I Returned, and Now I See Strange Things-Chapter 11: Solo Hide-and-Seek
She woke up early in the morning.
...For no particular reason.
What was she supposed to do about it? Her eyes had just opened on their own.
["You look like a low-rank spirit on her way to make her first contract."]
"...What are you even talking about."
...Well, okay, it wasn’t like there was nothing going on. Today was the day she’d be joining Hyesung to test out that bizarre curse ritual.
It wasn’t that she was afraid of the curse.
It was more that the whole thing was so shoddy, she wasn’t sure if it could even work—and she wasn’t the one it was being cast on anyway.
Honestly, if something did happen, wouldn’t that be the more shocking part?
She went to the bathroom and washed her face.
She rubbed the soap in carefully, covering every corner, then rinsed it off completely.
When she washed her hair with the shampoo Hyeyeon had bought her, the conditioner Hyeyeon had handed over also crossed her mind.
...What a pain.
Still, someone had gone out of their way, so she decided to use it out of basic courtesy.
Hyeyeon had also given her one of her old hoodies to match the cooling weather, so there was no need to worry about what to wear either.
After putting on all that fussy decoration that had never been in her fate before, she opened the window and zoned out. That’s when her smartphone started vibrating.
-Almost there, noona.
...That damn "noona."
Letting out a long sigh, she tidied up her room.
Though really, that just meant locking the windows.
She stuffed Ignis and Aslan into the front pocket of the hoodie and undid the door lock.
The door creaked open just as the guy from next door—dressed unusually well, as if heading to an interview—was mumbling something to himself.
Wishing you luck, VIP boy.
She smiled warmly, though it was a one-sided sense of closeness, and was about to head down when the neighbor tilted his head upon seeing her.
What’s his deal?
Did he have something to say?
But the neighbor just blinked.
In the meantime, a message came in from Hyesung, and she hurried down the stairs.
"Can’t believe I’m nervous about this."
["It’s kind of like your first day at work, isn’t it?"]
"Technically, yeah."
["I'm a little worried... unless it’s a fight..."]
"...You wanna be tossed into the river?"
["Ahaha, can’t take a joke? You’ll be fine."]
Exchanging these meaningless remarks, she stepped outside to see a familiar car.
The window rolled down, revealing Hyeyeon’s face—still pretty, still gloomy-looking. Her hair looked fuller than usual today, making her seem even gloomier.
"Unni, you used the conditioner too, right?"
"Uh... I did."
From noona to unni now.
She hadn’t realized Hyeyeon was talking to her and froze up briefly before responding, which made Hyeyeon narrow her eyes suspiciously.
"...I said I did."
"Fine. Just get in already."
As if that was enough, Hyeyeon shrugged her shoulders.
When she got into the back seat, Hyesung greeted her cheerfully and handed her a coffee, saying he was counting on her today.
...Not bad.
Then again, even if she’d agreed to help, would there really be anything for her to do?
Just like last time, Hyesung’s car rolled smoothly out. Destination: his house.
Time to get to work.
***
"Alright, like I mentioned yesterday, today we’re doing ‘One-Man Hide-and-Seek,’ also known as ‘Solo Hide-and-Seek’ or honsum."
– Wow, haven’t heard that in forever
– lol this was trendy back in elementary school
– Haha what an old man move
– OMG you actually know Hitori Kakurenbo! S̶o̶ ̶s̶c̶a̶r̶y̶~ (This user is blocked)
"I told you not to say weird shit like that, didn’t I?"
As expected, the chat was on fire, and Hyesung was pretty pleased with himself.
Honestly, content involving Ayun had been a gamble from the start.
After all, there was always the chance that what they’d experienced at the abandoned hospital had just been hallucination from fear.
But once he uploaded the live footage and the edited video—surprise, even if it hadn’t gone mega viral, the views were far better than expected.
Maybe it was all the online chatter about whether it was fake or real.
That back-and-forth debate ended up drawing more people to Hyesung’s stream, so he decided to seize the opportunity.
If things tanked after a few attempts, he could just pretend the whole series never happened.
"Now, before we get started today, I have someone I’d like to introduce."
The sudden appearance of a guest caused a wave of hook emojis to flood the chat.
"Come on out!"
As Hyesung gestured dramatically to the door, it opened—and a tiny grumble could be heard.
"...Bullshit."
A flustered Hyesung rushed to her side and whispered urgently.
"Come on, noona! I told you not to curse on stream!"
"...Ah, sorry. It just slipped."
With another firm warning, Hyesung guided Ayun into the camera frame.
A silver-haired girl with a hint of violet now appeared on the screen. Even with a mask on, her silhouette alone sent the chat spiraling.
– You’ve really done it now...
– Not going anywhere, huh
– You little f— (This user is blocked)
"Don’t swear. I haven’t even said anything yet, why are y’all cussing already?"
– Almost said that~
– Just spam ‘lol’ ㅋㅋ
While Hyesung’s friends who weren’t present today managed the chat, he continued the broadcast.
"Just for the record, this person’s older than me, so be respectful, please."
As expected, the chat responded explosively, and Hyesung twitched his mouth in amusement.
"...Let’s just get this over with."
"Ah, yeah, of course."
Clearing his throat, Hyesung raised his voice.
"This person will be letting us know if I successfully complete today’s Solo Hide-and-Seek... our guest ghost hunter!"
– Wtf is that
– Isn’t that a kids’ anime?
– It’s all a scam anyway
The chat was filled with suspicion and doubt, but Hyesung had anticipated as much and stuck to the plan.
What he hadn’t anticipated was the flood of donations and screaming for the girl to take off her mask, but he handled it like a pro.
After briefly explaining the rules of One-Man Hide-and-Seek, Hyesung announced via phone that he was taking a short break from streaming and paused the feed.
Ayun, looking fed up, spoke.
"...This is more chaotic than I thought."
"Haha, it’s your first time, that’s all. After I finish, just use the machine Hyeyeon gave you and show them how it works."
Ayun nodded, but as she stepped out to head to the upper floor—where Hyeyeon and their parents lived—she suddenly hesitated.
When Hyesung tilted his head, she shook hers and left the house.
Once she was gone, Hyesung began setting up the materials for Solo Hide-and-Seek.
A doll shaped vaguely like a person, with a face that looked like a butt. Rice. Pre-trimmed fingernails and strands of hair.
An awl to serve as a weapon. Salt water.
Just in case, he also prepared a small cup of Japanese sake from the supermarket.
And lastly, red thread to sew up the doll’s belly after stuffing it.
The hiding place: a closet in the spare room used as a storage area.
It was spacious, so he figured it’d be comfortable enough to hide in.
After finishing all preparations, Hyesung turned off the lights and resumed the stream.
Only a single, dim light was left on.
The camera showed a still-unstarted ritual setup—but it looked plenty eerie.
Strange materials laid out under dim lighting. The poor quality of smartphone streaming only made it spookier.
"So... did you bring a change of clothes? A hand to hold? No? Yeah, figured as much."
Even Hyesung felt the atmosphere getting to him, so he cracked a joke.
"Alright, let’s begin."
First, he cut open the doll’s stomach with a box cutter and pulled out some of the stuffing.
Just enough to make room for the rice, fingernails, and hair, which he shoved inside.
"The rice is supposed to be what gives it movement. Bit of a waste, honestly."
After cramming it all in, Hyesung started sewing the doll’s belly shut with the red thread. It was too dark to do proper needlework, so he turned the light on briefly and smirked at the chat’s reaction.
"I looked this up—if you follow the rules, it’s not really dangerous. Anyone saying ‘there’s something behind you’ gets banned."
– haha;; sorry!
"Just this once."
Finishing the stitching while chatting, [N O V E L I G H T] Hyesung added:
"Now we’ve gotta give it a name...."
He thought for a moment, then picked up the doll and grinned.
"Alright, your name is now... Chunsik~."
– Not scary anymore wtf lmao
– Sounds like a damn side dish lol
"Okay, for real now—let’s get started."
It was now exactly 2AM. Feeling like everything was falling into place, Hyesung picked up his smartphone and moved to a different room. Since Ayun had turned off the lights before leaving, darkness greeted him as he opened the door.
Even though it was just his usual living room, he suddenly felt tense.
He placed the sake cup in the storage room closet where he’d hide, then turned on the living room gaming TV to generate static noise.
The screen flickered in the dark, letting out an abrasive buzz.
After checking that every door in the house was locked, Hyesung grabbed the doll, the awl, and a mouthful of salt water, then opened the bathroom door.
This content is taken from fгeewebnovёl.com.
He placed the doll into the sink he’d filled with water ahead of time.
With his phone in one hand, recording, and the awl in the other, he muttered:
"...Alright. I won’t say anything else until I’m in the closet."
Taking a breath, Hyesung shouted:
"The first seeker is Hyesung."
He walked into the dark living room, counted to ten, then returned to the bathroom.
"Found you, Chunsik."
And then—stabbed the doll hard with the awl.
Splash.
The water rippled.
Drip, drip.
Overflow soaked the bathroom floor.
"The second seeker is Chunsik."
Leaving the awl beside the doll, Hyesung held the salt water in his mouth and headed for the closet.
‘...This is supposed to keep it from seeing me, right?’
It tasted bitter, but he just had to bear it until he got inside.
That’s what he told himself as he hurried.
Cold sweat slid from his palm, memories of the abandoned hospital surfacing without warning.
‘If anything happens... Ayun noona will take care of it... right?’
Crossing the dark house, he finally arrived at the storage room and opened the closet.
He’d thought it would feel cozy because of the size, but now that it had begun... it felt like a suffocating prison.
Still—there was no turning back.
Once you started something, you had to finish it.
Gently closing the closet door behind him, Hyesung spat the salt water into the cup.
Static buzzed from the TV.
The hide-and-seek had begun.
