What Am I Supposed to Do Now?
“……I'm sorry.”
Han Yuna had said that three times already.
I glanced to the side.
Han Yuna had been walking right next to me since a moment ago, constantly peeking at my expression.
Normally, the person who would charge ahead with big strides was now right beside me, scrutinizing my face with nervous energy.
Whenever our eyes met, she would look straight ahead as if nothing had happened.
……She must feel really sorry.
Well, yeah.
She had abandoned me because I suspected her of being a ghost, but the new person she met turned out to be a ghost.
At the moment she was about to die to that ghost, the one she had abandoned appeared and saved her.
If I put myself in her shoes, I'd have a hard time looking her in the face too.
“Then do you believe me now?”
“…Yeah.”
“Really?”
Han Yuna nodded without hesitation this time.
“Yeah. I believe you. How could I doubt you?”
“You might be a ghost though?”
“Uh-huh.”
It was obviously a joke.
Given how sorry she was feeling...
But Han Yuna flinched and immediately turned her gaze to the side.
Her reaction was too honest.
“It's a joke.”
“…I know.”
A brief awkward silence followed, and then Han Yuna suddenly spoke up.
“…From now on, I'll definitely protect you.”
“Suddenly?”
“Just…”
Han Yuna glanced at the floor for no reason and said.
“Thanks to you.”
“For what?”
“For saving me. And for believing in me till the end.”
Her voice grew softer toward the end.
……She's really something.
Not long ago, I was the one looking at Han Yuna's every move.
The situation had completely reversed.
Then, suddenly, Han Yuna's gaze naturally drifted toward my hand.
“But how did you get that?”
“Hammer?”
“Yeah.”
Han Yuna looked back and forth between the hammer and me with amazement.
“This is really heavy... but you were swinging it well earlier.”
“Hmm... since you said you don't doubt me.”
“No!”
Han Yuna shook her hands in a fluster.
“Not that!”
“Still suspecting me, huh.”
“No, not at all! It's not that kind of meaning, just that it's amazing!”
Han Yuna quickly added to recover her words.
“Frankly, it's heavy. I'd struggle to swing it for long fights too. But you caught the ghost all by yourself.”
“...That's impressive.”
I looked down at the hammer in my hand.
When I first picked it up, it was surprisingly heavy, but swinging it with all my might wasn't impossible.
When lives are on the line, strength comes easier.
I don't know if I'll hear that it's impressive either way, but I really do feel sorry.
……It seems like I've gained the right to speak, which isn't bad.
Moreover, with such a pretty person right next to me, scrutinizing my every move, it was even more so.
Of course, it was just the feeling.
We decided not to head up to the first floor right away.
At least, it was confirmed that the staff break room on B1 where we had been using was relatively safe.
It would be better to return there, organize the situation, prepare, and then move.
We'd gather more supplies too.
Because Han Yuna had rushed out of here in a hurry and left things behind.
And there were no more Gopdeung-i monsters on the first basement level.
It was likely.
……Of course, excluding the one in the kids' pool.
There was one hiding in the small kids' pool, so was there nothing in the huge pool on the upper floor?
It couldn't be.
So we decided to head back to the break room first.
There, after gathering items, check the lost and found that we hadn't seen yet, then go up to the first floor.
Roughly that plan.
We descended the stairs, opened the door, and arrived at the break room with quick steps.
“Eh?”
Han Yuna tilted her head.
Because there was a ghost's corpse lying in front of the door.
It was the ghost I had killed, not the one Han Yuna had killed first.
That ghost who had pretended to be human.
How I killed the ghost...
I already knew that the person who came was a ghost.
So at first, I naturally didn't open the door.
Then time passed, and the bastard gave up pretending to be human.
The voice from outside the door cut off, and shortly after, the ghost's footsteps began to be heard.
Drip, drip — wet footsteps.
Then it reached thoughts about Han Yuna.
Surely she had approached her too, pretending to be a ghost.
And Han Yuna, unlike me, had believed some of the recorder's content.
Thinking that far, I couldn't stay hidden quietly.
And to find Han Yuna, I had to deal with the thing blocking my way first.
The method was already known.
Like when Han Yuna had faced that ghost first, staring into its eyes without breaking contact.
The problem was that I had to do it myself.
There were countless conflicts and hesitations in the process...
But anyway, I overcame all that fear and faced the ghost's eyes and killed it.
Looking back, when I was alone, I had grown mentally as well.
If I had continued to be with her, I would have relied on Han Yuna entirely.
Han Yuna, who heard about this process, muttered quietly.
“You really awakened...”
Han Yuna said that and then said nothing after.
She seemed surprised, and also seemed to be seriously pondering something.
Anyway, Han Yuna with her complicated thoughts and I returned to the break room.
“Let's set the plan again from the beginning.”
“Yeah.”
We spread the water park guide map on the floor and planned.
First, we would go up to the first floor through the stairs we had gone up before.
On the first floor, we would only go to the convenience store area and then immediately go to the second floor to enter the central control room.
There, we would shut off the circulating pump emergency stop, then go back to the second basement floor to open the valve and drain the water.
We discussed trying to do that operation.
“...It won't be easy.”
As Han Yuna said, since we didn't know what might pop out during the movement, it was not easy.
But we couldn't do nothing.
It was the most likely method at this point.
“If it ends like that, it would be good.”
“I'd really like that too.”
I recalled the huge thing that had been submerged under the black water.
After draining the water, if what was in it came out...
Worst.
But it hadn't come out.
“Then before we start, let's gather as much as possible.”
Han Yuna stood up from her seat.
We gathered the water bottles from the refrigerator.
We hadn't drunk them because they felt suspicious, but just in case.
We also gathered all the snacks like remaining snacks and energy bars.
In addition to that, baseball bats, hammers...
Lanterns and a few small tools that looked usable.
It wasn't that many, but carrying them all the time was heavy.
“...More than I thought.”
It was possible that more things would need to be gathered as we wandered around.
Han Yuna seemed to have the same thought, and after looking at the bag for a moment, she said.
“Let's go to the item storage first.”
I nodded.
If there was even one backpack or sports bag that had come in as lost and found, it would make things much easier.
It was also the place we had decided to check anyway.
We took only what we needed and left the break room again.
The item storage was on the same line as the break room, so we arrived quickly.
A small room that comes out after following the corridor a little more from the break room.
A faded sign was attached above the door.
[Lost and Found]
We slightly opened the door and scanned the room with the lantern, but there was nothing that looked like a ghost.
Han Yuna held the hammer and took the lead, and I followed behind with the bat.
The inside was narrower than expected.
Along the walls, metal shelves were densely packed, and various odds and ends were piled messily on top.
Swimming caps, goggles, and water guns that kids might have played with were in baskets on the shelves.
A pair of slippers, towels, etc.
After looking at the lost items, Han Yuna's voice from the opposite side suddenly came.
“Here it is.”
We went straight there, and Han Yuna pulled out a black backpack from under the shelf.
It was of a decent size.
I opened the zipper and checked the inside, but there was nothing special.
It was empty.
“Clean? Let's use this.”
With the bag, my breathing became easier.
I put small items into the bag.
I checked the innermost part of the shelf just in case I missed something.
An old wallet, keychain, bracelet, and...
“......Eh?”
At the innermost part of the shelf.
Among several layers of towels and odds and ends, there was a small item.
A machine the size of a palm.
“......A recorder?”