Corridor Conquest #1
You could enter the Nightmare Corridor while carrying items. The Princess Magic Wand that Yang Ju-hui had acquired in the real world was listed among her held tools.
A very sturdy toy. Through a special command, it can create a barrier that denies entry to horrors.
“Interesting.”
Normally you could only carry one item per person, but Yang Ju-hui had the Tool User trait.
Tool User: You can enter the corridor while carrying up to three tools. Tool durability increases by 1.5 times.
Right now Yang Ju-hui held four items: the Eternal Cutter Knife, Zippo Lighter, Multipurpose Room Key, and Princess Magic Wand. She could start with three of them. Which meant she had to leave one behind.
In situations like this, it was best to start with the absolute must-haves.
“The cutter knife is non-negotiable.”
We’d survived several times thanks to Yang Ju-hui’s cutter knife. The Eternal Cutter Knife was basically an extra life.
“The magic wand sounds amazing from the description alone.”
A barrier that kept horrors from entering. I knew better than anyone how vital safe zones were in the Nightmare Corridor. Being able to create one at will was another extra life.
“That leaves the lighter and the key…”
The Zippo Lighter’s description read like this.
An ordinary lighter. Its light is dimmer than a lantern’s, but the chance of being spotted by horrors is lower. The gas somehow lasts forever.
An infinite light source. It wasn’t as bright as my flashlight, but that also meant a smaller chance of the light being noticed. Plus, while my flashlight was limited by batteries, this lighter’s flame was unlimited.
“Pretty nice item.”
The last one besides the lighter was the Multipurpose Room Key.
A key that leads to the multipurpose room. It doesn’t appear to have any other use.
It was literally just a key to the multipurpose room. An item with no other purpose. By that logic, leaving the key behind seemed correct.
But what if we ended up needing that multipurpose room key? I’d regret it like crazy.
Key or lighter. My head felt like it was about to split open. Logically the lighter made more sense. In that case, should I equip Jeong Seok with the Multipurpose Room Key for now?
Jeong Seok’s character sheet wasn’t entirely covered in “???”. It was probably because he hadn’t even cleared the Nightmare Corridor once yet. Still, I could equip him with items.
Now it was my turn. I had three items of my own.
A pen that remains clearly visible even in darkness. Marks made with this pen will never disappear unless the cap’s eraser is used.
A battery-powered flashlight. Brighter than expected, but the chance of being spotted by horrors is high.
A detailed map of the old school building’s first floor. It looks like someone drew it with clumsy, earnest hand sketches. With this, we might be able to reach deeper areas. But… who on earth drew something like this?
Unlike Yang Ju-hui, I didn’t have the Tool User trait, so I could only bring one of the three. What a shame. The pen, the lantern, or the map—they were all excellent items.
The glow pen would be useful for marking things. But if I asked whether it was absolutely necessary for survival… probably not.
What about the flashlight then? The Nightmare Corridor was so dark that without a light source you couldn’t even see your own hands. Having a flashlight would obviously speed up exploration.
“But the map…”
The map Jeong Sojin had obtained. This was the first time I’d seen it too. Still, its potential looked tremendous at a glance.
“If the only goal was to survive inside the corridor… I would have taken the flashlight.”
But now it was time for conquest, not mere survival. After weighing everything, I decided to bring the map.
“Good.”
This should be enough preparation. I currently had 538 points. Even if all four of us entered the Nightmare Corridor, wiped out, and each gained a Quirk, treating those Quirks at the clinic would only cost 100P each. After spending 400 points I’d still have 138 left.
“This should be fine.”
I checked the player list once more, then dragged each name and assigned them as corridor explorers.
…….
When I came to my senses, I was lying in a pitch-black, bone-chilling corridor. It was so dark I could only tell it was some kind of hallway. The windows that faintly leaked light were completely boarded up with nailed planks.
“Damn it. I should’ve brought the flashlight.”
If I’d chosen the flashlight instead of the map, I might have been able to see something. I immediately regretted my choice, but spilled milk couldn’t be put back in the carton.
I rummaged in my pocket and pulled out a tightly rolled piece of paper. The map. It seemed any items prepared beforehand automatically appeared in your pocket when the corridor run began.
“Too dark to read.”
After confirming the map, I stayed still and listened carefully to my surroundings. Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any ghosts nearby.
As far as I remembered, there were three ghosts on the first floor of this corridor.
One was the shaman ghost known as Bell Girl. She wandered around making a constant jingle-jingle sound. Since she had no eyes, I suspected she had visual limitations.
The second was the Hair Ghost. It scattered its hair like spider silk; it wouldn’t react to noise until you stepped on the strands.
And the third was the ??? Ghost. Its identity was still unknown. Whatever it was, caution was the only option.
So what I needed to do now was obvious: link up with my friends who had entered as players.
Where could I meet them? I’d already told them that Class 1-4 was a safe zone. If my guess was right, the clever Jeong Seok would have noticed the existence of a rendezvous point and would most likely be waiting in 1-4.
First, link up with Jeong Seok.
I walked down the corridor with that thought in mind, but something felt off.
“What the…?”
It was too dark to make out details, but I could tell for certain. The corridor was different from last time.
Teachers’ Office.
After wandering for a while, I spotted the first-year teachers’ office. A small light was on inside, so I could identify it.
Rattle. Clack.
The teachers’ office door was locked tight with a heavy padlock. Last time I came, hadn’t the door been open?
And there should have been a multipurpose room nearby. But the multipurpose room that was supposed to be there was nowhere in sight.
“…It changed.”
The Nightmare Corridor. The layout of the first floor was different from what I remembered.
What was going on? Did the fact that this place was built on dreams cause it to shift?
Come to think of it, the game Abyss Corridor also rearranged its layout and item placements every run. That was why every playthrough felt fresh.
Who would have thought the real Nightmare Corridor would randomly shuffle its map too…
The silver lining was that I had the map.
Flip.
When I held the map up to the light leaking from the teachers’ office, a crayon sketch that looked like it had been drawn in a notebook appeared. It was a genuine map. And it definitely showed the first floor’s layout. The walls and corners near the teachers’ office and the completely blocked bathroom were proof.
My hypothesis was that the corridor’s structure changed with every entry. Then what about the map?
“…Does the map update every time the corridor changes?”
I had no idea. The important thing was that I’d located Class 1-4. Luckily it was nearby.
I headed toward 1-4, the place that had once been a safe zone.
Slide—.
When I opened the door to Class 1-4 and stepped inside, the shadows inside rustled as if startled.
“Wh-who is it!”
It was Jeong Seok’s voice. Just as I’d predicted, the guy was waiting inside the safe zone 1-4.
“Hey. Jeong Seok. It’s me, Ha Yeong-won.”
“Prove it!”
“Top laner. Nasus one-trick. Jeong Seok, you have a fetish for secretly crushing on Bong Ji-yeon while getting bullied by the delinquent girl, right? You only told me that.”
“Oh. The fetish part is bullshit, but it really is Ha Yeong-won.”
Jeong Seok slowly approached me. Class 1-4 was dark, but once we got close we could make out each other’s faces.
“Hey, Ha Yeong-won. I opened my eyes and suddenly I was in a place like this. This is what you were talking about, isn’t it? That Nightmare Corridor thing.”
“Yeah. Looks like you remembered what I said. You were waiting in 1-4 after all. This place seems to be protected by all these talismans plastered everywhere—ghosts can’t get in.”
“I figured you’d come here. But are you sure ghosts really can’t enter?”
When he asked for certainty, I couldn’t say I was one hundred percent confident. After all, Yang Ju-hui had died while inside 1-4 last time.
“First let’s find Ju-hui. She should be somewhere nearby.”
Yang Ju-hui had a lighter to illuminate her surroundings. She also had her knife and the magic wand, so she probably hadn’t been taken down by a ghost yet.
Jeong Seok said, “This is a dream, right? Even though I know it’s a dream, how can it feel this vivid? It feels exactly like real life. It even hurts when I pinch myself. Is this seriously a dream?”
It seemed Jeong Seok still couldn’t accept that what we were experiencing wasn’t reality but a nightmare.
“They say dreams keep getting more sophisticated so people won’t realize they’re dreaming. There’s that story, right? Someone realizes they’re in a dream at school and says ‘Oh, this is a dream,’ and then all the kids in class go silent and just stare at them.”
“……”
“After that, the dreams became so detailed that you could no longer tell you were dreaming. Have you heard that one, Ha Yeong-won?”
“Never heard it. You always start telling scary stories whenever you’re scared. Dude, it’s already terrifying enough in here. That kind of story just gives me goosebumps.”
Jeong Seok had a strange defense mechanism. Whenever he felt fear, he would compulsively tell scary stories. Maybe he was trying to control external terror by generating his own? I didn’t know. I wasn’t a psychologist.
“Anyway. I’m going to call for Yang Ju-hui now.”
“Call for her?”
Jeong Seok looked puzzled. I pointed at the talismans covering the walls of 1-4.
“Ghosts can’t enter this classroom. So it should be safe to make noise in here. That’s why I’m going to shout for her.”
Of course there was the risk factor of the ??? Ghost, but the benefit of linking up with Yang Ju-hui quickly seemed much greater.
Slide—.
I opened the classroom door and yelled.
“Yang Ju-hui! Come to Class 4! You have the lighter, right? Shine the light and head this way!”
Thanks to the stamina I’d developed with Strong Heart and the lung capacity from Breath Holding, my voice rang out far louder than I’d expected.
Now, what would happen…?
As I was thinking that, I heard rapid footsteps—tap tap tap—coming from far down the corridor.
“Yang Ju-hui?”
Was it her? I looked down the hallway with hope and anticipation, but I had no choice but to admit my prediction had been completely wrong.
The person running toward us was Yu Da-hee.
“Guys!”
Yu Da-hee sprinted over to 1-4, panting hard. Jeong Seok looked slightly flustered at the sight.
“Huh? It’s Da-hee. Ha Yeong-won… you brought Da-hee too?”
“……”
No. I had only selected three people this time: me, Jeong Seok, and Yang Ju-hui. I had agonized over it but ultimately decided not to bring Yu Da-hee. I hadn’t even explained the Nightmare Corridor to her yet. She wasn’t an official member of the Ha Yeong-won Pirate Crew.
So why was Yu Da-hee inside the Nightmare Corridor? I swear on the heavens that the only players were the three of us!
Yu Da-hee shouted, “Guys! You made too much noise! Get out of there right now! We have to run! We need to leave this place immediately! Hurry up and get out of that classroom!”
Yu Da-hee stood in the corridor yelling at us to come out. Her urgent tone was obvious, but it also felt suspicious. Why was she telling us to leave?
A chill ran down my spine. At that moment, an eerie shiver crawled across my back. A classmate who shouldn’t be here. Could the identity of the third ghost, ???, be…!?
“…Da-hee. Sorry, but could you come inside Class 4 for a second?”