IRFVA 10

Chapter : 10

‘It’s that inn where ghosts appear.’

That single thought kept echoing in my mind for no reason.

Maybe that’s why—when I stepped into the bath to wash up, I even felt something brush past behind my back.

“…Baemdori, you’re really not coming in?”

Feeling scared, I brought Baemdori into the bathroom with me.

I figured that even having a pet with me would make it less frightening.

I had wanted to bathe together with him, but for some reason—maybe because he hated water—Baemdori strongly resisted.

After I finally put the struggling Baemdori down, he quietly went into a corner, turned his back to me, and pressed his head against the floor.

“Do you hate water? Don’t snakes usually like water? But you don’t seem to like grass either… or do you just like people?”

A hissing sound came as a reply, but Baemdori still didn’t look at me. It was a completely one-sided conversation.

Even if it was one-sided, having someone to “talk” to was surprisingly comforting, so I was able to ignore the ghost story and finish my bath.

Even though I saw things like the window being knocked on during my bath, or water overflowing as if something had gotten in… I could just explain that as wind, right…

Wind can do anything. If you have wind and a white cloth, it can go anywhere.

‘It must’ve definitely been the wind. Wind is amazing.’

I muttered to myself and dried my body before putting on my sleepwear.

Somehow, my dried body felt even colder than before.

“I’ve gotten overly sensitive.”

With my warmed body, I picked up Baemdori—who still wouldn’t meet my eyes—and left the bathroom.

The moment I stepped out of the warm bathroom, a chill ran down my back, and I held Baemdori tightly.

Baemdori, who had been turning his face away from me, must’ve felt me trembling because he gently poked my cheek with his nose.

“Are you comforting me so I won’t be scared?”

Baemdori didn’t even make his usual hissing sound. He just quietly looked at me… then shook his head.

Whether he was shy or something, while I was still thinking about it, he quickly turned his head away again.

That made me laugh softly.

I smiled and opened the door to my room. Tonight didn’t feel like it would be scary.

……

I take that back entirely.

The moment I heard “ghost inn,” I became terrified. I am scared of ghosts.

First of all, my grandmother from my previous life was a master of scary stories.

I grew up alone with her, hearing all kinds of horror stories. Half of them were supposedly true stories too.

It was only natural that I became afraid of ghosts.

‘Child, long long ago…’

‘Grandma, you’re going to tell a scary story again, right?! You promised you wouldn’t tell ghost stories!’

‘But it really happened. Then it’s not a ghost story, it’s just old history.’

My grandmother was quite an amusing person, so she would casually tell these ridiculous “true scary stories.”

I enjoyed the time I spent with her, but I wish I could forget these memories.

She always used to say: if you hear footsteps stomping, close your eyes and pretend you don’t know…

—creak…

Ghosts might come take you away, child.

—creak, creak…

……

Grandma… then what am I supposed to do when it goes “creak creak”?

Unfortunately, I never learned the answer to that exam question.

Having studied ghost stories like a textbook subject, I swallowed back what felt like a scream and hugged Baemdori tightly.

Baemdori wriggled in my arms, and my rapidly beating heart gradually calmed down.

The cold body of the snake in my arms seemed to soothe me.

Near my neck, I could feel Baemdori’s head. That cold touch felt like it was comforting me, so I relaxed a little.

A night alone and a night with someone—it really makes such a difference.

Once again, I was grateful for Baemdori’s presence beside me. A soft laugh slipped out of my closed lips.

Yes, I’ll protect you instead. Not the other way around… I promised I would protect you.

The moment I slightly opened my eyes in relief—

—heehee…

Something pale flashed past my vision.

“……”

Frozen with my eyes still open, I heard Baemdori’s threatening hissing near my ear.

“…Haha.”

I cleanly blacked out.

* * *

“I need to clean.”

The next morning, I opened my eyes with a drained face and shouted that first thing.

Still wearing my sleepwear, I stomped over and placed a wooden sign reading “Closed Today” in front of the door.

“It’s all because this place is old. The energy is just… hollow.”

Hiss.

“That expression means you’re cheering me on, right, Baemdori?”

Baemdori looked at me as if to say, “Do you think I would?”

But that must just be my imagination.

My adorable Baemdori wouldn’t think such things.

In any case, it was a half-collapsed wooden building with one wall missing, and a fire extinguisher placed in a corner like emergency equipment.

Even trendy “raw concrete aesthetic” cafés from the past wouldn’t look this bad.

Right. The problem wasn’t ghosts—it was this creepy building.

“If I clean it, it might actually look pretty!”

If the environment becomes pretty, there won’t be rumors of ghosts or anything strange.

I decided that repairing the broken walls could wait, and today I would focus on deep cleaning.

I quickly changed clothes and wrapped a cloth around my head.

If I was going to survive anyway, I might as well survive beautifully.

“My goal: a proper trendy aesthetic café!”

I shouted loudly and slung a mop over my shoulder.

First, I’d start cleaning the inn that seemed to be the source of the problem.

The building was three stories. The owner lady used the third floor, and the second floor was used as guest rooms.

My room and the lady’s room were already somewhat clean, so I just needed to clean the second-floor guest rooms properly.

Before going down the stairs, I closed my eyes and prayed briefly.

‘Honestly, I’m scared.’

If there really is a god out there, why do ghosts have to exist? Just take them all away, please.

After muttering my complaint disguised as a prayer, I went up the stairs.

* * *

“Let’s start by airing the place out.”

When I opened all the doors on the second floor, an eerie feeling still lingered.

‘Well, it can’t be helped.’

It had been a long time since there were any guests.

Since the inn was being run only on tavern income, empty rooms looking creepy was unavoidable.

“Still, it’s better since it’s daytime.”

I shrugged and opened the windows one by one.

Maybe because the season was changing, even though it was morning, the hallway felt a bit dark.

—hee… heehee.

Hiss! Hiss!

“Baemdori, you already ate breakfast earlier.”

Hisshiss!

Baemdori clung tightly around my neck, flailing violently.

Why is he suddenly acting so clingy?

I patted the restless Baemdori a few times and opened all the windows in the rooms.

Sure enough, with light coming in, the atmosphere felt slightly better.

“See? I told you cleaning was the answer.”

With Baemdori still hanging around my neck, I started lifting blankets from each room.

Baemdori now began poking my cheek more aggressively. The sound of wind felt unusually loud.

“Hey, I said I’ll play with you after cleaning! You can’t be that cute! Okay, you can, but still! Just wait a little!”

Baemdori gave up and went limp around my neck.

But he kept his head raised, as if staying alert for something.

I stroked Baemdori’s head as I walked.

—whoooosh.

The wind really was unusually noisy today.

“…The wind is quite loud.”

…Ah, I just said something like a fantasy protagonist.

But the wind really was loud.

If I were the main character, it would feel like a flag had been raised for something to appear right now.

But I’m just a romance fantasy innkeeper who got exiled from the original story!

“Nothing will happen, right?”

Feeling a vague sense of unease, I spoke to Baemdori who was still clinging to me.

Baemdori turned his head away from me.