"In school-themed stories, there's a rumor that entering places like this makes you less popular….."
"What are you talking about, again."
"Talking about some anime only he knows."
"It's not an anime, it's a novel….."
Noryangjin Tower of Despair.
We stepped into the entrance of the building and chatted quietly as we waited for the elevator.
Whiiiing-
[Ground floor.]
Soon the doors opened, and the people who began spilling out seemed to have just come from the karaoke bar, heavily drunk.
"Hey, f**k, even guys who graduated from schools in Seoul are all preparing for the 9th-grade civil service exam these days… Don't give up..…"
"Every damn holiday they say prepare for the 7th-grade exam. Then if you comply, they nag why not aim for the 5th-grade. Then they hit you with why don't you take the high-level civil service exam. Goddamn b*stards..."
Passing by the drunken exam takers noisily chattering among themselves, we got into the elevator.
"It reeks of alcohol."
Hayoon, who had taken a spot in the corner, wrinkled her nose and lightly covered it.
"Ugh, seriously. They weren't even in here for that long, and the whole elevator reeks of booze."
I grumbled along with her.
After that brief small talk, the elevator arrived at the 5th floor, the boarding house which was our destination.
Ding-
[5th floor.]
The door opened, revealing before us a stark concrete staircase and a single plain glass door.
Given the importance of soundproofing in a boarding house, even the noise of opening and closing a door must've been a concern, which is probably why they installed this softly sliding glass door here at the entrance.
I reached out my hand, telling the Teacher to go in first.
"The boarding house owner's wife is waiting inside. Please go in first and say hello."
"Okay, okay. You guys wait here for a moment."
With that, the Teacher left us waiting in front of the entrance, opened the glass door while calling out "Excuse me~" and went inside.
Immediately, a door opened in the hallway, and an exam taker put a finger to his lips with a "shh" as he glared at us.
"It seems we can't even say 'Excuse me~' around here."
"Right..."
After silently bowing in apology, the Teacher went inside toward the counter.
Soon, the faint sound of someone quietly chatting with another person came from inside.
The Teacher opened the glass door at the entrance again and came out, accompanied by the owner's wife who had been guarding the empty seat at the counter.
"Ah, you all came all the way here… I didn't know you were such famous people."
The wife looked a bit younger than my mom, appearing to be in her late 30s to early 40s.
Her husband was unconscious after a suicide attempt, so she looked a bit tired, but she still welcomed us with a smiling face.
"Please each take a room key."
"Thank you..."
"I've already cleaned everything so you can stay right away, and I tried my best to wipe down the counter… but there are still some stains, so it may feel a bit uncomfortable. During your stay, feel free to use the counter or the rooms however you like… How long will you be staying, by the way?"
"Well..."
Trailing off her words, Teacher Jang Hwaeun looked back at us.
I nodded and answered on her behalf.
"We're thinking of staying until the weekend for now."
"The weekend… I hope everything is resolved by then…"
The wife smiled with a tired expression.
She soon gathered her things and came out, then pressed the elevator button right away.
"I need to head to the hospital to check on my husband… Is there anything else I should explain?"
"Oh, then. have you ever seen anything yourself, by any chance..…"
"No, I haven't."
The wife shook her head with an apologetic smile at my sudden question.
"I only know what I heard from my husband, and I already shared all of that with the Detective..."
"Then that's fine. The Detective has already shared everything with us as well."
"Okay, I understand. Then I'll take my leave."
She soon got into the elevator, held down the open button, and added a final explanation before leaving.
"Once you go in, there's just a bed, so feel free to use it. There's a shower inside, and as for the kitchen, you'll see it when you go in… Oh right, the restroom is next to the counter, and it's unisex. You can tell if someone's inside by checking the slippers outside, and also..."
"Thank you, goodbye."
After kindly explaining everything to the end, the wife went downstairs with a farewell.
We stood outside at the entrance of the boarding house.
I looked at the glass door with a somewhat nervous expression.
– [Noryangjin Boarding House] –
"…But Teacher, what did you say to introduce us that made her trust us like that?"
"I said my mom's name~"
Teacher Jang Hwaeun stuck out her tongue and gave a playful smile.
It seemed her mother must be quite well-known in that line of work.
"Alright, let's go in, let's go in."
Soon, the Teacher hurried us toward the door.
"Are you coming in too, Teacher?"
"I have to at least make sure you kids drop off your stuff~"
Since Teacher Jang Hwaeun has a date with Teacher Han Ari tomorrow, she wouldn't be able to prepare for the competition with us.
Still, as our teacher and an adult, she probably wanted to stay at least until we've settled into our room.
The door soon opened, and as we stepped inside, she suddenly pushed me from behind and whispered in my ear, perhaps intending to keep things quiet.
'Let's go, let's go. Hurry up.'
A breeze blew from her lips painted with red lipstick, sending a shiver through my spine.
Whoo~
'Umm...'
The sudden tingling sensation starting from my ear sent goosebumps all over my body, and I almost lost the strength in my knees, but the Teacher, seemingly unaware of this, pressed closely from behind and whispered again as she pushed me forward.
'Which room is it? Check the number.'
'…Just a moment.'
The Teacher's habit of suddenly getting close on her own terms, no matter when or where.
A cheerful English teacher in her thirties, standing close to me for no reason with little sense of distance.
'Hurry up, hurry up.'
Hmmm...
The scent of her perfume and the breeze caressing my eardrum.
A dizzying sensation ran to my fingertips, but thankfully, I kept it to myself and took the key.
'… I'm in room 8.'
'Sunah, what about you?'
'I...'
Finally pulling away from me, the Teacher went over to the other members.
I felt an inexplicable sense of regret as I searched my way to my room.
'Number 8… Number 8...'
Standing in front of my room among the countless rooms arranged along the rectangular corridor.
I took a moment to look around the boarding house hallway.
'… It's cleaner than I thought.'
Maybe it's because I've only heard bad stories about such places online.
I thought a boarding house would be shabby, dark, and crawling with bugs, but it wasn't like that at all.
On the contrary, it gave a comfortable and clean feeling, and if you took a photo from just the right angle, you might even believe it was a narrow apartment hallway.
The floor was made of marble, along with a black and white layout. The lighting was bright, and there was even an emergency light at the end of the hallway, making the place comfortable in many ways.
Rather than the hellish space depicted in the webtoon, it was actually quite a cozy place with just several rooms.
'This is my room...'
I glanced up at the metal door marked with the number 8.
Above the door was a small window, and of course, the light was off.
'…But are the other members' rooms all gathered somewhere else? Am I the only one here?'
The boarding house had a 'ㄷ' shape starting from the entrance.
Unfortunately, I was alone in the hallway I was in.
From the hallway around the corner, I could hear the sound of several doors opening.
Probably the sound of the club members entering their own rooms.
'…It would've been a bit more fun if I had a friend in the room next door or across from me.'
A bit disappointing, but for now, I should go in too.
Creak-
"..."
The room was dark, and I couldn't see anything.
'No window?'
I fumbled around and turned on the light.
Flick-
'… Oh.'
The boarding house room was cleaner than I expected.
It was small, just enough to fit two beds, but how should I put it.
It felt like a cozy little attic?
There was none of that suffocating feeling that usually comes with enclosed spaces.
On the contrary, it had a certain warmth that came precisely because it was small.
Maybe that's why students, even with perfectly fine rooms and desks of their own, go out of their way to find a cramped study room.
That's also probably why men have a romantic notion of a small hideout rather than a large space.
Small didn't mean uncomfortable or suffocating.
Rather, it felt cozy, like a place where you'd want to focus deeply on something. It had a calming effect on the mind.
"…Wow, it's better than I thought."
As I murmured to myself while closing the door, I immediately heard a 'knock-knock' sound on the wall from the room next door.
'…They can hear that?'
I flinched for a moment, but for now, I decided to focus on appreciating the small, cozy boarding house room.
The wooden flooring was a nice touch, and surprisingly, even in that tiny room, there was a separate shower area divided by glass and a shower curtain.
The shower was positioned right next to the bed, so close that if I lay down with my head on the pillow and turned my head, I could see the dark shower window immediately.
There was no separate space for a closet, so it was built into the wall at the foot of the bed. If I stretched my legs out while lying down and slipped them between the gap unconsciously, then got up carelessly, it was the perfect setup to get my toenails stuck on the bottom edge of the closest.
'Wow, there's even a mini fridge under the desk.'
One pyeong? One and a half?
In that tiny space, everything you could possibly need was really there.
I couldn't help but exclaim in admiration how thoughtfully and efficiently the furniture was packed in.
Come to think of it, even on YouTube, content about tiny and narrow houses tends to be more popular than palatial mansions.
People seem to have this simp-like desire to fill small spaces with cute little things whenever they see them.
'…Seeing this suddenly makes me want to decorate our clubroom a bit.'
The clubroom was officially recognized as our main base within the system, and it even has stats and Space Expansion ability.
After finishing this incident and the competition, I decided to put the bed and computer that Jinhee and Dukhun had been longing for into the clubroom. They both should have them in the clubroom.
Soon, I placed the bag I had brought on the desk and started unpacking.
'Pajamas, underwear, soap, toothbrush…'
I put the clothes in the wardrobe and placed the small hygiene items on the sink in the shower room.
I glance at my bed through the glass window from inside the shower.
'This might be a little scary?'
Later, when I lie on the bed to sleep, if I just turn my head, I would be able to see this dark shower where I was standing right through the glass window.
Muttering to myself that it might be a little scary, I came out of the shower.
This time, I turned off the light in the room.
Flick-
With no light, my room became completely pitch dark.
'… This is a bit strange since there are no windows.'
Of course, there was a small window above the door that opened to the hallway of the boarding house.
But there was no outer window that allowed me to see my room from the outside.
Normally, there would be a window above the bed, but there was just a wall.
'Should I just open the door for ventilation?'
The small window that opened to the hallway was placed quite high, and not much light came through it.
If I wake up in the morning, I might really end up fumbling around in complete darkness.
Flick-
After turning the light back on, I sat on the bed.
Creak-
For now, the softness didn't feel bad at all.
It felt not much different from my bed in my room at home.
But there was a strange slippery feeling, so I peeled back the sheet a little and saw that the mattress was still wrapped in plastic.
'Did they put it on to prevent contamination since several people took turns using it?'
After putting the sheet back on, I finally realized there was no blanket on the bed.
There was only a pillow here that matched the sheet, but there was no blanket.
'I should go buy a blanket.'
Fortunately, it was around 8:30.
If I checked nearby stores or big supermarkets, I should be able to get one quickly.
After fumbling with my desk and the mini fridge under it a couple of times, I left the room.
Near the entrance, the Teacher and the club members were already gathered and whispering.
'… You don't have a blanket either, right?'
'Yeah....'
Just as I was striding over to join them.
Suddenly, a door in the middle of the hallway swung wide open, and an older sister wearing high-prescription glasses glared at us.
"…Excuse me. Could you please be quiet?"
"Oh, yes~ I'm sorry~"
Teacher Jang Hwaeun apologized with a smile.
The older sister, who looked like a boarding house resident, glared at us with narrowed eyes, then went back inside.
Bang-
'… The sound of her door closing is probably louder.'
As I joined the club members, the Teacher motioned outside to talk for a moment.
We went out to the front door, changed our shoes, and got on the elevator.
"Even whispering sounds can be heard, my goodness."
"The interior here seems nice, but the soundproofing doesn't seem to be very good. Right, guys?"
"As long as it's not brick construction, there's no way to expect soundproofing in a boarding house with rooms packed so close together. By the way, Prez, there was no blanket here. Are you going to buy one?"
"Yeah, I will, I will."
I nodded in agreement.
* * *
"Alright then, take care, kids~ If anything comes up, be sure to contact the teacher~"
"Yes, Teacher, you have a fun time with Teacher Han Ari tomorrow, too."
"Alright, bye~"
After waving goodbye to the Teacher who was driving away in the car, we got on the elevator carrying the blankets we each had bought from the mart.
With six of us each carrying a blanket and piling into the elevator, the space felt a bit cramped.
"Hey, isn't it hot? Why did you buy such a thick blanket?"
"When you sleep at night, your body temperature drops, so it's still cold."
Jinhee clicked her tongue as she looked at Gyeongwon, whose glasses were almost covered because of his thick blanket.
While the elevator was ascending, I explained the remaining schedule for the day to the members.
"Today, we'll go and unpack our stuff, everyone will wash up and do their thing, and then at 10 o'clock, just before bedtime, we'll gather briefly on the rooftop in casual clothes. That's where we'll decide the night watch schedule."
A ghost that only the managers saw while working night shifts alone.
For today and tomorrow, we would take turns fulfilling the nightly role of the manager.
"One person takes an hour shift, then wakes the next person to pass the baton, that should work, right?"
"Sounds good."
"Sounds fun..."
"Can I go around knocking on doors while people are sleeping?"
"Lee Jinhee, if you mess around for real, we'll get kicked out. The people here are sensitive."
Soon after, we got off on the 5th floor and opened the glass door in the hallway, but just as we were going inside, Dukhun accidentally knocked over the fire extinguisher with his blanket bag.
Thump! Roooll...
The sound of the fire extinguisher rolling echoed through the quiet boarding house.
Immediately, a door in the hallway opened, and a man wearing glasses, looking like an uncle, glared at us.
"Sorry..."
"Hey. Don't bother to say sorry. When you're inside here, every sound echoes."
"..."
We bowed our heads politely as if acknowledging the remark, then each of us went into our own rooms.
Surprisingly, the small size wasn't uncomfortable at all, but the lack of soundproofing was quite bothersome.