[The Mugunghwa Flower Has Bloomed!]
Su-min might not have planned it this way, but things had suddenly gotten easier. At the chant, Jae-ha froze mid-step. When the seeker began again, he flicked on his phone’s flashlight. The bright beam confirmed his suspicion—the black streak trailing up the stairs was almost identical to the candle wax he’d seen back at the MT.
All that was left now was to follow it upward. With a determined gaze, Jae-ha tracked the streak leading all the way to the top of the stairwell. He couldn’t hear Su-min anymore. Not a sound. Had he already been caught? No way—Su-min had shown some kind of ability, like Hae-hyun. He just had to trust in that.
[Three times left!]
By the time he reached the fifth floor, the endless chant shifted. Three times? Did that mean he had to catch the seeker within three turns? Jae-ha stopped dead and protested.
“Hey! What kind of rule is that? You can’t just make things up as you go.”
[Muuuugunghwaaa…]
“…You’ve got to be kidding me.”
He muttered under his breath, but the ghost didn’t budge. Clicking his tongue, Jae-ha broke into a run down the hallway. Following the streak of wax with his phone’s light, he spotted a door at the far end, cracked open.
…Wait. He froze. Out of all the places in this building, the trail led to a room he knew better than anywhere else.
The department lounge.
The chant wasn’t finished yet, but his feet wouldn’t move. Even if the ghost was targeting him because he was a business major, why here of all places? The coincidence gnawed at him, stirring a question he hadn’t thought to ask before.
The ghost’s true form was the candle.
So how the hell had an inanimate object followed them from Daeseong-ri all the way to campus?
[Two times left.]
Another chant slipped by. Time was running out. Screw the questions—catch the seeker first. Jae-ha lunged forward. His quick steps turned into a sprint, shoes slapping the floor loud enough to echo.
The ghost’s chant was slow, steady. That gave him the edge. In one burst, he dashed to the end of the hall and flung the door wide open.
Bang! The door slammed against the wall.
There, at the end of the wax trail, someone leaned against the wall beneath a large wall calendar. Even from the back, Jae-ha recognized him instantly.
“Yoon-taek…”
The name left him like a groan. The theory he’d prayed was wrong turned out right.
The candle Yoon-taek had picked up had followed him here. They’d searched his bag before and it hadn’t been there. So when had it come along? The thought alone was enough to chill him.
[The Mugunghwa Flower Has Bloomed!]
While Jae-ha was lost in thought, the ghost whipped its head around. Possessing Yoon-taek again, his sclera turned pitch-black.
This was already the second time the poor kid had been possessed. It was both frustrating and worrying, but the only way to free him now was to win this cursed game. Jae-ha forced his drifting focus back under control.
One wrong move now and it would all be over. Tightening his grip on the phone, he met the ghost’s gaze. Wearing Yoon-taek’s face, it split its mouth into a grotesque grin.
[Almost there, aren’t you?]
Even cloaked in the face of someone he knew, it didn’t feel human at all. His stomach turned cold. And this wasn’t even the first time.
He silently prayed it would just finish the chant, but of course, the ghost wasn’t about to let him off when he was standing right in front of it. Shedding Yoon-taek’s slouched posture, it pushed off the wall and started toward him.
You’ve got to be kidding me. Jae-ha took a slow, careful breath. He didn’t dare breathe too deeply, afraid the ghost would accuse him of moving.
[This time, I won’t let you go.]
The thing smiled wide—but the stiff, unnatural twist of its muscles made the expression pure horror.
[I’ll win, so you’d better keep your promise, right?]
Promise? Jae-ha blinked. Had he actually made some kind of deal with them? He racked his brain, but nothing came to mind.
Curses. Promises. All of it was happening to him, and yet he knew nothing. The helplessness was maddening. What if he really had lost his memory? The idea was ridiculous, but for a second he considered it. Still, his memory had no gaps.
And then—
Bzzzzzt!
His phone buzzed violently, its screen flashing to life as a loud ringtone blared. The vibration jolted his arm. Just a twitch, but enough to make the flashlight beam wobble. His face went pale.
Would that really count? Surely not—
[You moved.]
“Ah, shit!”
He spun around and bolted. Behind him, the ghost burst into manic laughter.
[You moved! You moved! Come here! I won’t miss you this time. No time left!]
Its flat, toneless voice rattled through the hallway.
[You’re coming with us!]
Jae-ha sprinted for his life, fumbling with his phone. He didn’t even need to check who was calling. Only one person had been set to that obnoxiously loud ringtone: Ju Hae-hyun. Of course this idiot would call now!
“Hey!”
—Sunbae? Where are you—
“Our lounge! The candle showed up, and we’re playing Mugunghwa Flo—”
He didn’t get to finish. Wax surged up in a tidal wave, wrapping around his body and sealing his mouth shut. His phone slipped from his cheek, clattering to the floor. Bound and gagged, he was dragged across the room.
Desperate, Jae-ha scraped at the ground to slow himself down, but it was useless. His fingertips split open against the hard floor, skin tearing away.
The wax crawled up his body like monstrous vines, cocooning him from head to toe in seconds. Darkness swallowed his vision, his breath strangled. He couldn’t so much as twitch a finger.
Just before all sensation vanished, he thought he heard a distant clunk. He wasn’t sure. His eyes slid shut.
[Mugunghwaaa…]
Wait—wasn’t the game over?
[Flower…]
CRASH!
A thunderous boom snapped his fading consciousness back. It roared again and again like thunder striking, then cut off.
Cold air brushed his chest.
“Sunbae! Sunbae!”
Something ripped open, loosening the cocoon’s grip on his body. Hae-hyun’s frantic voice called out as he tore at the wax. His hands weren’t careful—they ripped and crushed at anything holding Jae-ha.
“Sunbae, are you okay? Open your eyes!”
A rough hand shook his shoulder with enough force to rattle his bones. Jae-ha groaned weakly, half-dead.
“Wait… stop shaking me….”
“Sunbae!”
Hae-hyun’s voice cracked like a scream. He clung tight, trembling in the dark.
“Are you hurt? Does anything hurt? Why are you even here? This place is dangerous!”
“…What about Yoon-taek?”
The words rasped so faintly they could’ve been mistaken for wind, but Hae-hyun caught them, frowning.
“Who’s that?”
“The seeker… the ghost possessed him…”
“He’s fine. Sunbae, is this really the time to worry about someone else?”
Hae-hyun snapped, tearing away the last strands of wax before hauling Jae-ha upright. Jae-ha tried to look around, but his vision was still dim. Feeling along the wall, he found the switch and flicked it. Light flooded the room.
The lounge was a wreck. Black wax smeared across the floor and walls. The shredded remains of his cocoon littered the ground. And—
“…You said he was fine.”
Jae-ha gawked at his junior lying unconscious on the floor. Hae-hyun’s reply was still sulky.
“He just blacked out when the ghost separated from him. It’s basically like sleeping.”
Calling fainting “sleep” was some twisted logic. Shaking free of Hae-hyun’s grip, Jae-ha crouched beside Yoon-taek.
He rolled him over. Aside from a few smudges, his face was unharmed. Relief eased through Jae-ha.
“What the hell happened?”
By all rights, he and Su-min had been caught. There should’ve been no one left to free them. The seeker should’ve won. And yet, Hae-hyun had appeared out of nowhere, the seeker had vanished, and he’d been released.
“I got here before you were caught.”
Hae-hyun, who had been right on his heels, answered matter-of-factly.
