Chapter 176
"Gasp, gasp...."
"My wrist really hurts."
"Yeah, who would pull something like that without permission?"
"It's scary! How can I stay still when a ghost grabs my shoulder from behind?"
We barely made it back to the fork in the road before reaching the dead end.
Everyone looked terrible.
Thanks to the extremely hot and humid weather on Jeju Island, we're sweating profusely.
Some members who were attacked by the ghost's hair had black threads stuck to their faces.
Chae Eun-gyu, who was sitting on the floor to rest for a while, smiled bitterly.
"It's so hard to find the oracle, when will we ever get out of here?"
We still haven't found the oracle that will be the key to escaping the maze.
According to the contents of the sign that Ji Yoon-chul read earlier, we also need to find the items needed for the oracle.
In short, this means we're going to be spending quite a bit of time in this creepy maze.
"... Now that we've confirmed that it's not this side, let's quickly go to the other side."
While everyone was resting because they were tired, Ji Yoon-chul stood up alone and confirmed that the old ghost was no longer following us.
Even with the sudden ghost attack, the youngest seems completely unshaken.
"Yoon-chul, aren't you scared at all?"
"...Yeah."
"Wow... I really thought my heart was going to jump out of my mouth."
Heo Yu-bin stood up, holding Ji Yoon-chul's hand, and exclaimed in admiration.
Then Ji Yoon-chul smiled faintly at him and offered words of comfort.
"I would have been a little surprised if a ghost had grabbed my back. It's okay."
Ji Yoon-chul has now reached a point where he comforts his brothers without hesitation.
Song Hyung-bin, who got up from his seat with Kang Si-yoon, whose wrists were tied together, shook his butt and put the facts in.
"Honestly, I was more distracted by your reactions than by the ghosts."
"Oh, that's what I'm saying, I was really surprised when Yubin screamed earlier."
"Oh, honestly, there's no one here who would sit still and not feel any discomfort if a ghost suddenly grabbed their shoulder!"
Heo Yu-bin did his best to defend himself.
But as soon as he finished speaking, everyone's eyes turned to one place.
"I don't think Karis would do that."
"Even when the ghost was chasing us earlier, you went there very calmly."
Everyone's prediction is true.
I had been through worse things for 10 years, and I was not the type of person to lose my mind over a single ghost.
But here I need to act.
Because it is impossible to take away Ji Yoon-chul's front-line position.
"No. If someone suddenly touched my body from behind, I would be surprised like Yubin."
"You looked so calm earlier, despite saying that?"
"It's just your feeling, Hyungbin."
"Ahem."
Song Hyung-bin looked at me and then sighed.
"Well, I don't know who it was, but I was completely out of my mind because of the person next to me laughing like a crow. I really don't know who it was."
"Ah, ahaha! First of all, it's not me, right?"
"But you are the only one who's still laughing right now?"
Even while Kang Si-yoon smiled awkwardly, Yoo Min-ha remained silent.
Normally, by now, he would be spouting out stories about old ghosts as if his mouth was powered by a motor.
"Min-ha, are you really okay?"
"Uh, yeah.... When I'm surprised, I really can't say anything."
"It's completely different from usual."
Chae Eun-gyu looked at Yoo Min-ha with a curious look.
Still, as expected of the eldest brother, he was worried about Yoo Min-ha and tapped his shoulder.
"You don't have to worry too much since the ghosts will be targeting Yubin anyway."
"That's so bad!"
"Why, Yubin, you can do that much for a friend, right?"
"If it weren't for the wrist bracelet, I would have run away by myself."
"It's spicy."
After regrouping to go find the oracle, we quickly followed Ji Yoon-chul into the right passage.
This time too, several traps were activated, but perhaps because they had seen them before, no one seemed terribly scared.
However, we're always on guard and look around in case a living, moving ghost like the one before suddenly appears.
Fortunately, not long after entering the right passage, the oracle finally appeared.
"Wow, finally."
"You know what? It took us 30 minutes to find this one."
Kang Si-yoon sighed deeply as he glanced at the watch of the camera crew that was following us and filming.
Chae Eun-gyu smiled helplessly and tried to cheer him up with positive words.
"I thought it would take an hour, but thankfully it's only been 30 minutes."
"Let's quickly look for it! Maybe there are some clues here? "
Following Song Hyung-bin's instructions, we began searching the surrounding area.
The oracle, located in a small open space within the maze, was made of very old wood.
Seeing the signs of insect bites and even fake spider webs, it seemed like the makeup team had put in a lot of effort this time around.
"Oh, here's a notepad."
"What does it say?"
"Yoon-chul is really good at finding things."
Ji Yoon-chul, who was looking at one side of the vacant lot, found another clue.
"A poisonous apple from a snake bite. A cleaver used for offering sacrifices. And grapes were offered to the gods. It says so."
"I guess that's what we're looking for."
"Not one, but three...."
Finding the oracle was difficult enough, but now Heo Yu-bin and Yoo Min-ha's shoulders slumped at the news that we have to find three much smaller objects.
But thankfully, the production team didn't just throw us into the dark.
"Here is a piece of paper."
While I was investigating under where we found the oracle, I found a piece of paper that looked like a map.
Unlike a regular map, it didn't show detailed locations, and only showed unknown shapes and figures.
"Oh, this circle is an apple. This nail symbol is a knife, and the three small circles are grapes, right?"
"Does it sound plausible?"
Song Hyung-bin came up with a plausible inference.
The map gives us a rough idea of where the items we need to find are, but we still can't figure out the exact route.
I handed the paper over to Ji Yoon-chul and came to a conclusion.
"Ultimately, this means we have no choice but to wander around aimlessly until we find one item. Once we find one, we can deduce the whereabouts of the rest of the items based on their location."
"... I think it would be better to get moving first."
"Can we all leave now?"
The members took a deep breath together and then began exploring the maze again.
The green walls of vines gradually disappeared and were now replaced by red bricks.
And the ground we walked on also gradually changed into cracked terrain.
"Hey, hey, don't tell me it's going to suddenly collapse right now?"
"Ah, ahahaha! I wish you hadn't said such scary things, buddy!"
"Kang Si-yoon, go first! Even if you fall, you fall first."
"Have you really lost your conscience, my friend?"
I too began to feel a little wary.
I feel like something impactful, like an old ghost attack, will definitely happen around here.
It was strange that such a quiet atmosphere was still maintained.
At that moment, something suddenly popped out in front of Ji Yoon-chul, who was walking ahead.
"Take it! Take it!"
A thunderous roar tore through the air.
A maiden ghost wearing a pure white robe opened her eyes wide and burst through the right wall, blocking our path.
The maddening expression and the pale, almost ice-white face were enough to send shivers down the spines of most people.
"Aaack!"
"Ah, hahaha! This is so surprising!"
Naturally, a ghost-satisfying reaction came from Song Hyung-bin and Kang Si-yoon, who had instantly turned into Seleste's cowardly duo.
Heo Yu-bin, who was next to me, also let out a dolphin-like high-pitched sound again with a look of shock on his face.
However, Ji Yoon-chul, who should have been the most surprised, only slightly raised his eyebrows.
"...Oh."
Even while watching the ghost perform, he let out a short exclamation of wonder.
I too was very nervous when I first attacked the Northern Witch Castle, which was possessed by evil spirits, in the game.
Ji Yoon-chul seemed to be born with an innate inability to know what fear was.
'Was it because he had that kind of courage that he was able to endure the boomer of his seniors at his agency that made his food taste bad?'
The virgin ghost, seeing Ji Yoon-chul's tasteless reaction, distorted her expression and immediately changed her target.
She shouted again, glaring at us who were behind, especially Kang Si-yoon.
"I said, take it! Take it quickly!"
"Oh, I understand! I understand, so stop yelling―"
"Stop talking back and hurry up! Don't make me even angrier!"
"Ahahaha! Wow, you have a good voice! Ha, hahaha!"
I have no idea what the hell we are supposed to get.
Then Ji Yoon-chul pointed at something.
"Hey, don't you see something under the candle?"
"Oh, there's something round there."
Chae Eun-gyu, unfazed by the ghost's threats, stood next to Ji Yoon-chul and checked the round object.
The light in front was created only by two candles, so it was very difficult to see from a distance.
The only way to know if an apple is poisonous or not is to go close and pick it up yourself.
"I'll go and come back."
"...Really?"
"This much should be done."
Chae Eun-gyu looked obviously nervous, but he seemed to have a strong feeling that he shouldn't be afraid as the eldest brother.
But of course there were those who opposed this.
"Wait a minute, what do we do! I'm really scared."
"It's okay. I'll go in front, so you and Min-ha just close your eyes and stay behind."
"... Ugh."
Heo Yu-bin and Yoo Min-ha, who were forced to go down a dark alley together, tried to somehow pass the role to someone else, but unfortunately failed.
The moment Chae Eun-gyu tried to move forward to grab the object that looked like an apple, the virgin ghost that was still threatening the members warned him.
"You better be careful. There are a lot of my friends' spirits in there. Who knows? Someone might grab your arm."
"Ha, haha.... Thank you for the advice."
"Did you hear that? They're grabbing your arm! I don't want to go!"
"Yubin, it can't be helped. Follow me."
"Aack."
Chae Eun-gyu swallowed hard and moved forward cautiously.
Because the visibility was extremely poor, he stretched out both hands in front of him to check if he had bumped into anything.
"Did you catch it? Did you catch it?"
"There's still a lot of time left."
"I'm really scared!"
"... My heart is beating too fast."
Heo Yu-bin and Yoo Min-ha followed Chae Eun-gyu's words with their eyes tightly shut.
The two were already trembling with tension at the thought of having a fan meeting with ghosts head-on.
There are already too many flags raised.
The question is when the ghosts will appear.
I looked around, trying to act as surprised as possible.
To get some funny moments, you have to be surprised exactly when the ghosts appear.
Chae Eun-gyu, who was slowly moving forward, stopped for a moment as if he were scared by the dark atmosphere.
Then he went on, hypnotizing himself loudly.
"It's okay, Eun-gyu. It's nothing. It's not really a ghost. Just hurry up and take it back."
Is this how he had been suppressing his fears until now?
Although his courage was truly admirable, unfortunately, before he could even achieve such self-hypnosis, ghosts attacked.
"A human being! A living human being!"
"Grab his arm!"
Suddenly, white lights came on in the dark alley, and on both sides of the street leading to the candles, the ghost girls waved their hands at Chae Eun-gyu.
"Kwaaaaah!"
"... Hic hic."
The moment the ghosts reached out, Heo Yu-bin was possessed by a dolphin again.
Yoo Minha was so surprised that he started hiccuping.
And we, who were watching this from behind, were so panicked that we forgot the concept of speaking informally.
"Eun-gyu Hyung! Run quickly! Run quickly!"
"Ahahaha! It's not scary! It's not scary!"
"Hurry up and run with the apples! Hurry up!"
Chae Eun-gyu, caught in the middle of this commotion, shut his eyes tightly, screamed, and rushed forward.
"Aahh! Got it, got it!"
"Come quickly!"
"The ghosts are coming here!"
"Ahahahahahaha!"
As soon as Chae Eun-gyu grabbed the apple, the virgin ghosts immediately ran towards us.
Now it doesn't matter whether he's the eldest brother or the poison apple.
"Run, run!"
"Hahahaha! Oh, this is funny! Hahahahaha!"
"Please stay still, Kang Si-yoon!"
Song Hyeong-bin ran with all his might, hitting Kang Si-yoon's back, who was laughing like a crow.
Heo Yu-bin, who was at the back of the trio, was struggling to run first, forgetting that the other members' wrists were linked behind him.
And I ran with them, intentionally screaming in surprise.
"Oh, it's scary! It's my first time doing something like this, so I'm scared."
"Catch them! Catch the humans!"
"Ghosts are trying to get me!"
I thought we had barely managed to escape the attack of the virgin ghosts.
But the members ran without looking ahead, so it was impossible to tell where they came from.
"... Where is this place?"
"I hope the ghosts don't appear again."
"Eun-gyu, did you bring the apples?"
"Her, here."
Chae Eun-gyu was the most surprised, his face turned extremely pale.
But in the midst of this chaos, he ran, holding on to the poison apple.
"My legs are really shaking, I can't stand...."
Heo Yu-bin's eyes were spinning around.
The moment he tried to sit down, leaning against the wall for a moment.
A blackened hand suddenly emerged from a suspiciously piled pile of firewood.
"Kyaaahh ..."
"Ahhhhhhh! Mom! Mommyyyy!"
Indeed, Heo Yu-bin was practicing his voice without any worries all day long.
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