The Ghost's Mansion #3
I left the first floor to the housekeeper and headed up to the second. The cat was nowhere in sight, but I ran into Yang Ju-hui wandering the hallway.
“Yang Ju-hui. Don’t you think the cat ran away because you kept chasing it and bothering it?”
“What the hell did I do!”
In truth, I suspected the cat actually liked her a lot—it had climbed onto her shoulder and shown affection. Maybe it had been rejected, gotten its feelings hurt, and hidden somewhere. As I climbed to the third floor, I glanced back at her on the second-floor corridor.
“Meow. Meow.”
Yang Ju-hui was on her knees, secretly imitating a cat when no one was looking. What a ridiculous girl.
“Hey. You’re really good at that cat impression. You are a cat.”
“I’m seriously going to kill you!”
Yang Ju-hui exploded in anger, clearly embarrassed that I’d caught her meowing. I slipped past her and continued up to the third floor.
Yu Da-hui was there, followed closely by Bong Ji-yeon, who in turn was being subtly tailed by Jeong Seok. I asked Yu Da-hui,
“The housekeeper said she’d look for the cat on the first floor, but she warned us not to go down there after eleven. Is there some reason for that?”
“Hmm… I’m not sure. Where on earth did Baek-seol go? Come to think of it, things have disappeared like this before. The previous housekeeper always found them…”
According to Yu Da-hui’s memory, objects in this mansion frequently went missing—some were found, others never were. Was this place actually haunted? A ghost mansion. The thought sent a chill down my spine as I headed back down to the second floor.
The second floor held the living quarters for the mansion’s staff. They apparently lived on-site, took their meals here, and received a salary. It seemed more like a full-time residential job.
From somewhere came the sound of women chattering. Through a slightly open door I caught glimpses of pretty older girls changing—slipping out of dresses, peeling off stockings.
“So many people today. It’s nice.”
“Right? Da-hui brought all her friends. Weird how life works sometimes.”
“Hey. What are you doing here?”
“Mom!”
Someone suddenly yanked my ear hard. I nearly jumped out of my skin. A cat seeing a cucumber couldn’t have leaped higher. I must have shot two meters into the air, nearly hitting the ceiling.
“I asked what you’re doing here.”
“…Hong Miri, ma’am.”
Hong Miri had appeared behind me without making a single sound, despite wearing incredibly high heels. I had no idea how she managed it. Was it because she was actually a ghost? Come to think of it, the Red Woman I’d met in the Nightmare Corridor had also appeared without any footsteps or presence, snatched Yang Ju-hui, then later did the same to Yu Da-hui. Maybe silent movement was one of Hong Miri’s ghostly abilities.
“You perverted little brat. Were you watching the women change clothes in there?”
“Ma’am, what are you even saying? I’m looking for the cat right now. Please stop accusing and condemning innocent people.”
I had to defend my dignity with everything I had. I passionately explained that Yu Da-hui had lost her cat and that all the students were searching everywhere for it.
Hong Miri narrowed her eyes and stared at me with deep suspicion, but eventually let go of my ear.
“Ha Yeong-won. I feel like I’m being fooled, but I’ll trust you for now. Have any of you seen a cat on the second floor?”
“You mean Baek-seol? No, we haven’t seen it on the second floor~.”
“By the way, who was that? She’s cute.”
“Look at her blushing.”
The housekeeper ladies chattered away. Suddenly I became curious about who exactly these women working in the mansion were.
“Do you all live here?”
“Yeah. We’ve lived here since we were little. Miri and the rest of us are all from the same orphanage.”
“We’re all family.”
“Hahaha!”
The women burst into laughter, and my head started spinning. It seemed the mansion took in children from orphanages who had no parents, trained them, and gave them work. That explained why they all lived and worked here. Because none of them had families to begin with.
Suddenly the photos I’d seen on the elevator’s death floor came to mind. They looked like pictures of children at a kindergarten. But what if it hadn’t been a kindergarten—what if it had been an orphanage?
Hong Miri is an orphanage graduate—. I stored the information carefully in my head.
“Anyway, you’re pretty cute. What’s your name? Miri’s student?”
“Crazy woman. She thinks every young boy she sees is cute.”
“Want some candy, kid?”
The older women’s teasing made me feel like I was being sexually harassed by my seniors. It was embarrassing, but honestly… not entirely unpleasant. Anyway, the housekeeper ladies said they hadn’t seen the cat.
“Now that I think about it, my things disappear a lot too. Like the stockings I left out.”
“I’ve lost so many lipsticks.”
“Didn’t the previous lady always find them? The auntie who worked here before…”
It seemed objects in this mansion really did vanish frequently.
“Do you know why they disappear?”
It might be important information, so I asked. But this time Hong Miri answered.
“There’s a ghost living in this mansion. One that eats curious kids who don’t listen to adults.”
“…….”
When Hong Miri said it, it didn’t sound like a joke at all.
That was when one of the women who liked younger men spoke up.
“What was that auntie’s name again? The housekeeper before the current head lady.”
“Right… what was her name?”
“I can’t remember. What was it?”
None of them could recall the name of the housekeeper who had quit recently. According to Yu Da-hui, she’d only left less than a month ago. Was it really possible to forget someone’s name that quickly? It was a very strange mansion.
With that thought, I accepted a huge pile of candy from the ladies and stepped back into the hallway. The lights had been turned down, making the corridor quite dark. There, holding a lantern, stood the eerie housekeeper.
“You. Stop wandering around and go upstairs to sleep.”
“I have to find the cat. Did you search the entire first floor?”
“I did. It’s not there.”
That was a lie. The first floor was enormous; searching it alone would take at least an hour. There was no way she could have thoroughly checked it in under thirty minutes. She must have just glanced around and made something up.
Suddenly I remembered Yu Da-hui saying this new housekeeper disliked both her and the cat Baek-seol. Maybe this scary woman had gotten rid of the cat somewhere? It was entirely possible.
“Good night, then.”
I pretended to head up to the third floor to shake her off. Once she was out of sight, I quietly crept back down the stairs toward the first floor.
—Meow. Meow.
The timing was perfect—right then, a cat’s cry drifted up from the first floor!
I hurried down. The meowing was coming from what looked like a dark storage room. The place felt unnaturally creepy.
“You think it’s on the first floor?”
Jeong Seok frowned after hearing my story. My suggestion that we all go together since the cat seemed to be on the first floor must have sounded strange to him.
“The housekeeper said she checked and there was no cat. And didn’t she specifically say not to go to the first floor after eleven?”
“That’s exactly why it feels like bullshit. I clearly heard the cat crying from the first floor. Let’s all go down together.”
I decided to summon all my friends. Wandering the first floor alone would be absolutely terrifying, but if we went as a group, I felt like we could overcome any hardship.
Companions. Adventure. Friendship. Wasn’t that the essence of a pirate crew?
With that spirit, we headed down to the first floor. But we ran into a problem.
“Hey. What are you kids doing instead of sleeping? Get back upstairs.”
The housekeeper on night watch—or whatever she was—caught us on the way down. She especially scolded Yu Da-hui.
“Yu Da-hui. Just because you brought friends over, does that mean you can turn the whole house upside down?”
“…But Baek-seol…”
“I’ll just buy you an identical one tomorrow. Problem solved, right?”
She had a very pragmatic way of thinking. With her standing guard, exploring the first floor seemed impossible. It was already close to midnight, and everyone looked tired. We decided to go to bed. There was nothing else we could do.
Then, in the early hours before dawn, I woke up because the unfamiliar bed felt strange.
—Meow. Meow.
The cat’s cries rang loudly in my ears. I stepped carefully into the hallway. The sound was coming from the first floor, below the stairs. As I quietly descended, I saw the housekeeper sitting in the corridor, nodding off.
The cat was crying this loudly and she hadn’t woken up? Thanks to my experiences in the corridor—or perhaps the effect of my Strong Heart trait—I walked down to the first floor with surprising courage.
Following the cries, I arrived at what could only be called a food storage room. Boxes of potatoes, onions, and apples were stacked everywhere. Several fans were running, probably to keep the ingredients fresh.
—Meow.
In the beam of my phone’s flashlight, I caught a glimpse of white fur. It was the cat!
“Baek-seol!”
I called out happily. That was when the problem started.
A long, stiff arm like a dead tree branch suddenly shot out from somewhere and grabbed Baek-seol. The arm must have been two meters long. It dragged the white cat toward a hole in the storage room wall and disappeared inside.
“…….”
I froze on the spot. I couldn’t believe what I’d just seen. The hole was big enough for a large dog to pass through. It was pitch black, and talismans were plastered all around it—though the ones near the hole were torn, their paper strips fluttering.
And from inside the hole, the constant meowing continued.
I jumped in shock.
“Wh-who are you?”
My entire body broke out in goosebumps. Whatever was in that hole was definitely a ghost.
Put my hand in there? Like hell I would. Anyone could see that was a terrible idea.
“Um… is there any other way I can get the cat?”
Trade! Barter! Right, this was a capitalist society. I rummaged through my pockets. They were full of candy the older women had given me.
“H-here.”
When I held out the candy, an incredibly thin, bony hand stretched nearly two meters out of the hole and snatched it away. The sight was so horrifying I thought I might foam at the mouth.
Thud. Something rolled out of the hole. It was a rolled-up sheet of drawing paper. I picked up a nearby stick and carefully fished it out.
When I unrolled the rubber-banded paper, I found a drawing. It looked like it had been done with crayons. It seemed to depict a woman, and below it were words written in clumsy handwriting.
Thank you, Aunt Ha Chae-yeon
Ha Chae-yeon. That was the same name as my mom.
“Who is this Ha Chae-yeon in the picture? Do you have more things like this?”
My head? What the hell did it want to do with my head?
“You filthy ghost bastard! Finally showing your true colors!”
I had zero doubt that the thing crouching inside that hole was an evil spirit. At this point, fighting was the only option. I opened my status window and checked the Mercenary Group. I was going to dispatch a ghost.
Placebo Effect.
The ghost I would send against myself was the placebo ghost. Ever since I was little I’d loved dinosaurs, so I imagined a swarm of tiny raptors. Thanks to the placebo effect, I soon heard their ferocious roars.
『Congratulations! You have defeated the ‘Invisible Hand’!』
『Beginning settlement for one survivor.』
『You have obtained 100P.』
The Invisible Hand? Was it Adam Smith’s ghost? No wonder it kept talking about trade.
『Your ‘Placebo Effect’ has ascended. You can no longer dispatch ‘Placebo Effect’ from the Mercenary Group.』
Damn it, my ultimate move—the dinosaur ghost!? Why did it ascend on its own?! So once you dispatch something from the Mercenary Group, the ghost ascends?
—Meow. Meow.
Just then, the cat’s cry came from inside the hole again. I shone my phone light inside. A white ball of fur was moving around in the pitch-black pit. And inside were all sorts of random objects.
I reached in and grabbed a handful. Among the junk, I found a strange photograph.
“This is…”
It looked like a photo taken at a high school entrance ceremony for a male student. It had been shot with an instant camera and developed. The colors had faded quite a bit, suggesting it was old.
“This is my photo.”
It was a picture of me and my mom taken on the day I entered Yeongji High. Why was a photo my mom had taken here?