Chapter 50
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: One-Man Hide-and-Seek
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D-1
【One-Man Hide-and-Seek】
【Warning: The elderly, pregnant women, children under 12, and those with a weak heart are advised to refrain from reading this text. The author does not guarantee your mental well-being.
One-Man Hide-and-Seek, a type of ritual to invite a ghost into your home.
Follow the instructions below in order, and the game of One-Man Hide-and-Seek will begin.
However, there is something you must be aware of.
One-Man Hide-and-Seek can never be stopped midway.
If you are thinking of doing this for simple fun or out of curiosity, it is recommended you give up now.
This is not advice, but a warning.
A warning solely for you, the reader of this post.
If you still wish to play One-Man Hide-and-Seek after reading this warning, I will not stop you.
The choice is entirely your own. Even if you regret it, the past will never return.
I warn you one last time.
If you feel like giving up in the middle of One-Man Hide-and-Seek, abandon the thought.
All that awaits you is death, delivered by a doll possessed by an evil spirit.
Your soul will perish instantly, and the evil spirit will claim your empty vessel.
The method for playing One-Man Hide-and-Seek is as follows. First—】
Ju-hee stared blankly at her phone. The post was filled with content she couldn't make heads or tails of.
“What is this?”
Puzzled, Ju-hee scrolled down. Below the warning were detailed instructions on how to play ‘One-Man Hide-and-Seek’.
She skimmed through it, but instead of finding it fun, it just felt bizarre.
Ju-hee closed the main text and checked the comments. Not only did the post have tens of thousands of ‘likes,’ but it was also flooded with comments.
@Do-yeon
_1212 Look at this! So cool!!
-Tried it at home today and the door closed by itself;; So creepyㄷㄷㄷ
-But is this even realistically possible? Like, it makes no sense;;
-ㅠI'm home alone and I'm scaredㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-To the person who said they're scared, I've sent you a DM. Please check.
Ju-hee scanned through the comments section. The overwhelmingly positive reactions left her a bit bewildered.
“Is this kind of thing popular these days?”
In truth, Ju-hee was a staunch realist, so she found such a nonsensical story hard to believe.
Perhaps that was why. The exaggerated reactions of others felt strange to her.
Instead of being creepy or scary, she found it fascinating. Maybe it was because summer was just around the corner.
It seemed these kinds of spooky and frightening posts were trending.
“There's no way ghosts exist.”
Ju-hee let out a small laugh. She sent a short reply to Do-yeon before closing her phone.
-I'll give it a try and let you know how it goes lol
Soon after, Ju-hee put her phone away in the living room. It was her creed to focus solely on her studies when it was time to study.
“Time to study.”
After setting her phone aside in a corner of the living room, Ju-hee returned to her room.
She opened her workbook and checked the day's assignment. It was a considerable amount compared to other days.
She estimated it would take at least a few hours to finish everything.
And so, Ju-hee began to work through the problems. With a personality that drove her to see things through once she focused, she poured all her concentration into her work.
She paid no mind to anything else, focusing solely on her studies.
Perhaps that was why. Ju-hee failed to notice the subtle change in her room.
…Even though the cat doll she had left on her bed had vanished without a trace.
The cat doll that had disappeared was now lying on the living room floor. More precisely, it was sprawled face down on top of Ju-hee’s phone.
-*Beep!*
Suddenly, the phone's screen turned on.
However, Ju-hee, who was in her room, remained completely oblivious.
The cat doll, having somehow appeared in the living room, began to move stealthily.
Wiggling its stuffing-filled paws, it unlocked Ju-hee's phone.
It swiped through the screens, reopening the window Ju-hee had just closed. Soon, a screen with the following title appeared.
【One-Man Hide-and-Seek】
The cat doll stared intently at the screen. It began to read through the explanation of One-Man Hide-and-Seek.
Even the procedure and the required items.
The cat doll shivered. It was presumed to be a tremor of ecstasy.
However, there was no one to witness this scene. Ju-hee, oblivious to everything, was calmly solving problems in her workbook.
“Ah! So it was number 3...”
**
Five days had already passed since we escaped the school.
It could be considered a long time or a short one, but a lot had happened in those days.
First off, Dayeon had completely adapted to life in the real world.
“Do your homework now, while I'm asking nicely.”
“Yeah. Just after this.”
Dayeon answered dismissively, barely acknowledging my words.
Her gaze was firmly fixed on the TV. She had been like this for the past few days.
Even so, it felt a bit much to scold her for it.
Dayeon had been trapped in the school for ten long years. She had spent countless boring and tedious days there.
To someone like her, the novelties of modern society were all intensely stimulating.
It was like someone who had only eaten healthy food for ten years getting a taste of junk food.
Dayeon watched the TV with eyes that seemed to be drawn in, like a cat rolling in a field of catnip.
The news was on TV. Even at a glance, it looked incredibly boring.
Still, Dayeon watched the news with sparkling eyes.
[And for our next story. A bizarre trend spreading among teenagers has become a hot topic.
It's called ‘One-Man Hide-and-Seek’…]
I watched Dayeon in silence. What could possibly be so interesting about that?
I couldn't understand it.
But since she seemed to be enjoying herself, I just let her be.
'Well, I guess she missed TV this much.'
When you thought about it, it had only been five days since we returned to reality.
Compared to the years Dayeon had been trapped in the school, it was merely a fleeting moment.
A little deviation like this should be fine.
I finally looked away from the TV, opened my item window, and took out the diary.
[Diary]
【You can record your journey so far. Requires ink to use.】
My last save point was at the school at dawn.
The ink had burst around the time Dayeon and I split up at the school store, forcing a save.
The last save point was the school at dawn. That's why an ominous thought had crept into my mind.
If I were to get caught up in another strange phenomenon or die for some other reason in this state, would I return to the school at dawn?
My heart sank at the thought, but thankfully, that wasn't the case. I opened the diary and checked the very first page.
[Diary]
【April 5th, Wednesday, 6:00 AM】
All traces of the records from the school at dawn had vanished from the diary.
Instead, the date of our escape from the school was newly marked.
The diary was the only means of saving in the Unreality.
In other words, the save file for Chapter 1 had been completely wiped.
The reason was simple.
By escaping the school at dawn, I had cleared Chapter 1.
It seemed the previous records were initialized upon entering Chapter 2. If so, I could roughly guess what the new first page of the diary meant.
An autosave.
The system had automatically recorded the journey up to the end of Chapter 1. This meant that no matter when I died, I would return to the point after escaping the school.
You could call it a kind of safety net for me. That brought me some relief.
Even if I died a pointless death, time would rewind.
However, there was a problem. It was the question of when, where, and how Chapter 2 would begin.
Several days had passed since the end of Chapter 1, yet there was no sign of Chapter 2 starting.
For reference, Chapter 1 had started out of the blue after I dozed off at school. It seemed Chapter 2 would likely begin just as abruptly.
In this way, the ‘Unreality’ was incredibly user-unfriendly, without a shred of consideration for convenience.
For five days now, I had been agonizing over the strange phenomena that could strike at any time, any place.
At this rate, I was going to die from stress before a ghost ever got to me.
If it was going to start, I wished it would just hurry up.
Chapter 2 remained completely silent.
It's not like this was some indie game made by one person trying to be hyper-realistic...
And so, another day of anxious waiting passed. Fucking garbage game.
“You should get some sleep too.”
“Just after this...”
Dayeon was still engrossed in the TV. I had no choice but to go to bed first.
She'll probably go to sleep on her own when she gets tired.
And Dayeon was still watching TV. That was the scene when I opened my eyes in the morning.
“You crazy brat!”
**
A peaceful morning.
At the time when everyone was starting their day, one person just wanted to end hers.
“Yaaawn...”
Dayeon let out a long yawn. With sleepy eyes, she purred like a cat.
“So sleepy...”
“It's all your fault.”
Dayeon had ended up pulling an all-nighter watching TV. This kid definitely needed some supervision.
If I just let her do whatever she wanted, things like this would keep happening.
I steeled my resolve to make sure this didn't happen again.
“I'm gonna sleep. Give me a piggyback ride.”
“No way. If you want to sleep, go do it at school.”
We were bickering like that on our way to school.
Someone slid past us.
She was dressed in a familiar way.
“Isn't that Han Ju-hee?”
“Huh? I dunno...”
Dayeon blinked her sleepy eyes. She was so out of it that she couldn't even seem to identify the person right in front of her.
Regardless, that person was definitely Ju-hee. But for some reason, something was off about her.
Unlike her usual vibrant and energetic self, there was an unsettling aura around her.
Wondering what was going on, I immediately grabbed her.
“Where are you going?”
“Aah!”
Ju-hee jumped in surprise and turned around. It wasn't that she had ignored us; she just hadn't seen us.
“Can't you see?! I'm on my way to school!”
“But what's with your face?”
Seeing Ju-hee's condition, I was at a loss for words. She was a complete mess.
With dark circles under her eyes, she looked like a patient who needed to be hospitalized immediately.
“Wh-what's it to you! I just haven't been sleeping well lately, that's all!”
“Is that so. Just like the dead weight next to me.”
Dayeon staggered toward Ju-hee as if she were about to collapse.
“Dayeon?”
“Whoa..., a bed...”
“Eek!”
She started to slowly slump over onto Ju-hee, so I barely managed to stop her.
“Just stay still.”
“Okay...”
Dayeon answered sluggishly. She stood there like a zombie with hollow eyes.
”You scared me...“
Ju-hee's condition was just as serious as Dayeon's. Yet, Ju-hee was barely holding onto her reason.
Her mental fortitude was frighteningly impressive. Come to think of it, this wasn't the first time I'd seen her like this.
It started about four days ago. Around that time, Ju-hee began to change quite a bit.
Staring blankly out the window.
Dozing off in class.
Putting her head down on her desk during breaks.
It would be one thing if it were me, but these were things the usual Ju-hee, the model student, would never do.
But for the past four days, Ju-hee had been exhibiting all of these behaviors. This was clearly strange.
It was like... something had changed about her. And not for the better.
One thing was for sure: she didn't want others to know about it.
So, what could it be?
It seemed to be related to her recent inability to sleep.
I thought about it deeply. But with no other information, I couldn't come to a conclusion.
As I was lost in thought, a sharp pain shot through my head. Ju-hee had flicked me on the forehead.
“Ugh...”
“Stop standing there spacing out and get to school! You want to be late?! Want detention? Or want to get hit by me? Pick one!”
So she resorts to violence when words fail, huh?
I shuddered at the force wielded by the class president. Still, I couldn't fight back.
After thumping my head as if checking a watermelon for ripeness, Ju-hee spun around. Then she strode ahead toward the school.
Is this that déjà vu thing I've heard about? I feel like I've been in a similar situation before.
As I watched Ju-hee's retreating back, I noticed her half-open bag.
Inside was a black cat doll. The doll was staring right at me, its head peeking out.
Its gaze felt so real that I got a slightly unsettling feeling.
Nah, no way.
It's just a doll.
Just as I was about to dismiss it and head to school, a question suddenly popped into my head.
But that doll.
...Was it always that big?