The Final Amulet
Do Won-woo said, “Let’s head to the music room.”
“Wow, guessing again?”
“Yeah. I just feel like he’ll be in the music room.”
According to the setting book, the last amulet was in the music room.
“Then let’s go together.”
I headed to the annex with Lee Hyo-seop. The music room was on the upper floor of the annex, so we had to walk a bit further from here.
Throughout the walk, an awkward atmosphere lingered.
I never thought I’d have so many conversations with Lee Hyo-seop this time.
In the novel, Lee Hyo-seop is portrayed as a wise and kind person, a hardworking type. On the surface, he seems gentle, but he has ambition, resilience, and great determination.
In the original story, he climbs up and joins the debut group. Will that happen again?
As I walked with that thought, Lee Hyo-seop spoke up along the way.
“Do Won-woo. You don’t seem to get scared easily.”
“Eh… me?”
“Yeah. Aren’t you afraid? Even if you see a ghost, you’d probably get startled or something, but you’re completely unfazed.”
Did I look too calm? I was trying hard to act scared, but…
“You believe in ghosts?”
“Um… well.”
Ghosts. Honestly, I don’t believe in them. Personally, I think people are scarier than ghosts.
“Honestly, there probably aren’t any, right?”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. If there are real ghosts that can harm us, wouldn’t all the bad people in the world have disappeared?”
After walking for a while, we came to the corridor connecting the main building and the annex. We crossed the corridor and continued our conversation.
“I can tell you a scary story.”
“A scary story?”
“Yeah. It came to mind when you mentioned the music room. It’s a real story that one of the hyungs actually experienced.”
Since I don’t believe in ghosts, it didn’t really pique my interest, but I agreed to listen.
“When I was in my first year of high school, I had a friend in the band club.”
So Lee Hyo-seop began his story.
“That hyung had been basically living in the music room preparing for the festival performance. But the band club members left him sleeping without waking him up, just as a prank. So when he woke up, it was around eight at night or something.”
Wait a second. Eight at night is a bit early for ghosts to appear, isn’t it? I thought it was late, but it was surprisingly late, and I listened silently.
“But he said it felt intense. He felt like there was someone else in the music room besides himself.”
Walking down the dark corridor without any lights, listening to the scary story, I felt the air get a bit heavy, but it wasn’t particularly scary.
“The music room was dark with no lights, so nothing was visible, and being alone made it scary, so the hyung started muttering to himself a lot.”
“Mutters? What did he say?”
“Well, things like, ‘Why didn’t you wake me up and leave?’, ‘I’m annoyed’, ‘I won’t leave you alone’, and he rambled loudly on purpose.”
As I listened to the story while walking, we eventually entered the annex after passing the main building.
“But while muttering, I kept hearing laughter coming from somewhere.”
“…….”
“He probably misheard, so he turned around… There’s a drum in the music room, right? He said a person’s head was floating above the drum.”
…Indeed. It’s developing this way. Up to this point, it was what I expected.
“So when the hyung shouted, the head started rising up with a whoosh.”
“…Um.”
Now only the ending is left. I became curious about how this story would end.
“And now, an arm is visible next to the head, and it seems like something is in its hand.”
Something in its hand?
“What is it?”
“A guitar.”
“Eh?”
I was bewildered by the unexpected development.
“The man hiding behind the drum started running with the guitar.”
Wait. So it’s not a ghost?
“…A person?”
“Yeah, a night stalker who sneaked into the school was hiding in the music room with him.”
“I thought it was a ghost story.”
“Ah, Do Won-woo, you don’t seem scared of ghosts, so I told you a person story.”
Haa…
This is a bit scary.
I wasn’t thinking anything special, but after hearing the story, I felt a chill. If it was a ghost story, I could have dismissed it lightly, but because it was a person story, it was different.
Watching the unknown man sleeping, then chasing him with a guitar, the scene started to form in my imagination.
“Scary?”
“…A little.”
“Oh, so you’re scared of this kind of thing.”
After shrugging my shoulders, I continued walking. It didn’t matter. We had a little more to go to the music room, and the game would end soon.
But why? Perhaps because of the aftereffects of the earlier story, a sense of dread was rising.
I suddenly feel sick to my stomach.
“…So what happened?”
“Eh?”
“The hyung. The man with the guitar came running at him, what happened?”
As we were talking, we had reached in front of the music room.
I looked at Lee Hyo-seop’s profile and, without thinking, opened the music room door. And the moment I turned my head.
“……!”
The moment I opened the door, a black figure holding a guitar appeared inside the music room, and the moment I saw it, I screamed in surprise.
“Why, why are you doing that?”
As I leaned my body as if about to fall to my knees, the black figure in the music room came running.
The person standing with the guitar was none other than Lee Hae-won.
“Do Won-woo. It’s me, me.”
“…….”
“You’re startled because of me?”
Lee Hae-won was looking at my face while bending his body, at a loss.
“What were you doing….”
“No, I was looking to see if something was hidden in the guitar hole here.”
Coincidentally, the timing matched perfectly with the story from earlier, so I screamed in surprise. Screaming here was probably the first time.
It wasn’t because I saw someone in a ghost costume, but because I saw Lee Hae-won holding a guitar.
Haa… embarrassing.
Feeling embarrassed, I slightly raised my head, and our eyes met with Lee Hyo-seop.
Lee Hyo-seop had a smile on his face, as if he was holding back laughter while worrying about me.
“The hyung told a scary story for no reason, that’s why this happened.”
“Haha, sorry. I didn’t know either. I didn’t know Hae-won was holding a guitar and doing that in the music room. Anyone would think it’s creepy.”
It was more novel-like than the novel.
“So, you still haven’t found it?”
“Yeah. It wasn’t visible.”
Lee Hae-won put down the guitar he was holding and searched inside the music room again.
“But what story did you hear?”
“No, Lee Hyo-seop hyung told me that a man was chasing with a guitar.”
“What? Not just any, a guitar? But the timing was really perfect.”
Lee Hae-won looked around the teacher’s desk in amazement, and we searched around the instruments and cabinets to find the amulet.
“Is it not here?”
“It seems like it should be….”
“Let’s check other places.”
No matter how much we searched, it didn’t appear, and I was starting to get anxious. At that moment, the drum placed in the corner of the music room caught my eye.
The one place we hadn’t checked at all. It was near that drum.
“…Ah.”
But I couldn’t bring myself to go near the drum recklessly.
Because of the earlier story, the image of a person’s head floating behind the drum kept coming to mind, driving me crazy.
I’m not the type who gets scared of such things normally.
Realistic stories have the effect of amplifying imagination.
Still, I couldn’t just sit still. After taking a deep breath, I approached the drum. Maybe there was a chance the amulet was attached to the back of the drum?
I looked at the drum with high expectations, but nothing was visible.
Is it not here.
As I thought that, I noticed something tied with a string-like thing that looked like paper at the end of the drumstick.
“Hyo-seop hyung.”
“Here.”
When I urged him to untie it, Lee Hyo-seop shook his head.
“You found it, Do Won-woo. Not me, you have to untie it.”
No choice.
After picking up the drumstick and untying it, to my surprise, the amulet was tied there.
In the original, it was hidden between the sheet music, but there was a change. Still, it was fortunate to find it so quickly.
“I found it.”
So, I found the last amulet.
A moment ago, Do Won-woo trainee discovered the amulet. The total number of collected amulets so far is 10.
With this, we had collected all the amulets, and once the exorcism ritual is over, we can escape this horror survival and go to the dormitory.
Finally!
Thinking about resting at the dormitory after work, tears blurred my vision.
Do Won-woo trainee who found the last amulet, please proceed with the exorcism ritual in classroom 4-4.
As I was about to move, suddenly a siren sounded.
“Eh…?”
This was content not in the novel.
From now on, a pursuit will begin. If Do Won-woo trainee safely completes the exorcism ritual by avoiding the ghosts, the trainees’ victory, if not, the ghosts’ victory.
My head was spinning.
Suddenly a pursuit? I hadn’t done tag as a kid?
If I had known this, even if I had to fight, I would have tossed it to Lee Hyo-seop.
“Do Won-woo, you can do it, right?”
“You’d do well.”
At that moment, Lee Hyo-seop and Lee Hae-won were waving their hands as if it was none of their business.
If you win, chicken will be given to all trainees.
The moment I heard that, the two’s eyes changed 180 degrees.
“Do Won-woo. Live.”
“Yeah, make sure to succeed so we can eat chicken. Got it?”
I just wanted to lie down.
* * *
The moment I stepped out the door, I saw a ghost wandering at the end of the corridor.
Trying to pass quietly, I met eyes with the ghost.
“Ah.”
It ran at full speed. I don’t know how, but the speed was insanely fast. Just as I thought I might be caught right away, fear surged.
“Run!”
Thanks to Lee Hyo-seop and Lee Hae-won blocking, I didn’t get caught.
Even in the place where we turned the corner of the corridor, we faced two ghosts, but barely escaped with the help of the other trainees.
It seems the will to eat chicken is quite strong.
Just as we reached near classroom 4-4, we faced a ghost right in front of us.
At this distance, it was just a matter of time before being caught.
Run…!
“Cock-a-doodle.”
At that moment, an unfamiliar voice came from behind.
“Eh?”
Startled by the unexpected sound, I looked at the direction the sound came from, both ghost and I were surprised.
In the back, Na Jae-hyun was raising both arms and one leg, making chicken sounds.
“Cock-a-doodle. Cock-a-doodle. Cock-a-doodle. Cock-a-doodle.”
…What? Why is he doing that?
Could it be to stall for time for me?
More than that, how can he hold that pose for so long? I thought Na Jae-hyun’s core power was amazing, but…
“Cock-a-doodle. Cock-a-doodle. I want chicken. Cock-a-doodle!”
“Puhup.”
Meanwhile, the ghost couldn’t hold back and burst into laughter.
Now.
Taking that gap, I safely entered the classroom.
“…Haa.”
The moment I placed the last amulet on the desk, the lights above my head turned on.
A moment ago, Do Won-woo trainee completed the exorcism ritual. Victory for the trainees.
At the same time the announcement broadcast came, cheers from the trainees echoed from the corridor.