Ch. 100 - Eleventh Ghost Story - The Forgotten Friend (13)

“Do you understand, Jinhee?”

Six years ago, in the summer of 2013.

At the end of the first floor of the main building of Undang Elementary School, in front of the counseling room.

Still in her mid-20s, teacher Ryu Jinah grabbed the shoulders of fourth grader Jinhee and whispered to her with a serious expression.

“There are officials from the Education Board waiting inside. You just need to explain in detail what you've felt about Eunjung during the few months you spent with her as her deskmate.”

The young Jinhee showed a somewhat timid face.

Seeing Jinhee like that, the teacher finally let out a sigh.

“Is it because you’re afraid that if you say bad things about her, those people will take Eunjung away?”

“… Yes.”

“But, if you say Eunjung is normal, the psychological evaluation will resume, and the transfer might be delayed a few days. But the outcome will still be the same. You know which option is better for Eunjung.”

The teacher bent down and stared straight at the young Jinhee in the eyes.

“Eunjung is a troubled child who shouldn't be here. She needs to go to a more specialized school to…. receive the proper education.”

“But I cause trouble too, then shouldn't I be sent there?”

“You don’t harm animals or scare people.”

Teacher Ryu Jinah, with a fresh and gentle demeanor, calmly admonished Jinhee, who was sulking for no reason.

Her gentle and kind tone had an inexplicable power that drew children in as if binding their minds, making them want to follow all her wishes.

“Eunjung… is innately lacking in the ability to empathize with others. She tends to be insensitive to other people’s pain or emotions.”

“But she was nice to me…”

“Well, that’s because she likes you.”

The teacher calmly persuaded young Jinhee once more as she sighed.

“But what about other people? People who don’t have anything to do with her?”

“……”

“Haven’t you seen her insist on doing whatever she wants? If things don't go her way, doesn't she refuse to socialize?"

Jinhee recalled how Eunjung, oblivious to the situation, persistently urged her scary friends to catch a lizard, and then followed them even after being rejected, sitting silently and awkwardly in the corner of the karaoke bar.

“....I have.”

“Right?”

The teacher nodded in agreement.

In reality, the teacher was subtly guiding Jinhee to recall the contents of the discussions held with Eunjung during each session everyday after class.

“What about animal abuse? It’s a typical symptom of antisocial personality disorder.”

“……”

“If that escalates later, it could lead to harming others. You don’t want Eunjung to become a criminal, do you...?”

“…Yes.”

Jinhee nodded quietly.

In truth, in the young Jinhee's mind, Eunjung was already considered a murderer who had cut the rope of the people working on the apartment rooftop, killing three people.

“She’s your friend. You want Eunjung to do well in life, right?”

“Yes….”

"Then you need to be honest with the officials from the Education Board inside. I’m not asking you to lie. Just share your experiences as they are. You can do that, right?"

“....I understand.”

In the end, Jinhee nodded under the teacher's constant persuasion and the teacher smiled faintly.

“Okay. Then go in.”

With that, she opened the door to the counseling room and stepped inside.

There were adults from the Education Board waiting for her opinion.

* * *

“What are you doing, President? Come in.”

When I came to my senses, I was standing in front of the clubroom.

I quickly opened the Status Window.

‘Status Window.’

Pop.

[2019, May 1st | Wednesday, 12:30 PM]

[Lee Joon: Number of Attempts - 2]

[Ghost Story Points: 66]

[Causality Rate: 14%]

‘....I returned to the lunch break today.’

In the morning, I followed the advice of our homeroom teacher and called for Teacher Jang Hwaeun during lunchtime in the clubroom, asking her for help.

Now, we were all gathered in the clubroom to discuss.

‘...Now that I think about it, last time we called the teacher for advice, but we ended up completely forgetting it.’

I slowly organized my thoughts and entered the clubroom, and this time, I arranged the members so that there were no empty seats left, and everyone sat down properly.

“…But this teacher clearly remembers. Eunjung has been a member of our club from the beginning. She was with you all yesterday too, hanging out together.”

The Teacher tilted her head and mumbled after hearing the general story.

I looked around at the members and explained why only the teacher seemed to be affected by this situation.

“We had already heard the story through Jinhee yesterday, so we couldn't be manipulated. The teacher, on the other hand, had no prior knowledge of Kim Eunjung's existence, so any new memories implanted wouldn't feel out of place, which is why she is influenced like this."

“… I see, Prez. You’re sharp.”

Gyeongwon nodded again with a look of admiration.

“You mean to say my memories are manipulated?”

“Yes. Reality is being manipulated in real time right now. Student with that name doesn’t exist.”

“That’s why it doesn’t make sense!”

Teacher Jang Hwaeun suddenly stood up and exclaimed loudly.

“Eunjung is hanging outside the window right now, looking at us!”

Our eyes instantly turned to the window at her exclamation.

Somehow, the window that had been half-open started to rattle gently in the breeze.

“There… Huh? Where did she go?”

The Teacher pointed to the window with a blank expression.

“She was hanging there just now… No, no… how can a person be hanging from the window… What am I talking about…”

I gestured for the flustered teacher to calm down and then stood up from my seat.

My head is starting to clear up, so I should clarify now.

“Guys, actually, I died once and came back.”

“....What?”

* * *

At first, the members looked puzzled after hearing the full story, but soon their faces were filled with shock.

Soon, Jinhee covered her forehead with her hands, closed her eyes, and mumbled.

“....Then the one who is appearing now must be Eunjung herself.”

“…Probably. But don’t be shaken by the fact that we must stop her. A being who’s been imbued with a ghost story doesn’t have an original personality.”

Just by judging Teacher Jang Hwaeun's situation, who’s always getting possessed by ghost stories at any opportunity, it could be said clearly. I experienced it myself when she was possessed by a psychopath during the Psychology Test.

We shouldn’t think of her as her friend who was reborn as a ghost story as the person she was when she was alive.

“....That’s ridiculous.”

Jinhee shook her head as if she couldn't understand.

“Why would the counselor do something like that?”

I stood in front of the whiteboard and started to express my opinion while drawing diagrams here and there with a marker pen to help illustrate my points.

“First of all, the transfer incident involving Eunjung six years ago seems to have been orchestrated by the counseling teacher from beginning to end.”

I wrote down the name Ryu Jinah and underlined it.

[Ryu Jinah, the counselor]

"The stories about Eunjung releasing lizards in the classroom or killing rabbits with a kitchen knife — none of that was witnessed by Jinhee; but rather heard through the teacher. I think that's why the other friends can't remember the incident. It's because it was all fabricated from the start."

It’s not that they couldn't remember, it’s more because that never happened in the first place.

“Oh my…”

Teacher Jang Hwaeun gaped in surprise.

“Why would a teacher do something like that?”

From the perspective of a fellow educator, it seemed unbelievable.

“...Well. Perhaps the goal was to make Eunjung seem like a strange child and to secure testimony from her closest friend, Jinhee?”

“That’s ridiculous. Such an obvious lie would definitely be discovered soon.”

Jinhee, still holding her forehead, shook her head once again.

“What if I had asked the other friends at that time, even just once? If I had heard that nothing like a lizard jumping out in the classroom had happened, it would all have been for nothing..."

“But you didn’t.”

I quietly denied it.

“You didn’t ask anyone.”

“....Why.”

I recounted the exact phrases I had heard from the teacher to Jinhee, who wore a puzzled expression.

"Because you're not the type to check on every little detail. You and your group of friends always stuck together. You skipped a lot of classes and couldn't get along with the other regular students. The counselor is a scheming person. She planned the whole thing knowing she wouldn't be caught."

Your deskmate Eunjung is a troubled child.

She should be sent to a special school.

That’s what she had been secretly whispering to the young Jinhee.

Jinhee made a blank expression.

I continued to explain everything I could.

“Of course, it's given that Eunjung was born with some innate deficiencies. The strange behaviors she showed were evident, and even before you, Jinhee, got involved, she was already being bullied and was visiting the counseling room every day after school, right?”

“...Hmm.”

"But it was entirely that counselor’s fault for worsening the situation, manipulating the testimony and circumstances to send her to an alternative school."

The club members looked at me with astonished expressions.

There was no incident with lizards jumping out of Eunjung's bag.

The rabbits were all killed by the stray cats that the teacher released.

"The reason for using a cat is to prevent it from escalating into something too much of a problem during the investigation. All she needed to do was just to change the perceptions of a few key individuals and close friends around Eunjung."

The police actually came to investigate, but they concluded that it was the work of a wild animal and simply left.

After that, the counselor hid a bloody kitchen knife in Jinhee’s desk.

Jinhee, who had begun to recognize Eunjung’s strange behavior, naturally assumed she was the one who hid it, and the counselor naturally took advantage of that misunderstanding.

“… Placing a kitchen knife. What if someone saw it? It’s not a knife used to kill rabbits… What if someone thought….”

In response to Sunah's mumbling, Gyeongwon shrugged and answered.

“To be precise, it would have been fine even if someone saw it, they wouldn't have cared. Originally, Kim Eunjung had been somewhat of an outcast.”

“It was fine to subtly create misconceptions for just the necessary people. Even if rumors spread among the students, it didn't matter. They were just elementary school kids.”

“That’s right.”

I nodded.

“Eleven years old. At that age, children have no choice but to be swayed when adults are determined to manipulate them.”

“...That’s true.”

The members nodded with bitter expressions.

However, they still couldn't comprehend the reason for someone doing something like that.

“Really… Is there a reason that person would go so far for something like that? I don’t understand.”

Jinhee shook her head as if it was difficult to understand.

"I was just an elementary school student. Those officials from the Education Board….. How much do you think they'd believe my words? They would probably just take note of it. But she went to such lengths just for that?"

I guessed I would have to explain that part as well.

I coughed and cleared my throat and continued explaining while writing on the whiteboard.

“First of all, that teacher is the root cause. Despite her gentle appearance, her methods are quite aggressive. She basically seems to be the type who will go to unreasonable lengths, as long as she achieves her goal, she’ll go to extremes and it doesn't matter if she's caught.”

Pop.

[Your understanding of the character Ryu Jinah has increased by 5.]

“She’s smart, and quick-witted. But also incredibly bold. She’s also very skilled at dealing with students.”

“…The psychopath is not the student, but the teacher.”

Dukhun muttered in disbelief.

I nodded in agreement, expressing my opinion that it was an accurate judgement.

The fact that she prepared a drink laced with drugs in response to our questioning about Kim Eunjung was an incredibly immediate response.

‘Of course, in this case, she recognized my face in advance.’

After hearing from her, it seems that I was marked as a ‘person of interest’ by the unidentified force that the faculty and staff were involved with.

“....Huuu. So what are we going to do?” Jinhee, still clutching her forehead as if she was fighting a headache, asked in a weary voice.

“So, it's Kim Eunjung who is appearing now. But have you found a way to solve it?”

At that question, I had no choice but to remain silent.

Because.

After experiencing all of that, I still haven't found a way to resolve the current ghost story.

“....What do you think, Teacher?”

I asked for Teacher Jang Hwaeun's opinion, which I hadn’t had the chance to seek in the previous time period.

“The current situation. What do you think we should do?”

“....Well.”

The Teacher scratched her chin with a puzzled expression.

“I don’t know much about ghost stories, so…”

That's true though.

Just as I was about to sigh, the Teacher said something interesting.

“But after listening to your explanation, I have a better idea of what kind of student Eunjung is…. Training on how to handle children who need special attention is a mandatory part of teacher education.”

“....Please tell us. Tell us everything that comes to mind.”

She may not be able to discuss ghost stories with us, but she has insights to share regarding the student, which is her area of expertise.

I probed the Teacher, desperate for any useful information.

“Well…”

From what I gathered, Teacher Jang Hwaeun mentioned that during her teaching career, she also has to encounter problematic students at times, which made her realize the need to learn guidance methods for such students during her 20s.

Ultimately, Teacher Jang Hwaeun took online courses when she had the chance and took the exam during vacation, earning her Level 1 certification in special education.

In fact, it is an easy certification that anyone with a high school diploma or higher can obtain. However, in Teacher Jang Hwaeun's case, even after obtaining the qualification, she continued to attend training in related fields and studied more deeply.

“First of all, that child named Eunjung. She seems to have traits of antisocial personality disorder, commonly associated with psychopathy. It seems to be innate, and she seems to have difficulty suppressing her aggression.”

Jinhee nodded quietly.

It must have been something she experienced first-hand.

“Personality disorders actually look normal on the outside. It’s the opposite of Autism or Down Syndrome, where you can clearly see that ‘this person is mentally abnormal.’ But in the case of antisocial personality, it’s hard to discern just from a brief interaction.”

The Teacher explained step by step with a serious face as if she was giving a lesson.

We also listened with focused expressions.

“As a result, individuals with this type of disorder often face not sympathy but outright disdain in their interpersonal relationships. In most cases, people around them tend to treat them as people with strange personalities rather than understanding their condition.”

Sunah listened to the teacher's explanation with an expression of ‘Woah~’, her mouth slightly open in surprise.

"Consequently, it's the individuals themselves who often struggle the most. Contrary to the image of the sophisticated criminal psychopath shown in the movies, people who experience this type of disorder in real life often feel confused about their own way of thinking that is different from others, which often leads to a crisis of identity and facing ostracism…."

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