Ch. 27 - Sixth Ghost Story - CSAT Banned Song (1)

MAIN SCREEN

[2019, March 10th | Sunday, 16:20 PM]

[Lee Joon: Number of Attempts - 2]

[Ghost Story Points: 12]

[Causality Rate: 9%]

Click.

As soon as I clicked my mouse, my character fired its rifle.

[Bang!]

The enemy hiding in the trees jumped up in surprise.

[Plop!]

However, it was useless against my headshot.

“This weapon has the fastest muzzle speed here~”

The only thing that went faster was probably the weekend.

It was already Sunday before I knew.

I had spent all of Saturday sleeping and playing on the computer.

Sunday, as well. I got up at noon and spent all day eating snacks as I played games. It was already late into the afternoon.

My Mom went to the temple, so she wasn’t home on Sundays. Since my Dad loitered around in the living room lazily, no one could stop me from spending all of Sunday playing games.

I spent my weekdays at school with tons of questions on my mind, but there was no use in wondering about the answers on my own.

At the end of the day, I had to face the questions head-on in order to discover any information. That was why I spent the weekend just playing and sleeping, relieving the stress from the past week.

I soon grew bored of the shooting game, so I started rolling around on the bed.

However, my Mom got back from the temple and entered my room.

“Joon. Come with Mom to grocery shopping.”

“Noooo~ Don’t wanna… I wanna stay at hooooome~”

“Come on out. I can’t hold all the bags alone. Okay?”

Mom started to coax me as I hugged the blankets and rolled around, trying to get me to follow her to get groceries.

Because it was Mom, I got up and started to get dressed. Afterwards, I went out into the living room.

“Huhuhu, enjoy the trip.”

Dad was lazing on the sofa in only his undershirt and boxers.

“What are you talking about? You have to drive us there, silly!”

“……”

Soon enough, our family made our way to the nearby Clover Mart to shop for groceries.

Seeing the endless meandering line for the registers, I slipped off to the electronics section and was looking at the newest models of TV’s when I saw a familiar face.

“Gyeongwon!”

“Oh, it’s Prez!”

Gyeongwon’s parents were also standing by his side.

Both his parents wore glasses, and they had the same aura as university professors.

‘I see that the glasses were hereditary.’

[Your understanding of the character Ahn Gyeongwon has increased by 10.]

“I see. This must be your friend.”

“Nice to meet you~”

“Yes, well met.”

However, it felt like Gyeongwon’s father wasn’t very pleased to see me. He adjusted his glasses as he began to judge me based on my appearance. I could feel the appraising gaze from his eyes.

“Is he a friend from the same class? Haha. How did you two get to know each other?”

Then, Gyeongwon replied in my stead.

“He is in my class, and he is also the President of our club.”

“Club?”

At that moment, Gyeongwon’s father pushed up his glasses again, and light seemed to flash off it.

“Which club?”

“It’s the gho-”

When Gyeongwon was about to respond, I interrupted him and quickly responded.

“It’s the Folklore Ghost Story Research Club.”

“Folklore Ghost Story?”

“Yes.”

I nodded my head and calmly spoke.

“It is a club that researches the traditional folklore that was passed down throughout Korea.”

“Oho. I see. Folklore!”

His father began to nod in approval.

I could immediately tell that he was the strict and stubborn type.

Because I’ve added the words traditional to the club, he was loving it.

“I see you are researching our old traditions. What a great idea! Haha.”

“Thank you.”

“But I hear that you are the President……”

His glasses flashed once again. Once again, I used my wits to respond.

“I am the President of the club. But it is only the acting president. Our club has a club Chairman, and the President works beneath him.”

“Aha, that means……”

I nodded my head.

“Gyeongwon is the club Chairman.”

Gyeongwon began to look at me with admiration.

“Haha, just like I thought! There is no way our smart Gyeongwon would ever work under someone else!”

Gyeongwon’s father began to chuckle in approval.

“You rascal! If you became the Chairman of your club, you should have told your father about it! Haha.”

“Sorry, it was a bit hectic because it was still the first week of school……”

Gyeongwon tried to brush it off, and he gave me a look of mixed admiration and apology. He quietly spoke to himself afterwards, but at that moment a message popped up.

Pop.

[Special Ability: Lip Reading has activated.]

[“Prez, he’s amazing, just as I expected.”]

‘Oho……’

Well, it wasn’t really anything amazing.

However, as it was something he wasn’t used to doing, he must have looked at it positively.

‘Lip reading… So, this is how it’s used.’

The system had stated that I received a skill, but as nothing seemed to have changed, I had been quite curious about it.

Now I could see that the system would automatically read lips and then show me the words in a message.

“It was nice meeting you. Gyeongwon, I’ll see you tomorrow~”

“Yeah. See you, Prez.”

I then turned around and walked away.

Although my pride was scratched a bit, I wouldn’t be meeting Gyeongeon’s father often anyway. Rather, having done this favor for Gyeongwon meant that he was in my debt. I would say it was an overall win.

My Dad was waiting for me, so we met up and began to head back towards Mom. As we were walking, Dad asked me a question.

“Uh, Joon. That club, you mentioned ghost stories… Is it because of that weird thing from before?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

I nodded. He was asking while remembering the ‘Mother Dilemma’ from a few days ago.

“I thought there was a need to find out more about such phenomena, so I made the club.”

“Is that so? I’m sorry that Dad doesn’t know much about those things. Still, if there is anything you need, come ask me anytime. I will definitely help you.”

“Thanks, haha.”

A bit further up, Mom was struggling with putting some stuff into the cart.

“Where did you disappear to, really?”

“Hahaha, sorry honey. Our son saw a friend, so I had to wait for him to haul his a*s over.”

***

And Sunday passed by, just like that.

Monday had arrived.

The laziness of the weekend had extended into the morning, so I was dozing off in the class until lunch time. It was only once lunch came around that I became alert and gathered with the members at the cafeteria.

“Sunah, over there.”

“Yeah……”

Gyeongwon, Sunah, and I carefully walked through the hectic cafeteria with our trays of food.

“Sit over here.”

“Okay.”

Once we sat down, another person joined us.

Without us realizing, Hayoon had smoothly followed us and sat down with us.

“Hello.”

“Hello~”

After greeting each other, we began to hurriedly eat the spicy pork that came out for lunch. Suddenly, to the side there was the loud sound of people singing.

♬Every. Body. Four! In! Ce! Ss! O. E. O. U. Eish. Ei~ Oh Yeah~♬

“Hahahaha.”

“Kekeke.”

They were students in the same grade that were the lawless type.

The delinquents were blasting music from their phones as they noisily laughed and ate. I could see the guys that looked like good-for-nothings and the girls with makeup caked on their faces all giggling amongst themselves.

“Kakakaka.”

It had only been a week since the school year started, but those lawless students were already grouping up together.

As I admired those punk’s cohesion, I secretly stared at the frivolously crossed legs of the girls.

Sunah scrunched her brows as she scowled in their direction.

“They have no manners.”

“Yeah. They’re noisy……”

As Sunah agreed to the comment, she puffed her cheeks.

“Let’s eat quickly and head over to the clubroom.”

“Let’s do that.”

After hearing the word clubroom, Sunah’s mood grew much better and she started to smile.

‘Now that I think about it, it’s been a while since I’ve heard that song.’

I suddenly began to reminisce about my past life.

It was right about now that a newcomer idol girl group’s debut song became a hit sensation that shook the country. It was an exciting song with an addictive melody, and simple repetitive lyrics.

It was the type of music that would easily get stuck in one’s head, the type to be a CSAT banned song.

[T/N: In Korea, their SAT equivalent is the CSAT. Since the examinations only occur once a year, they put that much more emphasis on doing well. During the examination period, (November to December) specific VERY catchy songs, or earworms, are infamous for ruining test takers. These songs are often called CSAT banned songs in Korea. Imagine Despacito being stuck in your head as you take an exam.]

I remember being in the hospital during this time, as it was right after the Serial Head Explosion incident. I was irritated that the song would come on so often as I changed channels on the TV.

♬Oh Yeah♬ Eish-ei♬ Dum! Atom! Cadavri~sh♬ ♬

It was a chorus full of weird, overused filler words. It reminded me of the old song ‘Abracadabra’ by the Brown Eyed Girls.

[T/N: Real song by real girl group. Look it up.]

The lyrics were full of unintelligible chanting that reminded you of a magic spell, but once it was combined with a catchy melody, people seemed to love it to death.

♬Rishi Zedney Bruh Maz~ Oh~ Z♬

‘Wait, were the lyrics supposed to be like this?’

As this was something that happened over three years ago from my perspective, my memory was a bit hazy. Although it seemed a bit strange, I let it go because I couldn’t remember it.

“Hmmm… Something feels really off……”

Sunah tilted her head.

“Was our clubroom… Always this large?”

After stepping into the clubroom, Sunah began to look around for a sign.

“It feels the same to me.”

Gyeongwon answered as if nothing had changed, and he just took a seat in a chair. Ahn Gyeongwon. Although he had a lot of information in his brain, was he the type that didn’t notice much about his surroundings?

Well, that was better for me.

“Nooo… I feel like it definitely became roomier…”

Sunah looked towards me as she tilted her head again. Although she was looking at me for a response, I could only keep silent and plead the fifth.

“I also think it’s the same?”

Hayoon smiled as she replied from behind me.

At those words, Sunah mumbled to herself.

“And the number of chairs seemed to have increased……”

She then took a seat while making a bewildered face.

‘Sorry, Sunah.’

I hadn’t revealed everything to the club members yet. Through the Dream Within Dreams incident, they did come to know that I had gone through many weird phenomena. However, they did not know anything about the fact I had come back three years in time, nor did they know about the system.

‘Sunah must be able to sense the change in size because she lived in a cramped place for such a long time.’

[Your understanding of the character Yoon Sunah has increased by 10.]

“Yaaawn~ I should take a nap here until lunchtime is over.”

Gyeongwon let out a yawn as he put his head down on the table. The influence of the weekend must still be lingering.

Hayoon took out a book to read and Sunah began to read her partner’s book over her shoulder.

“Guys, wouldn’t it be perfect if there was a sofa right here?”

I spoke up as I took a seat near the window.

“During any down time, we could use it to take a nap or something.”

“Huhu, Prez should go out and buy one with your money.”

Gyeongwon answered with his head still on the table.

I opened the club menu of the Status Window and looked at the shop option.

[Ghost Story Club Lv.2]

Club Status Window

Manage Members

Store (LOCKED)

Club Settings

‘Let’s see here. Click.’

Store (LOCKED)

[This function unlocks when the Club Level reaches Level 5.]

As I thought. Even if I clicked it, I couldn’t get in.

‘It would be best if I could at least check what kind of function this tab has.’

I hoped that, just as the name suggested, I could purchase expensive furniture that students couldn’t normally afford by paying using Ghost Story Points instead of money.

‘Then I could expand the room a bit more and put in a television here, and a bed there.’

While I was at it, I could put in a computer as well, so that I could play a few games after school ended!

I spent the rest of lunch period daydreaming what it would be like to furnish the clubroom as my own personal getaway. It was something like a man’s dream.

***

And like that, four days zipped by until it was the second Club Activity Period.

MAIN SCREEN

[2019, March 15th | Friday, 10:05 AM]

[Lee Joon: Number of Attempts - 2]

[Ghost Story Points: 12]

[Causality Rate: 9%]

If the first week after the new school year was a chaotic mess, this week was surprisingly peaceful.

‘To think that nothing would happen.’

Compared to the times last week where I couldn’t even pass a day without getting ripped apart, this week was almost heavenly.

Right now, during the third period, we had music class. We brought the most popular textbook to that class, the music textbook.

It was the most popular because of how thin it was.

“Wheeze, wheeze. Why is it that in Korea, we must move classrooms between each subject? TwT.”

“What gives? Your favorite country, Japan, does the same sh*t.”

“Kuso.”

[T/N: Kuso is Japanese for crap/fuck/shit.]

Dukhun was sweating profusely as he climbed up to the fourth floor.

Just like other schools, although we usually stayed in the same classroom for most lessons, for classes with special classrooms we would have to move to that room. Science class had to be held in the science lab, music class had to be in the music room. Gym class had to be held in the courtyard, and dance class had to be held in the dance studio, etc.

“Now, one octave higher! Aaaaaaaaah, aaaaaahh~”

“Aaaaaaaaah, aaaaaahh~”

We all followed the music teacher’s directions as she played the piano and had us clear our throats. She was a woman in her mid-fifties, and she seemed to have the same special feature of all musicians, unnecessary sensitivity.

I roughly copied the group as we cleared our voices, but my mind was on the clubroom.

‘If you consider the teacher as well, we are actually missing a chair. We have seven all together but there are only six chairs. I guess the system is trying to tell the President to lead the club standing up.’

While I was completely engrossed in my thoughts, the teacher suddenly stopped the piano playing and started to shout out.

“Quiet! Quiet! Who’s making those weird noises?”

“……”

Was it me? I flinched thinking that I was bullshitting my way through the singing a bit too much, but that wasn’t it.

Oooh… Oh yeah…♬

From somewhere within the quiet classroom, the recent hit song could be heard.

“Who left their phone on? Hurry up and turn it off!”

The music teacher shouted sharply. A dumb-looking student looked surprised as he took out his phone and fumbled with it, trying to turn it off.

“Huuu, why does this damned school not take away the student’s phones during class? Damn.”

After it grew quiet again, the music teacher let out a sigh and began to play the piano again.

“Aaaaaaaaah, aaaaaahh~”

“Aaaaaaaaah, aaaaaahh~”

From my understanding, the school used to collect student’s phones like the other schools just last year. However, last year one of the cell phone storage boxes for a certain class went missing. After that, the policy was abolished.

A full class of thirty students all had their phones go missing. Considering that the cost of phones these days go for over a thousand dollars, at least thirty thousand dollars’ worth of phones had disappeared at once.

The teachers were of the opinion that students shouldn’t have access to their phones during class. The parents agreed, and so the collection policy had been implemented. But once the large number of phones went missing at once, the parents began to demand reparations for the missing phones.

As a result of that incident, the school no longer collected the student’s phones.

At the end of the day, things were made more comfortable for us students.

However, those results were not created because of us. Instead, the compromise was made by adults due to money.

‘Tsk. It really shows that students have no power here. All we do is get pushed around by adults. I should hurry up and defeat the Demon King and graduate.’

While I was deep in thought, someone suddenly shouted.

“Who’s using their phone again! Huh?!”

The music teacher smashed her hand against the piano as she shouted once again.

All of the students began to look around at each other in confusion. Some of the students looked a bit annoyed.

"What crazy b*stard is looking at their phone?"

"Can’t they read the atmosphere?"

"Do they really want to use it when she just ranted about it?"

The class looked around for the culprit as complaints stacked up. I also looked around to see which idiot would repeat the mistake when I realized something.

‘… It’s quiet, though?’

There was no sound coming from within the music room. Next to me, Dukhun was also wheezing as he made a ‘Nani?!’ expression.

[T/N: Nani means 'what' in Japanese.]

“Why aren’t you turning it off? I said to turn it off!”

The music teacher continued to shout. Her actions were starting to come off as hysterical. The students grew quiet and slowly started to eye each other with awkward expressions.

“This, this! O.E.O.U. oh yeah, something, something. Can’t you hear that too? It keeps playing!”

The teacher began to hold her hand against her ear and searched for the source of the sound.

“I can hear it! Where is it?!”

She got up from the piano platform and headed towards the students.

“Is it here? No, I think it’s here? Which p*nk is doing this?!”

A quiet music room. The students were silent. And in this scene, a hysterical music teacher was going from desk to desk searching for the source of the music only she could hear.

“I think it’s over here.”

She stopped in front of Hayoon’s desk.

The students silently looked over as they awaited her fate.

Right next to Hayoon, Sunah also looked over at her partner in concern.

“Here! It’s here! Hey, you—take out your phone!”

The teacher started to poke at Hayoon’s skirt with her conductor’s baton, demanding that she take out the phone.

With a peaceful expression, Hayoon took out her phone and handed it to the teacher.

“It was this! This was where the sound came from, huh?”

The teacher snatched Hayoon’s pink phone and put it against her ears, but soon started to scowl.

That’s right, the phone was silent.

How could it be possible that the music was coming out from that phone when the room had been silent except for the teacher’s ravings?

“That’s not it? Is it near here?”

The teacher hysterically tossed the phone back to Hayoon and started moving, searching for the source of the music again.

“Can’t you guys hear it too? You guys should be able to hear it! The thing going O. E. O. U, O. E. O. U, and whatnot!”

Just like that, she ended up in front of Sunah this time.

“HEY! YOU!”

The music teacher shouted loudly.

“Take out your phone!”

Sunah started shaking as she put her hands into her pocket. She then took out her cheap cell phone and handed it to the teacher. The phone was one of the free models available at discount stores.

The teacher once again put the phone against her ear and scowled after realizing that wasn’t the source either.

“This isn’t it? I was certain it came from here.”

The teacher hysterically started to tap the phone and put it against her ear again. In front of this crazy teacher, Sunah could only stare at the floor as she trembled.

“Hey, you!”

Once the teacher shouted out at her again, Sunah looked up at her with a fearful expression.

“The sound definitely came from here! Why did you turn it off?”

“N-no… That’s not true……”

Sunah was trembling as she shook her head in denial.

“I heard it! The music definitely came from here! When did you turn it off, huh?!”

She started to rant as veins popped up on her neck.

“Huh? Huh? See! See, look here! Again! Again! Again! I can hear it again now!”

Sunah continued to shake her head while trembling.

“Again!!! I can hear it again!!!! Again!!!! I hear it!!!!! I got you!!!!!! What’s your name!!!!!!”

Sunah was shaking her head and was on the verge of tears. At that moment, a very clear voice could be heard.

“Teacher, I can’t hear anything like music at all.”

Hayoon, who had been sitting one seat over, responded to the teacher’s ranting.

“… What?”

“It’s silent. I think you heard it incorrectly.”

“……”

The teacher was about to say something but shut her mouth. Hayoon’s clear voice and exact pronunciation gave off an indisputable aura that she could not argue against.

The teacher tapped at the phone another time and put it against her ears, before putting the phone on Sunah’s desk and walking back towards the piano.

Sunah couldn’t even think of putting the phone back into her pocket, as she was still trembling.

“That’s not it… I definitely heard that music again.”

The teacher began to mumble to herself as she stood in front of the piano.

“It’s going like… O. E. O. U. oh yeah, eish ei… O. E. O. U… can’t you guys hear it too?”

She began to look in our general direction with unfocused eyes.

“I can hear it even now… O. E. O. U.… eish ei… O. E. O. U.… I can still hear it. I've been hearing this since yesterday… I could hear it last night… I could hear it this morning… even if I’m still, I hear it… I could hear it in the bathroom… I could hear it during class… O. E. O. U.… O. E. O. U.… ei ei… eish ei… rishi zedney bruh maz… Is it English… is it Spanish……”

We could only stare at the teacher with horrified expressions.

“Pop music these days… it’s quite weird… What kind of foreign language is this…? It’s all mixed up and everything… They should just sing it in Korea… it’s weird… it’s so weird… I can still hear it… O. E. O. U.… O. E. O. U.… eish ei… dum… atom… eish ei… oh yeah… oh yeah.”

We could hear the students swallowing their saliva.

“O.E.O.U. eishiei dumatom cadavrishi zedney bruh maz ohzi O.E.O.U. eishiei duma I can definitely hear this, can’t you guys hear it? tom cadavrishi zedney bruh maz ohzi yo, listen up here's a story about a little guy that lives in a blue world and all day and all night and everything he sees is just blue like him inside and outside Oh this is so weird! This is so weird! blue his house with a blue little window and a blue corvette and everything is blue for him and himself and everybody around cause he ain't got nobody to listen to I can definitely hear this, but can’t you guys hear it too? I'm blue Da ba dee da ba di Da ba dee da ba di Da ba dee da ba di This is so weird! Da ba dee da ba di Da ba dee da ba di I'm blue Da ba dee da ba di Da ba dee da ba di How is nobody else hearing this? Da ba dee da ba di Da ba dee da ba di Da ba dee da ba di I have a blue house with a blue window blue is the color of all that I wear blue are the streets and all the trees are too I have a girlfriend and This is madness! she is so blue blue are the people here that walk around blue like my corvette it’s in and outside blue are the words I say and what I think blue are the feelings that live inside me Help! I think I need some help! I'm blue Da ba dee da ba di Da ba dee da ba di Da ba dee da ba di SEND HELP Da ba dee da ba di I'm blue Da ba dee da ba di Da ba dee da ba di Da ba dee da ba di Da ba dee da ba di I have a blue house with a blue window blue is the color of all that I wear blue are the streets and all the trees are too I have a girlfriend and she is so blue blue are the people here that walk around blue like my corvette, it's in and How is it that no one else can hear this but me? outside blue are the words I say and what I think blue are the feelings that live inside me I'm blue Da ba dee da ba di Da ba dee da ba di Da ba dee da ba di I'm blue I’m not blue, but I am in need of help! Da ba dee da ba di Da ba dee da ba di Da ba dee da ba di yo, listen up here's a story about a little guy that lives in a blue world and all day and all night and everything he sees is just blue like him inside and outside Oh this is so weird! This is so weird! blue his house with a blue little window and a blue corvette and everything is blue for him and himself and everybody around cause he ain't got nobody to listen to I can definitely hear this, but can’t you guys hear it too? I'm blue Da ba dee da ba di This is so weird! Da ba dee da ba di I'm blue Da ba dee da ba di Da ba dee da ba di How is nobody else hearing this? Da ba dee da ba di HELP! Da ba dee da ba di Da ba dee da ba di I have a blue house with a blue window blue is the color of all that I wear blue are the streets and all the trees are too I have a girlfriend and This is madness! she is so blue blue are the people here that walk around blue like my corvette it’s in and outside blue are the words I say and what I think blue are the feelings that live inside me Help! I think I need some help! I'm blue Da ba dee da ba di Da ba dee da ba di Da ba dee da ba di I'm blue Da ba dee da ba di This is feeling really weird. Da ba dee da ba di Da ba dee da ba di Da ba dee da ba di I have a blue house with a blue window blue is the color of all that I wear blue are the streets and all the trees are too I have a girlfriend and she is so blue blue are the people here that walk around blue like my corvette, I wish I had a corvette. it's in and outside blue are the words I say and what I think blue are the feelings that live inside me I'm blue Da ba dee da ba di Is no one going to help me? Da ba dee da ba di Da ba dee da ba di Come on, I can’t be the only one who is hearing this! Da ba dee da ba di I'm blue Da ba dee da ba di Da ba dee da ba di Da ba dee da ba di Da ba dee da ba di No? It’s just me? O.E.O.U. eishiei dumatom cadavrishi zedney bruh maz ohzi O.E.O.U. eishiei dumatom cadavrishi zedney bruh maz oh.”

As we sat there sweating, we could only hope that class would end soon.

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