Chapter 151: The Ark of the Golden House (1)

1. Entry Method for The Ark of the Golden House

1-1) Go out onto the deck and place a seashell as close to the bow as possible. As long as the object has the shape of a seashell, it may be made from another material.

1-2) Say the phrase, ‘I want to go into the sea.’ out loud. (Given the nature of ghost stories, a phrase with a similar meaning may also work, but this has not yet been confirmed, so only the exact same phrase has been used.)

1-3) Afterward, throw the seashell into the sea and open a door leading into the ship. A staircase descending underground will appear.

1-4) Descend the stairs as they are, and entry into the ghost story will be possible. If entry is not desired, simply close the door again immediately.

To be perfectly honest, Rachel had actually been half-doubtful of the rules Su-myeon had given her.

If he had said they were based on experience from ghost stories he had personally entered, she would have trusted them more.

But this was supposedly information compiled from some unidentified source.

Wasn’t it unreasonable to trust that when her life was on the line?

“.......”

But once they followed the instructions and went through what felt like the setup for some cheap stage play, it really happened.

The scenery before her changed.

The corridor that had clearly been lined with parallel passenger cabins vanished, and a staircase suddenly appeared.

Rachel followed Su-myeon as he stepped forward without hesitation, bewildered.

Even the air felt different.

Even though they were going farther inside the ship, the fishy stench assaulting her nose grew so strong it was almost nauseating.

“Wow, this is worse than I expected.”

Su-myeon’s voice came from ahead as he recoiled from the smell.

But was the stench really the problem?

The strange sound of wind and the unfamiliar interior in the darkness made Rachel hunch her shoulders.

After descending for quite a while, she felt damp water against the tips of her shoes.

If this water was the source of that revolting smell, like rotting fish, she did not want to step into it at all.

But there was no choice.

“Ugh....”

Su-myeon made a disgusted sound as he stepped inside.

Then he turned on one of the flashlights from his bag.

“.......”

“.......”

Su-myeon shrugged at the silent Rachel.

“Welcome to a ghost story, Agent.”

The modern cruise ship they had been standing in just moments ago was gone.

The corridor was completely dark, filled with damp water up to their ankles, and looked impossibly old.

When Rachel turned around, the staircase they had just descended had naturally vanished without a trace.

She had no idea how she was supposed to respond to Su-myeon’s joke.

Leaving her unanswered, Su-myeon swung the bag from his back around to the front and checked the contents.

“Fortunately, we were able to enter right away.”

At least we didn’t have to sit around on the ship waiting.

Su-myeon spoke as calmly as though none of this surprised him.

Han-su likewise seemed accustomed to it, checking the supplies and weapons he had brought.

Rachel was different.

She felt as though she might stop breathing at any moment.

The foul fishy smell of water suddenly filling the space around her, mixed with the smell of rusted iron.

The darkness surrounding them.

And from somewhere far away came the long, mournful sound of a ship’s horn.

“Rachel.”

Su-myeon called to her when he saw how badly shaken she seemed.

Seeing Su-myeon’s steady expression helped Rachel regain at least some composure.

“Ah, ......yes.”

If the entry method had been accurate, then the credibility of the other rules rose as well.

At this point, all she had to do was trust them.

Besides, his record already proved it.

The fatality rate among agents who had entered under his responsibility was zero percent.

Rachel tied her hair back tightly, telling herself she would simply become another one of them.

“Yes, I’m fine. I was just... a little surprised.”

“...I understand. There’s nothing immediately dangerous in this area, so let’s start by taking out your phone.”

Su-myeon spoke while continuing to place the items from his bag into the inventory inside his phone.

Objects vanished when he touched them to the screen.

The sheer unreality of it actually snapped Rachel fully awake.

She took out her own phone.

“.......”

Every manufacturer mark and every other recognizable symbol had disappeared.

Only one remained.

A heart-shaped symbol.

It was her phone, and yet it felt unfamiliar enough to seem like someone else’s.

All the apps she had installed were gone as well, replaced by only a few apps with simple, direct names.

“You see the messaging app, right? If we get separated, we’ll still be able to contact one another, so let’s register each other first.”

That had also been included in the materials Su-myeon had given her.

She had already been thoroughly informed about the things they would inevitably experience after entering a ghost story together.

But now that it was actually happening in front of her, it all felt as unfamiliar as though she were hearing it for the first time.

Rachel suppressed the foolish urge to ask him again and did her best to behave like an agent.

Barely managing to think rationally, she recalled the documents from memory and found her own codename in the messaging app.

Rachel spoke, trying to sound calm.

“My codename is....”

[#HUNT]

“H.U.N.T. Hunt....”

Rachel paused after confirming her codename.

Hunt.

Did that mean something?

***

As Su-myeon exchanged messaging-app codenames with Rachel, he felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

“Han-su is WOLF, and I’m REST. Register both of us. If we get separated, we can contact each other through this, so make sure you remember.”

Hunt.

A hunt.

The ghost story Rachel had first become involved in suddenly came to mind.

It naturally reminded him of the way that ghost story had driven its prey into a corner and hunted them.

Even after learning quite a few codenames by now, he still had no idea what standards they were assigned by.

‘More importantly....’

Su-myeon frowned at the mass of message notifications filling his messaging app.

He glanced at Han-su and Rachel, who were each checking their equipment, then opened his inbox.

[#BELL: Are you kidding me?]

The sender was Bell.

And every one of the more than twenty messages that followed was from her too.

I went through all the trouble of preparing everything, so why haven’t you said anything?

What are you doing?

Hey! Say something!

Did you already leave?

What about the Rose Coins?

What happened to the Coins?

Did Alice disappear?

You couldn’t find her in reality either?

I’m dying of curiosity, when are you coming!

.

.

.

There were more than ten messages piled up even after that.

If he made Bell wait any longer, she would probably cause a scene, so Su-myeon immediately replied.

[#REST: I’m sorry. Things got so urgent that I didn’t have time to check.]

Along with the brief apology, Su-myeon took a heavy pouch out of his bag.

The causality from Alice Hotel that had vanished before he could use all of it.

The vouchers.

All of it had been converted into currency Su-myeon could use.

The Governance employees had been the ones to discover and collect the Coins.

The night Su-myeon, Han-su, and Mu-yeon came out of Alice Hotel.

The moment someone lifted the blanket in the duty room, hundreds of Rose Coins spilled out.

Apparently the entire office staff had ended up gathering together to pick them up one by one because the floor had been covered in Coins.

“......What is all that?”

Rachel asked as Su-myeon shoved the entire pouch of heavily clinking Coins into the Heartphone.

Su-myeon briefly wondered how he should explain it, then answered simply.

“Causality converted into currency... is probably the best way to put it.”

Besides, Su-myeon had not revealed every piece of information to their foreign guests.

The fact that objects from inside ghost stories could be brought back into reality unchanged.

He had not told them that yet.

[Rose Coins: 465]

[Preparing to stock....]

After confirming that the Coins had been properly deposited, Su-myeon put the phone back into his pocket.

“For now, you said firearms are what you’re most familiar with, so I gave you permission to bring them.”

She was an American special agent.

She was probably a pretty good shot.

There was even a chance she was better than Su-myeon.

That was why he had allowed it.

Still, they needed to be careful.

“Noise is obviously a bad approach no matter where we go, so use this whenever possible.”

After placing that restriction on her, Su-myeon handed Rachel Peter Pan’s Dagger.

But he did not explain the full method of using it in advance.

Their relationship had a clearly defined purpose, so there was still a need for caution.

“This is an item too. I’ll explain how to use it gradually.”

Besides, Su-myeon did not actually know how to properly use a dagger.

In an emergency, he could activate its ability as a unique item.

But as an actual dagger, he had no idea how to handle it properly.

If he got carried away trying to fight a monster with it, his hand would probably slip off the grip and he would end up cutting himself.

Besides, didn’t American agents learn dagger techniques and things like that?

That was how it looked in movies and games.

Rachel accepted the dagger Su-myeon handed her with a hint of expectation and gripped it skillfully.

“This is a good knife.”

It was a simply designed dagger, but Rachel handled it naturally and gave it a practiced turn in her hand.

Su-myeon was satisfied.

With Han-su and Rachel traveling together with him, combat strength probably would not be much of a problem.

Nodding at how competent she looked, Su-myeon began walking down the corridor filled with darkness.

He shone the flashlight along the long passage ahead.

The water soaking his feet was unpleasantly lukewarm, which somehow made it even worse.

“Our current location is probably a lower corridor beneath the deck, and we’re going to search as many sections as possible.”

The water beneath their feet looked black, like deep-sea water, and Su-myeon found it deeply unsettling.

He deliberately tried not to look at it.

With every step, the hems of his pants sank into the water and swayed around his ankles.

Every so often, something that felt like seaweed brushed against his ankles.

“Don’t look.”

When Rachel lowered her flashlight to check beneath her feet, Su-myeon immediately stopped her.

There was a reason he had been walking while keeping his own light pointed forward.

What filled the water beneath their feet was not seaweed.

It was human hair.

Either way, they had no choice but to keep stepping on it.

What good would knowing that do?

If only to distract both himself and Rachel, Su-myeon kept talking.

“For now, our objective is to end the ghost story, so as much as possible, we’ll eliminate any monsters we see and bring any survivors we find with us.”

Rachel swallowed dryly at Su-myeon’s words and kept her eyes fixed ahead.

2. Important Precautions

2-1) Never touch any valuables belonging to the cruise ship.

2-2) Do not carelessly listen to any sounds you hear.

2-3) Do not jump into the sea.

He had warned her about those points several times, so she would probably follow him carefully without getting distracted.

Still, even when Su-myeon only moved his gaze from side to side, the area around them was filled with luxurious decorations.

Old-fashioned, antique ornaments.

Despite their age, every one of them was made of precious metal with the old-fashioned reflective gleam of what appeared to be gold, silver, and platinum.

The decorations looked so loosely attached that a little force would probably pull them free.

They were more than enough to stir a person’s greed.

The kind of thing that made you think no one would ever know if you snapped off just one piece and slipped it into your pocket....

“.......”

But he knew he was not supposed to touch them.

More importantly, even the persistent desire to possess them might not actually be Su-myeon’s own will.

Doing his best to ignore it, Su-myeon continued down the long corridor.

Eventually, a door appeared before them.

[Laundry Room]

A room with the kind of large door commonly found underground.

Han-su, who had been walking at the very back, stepped forward and carefully began opening the door.