Ch. 53 - Eighth Ghost Story - Doomed Midterm Exam (4)

A scene similar to before was recreated again.

Gyeongwon and Dukhun enthusiastically exchange opinions based on my story.

Sunah and Hayoon just stared at me.

Jinhee furrowed her eyebrows as if she couldn't quite understand the situation.

As I watched the scene unfolding before me while waiting quietly, it occurred to me that Dukhun was adapting better than I had expected him to.

Like Jinhee, his knowledge about encountering ghost stories were as blank as a blank piece of paper. It was his first time getting entangled with a ghost story personally. However, his expression was rather enthusiastic and impatient, as if he couldn't wait to solve the mystery and be a hero.

‘Could it be he's taking everything like a role play? Well, he's a guy who likes to watch anime and play games all the time, so it’s possible.’

“Prez, hear us out.”

As if the discussion between the two had reached a conclusion, Gyeongwon flashed his glasses before opening his mouth.

“There are two key pieces of information which are bothering me that are related to your death. Even though you answered correctly in the first timeline, why were you being asked questions again? And how does the science teacher know about the existence of ghost stories?”

“Hmm.”

As I began to ponder on the matter, Gyeongwon began to organize the situation on my behalf.

“But in a way, those two situations aren't directly related to the ghost story. Since there isn't a way for us to know the reason behind why Prez died, it's better to leave it aside for now. What we need to focus on more than that is the ghost story itself.”

“The ghost story itself?”

Gyeongwon nodded his head at my words.

That strange story written on the question paper.

Didn't they already know what type of ghost story it was from its origins to the answer?

Could it be that there was more into the situation than I thought?

“Did we, in your previous timeline, explain that ghost story?”

"Uh-huh. You explained properly.”

At my simple and clear answer, Dukhun and Gyeongwon looked at each other with puzzled expressions, as if they couldn't understand what I was saying.

“How did we explain it? We don't have any knowledge about the ghost story.”

"You do, though."

As I answered, I became the one who was confused.

In the previous timeline, weren't the two of them boasted proudly that they knew the ghost story?

“But, as long as I remember, you two clearly explained everything? You said this ghost story originated from Japan. The ghost story was like, if you remember a certain word by the age of 20, your life would be as gloomy as the colour purple or something like that.”

“Hmm.”

Gyeongwon listened to me quietly before asking.

“Of course I know that much. However, did we explain the last question on Prez’s question paper? Did we explain the story itself?”

“Of course you explained…”

My words trailed off as I suddenly realized something.

‘They didn’t explain it!’

These two were only busy boasting about their knowledge. That was why Jinhee forced them to kneel down.

“Yes, that’s right, Prez… however, the main problem is... It's my first time hearing it… what I told was basically the gist of it.” “This is our opinion… The most famous of these types of stories are ‘Purple Mirror’ and ‘Dolphin Legs’… In the case of the ‘Purple Mirror’ and ‘Dolphin Legs’, which both originated from Japan… The age could be different depending on the region where the ghost story was spreaded… It could be either 15 or 20, or any other age... As long as the concept is killing the listener... Well, I don’t think you need to worry about age… for now…”

That was not all.

Even during the time before that, when I first showed them the question and died, these guys were just fooling around and only told me which ghost stories it was similar to, ‘Dolphin Legs’ and ‘Purple Mirror’, and that was it.

In fact, we were unable to share our opinions on the issue itself.

I quietly recalled the memories and answered them while pondering to myself.

“You didn’t. Now that I think about it, I don’t think you explained the story itself.”

"Also."

The two nodded their heads quickly before continuing.

“The last question written on the Prez’s science question paper was quite strange. I think I read about some parts of the story from one ghost story and other parts from another story. It's my first time hearing a similar ghost story where you'd die if you didn't answer correctly.”

“Do you understand, Lee Joon?”

Dukhun asked as Gyeongwon finished, leaning over the desk with his large body.

“It’s a ghost story we’ve heard for the ‘first time’.”

It was the first time these two had heard of such a ghost story.

Could something like that exist in this world?

“No, wait a minute! I don't understand at all. I'm sure you guys mentioned things like ‘Dolphin Legs' and ‘Purple Mirror’, didn't you? Then what about that?”

“They are indeed similar, however, those two stories are different from the question written in Prez’s question paper and also the one you've encountered. I think it will be easier to understand if I write it down one by one and explain it.”

Gyeongwon stood up from his seat and walked to the whiteboard.

Then, after stopping right in front of it, he raised his glasses and smiled at me.

“Don’t be disheartened, Prez. There is no ghost story in this world that we don’t know about.”

At those words, Dukhun proudly crossed his arms and chuckled.

“So, what does it mean if you encounter a ghost story that we know nothing about or have never heard of? That means, Prez.”

Opening the lid of the black marker, he shone his glasses as he said.

“Because it’s a ghost story that doesn’t exist in this world.”

At those words, the other members looked at each other with puzzled expressions.

“Really?”

“Yes, Prez. There is no such ghost story in this world which you have encountered. The last question which was written in Prez's question paper was like the ‘modified version of past questions’, which combines elements of various ghost stories.”

As he explained, he started writing something on the whiteboard.

1. Ghost story that could turn you gloomy if you remember it long enough (Dolphin Legs, Purple Mirror)

2. The deserted island problem (ghost story of the seagull)

“What do you do when you encounter a modified question in order to solve it correctly? After all, the best way to solve the question would be to consider the original questions before it was modified, right? Now, remember these two keywords I just wrote down.”

“Oi, f*ck you.”

Dukhun interrupted and pointed out with his arms crossed.

“There are three. ”

At those words, Gyeongwon made an expression of ‘oops’ and then wrote one more word next to the two keywords.

3. Curse

“Now, please remember these three keywords I just wrote down. Like the science teacher who stays in his office and is indifferent to his students, it is a modified version of the past questions that shows no consideration for the person solving it.”

After saying that, Gyeongwon began to write down the details of each ghost story.

“I’ll even write down the original ghost stories for those who are hearing them for the first time. Please read through them first.”

At those words, Sunah stuck out her head and squinted her eyes to read the writings on the board.

1. Ghost story that could turn you gloomy if you remember it long enough (Dolphin Legs, Purple Mirror)

- If you remember the words ‘Dolphin Legs’ or ‘Purple Mirror’ until the age of 20, you will have a gloomy life. Depending on the region where the story was spreaded, there is a backstory which was; if you remember the word ‘Dolphin Legs’ until the age of 20, you will receive a sudden phone call asking, ‘Do dolphins have legs?’

2. The deserted island problem (ghost story of the seagull)

- A story about a couple who were stranded on an uninhabited island and only the husband survived after eating the meat of a seabird (or seagull). But it turned out to be his wife's human flesh. After learning the truth, the man committed suicide.

“It’s so f*cking complicated, f*ck.”

When Jinhee let out a word of complaint, Gyeongwon sighed and muttered.

“Isn’t it because you don’t usually study?”

At the quietly muttering words, Jinhee narrowed her eyes with an expression of ‘What the f*ck did you say?’.

However, the person holding the microphone was a nerd. Even if Jinhee seemed unable to understand the situation, she couldn't complain much.

“I wrote two ghost stories. Does everyone understand the situation now?”

“Well, it’s not that difficult to understand.”

In response to my answer, Gyeongwon nodded his head and continued his explanation.

“The ghost story that Prez encountered was a composition of these two ghost stories. Look Carefully."

After saying that, Gyeongwon immediately started writing words here and there with the marker pen he was holding in his hand.

Then, he began to underline certain words.

First, if you remember the ghost story until the age of 20, you will receive a sudden phone call.

Second, the content of the seagull ghost story.

“If I used the words of these two ghost stories appropriately, I will have a new ghost story, which Prez encountered.”

[36. If you remember this problem until the age of 20, you will receive a sudden phone call in the year you turn 20 and be asked for an answer to the question.

A blind man was stranded on a deserted island with his wife.

The man took a bite of the seagull meat and the next moment, committed suicide by stabbing himself in the neck with the fork in hand.

Why did the man commit suicide?]

“… I understand. The last question on my question paper was not an original ghost story, but rather the science teacher had stitched together two existing ghost stories and made a completely new ghost story. Is this it? But what about-”

“Oi, f*ck you, Joon.”

Dukhun interrupted again. Crossing his arms, he pointed out something.

“There are three.”

At those words, I made an expression that said, ‘oops’, and looked at the third keyword.

3. Curse

“Dukhun is right, Prez. There are a total of two ghost stories that can be found in the story. However, when you think about the strange behavior the science teacher showed afterwards... Ultimately, the problem is that it may actually be a story close to a form of curse.”

Curse!

“A curse… What is that?”

“A kind of story that will kill the other person after he reads it? We thought that this could be expressed as ‘putting a curse’ on the other person. So we tried to reconstruct the story with our focus on the curse.”

“That’s right, President. In fact, all you saw was part of the ghost story the science teacher made up. The original story, which the teacher was holding, was reconstructed by Gyeongwon and I by weaving it back into a ghost story in reverse order.”

Gyeongwon once again wrote something in the blank space on the whiteboard.

“Yes, Prez. If you read this now, everything will make sense. This is the ghost story that the science teacher had made, which he ultimately concocted by using two different ghost stories and used to kill Prez in the previous two timelines.”

Is there someone you want to curse?

Here is a curse that can kill a person without them or anyone knowing.

You just have to meet a few conditions, and you can easily kill your opponent no matter where they are.

First, tell the other person the following ghost story.

“If you remember this problem until the age of 20, you will suddenly receive a sudden phone call in the year you turn 20 and be asked for an answer to the question."

"A blind man was stranded on a deserted island with his wife."

"….The man took a bite of his meat and the next moment, committed suicide by stabbing himself in the neck with the fork in hand.”

Did the other person tell you a ghost story?

Then, the year the other person turns 20, you will call them and ask why did the man committ suicide.

If the other person does not remember the story but answers this question incorrectly, the curse is successful.

However, please be aware that if the other person gives a correct answer, the curse will return back to you.

“This is a ghost story the teacher made up…”

As I muttered quietly, Gyeongwon nodded.

“The curse usually expressed through the media is that the conditions are strict and the risks are high in case of failure.”

“……”

“It's just a guess we wrote down but considering all the facts, it's probably a sure bet. That's it. I wrote down everything based on your death.”

“Then the reason why I was asked the question again even though I answered correctly…”

“Actually, Prez was exchanging questions and answers with the teacher without realizing it. Recall the conversation again.”

“You wrote a strange ghost story on my question paper. What is the reason?”

“European Union… Of course, the reason I wrote a ghost story on the question paper was to kill you. Is it really that hard to understand?”

I asked the teacher, ‘What is the reason?’ and the teacher answered with ‘European Union’.

And then, the teacher asked me another question, ‘Is it really that hard to understand?’

At that time, I didn't answer and died.

"I see. It became a format where we took turns exchanging questions and answers.”

I roughly understood the situation, but it was still too complicated for me.

“Why on earth did he do such a troublesome thing?”

He split the parts of the ghost story, put them together, refined them into a curse, and casted it on me.

Why?

Why do something so complicated just to kill me?

“Actually, we don’t know that either.”

At this point, Gyeongwon could not help but shake his head.

“No, rather, is it possible to combine and use ghost stories like that in the first place? This actually works?”

“It was effective. Prez died because of this after all.”

“Whoa.”

I held my forehead and sighed.

“Cheer up, Joon…”

"Okay. Thank you, Sunah.”

“Anyway, Prez. The common belief is that if the curse fails, the caster would be the one paying the price. In this case, the positions of the caster and the target seem to be reversed once the curse fails. The result is a situation where both parties exchange questions and answers.”

"I see. Then, if I answer the first question correctly and then ask a nonsensical question on my turn, I can immediately reverse my role.”

“Kukkukkuk... Hitoo Norowa-”

Suddenly, Jinhee stomped over and hit Dukhun on the head.

Smack!

“Hey you f*cking b*stard, speak Korean!”

“I-I’m sorry… I was going to say the proverb, ‘He who wants to curse, prepare two graves’…”

[T/N: Well, you can understand the meaning of the proverb by itself. If you want to dig a hole for someone, be prepared to be dragged into it.]

Dukhun suddenly became obedient.

“Do you understand, Prez? I still don't know why that person wants to kill you in such a cumbersome way. But we figured out pretty much what it was about.”

“Okay, thank you. Gyeongwon, Dukhun. You both did a good job.”

I took over the baton.

Now, it was my turn to make a decision.

I have found out how the science teacher was trying to kill me and how to reverse the role.

But, how do I exactly do that?

Should I quietly wait for the question and then immediately counterattack and pass the curse on?

Or…

I shared the conclusion I reached after much thought.

"Guys. Let’s take turns by asking and answering questions with the teacher.”

"What?"

Sunah looked worried.

“Why would you do something so dangerous…”

“If I pick up the phone and say the correct answer and then hang up, or if it’s my turn and I fire back with an absurd question that the science teacher can’t answer, the situation will of course be resolved. But that doesn’t solve the problem.”

Yes.

This person, the science teacher.

Why was he trying to kill me in the first place?

And why use such a complicated method?

How did he come to understand and use the phenomenon of ghost stories?

Are ghost stories that kind of phenomenon where cutting and pasting them together makes it effective?

Loads of thoughts started pouring in my mind.

These were questions that would be buried in the ground if the science teacher were killed by a heart attack by me answering correctly.

I couldn't do that.

We must dig up as much information as we can to find out the reason.

Slowly looking at the members one by one, I spoke with a serious expression.

“So guys. Would you like to die in my place?”

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