Chapter 38: Sea Of Ghosts

We looked at each other.

-…….

“Can’t you just let her go?”

-Absolutely not!

-This opportunity is a good chance to be recognized by my King!

The Principal’s attitude was reverent.

There seemed to be no room for negotiation.

How should I resolve this?

‘Hmm….’

A good idea came to mind, but I don’t know if the Principal will agree.

“Does it have to be this bich’s body?”

-What kind of nonsense is that?

“Can’t it be someone else’s body?”

-……!

The Principal maintained his silence, and after 10 minutes that felt like 1 minute, the Principal opened his mouth.

-…It’s just a personal grudge, it doesn’t necessarily have to be this child.

“Hoo~”

Is that so?

Then it seems he has a different real objective.

“If it doesn’t matter, do you want to enter my body?”

-……!

The Principal seemed quite shocked by my answer.

-…Are you serious?

“Yeah.”

Surely there’s no one who would lie about something like this.

-Why? What kind of relationship do you have that you’re willing to protect her to this extent?]

“W-Well…”

The Principal glared at me with suspicious eyes.

It was embarrassing to say that the child who fainted from seeing a ghost was family.

I chose one of the most reasonable reasons.

“Because I think I can win even if you enter my body?”

-Ha!

The Principal laughed in disbelief at my answer.

-How dare you utter such nonsense…!

-Are you ready?

“Well, somewhat?”

I wouldn’t have made this suggestion in the first place if I wasn’t somewhat ready.

-Good. Let’s see you try and enter. Don’t regret having your body stolen from me.

“I get it.”

“Why are you talking so much?”

The Principal frowned in displeasure, but stealing the body was the priority.

He instantly turned into smoke and disappeared, entering my body.

***

Splash!

-Is this the core part of the soul?

The core of the soul was divided into three parts.

The sea of information,

The sea of consciousness,

The sea of unconsciousness.

The place where the Principal was currently was the sea of information, the part that humans use when searching for various information.

To steal the body, he had to go into the sea of unconsciousness.

The Principal continued to swim and entered the sea of consciousness.

The sea of consciousness is the space where one’s ego identity is established.

Therefore, unlike the sea of information, the sea of consciousness tended to contain many memories from childhood.

Normally, he should have gradually changed the personality in the sea of consciousness to make it his own.

-There’s no time now…!

He had to offer a sacrifice to the ‘Great King’ immediately.

Only then could he be recognized and rise higher.

Originally, he had targeted Lee Haim, who had stolen his embezzlement evidence, but this wasn’t bad either.

It was clear they seemed to be a close relationship, and he became extremely curious about the expression she would make when her body was stolen from someone like that.

-I’m almost there.

In the deep sea, deep below the surface, the sea of unconsciousness was visible.

Of course, he could only go to the sea of unconsciousness if that huge and heavy iron door opened.

The Principal placed his palm against the cold iron door.

-It doesn’t seem to open easily….

The sea of unconsciousness was special compared to the other seas.

Unlike the sea of consciousness, which forms personality, the sea of unconsciousness was the soul itself.

The purest crystal that exists before personality is formed, the most primitive human desires, all of it was in the sea of unconsciousness.

Of course, the sea of unconsciousness was not a place just anyone could go to.

Because the door only opened for those whom the soul allowed.

But this time was an exception.

-Now I can use the power that he lent me.

The ‘Great King of Spirits’, who resurrected him as a ghost, gave him a mission when he was made into a ghost type monster.

-Steal a human body and hide in human society.

He had been a localized spirit until now because no humans came, but now he could repay his benefactor’s grace.

Red smoke like tendrils rose around the Principal and entered through the gap in the door.

Screeeech!

The huge and heavy iron door slowly opened by the smoke.

It looked as if it was shy to reveal its inner thoughts.

-Finally…!

The Principal hid his impatience and slowly entered the sea of unconsciousness.

From here on, it was unknown territory that he did not know.

The Principal slowly looked around.

His surroundings were only darkness, a desolate wasteland where grass would not grow.

-Is the sea of unconsciousness always like this?

Bang!

……!

The iron door, which had opened slowly, closed with a loud crash.

And the water had somehow receded, and countless skeletons beneath the bridge formed a vast expanse of land.

What is this?

There was no time to be flustered.

Red blood spurted down like rain from the sky, even though there were no clouds, and long bones grabbed his foot from among the bones.

[Heh heh, a visitor after a long time.]

[How long has it been since we’ve seen a human.]

[Stay with us.]

[Let’s be together forever, it will be more fun here.]

The skulls shone with red ghostly light and dragged him towards their corpses.

It was utterly unpleasant.

-How dare these minor spirits try to drag me in…!

The Principal tried to shake them off with the power he received from ‘him’, but the number of skeletons was too great.

To think there were so many corpses in the sea of unconsciousness, he had to escape from here quickly.

But despite his will, a massive wave of bloody water surged towards him.

That massive wave was like a punishment inflicted upon him by a god.

Splash!

The wave crashed against the ground and subsided, forming a sea of blood wider than the land.

Fortunately, the wave helped him shake off the skeletons.

-Kuk, what in the fck is going on…!

Countless bone corpses formed the land, and waves of bloody water covered him, creating a sea.

This unknown woman’s inner world was more dangerous than anyone else’s.

The Principal continued to swim.

Until the surface was visible.

Keep swimming, keep swimming.

About an hour passed like that, and the Principal felt something strange.

-How deep is the sea level?

No matter how much he swam, the distance to the surface didn’t narrow.

But he couldn’t give up here.

The Principal swam for dozens of hours without giving up.

1 day.

-A little more…!

3 days.

-Just a little more…!

30 days.

-Almost there…!

150 days.

-Not yet…? 

275 days.

.

.

.

.

3706 days.

He swam for what felt like over 10 years.

Just as they say mountains and rivers change in ten years, the Principal, who had a will like an iron fortress, was now at his limit.

-Until when, I wonder….

The surface and the bright sun rising above it were shining on him.

The sun was close enough to touch, yet he could never reach it.

As the Principal’s mind gradually eroded and grew weary, familiar voices were heard from below his feet.

[Heh heh, look at this one.

-He still hasn’t given up, heh heh.

[Heh, he’s persistent.]

[Hee hee, that’s not persistence, that’s stupidity.]

[……!]

From below, hundreds, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of skeletons piled high, reaching his feet.

Since when?

[Now it’s getting troublesome just watching, let’s just drag him down.]

[Shall we? Playing with him isn’t fun anymore.]

[Agreed~]

[We’re getting a tonic after a long time.]

A slender, long sword jutted out from the top of the mountain of skeletons.

A strong aura of death was felt from that single sword.

How much karma had been accumulated?

To exude such a powerful aura of death, one would have to kill at least a million people.

Grab!

[……!]

An arm, warning of death, grabbed his ankle.

The moment he was pulled down, it was over.

Splash!

Splash!

He thrashed and struggled, reaching out his arms to somehow touch the surface, but it was useless.

-Damn it! I cannot give up here!

The King had promised to resurrect him as a human if he carried out the missions well.

It was believing in that promise alone that he became a ghost from a human.

He couldn’t give up here.

But such cries reached no one.

[Heh heh, let’s become one together.]

[Wow, there’s a lot of flesh, it’ll be delicious.]

[Heh heh, no cutting in line, okay?]

[We’ll eat you deliciously.]

The Principal continued to resist, but unfortunately, he was pulled into the mountain of skeletons, which piled up like a mountain.

As for the result after that, I hope you can imagine it yourselves.

***

“…pa!”

“…….”

“Oppa!”

“……!”

My eyes snapped open at the voice calling me.

I saw Haim in front of me, grabbing my shoulder with a strong grip.

“You finally came to your senses. You surprised me for a moment.”

Haim let out an inexplicable sigh of relief.

I tilted my head.

“Did something happen?”

“That’s what I want to ask you.”

“You were standing there with dead fish eyes.”

“Did something happen while I fainted?”

“…No, I just remembered some bad memories.”

I don’t know why those memories came back.

I thought I was used to it….

“Bad memories? I thought you lived without a single thought.”

“You’re really saying anything you want to Oppa now, aren’t you?”

Slap!

She was so annoying that I gave her a good slap on the back.

That kid made a look of injustice, as if she didn’t know what she did wrong.

“Don’t ask me to do this kind of thing again in the future.”

“B-But I’m scared of ghosts…”

“Fcking hell, if that’s the case, just don’t take the requests.”

“If you make me do something like this one more time, I’ll just fcking tear your hair out, okay?”

“…….”

She didn’t do anything and just fainted because of a ghost.

She was a complete burden.

“U-Um, sorry…”

“…….”

Haim bowed her head and apologized.

I didn’t mean for her to apologize, but my heart softened a little for a moment.

I had to quickly change the mood.

“Ahem, what time is it now?”

“Uh, it’s 11?”

“……!”

Startled, I checked my phone and saw that we both had 36 missed calls.

All of them were from Lady Kim.

We looked at each other’s faces.

“Uh… We’re screwed, aren’t we?”

“Probably?”

We returned home and were lectured for a total of 3 hours as punishment for breaking curfew.