Chapter 35
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: Spectacular Blockbuster!
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Baek Junho and Yoo Seoyoon rolled their eyes around with stiff expressions.
They seemed utterly incapable of grilling the girl who was reading the letter like some emcee and asking about turns.
The others watched the pair and the girl with baffled looks.
The long silence that followed was finally broken by Yoo Seoyoon.
"I... I have no idea what this is about!"
Her voice came out shrill, almost like a scream.
"Jealousy? What the hell? Out of nowhere!"
"Y-Yeah! Who the fuck wrote this bullshit letter! Which asshole is messing around?!"
Baek Junho slammed the table, shouting even louder than Yoo Seoyoon.
It was the same thing he'd said earlier.
That one of them here must have written it.
That's when the middle-aged woman spoke up.
"Is there really nothing in the letter that rings a bell at all?"
At her question, Yoo Seoyoon and Baek Junho flashed through a rapid series of expressions before barely managing a reply.
"I told you! I have no clue!"
"Are you suspecting us right now?"
"It's not suspicion. It's about making a clear distinction."
"Distinction?"
The middle-aged woman nodded.
"If the letter's contents are just total nonsense, then fine, we can ignore the rest. But what if they're not?"
She glanced around at the others.
"It'd be hard to just dismiss the letter entirely, right? It'd mean whoever wrote it knows something about us, one way or another."
It was a logical point.
But there was one thing that needed addressing first.
"Then! Does that mean you have some guilt too? That's the basic premise here!"
Baek Junho yelled in an indignant voice, as if he were the one being accused.
"Yes."
The middle-aged woman replied with astonishing calm.
"I committed a sin in the past."
Baek Junho, who'd been pressing her, gaped in shock.
But the woman wasn't done.
"And I never paid for it."
"What... what does that... mean?"
"Exactly what it sounds like. In my case, at least, I can't deny the things from the previous letters."
The girl watched the middle-aged woman with intrigued eyes.
Then her gaze shifted to the two who were gaping like fish out of water, forgetting their words.
They looked like they wanted to say something, but the girl didn't press.
Rushing this would ruin the flavor.
"I-I have no idea what you're talking about! And I have no intention of playing along with this crap!"
Finally, Baek Junho made up his mind.
"I'm going back to my room!"
He shoved back his chair roughly, shouted in agitation, and stormed off to his room.
The others exchanged panicked glances before turning to Yoo Seoyoon.
Their eyes stabbed at her from all sides, as if asking what she planned to do.
"Ah..."
Yoo Seoyoon sat there for a long while, her face drained of color.
It was quite some time before she finally spoke.
"I... have committed a sin too."
A confession admitting her own guilt.
Something flashed in someone's eyes.
"B-But! It was a mistake! I swear it wasn't on purpose!"
"What happened?"
The girl asked on behalf of the others.
Yoo Seoyoon replied in a voice trembling even more.
"I... I..."
Yoo Seoyoon's mouth opened as if to speak.
But.
In the end, her lips stayed shut.
She just hung her head, saying nothing as tears plopped down.
It wasn't a proper confession. Far from atonement.
Just a bid to protect herself.
"A-Are you okay?"
Jeong Il, sitting beside her, asked cautiously.
An instinctive move to comfort a crying woman. He wasn't sure what instinct it was.
Yoo Seoyoon leaned into Jeong Il deliberately as she sobbed.
"I really didn't mean to... it wasn't like that..."
Clinging to others in a crisis was a common human trait.
But the girl just watched, finding the whole thing amusing.
"Baek Junho went back to his room. Yoo Seoyoon doesn't seem keen to say more. Shall we call it a night?"
Instead of her usual emphatic tone, the girl asked plainly.
The others nodded slowly.
The meal was already over anyway, and huddling together wasn't producing anything useful.
In the end, they dispersed to their rooms with complicated expressions.
Once everyone had scattered.
The girl lingered in the living room, slowly looking around.
There were five rooms total.
Considering she shared one with another man, that left them one short.
With seven people now, it was one short.
Not that strange.
Originally, there had been six.
But no one questioned the sudden extra person.
As if "he" had been there from the start.
"Well then, shall we take a look around?"
The girl grinned as she began walking slowly.
She was looking forward to seeing what would become of these "sinners."
"Fuck, fuck, goddamn..."
Baek Junho muttered in a frantic voice.
His face was deathly pale.
He was practically in a half-panic state.
And there was a reason for it.
"How did they know?"
The sin written in the letter.
Lust.
The moment he saw it, Baek Junho reflexively recalled the past.
Four years ago. Exactly like this winter.
The slender body fleeing from him. Himself, drunk, chasing after.
Screams. A dull thud. And...
"Fuck...!"
It had been a mistake.
Baek Junho muttered that to himself.
"It was a mistake, fuck! People screw up when they're drunk!"
He really hadn't intended to go that far.
No, she had feelings for him too, for sure.
She'd smile and greet him every time they met, they'd even talked.
And at that drinking party, their eyes had met several times, hadn't they?
So he'd just wanted to talk. But then, but then.
"That bitch, it was that bitch leading me on, right?"
Baek Junho clutched his head.
He absolutely hadn't meant to kill her.
It was definitely a mistake.
But no matter how much he called it a mistake, there was no one left to hear.
He'd already lost his chance to confess and atone.
Creeeak, creeeak.
Footsteps approached Baek Junho's door.
The time had come for the sinner to receive punishment.
Baek Junho jerked his head up in shock.
Swish.
The door slid open.
Splash, splash.
The sound of dripping water.
Wet feet stepping on the floor.
Baek Junho, startled by the footsteps, leaped up in horror at the sight of the figure.
"Y-You! H-How, how?!"
Baek Junho's eyes widened to their limit.
The thing approached him steadily.
"No! You're, you're!"
His massive frame kept retreating. But soon his back hit the wall.
And when he could retreat no further.
Grip!
Slender hands seized his thick neck.
Baek Junho felt his breath cut off and once more recalled the past.
The resistance at his fingertips. The writhing body. The eyes full of agony.
Just like.
His own right now.
Baek Junho thrashed with bulging eyes before going limp.
Swish.
Someone passed by Baek Junho's slightly open door.
The footsteps headed not far from his room.
Yoo Seoyoon's room.
Inside came mutterings, just like in Baek Junho's.
The voice of someone recalling past sins, tormented.
"Hm."
And the girl had heard it all.
She alternated glances between Baek Junho's and Yoo Seoyoon's rooms, thinking.
"Is this the vibe!"
Just as expected, a classic slasher feel.
Nothing special, but nothing lacking either.
"Hmm."
This place wasn't bad as is.
It had value in itself, you could say.
"A bit underwhelming, though."
But watching longer, regret kept building.
It felt like just a little push could make it way more thrilling.
As the founder of the Joey franchise, the girl pondered seriously.
Classic meant a tad outdated, in reverse!
Didn't this mountain lodge horror need a fresh wind soon?
Sinners getting picked off one by one in their rooms, bodies found next morning? Too, too boring!
"Alright!"
The girl made her decision.
"The 21st century is the age of blockbusters! Let's crank it up!"
The girl snapped her fingers lightly.
Snow began falling even harder around the lodge.
And amid it, dark shadows started emerging one by one.
"...What are you doing?"
A voice whispered in the girl's ear.
The seventh guest. Or perhaps the lodge's owner.
Dawn replied to his question with a bright smile.
"I'll show you how it's done right! Watch and learn!"
It was time to demonstrate the might of a massive franchise that dwarfed these mom-and-pop shops.