Suicide Squad #2
As soon as I opened my eyes, I checked the luxury bag that had fallen near me. The jeweled ring and the map were both safely inside.
“I wish I could have grabbed a lighter or a flashlight.”
I first tried to figure out where I was and scanned my surroundings. There didn’t seem to be any ghosts nearby. Instead, the teachers’ office stood about five meters ahead. I approached cautiously and, by some stroke of luck, found the door unlocked.
Creak—.
Stepping into the teachers’ office eased my tension a little. This place had talismans plastered on it. As long as I didn’t start shouting at the top of my lungs, the odds of a ghost barging in first were extremely low.
“Come on, give me something. Anything at all.”
I rummaged through the office drawers, muttering like I was casting a spell on myself. I could finally empathize with the way Yang Ju-hui felt whenever she farmed for items in a new room. She really had been reliable. Maybe I should have brought her along after all?
No. The number of talismans available right now was exactly two—one from the basement and one from the first floor. Only two people could escape. The people currently in the corridor were me, Hong Miri, Kwon Su-ho, and Yu Da-hee (presumably). Even the plan of me and Yu Da-hee escaping with the talismans was already tight. Adding Yang Ju-hui to the mix would mean one of us—me, Yu Da-hee, or Yang Ju-hui—would be left without a talisman, trapped here, and eventually killed.
More importantly, I remembered that “Yu Da-hee” had been devoured by a ghost and died in this place last time. She must have gained a Quirk. If she failed to escape again… she might die.
I had to secure one escape talisman for Yu Da-hee no matter what.
With that thought in mind, I tore the office apart and managed to find a disposable lighter.
“Lucky me.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Holy shit, you scared the hell out of me! Aaaagh!”
I genuinely jumped several meters into the air from pure shock. This must be what it felt like for your heart to drop straight into your stomach. No exaggeration—I felt like I’d just lost ten years of my life.
Flick—!
I snatched the lighter and ignited it. A pure white face appeared in the flame. A woman with lips so red it looked like she’d been eating rats.
“H-Hong Miri, ma’am?”
“Yeah. You little troublemaker, Ha Yeong-won. What are you doing here?”
When I lowered my gaze, I saw she was wearing high heels. Walking silently in heels… The character sheet for Teacher Hong Miri that I’d memorized flashed through my mind.
Name:Hong Miri
Level:??
Traits:Silent Steps, ???
Alignment:???
Quirk:None
Possessions:None
Silent Steps: While holding your breath, you can completely eliminate any footstep sounds in any situation.
“You really scared me. Jeez, Teacher Hong Miri. I have no idea what’s going on. I just woke up and suddenly I was here… All the windows are blocked, there’s no phone!”
I played the part of a clueless, terrified coward in front of Hong Miri. Acting like a scaredy-cat was something I was confident in.
“You woke up and found yourself here? Haven’t you seen any of the other kids?”
“I don’t know! Teacher! What the hell is happening?! This is the old school building, right? They said we’re not supposed to come in here! Why am I here?! Teacher! I was sleeping at home! Aaaagh!”
“Shh—.”
Teacher Hong Miri clapped a hand over my mouth.
“Kid, keep it down! There are other things here besides us. If you make too much noise, the ghosts will come.”
“G-Ghosts?”
“That’s right.”
“What kind of ghosts? Is it the red mask? I heard some kids say they saw a red mask near the old building…?”
I deliberately asked like I knew nothing. According to my guess, the woman in front of me—Hong Miri—was the actual “red mask.” The man-eating ghost that devoured children.
“It’s not the red mask. There are ghosts here, anyway.”
Hong Miri denied the red mask’s appearance. At that moment, I became certain. Player Hong Miri and Red Mask Hong Miri could not exist at the same time. If Hong Miri existed as a player, the red mask would not appear.
Hong Miri continued, “This is a haunted house full of ghosts. I’ve been guiding kids like you who wandered in by mistake back outside. If you stay quiet, I’ll get you out of here. Understand?”
Teacher Hong Miri’s story sounded surprisingly kind and gentle. Ghost Hong Miri had been the red mask who devoured students, but Player Hong Miri seemed to be on the kinder side. Were they really the same person?
Soon, Teacher Hong Miri tilted her head while looking at me.
“By the way… you’re carrying a bag. What’s inside?”
“Oh, I found this on the floor and picked it up.”
I casually showed her the map. I had hidden the jeweled ring in my pocket just in case.
“A map! We’re in luck! Hey! Nice work! With this, we can get out easily!”
Teacher Hong Miri was overjoyed when she saw the first-floor map I’d brought.
“Let’s head to the broadcast room first!”
“The broadcast room? Why?”
“No time to explain everything. If you want to live, shut up and follow me.”
She really was tough. No wonder the students liked her. Of course, I already knew why she wanted to go to the broadcast room first. There was a hole leading to the basement there. She was probably planning to secure one of the basement talismans.
Jingle, jingle—.
The sound of bells rang out. Hong Miri immediately covered my mouth again.
“It’s a ghost. The one I mentioned. A sentinel. It’s the sentinel ghost that guards this corridor. If you wander around without my permission and get caught, you’re in big trouble.”
So Hong Miri called the bell ghost a sentinel. It guards the corridor… I’d never thought about it that way, but now that she mentioned it, it did seem to fit. A sentinel, huh. Why was the shaman ghost protecting this hallway?
“Where is it, where where where, I can’t see it, where is it, where where is it…”
The shaman ghost was still terrifying. But when I thought of her as Yu Da-hee’s mother, the feeling changed. Come to think of it, when I had summoned a copy of the mother ghost to help Yu Da-hee, who was possessed by a baby ghost, the shaman ghost had appeared then too. I used to think the baby ghost was the shaman’s daughter, but because Yu Da-hee was the daughter, the mother ghost had taken the form of a shaman.
The puzzle pieces were clicking into place.
“G-Ghost!”
Of course, I pretended to know nothing and trembled violently. I briefly considered wetting my pants for authenticity but decided that would be overkill and held back. Fortunately, my acting worked perfectly.
“How can a boy be this much of a coward? Jeez. How did kids like you end up in this old building? This is all because of the Spiritual Water Vein. There’s a powerful Spiritual Water Vein flowing under the school. Sigh.”
She was still going on about the Spiritual Water Vein. Anyway, the sound of the bells faded into the distance, and Teacher Hong Miri opened the office door.
“Let’s go.”
# # #
Thanks to the map, finding the broadcast room wasn’t difficult. The problem was that the “head ghost” was sleeping on the basement statue.
“G-Ghost?! Teacher! There’s a head! Is that a ghost too? Aaaagh!”
I continued acting like a terrified, clueless high schooler. Teacher Hong Miri looked at me with an expression that screamed she found me utterly pathetic.
“I seriously want to leave you behind. Can’t you be quiet? Anyway, see that talisman stuck to the statue over there? With that, one person can escape from this place.”
“Oh…!”
“Just so you know, that one’s mine.”
“…Excuse me?”
“Didn’t you hear? The talisman over there is mine.”
Hong Miri’s expression was quite serious. Claiming the talisman for herself. In a way, it was only natural. Everyone valued their own life. And from our conversation, I could tell that “Player Hong Miri” had no desire to die in this corridor.
Why? Because she would gain a Quirk if she died? Or because she would lose all her memories?
I pretended not to know and asked, “If you take that talisman, Teacher… then how am I supposed to get out?”
“Since I took the talisman from the basement statue, a similar statue should have appeared on the first floor. There’s a talisman on that one too. You can use it to escape.”
“Where… is that statue?”
“I’ll help you find it. Besides, I’m planning to explore a bit more. There might be other students who got trapped here like you. I’ll search around. I can’t leave this place yet. Hehehehe.”
Hong Miri couldn’t hide her laughter here and there. She looked like she was having the time of her life exploring the corridor. She must have wandered these halls endlessly as a ghost. What could possibly be fun about it now?
From what I observed while staying close, it seemed Teacher Hong Miri had no memories of when she was the “red woman.” That meant she didn’t even remember me burning a talisman right in front of her and escaping after she tried to eat Yu Da-hee.
Hypothesis 1: Hong Miri has no memories of her ghost state. …Does that mean she can’t control herself when she becomes a ghost? And she seems extremely happy about exploring this corridor.
“Anyway, wait here quietly. Don’t do anything stupid. Hup.”
Teacher Hong Miri held her breath and approached the basement statue. I wondered if it was okay to step on the head ghost’s hair. That’s when I unexpectedly discovered the principle behind her Silent Steps.
Teacher Hong Miri was floating about three centimeters above the ground! She was walking on air! That’s why her footsteps made no sound! Aerial walking! Naturally, she didn’t step on any of the hair spread across the floor, and she easily obtained the basement talisman.
Shhhshhh—.
The moment she took the talisman, the head ghost began to move. As I watched the head ghost disappear toward the first floor, I pretended to foam at the mouth in terror.
“Th-The head is moving! Teacher, watch out! To the left!”
“Hey. I told you to stop making such a fuss. It’s fine as long as you don’t get too close.”
“Is that… Gu Hye-na? That head… Gu Hye-na’s head… why is it here? Weren’t the police looking for the head? The head…”
“Someone made it like that on purpose. To guard the talisman in this basement. What a sick thing to do. They brutally murdered a girl who had just started high school and turned her into a grudge-filled ghost. Sigh.”
Look who’s talking—she used to swallow high school students whole. I wanted to say it but held my tongue.
“Hey. Coward. Give me a boost.”
On the way back to the broadcast room, Teacher Hong Miri took off her heels, stepped on my shoulders, and climbed up to the first floor. The scene felt strangely familiar. As we continued exploring the first floor with that same feeling—
We discovered a statue in the first-floor girls’ bathroom. But the talisman was gone. Had someone already taken it?
“Teacher. There’s no talisman here.”
“……”
Hong Miri frowned as if she hadn’t expected this either.
“Ha Yeong-won. You said you haven’t seen any other kids, right?”
“Yes.”
In truth, Kwon Su-ho and Yu Da-hee were on this floor. It seemed Yu Da-hee had probably taken the talisman. She was quite experienced with this corridor, after all. Kwon Su-ho might have taken it too. Either way, the talisman was missing. That meant if I wanted to escape, I would have to use Hong Miri’s talisman.
“Hey, Ha Yeong-won. Looks like you can’t escape. In that case, I’ll kill you myself. You won’t remember it anyway.”
“What?”
“Wouldn’t it be better to be strangled by me than to be horribly eaten by a ghost? Then you can escape. You might end up with some mental issues, but there’s no other choice, is there?”
So this was how she was going to play it? She had been pretending to be a kind teacher until now, and suddenly she wanted to kill her own student!
“T-Teacher. It looks like there’s a statue on every floor! The second floor! There might be one on the second floor too!”
I shouted desperately. Hong Miri clicked her tongue.
“We can’t go to the second floor. If I could, do you think I’d be wasting time here with you? Now come here.”
Hong Miri reached out toward me. I dodged her hand and yelled.
“Teacher Hong Miri! Give me the talisman! The talisman! You have one, don’t you?! The talisman that lets you escape this nightmare old school building! You have one! Give it to me!”
Thanks to my Strong Heart and Breath Holding traits boosting my lung capacity, my voice echoed loudly. Of course, Teacher Hong Miri just scoffed.
“Screaming like that will only bring the ghosts running. Come on. I’ll kill you painlessly. They say when you strangle someone, carbon dioxide builds up in the brain and you start seeing hallucinations and feeling good.”
This crazy bitch!
“Aaaagh!”
I kept screaming, and finally a large shadow fell over the girls’ bathroom. The shaman ghost? No—it was a man who looked at least 190cm tall.
“Is it true you can escape from here?”
It was Kwon Su-ho. If Kwon Su-ho was truly a superhuman, he would know I wasn’t lying. He could tell when someone was lying, right? The reason I had been babbling loudly was to call him over. And from the look of it, Kwon Su-ho didn’t have a talisman either.
“Kwon Su-ho, you bastard. You were here too? What the hell is going on?”
“I don’t know either. But Miss Miri, whatever good stuff you have, hand it over. I’m asking nicely.”
Kwon Su-ho and Teacher Hong Miri glared at each other, and tension began to fill the air. If these two started fighting, I would seize the opportunity. That was my plan.