Suicide Squad #1
When Kang Ba-da asked me for any and all information about the high school girl Yu Da-hee, I honestly thought he was just some perverted old man with a thing for pretty schoolgirls. With that scruffy artist beard and a face that screamed creep, it was an easy assumption to make. But after everything I learned today, I’m almost certain Kang Ba-da is actually her father.
Of course, that was just my guess. Still, if it turned out to be true, it could become a vital joker card in my hand. Uncle Kang Ba-da seemed to know a lot of things. Maybe I could use Yu Da-hee as an excuse to squeeze even more information out of him. After all, I still hadn’t figured out the exact meaning behind “Beware the Sky.”
That was when Jeong Seok asked, “By the way, ma’am. The chairman’s surname is Cheon, so why is his daughter named Yu In-na? Their family names are different…”
It was an extremely natural question. I was feeling a bit curious myself when Mom added an explanation.
“That’s because she wasn’t his biological daughter. The chairman liked taking in orphans who had no parents. The Yeongji Foundation runs a ton of orphanages, you know. Collecting orphans was basically his hobby.”
“Collecting… orphans.” Jeong Seok nodded with a subtle expression, as if he understood. But I couldn’t wrap my head around it. What was this, some kind of gacha mobile game? Collecting orphans? According to the advice from the Clumsy Clock, every event had a cause and effect. There had to be multiple reasons why the chairman started gathering orphans.
Mom continued, “So, Yeong-won. Ba-da told me you visited the chairman’s house recently?”
I had hidden the fact that I’d met the chairman from Mom. I didn’t want to worry her with any of this. But it seemed she had already heard about it through the adults’ network. Suddenly, I remembered that Mom had worked as a housekeeper at the chairman’s mansion for ten years. That meant there was a high chance the chairman knew quite a bit about her.
“Did the chairman ask you anything strange?”
“Strange?” I didn’t recall anything like that. When I shook my head, Mom simply said, “Then never mind,” and went into her room.
Anyway, today was the day we would enter the Nightmare Corridor again. I also had a rather in-depth conversation with Jeong Seok.
“You’ve stacked up a ton of points, right? How about we try opening the second floor?”
Jeong Seok suggested opening the second floor of the corridor. Since we had already figured out the new escape talisman on the first floor and even identified the third ghost, he probably thought it was time to head up and uncover more secrets.
Welcome to the Level 3 Shop. Our store offers a variety of items that will aid heroes in battle.
Raising the shop level will unlock additional products and apply discounts.
Shop Level 3 (Lv MAX)
1. Trait Draw Ticket - 80P
2. Capsule Draw Ticket - 80P
3. Unlock Locked Entry - 80P
4. Open Old Building 2nd Floor – 800P
The points required to open the second floor were 800P. I currently had 950P. Even after opening the second floor, I would still have 150P left, so I had a decent buffer. Still, 800P was a huge sum. In real money, that was like eight million won. For someone like me who lived in a roach-infested house because we were poor, spending that kind of money in one go naturally made me hesitate.
Besides, we still had no idea what would happen once we opened the second floor. But even after considering all of that, opening it felt like a gamble worth taking. There might be something there that could dramatically change our lives. There could even be a clue about Yang Ju-hui’s older sister, Yang Do-hui.
“Lately, the corridor’s progress rate hasn’t gone above twenty percent.”
Maybe we had already exhausted most of the first-floor content in the Nightmare Corridor. After thinking it over for a long time, I reached a decision.
“Let’s finish exploring the first floor today and open the second floor next time.”
I still didn’t fully understand the first floor. Opening the second floor recklessly could lead to who-knows-what. So I decided it would be safer to wrap up today’s exploration on the first floor.
“Also, I’ve been thinking… Today, instead of going with you and Ju-hui, I want to take some other people.”
“Other people?” Jeong Seok frowned. “Who? Jeong So-jin?”
“I’m thinking of Hong Miri and Kwon Su-ho for now. Those two are extremely suspicious, so I want to bring them in myself and see what happens.”
There was no need to explain why Hong Miri was suspicious. She had even escaped the nightmare I had thrown her into with surprising ease.
“When people are cornered, their true nature comes out. This might be my chance to discover Teacher Hong Miri’s real identity and worth.”
“That sounds like a good idea, but… Yeong-won, Teacher Hong Miri could be a Watcher or even a Hero. If she finds out you’re the one putting people into the corridor… there’s no telling what might happen. You know that, right?”
Of course I knew. In other words, I was the Game Master. The host who moved the game pieces around on the board. Simply hiding that fact already gave me a massive advantage. I wasn’t reckless enough to reveal it to just anyone.
Anyway, setting aside Teacher Hong Miri’s suspicious behavior, the next target was Kwon Su-ho. The third-generation chaebol heir and superpower user, Kwon Su-ho. A guy who treated women like objects yet still had them lining up for him. I couldn’t accept the existence of someone like that. There had to be some kind of fraud involved.
“What I’m trying to say is that Kwon Su-ho is a bad guy. I need to throw him into the corridor and see with my own eyes what happens. If I can get any useful information out of it, even better.”
“Yeong-won. You know there are only two escape talismans, right?”
I knew. There would be four people entering the corridor today. At least two of them would die. No—if Yu Da-hee barged in like last time, maybe even three would die.
“Yu Da-hee… She’s the problem.”
At 10 p.m., I dialed Yu Da-hee’s number.
Yu Da-hee picked up the phone with more energy than I expected. I said to her, “Da-hee. Are you alone right now?”
“I’m with Baek-seol! Want me to put her on?”
I pictured the fluffy white cat. So she was alone in the mansion after all.
“Da-hee, can you keep everything I’m about to say a secret? It’s really, really important. Can you promise me?”
“A secret?” Yu Da-hee went quiet for a moment, as if thinking it over. I was starting to wonder if I should drop today’s risky plan when she finally spoke.
“Okay. What is it?”
“You’re promising, right? I even got your cat Baek-seol back for you. You can’t break this promise.”
“Puhuhu. What is it? You’re making me nervous and excited.”
Yu Da-hee laughed like an innocent girl. I carefully told her, “Da-hee, we might meet in a dream tonight. If you see me there… can you pretend you don’t know anything today…?”
That should have been enough for her to understand what I was asking. The silence on the other end of the line felt as heavy as a weight on my shoulders.
“Okay. I owe you a huge debt, Yeong-won. Alright!”
She agreed! I lay down on my bed and opened the status window.
Chapter 1. The Nightmare Corridor is beginning.
Please select players from the list below.
You may select up to 4 players.
As I scanned the player list, I noticed a “New” tag next to my own name, Ha Yeong-won. Something must have been added to my inventory. I checked and found it.
◈ A shabby toy ring. However, it may be precious to someone.
◈ If given to someone searching for a lost item, something mysterious might happen…?
The Gem Ring Mom had given me was now in my inventory as an item. Reading the description made several things stand out to me.
“Someone searching for a lost item…”
Suddenly, Kwon Su-ho came to mind. Hadn’t he said he lost his wallet? The reason he called me over today was probably to ask if we had found a wallet on Gu Hye-na’s body. But I didn’t think the “someone searching for a lost item” mentioned here was Kwon Su-ho. There was one other person who came to mind.
It was the Bell Woman—the shaman ghost—who had given us so much trouble on the first floor. The young shaman who was said to have committed suicide at Yeongji High. Her name and identity were probably… Cheon Dae-gon’s adopted daughter, Yu In-na.
Of course, this was just my own speculation. The connections weren’t entirely clear. But when the baby ghost possessed Yu Da-hee and the shaman ghost appeared singing a lullaby, I had felt something was off. And the shaman who committed suicide at school was supposedly the daughter of the shaman who had been the guardian spirit of Gaeryong. So… after the head shaman died suddenly, Cheon Dae-gon adopted her daughter Yu In-na. Then, for some reason, Yu In-na committed suicide at Yeongji High—and became a ghost who still appears.
According to my theory, the shaman ghost is Yu In-na, and Yu In-na is Yu Da-hee’s mother… Does Yu Da-hee know about this? I have no idea. Honestly, all of this could just be my own wild theory. I would probably learn more once I went in today and gathered more information.
Ha Yeong-won, Hong Miri, Kwon Su-ho.
Suicide Squad, let’s go!