I Returned, and Now I See Strange Things-Chapter 9: An Unexpected Proposal

After helping the ghost from the abandoned hospital pass on...?

It was just a few evenings later.

It was the day she dropped by a convenience store to heat up a refrigerated product—which was really just a triangle gimbap in disguise.

Even the part-timer who used to greet her with a troubled face didn’t seem to notice her anymore, so maybe that meant they’d grown familiar, in a way.

Didn’t she say she’d buy more once she made some money?

Anyway.

She tossed a tuna mayo triangle gimbap into the microwave, grinning at the thought of eating it with the ramen back home. Just then, a noisy group came bustling into the store.

They were yelling something about the abandoned hospital, buying up random things, then leaving just as quickly.

Even the part-timer looked confused, so she took her now-piping-hot triangle gimbap and went home.

Who cared who came or went—just the idea of eating ramen and gimbap together was enough to lift her mood.

It felt a little extravagant, but wasn’t it best to enjoy it while it lasted?

Even if something was stored in the fridge, once the expiration date passed, it was just going to become food waste anyway.

...She figured a week past was probably fine, though.

Maybe she should’ve frozen it.

No, that would make it taste bad.

If she got another chance... she thought she’d choose frozen food next time.

She did want to replace the fridge first, but... yeah, that was probably a long shot.

The slightly cooled triangle gimbap and ramen were delicious.

Was the seaweed on these things always this crispy? Or had her taste changed? The rice grains were fluffy and perfectly separate, too.

"Mmhm."

[...]

After finishing a satisfying meal, she grabbed what was left of an aloe juice bottle and opened the window.

It seemed the season was changing—the days getting shorter—because just recently, this would’ve been the time of sunset, but now only a flickering streetlamp glowed outside the window.

The bit of sentimentality she’d felt quickly chilled away.

...Hopefully she wouldn’t freeze to death.

Should she start a campfire in the middle of the room? She sipped her aloe juice while wondering whether it was possible to light one without burning the house down.

After licking every last drop from the bottle’s mouth, she crushed the PET container, when—

She suddenly heard a familiar line.

"Hello, subscribers─"

...Thought it was that guy again, but the voice was different. Beneath the blinking streetlamp, she saw a figure posing with a smartphone.

There shouldn’t be any ghosts left over there by now...

Why so pale...? She didn’t even catch the girl’s name.

Well... not like she’d need to call her anyway, so it didn’t matter.

Once she decided there was nothing left to gain, she found herself not caring anymore.

The air had been aired out enough—she could just close the window.

But the heat around the abandoned hospital showed no sign of dying down. Practically every night, people claimed they were going to visit. There wasn’t a single quiet evening.

Not just streamers—random civilians showed up too, making the neighborhood noisy every night.

From what she observed while walking around looking for part-time work, the shopkeepers liked the influx of people, while the residents seemed more annoyed than anything.

Of course, that didn’t change the fact that she still hadn’t found a job.

...It felt like more people had started showing up since that guy’s broadcast. Did Newtubers have that much influence?

With that kind of influence... he was probably making a lot of money...

Come to think of it, wasn’t "Newtuber" the top career dream among elementary schoolers in some country?

The world was seriously out of whack.

Back in my day...

...She didn’t expect to feel the passage of time hitting her here, of all places.

"I wanna coast through life too."

["Things gotten for free tend to disappear quickly, you know."]

Sure, easy for you to say—you don’t need to eat.

Seriously though, hadn’t she already suffered enough? Why did she have to keep suffering even after coming back? Hello? Earth? Are you listening?

‘...Of course not.’

Her food supply was disappearing by the day, and every night, the area was swarmed with abandoned-hospital thrill-seekers.

She was starting to feel like she might become the ghost of that hospital.

Just as that thought crossed her mind, her old, battery-leeching smartphone vibrated with a message. The sudden buzz startled her, but she opened her messages to check.

The number wasn’t saved, but it looked familiar.

It was from Hyesung.

She was at a hair salon now.

One of those places where a simple cut cost tens of thousands of won, the kind she’d sworn never to step foot in again.

No, this place was even more expensive than that.

Her body started trembling just from reading the price list. That much just to touch someone’s hair?

As she stared grimly at the prices, someone grabbed her shoulder and whispered:

"...Why are you just standing there? Please sit down. I’m paying, so don’t worry."

"...Did you have to bring me here to get it cut?"

"This is my go-to place."

...So you’re loaded, huh.

Following the woman’s whisper, she sat down. In the mirror, she saw a silver-haired girl with a hint of lavender tint—and a deeply dissatisfied look on her face.

...Yeah, that was her.

Now that she was in a brightly lit room, she really started to feel just how terribly her hair had been cut.

She finally understood why people had screamed “ghost” at her.

In the reflection beyond the chair, the woman who brought her was visible.

Her black hair was sleek and shiny—clearly well-maintained, proving her claim about being a regular here. Though her vibe was a little spooky, her face was objectively pretty.

What stood out the most...

...was her full, bouncy chest.

She looked soft enough to just... fall into.

Ahem. She scolded herself—That’s rude.

The woman who’d seated her quickly pulled out her phone and disappeared into her own little world.

In the meantime, a staff member came over to do her hair.

He had the kind of face that might as well have had a sticker on his forehead saying I’m super cheerful.

After wrapping her in plastic to keep hair from sticking, he gave her a big smile and said:

"How would you like it cut?"

"Uh... just... do your best?"

"Haha, what a joker!"

He gave her a friendly smack on the shoulder, which threw her off. So like... how did he want her to cut it?

Too stunned to say anything, she just fumbled awkwardly, and the stylist blinked, then walked over to the woman with the phone and started chatting.

Soon after, the woman turned back to her and asked:

"Is it okay if I choose for you?"

"Uh... sure."

And with that, the two of them started talking in some incomprehensible language.

It was definitely Korean... but she couldn’t understand a word of it.

All she could catch was something like "cut"...?

Apparently satisfied, the stylist came back and started trimming her hair.

She closed her eyes tight and thought back to the message she'd received earlier.

Hyesung’s message was simple.

Though buried under layers of flowery language and roundabout phrasing, the gist was this:

"Would you be interested in working with me?"

Apparently, the abandoned hospital video had gone viral and brought in a decent chunk of money. Now, he wanted her help making more content.

...So she did all the work, and he made all the gold, huh?

Still, she found herself calmed by the gift coupon he sent as a token of thanks.

But that was just a band-aid, a way to delay the inevitable.

What she really needed was something different.

Her fridge and cupboards were emptying by the day.

Her nights were filled with the loud voices of ghost-hunters.

She still couldn’t land a part-time job.

And the rent collector could show up any day now.

No matter what, just hearing him out felt like the only salvation left to her.

And that’s how she ended up meeting the woman behind her now.

Her name was Han Hyeyeon.

As the name made clear, she was Hyesung’s younger sister.

Why wasn’t Hyesung here himself?

Because only she, Hyesung, and the crew who’d gone to the abandoned hospital knew the full story of what happened there.

Hyeyeon had seen the video, heard about the incident, and gotten ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) curious.

To be honest, she was clearly some kind of occult maniac.

Hyesung’s plan was to test out urban legends floating around the internet and film any paranormal phenomena.

But that’s where the problem started.

When he pitched the idea, his abandoned-hospital crew members all backed out.

She figured Hyesung had more guts than she gave him credit for—but she couldn’t blame them, either.

The rest was obvious. Hyesung needed more people. Hyeyeon was interested in creepy stuff.

And so, Hyeyeon came in his place to help.

The moment she met her, Hyeyeon had said:

"...You really look like a creep."

Muttering that, she’d immediately declared that the protagonist needed some tidying up and dragged her to the salon.

For reference, Hyesung had gone to buy food.

Something complicated-sounding from a coffee shop, one of those drinks with names no one can pronounce.

She hadn’t even agreed to anything yet, but this was already over the top.

Snip, snip.

She heard the scissors by her ear.

The gentle touch made her think... maybe the high price really was worth it.

This chapter is updat𝙚d by freeweɓnovel.cøm.

She’d been keeping her eyes shut, but when told to open them, she slowly lifted her lids.

"Oh."

There was an unfamiliar pretty girl sitting in the mirror.

Looking at Hyeyeon past the chair, she thought:

So, who’s the creepy one now?

She snorted silently and headed off to get her hair shampooed.