036. Spooky Abandoned House Exploration
036. Spooky Abandoned House Exploration
Gomdori had vanished.
The adorable doll with one eye missing, I meant.
‘...What the hell?’
It was a strange occurrence.
I had definitely seen it.
A single doll, sitting all alone at the top of the stairs.
【Reformed Guburi】─Why? Did something disappear or something?
【Bubblegum Collector】─Wakyapya. As long as your dick hasn't disappeared, it's all good.
"No, there was a Gomdori doll up there just a second ago. But now it's gone."
【Dick Lover】─What's this about a Gomdori doll all of a sudden?
【Yoho】─Ah. The cute thing you mentioned earlier, you were talking about the doll.
【Qkrnfl892】─That bitch Yoho actually thought he was talking about her when he said cute? She's fucking crazy.
【Reverse-Rape Maniac】─Maybe you just saw wrong?
【Min-ji】─Maybe you just saw wrong?
【Bubblegum Collector】─Wakyapya. Did the doll grow legs or something?
【Hottie Licker】─Seems like Se-hun was hallucinating lol. Lick.
"Hallucinating, my ass... I'm telling you, there was definitely a Gomdori doll with one eye missing."
【Se-hun Defense Force】─?? That's what you call cute?
【Dick Lover】─Se-hun's got unique tastes...
【BigGirl】─Oh! Do you like ones with one eye missing?
"That was sarcasm, you crazy bitches."
【BigGirl】─Ah...
【Reformed Guburi】─Why the fuck does she sound disappointed? lol
【Reverse-Rape Maniac】─Guess she's a cyclops. lol
"Anyway, that kind of gave me the creeps. You think it was a doll possessed by a ghost?"
【Reformed Guburi】─Bullshit, no. You're clearly just acting to scare us. Gye Bastard-hun, don't you ever become an actor. Your acting is awkward as hell.
【Qkrnfl892】─Terrible acting lolol
【Reverse-Rape Maniac】─Foot? A footjob's good too.
【Hottie Licker】─If you're so scared, why do you keep climbing the stairs? lol
"Who said I was scared, you crazy bitch. I said it just gave me the creeps."
【Reformed Guburi】─Same difference, sex-haver.
【Hottie Licker】─For real lol. I'm gonna suck you up.
While I walked and talked with the viewers, I'd arrived at the third floor before I knew it.
There was no need to get spooked ahead of time and go back down.
Because a man named Ji Moon-hyeok had guaranteed that this abandoned house was safe.
It wasn't that I particularly trusted him.
I just judged that he had no reason to lie to me.
And the Gomdori doll didn't seem dangerous anyway.
【Bubblegum Collector】─Wakyapya. Are you sure it's okay to come up where Gomdori's roaming around? lol What's the opinion of the self-proclaimed expert, Plum Tree!
【Plum Tree】─It should be fine. Yokai that possess dolls that don't evoke fear, like a teddy bear, have a high probability of being harmless.
【Reformed Guburi】─Plum Tree, you fuckin' bitch lol. Acting like you know shit again.
【Hottie Licker】─Come to think of it, I feel like Plum Tree's gimmick is worse than Drift AI's. Lick.
【Plum Tree】─There are always exceptions, so you should be careful. If you feel intense chills, or smell something rotten, run the fuck away.
【Reformed Guburi】─Like the smell of your pussy?
【Plum Tree】─You shut your fucking mouth, you cunt. Before I seal you.
【Reformed Guburi】─lol My pussy's already sealed. Has been since birth.
Another guarantee had appeared.
Plum Tree, who was very knowledgeable about ghosts, had typed a chat that seemed to say it was okay.
"So, bottom line, it's not dangerous, right?"
【Plum Tree】─Yeah. And physical attacks work on possession-type yokai, just like on corporeal yokai. Something like Gomdori, an ordinary person could probably exorcise it easily. But if it's not a possession-type, a corporeal yokai is the most dangerous of all yokai, so don't even think about fighting. Also, physical attacks don't work on incorporeal yokai, so just ignore them or run the fuck away.
"Oh. You know a lot, huh? Are you actually a shaman or something?"
【Plum Tree】─I'm not a shaman.
"Then what are you?"
【Plum Tree】─An exorcist. Not that ordinary people would believe it anyway.
"An exorcist, what crap... Anyway, since you say it's fine, I'll look around just a little bit more for now."
【Reformed Guburi】─lol You're scared as fuck. Just fuckin' go, goddammit! I'm telling you, ghosts don't exist!
【Yoho】─It's not that he's scared, he's just being cautious because you never know.
【Reformed Guburi】─Don't you butt in. You fuckin' bitch.
【Se-hun Defense Force】─Se-hun, don't worry, just wander around. I just called a friend, we're putting in the coordinates and setting up a portal now. We'll come save you if it gets dangerous. Though it'll take about an hour to set up. lol
"Se-hun Defense. Your gimmick's not fun anymore. Come back with something more original."
【Se-hun Defense Force】─Okey...
【Drift AI】─I speak. I state that I will launch a nuke if a dangerous situation occurs.
"Drift's a bit better at least."
【Dick Lover】─? If you launch a nuke, Se-hun dies too.
【Bubblegum Collector】─Wakyapya! No brain cells!
【Drift AI】─I speak. I state that I have achieved enlightenment.
【Reformed Guburi】─Moron. lol
【Reverse-Rape Maniac】─Wow. There really are a lot of people with disgusting gimmicks here. Is this kind of channel normal? Should I pick a gimmick too?
【Min-ji】─Maniac, what you've got going on now is plenty enough...
【Hottie Licker】─For real lol. If it gets worse than that, it's an insta-ban.
【Reverse-Rape Maniac】─Huh? I've never once tried to have a gimmick?
【BigGirl】─I think that's actually more of a problem...
【Plum Tree】─By the way, Se-hun, you are a human, right? Not a yokai?
"...Plum Blossom, cut it out. I can only take a joke so many times."
『'Plum Tree' has been chat restricted. Remaining time 00:01:00』
I slapped a chat mute on Plum Tree right away.
"She gave me some pretty decent info, so I went along with believing most of it... now she doesn't know when to stop and just keeps going overboard."
【Reformed Guburi】─Muting that crazy bitch feels so damn refreshing.
【Hottie Licker】─For real lol. Exorcist, my ass. Lick.
"I can believe she's an exorcist. You can just think of it as a job similar to a shaman. But I can't stand her asking me if I'm a yokai. That's another minute of chat restriction for you."
I was petty enough to add another minute to her chat restriction.
【Reformed Guburi】─Gye Bastard-hun, what the hell are your standards for mutes? lolol Fuck, it totally changes depending on your mood that day.
『'Reformed Guburi' has been chat restricted. Remaining time 00:01:00』
【Yoho】─?
After extending Plum Tree's chat restriction time.
I resumed the abandoned house exploration.
***
First floor of the mansion.
The blonde-highlights girl who'd been massively chewed out by Gye Se-hun trudged down the stairs.
Seeing that, Ji Moon-hyeok spoke in an annoyed voice.
"Hey! Where did you go!?"
"Huh? Ah... I just had something to do on the upper floor..."
"You didn't go tell that guy the third floor was dangerous, did you?"
"N-no, I didn't even meet him! I just left my phone on the second floor earlier and went to get it!"
As if suspicious.
Ji Moon-hyeok narrowed his eyes and double-checked.
"Seriously? You're not lying?"
"Of course not. Why would I lie? Haha..."
The blonde-highlights girl hid her awkwardness, answering with a natural smile.
"...Well, I guess if you had told him that, he would have come down with you."
Ji Moon-hyeok quickly dropped his suspicion.
And he recalled what a shaman he'd met previously had told him.
<The abandoned house you mentioned, Moon-hyeok, I wouldn't recommend it. I went on a survey, and a very ominous energy was emanating from the third floor. Enough that I didn't dare go up and check it. Anyway, I think you'd better look into another abandoned house if you can. If you really must go, absolutely do not go up to the third floor or even look at it.>
His connection with that shaman had continued since he started his abandoned-house-exploration Neotube channel.
But this was the first time he'd received a warning like this.
Of course, Ji Moon-hyeok didn't believe in the shaman.
He wasn't the type to believe in the existence of ghosts in the first place.
Always hiring a shaman before doing content was simply a thing he did for his own peace of mind.
Even if he thought a shaman was a fraud, once he heard a confirmation of safety from a person claiming to be an expert, the fear subsided significantly.
‘Well, if real ghosts actually show up, that'd be better for me. It'd be a chance for the Neotube channel to blow up, wouldn't it? I was also getting tired of manually blocking all the trash commenters calling it staged content.’
Just as Ji Moon-hyeok was thinking such thoughts.
One of the blonde-highlighted girls who had been checking the broadcast equipment approached and carefully asked a question.
"...But, Moon-hyeok. Why did you lie to that guy earlier?"
"Lie about what?"
"You said you'd been all over, even the third floor. But you've never even gone up there because the shaman said it was dangerous."
Just as she said.
Ji Moon-hyeok hadn't set foot on the third floor.
He didn't believe in the existence of ghosts.
And even if ghosts were real, he'd considered using them as broadcast content, but when it came down to checking it himself, he couldn't muster the courage.
"Ah, that? I was curious if ghosts actually existed, so I did that. It's probably impossible, but you never know, right?"
And just in time, a lab rat named Gye Se-hun had appeared.
This was a good opportunity.
Because he could check out the third floor through someone else without taking the risk himself.
The girls with blonde highlights stared at Ji Moon-hyeok with uncomfortable expressions.
"What's with the faces? It doesn't matter anyway, since ghosts probably don't exist, right?"
"What if ghosts really do exist...?"
"Then that'd be even better. We could be the first Neotubers to film a ghost. All the other Neotubers' videos are faked anyway."
"That's not the point. If ghosts are real, that guy would be in danger..."
"..."
Ji Moon-hyeok, who had closed his mouth for a moment, scanned over his girlfriends one by one.
Then he lifted the corners of his mouth and answered.
"So what? Even if he dies, he dies to a ghost, it's not like we kill him, right?"
"Huh...?"
"And if you hear a scream from the third floor, just know that I'm going to use him as bait to film, and then we're running away."
So saying, Ji Moon-hyeok went back up to the second floor.
He didn't seem to feel any guilt at all.
The same went for the girls with blonde highlights.
"Hey, hey. Stop worrying. Ghosts don't actually exist in this world. Even if they do, you think he'd actually die?"
"Yeah. And I don't give a shit what happens to that fucker anyway. He didn't even give me his number."
The two girls with blonde highlights talked quietly among themselves.
Among the three of them, only one felt a pang of conscience.
However, she too.
As she was influenced by the other girls with blonde highlights, the guilt in her heart quickly faded away.
***
Third-floor hallway.
Something of small stature was scurrying along, running on its cute little short legs.
[Dangerous!]
The thing's identity was, of course, the Gomdori doll.
Gomdori had just witnessed an impossible sight.
A stone statue yokai, several times stronger than itself, had been helplessly annihilated by a human who had suddenly appeared.
[That's no ordinary human! He's definitely an exorcist, a half-yokai!]
A stone statue yokai was on a different level than other yokai.
Because it was a yokai with its own physical form,
a far higher level than an incorporeal yokai or one that possessed objects.
[And he's an incredibly strong exorcist! Seoksang-i, the second strongest in this mansion, was taken out!]
The terrified Gomdori doll hurried into a bedroom to hide.
[I have to hide right now!]
The teddy bear looked around frantically,
searching for a suitable place to conceal itself.
Then it spotted an old bed.
[There!]
The teddy bear dove under the bed.
[It's safe here!]
And under the bed, it squeezed its eyes shut and curled up its body.
Twenty minutes had passed.
Creeeak.
It heard the bedroom door open.
[...]
Gomdori held its breath.
Footsteps sounded.
Whose footsteps they were,
it couldn't tell.
Gomdori shut its single eye even tighter.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The footsteps continued to echo inside the room.
Thud.
In an instant, the footsteps stopped.
Right near the bed, of all places.
Gomdori sensed something was wrong.
Why did the footsteps stop right in front of it?
That question circled in its head.
Trembling with anxiety, Gomdori slightly opened its eyes at that moment.
[...]
It met two eyes that were staring straight at it.
A human male dressed in black clothes was lying flat on the floor, peering under the bed.
"Fucking found you."
[...]
Gomdori lost consciousness and fainted on the spot.