Ch. 60 - Ninth Ghost Story - Corner Game (1)

“It seems like I have to start exercising if I want to survive the strange situation. I'm aging fast.”

“Haha, that’s right. When I was young, I was very healthy. Even doing nothing but lying around, I would barely get sick.”

In a soccer court near ShinLim Neighborhood.

After finishing grading the exam papers of the students, teachers and other staff of Nakseong High School gathered together to play soccer.

They should have just left for home after doing their part of work, but for some reason, they gathered at the soccer field and chatted while kicking the ball. The discussion among them also seemed far from ordinary.

“Anyway, I never thought that science teacher would go that far... It’s surprising.”

“Master’s instructions are clear. From now on, you must never harm that student named Lee Joon.”

The Vice Principal, a strict-looking middle-aged woman wearing glasses, sat on the side in a bench and warned softly to the teachers playing soccer.

“You are free to recruit people around him or form relationships for surveillance purposes like you do now. However, Master has clearly stated that he will never, ever tolerate any harm done to Lee Joon. Even if an unavoidable situation arises, be sure to report it to the person in charge and wait for instructions before taking action.”

“Master’s intention is such a mystery. In the previous instructions, you clearly told me that Master said to kill him using ghost stories….”

“Master must have something in mind at that time. Tsk!”

As the teachers were exchanging their opinions and throwing the ball to each other, the homeroom teacher of Lee Joon, Damim, easily caught the flying ball on his stomach.

"20 years old. An age gap of 3 years. I think that might have something to do with the change of Master's plan.”

The Vice Principal's expression turned sharp at that joking claim.

“Speculation is prohibited, Damim. Be careful."

“Hohoho… I was rude. Tsk!”

Letting out a laugh that was nothing but creepy, Damim passed the ball back to his colleagues.

* * *

[2019, April 26th | Friday, 10:12 AM]

[Lee Joon: Number of Attempts - 2]

[Ghost Story Point: 233]

[Causality Rate: 12%]

The midterm exam was finally over.

After successfully getting through the hectic first day of dealing with the science teacher and completing exams on Wednesday and Thursday.

Finally Friday arrived.

Starting today, normal classes would be held as usual.

“Students, lift your spirit! Stop worrying about the midterm exams now that it's over… with just a blink, you'll see the final exam is already knocking at the door! The student sleeping in the back row! Wake up!"

When Choi Kangchan, the teacher who was responsible for taking Physics class for the first years, shouted at Jinhee, who was seated in the back row and napping away as usual, she raised her head sleepily.

‘Choi Kangchan…’

This person was also included on the list of people who were desperate to kill me.

After staring at him quietly for a while, I sneakily took out the book of ghost stories that I had hidden under my textbook and began to read it.

‘… Let's see. During one of those late nights when I was trying to sleep in my room, a sudden sound startled me. However, there was no one in my room but me... After listening quietly for a while, I discovered that the sound was coming from a book which I had picked up from the library and brought home to read.’

While I instructed my members to gather as much information as they could regarding ghost stories and urban legends, I too, devoted myself to studying various ghost stories by reading scary books to build my own knowledge.

Bang! Bang!

“Dimensional extension lines are lines that extend the outline of a dimension to form!”

The teacher tapped the blackboard loudly as he emphasized the content on the board that would be of no use either in college entrance examination or in real life.

‘F*ck, I can’t concentrate.’

At last, lunch time arrived.

“Let’s go to the clubroom, f*ck!”

Jinhee seemed to be in a good mood these days. She was the first to leave the classroom while smiling brightly.

"What the. Why do you need to curse out loud even when you're going to the clubroom?”

Gyeongwon followed behind, grumbling to himself at Jinhee's cursing for a simple reason.

“Joon, what are you going to order today…?”

Sunah smiled bashfully as she followed me from behind.

Ordering food from the school cafeteria to the clubroom every Friday during Club Activity session had almost become a tradition among us.

However, I was still a high school student who depended on his parents, so it was a bit troublesome for me to bear the financial burden of ordering takeouts for everyone every Friday. Thanks to Jinhee, who worked part-time jobs unlike me, she would sometimes give us a treat every once in a while if she was in a good mood.

And after the incident with the strange being pretending to be my mother that both me and my dad encountered, my monthly allowance had increased a little by my dad. So I could somehow support spoiling my members this way.

I would always pay for Sunah's meal on her behalf. Although she seemed grateful for that, she would also show an apologetic look every time I did so.

“Let me see how much money I have left…”

As I walked up the stairs, I took out my wallet and realized that I only had 3,000 won left in it.

'Ah! I bought a lot of things to prepare for today's Club Activity session. We have an important session today after all.'

Should I borrow some money from Gyeongwon?

“The points… Maybe we can buy food with them?”

"Huh?"

Looking at my expression, Sunah seemed to immediately realize what the situation was. So she carefully voiced her opinion to use the ghost story points.

“With points?”

I had never thought of it.

Buying food with points and delivering them to our clubroom... I couldn't help but be curious at the careful suggestion.

‘Let’s see, 1 ghost story point is equivalent to 10,000 won... If I just spend 10 points, the clubroom will be full with food.’

Currently, I have 233 points.

Even up till now, I haven't really decided where to spend it. Therefore, I decided to save it until the perfect opportunity arose.

After careful consideration, I decided that since I had some money to spare, which I could use in the future for future club activities, I should save it. Rather, I should check whether it was possible to buy food from the system store or not.

"Okay. It’s the day after the midterm exam, so let's celebrate today!”

Sunah smiled as if she liked the suggestion.

Dukhun climbed the stairs with his hands in his pockets and earphones plugged in his ears without a care in the world.

Hayoon slipped between Sunah and me and quietly headed to the clubroom without uttering a word.

As I searched in the system store for what I could order, I realized that ordering ‘real’ food through the system store was impossible.

This store window was somewhat similar to an online grocery store.

While searching for chicken, only products that could be eaten after cooking or heating it up with a microwave, such as frozen chicken, were found. However, it was impossible to purchase the service of a restaurant from the Shop menu.

‘Well, the grocery store doesn’t deliver freshly fried chicken by courier.’

Even so, I had decided to test to see whether I could buy food from the Store or not. So I ordered bread, snacks, and fruits after discussing with the members. Since they had no problem having snacks during lunch time, I ordered them according to their likings.

“No one is watching, right?”

The moment the purchase was finished, the food that I ordered through the Store popped up out of thin air in front of the clubroom door.

Looking left and right, we hurriedly took them inside lest someone saw this bizarre scene.

“It would have been better if things were delivered inside the clubroom.”

“I think it's because of the concept of delivery.”

Waffles, roll cakes, chocolate and other snacks were piled up like a mountain on the table of the clubroom...

“Field ration! I've always wondered what it tastes like.”

“OWO~ Me too."

[T/N: Field ration is a type of prepackaged military ration designed to be easily and quickly prepared and consumed on the battlefield.]

Gyeongwon and Dukhun picked up heated field rations that can be eaten right away without having to cook or microwave them.

“Wow, cream bread…”

Sunah chose various types of breads.

Hayoon took a few packets of expensive chocolate and unwrapped them before taking a bite. And Jinhee began chewing on a type of snack that looked like dried squid.

Our lunch consisted of only snacks and no meals. But we were able to fill our stomach with the snacks since I bought more than enough.

Finally, at 1 p.m., lunch time was over and the 5th period started. As the Club Activity session began, Teacher Jang Hwaeun, the teacher in charge of the Ghost Story Club, opened the door and entered.

“Did you guys have lunch here again? Get some ventilation! Really."

She quickly sauntered towards the window and pulled back the curtain.

Bright afternoon sunlight immediately poured in the clubroom, almost blinding our eyes.

“Keeeeeeek!”

Jinhee, who was lying quietly on the sofa and taking a nap as usual, received full onslaught of sunlight and screamed in surprise.

“Behaving like the children of darkness! Sitting here in a dark clubroom… Open the windows and let some sunlight in!”

Finally, the 6 members gathered around the table and me, the President, took my position in front of the whiteboard.

This Club Activity session, our goal was to ‘find ghost stories’ and unveil the secret behind them.

"Okay. The Club Activity session is starting. Applaud everyone~”

Clap, clap, clap.

The members respond to Jinhee’s words, although unwillingly.

Reluctantly, I also followed suit.

Expressing my gratitude to Jinhee with a slightly embarrassed face, I began the session.

“Hmm. Thank you, Jinhee.”

Before, Jinhee used to always sleep face down in the classroom. After I bought the sofa, she started sleeping in the clubroom whenever she had time. Strangely enough, her attitude towards other members began to improve and so was her temper.

“The next Club Activity session will include gathering various scary rumours, ghost stories and urban legends floating around on the Internet and finding out if those strange phenomena actually occur. The topic of each Club Activity session will be changed every week.”

This was something agreed upon in advance with the approval of the members.

Now that I have successfully shown the members about the existence of the ghost stories and they also got to learn about the game-like system as well as the three-year time limit, we decided to gather information regarding supernatural phenomena rather than just waiting for them to happen.

“For now, the topic we will explore today is ‘Rothstein's Corridor’.”

"Einstein?"

“Those who don’t know, stay seated patiently. Gyeongwon, I’d like to hear the materials you have prepared.”

Soon after, Gyeongwon stood at the whiteboard instead of me and started reading the prepared materials.

“First, let me tell you a ghost story.”

Five mountain hikers were climbing a snow covered mountain. However, a sudden snow storm hit and they found themselves at a disadvantage.

Even after wandering around all over the mountains, they couldn't find their way back. Soon, it became dark and they had to find a shelter to survive the night.

Eventually, as the sun set, one of the hikers couldn't survive the harsh and cold weather and died.

The four hikers had no choice but to carry the dead body before they finally managed to find a dilapidated wooden cabin under a cliff. They took shelter in the cabin to protect themselves from the harsh weather.

Placing the dead body of their friend in the middle, the four people sat down in the four corners of the small 'squared' shaped cabin.

“If they fall asleep, they'll freeze to death. That's why, they thought of keeping themselves moving by changing their position one by one and going to the next corner to wake up the person seated there.”

The person who moved to the next corner would wake up the person seated there and take that person's position. The person whose position was taken would now move to the next corner and wake up the person seated there before taking that position….

Like this, four people keep spinning around as if playing tag.

Once they woke up the person sitting in the corner next to them, they could sleep for a few minutes until their turn came again. This way, the four hikers slept but still managed to get through the night on the snowy mountain.

Eventually, dawn broke and the day arrived with bright sunlight.

It was only when the mountain hikers, who stopped circling after hearing the sound of a rescue helicopter in the distance, did they realize something and broke into cold sweats.

What they were doing up until now.

It was impossible with 4 people.

“…This is the ghost story which is also called ‘Corner Game’.”

“How is it impossible with four people…?”

Sunah asked as if she was curious.

“From what I've heard, it is impossible. If you draw the picture of the four people sitting in their corner position and start the game from the beginning, you will realize that it makes absolutely no sense at all. Look Carefully."

Gyeongwon began to draw something on the whiteboard as he explained.

|o o|

|o o|

“There were four of them in the beginning, right? From here, if one person moves to the next corner.”

| o | | oo o|

“The drawing is unrecognizable.”

Gyeongwon's hand, drawing on the whiteboard, paused for a moment in response to Hayoon's sharp evaluation.

With ears turning red, he cleared his throat and continued his explanation as if he wasn't embarrassed.

“Then wake up the person before taking the position. And the person who has been removed from his position goes to the corner next to him and wakes up the person sleeping there.”

|o |

|o oo|

“Repeat again.”

|o o|

|o o|

“Now, here’s the problem. Where will the last person, whose position was taken, go?”

"……?"

“He is heading straight into an empty corner. This is why, to play this game, at least 5 people are needed. It seems possible with four people, especially when you first hear about it. You may mistakenly think that because there are four corners, four people are enough. It’s a ghost story that explores the loopholes in such thinking.”

"I see…”

Sunah reacted in an understanding manner.

“The main point of this ghost story is that, if you keep rotating around the four corners of a dark square room like this, an unidentified person gets mixed up and the cycle continues endlessly.”

"That's interesting. I understand where the name Corner Game is derived from. But why is it named Rothstein’s Corridor?”

“It was named after the person who first played this game before this ghost story came to be.”

In response to Teacher Hwaeun’s question, Gyeongwon raised his glasses before replying.

“The beginning of this corner game was an experiment conducted at Hingis Castle by a British nobleman named Lord Rothstein. After hearing a rumor that this act would bring about an unidentified person into existence, Lord Rothstein chose the darkest corridor in his castle and placed four people there to conduct the experiment.”

“What a brave man.”

“The end result was just as it was described in the ghost story. Even after the fourth person moved from his position, the order of rotating around each corner continued without a problem. The people on whom the experiment was conducted fainted from shock when realization dawned over them. That’s why this corner game is sometimes called ‘Rothstein’s Corridor’.”

The members quietly nodded their heads in understanding.

“Good job, Gyeongwon.”

“Yes.”

After sending Gyeongwon back to his seat, I stood in front of the whiteboard and looked down at the members before starting.

“Did everyone understand what the story was about?”

"We did."

“The Club Activity session is the 5th and 6th period. In this 5th period, we will listen to further explanation of this story and gather the materials to conduct the experiment on ourselves. And after a short break, starting from 6th period, we will block the windows of the clubroom and try this game ourselves.”

The members again nodded their heads.

It would be best if this strange phenomenon actually occurred to us when we would be playing this game.

‘All I have to do is just solve it and get points.’

However, even if the strange phenomenon didn't occur, it would still help us in finding out how this ghost story functions.

A lot of strange phenomena have happened to me until now. At those times, I was unaware and reluctant to face them but still somehow managed to resolve them and survive.

However, this time, we would be the one chasing the ghost stories, to find out whether the ghost stories circling around on the Internet simply come into existence if the conditions were met, or whether there was more to it than meets the eyes.

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