Chapter 15
‘There might be more than one ghost.’
It was something unimaginable.
To think there could be more ghosts than the one I saw in that haunted house urban legend.
If multiple ghosts appear in an urban legend... would I be able to handle it?
“There’s a famous haunted house nearby.”
The Medium seemed to know already.
She didn't bother asking me for an explanation.
“There are places ghosts like. Dark, damp, and secluded.”
“Places people don't visit often.”
“You're quick on the uptake.”
“Well, I've survived urban legends a few times now. I ought to have developed some survival wits.”
I was, in my own way, the Medium's assistant.
In fact, this case was also the first urban legend I was officially taking on.
“Let’s go at night.”
“Pardon?”
“It’s the time when ghosts are most likely to appear.”
A haunted house in the dark of night.
And knowing full well that a ghost is there.
A bleak feeling made my knees go weak, but she sat calmly on the wooden porch, drinking hot tea.
“You're okay, right?”
No.
I wasn't okay at all.
However, until now, I had been alone within the urban legends.
This time I would be with the Medium, and it was our first field assignment together.
Perhaps.
Perhaps it might be okay?
“It's tonight, right?”
“Yes, we have to catch it before it moves.”
Sip.
Medium Lee Yeon-hwa savored her warm tea and waited calmly.
For night to come.
For the hour of the ghosts to arrive.
“Let’s go.”
The Medium appeared, having straightened her white hanbok.
I stared at her blankly.
“Is there anything we need to prepare?”
“I’ve got everything.”
She took out Naksha's Dagger and showed it briefly.
“I could go empty-handed, and I have other spiritual items, but this is easy to carry around.”
I nodded.
However, I still hadn't told her.
That I had eaten the ghost's eye—that is, Naksha's Eye.
For some reason, I didn't want to say it.
“Hm? Why?”
“Nothing.”
“How trivial.”
Medium Lee Yeon-hwa turned her head and walked away.
We had to hurry before the approaching night deepened.
“Can you drive?”
“I don't have a license.”
“Get your license when you have time.”
“I don't have a car. Besides, I have narcolepsy, so I might fall asleep at the wheel.”
“…….”
Medium Lee Yeon-hwa made a face that said, ‘True.’
She shrugged as if there were no other choice and walked toward her destination.
“I'll drive. Wait outside.”
“Yes.”
A moment later.
She appeared in a car with a massive engine roar.
But why?
Was it a red convertible?
“Ms. Medium.”
“Yes?”
“The car is quite flashy, isn't it?”
“It's a lease.”
She replied quite nonchalantly.
Of course, she seemed like a quite spiritually powerful medium, and since she was famous for reading couples' fortunes well, she seemed like a person of considerable wealth.
“Why? Is there a problem?”
“No.”
I awkwardly climbed into the car.
The convertible sped smoothly through the night streets.
The wind blew fiercely, mercilessly tossing my hair, and the Medium's long hair also whipped violently like a ghost's hair fluttering.
We crossed over the Han River bridge, which was filled with colorful lights, and headed toward a secluded mountain somewhere.
“Where are we?”
“It’s here.”
The area beyond, illuminated by the car’s headlights.
There stood a single house that looked like a collapsing ruin.
“The place you saw in the urban legend....”
Tension washed over me at her words.
It was because this was the first time I had ever come to the actual stronghold of a ghost seen in an urban legend.
This time, it wasn't just a simple haunted house experience.
Because the Medium was a person who had come here to hunt the ghost.
“Are we going in?”
“I suppose we should.”
She spoke nonchalantly.
Her tone was mechanical, like an office worker doing overtime.
“I could just wait outside.”
“No.”
The Medium was firm.
“You have to go in too.”
“Pardon?”
“You’re the assistant. Is there anything free in this world?”
To think I'd be going to meet a ghost right from the start.
A reluctant expression naturally formed on my face.
“Hmm.”
The Medium saw my expression and nodded as if she understood well enough.
“Up until now, you were inside an urban legend. Don't you want to know? If it’s similar to reality.”
Honestly.
I wasn't curious.
However, the Medium seemed to know something.
Whether or not there was a discrepancy between the urban legend and reality.
“Ghosts don’t appear in reality very often. Since they are beings with only forms remaining, they mostly appear in dreams. That’s what urban legends are.”
“Then what about now?”
“You won’t see the ghost. So don’t worry.”
Thud.
The Medium grabbed a flashlight and got out of the car first.
Then she began to walk forward without hesitation.
The car’s headlights were on, but somehow being alone was even more eerie.
“Wait for me.”
I ended up following the Medium into the haunted house reflexively.
Creak.
I heard the sound of the unstable floor.
It was similar to the situation in the urban legend I saw.
Debris strewn about in disorder.
Even the scenery of the ruin I saw in the legend was truly identical.
“Yu-chan, this is the place, right?”
“Yes. It’s exactly the same.”
“I thought so. Because urban legends are also made with the imagination. The easiest way is to bring a scene from your memory exactly as it is into the dream.”
“Exactly as remembered?”
“Yeah. Because dreams are an extension of reality.”
Dreams are an extension of reality.
Is that why people dream of the past that happened in reality again?
It wasn't the time to be lost in thought and contemplation, but I kept looking around and comparing things with the situation in the urban legend.
“I really can’t see any ghosts.”
“I said you wouldn't see them, I didn't say there weren't any ghosts?”
Goosebumps broke out instantly.
The Medium had stopped in her tracks a while ago and was staring intently at somewhere.
My feet also stopped.
“Over there....”
The Medium slowly opened her mouth.
“It’s on the ceiling.”
“Pardon?”
“Shh.”
She put a finger to her lips, signaling for caution.
“It's as you said. The ghost here is on the ceiling too.”
“…….”
“Those bastards rarely appear in reality, but they do hide. If they open their eyes, there's a glint like a beast's eye-glow. They'd be caught by me then, so they keep their eyes closed.”
A quiet silence.
Only the Medium's whispering voice could be heard.
“Instead, it keeps its ears open. To hear who's coming.”
Silence was a precursor to terror.
I couldn't say a word.
“Waiting to see what kind of prey arrives. Because a haunted house will become a ghost's human hunting ground.”
Bone-chilling words.
The Medium was completely immersed in this situation.
“Even now, it’s listening to everything we say.”
My heart seemed to stop; words wouldn't even come out.
I just stayed quiet.
I was only waiting for this moment to pass.
“…….”
A tension so thick it was hard to even breathe.
A fear that felt like my heart would stop.
In that state, I felt as if adrenaline was pumping like crazy.
“That’s enough.”
She finally spoke.
As if she had shared a wordless conversation with the ghost, the Medium nodded.
“Let's go.”
“Yes.”
Carefully.
I walked outside cautiously, making as little noise as possible.
“Phew.”
A sigh burst out as soon as we left the haunted house.
While I was shaking off the cold sweat, the Medium was calmly making the next preparations.
“The bastard was hiding the whole time.”
“Did you fail to find it?”
“In reality, ghost forms are mostly hard to pin down. So their power tends to be weak.”
The Medium's gaze turned cold.
“It's different within an urban legend, though.”
I stared at her silently.
“No one goes without sleep. No one goes without dreaming. A ghost waits for its desired victim to fall asleep. It enters by turning that person's dream into an urban legend.”
She spoke in a whisper, as if sharing a secret.
“To kill them there.”
The Medium's tone was frigid.
Dreams did not belong to humans.
They were hunting grounds where ghosts attacked by turning them into urban legends.
“So it's hiding on the ceiling and won't show itself.”
“And?”
“The bastard saw us in the last legend. It surely recognized us. I felt it just now. Since a ghost can see in all directions even with its eyes closed, it seems to be staying quiet.”
I felt as though everything had been exposed.
Only then did I understand the situation.
“Then what should we do?”
“The bastard will wait now. For us to fall asleep.”
“And if we dream?”
“The ghost will turn it into an urban legend. It will drag us into it.”
The Medium's eyes changed into those of someone entering a battle.
“Then now, we...?”
“There’s no other way. We enter the urban legend.”
Thud!
I felt a shock as if I’d been struck by a hammer.
Enter an urban legend?
Forcibly, once we fall asleep?
“The bastard will try to devour us within the urban legend.”
“Then what do we do? It's dangerous to enter an urban legend.”
“If you don't sleep, you won't dream.”
“How can I not sleep?”
“That’s why you have to survive the urban legend.”
The Medium spoke as if stating a fixed law.
Since we were already in the ghost's sight, the bastard was simply waiting quietly.
To calmly drag us into its urban legend.
“We’re going into the legend anyway. Let’s make the first move.”
“Pardon?”
“I have spiritual power. I can use it to enter the domain of the urban legend.”
Because she was a medium. She was an ability user who could fight within a ghost’s urban legend.
But I was different.
“Kim Yu-chan.”
“Yes.”
“Fall asleep quickly.”
“Pardon?”
I doubted my ears.
Just where was she telling me to fall asleep right now?
I was bewildered as to why she would say such a thing when falling asleep meant being sucked into the urban legend immediately.
“Let’s enter the urban legend.”
“Um. Can’t you just enter the urban legend by yourself, Ms. Medium?”
“The opponent doesn’t seem to be an ordinary ghost.”
Medium Lee Yeon-hwa stared at the haunted house where the ghost was.
“The bastard used another ghost. To latch onto you first. And just now, it was watching. As if staring at prey.”
It was a cunning ghost.
Even down to the cruel scheme of using another ghost as a front.
This ghost was different.
I could even feel the talent of a killer spirit that couldn't be easily caught by ordinary methods.
Sigh.
There was no turning back.
Since I was already targeted by the ghost, I would enter the urban legend the moment I fell asleep.
If I entered defenselessly, I'd be finished before anyone knew.
There was no choice.
Seriously.
It feels like I’m going in as a meat shield.
No, it’s more likely that’s exactly it, which made me even more anxious.
“It’ll be okay, right?”
“Just do as I told you last time. You be the eyes behind my back.”
The Medium nodded and signaled with her eyes.
My whole body trembled with foreboding, but it would only get more disadvantageous as the night deepened.
Will it go well?
This is practically our first time working together in an urban legend.
“I’ll be watching closely. There’s nothing to fear.”
“Yesss.”
The Medium took out Naksha's Dagger from her shirt.
“If you hold a spiritual object, you can bring it into the urban legend.”
I had already seen the Medium’s skills.
The sight of her stabbing the ghost without hesitation with the dagger.
Not even the ghost’s short scream could shake her determined gaze and resolve.
“Now then, sleep quickly.”
For the first time, I regretted having narcolepsy.
Because the feeling of falling asleep knowing I’d enter an urban legend was not pleasant at all.
I lay down quietly in the back seat of the car.
[The ghost's domain is shifting.]
I entered the urban legend.
It was the haunted house legend.