Ch. 104 - Eleventh Ghost Story - The Forgotten Friend (17)

“Hurry, hurry!”

“Haa, haa, haa.”

We rushed out of school and got into Teacher Jang Hwaeun’s car.

“We need to go right now!”

“Hey! There’s no room! We all can’t fit!”

“One of you, get on my motorcycle!”

We quickly separated into two teams, started the engine, and rushed out.

‘Damn, damn, damn…’

We had the wrong idea from the beginning.

Kim Eunjung wasn’t imitating someone.

From the beginning, she had never had an identity that could truly be called hers.

* * *

“Who~ is it?”

The waiting area at Seoul Station where trains arrive and depart.

Someone covered the eyes of a middle-aged man, who was looking at the tracks while waiting for a train, from behind.

The feeling of a cold palm covering his eyes made the man startled.

The man sat straight in surprise.

“You are…”

“Guess.”

The voice was soft but high-pitched, most probably belonging to a young woman.

She was probably a student at most.

“....I’m not sure.”

The man didn't know who it was.

He paused and tilted his head, wondering if he knew the owner of the voice.

The hand that was covering his eyes slowly released.

“Why don't you take a look.”

The middle-aged man looked back.

There stood a girl with a bright appearance, wearing a school uniform and smiling with big eyes.

The man showed a puzzled expression, he looked up and down at the girl but couldn't remember who it was.

‘Who is it?’

‘One of my relatives?’

‘One of my daughter’s friends?’

“… Excuse me. Who are you?”

“Don’t you know me?”

The man glanced up to examine the girl.

At that moment, the girl brought out a large kitchen knife and slashed it diagonally across the man's Adam’s apple.

Swish-

“Ugh! Ugh…”

The man clutched his throat and widened his eyes in surprise.

“I asked because I didn’t know either.”

The girl raised the knife again, stabbing the man in the stomach.

* * *

“Detective? Detective?”

[Yes. Speak.]

While hurrying to our destination in the Teacher’s car.

I urgently called the Detective.

"You need to come to Seoul Station right away. A murder is about to happen."

[.... I'll head there now. It’ll take about 20 minutes. Tell me what’s going on.]

Since there wasn't enough space for everyone to get into the Teacher's car, Jinhee was driving in the next lane with Hayoon on her motorcycle.

Teacher Jang Hwaeun occasionally glanced over at her student, worried about her young student riding a motorcycle.

“It’s a girl. She’s 17 years old, and the weapon she has is a kitchen knife…”

[The victim?]

“… No. The girl is the murderer. She declared she's going to stab anyone who passes by her with a knife at Seoul Station.”

[Don’t tell me it's another homicide case.]

Detective muttered bitterly.

[Can you explain a bit more?]

“It’s because of a ghost story-”

[That's enough. I'll listen to the backstory later when the situation is over, just tell me what I need to know right now.]

“...Please request to make an announcement to evacuate everyone inside the station. And call the police.”

[There should be a lot of people.]

“It will be enough to evacuate the citizens inside. The murderer herself isn’t a person, but the existence of a ghost story, so we can’t stop her. My friends and I will go there and take care of it.”

[Yes, we’re off. Hold on to your phone and answer when I call you. When the situation is over, I’ll need to hear everything that happened, so don’t disappear.]

“Yes, thank you…!”

Soon, the car we were in entered the bridge above the Han River, heading towards the Seoul Station.

Bewoooooooo-

Teacher Jang Hwaeun sped up without thinking.

In contrast to the peaceful Han River stretching out on both sides, the inside of the car was filled with tension.

‘We have to stop it.’

Morally, of course, we have to stop it.

Given that Kim Eunjung's current identity is associated with the Ghost Story Club, it made the situation even more complex.

‘If we don’t stop it…”

The Ghost Story Club would be a place that hid a female serial killer.

The concept was suspicious, and there weren't many members in our club to begin with. Once social outrage occurs, the school might order the club's dissolution immediately.

Of course, it was not like me to worry about the club’s social standing when people were dying.

This was purely a thought that arose from being in the position of the club President.

“Prez, look here!”

Gyeongwon, who was busy searching for something on his phone, wiped his cold sweat and showed me an SNS post hovering on the screen.

[Electronicgangsi©zombithej: Just witnessed a murder rampage at Seoul Station]

[Southself-resilienceparty©emanon3: This is the first time I’ve seen someone stabbing people with a knife in real time and people screaming ah, ah, ah everywhere.]

[Goldenretrieverowner©givethe: Oh, I witnessed someone committing murder in real time. Seoul Station is doomed]

* * *

A high school girl was leisurely walking down the platform of the train station, holding onto the hair of a man, who was covered in blood and showing a painful expression.

“Kyaaaaah!”

“Hey, over there! Over there…”

People scurried away from her, wondering with trepidation what was happening.

“She’s coming this way, you idiot. Move away…”

The middle-aged man, being dragged by the girl in a school uniform, left a long trail of blood on the marble floor as he was dragged around, people avoided the girl like the parting of the Red Sea.

Soon, an announcement rang out.

[This is an emergency announcement, please pay attention. A 17-year-old female student with a weapon has been spotted in the station. If you see this individual, please report immediately. Once again, this is an urgent announcement...]

“This way, this way!”

Then several security guards rushed through the crowd.

“Over here!”

“That’s her!”

The guards, who barely made their way through the crowd approached the female student, wielding a three-sectioned baton for self-defense.

“Student, calm down. Put the man down.”

“Stay still. Slow down.”

The guards approached cautiously.

At the same time, a KTX train could be seen arriving toward the station from far away, creating a cacophony of loud noise.

Rattle- Rattle-

The security guards received a call from the radio mounted on their shoulders.

[Ah- We’re entering the tracks right now, is the unknown assailant secured-]

“Yes, the student is secured. Please enter.”

Then, they approached the girl in the school uniform slowly, wearing tense expressions.

“Put the man down and stay still. Stay still.”

The school girl stared blankly at the approaching guard.

“An ambulance is coming. Stay still-”

Rattle- Rattle- Rattle-

At the same time, a train entered the tracks.

In an instant.

Whoosh-!

The female student suddenly crouched down and slipped past the security guards, sprinting into the crowd of onlookers.

“Ah-huh, ah-huh…!”

“Kyaaaaak!”

The high school girl, who had just squeezed through the crowd, took out the long kitchen knife from her bosom and started stabbing everyone in the waist around her.

“Uuuggghh!! Uggghh.”

“Honey! Honey!”

“Aaaaaaaak-!!”

People rushed to escape, pushing each other. Some couldn't hold onto their balance and fell on the ground.

Seeing several people being pushed into the tracks by the chaos, the train urgently slammed on the brakes, but it was not enough.

Keeeeeeeeeeeeeek-!

A train weighing over a thousand tons rushed through the tracks, creating a bloodbath as it mowed down people.

“Catch me! Catch me!”

“Damn it, f*ck!”

Security guards rushed in afterward, but they struggled to navigate through the tangled chaos of fallen bodies.

“Hey, over there!”

Passengers inside the KTX train, watching the massacre outside through the window, screamed in terror.

“There’s a massacre going on outside! Someone is wielding weapons!”

“Don’t open the door! Don’t open the door!”

Of course, the train operator had no intention of opening the door amidst the chaos.

The terrified perception of a passenger, who believed the doors would automatically open upon the train's arrival, reached the girl, their whole being engulfed in the horror before her.

Whoosh-

Eunjung glanced at the train after killing even the guards who had approached her in the crowd.

Wiing.

Instantly, reality was manipulated as the passenger thought ominously, and the train doors slid open automatically.

The high school serial killer girl swiftly leaped inside in an instant.

“Kyah…!”

“She got in…!”

Eunjung ran through the narrow passageway, stabbing and slashing the bodies of the passengers sitting on either side of her with her knife.

“Ah, ahhh… !”

“F*ck, catch her! Catch her…!”

A few soldiers on holiday quickly stood up from their seats and chased after Eunjung as she ran to the next compartment of the train.

“Catch her! Catch her!!”

“Ughhhhh… ugh......”

The high school girl serial killer, who was running after the passengers, suddenly bumped into someone who opened the door of the bathroom in the train and came out.

The soldiers took the chance and tumbled over Eunjung, shoving their bags on top of her as they fell.

“Subdue her! Subdue her!!”

Grrgrr.

Those who were just about to get off the train started to gather slowly, holding their bags and wondering what was happening.

“Snatch the knife from her hand! Snatch the knife!!”

“Gasp, gasp.”

The soldiers and the high school serial killer girl were tangled together, grappling on the floor of the train.

Then Eunjung, who was twisting her body like a snake while being subdued by the soldiers, suddenly twisted her hand and stabbed the soldiers on her back rapidly with the knife, as quick as a machine. The few soldiers who were subduing her spat out blood as they groaned.

“Coouugh.”

She then turned her hand and stabbed the soldier, who was using his weight to crush her in front, with the knife in his side.

With bizarre animalistic movements, she stabbed all the soldiers who were trying to subdue her.

“Ugh! Ugh….”

Eunjung pushed aside the people writhing in pain and stood up from her spot.

As she brandished the knife at the passengers staggering in front of her, they quickly started to flee in panic.

“Kyaaah. Kyaaaaaah…!”

“Please save me!! Please save me!!!”

Thud, thud-

Once again, the bloody massacre began as she ran wildly through the passengers across the seats, staining the train windows with splattered blood.

Stab- Stab-

“Cough…”

Ahhh.

Swish, thump-

After stabbing in the waist of one of the last passengers who was trying to run away, Eunjung followed the panicked crowd and got off the train.

Standing on the platform, she quickly surveyed her surroundings.

“There! There!”

“Catch her!!”

The security guards rushed to subdue Eunjung once again, pushing through the crowd of people fleeing.

However, due to the fear and panic that gripped the crowd, Eunjung had already established herself as a figure of disaster, a being that inflicted harm on others.

“Catch her! Catch her… Ugh…”

With an unbelievable strength that seemed beyond human, she sliced through the approaching security guards as if chopping through soft tofu.

She pushed her way up the escalator through the crowd of people crying out in panic.

She naturally joined the fleeing procession while silently stabbing everyone she encountered with her knife. Then suddenly, she started shouting.

“Please save me! I’m a murderer! Please save me!”

The crowd halted their escape and turned around in surprise at the sound of her voice.

“I am a murderer! The murderer is me. Here she comes! Kyaaaaah! Ah!”

Pretending to be surprised, Eunjung also screamed along with the passengers, and from below the line of sight, at her waist, she wildly stabbed people nearby without them noticing.

“Aaaaaah! Aaah!”

“Kyaaaaah!”

Feeling a sharp pain, the passengers collapsed onto the escalator floor, spilling blood everywhere. Amid the panicked crowd, Eunjung attacked as she advanced forward through the crowd gripped by panic. The injured and fleeing people stumbled over each other, causing the chaos to escalate further.

Toward the world and society, resentment, madness.

It was thanks to everyone’s hard work.

* * *

[Dawn©ekdhd: Everyone near Seoul Station, stay away. There's a girl swinging a knife.]

[ZZUNN@zzunnO3: Hey, not kidding, everyone around Seoul Station, run away right now. Don't ask. A massacre is happening there.]

“We've arrived. Get off!!”

The Teacher stopped the car in the middle of the road in front of Seoul Station and hurriedly let us out.

The car behind us had to brake suddenly and honked its horn wildly.

Peep- Peeepp.

Soon, Jinhee's motorcycle following us pulled over next to us and got off with Hayoon.

“We can't park here, so I'll find a parking spot and be there soon!”

“Yes, thank you!!”

We quickly crossed the road.

“Seoul Station!! Run to Seoul Station!!”

We pushed through the crowd of people rushing out in a panic and dashed across the crosswalk, ignoring the traffic signals.

It seemed that the massacre had already begun inside, as people were frantically pouring out from the large stairs at the entrance of Seoul Station.

Passersby passing by outside tilted their heads in confusion at the scene unfolding at Seoul Station.

“What’s going on?”

“Something.”

“Kyaaak! Kyaaak.”

At the same time, people’s terrified screams could be heard from outside the station.

We also ran up the stairs and stood in front of Seoul Station.

The glass-clad Seoul Station building, constructed using modern architectural techniques.

We arrived at the main gate.

“T... There are so many entrances! Where should we start looking…”

“Joon, over there…!”

I looked over where Sunah was pointing, it was the end of the building in the distance.

People were pouring out in droves from the entrance connected to the outlet.

“Kyaaak! Kyaaak.”

“Ugh… Ugh…”

“Run! It’s over there!”

We rushed there in panic.

The crowd of people running away from a crazy murderer passed by us, bumping into our shoulders.

“Hick, hick, huuu.”

Some were limping, as if they were injured, while others trembled helplessly, covered in blood.

We could also see people running away, bleeding and holding onto each other.

“Go inside, go inside!”

“Huff, huff.”

We soon rushed inside.

The vast platform of Seoul Station, large enough to fit several school playgrounds, entered our vision.

Bloody corpses were already lying everywhere, and the marble floor was covered in blood.

Beyond the glass of the ticket counter attached to the wall, employees were seen panicking as they desperately held onto their phones.

“Kyaak!! Kyaaa.”

A row of screams flowed out again from somewhere.

Amid the chaos of fleeing people, those on the second floor in the restaurant looked down, confused about the situation.

We rushed toward the place from where screams rang out in the midst of the chaos.

Our feet soon took us to a meeting place where chairs were lined up, and Clover Corporation's promotional QLED TVs were broadcasting advertisements.

"Uh, where is she…!"

"Look around! Hurry up!"

The glass windows of the store, where bloody corpses were scattered everywhere, were shattered and broken.

And the ATM machine of the booth was smashed halfway, blinking rapidly.

[Passengers using the train… please proceed to... Please….]

"Ugh! Ughhhh-"

"Joon…! There's a restaurant over there…!"

A shopping mall with rows of restaurants stretched out in a straight line inside Seoul Station.

Amidst the commotion of fighting at the McDonald's store, several people rushed out covered in blood, fleeing in a panic.

"Let's go!"

We leaped over the suitcases and carrier bags scattered on the floor and ran toward the glass doors of the blood-stained store.

“Haa, haa!”

Squeak-

Inside the store, it was already in disarray. There were no survivors in sight, and the floor was littered with scattered hamburgers, french fries, and overturned trays.

“Aaahh! Aahh! Aaah.”

“Over there. I can hear screams coming from the kitchen.”

We closed the glass door and walked toward the counter where the kitchen was visible.

From outside, faint screams could be heard, but the inside of the store was quiet.

Suddenly, someone crawled out from beside the counter, groaning in pain.

“…Inside. Over there….”

An injured staff member, clutching his bleeding abdomen, pointed toward the staff room.

Thump! Thump! Crash.

From inside the staff room where the part-time worker pointed to, something like a commotion could be heard.

“…Let’s go.”

The store was filled with quiet tension. We went past the counter and into the kitchen.

“Police... Police... Police......”

A manager in uniform muttered while lying on the tiled floor, looking at us with a dazed expression.

Next to him, a pot of oil was still bubbling with frying potatoes, while unfinished hamburgers sat alongside lettuce and tomatoes.

[STAFF ROOM]

“Ugh… Ugh… Ugh…”

From inside the half-open staff room door, the terrible sounds of stabbing and people groaning could be heard.

I bit my lip and looked back.

The members had an anxious look on their faces.

At that moment, Jinhee strode forward.

“I’ll go in, you guys wait here.”

“Jinhee!”

The members, worried about her, tried to stop her.

But I held out my hand.

“...Let’s leave it to Jinhee. Let her go in alone.”

“What? Why?”

Gyeongwon and Sunah showed a flustered expression.

But I had my own plan.

Unable to receive proper treatment, bullied by her friends and betrayed by her teachers.

Kim Eunjung, having been denied her identity by society and pushed further away to a distant place, ultimately succumbed to her death, forgotten by everyone.

The media painted her as a psychopath for the sake of interest, but in reality, she was just a girl born with a mental disability.

Eunjung was summoned back to this land as a ghost story by the Demon King, and she even tried to mix in with us. She continued to cling to the only three aspects of her identity she could maintain.

The three-letter name, the fact that she was someone’s best friend when she was young, and that she transferred schools in the middle of the school year.

[T/N: The name Kim Eunjung (김은정) has three characters in Korean.]

“....Let’s leave it to Jinhee, guys.”

“Joo, Joon…!”

The members protested with worried looks.

However, if those three codes were the identities that Kim Eunjung remembered until the end, Jinhee’s role here seemed quite important.

Jinhee soon strode through the bloody trail and entered the door where the murder was taking place.

“Wait here. Don't open the door."

With those words, Jinhee closed the door and locked it.

Click.

"....Be careful, Jinhee."

We had no choice but to wait outside, stamping our feet anxiously.

* * *

"Hick, hick, haa."

A male part-timer somehow managed to get into the locker room inside the staff room and lock the door, but soon got his arm slashed by a kitchen knife pushing in through the crack in the door.

"Ouch! Ahhhhhhhhh.”

The part-timer hurriedly pressed his body against the wall, trying to stay out of the reach of the blade.

However, his face soon morphed into a terrified expression when he saw a girl climbing over the partition in the changing room.

Thud, thud-

"S... Please save me.....!"

"Hmm. I don't want to."

Eunjung squeezed her body through the narrow gap between the partition and the ceiling, laughing coldly.

"You didn't come to save me when I called you either."

She jumped down from the ceiling and brutally stabbed the man.

“Ahhh... Aahhh.”

A closed changing room stall.

The flimsy wooden partition shook with Eunjung's movements as she enthusiastically stabbed the man.

Squeak-

Clang.

At that moment, the sound of someone entering the staff room was heard.

Eunjung, leaving the bloodied man behind, quickly lowered her head to check through the crack in the wooden partition to see who had entered.

Someone’s ankle, wearing Adidas sneakers, was visible through the narrow crack in the door.

Soon, someone slowly approached and stood in front of the changing room, calling out softly.

“Kim Eunjung?”

***

[2019, May 1st | Wednesday, 17:21 PM]

[Lee Joon: Number of Attempts - 2]

[Ghost Story Points: 66]

[Causality Rate: 14%]

[Where are you children!]

When I picked up the phone, it was the Detective's voice.

I quickly told him our location.

"There's a line of restaurants near the ticket counter at Seoul Station. Just come to McDonald's."

[Okay! Do you need someone? Or should I come alone!]

I pondered for a moment and then replied.

"....I think it'll be fine if only you just come, Detective."

[Will that be okay?]

"Probably."

[Okay! I'll be there in 5 minutes!]

As I hung up the phone, I noticed the anxious gazes of the club members.

"Hey… are you sure it's okay if the police don't come....”

“No matter how she wielded the knife, she is still just a high school girl. There’s no way a crowd of this many people and security staff couldn't stop one girl with a knife.”

Gyeongwon nodded hesitantly with a look of understanding.

“Like the concept we have given her, she has literally become a psycho villain. No matter how many people come, there is no way to stop her.”

“Yeah.”

I looked at the closed staff room door.

Desperately hoping Jinhee was doing her job well.

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