The two won stared around in shock, then collapsed onto the floor, trembling.
I almost followed them down. That is, until one of the ghosts hiding on the ceiling of the elevator ca down, shaking its head furiously and signaling to stop.
Just then, a ghost with drooping eyes floated down and circled around , its face exuding a sense of triumph, as if to say, "Look at ."
'Thanks.'
I mouthed my gratitude to the ghost. It jumped up excitedly, as if happy with my acknowledgnt.
The unexpected, cute behavior made relax. All the tension left my body.
I regained my composure and extended my hand to Lady Sutherland and Erika.
"It’s better we go down now."
The rooftop was spacious, with nothing around but a single door leading inside the building.
I had been in the elevator, but how could this be happening?
As I helped the two of them up and was about to head downstairs, a black shape suddenly popped out from the rooftop entrance.
"Hey? Is that Kkamang?"
Erika questioned, and as she said, the black cat had blue eyes.
I wasn’t sure if the true eyes were blue or yellow, but it looked like Kkamang.
Kkamang was holding a string in its mouth, with a glass bottle attached to the end of the string.
"What is that?"
Lady Sutherland asked, perplexed.
Clunk, clunk, clunk—
As Kkamang walked toward , a ghost nearby jerked and trembled violently before running off to so unseen place.
Kkamang, unconcerned, gently placed the string with the glass bottle on the floor.
[You were told to wait, but you couldn't resist and got caught up in a ghost story, huh.]
"That’s..."
I had no words for it. Kkamang stared at silently for a mont, then sighed.
[Don’t relax. It’s not over yet.]
"What? If it’s not over, then what?"
[I’ll tell you how to seal him. Looking at the situation...]
Kkamang scanned up and down. With a serious expression, it thought for a mont before speaking in a confident tone.
[I think you can do it. As you can see, this is a glass bottle with holy water. I’ll also tell you how to use it.]
"What do you an?"
"What’s that supposed to an, lody? Can you speak cat now?"
While I was talking with Kkamang, I heard Erika’s question from the side.
"I’ve never seen soone talk to a cat before."
Lady Sutherland added her comnt.
That’s when I realized that they couldn’t understand a word Kkamang was saying.
'Can Kkamang’s words only be heard by ?'
I stared at Kkamang with a troubled expression.
Could it be that I’m really losing my mind?
[Hurry, lody. We don’t have much ti.]
Kkamang’s prompt caused to stand up reluctantly.
"Lady Sutherland, Erika. You should stay here until it’s safe."
Erika and Lady Sutherland reacted imdiately.
"What do you an, lody? What are you going to do? That crazy woman might still be wandering around in there."
"Erika’s right. Let’s wait until soone cos. It’s safer here."
I didn’t know how to explain to them. The only one who could understand Kkamang was .
‘Could this be related to the ti reversal thing?’
But I didn’t have ti to think about that now.
The ghost story isn’t over yet.
"Then don’t ask anything, just follow . Don’t ask any questions, just trust . Can you follow without asking?"
After a brief exchange of glances, Erika and Lady Sutherland nodded.
Saint Gloria’s private school dress code requires a shoulder sash and a cross necklace blessed by the pope.
So, I was still wearing my pope-blessed cross necklace.
I tightly held the glass bottle with holy water that Kkamang had brought and my cross necklace.
[Let’s go, lody.]
Kkamang said, walking ahead with confidence. I wasn’t sure who the master was anymore.
'No, wait. Am I really Kkamang’s master?'
I had only nad it, but Kkamang wasn’t exactly my pet.
Anyway, I followed Kkamang, opening the rooftop door and entering the building.
We went down the stairs and saw the 7th-floor corridor and the elevator.
The interior of the building looked different. There was blood all over the walls and floors.
I froze for a mont in shock, but Kkamang walked ahead without hesitation.
[The evil spirits are different from regular spirits. They are corrupted and lost their original souls, ‘evil.’ That’s why they can’t co into this world without a dium. The dium exists in both this world and the ‘beyond world.’ So, we just need to find the dium wherever it is. Once we find it, we can destroy it.]
I recalled the conversation I had with Kkamang earlier and tried to calm my trembling heart.
But,
Crack—
"Ahhh! What did I step on?"
"It’s just a twig."
Erika pointed out calmly, her voice flat as she responded to Lady Sutherland’s scream.
I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.
Watching them, it beca clear that Erika and Lady Sutherland were very distinct in personality.
Lady Sutherland was honest and emotional, which made her exhausting at tis. In contrast, Erika was calm and dependable.
Yeah, let’s do this. I have to protect my friends.
And my strengths are quick thinking and ntal strength. With the three of us working together, we should be able to get out of this situation.
"By the way, where are we? This feels like a dorm but not really like one."
Erika muttered in a tense voice.
I was about to explain the situation, but a sudden thought made fall silent.
How would I explain to her that we need to find the evil spirit’s dium, the link between the 'beyond world' and the real world?
To explain that, I’d need to admit that I can talk to Kkamang.
I don’t even know why I can talk to Kkamang, or what Kkamang really is—how could I explain that to anyone else?
Even I wouldn’t believe it myself.
In the end, I decided to keep quiet.
So, the three of us, Kkamang included, wandered through the 7th-floor corridor, trying each door, but none of them opened.
"This is weird. All the dormitory doors on the 7th floor are locked."
The corridor was empty, with no objects that could be considered diums for the evil spirit.
"Should we try going down?"
At my suggestion, # Nоvеlight # everyone nodded in agreent. We stood in front of the elevator, hesitating for a mont before exchanging looks.
"It’s better not to take the elevator. Do you all agree?"
"Yeah, let’s use the stairs."
Erika replied to Lady Sutherland.
Had they made up? At least Lady Sutherland didn’t mock ghosts anymore, like she did earlier.
We were reaching the 6th floor when we suddenly heard it.
Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap!
The sound of soone quickly descending the stairs from behind sent chills down my spine, and I turned around.
From the top of the stairs, a woman with long hair and twisted joints was crawling down the stairs like a spider, her movents grotesque.
"Ahhh!"
Lady Sutherland scread and ran down the stairs.
Thanks to that, I and Erika were dragged along, running down the stairs after her.
Past the 6th, 5th, 4th, and 3rd floors.
We kept running down the stairs.
By the ti we passed the 3rd floor, I stopped counting the floors, not wanting to waste any more ti.
Cold sweat ran down my back.
Instead of looking for the dium, we were too busy being chased by the creature.
The woman was still coming after us.
Finally, after what seed like forever, we reached the bottom of the stairs. We were on the 1st floor.
‘Huh? But there’s no lobby?’
The last floor didn’t have a lobby.
There were no signs indicating the floor number, just a long corridor.
Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap—
The sound of her footsteps grew louder. There was no ti to question it.
"That way! Let’s run!"
Erika pointed to a room at the end of the corridor, where the door was open.
There was no need to hesitate. We all ran toward the door, relieved. Kkamang followed us, hopping along.
Once we entered the room, we quickly shut the door and locked it tightly.
Bang—
Sothing slamd against the door, and a trendous noise shook the building.
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