Monday Worship #2
"Yu Dahee is seriously out of her mind. How could she just decide to crash at some guy's house after running away from home?"
Yang Ju-hui clicked her tongue after learning that Yu Dahee had spent the night at our place. To anyone else, it must have sounded completely absurd. Thinking about it, she was right. A rich, beautiful girl from the wealthiest family asking to stay over at our house was the kind of thing that almost never happened. Lately, I'd been dealing with ghosts, murder cases, and disappearances so often that my threshold for what counted as "unusual" or "unreal" had risen quite a bit.
"She said she might stay over again tonight. Until my mom gets discharged, we might have to let her sleep here."
Yu Dahee didn't remember what had happened inside the Nightmare Corridor yesterday. Still, something between us had clearly shifted toward something warmer—something I could call "closeness." We were close enough to be honest with each other now.
"Why did she give me the last talisman?"
She could have kept the one from the first-floor statue and escaped on her own. Instead, she handed it to me. She even offered herself as bait to the third ghost and died for it. Thanks to her, I was able to retrieve the talisman and get out. Her last words to that horrifying red woman still bothered me. I couldn't make them out clearly, but…
Ding-dong-dang-dong—
Before I knew it, lunch break was over while we chatted. As we headed back to class, Jeong Seok spoke as if he had something to suggest.
"The more information we gather, the more it seems like there are things we can't handle on our own. There might be times when we need help from the adults around us."
"Hmm…"
"Yeong-won. What do you think about finding trustworthy adults?"
"Adults, huh."
Most adults were liars. Could the words "trustworthy" and "adult" even exist in the same sentence? Hong Miri was the perfect example.
"Hong Miri. The third ghost was probably the English teacher, Hong Miri."
"What? Is that true? Teacher Hong Miri?"
Everyone looked skeptical. I hadn't believed it myself until I saw the evidence. But the clear scar across the red woman's neck and the butterfly-shaped mark on her face were undeniable proof.
Looking back, the English teacher Hong Miri's behavior had always been suspicious.
"When she bought me that gukbap, I got this weird feeling and left first. I felt like someone was following me. If I hadn't run into Yu Dahee then, I don't know what would've happened."
While we were eating, the English teacher had asked about Kim Geon-ho's well-being.
"You were close with Kim Geon-ho, right? Do you know why he hasn't been coming to school lately? He seemed a bit off after staying out overnight at the old building. Did he say anything? Like… ghost stories?"
"Ghost… stories?"
"You know, that red mask that appears on the streets at night. Don't kids these days know about the red mask? A red mask, high heels, a trench coat… mouth torn wide open. The red mask."
At the time, I hadn't thought much of it. But she had clearly been talking about herself! According to my reasoning, Kim Geon-ho had been killed by the third ghost in the Nightmare Corridor! He hadn't come to school since! That's why Hong Miri had been fishing for information about him by mentioning the red mask!
This crazy bitch!
The pieces were falling into place perfectly. It was chilling.
Jeong Seok still looked confused.
"So you're saying Teacher Hong Miri is a ghost? She didn't look like one… Could she be connected to the 'Twin Experiment' documents we found in the elevator?"
I didn't know. I wanted to find out. I also needed to figure out how to deal with Teacher Hong Miri from now on.
# # #
After experiencing ghosts and disappearances, you'd think I'd start cherishing everyday life more. But school classes were still just as boring.
"Alright, everyone head home now."
It was 3 p.m. Classes at Yeongji High seemed to be getting shorter every day, probably because of the rough neighborhood. I headed straight for the library. Part of me hoped I might run into Yu Dahee, and I also wanted more information about Gaeryong City and Yeongji High.
Instead of Yu Dahee, I found Teacher Kang Haneul in the library.
"Teacher. It's been a while."
"Yeong-won. How's your mother? Is she doing okay?"
"She's fine. She'll be discharged soon."
"That's great!"
Teacher Kang Haneul looked genuinely happy, as if it were her own good news. Jeong Seok's question about finding trustworthy adults suddenly came to mind. If there was any adult I could trust, it would probably be her. But… hadn't her life gotten tangled up in something complicated because of the "Auntie Ghost" incident? I suddenly felt curious.
"How about you, Teacher? Are you getting along with the apartment residents now? Things got pretty chaotic because of me last time, with the police showing up and all."
"Oh, don't even mention it. I thought I was going to die trying to clear up the misunderstanding!"
Right. Dragging Teacher Kang Haneul—who had only just returned to normal life—into our ghost-filled party would be a terrible thing to do. She probably wouldn't even believe us. Still, I was in over my head. The more allies we had, the better. Having an adult in the party might expand our options and range of activities. We could even go to a PC bang at night with parental consent. But… this was something I needed to think about carefully from multiple angles.
I left the library without finding anything useful and headed out of school. Since the topic had come up, I figured I might as well visit my mom. As I approached her hospital room, I heard laughter coming from inside.
—Back then, I was like—!
It was a man's voice. Not the doctor.
Creak—
When I opened the door, I saw a man with messy hair and stubble on his chin and jaw chatting with my mom. Who was this? I'd never seen him before.
"Oh, Yeong-won's here! Hey, that's my son, Ha Yeong-won."
Mom introduced me. I couldn't help but look at the man with a mix of tension and wariness. He walked over and placed his hand on my head.
"Whoa. I can't believe it. If someone said they had a son your age, who'd believe them? You still look like an unmarried young lady."
He reeked of cigarettes. Just standing near him felt like it could give me cancer. A walking carcinogen!
"Who are you, mister?"
"Your mom never told you about me? I'm your mom's ex-boyfriend."
Mom's ex-boyfriend? It felt like some past I never wanted to know about was swirling right in front of me. Mom, still sitting on the bed, burst out laughing.
"What nonsense is that? Ba-da, you were my lackey."
"—I wish I had been. If I'd succeeded in dating your mom, you might've been my son. Ha Yeong-won. Nice to meet you."
Swish—
The man held out his hand. I shook it cautiously and felt him grip mine tightly. Though his eyes had been relaxed and carefree a moment ago, they now looked down at me with sharp intensity.
"You look alike. You really do. You're the spitting image."
"Of course he looks like me. He's my son."
The atmosphere was hard to get used to. I decided to ask the man again.
"Who exactly are you?"
"Ha Yeong-won. Have you seen Harry Potter?"
"Huh?"
"There's Professor Snape in it, right? The one who was bullied by James Potter back in school and had his crush, Lily Evans, taken away. That's me. My name's Kang Ba-da."
So the man's name was Kang Ba-da. He looked like a quirky artist, but his name sounded like a woman's. Still… I felt like I'd heard a similar name before.
"Are you related to Teacher Kang Haneul…?"
"Ah, she's my younger sister. You're a student at Yeongji High, right? Do you take her class? She was probably the literature teacher. These days they call it Korean instead of literature, don't they?"
"Oh!"
I remembered hearing that Teacher Kang Haneul had an older brother. The room I'd stayed in at her house had been her brother's room! So this man, Kang Ba-da, was that brother! And he had been friends with my mom back when she was a high school girl! Not just friends—there seemed to be some complicated history there. Mom's dating history! Ugh. That was the last thing I wanted to think deeply about!
"Ah. Want my business card? I may not look like it, but I'm a proper adult in society. Here."
Thud—!
The man handed me a business card. It was all in Japanese, making it hard to read. Since Japanese was my second foreign language, I could make out some of it.
"Sakura…"
"Sakuras Co., President. That's how you read it. It's a decent mid-sized game company."
"A game company?"
"Yeah. We had a pretty big hit. Have you heard of Abyss Corridor? Or New Amnesia or Re:Seal Industry?"
"Oh!"
I knew them! I knew them! Come to think of it, Jeong Seok had mentioned that the president of the company that made Abyss Corridor was Korean! So it was true! But I couldn't just be happy about it. The bearded man in front of me was starting to look even more suspicious. He was like a giant box—its contents unknown.
Just then, Mom asked, "What? Didn't you say you were going to be a novelist?"
"I did. But all the books I wrote flopped. Damn, I guess horror novels aren't something just anyone can write. More importantly… whoa, look at the time—"
Swish—
The man checked the time on an expensive-looking watch. Then he ruffled my hair one more time before striding out of the room. He was a very strange person.
"Mom. What does that guy even do?"
"He's someone who used to like your mom back in the day."
"This is seriously messed up."
"Messed up how? Back when I was in school, I was known as the prettiest girl there. I got at least three confessions a day! Ba-da was one of them. Back then he was so timid, but I guess time changes people—he's turned into quite the smooth adult. Seems like he's made a lot of money too!"
Mom's attitude toward the bearded man seemed surprisingly favorable. What? Was I about to get a stepdad? I was incredibly confused. In a way, this was more mentally exhausting than wandering through corridors full of ghosts and horrible events. Oh, shit… Did this mean I'd become Kang Yeong-won?
Swish—
I examined the business card I'd received from the mysterious man, Kang Ba-da. On the back, I noticed some strange dots and dashes.
.--- . ..-. -.. ...- .--. .- --. ..- --
"What is this?"
It could have just been random scribbles, but after picking up hints from small, seemingly insignificant things before, I found it quite intriguing. I decided to take a photo and send it to Jeong Seok. Whatever it was, he'd probably know. I didn't even need the internet.
When I checked my phone, I saw that I had twenty unread messages.
—Joo Chan-mi: Where are you?
—Joo Chan-mi: Where are you?
—Joo Chan-mi: What do you want to eat?
...
"Oh, shit."
So this was what it was like to be a popular guy. I suddenly remembered that there was a "Monday Worship" service at Yeonggwang Church today.
"Oh, right. Mom, you used to go to Yeonggwang Church, didn't you?"
"Ah. Yeah. I've gotten a lot of help from the pastor there since way back. When we moved to Gaeryong City, he helped us settle in. Even with your school enrollment and stuff."
"Really?"
"Once I'm discharged, we should go thank him."
Ring ring ring—
Just then, my phone rang. It was Yang Ju-hui.
"It's ringing! Is it a girl? Is it Ju-hui? How far have you two gone?"
"Mom, it's not like that. I don't know! I'm going!"
I left the room before things got any more annoying. When I answered, I heard a voice I hadn't expected.
—Yeong-won, where are you?
"Yu Dahee? You called from Yang Ju-hui's phone?"
—We're together right now! Let's have dinner together!
Yu Dahee and Yang Ju-hui were together. This was getting complicated in more ways than one. I had been planning to attend Monday Worship today.
"I'm thinking of going to church today, so I might not be able to eat with you. I might even have dinner with the church noona. You two might have to eat without me…"
Click—
Crash—
After some noise, Yang Ju-hui spoke.
—You were trying to eat with Chan-mi noona, weren't you? Fine. Then I'll contact Chan-mi noona and we'll all eat together. I'll join Monday Worship too.
And so, a very strange dinner was arranged.