Chapter 37

Saint U’s “Peekaboo.”

According to the middle schoolers, it was on the famous girl group’s final group album, released a few years ago when they made a spectacular comeback after a hiatus. The catchy, bright, upbeat prerelease track had apparently stayed on the music charts for a long time.

Now that song was echoing through a dark, eerie, fogbound forest, accompanied by claps in time with our steps.

CLAP.

“My dazzling gaze spots you in an instant, but I won’t make the first move...”

“I pretend I don’t care, waiting till you come to me, perfectly at ease.”

“’Cause predators never move first...” Even the adults did their best to sing along, however clumsily.

CLAP.

“That’s right, get ready. I’m an elegant tiger. The moment you come close, peekaboo!”

The lively, cheerful melody continued. Perhaps because they were all singing together, the children gradually relaxed, their voices growing stronger.

“Peekaboo! Here I come, stay on your toes! I’m a tiger. Even in the dark, my eyes sparkle, sparkle!”

—‘Walk along the path as you offer the tune, placing the sacrificial victim at the very rear.’

But instead of a person, a palm-sized purple wild ginseng dangled at the end of our procession, swinging like a little bundle.

The security chief followed at the rear with the stick it hung from slung over his shoulder, as though carrying a garbage bag. Go Seonha kept casting suspicious glances at it from beside him, while he hummed along quite happily.

“Peekaboo! I’ll bewitch you till you lose your mind. Peekaboo. That’s right, stay on your toes.”

CLAP.

I gestured for everyone to stop.

‘Thirtieth step.’

Awkwardly, they dropped into deep bows as though offering New Year’s greetings, then rose again.

And the song continued.

“Peekaboo!”

The trail grew progressively flatter and easier to walk.

—‘When the tune ends, the path ends. Upon finding a small snake hole where no grass grows, give thanks for the Lord of the Mountain’s mercy and put your hand inside.’

—‘Your hand must be coated in salted well water.’

By the time we finished the second verse and reached the final chorus, the scenery had changed. The trees, once packed so tightly that they slapped our faces, thinned out, and the whitish fog grew denser.

Everyone knew instinctively.

‘We’re almost there...!’

Tension, anticipation, and wariness mingled on their faces. Still, they sang to the end as calmly as they could.

“Peekaboo, that’s right, stay on your toes...”

CLAP.

Right down to the final line.

“Now I’m coming to you.”

Our footsteps stopped.

“...”

“...”

The path had ended. Beyond the dead end of the trail lay a wide-open clearing.

“Th-there aren’t any trees.”

Everyone quickened their pace. And there, amid the thick fog, the result of the ritual finally revealed itself.

“Now the snake hole...!”

An enormous reservoir.

“...”

“...”

‘What is this?’

A vast, black expanse of water from which fog poured endlessly.

Everyone froze in bewilderment and terror, their faces making it clear they had no idea what was happening.

“Wh-why...?”

“Uh, there should be a snake hole, uh...”

What was this?

What had gone wrong?

I looked at the ginseng the security chief was carrying.

... It was still there, perfectly intact.

‘It should have disappeared...?’

Go Seonha spoke, face deathly pale.

“... A water ghost.”

“...!”

The words I had heard a few hours earlier immediately came back to me.

[“And... be careful of water. Changgwi used to mean water ghosts, too...”]

“It was a trap! The ritual—the ritual itself was a trap!! A water ghost bewitched us...!”

“Aaah!!”

“We’ve all been lured here, to the reservoir...!!”

Section Chief Lee Byeongjin screamed and tried to flee, only to fall flat on his back. The children began to cry, then screamed and clung to one another.

The chill racing up my spine nearly made my knees give out, too. It felt as though I had stepped into a horror movie scene just before every character died.

“...”

‘We’re going to die like—’

... No.

No!!

I at least needed to know why.

However I looked at it, I hadn’t made a mistake based on the information available. That included every exploration record I had read in <Records of Dark Exploration>!

More than fear, the sheer irrationality of it—the fact that I couldn’t accept this—took over my mind.

Go Seonha’s terrified shouts buzzed in my ears.

“T-turn around and run. Back to the abandoned house...!”

... Huh?

Wait a second.

I turned to Go Seonha.

“... Did you know?”

“What?”

“The abandoned house is a trick, too.”

“... What?”

“Isn’t it strange when you think about it?”

Slowly, I explained the deliberate contradiction in this ghost story.

“We were bewitched by a changgwi and brought into this place, yet we wake up in an abandoned house covered with talismans to keep changgwi out.”

“...”

“And that house so kindly contains instructions for a ritual to escape this place.”

That was why opinions about the abandoned house had been divided in the <Records of Dark Exploration> wiki’s comments, but I was almost certain.

‘This is a ghost story designed to wear people down from the start.’

In that case, this was the intended logic.

“It deliberately keeps people trapped in the house for fifteen days, draining and weakening them, physically and mentally.”

It gave them hope in the form of the ritual, forcing them to endure extreme conditions until their psychological defenses crumbled.

“Then it’s easy to lure them out.”

Most importantly...

“Ideally, it would get them to make a mistake while performing the ritual in that state, but it doesn’t matter if they don’t.”

I looked at the ginseng.

“Choosing a sacrifice is bound to cause conflict and leave someone behind. It’s guaranteed at least one sacrificial victim to ‘take.’”

“...”

“Of course, the ritual itself is probably real. That would make people cling to it all the more desperately.”

Besides, this was <Records of Dark Exploration>.

You couldn’t put too many convenient lies into a story’s premise. That would break immersion and drain the tension, so the ritual was definitely real.

That was why I had proceeded with near certainty, too, but...

“Which makes this all the more puzzling.”

I had read quite a lot of ghost stories. At least, every one posted on <Records of Dark Exploration>.

Even the ones that were a bit hard to get through had become part of my routine at work, so I had read them over and over. In the process, I had picked up a few bits of trivia I hadn’t known before...

Things like this.

“Peach branches are commonly believed to drive away ghosts.”

“And?”

“And plums are a changgwi’s favorite fruit. That’s probably why we needed both.”

“... Oh.”

“The plums lure the changgwi to the shrine, while the person conducting the ritual escapes with the ghost-repelling incense.”

I lifted my head.

“And yet someone here just happened to be uncomfortable with the smell of burning peach-branch incense, and reacted as though drawn to the plums.”

“...”

Someone who had insisted on walking beside the security chief at the very back, despite there being seven people in all.

As though trying to stay as far from the peach-branch incense as possible.

“Go Seonha.”

I looked straight at the person in question.

“Are you truly speaking of your own free will right now?”

“... What are you—”

Perhaps the real Go Seonha had failed the ritual at the shrine before ever meeting us, and had already...

“Isn’t it a changgwi speaking right now, rather than Go Seonha?”

The footsteps stopped dead.

“You caught me.”

Go Seonha’s mouth split open.

But you’re too late! Too late!

Both arms grew unnaturally long and shot out, trying to grab me and pull me in...

‘Agh!’

I rolled across the ground, dodging the arms. Behind me, the section chief’s and children’s screams rang out like echoes.

“Aaaaah!!”

“A-a ghost!”

Reflexively, I pulled the knife from my front pocket. That wasn’t entirely a changgwi! It was a possessed human, so if I could somehow subdue them...

Then I realized.

‘I-I can’t charge at that thing!’

To use a weapon with this little reach, I’d have to get right up in a possessed person’s face! I already felt like fainting!

Still, my blazing brain immediately found the right person!

“Chief!”

I threw the weapon to the figure standing behind me.

“Please subdue them!”

The Blood-Drinking Knife sliced through the air.

“... Oh.”

The security chief snatched it up, gave it a glance, and immediately lunged at the changgwi.

Hee-hee-hee!!

Go Seonha’s face and arms twisted, strange, grotesque shapes bursting out at random. Countless arms, faces, strands of hair, and eyes belonging to men and women of every age looked in all directions.

Excuse me! Excuse me!

“Eeeek!”

“Step back and close your eyes!”

Lee Byeongjin and the children scrambled back toward the mountain path and huddled down.

Can you hear me? Someone, please help!

At that moment, the security chief’s appearance began to distort as well.

A grotesque form.

His slender-looking upper body swelled to an immense size, as though about to burst. His mouth split into a long muzzle, and a tongue shot out. That tongue seized the changgwi’s long arm and bent it mercilessly.

Aaaaah!

No, it was a hallucination. The security chief looked perfectly human.

No, he really was turning into a monstrous shape...

‘Wow, I’m going to lose my mind.’

I barely managed to shift my focus.

The reason the security team was so good at subduing ghost stories.

And the reason they weren’t on the Field Exploration Team despite that.

It was unfolding before my eyes.

* * *

[Security Team]

: One of three teams under the Security Department of Daydream Inc., a major power appearing in <Records of Dark Exploration>.

Staffed by personnel who have been consumed by particular supernatural phenomena and are no longer classified as human.

Employment is for life. Resignation is impossible.

* * *

Did you know?

If you weren’t classified as human, clearing a ghost story wouldn’t fill the collector with essence. There was no value in sending you on field explorations.

That was why people who had merged with ghost stories and become all but monsters were assigned to security.

In particular... those contaminated by a certain violent, fiercely territorial ghost story were assigned—

It hurts! It hurts!

—to the security team.

To suppress serious problems in the ghost stories managed by the company.

‘... And if he’s risen as far as chief there, the same goes for him.’

In short, an employee specialized in confronting the monsters inside ghost stories.

Kyaaaaah!

The changgwi’s countless arms burst apart under the tongue, claws, and teeth extending from the security chief’s muzzle.

With the Blood-Drinking Knife held in his mouth, his face still shimmered with some strange shape.

‘... A wolf?’

The hallucination of a gaping muzzle full of teeth, dripping saliva and blood, overlaid his face and vanished again.

Dizziness and nausea washed over me in waves, and I hurriedly looked down at the ground.

‘... This feels like a nightmare.’

I was beginning to understand, in a very real way, why they evacuated everyone when the security team subdued a ghost story in <Records of Dark Exploration>...

Still, considering the gamble I’d taken, things were going well.

“Keep your eyes closed!”

I silently held out, staring at the ground myself.

And the next moment—

—Oh, Mr. Roe Deer. That bizarre guest you brought has won!

It was over.

When I raised my head, I saw the changgwi lying there with the Blood-Drinking Knife embedded in the web of its right hand, and the security chief’s distorted, mutated form gripping its head tight...

—Ugh, what an utterly degenerate creature. Had he come to my show as a guest, I would never have let him appear!

Never had I been so relieved that only I could hear Braun.

Desperately keeping my voice casual, I addressed the security chief, who was pressing down hard on Go Seonha’s head.

“Thank you, Chief.”

“Uuugh...”

—He says he’s tired. How rude!

You being able to translate that monstrous noise is even scarier...

That was when it happened.

A muffled sound came from beneath the security chief’s hand.

A human voice.

“W-wait...”

“...!”

Go Seonha’s face was normal again, twisted in terror, desperate groans catching in their throat.

“P-please save me! S-save—”

Leave this one behind...

“U-uuurgh...”

Their eyes rolled back, and the changgwi’s voice emerged.

Just you die... Hmm? It’s fine if you die. You killed someone. You tried to kill the kids. I know everything, you know? You can die.

Go Seonha thrashed.

“No, no...”

Leave just this one. Leave just this one. Hmm? Hmmmm?!

“Please save me, please save me!! Aaaagh!”

At that moment—

“Just now.”

The security chief asked in a human voice.

“You requested emergency rescue from <Daydream Inc.>... correct?”

The monstrous form obscured his face. But his clear voice was unmistakably addressing Go Seonha directly.

“This is a formal request... warranting a written contract... is that... correct?”

... Something felt off.

Go Seonha stared up blankly, then seemed to come to their senses and answered desperately.

“Y—”

Wait.

“No, it isn’t.”

I gritted my teeth and interrupted.

“This Darkness isn’t company property, nor did we enter it to rescue civilians. Above all, we’ve helped each other.”

“Huh...? That’s strange...”

His growling voice dropped dangerously low.

“Wasn’t this one... trying to stop us from leaving...?”

A strangled gasp.

“... That doesn’t matter. In the end, they helped us.”

I spoke firmly.

“That makes this cooperation.”

“...”

The security chief stared at me. Then he looked at Go Seonha...

“Oh... is that so...?”

“...”

“I suppose... you might be right...”

The force quietly drained from his voice, returning it to its usual tone of finding everything a bother.

‘Whew.’

I had interrupted because something felt wrong, and it seemed that had been the right call after all.

‘The best thing is to stay clear of Daydream Inc...’

Actually being indebted to that company? However I looked at it, I had a very bad feeling about that.

“Hmm... then what should we do...?”

“One moment.”

I approached Lee Byeongjin, who had retreated with the children and was holding on to them with his eyes closed. My footsteps made him jump.

“Eeeek! Surely you’re not going to sacrifice me instead...!”

“The incense burner.”

“Huh...?”

“Give it to me.”

I took the incense burner he was still holding. The peach-branch incense had burned out, but all its ashes remained inside.

‘It didn’t like peach branches.’

In that case...

I tipped the burner over Go Seonha’s shoulder.

Kyaaaaaaah!!

HISSS.

It couldn’t possibly have been that hot, yet a burnt smell and the sharp tang of salt rose from the shoulder.

I’m not going! I’m not! I can cling on again! I can cling on ag—aaaaaah!

I dumped all the rest onto their head.

The possessed body convulsed, then jerked wildly...

“Gasp!”

Their eyes snapped open.

Lucid eyes filled with relief.

It was Go Seonha.

“I-I’m okay! I think I’m all ri—”

“No.”

“What?”

“We were bewitched by a changgwi to enter this place in the first place, so I think it could return at any time.”

“Th-then...”

“So for now, let’s make sure it can’t enter you at all.”

“...?”

I’d brought another pouch of apple juice.

I held the sealed pouch out to Go Seonha.

“Uh, uhhh...”

“Just drink it all down.”

At my insistence, Go Seonha began gulping down the apple juice, still pinned on the ground and looking utterly bewildered.

And a moment later, they slumped, falling asleep just like the ginseng.

Whew.

‘That’s dealt with for now...’

“You can let go now.”

“...”

The security chief obediently removed his hand, then asked in a coaxing voice,

“Would you perhaps consider transferring depart—”

“No.”

Please, give it a rest.

I thanked the security chief again—he had, at any rate, successfully returned to human form—then checked on Lee Byeongjin and the children, who still had their eyes squeezed shut.

“It’s safe to open your eyes now.”

“Oh...!”

Relief flashed across Lee Byeongjin’s face. But soon, glancing at the children, he whispered to me with a look of despair.

“B-but what do we do now?? How on earth are we going to find the way out...!”

“...”

“The sun looks like it’ll be up any minute!”

I looked at the sky. Beyond the murky fog, there seemed to be a faint light filtering through somewhere...

... The night of the full moon was ending.

‘There’s no time to perform the ritual again.’

But...

“We should be fine.”

“... What?”

“Because half the ritual probably succeeded.”

I recalled how the path had changed as we walked and sang, and how the incense had burned properly.

‘Everything we prepared was right.’

Strictly speaking, this ritual had two purposes.

Avoiding the changgwi.

And beseeching the Lord of the Mountain to reveal an escape route.

“And I think the latter worked properly.”

The former had failed because a possessed person was among us, bringing us right to the water’s edge, but...

“Perhaps the exit is somewhere nearby, too.”

“...!”

Staying close together in the thick fog, we began searching the clearing nearer the mountain, a little way back from the water. Around the spot where the trail we had followed during the ritual ended.

—‘Upon finding a small snake hole where no grass grows, give thanks for the Lord of the Mountain’s mercy and put your hand inside. Your hand must be coated in salted well water.’

‘Where no grass grows... where no grass grows.’

And a little while later—

“I-I found it!”

“...!!”

One of the middle schoolers discovered a small hole beneath a tree. Moonlight shone down beneath it, as though piercing the fog.

Onto a hole as black as a pool of ink.

“...”

A snake hole.

I had everyone quickly dip their hands into the salt water. In my urgency, I moved before fear or anything else could get in the way.

‘Hurry, hurry.’

And so, just before sunrise—

We put our hands into the snake hole.