Gwiam Reservoir (4)
I picked up the man's dropped phone and was on my way again when, within a minute, we ran into the guy we'd parted ways with(?).
"S-save me... Please, save me...!"
The man was huddled behind a massive tree, mumbling like a lunatic. He had that telltale look of being possessed by a ghost, so I clenched my fist and slammed it down on the top of his head like a hammer with all my strength.
Thwack!!
"Guweeeek!!"
A pig-slaughtering squeal echoed through the air.
"S-Seorin. Wasn't that a bit too hard?"
"For someone possessed, the best way to snap them out of it is with intense pain."
It absolutely wasn't because he'd treated me like a ghost and I was venting my anger. This was pure, heartfelt first aid out of concern for his mental state.
"Ugh! My head...!"
"Feeling better now?"
"Eek! High school ghost girl!! B-begone! In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, azza azza barrazza!!"
Swish.
"Shut up and stay still."
"Y-yes, ma'am."
Only after shoving the scythe in his face as a threat did the man finally come to his senses.
Tch, wouldn't it have been better if you'd acted right from the start?
With his eyes clearing up, the man glanced nervously at the scythe dangling under his chin and stammered a question.
"Um... excuse me, who might you be? I-if you're human, could you maybe move that scythe away...?"
"Later."
I saw no need to introduce myself to this guy, but Mirinae thought differently and stepped in.
"Oh, hi! I'm Mirinae, a streamer on Lightning. And you are...?"
"Aha, h-hello. I'm, uh... Sam-sik, a horror streamer on Forest."
From what I gathered, this Sam-sik guy teamed up with two others named Il-sik and I-sik to spend nights at haunted spots for their horror streaming content. They were small-time BJs with not many subscribers, which explained why Mirinae's viewers mostly drew blanks. Different platforms didn't help either.
"Il-sik, I-sik, Sam-sik... Are you brothers or something?"
"Nah, just friends, obviously."
"Huh? But the names—"
"Pfft, those are stage names, duh. What parent names their kids something as outdated as Il-sik, I-sik, Sam-sik these days? Heh, anyone that clueless..."
Swish.
"Say that again. What was that?"
"...On second thought, we're the ones at fault here. Making our names so similar just confuses people. This mouth of mine! This rotten mouth!"
He slapped his own mouth repeatedly, showing signs of genuine remorse, so I lowered the scythe. How dare he be rude to my friend like that.
Mirinae watched the scene with an awkward smile. A high school girl threatening an adult man with a scythe probably wasn't a pretty sight. But that wasn't my problem. The key was that this jerk had insulted my friend.
"S-so, are you here to film a stream too?"
"Y-yeah. Ever since Gwiam Reservoir got featured on that Ghost Story Talk Show, it's been a hot haunted spot. We came to shoot as a trio to cash in on it... but when I came to, my two buddies were gone. Been looking for them. Yeah."
Sam-sik's face darkened with worry for his missing friends.
"Did your friends...?"
"Yeah! We're streaming too!"
"Oh, perfect timing! Mind if we tag along? They might be at Gwiam Reservoir... Truth is, I was kinda scared wandering alone."
Sam-sik clasped his hands in prayer, gazing up at Mirinae with puppy-dog eyes. It looked like a pity play, but it backfired hard. Who feels sorry for a grown man sniveling like that? Especially not to someone way younger and daintier-looking like a cute girl. Unless he was on the level of Cha Sung-woo, Korea's poster boy for handsome guys, he'd get zero sympathy—more like pity or disdain.
And someone like that wouldn't be doing horror streams anyway. He'd be on TV acting or modeling.
Mirinae seemed to share my take. She looked burdened by the not-so-handsome guy (being generous there) staring up at her and shot me a What do we do? glance. I replied with my eyes: Your call. She bowed her head to check the stream chat on her phone.
The chat was split, so Mirinae let out a deep sigh before answering.
"...Yeah, sure, come with us."
"Whoa! Thank you, Mirinae!"
"......"
"A-and, uh, thank you too, mystery lady."
It felt like "for sparing my life" got omitted there, but maybe I was imagining it.
"My name's Seorin. Just call me Seorin."
"Got it! Seorin!"
And so, the three of us set off together up the mountain path toward Gwiam Reservoir. Along the way, Mirinae and Sam-sik chatted nonstop, bonded by their shared streamer life. Maybe it was their way of drowning out the eerie atmosphere.
"Streaming's tough these days, huh?"
"Haha, yeah. With all the extreme content out there... Sigh, I thought horror streams would have less competition, but nope."
"Hehe, my first horror stream, and I had no idea it'd be this rough."
"Right? The worst part is enduring the terror to film, but since it's a niche genre—or maybe 'cause I'm not a girl streamer—the views just don't come. That's what got me down."
"I felt that too. Pour your heart into a video, upload it, and if the views suck... it hurts."
They started light with shop talk, and soon the conversation flowed. Their voices served as BGM as we climbed slowly. No spiritual activity so far—had they given up? Maybe they backed off after seeing me banish those spirits earlier? Nah, they didn't seem the type. Plus, that overwhelming presence I'd felt... No doubt the bastard was plotting something sneaky.
"Just wanna find my friends and head home ASAP. Sigh... This was supposed to be our last stream for memories, and look what happened."
"Oh? Your last stream? Quitting?"
"Yeah, never planned to go pro. It was just us buddies hitting haunted spots, filming for fun, uploading to YouTube as keepsakes. Bonus if it made some cash."
"Ah, yeah, lots of folks start that way."
"Then I-sik got a job, so Gwiam Reservoir was gonna be our finale. Where'd that guy go...? If he goes missing, he might miss his first day. Haha."
"First day in three days... Huh?"
Mirinae tilted her head mid-sentence.
"Three days from now is Saturday, right? Special job with weekend shifts?"
"...Huh? What're you talking about?"
Sam-sik's eyes went wide at Mirinae's words.
"It's Friday today. Three days is Monday, no?"
"No no no, it's Wednesday! I checked my phone before coming!"
"No way—"
"Enough."
I cut off the brewing argument with a raised hand.
"Friday or Wednesday, we'll sort it later. We're here."
I pointed ahead, and Mirinae and Sam-sik naturally followed my finger.
There it was—
Gwiam Reservoir.
The evil spirits' lair, where they lurked.
"...Gulp."
"...Hic."
"......"
The water's surface gleamed under the night sky, tricking the eye into thinking the liquid itself was dyed black. Tree branches hung limp by the shore, like human hands. The mud was sopping wet, sucking at your feet with every step like quicksand, and the deathly stillness over the water was pure dread.
Behind me, Mirinae swallowed hard and Sam-sik whimpered. I didn't need to look to know they were terrified.
That's when it happened.
"Huh?"
Sam-sik suddenly yelped, spotting something.
"Th-there! I-sik!"
I frowned and looked where he pointed.
How long had it been there?
On the calm water's surface stood a small figure.
Yes—on the surface.
Not sinking below, but standing on the water itself.
"What the hell."
I knew at a glance.
I had no choice but to know.
Even if I didn't want to see it, my eyes locked on.
That man... I-sik was already too late.