gone to the same elementary school. I spoke to Jeong Seok.
“Is she still next to you?”
“Then let’s just leave it for now.”
As the leader, I made the call. This might actually be an opportunity. A chance to reveal the secret behind the sleep I always fell into whenever I met Yu Da-hui and the strange dreams that followed.
I, Ha Yeong-won—the man who had turned countless crises into stepping stones of opportunity. I could do this. The current me could!
Click.
I ended the call and handed my phone back to Yang Ju-hui. She narrowed her eyes at me.
“What? You’re not sending her away?”
“From what I’ve seen, she seems a little suspicious. I want to test her today.”
“……”
“Don’t you think it’d be good to have at least one female friend?”
While I’d been absent from school for a few days, I’d heard from Jeong Seok about Yang Ju-hui’s school life. Apparently she was being subtly ostracized in Class D. There wasn’t any outright bullying, but the girls talked behind her back or whispered about her when she was nearby. During P.E., she didn’t have a partner and ended up playing catch with the teacher.
Girls liked to move in groups, didn’t they? They usually went around in threes or fours. Originally, Yang Ju-hui used to drag around Im Hui-yeon—the fifth prettiest girl in class and someone I’d had a slight crush on—and Gong Ye-rin like they were her servants… but now she’d completely fallen from grace.
The trigger had been the revelation that Yang Ju-hui’s family was actually extremely poor. Anyway, she was being ostracized. Even though she had me and Jeong Seok, wouldn’t it be better for her to have at least one same-gender friend? My life had gotten a lot easier after I got close to Jeong Seok. We even played League together.
“What are you talking about? Since when does a loser like you worry about his noona making friends? Ha Yeong-won, you’ve been getting really cocky lately. You’re completely out of control. Acting like the world is yours. Like a fish back in water.”
She wasn’t wrong. Strangely enough, even though I was encountering ghosts now, I felt more fulfilled in life than before. Suddenly, I got curious.
“Ju-hui, why do you hate Yu Da-hui so much? Did you two go to the same elementary school?”
“No. I just hate her.”
Whoosh—.
Yang Ju-hui turned her head away as if she had nothing more to say. There was definitely something there.
…Girls. After spending three years in an all-boys middle school, they were more complicated to me than ghosts or horror stories.
###
“Hey guys, hi! The weather’s really nice today, isn’t it!”
When we arrived in front of Taegwang Villa, Jeong Seok and Yu Da-hui were waiting for us. Yu Da-hui’s casual clothes were similar in style to her school uniform, except she wasn’t wearing stockings and had on sandals instead. Unlike Yang Ju-hui, who wore tracksuits or dolphin shorts, her outfit was neat and proper.
“Yeong-won. You’re here. How’s your mom doing?”
Jeong Seok was holding a convenience store bag stuffed with a 1.5-liter bottle of soda and snacks. I answered simply.
“She looked like she was doing okay. What’s all that?”
“Da-hui bought the snacks and drinks. We can share them later.”
Jeong Seok glanced at me and Yang Ju-hui with an awkward expression and tone. So this guy had been struggling on his own in front of the villa too.
“You said we were going to play games together today? That sounds super fun. Is it League? Are we playing League? I know what League is. You move the mouse around, right?”
Yu Da-hui at ten in the morning was surprisingly cheerful. Just looking at her, you’d think she’d be cold and aloof, but that gap of being so approachable and without any sense of distance completely disarmed people. You know how when someone who looks super scary turns out to be fun and has a great personality, you end up liking them even more? Yeah, like that.
Anyway. We decided to head inside the house. But… this was the first time I was inviting Yu Da-hui over, so I was a little nervous. Mom hadn’t been home for a few days, so the house was a total mess. There were probably piles of dishes in the sink.
“We have to walk up to the fourth floor?”
Yu Da-hui asked as we started heading for the stairs. For some reason, Jeong Seok, Yang Ju-hui, and I all froze in place, tense. Déjà vu… you feel it too, right…?
“…Why?” Jeong Seok asked. His voice sounded strangely nervous.
Then Yu Da-hui let out a little “Pffft—” laugh.
“My legs hurt! I’ve been standing for a while now.”
…Oh. That makes sense.
That’s when Yang Ju-hui spoke up.
“If you don’t want to take the stairs, you can just go home.”
It was probably a joke, but why didn’t it sound like one? Suddenly, the word “home” made me remember something Yu Da-hui had said. That her parents didn’t let her hang out with friends much, and especially not with boys.
“Da-hui. Is it okay for you to hang out at my house today? Won’t your family worry?”
I asked her as we climbed the stairs. She answered,
“It should be fine now. We had a bit of a fight at home yesterday. I’m not a kid anymore. I should be able to decide what I want to do and where I want to be.”
I see…
Beep, beep-beep—.
While I was talking with Yu Da-hui, Yang Ju-hui, who had reached the fourth floor first, opened the door without waiting. Ever since I’d given her the passcode when we were attacked by the copied versions of my mom’s ghost, she always opened the door lock herself. Her own house used a regular key, so maybe door locks fascinated her.
Anyway. What would Yu Da-hui’s reaction be to my house for the first time?
“Whoa.”
Yu Da-hui slightly opened her mouth and looked around. It was the same reaction Jeong Seok had when he first came over. Do rich kids all react like this?
That’s when Yang Ju-hui, who had gone in first and put her bag and phone on the dining table, spoke up.
“Ugh, dude. Do the dishes in advance at least. This is how you get cockroaches!”
Okay… I know, but these past few days I’ve been out of it…
Shhhhh—.
Yang Ju-hui turned on the water and started washing dishes. She looked surprisingly used to it. Seeing that, Yu Da-hui said,
“Looks like Ju-hui comes over to play a lot.”
“No, it’s not that often. Hey. Just leave it. I’ll do it.”
With that kind of chaotic energy, the dishwashing and cleaning up the atmosphere finally ended. Maybe because the house was small, having four people inside made it feel packed to the point of bursting.
I went into my room and turned on the computer.
Vrrrr—.
That’s when Yu Da-hui said,
“Oh, a blanket. Can I lie down for a bit? My legs hurt from standing so long.”
Flop—.
Yu Da-hui lay down on my unmade blanket. She didn’t seem to care at all if her clothes got wrinkled or dirty. But I was the one who was nervous! A girl was lying on my blanket! When was the last time I washed it? It didn’t smell weird, did it?!
“Yeong-won. I’ll log in with my account first? I already bought the game. The file size isn’t that big, so it’ll download fast. I’m putting it on the C drive.”
Click, click—.
Jeong Seok started downloading the game with familiar movements. He seemed to have found my “Chickadee” folder in the process, but he pretended not to see it. What a guy who understands the bro code.
Once the download finished, Jeong Seok launched the game. The graphics that appeared weren’t exactly high-end, but they had a certain cozy charm.
The title was in English: Abyss Corridor.
Yu Da-hui, standing behind the chair and looking at the monitor, asked,
“Abyss Corridor? Seok-ah. What kind of game is it?”
“Uh… It’s a game where you run away from ghosts in a corridor and try to escape. While doing that, you solve various secrets. It’s a horror game. A lot of internet streamers play it, so there are tons of videos. Haven’t you seen any?”
“First time seeing it. Can we play together? Games can be played together, right?”
I realized today that Yu Da-hui’s knowledge of games was almost zero. Did she really just read books at home all the time?
Soon Jeong Seok answered,
“We can’t play together. Horror games like this are usually single-player.”
“Single-player. So couples can’t play it?”
Yang Ju-hui chimed in. It was an incredibly dirty joke. The temperature in the room seemed to drop by two degrees, like when we faced a real ghost. She normally wouldn’t have made a joke like that. Ju-hui… you’ve really died a lot, huh. Bullying really does break a person.
“Single-player means a game you play alone. Alright, let’s start. I’ll set the difficulty to normal. Also, before you start, the protagonist can choose one item to take into the ghost-filled corridor. I’m going to pick ‘Slippers.’”
Slippers: Eliminates noise while running.
That’s a good item. If something like that existed in my Nightmare Corridor, it would be really useful. Anyway.
With that kind of atmosphere, the Abyss Corridor playthrough began.
And then Yang Ju-hui screamed her head off.
“Hey! It’s chasing us! Hide! Hide! Hide right now! Kyaaaak!”
She hadn’t been that scared of real ghosts, but the moment a ghost started chasing her in the game, Yang Ju-hui was practically having a seizure.
Jeong Seok was bad at the game. He panicked every time a ghost appeared and died. In real life, he’d gotten scared and tripped every time he encountered a ghost too.
“Hey. It looks easy but it’s actually hard. You’ll see once you try it.”
That’s when Yu Da-hui asked,
“Can… I try playing it once?”
Yu Da-hui playing the game?
Jeong Seok looked at me with an expression that said, What should we do?
I instinctively knew the time had come to see Yu Da-hui’s true worth.