Revenant Resonance Ch 7

Chapter 7

Park Junyeol judged that everyone in the group except himself was useless fools. They couldn’t even understand the subtext of the rules manual.

The cabinet was said to be secure? A cabinet is still just a cabinet no matter how spacious. How many people could possibly fit inside? Two at most. Even if all eight of them—or seven, excluding that damn nurse—safely arrived at the changing room, they’d still have to narrow down the group again inside it.

No one pointed out this obvious fact. They all believed that just reaching the changing room would guarantee safety—idiots, every one of them.

In that sense, he had run away leaving Yu Jiha behind in front of the guimae, but felt little guilt about it. That soft-hearted fool would’ve been kicked out of the changing room anyway.

‘Don’t resent me too much. It’s your fault for being too stupid to know.’

It wasn’t like he disliked the guy from the start. Even at twenty-one, his round, youthful face wasn’t exactly unpleasant to look at. But the way the guy, whom he had ignored without much thought, suddenly started voicing opinions during this deranged situation as if he was somebody—he just found that smugness irritating.

‘No matter how much you flap your lips, only smart guys like me will survive.’

Park Junyeol, quickening his steps to be the first to reach and lock the changing room door, suddenly caught a strong scent.

A pink figure, enveloped in an overwhelmingly rich and sweet perfume that almost made his head spin, was approaching. As it spun around, abundant frills fluttered and a tiara gleamed dazzlingly.

“Oppaaa~ Come playyy with Soonyyy~♥”

A raspy voice burst into a girlish giggle.

“Jiha, who hurt you?”

A cold voice awakened the fear he had been suppressing. The fear wasn’t just from the possibility that the man before him might be a monster.

〈Why is this creature so bothersome? It should live quietly as if it doesn’t exist.〉

The accusing gaze he had met when he came home after getting hurt while playing, the chilling pressure that had suffocated him as a child—it all surged back from the depths of memory. He clenched his trembling fingertips into a fist. A reality he hadn’t fully realized crept in like a chill.

Even if it was a minor injury, he was still hurt. Being a burden in an escape situation was an undeniable fact. Of course he’d be in the way. He’d be annoying. He’d be unpleasant to look at.

〈Get out of my sight. I can’t even stand to look at you.〉

His heart, triggered by an old trauma, thudded anxiously. Yu Jiha carefully parted his lips so his voice wouldn’t tremble. He only had to say one thing. That it was okay to leave him here. That he understood. That being abandoned wasn’t new.

But what came back to him, as if wrapping around even his trembling, was the same cold voice.

“Are you a person, or a guimae? Is what hurt you still here?”

Yu Jiha lifted his dazed gaze.

…No. No. This man wasn’t trying to blame him. The man’s coldness wasn’t directed at him, but somewhere else. At whatever had harmed him. As if he would exact punishment on it once he found out.

Suddenly, the tension eased. His limbs, which had been rigid, loosened and collapsed to the floor. Now that the fear subsided, he could see the man’s face clearly. The emotion in his eyes wasn’t reproach but concern.

It was the first time he had ever been met with such excessive worry over a minor sprain. He didn’t know how to respond, and his heart fluttered awkwardly.

“Can you stand?”

“Y-Yes! I just twisted it while running, so… Whoa!”

Suddenly, his vision spun. His legs lifted off the ground, and the face of a man far taller than him appeared right in front of him. He panicked, thinking it might be the moment the man prepared to devour his prey—but it wasn’t.

Even as a child, he had never experienced this, and now he was an adult. While Yu Jiha’s brain fumbled for the phrase ‘princess carry,’ Je Ilheon strode forward without hesitation.

“W-Wait! I can walk!”

“A sprained ankle, if left untreated, will keep getting hurt in the same spot. Get out fast and go to a hospital.”

“I’ll go! So please just…!”

“If it’s uncomfortable to be carried like this, should I piggyback you?”

“I’m really fine!”

Being picked up like a child despite not being seriously injured was both confusing and embarrassing.

At his desperate plea, Je Ilheon finally put him down.

“You’ll walk slowly, but if it gets hard, be sure to tell me.”

“Y-Yes.”

His mind was a mess. Compared to him, his body was small, but still, he was an adult man. How could Je Ilheon lift him so effortlessly? …It could’ve felt like a blow to his pride, but somehow it didn’t. Probably because the man’s concern for his injury came through so sincerely.

As he was trying to steady himself, Je Ilheon, who had been staring at his injured ankle, suddenly took off his field jacket. Then, he even removed the sweatshirt underneath and tore its hem long. As Yu Jiha widened his eyes in confusion, the man removed his sneaker and skillfully wrapped the torn fabric around his ankle like a bandage.

“……”

Seeing him tend to the injury with only a thin T-shirt on gave Yu Jiha a strange stir in his chest. A senior from school whom he’d been somewhat friendly with had tripped him when his own life was on the line. But here was a stranger, someone he had just met, sincerely concerned about an insignificant injury.

How could someone who barely knew him be so caring?

His cheeks flushed, and a tingling sensation spread through his chest. He fiddled with his fingers until the first-aid was done.

“…Thank you.”

“It’s nothing.”

With a nonchalant expression, Je Ilheon tapped the top of his foot. When he put on his sneaker over the thickly wrapped foot and walked a few steps, it felt much better than before.

And the fear he had felt toward the man had also lessened, like the pain.

As Je Ilheon swept his disheveled hair back with one hand, the muscles in his arm subtly flexed. Even when wearing the field jacket, he had seemed well-built, but now in a thin T-shirt, the firm contours of his body were fully visible.

Yu Jiha stared blankly for a moment, then hurriedly handed the field jacket back. But Je Ilheon instead draped it over his shoulders.

“You can tell from the clothes I’m wearing, but I’ve been here since late autumn. It’s summer now, right?”

“Yes, it’s June.”

“It might be a bit hot, but want to wear this instead?”

“…?”

Though puzzled, he obediently put it on, as it wasn’t difficult. Wearing the larger man’s clothes, the jacket hung loosely around his shoulders and sleeves. He felt like a child dressed in an adult’s outfit and stared down at his hands.

A child in an adult’s clothes.

‘Huh?’

A strange sense of déjà vu surged within him.

“Let’s go, Jiha.”

But before he could reflect on that fleeting sensation, Je Ilheon gestured, and the déjà vu quickly faded. “Jiha.” The sound of his name, softly called, lingered in his ears.

In the hallway, the remains of guimae trampled by the alcoholic lay sprawled like burst frogs. To avoid looking at the scene, Yu Jiha fixed his gaze on Je Ilheon’s broad back and trailed closely behind him. Then, he spotted a staircase. One they hadn’t seen earlier while running from the alcoholic.

It was upside down on the ceiling of the hallway, with even a door attached. The realization that the door was a guimae came when strange characters appeared on it—characters that, based on Je Ilheon’s earlier explanation, formed a “clear-sight script.”

[Basem■Access■Restri■■Blocked■■■■■■■Open■■…….]

He reflexively mumbled as he deciphered the script.

“Is this talking about the basement?”

Hearing his muttering, Je Ilheon turned his gaze.

“Do you see a guimae blocking the door to the basement?”

“Y-Yes! Right there! Mister, do you have clear-sight too?”

“Not right now. What do you think the script means?”

“Uh… There are gaps, but it seems to mean basement access is blocked.”

“Correct. That’s exactly how to use clear-sight. The characters differ slightly depending on the person. Since it’s hard for one person to interpret it all, we combine what several people see. It can be opened from inside, but since a guimae is blocking the stairs to prevent the door from opening, there’s no need to go down there.”

“Oh. So that’s why in the rules manual…”

Je Ilheon smiled like he was proud of him, and Yu Jiha felt a little embarrassed. It felt like being given a gold star for doing a good job.

‘Ah, but how did he know it can be opened from the inside?’

The question popped into his mind, but he quickly answered it himself. He must know hidden details from being here for so long.

But then another problem came to mind.