Chapter 149 – #38_Abyss
One.
When I peeked through the window, it appeared that there was no proper security system.
Well, if there is a crime prevention facility in a haunted mansion that has been neglected like this, it’s strange in its own right.
A large door that is twice my height, and the gate is also carved with damask patterns, suitable for a gothic mansion.
I thought about whether I could open such a large door with a clip normally, and I pulled it for a while, but it wasn’t locked in the first place.
I pushed it with a little force and it opened smoothly.
“Cough… Cough…”
I just opened the door, but a haze of smoke rises.
After covering my mouth and coughing for a while, I was able to see a starting sight.
“Awesome…”
I guessed from the exterior, but it was a very old-fashioned and beautiful place.
It is a space where time seems to have stopped because the son-in-law is still.
When I opened the door, what I saw was probably a place that corresponds to the lobby and reception room of the mansion.
There is a staircase leading up to the second floor in the front, and a huge chandelier dangles in a spider web above the sky.
As if the color had been matched to the atmosphere of the mansion, the furniture was red-wine gothic, and all of them were wrapped in industrial plastic wrap as if they were about to move.
There is no light, and the sunlight is blocked by ivy, so visibility is not well secured.
“Who is it?”
Seeing this, it doesn’t look like someone is living there, but just in case you didn’t know, they pretended to be popular.
If someone came out from inside, I was thinking of pretending to be a lost student.
The only sound you hear is an echo. Again no one
By the way, it is surprising that even a house of this size can hear echoes.
I stepped in carefully.
In the quiet, the sound of stepping on the floor is unusual.
What on earth did Yu-chan do when he came to a place like this?
As I ran my hand through the wrapped sofa, a thick layer of dust came out.
It must have been accumulated over several years.
It’s a house I like, except for the shabby things.
Even though there are luxurious furniture, it doesn’t feel like a douche at all, and it’s quiet and sophisticated.
How nice would it be if you could live in a house like this and read a book every day?
It was to the point of forgetting the illegal intruder’s identity for a while.
It was quite spooky, perhaps because of the gothic interior decoration using dark colors, or because it was so shabby.
It really feels like a haunted house.
Unlike other furniture, the paintings hanging on the wall without being wrapped gave a more such feeling.
It’s like you’re staring at me
I made up my mind to shrink.
There is absolutely no such thing as a ghost in the world.
It is not Maria Kim who should be afraid of such an unscientific existence.
“Okay, then let’s investigate.”
I couldn’t even guess where the light switch was, so I turned on the light function on my cell phone and looked around the first floor.
Most of the conditions were like drawing rooms.
After passing the hallway beside the stairs, there were several rooms and a kitchen.
Most of the rooms are not much different from the lobby, but one of them is very neatly organized.
I searched all over to see if there was anything.
However, there was only one matrix left, and when he came to this mansion, he only knew that he lived here.
Maybe it was because I had been hiking for the first time in a while, but when I saw the bed, I wanted to lie down.
Because it’s not my constitution to use my body…
Anyway, the possibility of Yu-chan suddenly visiting this place is very small.
In addition, he set the GPS settings so that an alert would sound if his car suddenly moved.
Come to think of it, it’s time to get the GPS back.
The battery needs to be recharged, and if the tail is long, he will be stepped on. If he ever checks the underside of the car, he will find it.
After looking around Yu-chan’s room, I climbed the stairs and inspected the entire second floor.
Most of the rooms were in the same condition as the first floor.
The furniture is all wrapped in plastic wrap and dusty.
It’s really a place to come to calm down for a while.
Bringing a woman to a place like this would be nothing more than a psychic experience.
– Squeak!
“Uh?”
As I was about to leave the mansion, disappointed with my insignificant income, the floor I stepped on made a particularly loud noise.
When I opened the dusty carpet, I found a door with a strange handle attached to the floor.
It’s a basement.
I think I’ve heard of cases where a bunker is built in a mansion like this, or a wine cellar is built underground.
The door was tighter than I thought, so I pulled the handle with all my might.
“This…”
There were stairs going down to the basement.
As soon as you open the door, a chilly air rises.
The narrow stairs going down the wall are equipped with 60W light bulbs that can be used in mines, so you can see the floor brightly.
Somehow, it felt like a secret base, and I felt like I went back to my childhood.
It even looked a little funny.
Carefully not tripping, I climbed the stairs down to the basement.
The side of the basement is finished only with concrete, so it feels different from the gothic mansion.
Considering the size of the mansion, it wasn’t that wide.
As far as comparing it to a mansion, it seemed much larger than my house.
Unlike the ground, it seems impossible to look inside without turning on the light here.
I looked around on my phone and found a breaker switch hanging from a pipe.
It’s a bit sloppy, probably because he did the work himself.
“Laugh…!”
The sudden light made my eyes hurt.
Close your eyes until your eyes adjust to the light and then open them again.
I couldn’t help but be dazed for a moment.
Unlike when it was dimly lit by the lighting on the stairs, when I turned on the light bulb, I could see the entire basement.
I was standing in the middle of the basement.
There was a large space centered on the stairs and there were three rooms.
Two with plain wooden doors.
The other one is locked with a thick iron door as if it were a safe.
I checked the leftmost room first.
There is no light here because the electricity is out. Seeing the wine cellar, it seems to have doubled as a wine cellar as expected.
There was no way to open the room with the iron door in the center, so I gave up and opened the right door.
When you press the switch, a 5W red light bulb turns on.
An aluminum shelf is placed in the middle of the room, and things like clotheslines are scattered here and there with tongs.
In the brown bottle containing laboratory chemicals, developing, stopping, and fixing solutions were separately contained, and a sink for washing and an enlarger for taking enlarged pictures on photo paper were placed on the opposite shelf.
It is undoubtedly a photo studio.
It seems that they are printing obscene pictures directly here.
When I came back to the basement, the stuffy feeling I had from the red light disappeared a little.
The feeling that I was trying to get a little better plummeted again the moment I saw a corner of the basement that I hadn’t seen before.
“What’s this…”
A delivery table made to restrain women’s arms and legs, chains and riding whips hanging from the walls, and a bizarre wooden horse.
The dim lighting of the basement creates a very bleak atmosphere.
It’s like a huge perverted play room.
It was like a torture chamber built for witch hunting.
My head was pounding.
Unlike the messy mansion, the equipment here was neatly maintained without a speck of dust.
You brought a girl to a place like this to play with…
“Kyaaak!”
As I rummaged through the shelves on the wall, I stepped back in surprise.
There was a big dog.
At first, I only thought I was alive in that vivid form.
“Heart…”
I cautiously approached and inspected the dogs.
Contrary to the lively appearance that seemed to rush at it, the eyeballs were made of glass.
It is stuffed as it was before birth.
All dogs were Dobermans, and their names were written in German on the pedestals.
Gunther, Friedrich, Edmund.
These are familiar names.
Gunther Anders.
Friedrich Nietzsche.
Edmund Husserl.
For some bad taste, they all put the philosopher’s surname as a dog name.
I glanced at my phone.
Yoo-chan’s car is still well parked at the academy.
Gulping, looking away from the taxidermy, I inspected the shelf one last time.
At the bottom, there were small items such as condom boxes and lighters.
The top compartment was filled with large albums and piles of papers. I’m guessing it’s the photos that were printed in that printing room.
“Sir… Uh…!”
He lifted the tip and reached out, but did not close it.
I would have needed a chair to pull it out.
In the meantime, something caught on the tip of my finger fell to the floor.
It is an old MP3 player without a liquid crystal.
“What is this again?”
When I turned it on, the unexpected light came on.
I thought it would all be discharged, but it seems to be left intermittently.
I put the earphones I took out of my pocket and pressed the play button.
[Hello? Are you comfortable now?
Probably not.
You will be lost and terrified. I mean, it’s perfectly normal.
For now, I want you to listen to this tape.
Because it’s very much related to the situation you’re in.
I will tell you in detail. Why were you kidnapped, what will happen, and how long will you be here.]
That voice belonged to Yu-chan.
2.
I turned off the MP3 with no power.
My hands are shaking.
Because what I just heard on the recording was disgusting.
I looked around the basement.
All sorts of things that came out of the recording stand out.
A delivery table, a chain, an iron door with hinges welded and tightly locked.
And a locked room.
This wasn’t just a basement.
It was a playground where Yu-chan could attract her prey and play with it to her liking her.
We have to get out of here quickly.
No, report first. The police will be able to arrest the man just by checking this place.
“Why why?”
When I hurriedly took out my cell phone, I couldn’t help but panic.
I tried to turn on both the phone and internet as a confirmation of the ‘out of service area’ floating on the screen, but they do not work properly.
Why? It was apparently working until a little while ago.
Is the radio wave unstable because it’s a basement?
I tidied things up so that there would be no evidence that I had been here, grabbed my MP3 player, and ran towards the stairs.
And,
Hear the sound of heels.
It was a light sound like running down the stairs.
A hum of classical music followed.
There is nowhere to hide here.
There is only one entrance, so there is no way to escape him.
Calmly think of an excuse and show that you didn’t notice anything…
No, no. I’d rather let him run away just because he’s done calling the police.
Round and round,
Turning around the corner of the hallway on the side of the stairs, Yu-chan walked out leisurely.
He was smiling with joy.
It was a smile that gave goosebumps when he learned his identity.
“Why did our smart Maria Kim come all the way here?”
“Don’t budge. I already reported it to the police. If you put even one fingertip on me…”
“Revenge Match? What game are you going to compete with me this time?”
“Listen. Yuchan You are the end. I have already sent the evidence that you killed Choi Na-ye’s ex-boyfriend and the evidence you found in this mansion to the outside world.”
It’s obvious, but it’s a bluff.
All you have to do is make him slow down a little and run away.
Don’t get caught up in his face.
“Miss Maria is a very good and smart student. But you are still weak in her lies.”
His face is shadowed by the sudden flickering of mercury lamps.
He showed something like taking out a bouquet of flowers he had hidden behind his back.
A small hatchet was heard.
I hold back the feeling of wanting to sit down right now and take a step back.
But the basement is a confined space, and soon my back was against the wall.
“By the way, I had no idea they even investigated the rooftop! Did you touch the corpse in my room by any chance?”
“What… What… “
“Hmm, looking at the black box, that’s not the case. Then since when have you been watching me? I’d like to get to know you later.”
I could barely comprehend him as he asked me something I didn’t know and understood by myself.
This person in front of me is really crazy.
First of all, I had to buy time.
I desperately shook my head and opened my mouth.
“How did you know I was here?”
“To be honest, I didn’t know it was you. The car has a GPS installed, so I just guided it this way.”
He shrugged his shoulders and smiled as if it was nothing.
I never thought I’d find something installed under the car so quickly.
It seems I underestimated him too much.
“It would have taken an hour to get here from the academy.”
The last time I checked my GPS was 10 minutes ago.
Until then, his car had been quietly parked in the parking lot.
Of course, from the moment you confirm the existence of GPS, that doesn’t mean much.
He probably took the GPS off his car and drove all the way here.
Asking questions you already know is a way to make the most of your time.
Even if you enter the tiger’s den, you can live if you stay alert.
I moved slowly towards the chain next to the ledge.
– Crackle!
And the hatchet that flew with a shrieking sound splattered sparks from the concrete wall right next to it.
I never thought I would throw such a dangerous object at people.
I stiffened and looked at him in amazement.
“Don’t talk nonsense, stay calm.”
Watching him approach me with a huge body that does n’t even think to resist with his back to the flickering lights, I suddenly remembered a passage from the book.
If we look long into the abyss, the abyss will also look into us.
It was, maybe.
