Chapter 2 Part 1: When Opportunity Knocks

Though somewhat dark, the interior was a spacious living room with a cozy fireplace and sofa, paintings hanging on the walls.
What is this place all of a sudden?
It’s different from the room I was in yesterday.

Most importantly, there’s no clown doll.

He was confused, but escaping the room with that terrifying clown was the priority.
Just as Yejun hurried inside, his foot caught on something.

“Ah.”

Looking down, he saw a travel bag lying there.
A silver rolling suitcase.
What is this now?
For some reason, it felt like he should take it with him, so he lightly grabbed the handle, and thanks to the wheels, it rolled smoothly along the floor.

Dragging the suitcase inside, a rush of cold air swept in.
What is this?
It doesn’t feel like March weather—it’s more like the bitter cold of January.
Is this some kind of abnormal climate?

Looking around inside, it felt like the interior of a mountain lodge tucked deep in the mountains.
Amusement parks had plenty of strange places like this, so he wondered if it might be the inside of a ride accessed through an employee corridor.

He set the suitcase down and glanced around, when suddenly someone flung the door open and stumbled in, shivering violently.

“Ugh! It’s freezing! I almost froze to death out there!”

Is it really that cold outside?
As Yejun stared blankly at the man who had come in, the man seemed to notice him too, rubbing his arms with both hands as he spoke.

“Oh, you too?”

“…..?”

What does he mean, you too?

The man stepped closer and extended his hand for a handshake.

“I’m Reporter Shin Cheolho, invited to cover the lodge’s opening event.”

“…..”

As Yejun thought the name sounded familiar, his mouth and body began moving on their own.

“Ah, I see. I was invited to the opening event as well. I’m businessman Jeong Seongryong.”

Wh–what is this?!
Why are my mouth and body moving on their own?
And wait—what am I wearing?
I was clearly sitting in the break room in full clown makeup, so why am I wearing a gray coat I’ve never seen before?

At that moment, two more men opened the door and stepped inside, looking around the room.

“Wow, it’s more atmospheric than I expected.”

“Right?

They said they renovated a historic lodge over a hundred years old into accommodations.

It’s very elegant.

It’s cold—close the door and come in, sir.”

As the door shut and the biting wind was cut off, the two men dragged their luggage in and spoke.

“Hello, you were invited to the event too, right?

So were we.

I’m Park Jihwan, a Korean language teacher, and this is Teacher Kim Seonghyeon, the head of our grade and a P.E. teacher.”

The two men also extended their hands for handshakes.

Yejun should have been asking who these people were and what kind of situation this was, but strangely, his mouth was already exchanging greetings, shaking hands, and making small talk.

He wasn’t the type to ask strangers about their jobs, names, or ages right off the bat.
But this person called Jeong Seongryong—so different from himself—was prying into their details as if genuinely interested.
No, more accurately, his mouth was doing it.

As they stood in the middle of the lodge chatting, a woman’s voice suddenly came through the speakers.

[Thank you sincerely for visiting us for the opening event of Sumi Lodge.
The keys to your rooms are on the counter, and each key has your name written on it.
Please take your key and head to your room, and enjoy a comfortable stay at Sumi Lodge, proud of its hundred years of history and tradition.]

Park Jihwan tilted his head while looking at the speaker.

“They invite us here, but the host doesn’t even show their face?
Do we just stay in our rooms and relax for a day?”

Kim Seonghyeon chimed in.

“Well, that’s convenient for us.
Why don’t we have a drink in my room later?”

“Sounds good.
You two should come as well if you’re interested.”

The two teachers dragged their luggage first, found their keys, and headed to their rooms.
Park Jihwan took Room 101, and Kim Seonghyeon Room 102.

Holding the key to Room 103, Reporter Shin Cheolho handed over the key to Room 104 with his other hand.

“Here, Mr. Jeong Seongryong. Room 104. Your key.”

“Ah, thank you.”

“Then I’ll see you later.
I need to take some photos and find material for an article.
Haha, it’s all paid work in the end.”

As Yejun watched Shin Cheolho head into his room, thunder suddenly crashed, and lightning flashed brightly through the windows.

Startled, Yejun flinched and screamed internally in shock.

‘W–wait a second!’

With the thunder, memories flooded into him like a tidal wave.
This was the world from the script he had nervously opened last night, only to relax when nothing happened.

‘Sumi Lodge!
Jeong Seongryong, Shin Cheolho, Park Jihwan, Kim Seonghyeon!
These are all names from the Scarred Lodge script the troupe gave us!’

Shit—did I just enter the world of the script?
And not just that, but as one of the characters?

For an actor, this should have been a blessing.
Of course, experiencing something in a dream didn’t automatically mean he could act it perfectly, but rehearsing based on lived experience would feel far more real than acting without any.

But standing in this dreamlike situation, Yejun couldn’t smile at all.

‘Th–this is a horror play!
I die!
And Jeong Seongryong is the one who trembles in terror until the very end and dies the most miserable death!’

Businessman Jeong Seongryong was the descendant of a pro-Japanese collaborator.
His family had lived lavishly for generations, cleaning up any trouble he caused as a child.
He entered university through donation-based admission, got his diploma, and now ran businesses despite having no real ability.

From a young age, he was a lecher who committed countless sexual assaults.

Reporter Shin Cheolho worked for a major national newspaper.
He ignored stories that didn’t make money, but if you paid him, he’d do anything.
For him, justice and injustice were determined solely by whether money was involved.

Korean language teacher Park Jihwan.
The owner of the lodge and the homeroom teacher of the woman who became a vengeful spirit.
Though he appeared normal, he had a vile hobby—secretly filming female students while they changed and selling the footage.

Grade head Kim Seonghyeon.
A colleague at the same school, he discovered Park Jihwan’s hobby by chance and joined in, splitting the profits and covering things up whenever problems arose.

Information about the characters from the script surfaced in his mind.
Himself dragging the suitcase and entering Room 104.
No matter how much he tried to go outside the lodge, his body wouldn’t obey him.

‘No!
Don’t go in!
If you go in here, everyone dies!
One by one—every single one of them!’

But his scream never left his throat.

***

Day 1.

Jeong Seongryong, who had dismissed the two teachers as useless to his business and was drinking with Reporter Shin Cheolho—the one person who might be of use—saw Teacher Park Jihwan come rushing in with a panicked expression.

“Care to join us for a drink, sir?”

“Th–that’s not it!”

Park Jihwan’s face was deathly pale.

“T–Te–Teacher Kim…
Teacher Kim had an acc–accident.”

Park Jihwan staggered.
Shin Cheolho jumped up and supported him.

“My goodness, sir.
What happened?”

Park Jihwan finally collapsed to the floor.
Gasping for breath, his face twisted in terror as he forced the words out.

“We were having a drink in the room, then went for a walk nearby, when lightning suddenly struck one of the trees.”

Lightning?
Out of a clear sky?

Jeong Seongryong stood up and pulled back the curtain covering the window, revealing a raging storm outside.
It wasn’t rain—it was a snowstorm, which must be why there was no sound of rain.

Drawing the curtain closed again, Jeong Seongryong asked,

“So?”

Park Jihwan swallowed hard, wiping his face.

“T–there wasn’t even time to react.
The fire that consumed the tree spread to Teacher Kim Seonghyeon.
In an instant, his entire body was engulfed in flames!
I–I tried to save him!
But the f–fire!
The fire spread too fast!”

Shin Cheolho jumped up in shock.

“What happened to him?”

“…..”

“Did he die?”

“…..”

Park Jihwan nodded weakly.

“Yes.”

Shin Cheolho’s eyes widened.
Rolling his eyes wildly, he rummaged through his pocket, pulled out his phone, and tried to make a call—then cursed loudly.

“Damn it!
There’s no signal!”

Park Jihwan sighed.

“I already tried.
Phones don’t work, and the roads are blocked because of the snowstorm.
I can’t find the lodge manager anywhere either.”

“Where’s the body?”

“Let’s go see it right away.”

Shin Cheolho helped Park Jihwan up and went out with him, gripping his camera tightly.

Left alone in the room, Jeong Seongryong took a sip of beer and muttered,

“Off to get an exclusive scoop, huh.
Figures.
Why are they getting so worked up over someone else’s business?
It’s not like it benefits their lives anyway.
Who cares what happens to useless people.”

No—this isn’t me talking.
What kind of monster is this bastard, not even blinking when someone burned to death?

He wasn’t a psychopath who killed indiscriminately, but he was at least a sociopath—judging everything solely by whether it benefited his future and incapable of empathizing with others’ emotions.

***

Day 2.
Shin Cheolho’s room.

Three men had been drinking since early afternoon.

Watching Park Jihwan pour down strong whiskey one glass after another, Jeong Seongryong asked,

“That teacher—Kim, was it?
What did you do with his body?”

Park Jihwan wiped his mouth with his sleeve and nodded toward the window.

“Outside.”

I see.

Jeong Seongryong accepted it without much thought, but Shin Cheolho didn’t.

“What?
You just left the body outside?”

Park Jihwan bit his lip.

“If I mess with it unnecessarily, I’ll be the one suspected when the police arrive.
In situations like this, it’s better to leave it alone.”

What kind of mental structure allows someone to think that way?
Leaving a colleague’s body out in a mountain snowstorm just because you don’t want to be suspected?
What if animals damage it?

No matter what Yejun thought inside Jeong Seongryong, Seongryong himself casually chewed on dried squid, wearing a face that said I see.

After drinking heavily for a while longer, Park Jihwan stood up and grabbed the doorknob.
Shin Cheolho asked,

“Where are you going?”

“Just to get some air.”

“You’re going outside in this storm?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Though Shin Cheolho looked concerned, he didn’t stop him.
Instead, once Park Jihwan left, he quietly rummaged through his bag, pulled out his camera, and checked the photos he’d taken.

With squid still in his mouth, Jeong Seongryong asked,

“Are those photos of the body you took yesterday?”

“Yes.
Haha, it’s my first time photographing a burned corpse.
I was annoyed they sent me to cover some old lodge opening event, but I ended up landing a huge scoop.”

Jeong Seongryong let out a dry laugh.

“Looks like you’re not quite right in the head either, Reporter.”

“Haha, is that so?
Well, what does it matter?
Isn’t that just how life is?
Mr. Jeong, haven’t you ever done anything bad in your life?”

“Well, I wouldn’t call it bad exactly.
Just youthful indiscretions.”

“Oh?
What kind of indiscretions?

You look perfectly fine, so I guess they weren’t that serious?”

Jeong Seongryong fell silent for a moment, staring at his hands.
Flipping his palms over, he suddenly smiled and licked his own hand.

“It was nothing special.
You could say it was a kind of love.”

What the hell is this crazy bastard saying right now?
Did you just call rape “love”?
That’s nothing special?
This guy is completely insane.