I walked.
"There was an accident in the tunnel."
I kept walking.
"It's a white Matex compact car. Someone's waving from inside the driver's side door. Hey, right behind you."
Tap, tap.
a sensation of something continuously tapping my right shoulder.
"Turn around."
A voice whispering in my ear.
The presence of something sticking right next to me as I walk through the dark tunnel, matching my steps exactly.
Very close.
"I think it was a hit-and-run."
I kept looking forward.
…The broken headlights of a white Matex compact car shine from behind. Because of it, a shadow is cast in front of me.
Inside that car….
Whoosh… whoosh….
The shadow of someone, waving.
"You saw it, right?"[1]
Goosebumps rose from my shoulders, and my heart pounded. There's something next to me. There's something. There's something….
"Lord Cat. Please start a scary story!"
My heart nearly dropped.
"Wasn't that just a scary story? They're saying someone's suddenly next to you when there's no one there."
"Aha. Is that so?"
…!
I barely managed to open my dry mouth and answer.
"…That's right. A scary story."
Right.
I must never turn around and run or act alone.
It's unlikely with this many people, but honestly admitting there's someone next to me and begging for help would be a foolish thing to do.
'Ignore it.'
I have to suppress my agitation.
I have to ignore it as naturally as possible.
To do that….
I have to pretend it's a 'scary story.'
"Then continue the story. There's someone next to you."
Ha.
"…Perhaps one of the people who went missing or died in this tunnel is walking on the far right, pretending to be one of us."
....
"Next to me."
"Why'd you say that? Why'd you say that? Why'd you say that? Why'd you say that? Why"
The strange presence, the breathing, the voice, the cold breath, the weird smell, right next to my face.
"Ms. Dolphin told us, didn't she? That there was an accident in this tunnel."
"Oh, she did."
"What was it."
"A hit-and-run where a car driving the wrong way hit a compact car with a family inside. The whole family went missing."
"Oh, so is one of those family members walking next to you right now, Lord Cat?"
"…I wonder. For now, what's certain is… it seems to have attached itself, pretending to be Deputy Manager Nabi's missing companion."
"Heeheehee."
I barely managed to stop myself from clenching my fists. Cold sweat seemed to be breaking out on my hands and feet, but the cold heart of a reptile suppressed my sweat glands.
"So what's the end of that story already?"
"When he turned his head, there was no one there…."
I deliberately turned to look sharply at Baek Saheon.
He flinched.
Thank you. Thanks to you, I got a little farther from the ghost.
"Wouldn't that be scary enough?"
....
"That's lame."
"Hahaha. My apologies."
If there wasn't something that's been identified as a real ghost attached to my side right now, I could have told a more plausible story.
'Seriously, why is it doing this to me of all people…!'
If it was going to blend in by pretending to be Deputy Manager Jin Nasol's companion, it would have been so much better if it had just done it to the deputy manager herself.
'That person wouldn't have even batted an eye!'
Don't tell me even ghosts pick and choose their targets? Did it notice I was a coward and is doing this on purpose?
It didn't even go for the person who was left alone, but specifically me....
....
"Alright, now that we've gone around once, let's start again with me…."
"Just a moment."
"Yep?"
I slowly turned my head a little more.
And I glanced at the person walking on the complete opposite side of me.
The person standing at the far left.
"...Deputy Manager Nabi."
"What?"
"Earlier, you said your companion got scared, ran back, and disappeared."
"So what?"
"Did just the two of you come in?"
"Otherwise, why would I be waiting there for you guys? What a pain."
"..."
"..."
"So, just the two of you came in… and one person ran away and disappeared."
"And?"
"As far as I know, you're not supposed to be left alone here."
Never turn around and run or act alone.
"But you were left alone."
"..."
"…Not only did you allow that situation, but you didn't use any other methods… you just stood there, waiting for the next people to come in?"
"..."
"..."
"Yes. Because I was waiting for the white Matex compact car."
I froze.
"Because there's definitely a person in the driver's seat over there. They're waving."
"Hey. Look behind you. You can still see it. The white Matex compact car was in an accident. There's a person inside."
I hurriedly turned my head to face forward.
To avoid looking left or right.
'Damn it.'
Damn it, damn it, damn it!!
I'd rather not have known!
Why did I have to ask! This is just like in a horror movie when someone figures out the serial killer's identity and asks them to their face.
No, of course, I had to confirm it to be able to deal with it, but still!
"Aww, they were both ghosts."
"Hah."
I hear a tsk from the side and the sound of cheerful footsteps.
From the spot where Assistant Manager Jin Na-sol, no, the thing that was imitating the assistant manager had been, I hear the sound of it tapping Deputy Lee Seong-hae's shoulder.
A sound that alternates with the 'someone on my right' tapping my own shoulder.
Tap, tap.
Ta-tap,
"The crashed car is behind us."
"If you look back, you can see the accident scene. You can learn the tunnel's secret."
"Can't be helped. Shall the three of us start the stories again then!"
…You can just brush it off like this?
Right now, ghosts are attached to both sides of our group, whispering at us to look back, and that's the only reaction??
Just how much nerve do these crazy Field Investigation Team people have? You think you can escape like this? No….
"Let's keep walking!"
At that moment.
The lights in the tunnel came on.
Tang, ta-ta-tang.
I nearly jumped into the air at the sound. But the others' pace didn't change.
"Oh, our view's cleared up. It's easier to walk."
"Yeah, well."
And they just keep walking. No…!
"Then I'll start the story again!"
Why did the lights turn on?
And in the next moment, I realized.
"You can see the crashed car."
At the time of that wrong-way accident, the tunnel would have been in operation, so the lights would have been on.
"..."
Screeeech.
I hear an engine starting from behind.
"There was an accident."
The broken engine starts, and with a strange roar, the screeching sound of a ruined tire grinds against the asphalt floor.
The light from the headlights.
It follows me.
The light from the broken car casts a shadow in front of us.
A strange silhouette to my right.
A human-like shape is walking as if it's clapping bizarrely and dancing excitedly. The strange form, reminiscent of an inflatable tube man or a doll with incorrectly assembled joints, moves like crazy.
Thump.
An arm touches me.
Clap, clap.
I hear the sound of clapping by my ear.
It's scary. It's scar— no, no. Endure it.
"Ah, shall I tell one more tunnel story? It's a rumor about the car that hit the compact car and fled."
Oh, please.
"Come to think of it, there's a story that's strange too."
"..."
"The cars hit head-on, so no matter if the other was a compact car… would the other car really be unscathed?"
Drrrrr… Screech.
"Actually, it would be normal for that side to be badly hurt or for the vehicle to be wrecked. But how could there be no trace at all? Maybe…."
"..."
"It didn't hit a car, but something else?"
I swallowed.
"Looks like there was an accident."
The wrecked car is following us, driving slowly down the tunnel road.
It seems like it's about to speed up, then hits the brakes.
As if it's about to hit us.
Screech, screech.
As if it will speed up and run us over at any moment.
"..."
I'm going crazy. I'm really going crazy.
'No.'
But this is all fake. I just have to ignore it and keep telling scary stories. I just have to endure.
Drrrrr… Screech.
"So the speculation is that it wasn't a car-on-car traffic accident. In fact…."
"..."
"That compact car, maybe it encountered some kind of shamanistic or occult, ominous something inside this tunnel… and something happened to the people in the car."
"..."
"And the disappearances that happened afterward, maybe it's because that ominous something learned the fun of harming people."
The compact car's headlights are now right behind us.
The back of my neck, my ears, feel like they're stiffening with fear.
And….
"Well, that's the speculation, anyway."
"..."
I realized that the presence that had been on my right was gone.
The strange weight, sensation, and sound had all vanished.
Silence.
I looked forward.
The bizarre shadow that had been to my right was also gone.
"..."
"..."
'Hooo.'
I got through it by not reacting.
K-huff. For the first time, I was grateful for my current body, which doesn't show much agitation, and I held back a sigh of relief.
'I endured that.'
After that, I was able to react to Deputy Lee Seong-hae's ghost story. Hooo!
"I find that quite persuasive."
"Right?"
"Yes. There's a superstition that ghosts do the opposite, after all. Maybe it wasn't a car driving the wrong way, but something that was going the wrong way in the tunnel in the middle of the night."
CORRECT
Something rushes before my eyes. That thing, full of malice, with limbs attached so bizarrely it seemed to be mimicking a human, moved its abnormally large head and breathed out… It's right in front of my nose.
'Fuck.'
I reflexively threw a punch with all my might.
KWANG!!
And a sound that shouldn't have come from a human fist rang out.
"…??"
Clatter, clatter….
I turned my head. An old, rusty license plate, sent flying by my fist, was embedded in the right tunnel wall.
Immediately after, the dented license plate fell away, taking a chunk of the wall's concrete with it, revealing what was inside the wall.
"…!"
"Ack!"
A stone, wrapped in old Prayer beads. Looking like a spirit tablet, it was covered in unreadable but sinister Chinese characters, and it boasted an ominous and menacing dignity, as if it had been thoroughly soaked in the blood of some unknown beast and left to dry, a foreboding reddish-brown color.
It made one imagine all sorts of gruesome things the moment you saw it, as if someone had secretly put it there during the tunnel's construction to create a Seal….
Crumble, crumble….
It was now stone dust.
To be precise, it had been shattered by the impact of the license plate and fell to the floor. The stone, struck by a license plate of immense physical force, had become a handful of stone debris….
"..."
And.
Thump.
"..."
"..."
"Ah, it's the exit."
A light is visible in the distance.
The exit of the tunnel, where the light of dawn is loosely filtering in.
An escape route that shouldn't be visible yet.
"Oh. It's over before the sun's even up."
"..."
"Wow."
And I finally understood this situation.
'Physical Exorcism….' Manager Lee Jaheon, just what kind of life have you been living….
***
"…So, you escaped by breaking the tunnel?"
"Yep!"
Deputy manager Jin Nasol looks at us with an expression that says,
'What is this crazy talk?'
For reference, she also spotted the exit around the time we did and was coming out, so we joined up and exited together.
In her hand was her unconscious companion.
'Looks like that employee really did try to run away….'
As expected, an Elite Team deputy doesn't just let them go.
Hooo.
And my excuse was….
"I didn't break the tunnel; an anomalous situation occurred where I was suddenly attacked.
I suppose my hand was a bit heavy in my response."
What kind of crazy line is this? I can't believe it, even after saying it myself.
'I'm saying something a chuunibyou author of the
Maybe I should have just said
'? Yes' like Manager Lee Jaheon.
But even while receiving Deputy manager Jin Nasol's suspicious gaze, a fortunate result came out.
"Ah! It's not a completion. It seems it's just an escape."
The team that went in after us still hadn't come out.
'Hooo.'
With this, I've avoided being reported for having a suspicious person come in and destroy a Darkness supply source.
…But if this is the case, it means the tunnel really got 'scared' by the spirit tablet being shattered and let us go.
'Is this what happens when you have enough physical power.' It was truly amazing to experience it firsthand.
I clenched and unclenched my fist, and for a moment, I looked at Baek Saheon.
To be precise, at my face reflected on the surface of the Smartphone he was holding.
The sleek snout of a black Lizard.
Hooo.
"What-what is it."
"Nothing."
'…It's certainly a convenient body.'
Is this what they meant by it not just being a reward? 'Our' body was powerful.
But to put it another way, it also meant I could better gauge the level of power Lee Jaheon possessed.
'He's even stronger than this.' If Lee Jaheon had hit the wall with all his might like I just did, wouldn't we have been faced with 'reddish-brown powder' without even being able to recognize its shape?
No, the tunnel might have collapsed.
'It seems to be a more specialized entity.'
Meaning, that Lizard doesn't exert such powerful strength just because it's one of 'us.'
'If I'm at this level.'
What role does Lee Jaheon play among 'us' to be that powerful?
A sudden question flashed through my mind.
And along with it, the thought that I should learn how to properly use my physical strength.
'I should ask him.' Of course, there's a more pressing schedule before that.
"Then let's go eat now!"
"Ah, then…."
It was at that moment.
Biri-rik.
Assistant manager Jin Na-sol looked at her Smartphone, then frowned and looked at us.
"Stop."
"Yep?"
"Dolphin, Goat, …Lord Cat."
The eyes under the butterfly mask looked at us, as if counting us one by one.
"It's a summons from Director Ho."
"...??"
"He said to bring all three of you."
Huh?
"Why?"
"Hah…."
The sound of an annoyed Jin Nasol speaking through her irritation is heard.
"He says it's a Project dinner."
"…??"
[1] red