Ch. 94 - Eleventh Ghost Story - The Forgotten Friend (7)

With an anxious environment hovering around us, we stood in the hallway waiting for Eunjung, who had gone to the bathroom.

As time passed and the start of the second period approached, no unfamiliar faces were seen entering the classroom.

Eventually, we caught the attention of our homeroom teacher, who had come to teach Korean Language, his own subject.

“Members of the Ghost Story Club. Let’s stop the meeting and go in.”

“Are you children waiting here to greet me? Hoho... I'm so happy.”

Eventually, we started the second period without meeting Kim Eunjung.

“It’s nice to see you again after seeing you this morning. I think I see you children more often than my family.”

Hoho, the homeroom teacher laughed heartily before starting the class.

I looked around the back seats, but as expected, the seat next to Jinhee was still devoid of any owner.

“Teacher?”

“Hmm? Who called me?”

I carefully raised my hand to gauge out a reaction.

“Eunjung isn’t in the classroom.”

Then, the homeroom teacher squinted his eyes and scanned the back row, before looking around with a bewildered expression.

“That’s true. Does anyone know where Eunjung went?”

“She’s sick and went to the infirmary.”

Chaerin, the female Vice Class President sitting in the middle row, answered instead, and the homeroom teacher nodded in understanding.

“Even in this wonderful season of spring, there are sick youths. When I was young…”

Murmur, murmur.

Soon the second period ended, and the six of us hurriedly left the classroom and ran to the infirmary.

“Hurry, hurry!!”

“Huff, huff.”

The infirmary was located on the far right corner of the first floor, right next to the east entrance.

We hurriedly ran there.

Knock, creak-

“… No one is here.”

The usual characteristics of an infirmary doctor: never found when you need them.

I quickly went inside and inspected the beds, lifting the curtains covering the partitions one by one.

“Here. It looks like someone was lying here just now.”

Then, we found one of the partition beds was a bit messy with the lights turned on.

Next to the bed, Jinhee found the students’ attendance record on the nurse’s desk and opened it.

“Kim Eunjung’s name is written here.”

“Where, where.”

Jinhee pointed to a place in the record book with familiarity.

“Right here, Kim Eunjung. She came in during the first and second periods because she had a cold and rested for a bit…”

On the logbook neatly written in block letters were the name 'Kim Eunjung,' the time she arrived, and the reason she was there for.

“Then if we go back to the classroom, we can catch her there…!”

“No.”

I stopped Sunah, who was about to leave the infirmary and sprint back to the classroom and shook my head.

“Even if we go back to the classroom now, she probably won’t be there.”

“...Why’?”

Sunah's steps leaving the infirmary halted as she turned around with a curious expression.

I sighed and tapped the entry log.

“We didn’t miss Kim Eunjung. That’d be ridiculous. There was no way out for her to slip away under all of our careful eyes.”

“That’s right. It does seem ridiculous.”

Gyeongwon nodded along, showing his agreement.

"We all stayed in our positions and watched closely. No matter how much I think about it, it’s strange to have missed her.”

“Then?”

“Well.”

To the members who were bewildered as to how to accept this strange development, I proposed a bold hypothesis.

“It seems like reality is being manipulated.”

“What?”

The members showed a surprised look.

“....Are you sure? Reality Manipulation?”

Whether that word matched his 'chuunibyou', middle schooler syndrome sensibility, Dukhun muttered like reciting a line from a script.

“...Manipulation of reality?”

“Yeah. Every time we recognize Kim Eunjung's existence and follow her traces, reality is being manipulated to give us a suitable excuse… That’s what I think.”

“Crazy.”

Jinhee muttered with a dumbfounded expression.

But it was not surprising.

“There's nothing to be surprised about. We all already experienced this yesterday. Like the memories with Kim Eunjung that appeared in the album, or the manipulated memories of our parents…”

“Well, that’s true…”

However, for some odd reason unknown to us, we couldn't grasp Kim Eunjung for now.

I slowly started explaining that to the members.

"Gyeongwon's words earlier were right. We all kept our positions and monitored the classroom without missing a thing. It doesn’t make sense that we would miss her or anything. It would be more accurate to say that the memories of the students in the class are being manipulated at every moment.”

“I think it’s a possibility, Prez.”

“Even if we go back to the classroom now, Kim Eunjung will probably not be there for a good reason.”

“....Then how can we catch her?”

Sunah asked with a worried expression.

Truth to be told, I was also worried.

If we leave things running wild like this, things might get messed up.

It was imperative that we catch her before something strange occurs but how do we even do that?

“Gyeongwon, anything coming to mind?”

“Well.”

Gyeongwon also showed an unsure expression

“Like any ghost stories or something similar to this situation that comes to your mind.”

“What I said yesterday was all I know about this kind of ghost story…”

The ghost story about a childhood friend that no one remembers, that he organized after listening to Jinhee’s story yesterday.

But in this case…

With the current development, it would be better to rename it to the ghost story about a friend that ‘only I’ can’t remember. If a suspicious girl I don’t remember at all suddenly came up to me, claiming to have been a friend since childhood.

How should I deal with that?

She even seemed to be a psycho who enjoys killing animals and even has a few screws missing.

What would happen if a person with that kind of personality tries to flaunt their familiarity and blend into everyday life?

What if all the evidence points to us being friends?

I took a moment to collect my thoughts and began instructing the members.

“First of all, we don't have enough information about her. The real Kim Eunjung before we got involved in the ghost story. We need to find out if she really existed or not.”

That’s right.

Kim Eunjung, Jinhee’s elementary school friend.

Was she truly a real person?

If she was somewhere alive and well, what could be her connection to the ghost story that we were encountering?

“That’s probably hard to find out unless we go to that elementary school and ask…”

I nodded to Gyeongwon, who trailed off with uncertainty.

We were planning to visit her after school today anyway.

We needed to hold on until then.

“That being said, we can't just sit by idly and let things unfold like this the whole day, so it would be best to find out what kind of person Kim Eunjung is in the memories of the students in our class. It’s better to know at least one more thing about her than nothing at all.”

“But, President…”

Dukhun called with a serious expression.

"Wouldn't it be better if the six of us spread out around the school? We could hide in places like the staff room, the infirmary, the bathrooms, and so on. If we cover all possible spots and search around, she might not be able to escape or make excuses.”

“Were you even listening to what Prez said? Even if you do that, you still can’t catch her, you idiot. There’s no real person with this name, no real person.”

“T-That’s right.”

Fortunately, Gyeongwon scolded him instead as he crossed his arms.

“Even if we searched the entire school to make sure she can't escape, there’d still be new excuses for her to not be at her seats. Like she was feeling very sick and left early to go home.”

“Wow, this is so frustrating, F*ck… It’s like she's right in front of us.”

Jinhee, who is usually impatient, immediately started rubbing her fists with a frustrated expression. But that's just how it is when you forget your friends.

For now, only excuses were floating around, with no one knowing exactly how she, Eunjung, looked like.

After the third period Social Studies class ended, the members of the Ghost Story Club roamed around the classroom, asking about Eunjung.

"She has got a bit of curl? Not like an old lady perm, just slightly curly? Yeah... Her hair comes down to about her armpits. But why are you asking? Oh, we were going to draw a caricature, but she wasn’t in her seat.”

“Is she nice? Really? How’s she at studying? Just average…”

While asking the students in the class, we were giving them all sorts of strange reasons.

Our Class Vice President, Chaerin, with her cat-like eyes, watched the members wandering around, crossed her arms, and snapped at them.

“You guys are awfully interested in Eunjung today.”

Then, our class’s handsome President, Janghun, passed by smiling as he said.

“Your are in the same club, you know.”

“...What?”

Janghun seemed to be dealing with prostatitis, he exited through the back door and headed to the bathroom again.

[Your understanding of the character Ban Janghun has increased by 5.]

“Wait a minute!”

When I called him over again, he looked at me in a puzzled manner.

“What's wrong?”

“....Nothing.”

I hastily turned around and quietly opened the Status Window.

‘Status window.’

Pop.

[2019, May 1st | Wednesday, 10:53 AM]

[Lee Joon: Number of Attempts - 2]

[Ghost Story Points: 67]

[Causality Rate: 14%]

① Status window

② Manage Club

③ Statistics

④ Settings

‘Manage Club.’

Pop.

[Ghost Story Club LV.5]

① Club Status Window

② Manage Members

③ Store

④ Club Settings

‘Manage members .’

Paat-

No way.

No way.

The name that first appeared in my vision, as if trying to meet my expectations.

Kim Eunjung LV.1 [0/100]

Oh Dukhun LV.1 [0/100]

Yoon Sunah LV.2 [0/200]

Ahn Gyeongwon LV.2 [0/200]

Lee Jinhee LV.1 [0/100]

In Hayoon LV.2 [0/200]

Jang Hwaeun LV.1 [0/100]

Crazy.

Our club member?

‘F*ck, what the hell is going on…’

I opened Kim Eunjung’s Status Window with a hazy mind.

‘Kim Eunjung, Status Window.’

Pop.

《STATUS WINDOW

Name: Kim Eunjung LV.1 [0/100]

Age: ???

Title: Twisted? Heart

Disposition: Equivalent X Imitation?

Special Ability: Reaper

Quirk: □□Soul

Understanding: 3.141592-/100》

I told the members while bathing in cold sweat.

“Hey, guys. I’m going to the teachers' office for a bit. I have something to check.”

“Oh, okay.”

Dukhun gave a vague nod and continued his investigation.

“What does she look like? Tell me again.”

“Big eyes, always smiling… Her hair… Should I say it’s curly? It’s slightly wavy… But why are you asking when you just saw her this morning-”

While the other members were busy asking their classmates about Kim Eunjung, I quickly rushed to the teachers' office.

Because there was someone I absolutely had to talk to about her.

“Are you talking about Eunjung?”

Our homeroom teacher, who was found on the first floor inside the teachers' office, turned his head while digging his ears.

“Yes. I don't remember when she joined our club, before I applied for the club or after that."

"Why does that matter?"

"I need to know…”

The middle-aged bald man with a rotund belly, our homeroom teacher, Park Damim.

He was the one who accepted the application for the Ghost Story Club and even helped me assign the members.

‘It’s best to ask this person.’

“....You’re unnecessarily curious about that.”

“Please.”

I begged the homeroom teacher again, who muttered incredulously.

I certainly didn't forget the fact that this person was also in a cahoot with the unknown force in the school trying to kill me.

However, on the surface, they appear to be fulfilling their role as a teacher and leading a normal adult life in society.

How did Kim Eunjung become a member of our club?

That wasn’t something I couldn’t ask as a student, and it wasn’t something I couldn’t explain either because he was working with the evil force.

“Please.”

I requested firmly.

“I want you to tell me what you remember.”

“Well, okay. Let me see…”

The homeroom teacher quietly looked at the calendar.

Looking back, it seemed like everything happened in March, about two months ago.

“Hmm, hmm.”

The homeroom teacher, who had been staring at the calendar as if trying to recall, eventually folded his hands over the protruding belly and leaned back in their chair before answering.

“So it must have been the first week after the entrance ceremony? Joony submitted his application to me with one less member’s name.”

“Yes, I remember that. What happened next?”

“Then, I secretly assigned Jinhee's name as the remaining member…”

Up to this point, our memories appear to be aligned.

“And right before the first CA session on Friday, you put Hayoon and Dukhun's name, who had been rejected from the other club’s interview, into your club, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Hayoon had been rejected from the Library Club, and Dukhun had been rejected from the Anime Club.

And after encountering the ghost story Dream Within Dreams together, I assigned both of them into our club.

That was how the original 7 members, including teacher Jang Hwaeun, came to be.

“So what about Eunjung? When did she join?”

“Hmm? Eunjung? That’s right…? Let’s see. When was that…”

The homeroom teacher suddenly trembled in surprise as if he just realized something.

"Th-this is unbelievable! H-how could this happen… Ah, come to think of it, Eunjung…”

Then, soon after, he composed his expression again.

“I remembered. Now that I think about it, Eunjeong transferred right after.”

“....Transfer?”

The homeroom teacher nodded calmly.

“I also forgot it because it was the beginning of the semester. Eunjung is a transfer student. Since she transferred midway, she ended up joining the Ghost Story Club since it was composed of the students of the same class.”

“…I see.”

So that's how it happened.

My best friend from elementary school, Kim Eunjung, who transferred when we were young.

Now that she was transferred to our school, and even become ingrained in everyone’s memories.

“...I understand for now. Thank you.”

“Hoho.”

The bell rang, announcing the end of the break time.

I enquired what I wanted to clarify and was about to leave with a curtsey goodbye to prepare for the next class.

“Joony Boy.”

“....Yes?”

My homeroom teacher suddenly called me.

“It seems like you've gotten involved in something strange again.”

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