Monday Worship #1

My mind was crystal clear, but my body refused to move. It felt like my consciousness had been locked inside the massive prison of my own flesh. This sensation… this was sleep paralysis!

How long had it been since I last experienced this? At first I didn’t think much of it, but as time dragged on, fear began to creep in. I could feel someone’s gaze fixed on me, watching without pause.

Suddenly, the old superstition flashed through my head: if you place a chair by your bedside, a ghost will sit there all night and stare at the sleeping person. What if that story was real…?

I had to wake up right now!

“Hngh!”

With every ounce of strength I could muster, I finally snapped awake. The moment my eyes opened, they met the pair that had been staring at me.

“Da-hee? What are you doing?”

“Watching.”

Yu Da-hee sat in the chair beside my bed, gazing at me. She was already fully dressed in her school uniform.

“Yeong-won. We have to go to school.”

“School?”

My head was still foggy. Only then did I realize today was Monday. The time was seven o’clock. If I got ready at a decent pace, I wouldn’t be late.

“You’re covered in cold sweat. Did you have a nightmare?” Yu Da-hee asked.

Yeah. I really had suffered through a nightmare last night.

Whoa, holy shit! That was an insane amount of points! 540 points was basically five hundred and forty thousand won in cash. I’d earned over half a million won in a single night!

I’d also obtained an item.

Oh! It was basically an inventory expansion that let me start with two tools instead of one! It was a lower-tier version of Yang Ju-hui’s Tool User trait, but still—this was huge!

For a brief moment, joy flooded through me. Then the next message appeared and instantly cooled my excitement.

Death.

I had only just woken up and my mind was still hazy, yet Yang Ju-hui’s death came back to me with perfect clarity. We had entered the Nightmare Corridor. We used the talisman we found underground to send Jeong Seok back out. Yang Ju-hui had been killed by an unidentified ghost. And somehow, I had managed to escape.

Everything was coming back in vivid detail.

“……”

I looked at Yu Da-hee, who was sitting in the chair and swinging her legs back and forth. Last night, we had met her inside the corridor. In my case, I had even witnessed her being horrifically devoured alive.

“What?”

Yet Yu Da-hee tilted her head with an innocent expression, as if she knew nothing about any of it. She looked so pure and harmless.

Was it real? Could she truly be that innocent?

I asked her, “Da-hee, did you have any dreams last night?”

“Dreams?”

“Just wondering. I heard a lot of people have nightmares when they sleep at my house. I wanted to check if you were okay. You didn’t have any bad dreams, right?”

“Hmm… I don’t think so. I don’t remember dreaming at all. I slept really well.”

Was she lying? Or was she telling the truth?

I thought I had learned a lot about Yu Da-hee during this run of the Nightmare Corridor, but she was still full of question marks. For now, I decided to wash up.

While Yu Da-hee was out of sight, I used the treatment center to remove Yang Ju-hui’s Quirk.

My current points sat at 978P. It was an enormous number. Even though I hadn’t eaten breakfast, I felt strangely full. There were so many things I could do with this much.

I could upgrade the shop, copy my own traits, or buy a ton of items.

It said I needed to raise the shop to level 3 to unlock new items. I was incredibly curious about what would be freed from the lock this time. The line about opening the second floor of the old building also weighed heavily on my mind.

I currently had 947 points. If I wanted, I could open the second floor right now. Not long ago ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I would have thought spending that many points was ridiculous, but things were different now. I knew that each floor had a special statue, and each statue guaranteed an escape talisman.

Right now I could only access the basement first floor and the ground first floor—two statues, two talismans. Opening the second floor would give me one more talisman. That meant up to three people could escape.

“I’ll have to think about this.”

After washing my hair and face, I stepped out of the bathroom. Yu Da-hee stared at me with wide, sparkling eyes.

“What?”

“It’s my first time seeing a guy wash up.”

I guess that made sense. The situation suddenly felt like we were living together, and it made me a little embarrassed. Then I remembered she had run away from home. What exactly was she planning to do from now on? Was she really going to sleep here again tonight?

Anyway, we headed to school together. I thought walking with a girl wouldn’t be a big deal since I’d done it a few times with Yang Ju-hui, but walking beside Yu Da-hee felt awkward and embarrassing in every possible way.

“Yeong-won! Look! A cat!”

Yu Da-hee acted like a grade-schooler experiencing her very first commute; everything seemed new and exciting to her. Because she drew so many stares, I ended up feeling embarrassed on her behalf.

“Da-hee, we’ll be late if we don’t hurry.”

“Really? I didn’t know. I’ve always taken the car to school, so this is my first time walking!”

Now that she mentioned it, I remembered. After something happened to her in sixth grade, she had been driven to and from school every day. She’d said it was the summer of sixth grade.

The thought of summer made the air feel hotter already. I suddenly grew curious. What exactly had happened to Yu Da-hee that summer? Could the “dreams” she experienced ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠be connected to that event?

“Ouch.”

Yu Da-hee suddenly stopped walking. The flip-flops I’d lent her must have been uncomfortable.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine. Anyway, we’re almost at school. Oh! I just remembered—I’m on duty today! Yeong-won, I’ll go on ahead! See you tonight! I’ll cook something delicious for us!”

With that, she dashed off at surprising speed.

See you tonight? Cook something delicious? Did that mean she was planning to sleep over again?

“Did you hear that? She said she’d cook dinner.”

“Whoa. Damn. First-years these days are on another level.”

The students heading to school whispered among themselves as they watched me standing there. It probably looked like Yu Da-hee and I were dating. A strange sense of superiority washed over me. In reality, every single day was packed with terrifying, chilling events.

When I arrived at school with that thought in mind, the athletic field was unusually noisy. I went to see what was going on and found Yang Ju-hui running laps around the track.

“Wow, she’s really fast. Is she a first-year? Did we have someone like that at our school?”

“She might even be faster than Bong Ji-yeon back when she was a promising athlete.”

I wondered why Yang Ju-hui was running laps first thing in the morning, then remembered the mission—or quest—she had received from the training ground.

“Wow.”

When I checked the training ground, her progress was advancing much faster than I expected. While I’d been running around trying to find my missing mother, she must have been working hard. I thought about saying hello but decided against it since she looked busy. I didn’t have the confidence to handle all the eyes that would turn toward her if I approached.

“What the hell. Yang Ju-hui, that bitch. So annoying. Tsk.”

Among the crowd, I spotted Bong Ji-yeon. She was openly scowling at Yang Ju-hui as she ran. Come to think of it, Jeong Seok had mentioned that Bong Ji-yeon used to be a track athlete.

I headed into the classroom. It felt like ages since I’d last been here. Between searching for Mom and everything else, I really hadn’t attended a proper class in days.

“Hey, Ha Yeong-won. Good timing.”

Jeong Seok approached me as if he’d been waiting. He held out a notebook.

“This is the assignment Kang Ha-neul ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠gave us before. I wrote everything down carefully.”

An assignment? Out of nowhere?

When I opened it, I saw incredibly neat handwriting.

Right. I had told him to write down everything he remembered the moment he woke up. It looked like Jeong Seok had recorded every detail in proper report format, just as I’d asked. He looked a bit tired—maybe from staying up all night writing, or maybe from the nightmare itself.

“Nice work, Seok. I made it back alive last night too.”

“What? No fucking way—how?”

Swearing? Yeah, I probably would have cursed too if our positions were reversed. A friend I’d been sure was dead had come back alive.

“Ju-hui died. I survived. I found the talisman on the first-floor statue and escaped. Da-hee helped me. I also figured out the identity of the third ghost, more or less. It’s a long story if I go into detail.”

“Dude, I’m so glad you remember everything!”

Jeong Seok looked like he wanted to hug me and jump around in celebration. But we couldn’t talk too openly here. It would be better to continue the conversation through chat.

“Seok, I’ll show Ju-hui the stuff written in this notebook.”

“Sure. Oh, and remember the note we found underground? It said something about burying an object at the rocky area on Gaeryong Mountain. How about we go check it out this weekend?”

Was that a good idea? We desperately needed every hint and clue we could get, so accepting seemed fine.

“Let’s ask Ju-hui for her schedule too. Without her we’re just a bunch of amateurs. If the two of us go up the mountain and mess something up, it’ll be a disaster.”

“True.”

That was how the day began.

Today’s tasks were to spend the points I had over 900P and hold a “Pirate Crew Meeting.” Also…

My phone buzzed.

Right. I’d almost forgotten about the Monday service at Yeonggwang Church.

During lunch, Yang Ju-hui stormed into the classroom.

“Hey! Ha Yeong-won! Jeong Seok! You two, get out behind the old building right now!”

She growled like an angry beast. The rest of the class trembled.

“Yang Ju-hui was acting so quiet lately. Guess it’s starting again.”

“I get Yeong-won, but even the vice class president?”

Anyone listening would think we were being called out to get shaken down. Soon Jeong So-jin exploded.

“Hey! Yang Ju-hui! I told you if you keep doing this I’m going straight to the principal!”

“What? I just wanted to grab some bread from the store with them.”

Yang Ju-hui shrugged indifferently. Then Jeong So-jin turned to me.

“Yeong-won. Is she bullying you again?”

“No, So-jin. We’re really just going to buy bread together.”

Jeong So-jin looked at me with pity in her eyes. I felt like dying. Back when I was actually being bullied, everyone ignored it. Why were they acting like this now…! So damn annoying.

Anyway, we headed behind the old building. Even in broad daylight the place felt eerie. Not long ago it used to be packed with kids smoking, but ever since teachers started patrolling regularly, no one came here anymore.

“Fuck, you’re saying I died?”

Yang Ju-hui scowled fiercely. She still couldn’t believe she had died. Jeong Seok asked,

“What did you mean when you said Da-hee helped you?”

“Exactly what I said. Seriously, even thinking about it again gives me chills.”

I explained everything from start to finish. After listening, Jeong Seok asked another question.

“So Da-hee died too. Did you ask if she remembers what happened last night?”

“I asked her the moment I woke up. She said she didn’t remember anything. When I looked at her face, it didn’t seem like she was lying.”

Jeong Seok rested his chin on his hand and hummed thoughtfully. Yang Ju-hui chimed in,

“How can you ask her something like that right after waking up? Did you sleep with Da-hee last night or something?”