An abandoned haunted house, in the clutches of a Vengeful Spirit.
Is anyone there...?
Once again, a voice came from outside the abandoned house’s entrance.
This time, it was a low male voice.
“Ah, no...! Who... who is it now...?”
Manager Lee covered his mouth and screamed.
Please, open the door…
“......”
“Who... who is dead? Who has come...? Ah... let’s... let’s run away! Let’s run away!”
It’s so cold here.
Hmmm.
“Don’t... don’t answer this time... ahhhh...?!”
I approached the door.
Then I pulled on the door handle.
“HUHAAHHH?!”
As the door opened, what appeared was...
“Wow, I thought I was going to die... Thank you...”
A thin, tall figure, with light-colored hair and worn-out navy-blue uniform—just an ordinary human.
“…!?”
“Manager Lee Byungjin, greet him.”
I respectfully nodded.
“He’s the captain of the Security Team 3.”
“……??? …?!”
That’s right.
The person who got sucked into the ghost story with me, the captain of Security Team 3.
‘His face looks like it’s going to explode.’
Manager Lee Byungjin, with a bright red face, alternated between pointing at me and the security captain, then startled himself, bent his finger, and let out a strange groan.
“Why... how...?!”
Why, indeed.
‘You told me yourself...’
– “So, every day, someone with the voices of dead family, friends, and neighbors comes to visit once...!”
The voice is heard only once per night.
By the way, a similar account is blatantly recorded in <Chronicles of Darkness Exploration>
When taken to an abandoned house, every night the Vengeful Spirit visits the door and pleads in the voice of a deceased loved one, causing the victim to suffer from mental pain and confusion.
‘“Every night” just means once per day.’
But I can't exactly say, “There’s magical record backing my statement.”
“It was an instinct.”
“......”
Manager Lee became oddly dazed.
Anyway, I was right, so just go with it.
I confirmed that the security captain had entered the abandoned house before promptly closing the door and locking the handle.
Just looking outside is chilling.
“Thank you...”
“No problem.”
How this person managed to avoid being dragged into the spirit’s grasp and knocked on this house’s door was truly baffling, but...
‘Well... it’s a security team member, after all.’
What was more surprising, though, was that the security captain wasn’t alone.
He was helping someone else.
“...Who is this person?”
The captain cheerfully answered.
“Look, I’ve found a missing person!”
“...But this is the missing person, though.”
“Ah. I got confused...”
“......”
This person was of a completely different gender...
I checked the person the security captain had dropped onto the floor.
It was a stranger.
She was in a very ragged state and, regardless of who was around, slumped in the abandoned house, wailing loudly.
“Uwaaaaa, it’s all over. It’s all over!!”
“She kept doing that. Oh, this place is better... I woke up in some kind of shaman's house... it’s cold, dark, and damp, so it wasn’t great there.”
“Aaaah!”
“......”
‘What a mess.’
I just needed a normal, sane colleague...
‘I miss my superiors from Team D...’
Still, I took a moment to check on the person crying. She was wearing a ragged white gown, with a name tag on the chest.
[Go Seonha]
‘Huh?’
I immediately pulled out a small business card.
It was the one that had been stuck between some old books labeled ‘Way to survival.’
-------------------------------
Go Seonha
Department of History, Jugang University
-------------------------------
The back had ‘Leaving tomorrow’ written on it.
“Are you the person on this business card? Did you try out what’s written in the book?”
“Ugh...”
The woman nodded.
“Yes... but it was all useless.”
“Huh? Wait! Useless, what do you mean...?”
“It’s exactly as it sounds.”
The woman, with a somber face, took something out of her pocket.
“That is...”
“We have to go out and walk about a hundred steps. There’s a shrine there, probably the ‘shrine’ mentioned in the book.”
“......”
“And this, it’s a replica of the wooden tablet there.”
The woman glanced at me tiredly.
“Looks like you read the book properly. By the way, do you study Korean history? This was written in a style from a few hundred years ago…”
No. I just have a monster friend...
“Oh, anyway!! Then shouldn’t we just follow what’s written on the tablet? Why do you keep crying, saying nothing works...?”
“Because it doesn’t work!!”
“…!”
“Look Mister, I’m not an idiot! I tried what was on the tablet, okay? Like getting three pickled plums, mashing them into a cup, and sprinkling them outside... I did it all! I did everything... but...”
“......”
Go Seonha, after taking a deep breath as she gazed at the air, showed me the back page of the paper she had taken out.
Braun, noticing, started to read it aloud.
– "Prepare the song to offer to the Mountain Lord. The more well-known it is, the better its effect. Write the lyrics, place them in an incense holder, sing loudly, and clap every step and bow every thirty steps."
“Song for the Mountain Lord...”
“Yeah! That one!”
Go Seonha’s eyes widened as she asked.
“The Mountain Lord is a tiger, right? So what comes to mind right away? A song about tigers, something praising tigers, whether it’s a lullaby or folk song!”
“Th-that...”
Manager Lee Byungjin fumbled as he opened his mouth.
“Mountain-Hero, the mighty one…”
“On the tiger’s birthday, yes—that’s what I was thinking too. I wanted to use that one... but...”
Go Seonha lowered her head deeply.
“...But once a song was used, it can’t be used again!”
“…!”
“The incense holder was already full of lyrics! And the Mountain-hero was, of course, one of them...!”
Oh my god.
“‘The Mountain Lord is fickle and enjoys songs, so he won’t accept the same ones as before.’ It said. No, even in folk tales, the tiger smokes and dances, but this... this...!”
Go Seonha screamed at the air as if fire was about to burst out of her mouth, then turned to us with a desperate look and asked.
“Do you remember any tiger lullabies, folk songs, or instrumental pieces... anything at all...?”
Nothing.
“No, right?!”
Go Seonha grabbed her hair in frustration.
“I’m not a traditional music major, and I can’t search it up either! Ah, ah...”
“......”
No.
I didn’t even know that songs couldn’t be repeated.
The <Chronicles of Darkness Exploration> also mentioned at least three records where the Vengeful Spirit took people to such spaces and performed rituals, and each time, different songs were used.
From traditional Korean music to instrumental pieces...
‘I thought it was just a wiki with collective intelligence for fun, listing different songs.’
I didn’t expect such detail to be hidden.
Even if I wanted to use the songs listed in that wiki, it only provided the titles. There was no way to know the lyrics or melodies.
‘Damn.’
The atmosphere in the abandoned house became cold.
“......”
Hmm.
With Braun's help, I carefully read through the Chinese characters on the paper, which was a replica of the shrine’s wooden tablet.
Then I asked.
“Ms. Go Seonha.”
“...Yes?”
“I have a few questions, is that alright?”
“What is it?”
“How long have you been here?”
“...Ten days.”
Go Seonha’s face went pale.
“But after two or three days, I started hearing a crazy old man wandering around... so I hid in the attic.”
The ‘crazy old man’ looked back at Go Seonha with a somewhat unjust expression.
“And a few days... I started hearing children’s voices. I didn’t know what to do, so... when it was the full moon, I snuck out while this guy was asleep.”
“And you went to the shrine to perform a ritual.”
“Yes.”
I nodded my head.
Then I moved on to the next question.
“But it’s strange.”
“Huh?”
“It’s written in the ritual that one sacrifice is needed, so why did you go alone?”
“...I’m not going to say something like, I went alone to sacrifice myself to save everyone.”
Go Seonha tightly clenched her fist until her knuckles turned white.
“First, I was just observing how it’s done… to decide. But yeah, while doing it, I figured out what was going on. I even checked the records of the people who had done it before.”
“....”
“Today is the full moon. Once it’s over, it’s over! I can’t hold out for another 15 days until the next full moon. The ghost... the ghost will open the door.”
“Right. The ritual needs to be done before sunrise.”
I nodded instinctively as I recalled the talisman barely left hanging on the door handle.
“But it can’t be done!”
“No.”
I shook my head and stood up.
“It’s possible.”
“Huh?”
“The ritual.”
I thought of an alternative that seemed feasible.
“I’ll prepare it.”
“Wait a minute. Well, even if something can be done, the materials must be gathered from outside, and I’ve already used everything I found!”
I looked at the list written on the paper that detailed the ritual.
Materials: Three plums, salt, ashes of burnt peach branches, one bucket of well water.
All of these can only be found outside…
In the middle of the night when the wandering spirits are around.
But how could I safely go out alone...?
‘Of course, I have no choice but to.’
Only I have the means to go out.
“– Would you like me to turn off your spotlight now, Roe Deer?”
“...”
Wow.
Do I really have to go out alone?
I absentmindedly looked around at the others.
My scared heart screamed for us to all stick together, but my brain snapped back to reality, telling me not to do anything foolish.
Ugh, this is crazy!
In the end, reason won.
“All of you stay here.”
I secretly wished someone would volunteer to go with me, but... well, here we are.
To my surprise, Go Seonha raised her hand.
“…I’ve been through this before. I can at least guide you to the location.”
“Ah! Don't interfere, sit down, student.”
However, Manager Lee Byungjin quickly got up and stopped Go Seonha.
“Don’t think of him as one of us! He’s an extraordinary person!”
“....”
Well, that’s a bit much.
“Don’t interfere. Just mark the location and hand it over to him. Quickly!”
“Ah...”
Go Seonha had a reluctant look on her face.
But after looking at me, she seemed to understand, nodding with a slight expression of agreement.
‘...?!’
She wrote down the location of the materials she had gathered on the blank space on the ritual paper and handed it over.
“Ah! Also... be careful around water.”
“...”
“Those (Chang-gwi) vengeful spirits are those who not only serve as a vassal to the tiger after dying to them but... in the past, they were also referred to as water ghosts...”
Go Seonha swallowed nervously with a pale face.
“Rivers, water sounds, valleys... If you hear or see any signs of water, avoid it. Don’t look at it, just keep walking.”
“Understood.”
It’s really fucking terrifying. Damn it...
Anyway, the moment had come, and I stood in front of the door.
The security team captain spoke up.
“...Are you going alone?”
“Yes.”
I felt like crying, but here we are.
“If anything happens, please take care of the others.”
The security team’s job isn’t to protect civilians, but I’d trust them more than any ordinary person, especially against the monsters from the ghost stories.
But the security team captain just stared at me.
“Hey.”
“Yes?”
“You really don’t look like one of our employees…”
“…?!”
“Strange... Alright, I’ll stay put... Don’t have any equipment, though…”
He slouched down next to the door.
“...”
Anyway, looks like everything’s set.
‘...Let’s go.’
I took a quiet deep breath and pulled the door handle.
Creeak.
With the eerie sound of the hinges, the outside appeared.
A foggy darkness.
It was eerily quiet.
“...”
Creeak, thud.
The door closed behind me.
They said it was a full moon, but the fog was so thick that not a single ray of moonlight showed.
I could barely make out the vague shadows of trees and bushes swaying in the wind, and the dim light from the shadows cast by the trees and foliage.
I hesitantly took a step forward.
Thud, thud.
“– Friend, I’m going to turn off your spotlight now. Disappear behind the camera’s angle, into the back of the stage…”
With each step, a shadow seemed to press down on me like a dark weight.
‘This still feels strange...’
Now, I was slowly blending into the foggy forest, faint and dark.
“– Hah. Feels a lot lighter here!”
Of course, I was still scared. My heart felt like it could stop at any moment.
[From the abandoned house, if you walk straight up to the left, you’ll see a huge tree. It has a golden rope tied around it.]
Even so, the rough map and the notes Go Seonha had drawn in my mind helped guide me.
I couldn’t help but feel awestruck by how she managed to collect the materials in this spooky place.
‘Left, up.’
Minutes that felt like an hour passed.
“– Ah, Roe Deer. I think I see something.”
As Braun had said, something started to appear.
It was... a giant tree, thick with fog.
Hoo.
With every shake of its branches, I could smell a sweet scent.
...It’s peaches.
‘Why does it smell like peaches when there are no fruits?’
Though the sweetness was there, it felt off in some way...
The tree had a golden rope tied around it, stretched between two thick branches.
Beyond that, a small field appeared.
“– Hmm, a garden? A small garden in the mountains. It’s an interesting sight, though it’s not quite my style!”
Braun said this in a lighthearted manner, but my mind was far from playful.
In the book I’d read earlier, this area was referred to as the "Mountain Lord's burial ground."
And the ritual materials were supposed to be here?
‘It’s definitely a supernatural area.’
I carefully approached and began gathering the materials.
‘Plums... found them.’
[If you look to the left with the big tree on your right, you'll see a small plum tree.]
I picked up the fallen fruits under the plum tree and, near the giant peach tree, also picked up the dry twigs.
Just to clarify, I didn’t dare pick the fruits or break the branches.
‘What kind of idiot would do that?’
Standing alone in the middle of a spooky mountain at midnight, haunted by spirits? That’s a nightmare. But to top it off, I had to do a ritual too?
Safety first, always.
‘...Alright.’
Finally, I gathered some salt from the old stone tower, which had been scattered like a charm against evil.
...Honestly, I almost screamed earlier when I heard the sound of a bucket clashing inside the well.
‘But I’ve gathered everything now.’
The surroundings were still quiet.
I let out a tiny sigh of relief.
‘Now, back to the peach tree. If I retrace my steps, the abandoned house should be there...’
As I retraced my steps, trying to move as accurately as possible, I saw something I hadn’t noticed before.
At the end of the golden rope on the peach tree, there was a clean silk cloth etied.
‘Huh?’
There was a message written on it.
Those unworthy, go back.
Whoa.
‘Definitely not touching that.’
I kept a one-meter distance, nodding.
“– You seem nervous, Roe Deer.”
‘Ah, it seems like crossing this line requires some sort of qualification.’
“– Hmm.”
‘No way would someone haunted by a ghost have any qualifications...’
“– And yet, you seem qualified!”
‘......’
What?
“– Look at your wrist.”
I raised my hand and looked at the inside of my wrist.
It was the spot where an amusement park pass had once been.
: Socius :
The tattoo, left after the membership card burned away, was faintly glowing.
“…!!”
‘Socius... was that the word?’
It’s Latin for companion, member, or kin.
“– Huh, it seems that symbol has more applications than I had thought!”
“– Although it’s odd for a theme park mascot to have such connections, maybe they have part-time jobs elsewhere…”
“....”
“– Well then, friend, will you use the membership?”
I slowly approached the golden rope and extended my hand.
The golden rope swayed, and then, as if in disbelief, smoothly passed through my arm.
“…!”
“– Just as I thought.”
Carefully, I took a step forward.
Into the garden, which I was now qualified to enter.
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