Chapter 17: Barrack Construction (1)
The next day, Kang-jun continued selling socks at K Traditional Market.
He managed to sell eight boxes by the time it was evening. It was around 1.2 million won in profit. He made a huge two million won in just two days.
‘Huhu, I’m sweeping in all the money.’
He might be able to make 10 million won in the 10 days he had the contract for. This was due to the power of the management skill.
He was capable of making money and no longer needed to live in poverty. Was this the happy end after a hard life of suffering?
The problem was that he needed to survive in the world of Hwanmong to benefit from this happiness! Even if he earned billions, no, tens of billions of won, it would be useless if he was defeated in Hwanmong.
He needed to win. His tension wouldn’t be released until he passed through 100 missions.
But the two million won was reassuring. Kang-jun deposited the money he made into a bank via ATM and headed back to the goshiwon with a proud heart.
‘The door to Hwanmong will open tonight.’
Upon entering Hwanmong, he would have to fulfill the third mission of constructing a barrack in Room 413.
‘I have to retrieve the key.’
He signed a temporary contract two days ago. The formal contract started tonight, when the door to Hwanmong would open.
Kang-jun finished eating dinner and had a shower before visiting the management office to hand over the remaining 180,000 won to Kwon Myeong-cheol.
“I don’t know why you want the room, but be careful. And you should sleep in Room 406 if possible.”
Kwon Myeong-cheol said with a worried expression while handing over the keys to Room 413. Kang-jun grinned.
“Did you really see a ghost?”
“I did. Anyway, I warned you. Don’t blame me later.”
Kang-jun thought he was being honest. He had never seen a ghost before…but it wasn’t without merit.
It reminded him. Just days before, he had seen a corpse underneath his bed. The shock and horror from that time! It was indeed beyond imagination.
Of course, it was thanks to the black magic purification power of Hwanmong. But even that was extremely unusual. Kang-jun couldn’t dismiss the idea of a ghost as nonsense.
‘Where is the ghost? It might appear in Hwanmong but this is reality.’
And even then, he didn’t feel afraid. He had the black magic powers.
Ttalkak!
Kang-jun opened the door to room 413 and turned on the lights. There was a chill in the room but he didn’t see anything like a ghost.
So why did Kwon Myeong-cheol tell him to watch out? Was there something to see here?
‘Perhaps?’
Kang-jun searched underneath the bed.
‘There isn’t anything here either.’
He thought it was futile. There was nobody else here.
It was at that moment. All of a sudden, the lights turned off and it became dark.
‘What? This is?’
He hadn’t touched the switch to turn the lights off. Perhaps the lights stopped working? He decided to go check it.
However, that wasn’t the problem.
Something suddenly appeared in front of Kang-jun. An existence that could be clearly seen even in the darkness!
A female in white mourning clothes with tidy black hair. A pretty woman in her early 20s with a smile on her face.
She wasn’t human. Kang-jun could instantly tell that she was a ghost, not a human. It was obvious to his senses.
A chill ran through his body. Even though a real ghost had appeared, he was calm and confident.
“What are you?”
Kang-jun asked while staring at the ghost. Then the ghost spat out.
“Get out of this room.”
It was a creepy feeling that penetrated deep into his soul. The ghost was smiling but her voice caused a lot of fear.
“M-me?”
“You! Don’t come back.”
A ghost. She seemed to imply that she would hurt him if he didn’t leave.
What should he do? An average person would flee as soon as they heard that. Kang-jun also felt like instantly running away.
But there was no way he could do that. He had contracted this room for 200,000 won. It gave Kang-jun the right to use it exclusively for one month. How could he be pushed out by a mere ghost? He could never do that.
“This is my room. You should get lost!”
The ghost silently glared at Kang-jun. The ice in her eyes!
Kang-jun felt like his heart was sinking down.
‘Euh! Damn!’
But he couldn’t lose to the ghost. In that case, he would use his black magic!
‘Disappear right now! You evil ghost!’
Kang-jun cursed the ghost with his power.
He expected the ghost to lose her strength and collapse. At the same time, Kang-jun would absorb the black magic energy. However, the situation was different from what he expected.
[The target has resisted.]
Unbelievable! Resistance!
The message wasn’t new but it was still surprising.
[You can open the battle field and compete in a fight against the target.]
[If you win, you can absorb a large amount of black magic energy. However, your black magic energy is currently full and you can’t absorb any more.]
[A large amount of black magic energy will be consumed if you lose.]
[Would you like to open the battle field? Yes/No]
[Opening the battle field will consume 1 black magic energy.]
It was impossible to absorb the black magic energy if he won. On the other hand, he would be deprived of black magic energy if he lost. Then it would be foolish to open the battle field.
The face of the ghost distorted. She noticed that Kang-jun had tried to do something.
“You dare!”
The ghost leapt towards him. Kang-jun reflexively kicked up and hit the ghost’s chin.
Bam!
The ghost’s head shot backward. Kang-jun jumped up and his feet slammed against the chest of the ghost.
Bam bam!
The ghost fell to the floor.
‘She isn’t a big deal.’
The ghost had a spirit body, but he managed to succeed in kicking her twice.
However, Kang-jun didn’t feel good. Was the ghost originally so weak? It couldn’t be.
Sure enough.
Suuok!
The ghost jumped up and gave Kang-jun a menacing glare.
‘Heok!’
The previously white clothes had now turned black. Her neat hair unfurled into a wild mess. But was that all? Her eyes turned red and bloodshot.
Beondduk!
Blood started pouring down from the black hair!
‘Euh! Damn!’
Kang-jun flinched back.
The momentum had changed. Just looking at her was difficult.
‘A-avoid it!’
Suddenly, the ghost’s arms stretched out and grabbed Kang-jun’s throat.
Kwack!
The ghost held Kang-jun by the throat and lifted him into the air.
‘Ouch!’
He couldn’t breathe. Kang-jun urgently tried to remove the ghost’s hands but it was like they were made of steel.
“Kikikiki. I’m going to kill you.”
The ghost removed one hand and pulled out a knife.
‘Ohh! Shit!’
He was mistaken. He should have just left earlier when told to.
Kang-jun could see why people were afraid of ghosts. But it wouldn’t matter at this rate.
Kang-jun shook his body while suspended in the air and used the rebound to kick the head of the ghost.
Bam bam!
The body of the ghost stumbled slightly. At the same time, the grip of the hand clutching Kang-jun’s neck weakened.
Kang-jun used that moment to swiftly pull away from the ghost’s hands, and he bolted straight for the open door.
‘I need to escape.’
Where could he run when being chased by a ghost? Kang-jun instinctively ran towards Room 406.
He would be safe if he entered there. He didn’t know the reason. But now wasn’t the time to think of a reason. He would think about such things later.
Tadadada!
The distraught Kang-jun ran down the corridor and arrived in front of Room 406. He opened the door and involuntarily turned around.
Suuk.
The ghost that was at the end of the corridor arrived in front of Kang-jun in the blink of an eye. The incredible speed seemed like teleportation.
‘Heok!’
It was like a memorable scene from a horror movie. Kang-jun entered the room as fast as the wind and closed the door.
Kwang!
He immediately locked the door and took deep breaths.
‘Crazy! There was a real ghost.’
In addition, the ghost turned out to be an enemy. A ghost who tried to kill Kang-jun.
Kwang kwang kwang!
Something violently knocked on the door. It was obviously the ghost. Kang-jun jumped with surprise inside the room.
Kwang kwang kwang kwang!
The door seemed to be in danger of breaking. Kang-jun watched it with an uneasy expression.
‘Strange. Why isn’t the ghost coming in?’
There was no reason for the ghost to break down the door. She could come straight through the door. But the ghost didn’t enter and just continued knocking.
Knock knock!
In addition, the knocks now seemed like light taps.
“Excuse me. Just a minute. Could you open the door?”
That wasn’t all. The ghost was asking in a beautiful voice for him to open the door.
A sweet voice. The voice was so pretty that he almost unwittingly opened the door.
But Kang-jun didn’t give in. His subconscious was sending danger signals! He couldn’t open the door no matter what happened.
And the door to Hwanmong would open once he fell asleep. So that he could live! Would the ghost be chased away if the door to Hwanmong opened?
Knock knock!
“Just for a moment. Please open up.”
Her voice was endlessly heard. Kang-jun blocked his ears and lay down on the bed.
‘I have to sleep. Go to sleep now.’
However, it wasn’t easy to sleep with the ghost disturbing him. He couldn’t sleep when he knew there was a ghost at the door.
Still, Kang-jun continued to lie under the covers on the bed. At some point, he was barely able to fall asleep.
And then a dreamy voice was heard.
[The door to Hwanmong is open.]
[You have entered the world of Hwanmong.]