Chapter 11
Brrrring, brrrring.
I woke up to the sound of my alarm.
It had been a long time since I’d woken up this early in the morning—not since my school days.
“Yaaawn.”
To think I’d wake up rubbing my eyes and yawning.
It was different from when I’d wake up from oversleeping because I had nothing to do.
The feeling of waking up for work was quite unique.
Splash.
I washed my face and hair at the sink.
Today was my first day of work.
After washing up thoroughly with an unusual sense of purpose, I changed into a suit.
Once I finished getting ready, I left the house.
I walked along, feeling the refreshing morning air.
Yet, for some reason.
Even while walking for just a short while, a thought popped into my head.
“I want to go home.”
As expected.
The commute to work is never pleasant.
A life of just playing and eating comfortably was truly the best.
To earn money.
Today as well, an office worker headed to work with an Americano in hand like a vitamin.
Much like a battery charging with electricity.
It felt like I was charging my body with energy through coffee.
“Fighting.”
I walked along sluggishly, giving my fist a light squeeze of encouragement.
Even though today was my first day, it was "fighting."
……
“You’re late?”
When I arrived at the Hanok, she was standing there with her arms crossed and her weight shifted onto one leg.
“I’m not late, though.”
“One minute.”
She held out her wrist.
It wasn't a digital watch, but a luxury one with a spinning second hand.
“Oh, a Nolex watch.”
“It was a gift. I don’t buy luxury goods.”
She replied with a calm face.
I thought she had a taste for luxury, but surprisingly, it seemed she didn't.
“I’m one minute late. I’m sorry.”
Ha, she saw the whole thing.
I stood there dazed with a bewildered expression before reflexively apologizing.
“Don’t be late next time.”
“Yes.”
Un-der-stood.
She’s the incredibly meticulous type who nitpicks over every second.
I got a strong feeling that things were going to be very exhausting from now on.
“So.”
Medium Lee Yeon-hwa.
What is the first task she’ll entrust to me?
“What should I do?”
I thought it over.
“Is it another urban legend? Whose dream is it?”
She called my name slowly.
“Kim Yu-chan.”
“Yes.”
“Weren't you scared? Of the urban legends. Of ghosts.”
She stared at me intently with a suspicious gaze.
“If the form is unclear. Mmm. Well, yeah, it is scary.”
“And yet you ask about the legends first.”
“I’m trying to earn my keep.”
I stood firm in my resolve.
“It’s only natural to give back when you’ve received something, right?”
“You’re paying me a lot, after all.”
A full-time position at 6 million won a month.
Long live financial therapy!
For someone like me, who struggled to even get part-time jobs as a fresh member of society because of narcolepsy, I was honestly grateful for this kind of salary.
I had broken out in cold sweats while trapped in an urban legend during the day, but at night, I’d slept like a baby while shouting, “Long live financial therapy!”
“Sure, well. It’s a relief if you’re okay.”
The medium brushed it off, feeling a bit uneasy but accepting it.
I asked what I was curious about.
“By any chance, what do I have to do to survive in an urban legend?”
“Huh?”
Her eyes grew wide with surprise.
“You know.”
“Me?”
“In the elevator.”
The medium reminded me of the memory.
“You met a ghost then and survived, didn’t you?”
“That dream.”
“It was an urban legend I had experienced. I put that into your dream.”
“Yes. You said so yesterday.”
“You did well and stayed calm there.”
It was true.
It might have just been luck.
I felt a bit of anxiety.
“You seemed to know it well. If I had to say, mindset is the fundamental in an urban legend. First, you must not fear the ghost.”
“What’s next?”
“The first method to survive an urban legend. Let's pretend not to know the ghost.”
“What if I do?”
“Those bastards become dangerous if you react.”
She was right.
I hadn’t tried to face the ghost head-on.
“I understand.”
“Don’t try to do it all at once. You can take it slow.”
The medium wasn't impatient.
The more you hurry, the more you should go around.
Instead, it sounded like she was telling me to learn solidly and accurately.
“So. What is the urban legend I’ll be taking on?”
“There isn’t one.”
“Pardon?”
My voice grew louder in bewilderment.
“Why isn’t there one?”
“Of course there isn’t. Because no requests have come in.”
Ah!
“There’s no urban legend right now, so what can I do?”
True.
I was flustered but relieved at the same time.
Facing an urban legend every day would have been a burden, no matter how much financial therapy there was.
Maybe there isn't as much work as I thought.
“Um, but.”
“What is it?”
“If there’s no urban legend and no requests... will I still get my salary?”
“Ah, were you worried about that?”
The medium laughed loudly.
“Yu-chan. Kim Yu-chan.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t just specialize in urban legends.”
Dressed in a white hanbok, she fluttered her sleeves as she showed off.
“I can tell fortunes. Do face readings. Even perform shamanic rituals.”
“Really?”
“I’m quite good at it.”
The medium nodded slightly.
“What I’m confident in is love luck.”
“Ah.”
“I’m good at business luck too.”
“...I see.”
I replied with a soulless expression.
Because the daily life of a medium without an urban legend was so peaceful.
“The reservations are full. You take the customers.”
“Ah, yes.”
My first job was guiding.
I guided the visiting customers and confirmed their reservations.
“Customer number 7.”
“Yes.”
Haha, hoho.
A young man and woman followed me while engaging in lovey-dovey displays of affection.
“Excuse me.”
“Yes?”
“Does the Great Lady here really read love luck well?”
“Mmm.”
Actually, I didn’t really know either.
Regardless, this couple had sparkling eyes and was full of anticipation.
“That’s what they say. She wouldn’t be famous for nothing, right?”
“Right? See? I knew we came to the right Great Lady.”
“Haha.”
A Medium who is good at reading love luck.
As if I had become a shaman’s boy, I guided the guests and ran errands.
Slide.
I opened the door for them.
“Welcome.”
The voice of the Medium waiting in the room was calm as always.
She welcomed the guests while holding a hot teacup with both hands and taking a sip.
The lovey-dovey couple was hoping for good compatibility while displaying affection toward each other.
“Great Lady!”
“Love luck?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Well, I wasn't interested.
While the conversation between the lovey-dovey couple and the Medium continued for a long time.
I sat on the wooden porch and poured myself some tea to drink.
A soft, fluttering breeze.
Green leaves flowing by.
I felt the cool, refreshing wind and leaned slightly against a pillar.
I drifted off to sleep in the gently blowing breeze.
Narcolepsy.
A disease where one falls into sleep at any time.
It was inconvenient enough to be close to a disability, but the Medium was different.
She thought differently.
‘That you can see dreams at any time.’
I thought they were unnecessary dreams, but they weren't.
The Medium said that dreams are the pathway to entering an urban legend.
She said it was the road taken to save people suffering from nightmares.
Right now.
The blowing breeze brought a sweet sleep.
I fell into a dream for a moment.
“…….”
What is this?
The place where I opened my eyes was once again an unfamiliar place.
A dark and desolate place.
“What is this place now?”
It was an unknown place.
It was a space I had never seen before or even imagined.
As my eyes grew a bit accustomed to the darkness, my pupils began to focus.
Reinforced concrete protruded from the ruined building, and there were half-destroyed furniture and broken desks.
“An abandoned house?”
For some reason.
I was having a dream where I was in an abandoned house.
“…….”
An abandoned house was essentially a haunted house.
Why no one lived in this house.
Why I had a dream of coming to such an ominous place again.
And why, of all times, it was in the pitch-black night, and I was alone.
I knew nothing.
“It’s eerie.”
A haunted house where a ghost might appear.
It was the kind of place YouTubers might visit in the summer for a haunted house experience.
I looked around, and since I couldn't just keep waiting, I carefully took a step forward.
Crunch.
As I stepped on a branch, I heard a crushing sound.
An alien irritation that broke the quiet silence.
As if my breathing had stopped for a second.
As if my heart had stopped working.
At that sound, my chest tightened and my breathing subsided.
“…….”
This was not air I could breathe.
I felt it instinctively.
This feeling.
It was the same emotion I felt when I was in the elevator.
It was the same eerie energy felt in that elevator where the ghost was present.
Worst memories linger in the mind.
Right now, I felt like I was inside an urban legend.
‘Haunted house urban legend....’
As my footsteps stopped, it felt as if the wind had stopped too.
Silence flowed.
If I moved wrongly, it felt like I would step on something again and make a harsh sound.
Of course, there was no reason why I shouldn't make a sound.
But.
For some reason.
It felt like it would be dangerous if I made even the slightest noise.
“…….”
Humans instinctively sense danger.
Especially an eerily approaching energy.
Something like a ghost approaching from behind as if seeping in.
I didn't move.
No, I couldn't move.
Because it felt like someone was behind me.
“…….”
I swallowed hard.
This was no ordinary dream.
Is it indeed inside an urban legend?
Even the trembling in my pupils vanished, and my gaze stopped, fixed on the void.
Should I speak?
Or should I walk?
Just how can I get out of this urban legend?
It was around the time I was worrying about that.
Drip.
A sensation felt on my shoulder.
Cold and damp.
That strange feeling was not a hand.
Drip.
Drip.
Something kept falling.
What could it be?
Before fear and terror, I felt curiosity.
But I realized one thing from the urban legend I experienced recently.
Noticing a ghost.
That it's dangerous to act as if you know.
‘That you can die.’
“…….”
Drip.
Just what is this?
What is the identity of this cold and damp something falling on my shoulder?
Although that curiosity was bubbling up, I gritted my teeth and endured it.
Useless curiosity leads to loss of life.
The rules of horror movies didn't exist for nothing.
If you're alone, you die.
If you try to find something lost, you die.
Supporting characters die early.
“……”
I tried my best to ignore it.
I kept in mind the first rule of surviving an urban legend.
It was the very first rule that the Medium had also mentioned.
‘Pretend you didn't see the ghost.’
‘Feign ignorance.’
Curiosity was like a drug.
A sweet temptation, but a road leading to death.
Ghosts were beings capable of ‘Deadly Enchantment.’
‘A dream-hell that lures people.’
The urban legend was like an antlion pit.
Drip.
Something falling on my shoulder again.
Feeling that spine-chilling cold object, I knew instinctively.
That there was something on the ceiling of this haunted house.
“…….”
So I was even more unable to move, but.
I had to act as if nothing was wrong.
If the ghost was above.
If it was on the ceiling in some way.
‘Never lift your head.’
While thinking that, I kept the first rule in mind.
In my eyes, the ghost is invisible.
I know nothing.
Pretending not to know, I struggled to ignore the unidentified something falling on my shoulder.
Carefully.
Without reacting.
So as not to make a sound.
I took another step forward.
‘Crack.’
I ended up stepping on debris again.
Since there were so many discarded items and broken ruins in the haunted house, I couldn't possibly walk without making a sound.
It was then.
[Skritch.]
A sound heard from the ceiling.
There was nothing falling like before, but the growing presence seemed to weigh down on my shoulders.
I must not react.
Pretend it's nothing.
Pretend I didn't see it.
I knew it, but humans react instinctively.
Cold sweat and goosebumps.
Unavoidable physical reactions were emerging.
The sound was heard again.
A little closer.
Right against my ear.
Directly.
[Skritchhhh.]