Ch. 8 - Second Ghost Story - Laughing Woman (4)

… When I came to, I was sitting at my desk.

The morning rays were shining into the classroom.

The students were quietly sitting.

I was at school.

‘… School.’

This.

… was… school, huh.

I was briefly in a daze, before letting out a big sigh.

Haah…

… I was alive.

Regardless, I was alive.

‘I came back.’

I was back at that miserable entrance ceremony.

It wasn’t even the first time.

My gosh.

“……?”

No, it was a bit off.

The fact that it was morning and a classroom was still the same.

But something was slightly different.

What is it…? Something was different.

What was it?

… The lights.

In the morning, because the sun was bright, it was difficult to tell if the lights were on or not. Because of that, it took me longer to realize that the lights were on.

During the entrance ceremony, the lights were definitely off because of the blackout.

‘What’s the date today?’

I immediately took out my phone from my pocket and checked the date.

[March 5, Tuesday. 07:59]

At that time, the door opened violently.

“Gasp, gasp……”

It was Sunah.

Sunah, who had barely avoided being late, roughly sat down at a nearby desk and began to catch her breath.

I had returned to the morning of that same day.

After a brief moment, the balding middle-aged homeroom teacher entered the classroom, chuckling and announcing the seat distribution method.

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

The students in the class slowly stood up and lined up in front of the teacher’s desk.

I could see Sunah and Gyeongwon among the students in the line.

‘This time, I returned to the same morning.’

I wondered what the standard was.

As I was contemplating that, I also stood up and got in line.

Shuffle.

‘Which paper did I choose last time? Was it this one?’

After opening the sheet I chose, it was, fortunately, 26—the same one as last time.

Since I had returned, I had decided to avoid making changes and instead, I was going to maintain the previous flow and slowly discover more about the situation.

When I went to the desk that corresponded with my number, I could see my partner, Dukhun, breathing harshly as he organized his belongings in the seat next to mine.

‘Last time, I was the first to greet him. My understanding of him rose when I discovered that he was an otaku from his speech patterns.’

I suddenly wondered if my Status Window would match with what I knew now, or with what was known at that moment in time—before I regressed. To test that theory, I opened DukHun’s Status Window first, before greeting him.

Poof.

《STATUS WINDOW

Name: Oh Dukhun

Age: 17

Disposition: ???

Special Ability: ???

Quirk: ???

Understanding: 15/100》

‘Hmmm…… .’

My understanding of him had already increased.

It seemed like the system transcended, and was unaffected by the regression.

… Well. I could have confirmed that through the statistics menu on the main menu screen last night.

“Hello, nice to meet you. Let’s get along.”

“Wheeze… Nice to meet y-UwU~……”

And after a bit of light conversation, I asked the same question I had asked before.

“Dukhun, you know the announcement printout that was distributed and then collected right away, right?’

“… Yeah.”

“I heard there was some weird stuff written on it, do you remember?”

Dukhun, who had been watching anime on his phone, took out his earbuds and began to stare off somewhere behind me.

“Aaah, are you talking about the Laughing Woman-desuka……?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Do you remember?”

Dukhun began to laugh as he responded.

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

“You can’t act like you see her?”

“Dame.”

“… Besides that, are there any specific words you remember?”

“Zenzen.”

“Dame and Zenzen, what do they mean? Is it Japanese?”

Dukhun flinched, and then answered.

“… It means ‘you can’t’ and ‘not at all’.”

“I see. Thanks.”

Dukhun put his earbuds in again and began to focus hard on his anime.

‘So those words didn’t mean much, after all.’

I went to visit Sunah’s seat after.

The first thing that I saw was Hayoon, who was exuding the atmosphere of a precious daughter of the upper class, calmly reading a book.

Next to her was the poor Sunah, who was restless due to meeting her partner for the first time.

When she saw me approach, her face changed to show a welcoming expression.

She looked like she wanted to greet me quickly, but because of her shy personality, she seemed to hesitate.

When I saw Sunah acting in that manner, I couldn’t help but feel a bit affectionate.

Was it because just before this, we had spent time together running for our lives?

Or was it because I could start our friendship over, without the burdensome incident that occurred before?

“Hello. I saw you were almost late today.”

“My grandmother woke me up late……”

“Do you just live with your grandmother?”

“Yeah……”

“How about your partner? Did you greet her yet?”

“Not yet……”

Hayoon briefly peeked in our direction before returning to reading.

I then greeted her.

“Hello, I’m Lee Joon.”

In response, Hayoon greeted me brightly, as if to suggest she had never put on a stoic expression.

“Yes, hello. I’m In Hayoon.”

“Do you happen to remember the announcement sheet that they distributed and took back yesterday?”

“Yes, why?”

“I heard there was a weird warning on it, do you happen to remember it?”

“I remember. Are you curious?”

“Yes, I’m curious. Will you tell me about it?”

Hayoon put her finger to her lips, making a gesture that suggested she was thinking.

White and smooth hands, slender fingers, tidy and trimmed fingernails.

“I think it was… 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.”

“It’s very creepy.”

It was here that I had suggested to Sunah that we should go to the school cafeteria because she was feeling a bit nervous the first time.

‘Let’s avoid the school cafeteria.’ Thinking that, I faced Sunah as I finished the sentence.

“Right? You also think it's creepy, right?”

Sunah flinched, but then she started smiling, as if she was relieved.

“Yeah, it’s weird.”

And so, the three of us spend the rest of break chatting about what middle school we graduated from and other typical topics like that.

The next class was English, but because it was the first lesson, the class was simple—speaking your name and introducing yourself in English.

The next break arrived.

Instead of visiting the school cafeteria, I entered the hallway and observed the cafeteria through the window.

‘Where did that woman come from?’

After waiting a bit, I saw something white pop out on the other side of the school walls, along the boundaries. It was at the wall, right next to the school cafeteria.

The pale white face of the brightly Laughing Woman popped up.

The Laughing Woman was standing on the other side of the wall.

She climbed up the wall and onto the school cafeteria's roof, then slowly crawled across the roof. Once there, she plopped herself right at the cafeteria's entrance.

‘So that was why she appeared at the entrance so suddenly, even though there was such a big crowd.’

As I watched the situation unfold, sweating, Gyeongwon came up next to me and started to speak.

“Hello. It’s our first time speaking since we saw each other yesterday. What are you looking at?”

“Umm, uh… Gyeongwon.”

When Gyeongwon saw how startled I was, he followed my gaze out of the window. When he discovered the woman, he frowned.

“…What is that person doing?”

“Gyeongwon, you see……”

I hesitated a bit before resolving myself to speak up.

“Gyeongwon, I think that lady may be the Laughing Woman that was mentioned on the announcement sheet yesterday.”

“What?”

Dukhun and Hayoon did think that the warning that said to beware of the Laughing Woman was weird, but they did not know much beyond that.

However, the person who had realized that the announcement was a ‘Manual ghost story’ was Gyeongwon, and only him.

If it was him, he might have known something more.

At the same time, the murmurs of the students near the school cafeteria could be heard.

“Wow, that scared me……”

“Who are you, old lady? Don’t block the path and move aside.”

“F*ck, stop blocking the pa—”

It wouldn’t be long before the lady would make her move.

I hurriedly asked him a question.

“Gyeongwon, this might be weird, but answer me right away. What do you have to do if you want to survive a ‘Manual ghost story’?”

Gyeongwon tilted his head and looked at me.

“Answer me. How does the main character in the manual story survive?”

“… Main character?”

He seemed really flustered.

“Quickly! Whatever comes to mind!”

“That is… I think I told you yesterday that technically, there is no main character in that story. There is no introduction, development, turn, or conclusion.”

Suddenly he stared at me in a way that suggested he was looking down on me.

“Did you perhaps not get it yet? It’s a simple concept.”

However, I didn’t give in. Instead, I pushed back.

“I f*cking understood, so just tell me, how do the people who see her survive? That’s what I want to hear!”

Despite his high pride, it seemed he had no resistance to cursing. He seemed to flinch at the pressure I applied.

After a brief thought, he answered with what he remembered.

“Probably, uh… since it's a ‘Manual ghost story’, you just have to follow the manual? Since it's in the form of a warning and all.”

“……!”

Afterwards, Gyeongwon laughed as he looked out the window again.

“You’re uselessly serious. Did you see that old lady and think about that? That’s just an insane woma—”

“I AAAAAMMMMM NNNNNOOOOOOOOTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

The woman let out a piercing scream and threw something in our direction.

The industrial grade box cutter. It flew in a straight line at the hallway window, and…

Crash!

It broke through the glass and pierced Gyeongwon’s forehead.

“Ugh—”

The young master couldn’t even scream before his head was forced back.

The boxcutter had been thrown with such force that it had forced Gyeongwon a long way backwards.

Thud.

His body stopped only once it hit the wall. His head hung down and his body leaned against the wall.

It had only been a day since I had made friends with that prideful guy.

Ahn Gyeongwon.

“….!”

It happened way too suddenly.

Except for the few students who had been in the hallway, nobody had noticed.

Because the place where Gyeongwon had collapsed was not visible from the outside, it seemed like the people at the school store did not realize what had happened.

I quickly rushed back into the classroom.

‘… Follow the manual? Pretend I didn’t see her?’

F*ck… was that something that a human could do?

An insane, brightly laughing woman was slaughtering people in front of your eyes, and you were supposed to act naturally?

Even if an actor were to come, he wouldn’t be able to act like that.

‘F*ck, f*ck……’

I didn’t know what to do.

I wasn’t the hero-type, who went out of his way to solve difficult problems.

At the end of the day, it was just one lady. Whether it was the police or the military, they could figure the f*cking situation out.

For now, with thoughts of escape, I grabbed my shoe bag from my locker and was about to run out when I suddenly saw Sunah.

She was sitting next to her indifferent partner, being conscious of others without knowing what was going on.

“……”

I quickly walked over to Sunah’s seat.

“Hey, Sunah?”

“… Yeah?”

She turned around to face me with a welcoming expression.

“That is……”

What should I do?

I was originally thinking of running away. I would rather not survive by myself, it would have been lonely.

If Sunah and I escaped the school and all the way to the subway station during the time that the woman was rampaging, wouldn’t it work out?

As for the rest… we could think about it later.

As I was in a panic, I could only think about how I could slip out of this situation.

“Sunah, uh… you want to take a stroll around the courtyard with me?”

“……”

Sunah stared at me with round eyes.

“Break time will end soon……”

“Break time was extended due to some school situation.”

At those words, Hayoon, who was one seat over, peeked over in my direction.

I ignored her and continued to say whatever came to mind.

“It was extended another twenty minutes. Maybe because it’s the day after the entrance ceremony, the schedule got screwed up. Let’s go on a walk.”

“Uh, sure. Let’s go, then……”

As Sunah reluctantly stood up, I rushed her out of the classroom quickly.

“Kyaaa—!”

“Uaaahh—! Save me—!”

You could slowly start to hear screams coming from the direction of the school store.

“Huh? Over there……”

“Let’s go, quickly.”

As we were passing through the hallway, Sunah was about to look out of the window. However, when I rushed her she just followed me out.

We were in the main building, and the school store was in the back. The courtyard was in front of the main building.

It seemed like it would take time for the chaos that was occurring at the school store to spread through the main building and to the courtyard, so it was still quite peaceful there.

There were upperclassmen determined to play soccer, despite the short time, and female students out on a walk while giggling amongst themselves.

“This way.”

“Sure……”

Sunah and I joined the people who were taking a stroll around the circumference of the courtyard and began to walk.

Our destination was the front gates. Because I was in a hurry I didn’t notice, but Sunah had an awkward expression because I had suddenly dragged her out.

I was striding about, and Sunah was hesitantly following me.

In that manner, we walked silently. Soon, we reached the front gate.

Luckily, because an ingredients delivery truck was coming in, the gates were open.

We could see that the security guard had stopped the truck and was chatting about the weather with the driver.

I was on silent standby at the basketball court near the front gate.

Sunah was calmly standing next to me.

“Kyaaaa!”

“Uaaah, Aaaaaccckkk!”

At some point, screams could be heard coming from the main building.

Even though the front gates were on the opposite side of the courtyard from the main building and quite far away, we could already start hearing the pandemonium within.

The students who had been strolling in the courtyard stopped and started to shade their eyes from the sun to see what was happening in the main building.

“Did something happen?”

“Over there, look over there.”

Through the windows of one of the classrooms on the middle floor, we could see students running around, screaming.

In between some of the waving curtains, we could see some of the students falling over.

Soon, some of the students stuck their heads out of the windows in the direction of the courtyard and shouted.

“Help us! Help us! Call the police! Police!”

“Save me! Save me!”

Some of the students even tried to escape through the windows by balancing on the ledge and sliding over to the side.

All of the students in the courtyard began to murmur about what was happening.

Even the security guard, who was standing by the front gates, and the truck driver, who leaned out of his window, began to look towards the main building.

“… What’s that?”

“Hmmm…… .”

It was a male student, who had climbed out of the window and tried to cross over to the next classroom using the pipe.

From the window that the student just came out of, the lady pushed her head out and began to shake her fingers at the boy as she began to laugh like crazy.

“KYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…!”

The student, who was dangerously trying to cross over using the pipe, was startled and lost his footing when he heard her laughter behind him, leading to his fall.

“Uaaaaaahhhhhhh……”

Splat.

“KYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

“Kyaaaa!”

“A person fell!”

The students in the courtyard began to panic.

Sunah was nervously looking towards the main building.

“Sunah.”

“Yeah?”

I grabbed Sunah and slowly began to explain.

“Sunah, listen closely. Right now, someone has infiltrated the school and is swinging a weapon around. Since it’s dangerous, let’s wait outside of the school until the situation is settled.”

Sunah stared at me with round eyes, before reluctantly nodding her head.

“In order to do that, we need to pass through the front gate without the security guard knowing. Crouch down quietly and follow me. Okay?”

Nod, nod.

Bringing Sunah along, I avoided the security guard, who was distracted watching the chaos occurring at the main building. I ducked behind the truck and headed towards the gates.

“Kyaaaa!”

“Uaaaaaaahhhhh!”

Suddenly, I could hear shouts from the back of the courtyard.

What happened?

Did that woman already get to the courtyard?

After passing a few steps through the front gate, I looked back to check the situation.

A pale white woman, who was laughing brightly, was creating a dust storm in the courtyard.

Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud.

She was running towards me.

“DDDDOOOOOOONNNNNNN’TTTTTTT LLLLLLLLEEEEEAAAAVVVVEEEE!!!!!!!!!”

As if she was in fast forward, the girl was dashing towards us, swinging her arms all willy nilly. She quickly jumped over the truck.

The pale, brightly laughing face was rapidly getting closer.

Slash!

‘…F*ck.’

As my head was blown into the air, I could see my headless body and the Laughing Woman miserably slaughtering Sunah before I blacked out, again.

[You are dead.]

[You will restart at your previous checkpoint.]

[Loading…]

***

Slide.

“Gasp, gasp……”

Sunah, who had barely avoided being late, sat down roughly at a nearby desk and began to catch her breath.

‘……’

I had returned to the classroom.

If I met her I would die, and when I attempted to run away, I still died.

‘What am I supposed to do? F*ck.’

I considered Gyeongwon’s hint: since it's a ‘manual ghost story’, follow the manual.

[If you discover a woman laughing in an unusual manner at school, pretend you don’t see her and just act naturally until she passes by.]

Act naturally in front of the woman, utilizing superhuman acting abilities.

Was that the only method……?

‘That’s insane, how do you do that?’

Pretending you didn’t see her was simply looking away or closing one’s eyes.

I had seen that a lot of the victims had turned to run away or closed their eyes, but were still murdered.

Pretending you didn’t see her involved acting like she was actually not there.

It meant behaving totally normally when you saw the woman.

‘This is driving me crazy……’

Was that even possible?

At least look a little less scary!

A middle-aged lady in pale white makeup with an eerie smile laughing crazily while swinging around a box cutter…

F*ck, I would have been thankful if I managed to not piss myself in fear.

‘But I have no option other than attempting it……’

In a situation where there is no one else around.

Other people would surely start murmuring about her and only serve to instigate her.

The only possible method was that, before the woman climbed over the wall and onto the cafeteria roof, I needed to climb over the wall and face her one-on-one. Then, I would have to do what the manual said.

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