Godsent Top Star [EN]: Chapter 239

239. The Identity Beyond the Radio (1)

‘Besides, that seems like it would make the scene more interesting, right?’

The sight of Kim Si-hyuk trembling, and Min Ye-rin remaining calm.

And even Gu Jun-wook, who stepped forward as the eldest but ended up indecisively joining hands with Kim Si-hyuk and trembling as well.

‘That should be enough to extract character attributes for each situation.’

Gil PD [Production Director], who is called a god in the entertainment industry, would do anything to salvage it.

Once that calculation was made, Yeon-woo’s hesitation vanished without a trace.

“I think I’ve found something.”

Yeon-woo’s clear voice cut through the others, who were still arguing and unable to find their way.

Everyone’s gaze turned to Yeon-woo.

The actors, of course, and even the assistant director’s face was clearly visible.

If I were to interpret that expression…

‘No, how could you possibly find something?!’

It would be something like that.

Regardless.

Yeon-woo continued to speak firmly.

“There are traces of movement in this direction.”

Thus began a hidden camera within a hidden camera, a monumental double-layered structure.

“Is this way correct? I think it might be the other way……?”

The most flustered was the assistant director, who had to lead the actors to the agreed-upon point.

In reality, he was very flustered.

‘Ah, this isn’t the way! We have to go that way!’

The assistant director had previously visited the site with Gil PD and other staff members.

He clearly remembered the words of the staff members who were in charge of scaring them while hiding.

“You can’t stray anywhere else, okay? We’re scared to death here too.”

“Let’s quickly scare them and get out of here.”

“Ahem. Why are you all so scared? Even I, the director, came in with you.”

“Ah, of course, we’re scared. There’s even a rumor that this isn’t just an abandoned house.”

“Huh? I haven’t heard anything like that? Neither the landowner nor the homeowner said anything.”

“Of course, they wouldn’t. Who would say something like that? It would lower the house and land prices. Well, there’s that village way, way down there. The village about an hour away from here. I picked up some things there.”

“How did you even pick that up? You really get around.”

“I’m naturally sociable, aren’t I? Anyway, the supermarket grandma there said that this is a famous haunted house. It’s very famous in that neighborhood. She said she’s often seen college students who came to test their courage a few times and returned completely out of it.”

“Wow. Director. Are you planning to leave us in a place like that? Are we going to have a heart attack while filming this hidden camera?”

Gil PD shook his head as he listened to the staff chattering.

“It’s superstition. Do you believe that? Hurry up and get to your positions.”

“Ah. Still, I get a really strange feeling just entering there. Hyun-shik has been here a few times for location scouting and he’s become so gaunt, which makes it even more unsettling…….”

“It’s just a feeling, so hurry up and get to your positions. We got a call saying they’ll arrive in 30 minutes, so let’s move quickly!”

……Gil PD’s plan, which he had painstakingly arranged while soothing the reluctant staff, was in danger of falling apart.

‘Ah, they can’t stray off the path!’

As the saying goes, love your colleagues as you love your country.

Remembering the staff who were whining about being scared, the assistant director awkwardly called out to Yeon-woo.

“I think it would be better to go further inside…….”

He worked hard to lead the actors to the pre-arranged ambush point.

However.

“Why?”

“Yes?”

“Is there a reason why we have to go that way?”

“Yes, yes?”

The assistant director looked as if he was being strangled by Yeon-woo’s words.

He didn’t expect such a question to come back.

“Is there a staff member hidden there or something…….”

When Yeon-woo said that casually, he even gasped as if he was on the verge of fainting.

“Wh-wh-what are you talking about? Th-th-there’s no way…….”

It was a fleeting remark, but the effect was excellent.

“Huh? Come to think of it……? Assistant Director. How do you know the way so well?”

“Are you guys in on this?”

The actors’ eyes were filled with suspicion instead of fear.

The assistant director, keenly aware of that, felt like crying.

If it falls apart here, it’s a big problem.

He had coaxed and cajoled the staff, who were saying they were scared, and left them in this terrifying place for over an hour.

What if the results of that were all a failure?

‘They might strangle me to death!’

They wouldn’t really kill him, but he would be very miserable for a while.

Moreover, the pressure of being the culprit who ruined this interesting program, and not just anyone else, but himself.

The thought alone was a terrible thing to imagine!

“Th-th-there’s no way. That’s not true at all.”

“……That’s strange. Why are you stuttering?”

“Isn’t it a bit c-c-cold here?”

Fortunately, the strange temperature inside this abandoned house served as a very good excuse.

“Oh? Assistant Director, did you feel it too?”

“Wow. I thought I was the only one who was cold?”

“The temperature here…… is a bit cold. It’s too chilly for summer…….”

Unexpectedly, the assistant director’s excuse worked very well.

The hastily made excuse gained unexpected agreement.

Once one person opened the floodgates, voices chiming in popped up from here and there.

“Everyone looked fine, so I thought I was the only one who was cold. Everyone else is cold too, right? It’s not just me who feels strangely cold, right?”

Kim Si-hyuk was the first to try to confirm the facts.

It was a moment when the atmosphere, which had barely calmed down, was about to become chaotic again.

“Isn’t it a bit cold because this is a remote place? Places like the sea, rivers, or mountains are much colder than other places.”

Min Ye-rin calmly calmed the situation again.

However, that was only for a moment.

“Ye-rin is right, but…… there’s nothing like that here. There are no mountains, no sea, no rivers…… there’s no reason to be cold…….”

The atmosphere froze coldly at Gu Jun-wook’s words.

When an alien event that doesn’t match reality at all occurs, people instinctively deny the phenomenon.

The unseasonal cold fell into this category.

‘What is it? Is it just my imagination? It must be my imagination. It’s summer now, and the daily temperature range won’t be that big.’

Perhaps at first, they would have denied reality in this way.

However, as the assistant director unintentionally opened the floodgates, questions that they had been holding alone popped out.

“I think I saw a weather forecast saying it was already full summer weather during the day…….”

“Surely we’re not all feeling cold because we suddenly have a fever from a cold.”

Yeon-woo glanced at the assistant director.

‘Why did you throw out those words?’

He didn’t expect that he would be so startled by a little prodding and end up making such a self-defeating move.

The reason why this place was cold was simple.

It was due to the yin energy [dark, negative energy] created by all sorts of *japgwi* [low-level spirits] crowding in until the house was about to burst.

Since it was yin energy that could even disrupt radio waves, it was natural to feel cold.

Yin energy is the same as having a cold nature.

“First…… shouldn’t we get out of here? What if we have a fever! We can’t have our filming delayed.”

When Kim Si-hyuk said that, the assistant director was almost on the verge of tears.

At this rate, everything would fall apart.

‘I have no choice.’

It wasn’t just the production team who would be in trouble if that happened.

His plan to turn the tables on the production team would also come to an end.

“We’ve come this far, let’s go a little further. Maybe the director is right in front of us?”

When Yeon-woo said that, the assistant director sent him a thank you with his eyes.

‘You don’t have to thank me. I have no intention of playing along with you anyway.’

“Hmm…… I guess that might be better…….”

“If the director is really hurt, we might miss the golden time in the time we go back and forth. Let’s just do as Yeon-woo says.”

“Hmm hmm. I think that would be good too.”

In the end, instead of turning back, they decided to continue advancing as Yeon-woo said.

“Ah…….”

However, it wasn’t the direction the assistant director wanted.

But he couldn’t say, ‘You can’t go that way’ here.

How could he say it!

The direction Yeon-woo was pointing was different from the route Gil PD had planned.

In the end, unable to do anything, the assistant director followed the group with anxiety.

“Okay. Then let’s move.”

There was a reason why Yeon-woo naturally took the lead and the assistant director, who had been in the lead, slipped back.

“Yeon-woo, what do you see? I can’t see anything. Is this the right way……?”

Kim Si-hyuk asked.

Kim Si-hyuk couldn’t see anything, but Yeon-woo could see it very clearly.

The spirit that was staring at the group with sad eyes and then disappearing.

‘This is a blatant signal to follow.’

The more slowly he followed behind it.

[Yeon-woo, you felt it too, right?]

The number of eyes watching them increased.

Of course, they weren’t the gazes of living beings.

“…….”

Heads popped out one by one from here and there.

The heads that popped out as if observing this side.

They all had eyes similar to the spirit Yeon-woo was chasing.

‘I thought it wasn’t an ordinary house from the moment it was swarming with them, but it seems more serious than I expected.’

Just sad and full of sorrowful eyes.

There was no malice or *eumheomham* [sinister, malevolent energy] in them.

Step-

For a while, only the quiet footsteps of the group echoed inside the abandoned house.

Slightly strained breathing sounds were also heard little by little.

The sound grew louder as Yeon-woo moved deeper and deeper inside, following the spirit.

Finally, Yeon-woo’s steps stopped.

The light of the flashlight pointed to one place.

It was an entrance to the basement, cleverly hidden by a large bookshelf and not easily visible.

Kim Si-hyuk, who saw it, gasped and asked.

“There…… there are stairs…… are we going to have to go down there? No, right?”

The desire to deny reality was very palpable.

Yeon-woo slowly shook his head.

“We’re going down.”

The spirit that had guided him here looked at Yeon-woo one last time and disappeared down below.

It’s there.

Yeon-woo sensed it.

“Do…… we all have to go?”

“What are you saying? Are you going to stay here alone then?”

“Uh, uh? Me alone?”

“Yeah. You alone.”

Kim Si-hyuk looked around in embarrassment.

Gu Jun-wook, Min Ye-rin, and the extra actor were staring at Kim Si-hyuk with blank eyes.

“Should we leave Si-hyuk here alone? Wouldn’t he be scared?”

Gu Jun-wook said.

“If it’s a dangerous place, we should all be together. What if something happens to Yeon-woo?”

Min Ye-rin looked at Kim Si-hyuk with eyes that seemed to see him as someone without loyalty,

“I’m going to follow Yeon-woo?”

Even the extra actor said that.

There was only one left.

The assistant director.

However, he too,

“……I also have a duty to protect the cast…….”

Expressed his will to follow Yeon-woo.

It was a reluctant decision, but no one knew that fact except Yeon-woo.

“Surely the director wouldn’t have gone to a place like that……?”

“You never know. Then stay here.”

Kim Si-hyuk jumped up as if he was really going to leave him behind.

“What are you talking about! Of course, we have to go together! We’re…… friends……?”

Kim Si-hyuk’s voice trembled pitifully at the end, but no one cared.

The fact that they had to go down to the basement, the reality that was in front of them, was more important.

This time, Yeon-woo took the lead again.

“Maybe this isn’t the place? Surely he wouldn’t be in the basement……?”

Kim Si-hyuk, who hadn’t given up, said that, but he quietly shut his mouth at Min Ye-rin’s words that followed.

“Yeon-woo is the one who made a path even in uncharted territory, Si-hyuk must not trust Yeon-woo. Or is he just scared.”

“Ah. Come to think of it, I think I saw that clip too. I thought it would be nice to go fishing on an island with him later. He has a really good sense of direction…….”

As Gu Jun-wook defended him, Kim Si-hyuk’s shoulders drooped even more.

“Hmm? What is it? I smell that stench again? Or is it just me?”

“No. I smell it too.”

The terrible stench that had been smelled intensely from the entrance was once again tormenting the group’s noses.

If it was bearable to some extent earlier, now the smell became unbearable as they went down one step at a time.

Finally, when they reached the basement door.

Everyone was holding their noses and barely breathing through their mouths.

“*Eesanghandaeyo*?” [Isn’t it strange?]

Kim Si-hyuk said, holding his nose.

If I had to interpret it, it would be something like, ‘Isn’t it strange?’

However, the really strange thing happened next.

Chiiiiik-