Ch. 9 - Second Ghost Story - Laughing Woman (5)

Once again, I was in the classroom from that morning.

As I calmly remained sitting, trying to organize my thoughts, the homeroom teacher entered the room, chuckling as he carried a box filled with bunched up paper balls.

“Now, everyone. Starting with those of you in the front, come out and pick out a piece of paper.”

As I had been lost in thought, I had grabbed a random piece of paper.

Surprisingly, it was the same seat as before, next to Dukhun.

“……?”

That was slightly unusual.

It was weird because I really did choose a random piece of paper, since I was thinking hard on how I would face the Laughing Woman.

Even when I checked the number again, it was the same number as the last time, and the time before that—26.

‘… Is it a coincidence? What is this?’

While it was a bit eerie, considering how to handle the Laughing Woman was more important and urgent.

Pushing aside any useless doubts, I sat down.

Soon after, the first period’s seat placements ended and break time came.

Usually, I would go to Sunah and greet her. However, I was too busy trying to think of how I would face off against the Laughing Woman, so I didn’t.

As I was pondering the matter, I peeked over at Sunah and saw Hayoon calmly reading her book, as always.

Sunah was fidgeting with her fingers, probably because she was uncomfortable since she had been unable to speak properly to her partner.

And just like that, break time ended and it was time for English.

The students took turns standing up and introducing themselves in English.

“I… I am Yoon Sunah… I… I like… ice cream…”

Even throughout the lesson, my mind was on the ‘manual ghost story’.

Even after seeing a ghost like that woman, I had to pretend to not see her and act naturally.

How exactly was I supposed to do that…?

Once it was time for the next break, that woman would climb over the wall from outside and onto the school cafeteria's roof.

My plan was to face her one-on-one before that happened, meeting her outside of the school.

Getting to her before anyone else saw her was just a matter of running as soon as the bell that signaled the end of class rang and jumping over the wall. If I just timed it right, it was reasonably possible.

The issue was the acting.

Could I remain calm after seeing a white-faced, brightly laughing crazy lady as tall as a basketball player, who would draw a boxcutter and swing it like crazy?

I thought that there had to be some limits to the acting, such as instinctively flinching, having an unstable gaze, or acting in a hesitant way.

I needed a method to face the woman with my eyes open, all while acting like I didn’t see her.

That was the method that I had to think up.

‘Is there really such a method……?’

Even as I tried to squeeze out all of the ideas in my head, time continued to flow.

Soon, it was ten minutes before the end of class.

I could see the English teacher explaining the lesson curriculum for future lessons, before ending the class.

‘Don’t end it, f*ck…’

I wished that English would continue on forever…

I had to face a scary woman like that, one-on-one… Why the hell did I have to……?

I wanted to avoid the situation if I could.

Ah, mother…

Why the hell did I need to be involved in a situation like that…?

After checking the clock again, it was five minutes before lessons ended.

Five minutes had already passed!

‘You crazy a*s clock!’

I harshly cursed at the clock as my hands trembled.

Brriing~ Brriing~

In the end, break time had carelessly come.

I got up from my seat as I caught my breath.

I didn’t actually want to go.

My mind was full of thoughts on how to escape.

But I had already decided that there was no option but to go.

If I ran away again, the monstrous incident would force the school to close again. My family would be forced to move…

And after three years passed, a giant monster would emerge again and I would die, only to come back here…

I couldn’t leave it like that.

Right there, right then. That was the first button that I had to clasp.

The first step was fighting the crazy ghost stories and using the system.

“Huuuu… Huu… Huuu……!”

As I was leaving the classroom with unsteady breaths—

“Hey, Joon……”

When I turned around, Sunah was standing there.

“Do you want to go to the school cafeteria together……?”

… Badump.

The moment Sunah asked that, my heart trembled.

Of course, I didn’t want to face the scary monster all by myself.

If there was least one person, at least someone to go with me……

My weakened resolve made my hands shake.

“Umm, if you don’t feel like it, I can go on my own……”

When I didn’t answer, Sunah spoke in a more reserved manner.

I shook my head.

“No. Let’s… go together.”

Sunah smiled slightly.

‘Let’s go together. Let’s go together… Let's go together, please go together with me……’

I made a mistake.

I was taking Sunah to that dangerous place…

‘… But, realistically speaking, going alone would only lead to me pissing my pants.’

Rather, I felt so thankful to Sunah, who had asked to go together with such great timing.

‘Right. When I think it over, there is no need for Sunah to face that woman herself!’

While I climbed over the wall and faced the woman by myself, Sunah could stay behind as a lookout.

Someone would be watching my back. I wouldn’t be trying to do this by myself. Just that was enough to give me some encouragement.

‘That much wouldn’t be too bad, right? It’ll just be a little… a little bit of help. I don’t need to look at it like I’m tricking Sunah and using her, right?’

But how did Sunah decide to ask me to join her on her way to the school store with such perfect timing?

‘Originally, I was the one to come by during break and greet her, but this time I just stayed put. Was that why she couldn’t overcome the awkwardness with her partner and ended up coming to me first……?’

As I thought about things like that, we neared the school cafeteria.

As always, there was a huge crowd of students there.

“Sunah, this way.”

I avoided the students and headed towards the walls. They were void of people.

Sunah tilted her head as she followed me.

When I reached the walls, I roughly tried measuring the height with my eyes.

It might have been a bit difficult because the wall was about my height, but since there were a lot of gaps in between the bricks, if I could get a good grip as I climbed… it was certainly doable.

‘…Last time I looked, the woman’s head went up past the wall. She must be at least two meters tall.’

I took a brief moment to steel my will and then spoke.

“Sunah, can you wait for me here for a bit? I just have something to do. I’ll come back right away.”

If I were alone, I wouldn’t have been able to handle it at all. The fact that someone was with me… Just that was enough to give me courage.

“Sunah?”

Rather than responding, the small female student was staring intensely at me.

“……”

“Sunah? Will you wait for me here……?”

“..…”

‘Wait, the situation is a bit……’

Because I didn’t have the leisure to think about it at the time, I had just thoughtlessly brought Sunah with me, but it was like that.

The image of making a friend keep a lookout as I smoked a cigarette came to mind.

That was right.

Smoking was the only thing that came to mind when a student went out of their way to secretly cross over the walls to quickly do something during break time.

The bad boy Lee Joon, who got close to this girl within a day of meeting during the entrance ceremony, and forced her to keep a lookout as he went to smoke.

Sunah just continued to stare at me without saying a word.

“Uh, it isn’t that I’m here to do something bad. I just need to check something……”

“……”

At first, I tried to make some excuse, but I gave up.

That woman would arrive soon. I had no time.

“Sorry, Sunah. Please just wait for me here for a bit. Let’s go to the school cafeteria again next time. I’ll pay. Sorry.”

Although she had no expression on her face, I saw her slowly nodding before I quickly climbed over the wall.

The woods there were connected to the mountains at the back of the school.

Far away, between the trees, I could see something white approaching.

Although I could not see clearly through the branches and leaves, it was definitely the Laughing Woman.

‘Am I already meeting her head on…? Damn.’

I hadn’t even properly thought of a method to face her yet……

‘What do I do? What do I do? F*ck……’

Gradually, the woman began to grow more visible.

Right before we saw each other…

‘Insane lady with her brightly smiling pale white make-uped face.’

As the woman was just on the verge of becoming visible, my brain, which had survived school by cramming and playing quick tricks, began to work at full throttle.

Badump.

Badump.

Badump.

‘F*ck, I need to find a way. I definitely have to find a way!!’

In my mind, my memories from the start of this goddamned game to just now began to overflow.

“Congratulations on your acceptance at Nakseong Highschool, the school of secrets and mysteries……”

“Because I am usually slow……”

“Two-faced, I see. Because of that disposition, I react quickly and……”

“If you discover a woman laughing in an unusual manner at school, pretend you didn’t see her and just act naturally until she passes by……”

“When you see the Laughing Woman, you must never act like you can see her-aruyo……”

My brain was working at inhuman speeds for a method, due to my survival instincts.

As the innumerable memories passed through my brain, I barely managed to recall a certain image. It was the scene from the night before, as I was talking to myself on my bed.

‘That’s crazy. Nothing here is useful.’

Ah—!

“……!”

Yes! That was it!

Wouldn’t it work out if I used that?

Step, step, step.

Soon, the woman was right next by the trees and very close.

I purposefully did not look at her and lowered my line of sight.

It was because I did not think I could maintain my calm if I saw that monster directly.

‘Main Screen.’

I began to act out what I had just thought up.

Pop.

《MAIN SCREEN

[2019, March 05th | Tuesday, 20:54 PM]

[Lee Joon - Number of Attempts: 2, Progressing in Tutorial]

[Ghost Story Points: 20]

[Causality Rate: 3%]

Status Window

Manage Club (Locked)

Statistics

Settings》

Step, step, step.

I could feel the woman silently looking at me, as she had noticed my presence.

‘Don’t look, don’t look… Number 4. Settings, Click.’

Poof.

SETTINGS

[Graphics Options]

[Audio Options]

[Control Options]

Slide.

The woman suddenly ran towards me and slid her face in front of my eyes.

At the same time, I picked the graphics options and increased the brightness to the maximum.

In an instant, everything brightened and I was in a world of white.

I raised my head and opened my eyes wide, trying not to avoid the lady.

“……”

I couldn’t see anything.

But I was certain that my eyes were wide open and that I was facing the direction of the Laughing Woman.

“……”

I couldn’t see.

I definitely couldn’t see.

It wasn’t that I had covered my eyes or that I was turning away.

It was because the system transcended my knowledge, and it even transcended reality and the flow of time.

Through the use of the system, although I had been facing the woman with my eyes open, I was unable to actually see her.

“If you can… come here……”

At that time, the lady began saying something in a completely creepy way.

‘Eeek!’

I opened up the audio option and lowered the volume to the minimum.

Now I couldn’t see anything and I couldn’t hear anything.

All that I could sense was the whiteness of space and the sound of silence.

“……”

It was quiet.

It was as if I was meditating.

Of my five senses, I lacked both my sight and my hearing.

In addition to that, the mental stability I gained from the thought that Sunah was with me behind the wall made my heart completely serene, as if I had never been rushed in the first place.

Huuuup, Huuu, Huuup, Huuu.

Breathe in, and breathe out. In, and out.

I slowly continued to maintain the stability in my heart.

I waited for a bit, but I didn’t feel much of a reaction.

‘… She didn’t just pass by me already, did she?’

The complete silence worried me slightly, so I tried lowering the brightness a bit. I could vaguely make out some kind of face in front of me, so I quickly increased the brightness again.

‘It couldn’t be that this b*tch… Is she shoving her face in front of mine and checking for a reaction?’

That b*tch was really f*cking childish!

In order to completely check whether or not I had seen her, she was shoving her face in front of mine and checking my pupils.

At that point, it was forcing others to recognize her existence and eliciting a reaction.

No matter how good of an actor you were, if she shoved her face into yours and smiled the way she did, there would be no possible way to avoid flinching.

It was a game that you couldn’t win with acting skills from the start!

However, I was using the laws of the system, and it was completely safe.

‘Blatantly shoving your face in mine? Wow, this lady is a f*cking b*tch!’

‘Let’s do this, you insane woman.’

‘You can spend a hundred days staring at my pupils for a reaction. I really can’t see you.’

Huuup, Huuu.

Huuup, Huuu.

Again I focused on breathing in and out.

My mind was calm.

The world was peaceful.

‘Ah, how are you doing? Are you still checking out my eyes?’

She was a moron.

At that point, I was even starting to slightly enjoy it.

Safety, complete safety.

Finally, I was winning against the monster at her own game!

“Hmm~ Hmm hmmmm~ Hmm~.”

I nonchalantly began humming.

‘You can spend as much time as you like checking my eyes~ I can see or hear you anyways~.’

“Hmm~ Hmm hmmmm~ Hmm~.”

‘Yup, I can’t hear~.’

‘Yup, I can’t see~.’

Slip.

Suddenly I could feel a clothing touch my hand slightly as it passed by.

“……!”

That was right. I could still feel touch.

‘This b*tch is really trying to force my reaction.’

I had suddenly pulled my hand back because of the unexpected situation, but in the middle of that action, I smoothly started to dance in order to hide the fact that I had reacted.

‘That was smooth. Completely smooth.’ The hand that I had abruptly pulled back started a wave that passed through my arms to my other hand.

And when the wave ended at that hand, I started back towards the first hand again.

However, as my hand began to move, I couldn’t help but feel a bit of hatred. Matching the rhythm, I swung a fist towards the woman.

Smack.

“You insane b*tch, why are you still acting like a b*tch?”

Because of this one insane b*tch, how many times did Sunah and I die, and how much difficulty did I have to go through?

As if that wasn’t enough, because I was slightly scared that I would be discovered, I was forced to dance around to try to cover my reactions.

In my anger, I punched another time in the same direction, but then I tried to calm myself.

‘Let’s calm down. Calm down… I have to pretend to not know she’s there. Pretend she isn’t there.’

I started shadow boxing.

Shhhh, whiff. Shhh, whoosh.

In the blank world, where I couldn’t see anything, I began to swing my fists in the air.

I continued to think to myself, ‘I’m not swinging in that direction because I noticed your existence.’

‘I’m just spending my break at school in the back mountains, secretly practicing shadow boxing.’

‘I’m just a normal student, whose hobby is boxing.’

‘You being hit is just a coincidence.‘

‘Do you understand? I don’t know you exist. I can’t see you.’

‘It’s true!’

‘If you doubt it, check my eyes!’

‘Look at my pupils! They aren't doing anything, right?’

‘But it isn’t that I’m blind, or that I’m covering my eyes.’

‘My eyes are completely open, but I can’t see you.’

Smack, smack, smack, smack.

I had been shadow boxing in the empty space, but because I felt like sh*t, I started hitting her outright.

“F*ck! F*ck! I said stop acting like a b*tch!”

Smack, smack, smack, smack.

The woman was beyond the common sense of man, and like a monster, she was covered in rock hard muscles.

Because of that, as my fists hit her, it was actually my own hands that hurt.

‘At this point, with how long I’ve just blatantly hit her without her killing me, this method definitely works.’

Did that mean that, just like the words suggested, I just had to pretend not to see her?

Smack, smack, smack, smack.

“Why the f*ck are you coming to this school and acting up! This is a place where students study, so f*ck off, you insane b*tch!”

After punching around for a while, I had a sudden scary thought.

‘Am I actually hitting Sunah right now?’

It could have been that, because I couldn’t see or hear anything, I might have been accidentally hitting someone else.

Maybe Sunah got worried while waiting for me and came to my side, but because I wouldn’t respond no matter how much she called me, she had come closer and was now being pummeled.

When I began to imagine that ominous scene, I decided I had to check.

‘Just for a moment. I just have to check, just for a moment.’

I lowered the brightness slightly and increased the sound, checking in front of me. I could roughly tell that a two-meter tall thing was moving around while shouting.

‘That’s definitely not Sunah.’

Relieved, I continued to wail away at her.

Smack, smack, smack, smack.

Smack, smack, smack, smack.

Smack, smack, smack, smack.

Smack, smack, smack, smack.

I tried the spinning side kick I’d only seen in movies.

I tried copying the forms from the boxing pros I’d seen on TV, throwing tons of amateurish blows with awkward footwork.

Voicing out some sound effects, I tried copying some finishing moves from game characters.

After punching and kicking for a while, a message popped up in front of my eyes.

Pop.

[You have come across and survived the B-rank Ghost Story - Laughing Woman from the ‘Manual Ghost Story’.]

[You have earned 15 Ghost Story Points.]

Even though the brightness had been turned up to the maximum, I could still see the blue and black of the message window normally.

‘Is it like when game images and the UI are separate?’

At that moment, a firework special effects happened in front of my eyes and another window opened.

[You have exerted great wit and repelled the laughing woman!]

[You have earned 70 Ghost Story Points.]

[You have earned sufficient Ghost Story Points! By spending Ghost Story Points, you can gain special abilities and speed up your growth!]

… OHHHH!!

I wasn’t really sure about it, but that was an unexpected reward!

‘Is the situation over for now?’

I went back into the graphics and audio options and returned all settings to normal.

My eyesight and hearing returned to normal.

I looked around, but I could not see the woman.

In front of me, there was only green grass and trees.

I could see the peaceful mountains behind the school.

‘I chased her away!’

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