The Baby's Cry

050 – The Baby's Cry #1

The walk home. Yu Da-hee kept trembling.

“What's wrong?”

“Nothing. Isn't it freezing? My shoulders feel heavy too.”

I didn't feel anything like that. Yang Ju-hui looked perfectly fine as well.

“Hey, wanna stop by the convenience store for some cup ramen? Ha Yeong-won, do you have any ramen at home? I was thinking of boiling some when we get there.”

Yang Ju-hui must not have been satisfied with the spaghetti she'd eaten earlier. The calorie burn of a girl who ran so hard on the playground had to be enormous. From the way she talked, it seemed she planned on coming to my place too. With Mom gone, our house had basically become public property. Still, it wasn't a bad thing for me. Things had been quiet these past few days, but I'd run into all kinds of ghosts. Especially when I was alone at home. The “Auntie Ghost,” the “Double Mom,” the “Cockroach.” If we were all together, I felt like even scary things would be a little less terrifying.

With that thought, we bought three packs of instant ramen and headed home. Near Taekwang Villa, I could tell something strange was happening.

━Mweooong-.

━Waeong-.

━Owae-ae.

A bunch of kittens had gathered near our villa, meowing. Yu Da-hee looked slightly excited at the sight.

“Wow! Kittens!”

Yeah. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Kittens. Someone had left bowls of cat food under the telephone poles and cars nearby, and the kittens were having a feast because of it. Yang Ju-hui frowned and snapped.

“Ugh, those crazy cat ladies. Why'd they dump so much cat food around here? No wonder the cockroaches won't leave the villa! Get lost! Shoo! Wack!”

Yang Ju-hui either just hated cats or held a grudge against the cat ladies for making the neighborhood messy as a fellow working-class resident. She chased the kittens away aggressively. They scattered with eerie glowing eyes, occasionally stopping to glare back at her. I suddenly felt an ominous premonition. Cats used to be called yowu—supernatural creatures. What if Yang Ju-hui got cursed by the cats for tormenting them? A cat ghost. Maybe one would haunt her. Of course, Yang Ju-hui acted like she didn't care and strode up the stairs, punching in our door code like she'd done it a hundred times.

Click-.

When the lights came on, a cockroach in the living room scurried away.

“Aaaah!”

I screamed, but Yang Ju-hui shot forward and smacked the cockroach dead with her palm. Damn, she'd been scary like this last time too. She really wasn't afraid of anything.

While Yang Ju-hui washed her bug-squishing hand in the bathroom, Yu Da-hee turned on the water and got ready to cook the ramen. Something about it looked awkward, so I asked.

“Da-hee, do you know how to cook ramen?”

In dramas girls liked, there were always scenes where some chaebol third-generation guy meets a poor girl, tries ramen for the first time, and goes, “I can't believe food this delicious exists!” It probably came from the prejudice that rich people only ate fancy stuff and had never tried ramen. I guess I had a bit of that prejudice too. Would Yu Da-hee, who probably had a personal chef at home, even know how to boil ramen?

Yu Da-hee frowned.

“Yeong-won, you're funny. You think I can't even boil ramen?”

As she said that, her eyes were busy reading the instructions on the back of the ramen packet.

“I said I'd make something delicious for dinner tonight. You just rest, Yeong-won. I'll cook the ramen really well. You'll be shocked at how good it is.”

With her saying that, there was nothing I could do. I went to my room, turned on the computer, and opened the status window.

“Status window.”

979 points. That was great. I'd been wondering what to spend them on all day, and now that I had some breathing room, I decided to use them.

What I was going to do was this.

Consume 500 points!

I'd just raised the shop to level 3. The shop's final level seemed to be 3, since it said “MAX” instead of experience points. Shop max level. Even though I'd spent a huge 500 points, I hoped it was worth it. Without stopping, I decided to unlock a new “locked item.”

To unlock new items like the Treatment Center or Training Ground, you needed to reach shop level 3.

Consume 80P to unlock a locked item.

Mercenary Group? What was this random thing? An item I hadn't even thought of had been ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠unlocked. I checked the description below.

In the Mercenary Group, you can dispatch acquired anomalies.

Dispatching costs 100 points.

Dispatching acquired anomalies? I didn't get the feeling from just reading it. But when I clicked on “Mercenary Group List” and looked at the entries, it clicked.

“Whew, there's a lot.”

It looked like the list of ghosts I'd defeated so far. Seeing the names made all the hardships I'd been through flash before my eyes. I'd really been working hard lately. So how did I dispatch them? I tried clicking on number 7, “Electric Fan Ghost Story.” A message appeared.

Please select a target from the list below.

A fairly familiar list of names appeared before me. It was the same as the player list you could put into the Nightmare Corridor. But what benefit would I get from sending these ghosts to those people? As I wondered what kind of system this was, I suddenly realized I was in the mafia position, fighting against Heroes and Watchers. So this meant sending these ghosts to people I suspected were Heroes or Watchers to sabotage them. Ah. Thinking that way, it made sense in many ways.

“Kyaa!”

A scream came from the living room. It was Yang Ju-hui's voice. I rushed out and saw her looking extremely flustered, wearing a thin sleeveless shirt and dolphin shorts with a towel around her neck, like she'd just finished showering.

“What's wrong! What!”

“Hey! Look at that! What crazy girl boils three packs of ramen and puts in this much water!”

Bubble bubble-.

The pot of boiling water did have a lot in it. Since the noodles hadn't been added yet, if we kept boiling it down it would probably turn out okay.

# # #

“It tastes pretty good.”

Yang Ju-hui honestly admitted that the ramen Yu Da-hee cooked was delicious. Boiling down the broth quickly had been the right move after all. Slurp, slurp-.

Anyway, we ate the ramen happily and went to our rooms to prepare for school the next day. A heart-pounding event under the same roof with pretty girls—. I imagined it for a moment, but nothing happened. Yu Da-hee and Yang Ju-hui went into Mom's room to sleep early. Apparently the secret to good skin was going to bed early.

Midnight. I thought it was still a bit early to sleep, so I launched League. I figured I should tell Jeong Seok about the new Mercenary Group system too.

Orthodox Jungler (Hecarim): Nasus – Survival Eternity Top God (Nasus): If you go in there, Eternity Top God (Nasus): You'll die.

Orthodox Jungler (Hecarim): Why go in.

Orthodox Jungler (Hecarim): Why go in.

Orthodox Jungler (Hecarim): Fck why go in.

Eternity Top God (Nasus): That's what top lane is, fighting even when you know you'll die. If you meet an idiot (Garen) you can't stop him no matter what!

“This fcking—”

Thanks to my new trait Strong Heart, my gameplay was getting bolder. The problem was it only got bolder, not better. We lost in the end. Our bot duo completely threw the game. The constantly meowing kittens were a problem too.

━━Meow──.

━Euaeong-.

The kittens. They were really meowing like crazy. Had there always been this many cats crying? Wondering what was going on, I went out to the living room and saw Yang Ju-hui come out looking like she'd just woken up, frowning and scratching the back of her head.

“Hey, Ha Yeong-won. What the fck is with these cats meowing so much.”

“I know. Is Da-hee asleep?”

“Dunno. She wasn't in the room.”

Not in the room? Did she go out to look at the cats because of the meowing? I decided to use the bathroom first and tried to open the door, but it was locked.

“Huh?”

━━─Euaeong-.

And I could hear a strange sound coming from inside the bathroom. Cat meowing from the bathroom?

“Hey, Ju-hui. Don't you hear cat meowing from the bathroom?”

Yang Ju-hui pressed her ear to the bathroom door at my question. Then her body trembled.

“You call that cat meowing? No, this is…”

Whatever it was, it seemed better to open the bathroom door quickly. I tried to find the “bathroom key” around the house, but I couldn't remember where I'd put it. Soon Yang Ju-hui spoke.

“Hey. Move.”

Yang Ju-hui had a knife in her hand. She skillfully slipped the knife into the gap in the door, and with a click the lock came undone.

“That's insane.”

She could pick locks and steal stuff too. Yang Ju-hui was like a fantasy rogue. So cool.

Screee-.

The door opened.

“Huk! It's dark!”

I felt like my breath stopped at the dark inside the bathroom. Of course, Yang Ju-hui casually pressed the light switch.

Flash-!

In the corner of the now-lit bathroom, something was crouched. It was… Yu Da-hee!

“Da… Da-hee. What are you doing there?”

I asked carefully. Then Yu Da-hee whipped her head around, looked at us, opened her mouth, and—

“Euaaeong-.”

—made a cat-like cry! A chill ran from my toes to the top of my head and I almost fainted.

“Hey! Yang Ju-hui! You tormented the cats so you got cursed by them! It's a cat ghost! Fck! Cat ghost!”

Yu Da-hee must have been possessed by a cat ghost! I was about to foam at the mouth when Yang Ju-hui offered a different opinion.

“Hey. What do you mean cat sound. Listen carefully.”

“Euaeong- euaaeae, eungaeaeae-.”

“See. That's not a cat, that's a baby crying. I heard the same sound when we left the church earlier.”

“……”

Now that she mentioned it, she was right. I'd thought it was cat meowing, but listening closely, it was a baby crying, not a cat. I remembered that cat meows and baby cries had similar wavelengths or something. But a baby? Why a baby? Suddenly? Even scarier. Fck. Maybe a cat would've been better! Just say it's a cat!

“Did a baby ghost enter Da-hee's body right now? What is this? What the hell?”

I grabbed Yang Ju-hui's arm and pulled, almost begging. Of course, Yang Ju-hui didn't know either.

“How would I know. Ah, let go. Seriously. Should I just beat the crap out of her? Wouldn't beating her work?”

Yang Ju-hui looked like she wanted to hit Yu Da-hee hard. Would hitting her exorcise the baby ghost possessing her? Honestly, I wasn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sure. I wondered if the Treatment Center could remove Yu Da-hee's Possession quirk, but since she hadn't done Corridor runs, all her entries were still question marks. In this state, the quirk couldn't be treated either.

“Eungaeae, eungaeaeaeae-.”

Yu Da-hee making baby sounds. It was incredibly creepy and I wanted to run out of this place.

“This crazy bitch! She's really losing it! Seriously!”

Whoosh-!

Yang Ju-hui charged at Yu Da-hee crouched in the bathroom. She started punching her body wildly!

Thud, thud thud-!

But it didn't work. Yu Da-hee cried even louder.

━━──!

It was almost a scream. I had no choice but to cover my ears, and Yang Ju-hui had no choice but to back away hesitantly. What should we do about this? Suddenly a good idea came to me.

“Since it's a baby, maybe if we treat it well it'll pass on? Like giving it milk! Ju-hui! Try something!”

Yang Ju-hui's chest was on the larger side. That meant the baby wouldn't starve to death. Of course, Yang Ju-hui gave me a cold, incredulous look.

“What? Yeong-won, are you insane?”

“No! I'm saying we have to do something!”