Chapter 15

Minjoon was in charge of the small garden in the front yard; he tended to the plants while Jaeseong watered them.

Minutes had passed, and a royal carriage pulled up in front of the cabin gate. The coachman removed his bowler hat and bowed gently in greeting to the boys on the lawn.

They immediately knew what business he had with them, and Jaeseong dashed inside, announcing, "Yejoon-ah! The carriage has arrived!"

Ever since the day of Arkane's performance at Princess Pinlets tenth birthday party, the royal highnesses had decided to conduct an investigation into who the boys were, as well as Yumi, Angela, and Heric.

They had no idea such talented people existed in their kingdom, and the members piqued their interest right away.

As they investigated deeper, they discovered that one of the group's members, Lee Yejoon, possessed the ability to play every instrument known to man.

With that knowledge, they decided to hire him to teach their son how to play the piano.

Yejoon was initially opposed to such a duty, but after learning how much he'd be compensated, he quickly agreed to take the job.

Today is the first day of his career as a piano teacher, and he is teaching his first student, Prince Brian Pastel of Houndlet Kingdom.

When his name was called, the musician stood up and put on his leather luggage sling bag, which he had prepared the night before.

Notebooks, a pen, his traveler's card, and blank music sheets were the necessary items he prepared to carry with him for today's session and his visit to the castle.

"I'm leaving," he said to everyone.

Yumi inquired, "Are you sure you don't want to eat your lunch before going?"

"Yes, because I'm sure they'll be serving some snacks during the lessons," he added, before waving goodbye to his buddies and exiting the cabin and onto the carriage.

Apart from Yejoon's first employment as a piano teacher, some members had other duties, while the other half remained vacant.

Jaeseong, Jeongmin, and Sujin will also pay a visit to the castle. They intend to have fun with the princess. She was looking for someone to play with, and they happened to be available to babysit.

Because the other half was bored, they agreed to help Heric accomplish a mission. Yumi, on the other hand, opted to take things slowly and assist Minjoon with their garden before venturing on a mission with him.

Logging in to the game works in such a way that if one of the members logs in, the others must follow. This is because time will halt for them on earth, and there will be nothing for them to do or anything they can do about it.

They'd either wait for the individual who logged in to return to the earth realm or log in with them and enjoy their time within the world of fantasy, whether they wanted to or not.

***

It's been two hours since Yejoon began his lesson with the prince, and it has now come to an end. He bowed respectfully and shut the door before leaving the royal music room.

He huffed in exhaustion, still feeling his heartbeat frantically. It wasn't told to him that the Queen would be present inside the room with them as he taught her son.

Even though the Prince is an obedient child, having the Queen inside and tutoring someone from the Royal Family made him nervous. He was relieved to have made it through the first piano lesson of the week.

He dashed through the long corridor to the stairway. But a few meters away from the steps, he felt a chill run down his spine.

This prompted him to freeze in place as he pondered why he suddenly felt cold. When he looked down at his arms, he noticed the goosebumps on his skin. Was it due to his first experience as a piano teacher?

Just then, he heard a child chuckle from behind him, as if they had passed him from one ear to the other. His brow raised in surprise as he looked behind him, then around, his heart pounding nervously once again.

He noticed a female kid peering at him around the corner end of the corridor as he panned to his left. The abrupt appearance of the child astonished him, but he didn't want to think about it too much and assumed it was the princess.

"Princess Pinlet? Is that you?" he asked as he approached her.

But as soon as he drew closer, the girl bolted in the opposite direction, chuckling, away from Yejoon.

The princess confused him for a young child playing tag. So the boy smiled as he sped up to catch up with the girl.

Expecting to see the princess running away, he turned to the opposite hallway, only to find a dead end and no trace of the child.

The absence of the princess sent shivers down his spine, and he audibly gasped, appalled. Yes, he was stressed. But was he truly that distressed that he was getting unexpected hallucinations?

Instead of crying out of terror, he attempted to forget what had happened and returned home to rest. He certainly needed it based on what had just occurred.

While Yejoon was on his way down, Jaeseong, Jeongmin, and Sujin were playing with the princess in the front garden on the swing that the Imaginator had constructed out of mud using his 'imaginary' power.

Sujin observed Yejoon, who was flustered, heading out of the castle a few seconds later. He yelled out to him and was heard. The musician looked up to see one of his group members excitedly waving at him.

The other two noticed the musician approaching them and waved along with Sujin.

"Are you okay? How did tutoring go?" Jaeseong inquired.

Yejoon was still shaken by what had happened and couldn't get his mind off it. He didn't want to worry them, but his hesitating response hinted that something was upsetting him.

"You don't sound like it went well," Jeongmin observed, concerned for him.

"It did; I just can't seem to get my mind off something," he argued.

"Is everything alright?" Jaeseong inquired, worried.

Yejoon shared what happened throughout the lesson and how wonderfully it went. He went on to describe what transpired after the lessons. Not to mention the female he mistook for the princess and assumed he was hallucinating due to stress.

The boys, on the other hand, informed him that Princess Pastel had been with them for a few minutes now.

This frightened the boy once more. Not only did this frighten him, but it also frightened Sujin and Jeongmin, who were among the members who were easily spooked. They appeared horrified.

They weren't expecting to encounter the supernatural in this realm.

"Aw, man, I'm sure what Yejoon Hyung saw was a ghost!" trembled Sujin, terrified just thinking about it. "Creepy..."

Butler Don Smith overheard their chat and was immediately captivated by it.

"A ghost?" he inquired, drawing their attention to him. "Did I just overhear that Sir Yejoon had just encountered a ghost at the castle?" he inquired once more.

When they heard the humorless tone of the man's voice, the boys became a little anxious. They thought they were in trouble for gossiping about the castle, so the boys were a bit hesitant to respond.

"Yeah, sir," Yejoon answered, nodding.

"May I inquire as to which floor you encountered the said ghost?" he questioned once more.

"Uhm, on the 4th floor, to the left of the corridor, where there is a dead end."

They were expecting a harsh reprimand, but Butler Smith appeared to be interested in the subject.

This prompted the man to tell his story, as well as the experiences of many other maids and knights, with the famed ghost that lurks in the castle grounds.

He then went on to explain how many staff had seen the ghost and how, for some reason, it only appeared on that side of the castle on every floor.

Fortunately, the infant does not appear before the prince and princess. However, it has only appeared to the queen and has yet to appear to the king.

They have no idea who the child belongs to or why it haunts the castle grounds to this day.

Shivers ran down their spines just hearing these stories from him. They usually dislike hearing true paranormal stories since, because they are true, they may encounter the same ghost.

Despite this, their terrified expressions turned into fascination. They had no idea the castle had its own frightening stories, and while they were terrified, they were intrigued by the mystery.

[YUMI'S P.O.V]

It was late at night, and everyone had returned home. We were all enjoying our dinner of ramen and pork that Minjoon and I had made.

"So, how did the tutoring go, Yejoon?" I began.

"It went well," he said as he sat down on the couch with his meal. The look on his face indicated that he was completely weary of the job.

Sujin went on to say, "Yejoon Hyung encountered a ghost in the castle," which piqued our interest.

Some were curious, some were surprised, and some were not as surprised as others. I was among those who were unsurprised. It's an old-looking castle, so it wouldn't be surprising if it had a few ghosts.

Those who were interested in the matter, though, couldn't help but wonder what it looked like. Were they creepy? Were their features distorted? Were they transparent? Did they not have eyes?

"It was a kid that wasn't transparent or deformed; she had brown pupils and was the same height as the princess, so I mistook her for her," Yejoon explained, shivering. "Ugh, just thinking about it gives me the chills!"

Our day had passed, and the next day had arrived. We all decided to just relax inside the cabin this afternoon while we built up a pool in the backyard.

However, not everyone was present. Yejoon remained fast asleep. He couldn't sleep and spent the night watching movies to keep his thoughts occupied.

The eerie event had kept him awake, which was reasonable. If that had happened to me, I would have overthought it to the point of scaring myself awake.

He was able to sleep only when the sun was up. That's why we decided to hang out in the backyard in order to avoid waking him up. However, it was hot outside, and the sun's heat on our skin felt like it was burning.

Our only solution was to build a large tree to shade us from the sun, followed by a pool to keep us cool. This will help prevent sunburns and heatstroke.

Before the boys could have a good time diving into the chilly pool, Jeongmin and I built a noise barrier to keep other citizens of our "creation" from noticing us, so we could be as loud and wild as we wanted.

I decided to slice some cold fruits that had been left in the fridge overnight before I participated in the fun. This was done to keep us cool throughout the hot summer months.

I returned to the living room with Angela, and just as I completed slicing the whole watermelon, there was a sudden knock on the door.

"Coming!" I said, then gave the platter of sliced watermelon to Angela as I approached the door to open it.

The knock surprised me because I hadn't expected anyone to come by today, so my curiosity got the best of me and I quickened my pace.

"Yes?" I asked, smiling as I answered the door. The visitor at the other end of the door, to my amazement, was Her Royal Highness, Queen Aurora.

"Your highness!" I gasped, surprised by her abrupt visit, and I hastily curtsied. "What may the reason for your visit be?" I questioned anxiously, smiling.

"I apologize for visiting so suddenly, Yumi, but it came to my attention about Yejoon's paranormal experience at the castle yesterday afternoon, and I'd like to ask for a big favor." She politely said, "May I come in?"

"Of course! Please come in!"

I scooted over an inch away from the entryway for the queen to enter, as she had instructed the guards to keep an eye on the cabin before entering.

I closed the door behind her and escorted her to the living room. Shouts and yells could be heard coming from the backyard, and they captured the queen's attention.

I chuckled nervously as I saw her astonished reaction.

"I'm terribly sorry for how loud the boys are; we weren't expecting anyone to come over, especially someone from the royal family," I said, eliciting a chuckle from the queen.

"Please, no need to apologize; I should be the one to blame for abruptly inviting myself."

In answer, I shook my head. The Houndlet Kingdom is extremely fortunate to have such a gracious monarch as Queen Aurora. Not every royal highness treats their subjects with the dignity that she and the king do.

Unfortunately, there are those in higher positions who have a negative opinion of the “peasant” citizens and usually think selfishly when making the rules for their kingdom.

I'm glad I was teleported to this kingdom the first time I logged in. If not, I wonder what would happen if we were placed in an unlawful domain.

When we entered the living room, the items on display captivated the queen. Many things were unfamiliar to her, yet they piqued her interest.

As she continued to look around to examine the interior of the cabin, her gaze was drawn to the backyard, where she spotted the seventeen boys, Heric and Angela enjoying their summer outside.

Another foreign item has piqued her interest. I always forget that in this world, things like the refrigerator, electric oven, electric stove, chopsticks, and pool do not exist.

As a result, the Queen inquired, "May I ask what that water-like lake is, Yumi? Is it safe to swim on?"

Her questions placed me in a bind once more, and this time I stammered as a result. I began by explaining how the pool worked and assuring her that it was safe and clean for them to play in.

I continued with a lie that led the Queen to believe we were the first to design such a device to help people cool off in the heat.

I then went on to explain how we created our invention and how we came up with the moniker "swimming pool."

This piqued the Queen's interest, causing her to lose track of the reason for her visit. And because of that, I quickly changed the subject and invited her outdoors for a little break.

I guided her out to the backyard, which was much cooler than before thanks to the shield we'd cast.

"Hey, noona! Let's sw—." Seungjae paused in place as his eyes widened in shock as he recognized the Queen behind me. "—im..." he slowly continued.

"Your highness!" Heric exclaimed as he bowed and Angela curtsied.

From then on, it was like a domino effect. The Arkane boys hurriedly exited the pool and grabbed their shirts or a towel nearby before kneeling in front of the Queen.

"It's a pleasure for you to visit our residence, your highness," Angela added.

"I apologize for dropping by so unexpectedly, but I've come to ask you hunters a favor."

"A favor?" Milton inquired.

"It is regarding a ghost that one of your hunt-mates, Yejoon, encountered in the castle."

We'd all guessed what the unexpected favor would be by this point. And, just as we suspected, the Queen asked for our assistance in solving the enigma of the alleged ghost and discovering the reason for its existence on the castle grounds.

We were all terrified. Involving yourself in the paranormal is something we would never do, even at home on earth.

The Queen observed our distressed reaction. She had anticipated our response, yet she refused to give up. It has always been one of her employees' concerns in the castle, and she has wished to fix it in order to help those in need.

When she proposed to us that if we accepted this mission, we'd be highly compensated, we were still unsure of our response.

We want money, but is it worth it knowing that it will traumatize us after? On the other hand, it was still money that we might use back on Earth, and I’ve always wanted to buy myself a new gaming console.

My friends all nodded and looked at me as if I were the leader. With their final response, I exhaled quietly and smiled at the Queen.

"We will gladly accept the mission, your highness."

She was very delighted to hear our response as she proceeded to share all the stories about the ghost child. It's truly quite disturbing.

The child was always seen when someone was alone, whether during the day or at night, but she only showed herself to people who worked in the castle and people from the high class.

She would constantly giggle to scare her victims, and she would occasionally sing. Which, to be honest, is somewhat alarming.

You know how scary movies are; ghost kids singing nursery songs is never a good sign and will always traumatize us.