"It's really dark here!"
"Could you be a little quieter?"
"Did you deliberately choose to be discovered? Can't both of you just shut up and walk?"
Six boys gathered around Sihyun, who was holding a flashlight, and passed through the dark corridor. Sihyun, feeling even more sensitive than usual, perhaps due to fear, moved his feet towards the stairs after hearing Hamin's sarcastic remark. It wasn't just one or two people leaving, but six of them huddling together and walking, so even though it was dark all around, it felt more like a thrilling adventure of sneaking into the snack shop at night than a courage training.
Relying on the round light emitted by the flashlight as they descended the stairs, someone suddenly grabbed his arm. Thinking it might be Haru or Hamin, Sihyun glanced to his side and saw a tense Hamin's face, causing him to flinch. It was just a school they attended every day, so why was he so scared? It seemed like he should refrain from watching horror game videos every night just for his courage.
After walking about six steps, when a loud noise like "thud" accidentally occurred, they all stopped as if they had made a pact. Then they looked around and confirmed that there was no one there before continuing to walk. After repeating this process about seven times, Haewoon, who seemed bored, complained that they should hurry up a bit.
"Isn't this too slow? We're going to see the whole school anyway, so at this rate, the sun will rise!"
Haewoon shouted loudly as if forgetting that it was midnight. Sihyun, who turned to look at him with his flashlight, illuminated Haewoon's face, which looked tormented as if he were undead.
"It's too bright!"
"I told you to be quiet. If we get caught, we'll just have to ditch you."
"Don't we have a skill like invisibility? It would be more comfortable then."
"Do you think we enrolled in Hogwarts or something? We don't have it, so stop nagging. Let's talk about it after we get out of the dormitory building at least."
After responding to the absurd remark, they continued down the stairs. Finally, they arrived at the lobby, but the door to the main building was firmly locked. Sihyun, who chose to give up neatly rather than cause a fuss for no reason, turned around. It was about time to say that the courage experience was over here.
Click.
Somehow, Haewoon, who had fiddled with the lock a few times, opened the door. It wasn't his first or second time doing it. Surprised by the sound of the door opening, Sihyun looked at him, who smiled brightly and pointed to the passage leading to the main building with his fingertip. It was a sign to go.
"Let's go to the classrooms first! Usually, those places are the scariest."
Seeing Haewoon talking with excitement, it seemed like there would be nothing to scare Haewoon no matter what came out of the classrooms. Since the door was open and there was no excuse to refuse, Sihyun, except for feeling sorry for Haewoon, who seemed excessively tired, turned on his flashlight.
"Thank goodness we didn't get caught."
"Wow...."
"Why? What's wrong?"
"This is fun!"
"What do you mean by fun?"
"It's really fun! It's thrilling and scary...."
"Haewoon."
While Haewoon was speaking louder, perhaps because he was so afraid of being caught just now, Seowoo called him out. Realizing that he should be quiet, Haewoon closed his mouth. As Sihyun turned the flashlight to illuminate the classroom, he looked at them.
"Now what? Are we going back?"
"Already?"
"There's nothing else to see, right? There's nothing special about the school."
"That's true."
"Please, let's go back. We're on the verge of getting caught, you know?"
Seowoo agreed with Sihyun's opinion, and Hamin pleaded as if begging. Since it seemed like they had enjoyed themselves for today, they reluctantly agreed to go back. But Haewoon, who made a betrayed expression, said he wanted to see just one more place.
"So, where are we going to look?"
As if it were a movie, if there were any suspicious devices in the school, we would have checked them out of curiosity, but it seemed like Cheongga High didn't have any such places. Even if there were any, they would probably be in the principal's office, but Kang Sihyun didn't have the courage to go there, so he looked at Haewoon as if he was contemplating something. Suddenly, a thought occurred to Sihyun.
"Every school has at least one ghost story, right? Doesn't Cheongga High have one?"
"A ghost story?"
"Yeah. Maybe because it's a new school, there isn't one."
Old schools usually had several ghost stories passed down like legends. For example, stories about old statues moving. At the middle school Sihyun attended, there was a ghost story that if the statue of a reading scholar turned all its pages, the school would be ruined. Sihyun looked at Haewoon, who volunteered to be the informant, hoping to find out what kind of ghost story they had. After a moment of silence, Haewoon seemed to remember something.
"There is one."
"One?"
"Oh, maybe it's about Eve?"
Seowoo seemed to guess something. On the other hand, Sihyun couldn't grasp what kind of ghost story they had, so he looked at Haewoon. The silver-haired boy nodded and added.
"You know there's an Eve statue in the garden."
"Yeah."
"Eve wears a robe, right? So does the Eve statue. And because her eyes are covered, you can't see them, but sometimes you can see her eyes. There's a rumor that anyone who sees the statue's eyes will die."
Everyone dies. It was as unrealistic as saying the school would be ruined. Sihyun thought the rumor was just a rumor, so he pressed the button on the flashlight. Haewoon got irritated, telling him not to, but Sihyun shone the light on his face. It seemed like he was scared again.
"Then while we're at it, why don't we go to the garden?"
"I'm fine with that."
"Me too."
"Me too."
"...Shouldn't we go?"
In an atmosphere where everyone agreed, one person was the only one who opposed. Sihyun smiled and opened his mouth to Haewoon.
"Are you scared?"
"Huh, Haewoon is scared!"
"Scared?"
"What are you scared of? We can just go. Let's go. Very early in the morning. Okay?"
Pushed by everyone, Haewoon said with a red face and a resolute expression. When Seowoo asked if he really went in the morning, Haewoon closed his mouth firmly. Haewoon hesitated. Sihyun also smiled, keeping his mouth shut to prevent any noise from coming out and headed for the garden.
Whether they were accustomed to walking silently or not, their pace to the garden was faster than when they were heading to the classroom.
Arriving at the Eve statue that Haewoon mentioned, Sihyun, who looked at it, shone the flashlight on the statue. The dark gray statue was about twice as big as Sihyun. When he raised the flashlight a little more, he could see the position of the eyes that were covered by the robe.
Eve also wore a robe and couldn't see her face. The first Awakener, Eve.
Suddenly, voices were heard from the path to the garden. It was the footsteps of teachers.
Surprised, Sihyun and the others quickly hid behind a tree. Nevertheless, they all handled it quickly this time as they had experienced the security guard incident once.
It was already past 1 a.m., and the teachers who were out for a walk were heard chatting. It seemed like they came out because they were worried about some private concerns, so Sihyun withdrew his attention from their conversation. After about three to four minutes, the teachers walked away from the path. Sighing, Sihyun exhaled.
"This feels more like a thriller than a courage training."
Feeling like a thief, he murmured, coming out from behind the tree. However, for some reason, Haewoon stood there looking at the statue of Eve, as if he were stuck in place. He looked strange with a resolute expression. Sihyun grabbed his arm. Other kids also looked at Haewoon strangely.
"Why?"
"Why are you like that?"
"Because of that."
"...?"
"Doesn't it seem to have moved a little?"
"...."
It seemed like he had seen something false because he was scared. When Haewoon mentioned something ridiculous, Haewoon laughed, and Seowoo shook his head. Hamin laughed. Just as Sihyun was about to tell him not to talk nonsense, a loud noise echoed through the space.
Thunk.
Sihyun, who held his breath at the sound, looked at the statue. Suddenly, two lights flashed from under the robe of the Eve statue.
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