Lee Jahaeon opened his eyes.
What greeted him was a neat bedspread, a two-person dormitory bedroom of austere order, the old-fashioned atmosphere set by exposed gray brick walls.
Beyond the window, heavy gray clouds pressed down, keeping the air perpetually dim and stagnant.
In the fifteen days since he had awakened here, not once had he seen sunlight.
Such must be the nature of this place.
♩- ♩-
A deep, resonant bell rang. Lee Jahaeon rose from bed and changed his clothes.
At Saint Anticus Boarding School, the rule was that outside the bedroom, one must always wear the formal uniform.
He folded the pajamas on the bed.
All trainees were given pajamas cut from identical gray linen cloth, divided into five size groups. Lee Jahaeon had been given the largest size, which he folded neatly.
And the pajamas were not the only thing that had to be arranged.
Beside the groom-trainee’s sleepwear, the bride’s white gown must always be laid out as well.
It was practice for the role of a groom, part of the curriculum taught here: “Instruction for a Successful Wedding Ceremony.”
Lee Jahaeon finished tidying in an instant and stepped out of the bedroom at the appointed time.
♩- ♩-
Breakfast.
One must never be late. One must hold the cutlery in the proper order, with proper posture.
The menu changed day by day. Today it was almonds, roasted heart, and cornelian cherry juice.
During the meal, one was taught never to let the bride’s glass remain empty.
The seat opposite the groom was vacant, yet the set place for the bride’s full-course meal was there, and from time to time, without reason, the drink vanished from her glass.
A failure occurred. Penalty points accumulated.
♩- ♩-
The morning hours were for cultivating the groom’s refinement.
They studied poems and idioms related to weddings, practiced the string instruments brides were said to prefer, and learned the etiquette of receiving guests.
Lee Jahaeon completed everything without being corrected, in accordance with our decision.
A failure occurred. Penalty points accumulated.
♩- ♩-
Lunch consisted of light sandwiches or finger foods. Through the serving of fingers, one was made accustomed to the bride’s appearance.
So as to place the ring skillfully during the ceremony.
After the meal, in the afternoon, they would go to the kitchen to prepare the evening’s course dinner.
Selecting fresh ingredients, cooking them to suit the bride’s palate—
“Ugh, hrrk!”
“......”
“......”
“W-wait, no, I—!!”
A failure occurred. Penalty points accumulated.
♩- ♩-
The evening course meal stretched on in elegance, while groom-trainees maintained composure and ate silently, cleanly.
They learned to separate and leave uneaten the foods on their plate that would not suit the bride’s dietary habits.
Once dessert and every serving was finished, they tidied their places, expressed thanks to the education inspector, and only then could they rise.
♩- ♩-
That was followed by a short rest.
Lee Jahaeon walked down the corridor at the prescribed pace.
For the sake of purity, the school recommended that trainees never set foot in any unclean place outside the designated areas, and even suggested the proper form of rest.
Thus, the most commendable way to spend rest time was to imagine: what vow would you make to your bride at the wedding?
Sometimes they even asked during breakfast the next morning, so one had best prepare an answer in advance...
Someone seized his arm in the corridor.
“Hey, hey...!”
Lee Jahaeon halted his steps.
A desperate whisper followed.
“You, you’re human, right? You are, aren’t you...!”
“Yes.”
A pale face, twisted in terror.
A civilian.
“What... what the hell is this place?!”
“By the judgment of Saint Anticus, this is a boarding school where instruction is given on becoming a good groom.”
“I mean, for fuck’s sake, that doesn’t exist, not in twenty-first-century Korea!”
Lee Jahaeon replied.
“It does not.”
“Wh-what?”
He began to walk again—
“W-wait! So... it’s not Korea? What, is this some kind of cult? Were we kidnapped? This isn’t some fucking horror game... or an urban legend...”
“That is correct.”
“......What?”
“You are currently trapped inside a phenomenon that may be classified as an urban legend.”
With that, Lee Jahaeon finished his answer.
And moved again to do what had been scheduled—
“Hey.”
......
“Then why the fuck are you so calm? You’re calm because you know how to get out, right? Isn’t that it?”
“No.”
“Don’t give me that shit. Fuck.”
The whisper carried a damp, misdirected rage, mixed with panic and desperation, eyes wide with madness.
Anyone else listening would have felt a cold chill.
Lee Jahaeon did not perceive that tangled atmosphere, but he did clearly understand the next words.
“If we’re gonna die anyway, why don’t you die with me?”
“No—”
“Don’t bullshit me, fucker. If I fight you here, we’ll both get penalty points. You want us both fucked, or do you wanna share the way out?”
A threat.
—During rest time, do not raise your voice.
So, he must have known the rules.
No, that was why he had survived until now...
The problem was, perhaps because of fear, his powers of observation were lacking.
“Hey, answer m—”
“Do not walk with force in your steps.”
“...Huh?”
It was already too late.
A massive shadow fell over the man who had grabbed Lee Jahaeon.
The education inspector.
“W-wait. We weren’t fighting, just chatting, you see? It’s rest time, after all. Ha ha...”
The inspector nodded.
But since their actions had diverged from the school’s goals, he announced that penalty points would be imposed.
Of course, they would not be expelled. It was entirely in the spirit of encouragement and assistance.
“...Excuse me?”
Because they had stomped their feet noisily in the corridor.
Imagine how shameful it would be if the groom did such a graceless thing at the wedding. Thus, it must be corrected here.
That was why one received instruction at Saint Anticus Boarding School.
“W-wait.”
The man was seized.
“Ghhhp!”
The inspector moved to help the penalty-taker.
In a manner matching the infraction.
“~!!!”
The soles of the man’s feet were slit open.
The inspector gently placed in his hands a soft mixture of rubber and clay. It was cushioning material to muffle noise, to be shaped and fitted to his feet.
Only by completing it himself and inserting it into the torn soles would his penalty be lifted.
Into his mouth they inserted a gag of cotton and flesh, so he could not scream.
Blood spilled, staining the corridor, as he writhed in pain and terror.
That too was a penalty.
—Do not cause a disturbance during instruction.
In the inspector’s grim concern, further measures were applied.
The trainee, once the foot procedure was done, must walk without making a sound.
Repeatedly, until he could walk properly without noise.
“...!!, !!!”
Before all this, Lee Jahaeon briefly attempted to weigh by our standards:
The moral duty of helping.
The pragmatic usefulness of helping.
...
And reached conclusions.
Ambiguous.
Negative.
Of the three trainees who had asked him for help in the past fifteen days, two had died instantly from penalty accumulation, and one had died mid-instruction from complications.
Compared to those who wept as they inflicted penalty points on themselves, the inspector’s assistance might, in a twisted sense, be gentler—at least in terms of mental anguish.
Better this than forcing oneself to perform grotesque acts of self-torment, desperately struggling to live through terror and resignation.
“~~!!, !, ....”
The commotion in the corridor subsided.
To avoid accumulating penalty points, Lee Jahaeon walked quietly, without a sound, back to his dormitory room.
And he saw it.
On the opposite bed lay a trainee who had died, intestines burst from having failed to match the evening’s ingredients.
It seemed he had tried to extract food from his own small intestine.
“......”
♩- ♫- ♩-
The bell changed.
Now it was the forbidden hour for movement, when the groom must remain in his room to protect the bride’s privacy.
Lee Jahaeon laid his hand on the white uniform to change—
—Chief.
“......”
He blinked.
A voice rang in his head.
Not “ours.”
Another’s.
Yet...
A personality he could recognize. Someone he knew.
—Are you all right?
“Yes.”
Kim Soleum.
After several months, the voice of a comrade he once worked with was sounding in his mind.
But just because it was heard as a voice did not mean it was truly a sound. Lee Jahaeon knew.
It was Kim Soleum’s mind.
In a manner akin to how “we” were linked, Kim Soleum was now present inside Lee Jahaeon’s head.
How could that be?
—Chief, please listen carefully.
—I am not a hallucination or a fake. I am really inside your mind.
He already knew that as well.
Because Lee Jahaeon was part of “us,” he knew what one of us had spoken with Kim Soleum, and how, by what means, Kim Soleum was now connected directly inside his mind.
—I’ve used the “We Help!” button in reverse, to enter your body.
Yes.
If the urban legend is blocked, then just use someone already inside!
That was Kim Soleum’s idea—he had sought out the reptilian alien of the Space Mall and declared he would enter the body of the man trapped in the legend, Lee Jahaeon, and try to escape that way.
Reasoning that if an item like “We Help!” existed, then a similar mechanism should work.
And it had.
—If you give me control of the body, I will clear this darkness and get us out.
Lee Jahaeon felt Kim Soleum’s pride inside his head.
And a similar chemical flicker of emotion in himself.
Relief.
Recognition.
—Then... please hand over control.
But.
“I refuse.”
—...!?
***
What the hell!
I wanted to scream, tearing at the lizard’s head—no, staring through the lizard’s eyes.
Having experienced in full surround what had just happened before I entered this head, I wanted nothing more than to get the hell out!
This is completely insane gore-tier legend!
The insane boarding school legend.
...That was what Baek Saheon called it. This darkness where Chief Lee Jahaeon had gone missing was a legend I’d seen plenty about on the wiki.
======================
Darkness Exploration Record / Urban Legend
[Now Kiss the Bride]
: An urban legend appearing in Darkness Exploration Record, Baekilmong Corporation identification code Qterw-C-5012.
A bizarre account set in an educational institution called Saint Anticus Boarding School.
This school identifies itself as “a school for preparing grooms for their weddings” and constantly recruits new trainees, running trial training periods.
Most records are about experiences during these trial periods.
All accounts must be written in the form of essays, reading like autobiographical reflections.
What begins with upper-class wedding refinements gradually turns into increasingly ritualistic and grotesque details of training, as the true nature of the wedding is hinted at with eerie subtlety.
The chilling core is in the calm, essay-like narration of penalty-point experiences, describing grotesque details that suffocate with horror.
======================
When it was just written text, that was fine.
But seeing it firsthand—this is fucking bone-deep nightmare fuel.
Even dulled by the body of 130666, numbed to sensation and emotion, the horror still made me sigh.
Or maybe, since the body itself was asleep and only my mind connected to Chief Lee Jahaeon’s body, I was feeling it even more vividly.
Anyway, I busted my ass coming up with this method to gather intel...
I had shaken down Kwak Jaegang, and even used the C-class dream-solution stock he had to interview people who had survived an escape.
...Mr. Guard Captain and Deputy Park Minseong.
Back when they were in the field investigation team, both had been unmarried men—thus suitable subjects.
—That’s... what you wanted to tell me?
...It was a pretty awkward thing to blurt out right after reappearing to a teammate I’d ghosted for months.
Sure, we’d exchanged some words before. I’d even heard about Director Lee from Kwak Jaegang. But that would have to wait.
Right now, the urgent matter was this.
Chief Lee Jahaeon’s escape.
—Please trust me, Chief.
—If you just hand over control, I can make sure you complete the training successfully, quickly.
Based on the Darkness Exploration Record and interview data, I’d identified benchmarks, anomalies, weaknesses.
I knew the pass conditions. I even had an idea for a slightly unconventional way to clear.
All you have to do is let me handle it!
Even if Chief Lee was stuck repeating remedial lessons for failing the trial, I could still pull him out!
Even if no new trial opened and he was locked in this make-up course, I had a way through!
—I will ensure you pass, Chief.
“I see.”
Yes!
“No need.”
......
—Excuse me?
“Yes.”
No, this alien reptile wasn’t picking a fight.
He genuinely meant it. He truly didn’t need me.
...Wait.
Does that mean—?
—Why... don’t you need it?
“Because I already passed.”
......
“During the trial, I was selected separately. I am now an official trainee, one of the groom candidates chosen to marry the bride here, and the wedding is imminent.”
Wait.
“To avoid it, I considered orbital bombardment with sacred fire, but withheld due to the extreme civilian casualties it would cause.”
......
“...Roe Deer?”
—So, what you’re saying is... you’re about to get married?
“If nothing changes, yes.”
Unbelievable.
—...Any other peculiarities?
“There are.”
—Explain, please.
“Yes. Each groom candidate undergoes nightly bloodletting before bed, to make his complexion resemble the bride’s gown. Pale white.”
And Chief Lee Jahaeon opened the nightstand drawer and pulled something out.
...A modern medical syringe.
But the size—
Wait, that big?
“If this state continues for more than four days, I, Lee Jahaeon, will become high-risk for death from anemia and complications.”
......
......Chief!!