Ch. 52 - Eighth Ghost Story - Doomed Midterm Exam (3)

The day before the midterm exam, during lunchtime.

I explained what I had just experienced to the members gathered in the clubroom.

"What!"

After hearing what had occurred to me, Gyeongwon exclaimed loudly in astonishment.

“How can that happen?”

"It's true. I just died like that and came back.”

Even though I confirmed for the second time, he only shook his head in disbelief.

However, among the others, Sunah looked at me with a serious expression before saying quietly.

“I believe you, Joon…”

Oh oh!

At her serious proclamation, I was suddenly moved to tears.

“Thank you for trusting me, Sunah!”

“Hehehe.”

Sunah blushed as she giggled.

“Actually, I think I know the answer…”

"Really?"

As Sunah whispered in my ears, my eyes grew wide.

I was dumbfounded by the answer, but there was definitely nothing else that could be considered logically correct.

As I couldn't help but wonder how Sunah could know the answer, she added in a whisper.

“I think I would do the same if it were me…”

…I see.

Clearing my throat, I looked around at the members and asked again.

“What about you guys? Do you believe what I just said?”

Hayoon quietly nodded her head.

Gyeongwon only sighed to himself, as if he had no choice but to accept it.

The four of us were able to accept the fact of my regression quickly because we had once experienced a similar situation in a ghost story, Dreams Within Dreams. There was also the ghost story Song of Resentment, where an ominous song infected whoever listened to it, which we also experienced together.

‘Of course, in the case of the Song of Resentment, only I remember the whole incident.’

Except for the four of us, there were also Dukhun and Jinhee, who showed a dumbfounded look as this was their first time being involved in such a strange phenomenon.

Soon, Dukhun crossed his fat arms and let out a voice full of complaints.

“I don’t believe it. But the ghost story you mentioned earlier, isn’t that a Japanese ghost story?”

“Oh, right. You also said that previously!”

“It's a bit like ‘Purple Mirror’…”

At that moment, Gyeongwon intervened from the side.

“Oh Dukhun. I think you're also familiar with this story. You know, the Purple Mirror-”

“Oi oi- f*ck you. Stop right now."

Before Gyeongwon could explain further, Dukhun held out his hand to stop Gyeongwon from speaking and shook his head.

“You're being too greedy trying to monopolize the explanation. This is my ‘domain’.”

“Hehe. Suppressing my instinct to explain things is a bit troublesome... I apologize for that.”

“Ah, it’s okay. You're very good at explaining. That's your ‘talent’ after all.”

"Is that so? Hehehe.”

“Kukkukkuk.”

“You too.”

“Oi oi.”

“You two b*stards, stand up.”

"Stan…ding~~~ up!”

“Kuso, standing upppp!”

Jinhee, who was awake and listening to our discussion quietly, spoke coldly. At that moment, the two stood up at lightning speed.

“You two, go to the window and lower your head to the floor.”

“……”

“Lower your head, right now!”

“Yes, ma'am!”

The two of them walked around the desk with a huff and went towards the window.

With unwilling eyes, they lowered their bodies on the ground and touched the floor with their heads, like the map of Wonsan city.

[T/N: Wonsan, previously known as Wonsanjin (元山津), Port Lazarev, and Genzan (元山), is a port city and naval base located in Kangwon Province. The map of Wonsan looks like a bowing figure.]

Jinhee stood up silently, and with her hands in her skirt’s pockets, walked over to the two, and climbed on Dukhun's large back. Her head resting just below Dukhun's neck.

Then, with a swift motion, she draped her legs over to Gyeongwon's hips, who was in a similar position to Dukhun before nodding her to me, as if signaling for me to continue.

“Thank you, Jinhee.”

Over the course of a month, the members of the club became quite close to each other. There were also several minor changes in greetings and interactions.

One of those was what Jinhee did just now.

Whenever I was unable to suppress the blabbering mouths of Gyeongwon and Dukhun, who were busy boasting about their talents, Jinhee would always step in and beat them up to calm the mood.

“What were you two talking about? According to you two, if I remember this story until the age of 20, I’ll receive a sudden phone call. Logically speaking, it’s a ghost story, right?”

“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.”

“But it was said in the ghost story that I would receive the phone call only when I turn 20. Then why did I get a phone call just the moment after hearing it…”

While quietly muttering the question, something suddenly clicked in my mind and everything became as clear as water.

Come to think of it, I was twenty years old, technically.

Although my current age is 17, if I add the 3 years from my previous life, I am now exactly 20!

Was that why I got a call the day I heard the story?

Because I was already 20 years old.

“Pr... Prez? Why aren't you saying anything… doesn't it ring a bell, even something small?”

Gyeongwon asked while lying face down.

Certainly, their hypothesis helped me a lot, but I couldn't tell them the truth yet.

Although we encountered and fought ghost stories together, and even went back to the past, I couldn't just go ahead and tell them that I ended up living for a whopping 3 more years than them.

Not to mention, they don't even have any knowledge about the game-like system and Status Window, which were key information.

‘...It would be difficult to explain that to Jinhee and Dukhun, those two are complete beginners.’

However, If I ever get a chance someday. I'd love to share my secret with all of my members, but not now.

Coming to a conclusion, I turned around.

"No, it's just… I was wondering why I got the phone call when I was still 17 years old.”

“Hmm... well... now that I think about it.”

Even when Gyeongwon and Dukhun had their heads touching the floor, they enthusiastically exchanged opinions.

"This… No, if you think about it another way…”

“No, rather than that… What I think is... it's a little different…”

Jinhee, who was sitting on top of them quietly with her arms crossed, yawned.

After a while.

Gyeongwon and Dukhun finally stopped discussing and started explaining while shaking along the way.

“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…”

"That… That’s right…”

"Anyway… The key problem is Prez... I think I only read some of the elements somewhere, but don't know the actual answer... This is our first time hearing something like this... The truth is, we don't know for sure... I don’t think you need to worry too much about the details… for now…”

I nodded quietly to the two, who were responding while shaking under the weight of Jinhee.

“… I see. As expected, our members are the best.”

The next day, I attended the midterm exams once again.

Since these were the questions I had solved once before, I quickly solved the problems, checked the answers and waited patiently for the test time to end.

1st period; Math passed. 2nd period; English passed.

“Jinhee, are you sleeping again?”

As Teacher Jang Hwaeun asked suddenly, Jinhee raised her head slowly.

“You can sleep after revising your answers. Come on, come on.”

Reluctantly, Jinhee started checking her OMR sheet at teacher's urging.

Soon, it was time for the third test of the day: Science.

“Why aren't you writing?”

Since I had already solved the questions once before I died, I answered all the questions quickly and wasted the rest of the time by looking around. Seeing me fidgeting on my seat, the science teacher came and asked me what I was doing.

“I solved everything.”

“I think you skipped some of the questions.”

Certainly, there wasn't any single trace of solving any problems on my question paper since I knew the answers anyway. I didn't even need to glance at the question paper.

“Don’t fool around and solve them properly.”

Just like before, the teacher just spatted out those words like a command and walked away.

But his eyes continued to be directed at me.

‘… Such a suspicious guy.’

Having no choice, I had to direct my attention to the question paper.

Just as I expected.

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

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

At the brink of starvation, the man's wife managed to catch a seagull and fed it to her husband. After that, the two waited for rescue.

Before long, a rescue ship arrived a few days later. However, the man's wife unfortunately died of starvation.

As the man grieved alone, he was rescued from the island. Stepping into civilization, he remembered the meat of the seagull his wife had cooked for him and visited a seagull restaurant to reminisce about the memory of their last moment.

However, just after taking a bite of the meat, the man committed suicide by stabbing himself in the neck with the fork in hand.

Why did the man suddenly commit suicide?]

Just like before, the strange story was written in the last part of the question paper.

Why was this strange story written only on my exam paper?

'Hmm.'

The strange phenomenons that started happening around me, which I defined as ghost stories... Not to mention, the game-like system which Dukhun explained before using the RPG game as an example, one thing was obviously clear; I was being attacked continuously by the Demon King.

From my perspective as I experienced those incidents, it felt as if they were happening naturally.

For example, in the case of the ghost story, Mother Dilemma, that strange being didn't just crawl out of the school nor did it enter our apartment by opening the front door.

But it was as if the thing was created at some point inside the house.

The Song of Resentment, that infected whoever listened to it, wasn't neither written with the curse of resentment nor was it composed by the Demon King, who was residing under the school.

Someone murdered a person and buried her on the floor, and a few days later, another person just ‘accidently’ stumbled upon the lyrics, composed it in a song, and spread that resentment on TV.

‘These strange phenomenons are called ghost stories. But I have no idea how these stories operate. It’s clear that the Demon King is trying to attack me in some unique ways.’

However, even if we don't take that into consideration, the ghost stories that kept occuring to me had elements in them which clearly existed in the world from the beginning.

The Psychology Test that I encountered before didn't appear just out of thin air.

The file that contained the questions to the psychology test, which teacher Jang Hwaeun confiscated from senior students, who were wasting their time in the Study Room, was nothing but an ordinary file.

But the fundamental entity of the psychopath existed from the very beginning.

‘Then what about this question paper?’

Until now, I simply thought that the question paper, which appeared to be fine, turned into a ghost story because I was involved. If I didn't encounter it, it would have deformed on its own.

But was that really the case?

As the question arose, I couldn't help but doubt.

Which came first? The ghost story or this question?

Did this question magically appear on the question paper because I was involved in ghost stories?

Or was it because I saw this question written on the question paper that I triggered the ghost story?

‘Let’s examine both possibilities.’

If I concluded that the former came first, there was nothing to think about.

The Demon King attacked me with a ghost story. And because of that, this strange question appeared on my question paper.

The end.

‘But if it’s the latter.’

What if this ghost story was written on the question paper first, and I just triggered it by reading it?

This last question was written only on my question paper.

What if someone wrote it down on purpose for me to read?

‘There is only one person who can do that.’

It was the science teacher, who was supervising the test right now.

He created the questions by himself and also distributed the question papers himself.

It wouldn't be that difficult for him to create a separate question paper that contained a ghost story written on it and distribute it solely to me.

Assuming that, another question arose.

'Why?'

The science teacher.

Why was this person trying to kill me?

And that also using ghost stories.

Ding~ dong~ Dang~ dong ♬

The bell for the last test rang, indicating the end of the first day of the midterm exam. However, I still couldn't reach a conclusion.

The science teacher was bluntly collecting OMR sheets from students and organizing them one by one.

‘Maybe I’m just overthinking it.’

A middle-aged man who only exchanged a few words with the students.

What if I was just framing him as a very bad person?

As I quietly stared at the teacher's face, a thought suddenly passed through my mind.

‘Why did he warn only me to take the test properly?’

Jinhee, who was always sleeping in the backseat, should have been the one being scolded for not taking the test properly, not me. Just as Teacher Hwaeun urged her, he should have urged her too.

At least I solved all the questions unlike Jinhee, who was sleeping on her stomach the whole time or just zoning out.

Not to mention, wasn't he the famous science teacher, who was known for not interacting with students on a regular basis?

Was he afraid that I wouldn't read the last question, which was a ghost story?

Other than that, I couldn't think of any other reason.

As I was immersed in thoughts, the teacher soon left the classroom, and the students also began to move around in their seats noisily.

Gyeongwon, Dukhun, Sunah, and Hayoon also quickly gathered around me.

"How was it? Did you have that strange question again this time?”

I jumped up from my seat, stopping the members who were trying to take a peek at my question paper.

“The science teacher. I’m suspicious of him.”

"What?"

The members all stared at me confused.

However, Gyeongwon immediately answered, flashing his glasses.

“As expected, while taking the test I was also wondering who could do something like this. And the only answer that came to mind was the science teacher who was supervising us.”

“Let’s go tail him!”

“Su, suddenly?”

Sunah asked in confusion, unable to keep up with me who was already leaving the classroom with hurrying steps.

“I will get a call soon. I don’t know if he is the one behind the strange question but I want to check for now. I’ll tail the science teacher and see what he’s doing.”

“Let, let’s go together!”

The five of us left the crowded classroom.

Except for Jinhee, who was sitting in the backseat and staring ahead indifferently.

Fortunately, the science teacher seemed to be not moving too quickly and had just turned the corner. When we left the classroom, he was heading up the stairs.

“Let’s follow him by keeping a safe distance. Just enough so that he won't notice us and we don’t miss him.”

Slowly, we increased our distance and followed the teacher with me leading the way.

Stumble.

“We are too many people following one person.”

“We must be careful.”

The scene of all of us huddled together like this in the school and following the teacher was hilarious.

"Shh."

While going around the stairs, I peeked out my head through the gaps of the stairs so as not to miss him.

The place we arrived at was the 4th floor.

“As expected, the teacher is going into the Science Lab.”

The 4th floor was the home to facilities for teaching purposes. Including a Science Lab, there was a Music Room and Computer Lab.

Stopping at the floor, the science teacher walked down the quiet hallway and headed towards the Science Lab.

“Did he enter the office?”

In the Science Lab, in addition to the space where students conducted various experiments, there was another room in the corner that was used as a materials space and as an office for the science teacher.

Compared to ordinary teachers, who had their own designated seats in the teacher's office, teachers of some subjects, such as science or music, spent more time in dedicated spaces.

“It’s not worth following him like this. We can’t see what he's doing.”

"F*ck it."

Suddenly, the sound of someone cursing from behind was heard. As we turned around, we saw Jinhee standing with her arms crossed.

“You just have to go ahead.”

Jinhee walked across the group of us, who were huddled together, and stood in front of the Science Lab before opening the sliding door.

Slid-

At the same time.

[…♬…]

Just like in the movie Call Me, where an ominous melody rings from a music box, the ringtone rang loudly as if holding a devastating omen.

It was coming from my cell phone.

“Are you going to answer the phone, Prez?”

“F*ck, wait a minute.”

I tried pressing the ignore button and turning off the phone or turning it silent, but the ringing didn't stop.

Rather, it rang louder and louder.

“We are going to get caught.”

“Then I’ll just answer it, hehe.”

Since I knew the answer to the question anyway, there was nothing to worry about.

Dud.

"Hello?"

[Why did the man commit suicide?]

A man's voice, modulated into mechanical sound was heard through the cell phone.

And at the same time, Jinhee entered the Science Lab with thundering steps and opened the door to the office with a bang.

Bang-

[What, what! Who are you!]

A distorted male voice shouting urgently was heard from inside the phone.

With curiosity bubbling inside, I also stuck my head into the Science Lab and looked into the office.

Then I saw Jinhee nodding her head in pride at me, catching the science teacher, who was standing there awkwardly while holding a cell phone.

“What are you doing here? This is not a place where students can venture as they wish! Get out!"

"What the…."

Was it really this person?

Not wasting another moment, we all quickly rushed into the Science Lab.

“Guys, we must stop him from escaping.”

Sunah locked the entrance to the Science Lab from the inside and Dukhun blocked the office door.

“Y-you can’t come in here! Get out now!"

"Be quiet. I know you were the one who put that strange question on my question paper.”

“W-what?”

The science teacher was surprised.

But after a while, an eerie smile suddenly bloomed on his face.

‘Eek.’

Come to think of it, I forgot that there was a 5 second countdown after the question was asked.

Quickly, I opened my mouth and answered him.

“The answer to the question is; the seagull meat that he ate in the restaurant tastes different from the seagull meat that the man ate on the deserted island. Because the meat that he ate on the deserted island was his wife’s flesh.”

The man was blind.

His wife sacrificed herself and cooked her own flesh to keep the man from starving to death.

Since the man was blind, he believed it was seagull meat, just as his wife said, and survived alone without knowing the truth.

It was nothing but a bitter story, where the man ended up eating real seagull meat and only found out the truth that the taste was completely different.

The science teacher's expression hardened again as if I had guessed the correct answer.

No words left his mouth.

His expression was always stoic, but it looked even more terrifying at the moment.

‘As expected, what Sunah said was the correct answer.’

Then, I asked a question to the frozen man.

“Why did you write the ghost story on my question paper? What is the reason?”

"Answer me."

The teacher stayed still for a moment, then once again moved his forever stoic face and revealed an eerie smile.

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

"Huh? What kind of bullsh*t is this? Tell me why you tried to kill me.”

"One."

"Two."

“...F*ck you, does this sound like a joke to you? Are you looking down on me because you're an adult? Answer me!”

"Three."

“Is this guy for real!”

Gyeongwon quickly stopped me as I was about to rush towards the science teacher, who was suddenly counting down, in panic and urgency.

However, the science teacher only laughed when he saw that.

“Four.”

Smack!

Suddenly, Jinhee stepped forward and punched the wrinkled face of the science teacher squarely.

“Ugh-!”

The power of a high school girl's fist is unbelievable.

Thud.

The teacher's nose was crushed by the well-placed direct punch. And at the same time, his glasses shattered and flew into the air.

The teacher staggered and fell towards the wooden shelf.

Glass equipment used in class poured out on top of him.

Looking at the scene, Jinhee revealed a satisfied smile.

“I always wanted to beat up these so-called teachers.”

Just as she finished speaking.

Huup-!

“Ugh…”

Time was up once again.

I couldn't understand what was happening … I felt like my heart was being squeezed hard.

Opening my eyes wide and clutching my chest, I fell forward.

"Prez! Prez…”

The members were shocked as they supported me.

Sunah, who was guarding the entrance, also ran towards me. Looking at the situation, she quickly took out a boxcutter, and ran to the unconscious science teacher.

“What did you do to our Joon-”

In the background, I could only make the scene of the members holding me in panic, not understanding what to do. Sunah was busy threatening and slapping the unconscious teacher.

My vision slowly became blurred.

[You are dead.]

[You'll start again from the previous checkpoint.]

[Loading…]

*** 5th floor of Nakseong High School. Ghost Story Clubroom.

A lazy lunch time.

Jinhee was sleeping, Dukhun was stealing chairs, Hayoon was entering the clubroom, Gyeongwon was studying. And Sunah came to talk to me.

“Joon, how is your preparation for exams going?”

Instead of answering, I looked around and opened my mouth.

“Hey, guys.”

All eyes focused on me as I said.

“I just died once again…”

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