Ch. 21 - Fifth Ghost Story - The Neverending Fourth Period (3)

Fourth period had ended, and the lunchtime bell had rung. While the students were noisily trying to escape from the classrooms, the four of us were calmly sitting at our seats in the class.

“……”

As I stared blankly, I could see students rushing down the hall to get food.

In the middle of it all, one old man was visible, running even faster down the hall.

It was Damim.

“……”

It was when the delivery workers began to pull up to the grounds that I finally broke the silence.

“Hey guys.”

Sunah and Hayoon turned to look at me.

Gyeongwon continued to stare at the floor and mumbled to himself.

“How could this happen?”

“We should also leave for now.”

Regression. It might be the first time these children were going through something like this, but I was at the stage where I was already starting to get used to this.

“We should get up for now. Let’s go eat already, quickly.”

I got Sunah, who was nibbling her nails, and Hayoon, who was staring blankly, to stand up. Then I patted Gyeongwon on the back to get him to follow me to the cafeteria.

In that sort of situation, if I tried to explain what had happened forcefully, they wouldn’t be able to come to terms with it.

I had to give them some normal stimuli, such as walking and eating, to get the first timers to come to their senses.

As I headed towards the cafeteria, I softly mumbled to myself.

‘Status Window.’

As expected, it didn’t appear. What could have happened?

Although it had only been a short week, I had gone through so many different incidents. I had developed a habit of subconsciously checking the time using my Status Window whenever I regressed.

After waking up from death after each ridiculous occurrence, I regained my mental state by checking the time.

However, for the first time the Status Window didn’t show up.

‘Haaaa… Really, what’s going on?’

Although I had loudly boasted to Gyeongwon that I was part of the experiential group of people, I had honestly been unable to identify the crux of this current situation.

Even if I claimed to know something, all that I knew was that ‘time turns back when I die’, and that the ‘ghost stories are coming to life’.

If they were to ask me about my views on this situation, all I could say is that this was ‘a game where you learn as you rack up deaths’.

In this situation, why exactly did the Demon King appear? That monster wasn’t supposed to be released for three more years.

‘… This is happening way too quickly. It doesn’t make sense.’

Why did we regress together? And where did all the noisy people disappear to?

‘The people that disappear… Let’s try checking that out in this timeline!’

***

The four of us arrived at the cafeteria, received our food, and began to eat. It was bean paste soup and deep-fried fish. It was probably supposed to be just fried fish, but because the cafeteria lady had put in so much oil while cooking it, it was basically deep-fried.

The strong smell of the bean paste soup and the deep-fried fish was mouthwatering enough that it seemed to help Sunah snap out of her shock. She picked up her utensils and began to eat.

Clink.

Sunah began to nibble on her fish. Hayoon also began to pick up her chopsticks and poke at her rice. On the other hand, Gyeongwon continued to stare at the floor mumbling despite the food in front of him.

After finishing our food, we met our homeroom teacher on our way out of the cafeteria. He was rubbing his belly.

The homeroom teacher, after seeing us leave, came over and greeted us.

“It’s Joony Boy and friends. Did you enjoy your lunch?”

“Yes.”

I answered in a very cursory manner.

“That’s good. Are you going to your clubroom immediately?”

“No, we were planning on staying in the classroom.”

Because I was planning on checking out where the people disappeared to, I was going to stay in the classroom.

“Hmm, is that so?”

Suddenly, the homeroom teacher put on a serious face and began to look both ways, as if checking to see if anyone else was nearby. After seeing that no one else could overhear, he spoke quietly to us.

“Still, once lunch is over, it’ll be Club Activity period. You will be going to the clubroom then, right? There is something that everyone here should know about.”

“……”

“In that clubroom there is something vicious lurking about. In order to get in there, you will probably need this.”

The moment he tried to pull something out of his back pocket, I put my hands up to stop him.

“Ah, we’re alright. We already handled it.”

I then took my club members and led them away.

“Is that so…?”

The homeroom hung his head with a sad expression.

***

After I took a seat, the others naturally started to take their seats around me.

“K-kuso. That’s my seat, wheeze, over there, poro-poro.”

[T/N: ‘Kuso’ is Japanese for “f*ck” or “damn”. “Poro-poro” is a Japanese onomatopoeia for tear drops.]

Dukhun, who had just entered the classroom, started to freak out when he saw that Sunah was sitting in his seat.

“……”

“Ah, right. Wheeze. I had an interview for the Anime Club. Oops. TehePero.”

[T/N: TehePero is that thing Anime characters do where they laugh, “tehe”, and then stick out their tongue, “Pero”.]

Due to the depressing aura around us, Dukhun started looking at the ground, wheezed a bit, and then began to leave the classroom carefully.

“Umm, Joon. What… should we do now, exactly?”

Sunah cautiously asked a question first. Hayoon also looked in my direction. Only Gyeongwon was unable to make heads or tails of what was happening.

I coughed and told them my thoughts.

“I think, for now, it would be best to just watch how things play out.”

I slowly took my time, looking each kid straight in the eye.

“There are too many things we don’t know. Where did all the students go? Why did the clock suddenly stop?”

Sunah nodded her head.

“We can’t come to a decision right away, so we must first observe the situation.”

“Ha. Kuha! Kuhahaha!”

Gyeongwon, who had his head down the entire time, suddenly began to laugh in a condescending way.

“What sort of bullsh*t are you spewing, Club Prez?”

“What do you mean?”

“This situation! There’s no way this is all real~!”

Ahn Gyeongwon’s quirk, Denial of Reality.

The guy jumped up from his seat and climbed on top of his desk.

“I’ve always wanted to try this! Uhahahahahahaha!”

With that, Gyeongwon began to jump from table to table, moving around all over the classroom. The three of us began staring at with expressions of annoyance.

“Why are you guys just watching me~? Come join me~! It’s not like this is real life!”

“……”

“I’ve always wanted to try jumping around like this~! Uhahahahahaha!”

Gyeongwon continued to jump around, his face filled with laughter. I was about to calm him down with a sigh, when suddenly…

Pop!

All the lights went out, and a loud popping sound could be heard. It was the sound of the entire school losing electricity.

Although the sunlight still shone through the windows, because of the sudden change, Gyeongwon was startled and he slipped off the desk and onto the floor.

Crash!

“Uaaaaargh!”

“……”

He happened to splay himself out right in front of Hayoon. She calmly held her hand out.

“It hurts, no?”

“Ugh.”

Gyeongwon accepted her hand as he pulled himself off the floor, rubbing the area where he had landed.

At that moment, the broadcast system began to play out.

[The broadcasting room would like to inform all students that the school is currently experiencing a blackout, so the electricity is not working. Because this leads to difficulties in activities, the Club Activity period will occur in the courtyard, and all students are to gather there. Once again, the broadcasting room would like to inform…]

“……!”

As I jumped up in surprise, Sunah started to ask me a question.

“What happened?”

“You can’t go out!”

At my shout, everyone was uncertain. They slowly nodded their heads.

Gyeongwon began to approach me, still rubbing his sore spot as he asked.

“Why are you like this? Is there something you’ve caught—oooo, oooooo, ooooooo-”

Suddenly Gyeongwon’s head began to expand.

“……!”

“Kyaaa!”

Hayoon wordlessly took a step away, and Sunah let out a scream.

“Oooooooooooooooo!”

Pop! As Gyeongwon’s head exploded, chunks of flesh began to rain down in the classroom.

Following that, Sunah and Hayoon’s heads also began to swell.

“Oooooooooh!”

I could also feel my head expanding, recalling that strange feeling from what seemed like so long ago.

Pop!

***

“Also! Those Japanese b*stards would settle down on our country’s lands and dampen the spirits of our……”

“……”

I silently stood up from my seat.

“Let’s all boycott Japanese products, please?! Look into it more. Uh… Huh? What is it?”

The teacher, who had been in the middle of a rant, looked at me in surprise.

“Uh, I need to go to the restroom……”

“Oh, uh. Sure, go ahead.”

As I left the classroom through the door, I saw Hayoon and Sunah suddenly get up and follow me.

“I’ll also be going to the bathroom~”

“Me… Me too……”

“Uh, huh? Huh? What?”

They left the confused teacher behind and began to follow me into the hall.

“Have you caught on to something?”

Hayoon asked that as she looked me straight in the eyes.

“… What makes you think that?”

When I responded with a question of my own, Sunah spoke up in her stead.

“Well… Joon, you’re……”

Sunah pondered for a bit more before continuing.

“You've been very calm about this ever since the beginning, strangely so……”

I nodded my head.

“You remember before, when I was talking about the reason I made the Ghost Story Club? When I said that I was one of the experiential people? I was talking about weird incidents like this.”

Sunah’s eyes widened in shock.

“I see. Then, do you also know what we have to do now……?”

“Sorry. I’m not sure yet.”

The little bit of hope that had shown up on Sunah’s face disappeared immediately, and she returned to looking afraid.

“What I do know is that the ghost stories are continuing to come to life. In order to solve the situation we’re in, we need to find out which ghost story we’re all stuck in.”

And to do that, we need that b*stard, Ahn Gyeongwon.

It went without saying that I didn’t know anything, but Sunah and Hayoon didn’t seem to know many ghost stories in depth, either.

‘Even if I have to beat him up, I need to set his head straight.’

Murmur, murmur.

Some of the students from the class next door started to leave their classroom. The bell would be ringing soon.

Ding dong~ ding dong~♬

I spoke to the two girls.

“We need Gyeongwon. If it’s that trivia stan, he’ll definitely know something.”

“… Okay!”

Sunah nodded her head. I opened the classroom door again.

Right there, in the middle of the classroom, some woman was standing straight. She had on pale white makeup, and there was a silent, but very bright smile on her face.

“……!”

There were lots of students excited to go out and eat lunch. In the midst of all of them, that Laughing Woman had on a smile that seemed like it would rip her mouth open.

“Hey……”

“I’ll go get him.”

Hayoon must have noticed that something weird was about to happen, so she slipped in quickly by herself to pull Gyeongwon out of the classroom.

Behind me, the homeroom teacher, who was on his way to the cafeteria, noticed Sunah and me staring blankly. He came over and greeted us.

“It’s Joony Boy and friends. Are you on your way to enjoy your lunch?”

“……”

“Is that wrong? Will you be going to your clubroom immediately?”

“I don’t know.”

I didn’t even look at him and just gave him a cursory answer. Gyeongwon had started his ‘staring at the floor and mumbling’ routine, while Hayoon was struggling to pull him up out of his seat and drag him out of the classroom.

The Laughing Woman continued to smile brightly in the middle of the room.

“Ahem. Well, anyway…”

The homeroom teacher began to speak again, embarrassed by our lack of response.

“You will probably need this.”

“……”

Then he pulled our clubroom key out of his back pocket and handed it over to me, as if he was hiding it from view.

I didn’t bother looking at it and was about to put it away when I suddenly flinched.

♠

“… What’s this?”

It wasn’t a key. It seemed like some sort of accessory of a similar size, but it was surprisingly heavy. It was my first time seeing something like it.

“Ohoho. Use it well.”

And with that, he continued his run towards the cafeteria.

“……”

“This isn’t real. This can’t hurt me. This isn’t real. This can’t hurt……”

Hayoon managed to drag Gyeongwon over to us. He was still completely out of it.

“Hey, Ahn Gyeongwon!”

I started to shout in his face.

“Get your sh*t straight! This is real life!”

I grabbed him and started to shake him around.

“You have to come up with something! Quickly!”

“…… Come up with what?”

Gyeongwon was mumbling as he was shaken around by me.

“We need to know which ghost story we’re all caught up in! What is causing time to repeat itself?!”

“… Ghost story?”

“That’s right, b*stard, it’s a ghost story!”

After shaking him once more for good measure, I shouted again.

“Why did the entire school disappear? Why did the clock stop? Why are we continuing to die?”

“How would I know about that……?”

“DAMN IT!!”

KYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Behind Gyeongwon, I could see the Laughing Woman griping her boxcutter and slowly starting to move around.

The students started to scatter in surprise. The national history teacher walked up to the Laughing Woman and asked if she was a parent to one of the students.

I grabbed Gyeongwon’s collar and looked directly into his eyes.

“Please think about it.”

“……”

“The entire student body disappeared. Time stopped. And we are continuing to repeat our death.”

“……”

“Is there any ghost story similar to that?” The b*stard continued to sound deflated.

“I don’t know… There’s no weird story like that.”

I closed my eyes and thought of something that might help. I took out the item that the homeroom teacher had handed me. I gave it to him so that he could take a look.

♠

“What about this? What do you think about this?”

I might not know what it was, but if it was him, he might be able to think of something.

“What is this?”

“I don’t know either.”

Gyeongwon started to look at me as if I were a moron.

KYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

The Laughing Woman slowly approached us as she began to swing her boxcutter.

The scene of the national history teacher trying to stop the blood from squirting out from the neck was clearly visible. Tons of students were running away screaming, occasionally bumping against our shoulders on their way out.

“Kayak-! Kyaak!”

“It’s an insane person!”

"I AAAAAMMMMM NNNNNOOOOOOOOTTTT!!!!!!"

Whether I died there or I died running away, it was all still the same.

I continued to grab Gyeongwon by the collar and stared right into his eyes.

“Think of something. Please.”

“……”

“Please.”

Gyeongwon was staring blankly at the object I had received from the homeroom teacher, when suddenly—

“……!”

His eyes widened.

“……!”

In my surprise I tightened my grip on his collar. Next to me, Hayoon and Sunah began to tremble excitedly.

“Did you think of something?”

“…Ohhh!”

Confidence returned to Gyeongwon’s eyes.

“Huhu, huhuhu.”

He slowly began to start laughing.

“So that was it.”

After adjusting his glasses in his usual manner, his self-confident laughter returned.

“You were wrong from the beginning, Club Prez.”

“… What?”

Gyeongwon smiled and started to shake his head.

“You were wrong from the very beginning, Club Prez.”

“…What does that mean?”

I brought him right up to my nose as I questioned him. As his body was on the skinny side, he was dragged up pretty easily and was forced to stand on his tiptoes.

“Kuhuhu.”

“F*ck! What is it? Do you think this is a joke? Is this situation funny to you? Tell me!”

“This time, you should think up the answer.”

“What?”

The b*stard tilted his head and let out a sigh.

“You’re the President of the Ghost Story Club. You should be able to think of the answer.”

“……!”

KYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

The Laughing Woman was right behind us, swinging away with her boxcutter. The fleeing students were jostling us more intensely now. Even in such a chaotic situation, we were standing there, my hands gripping his collar.

“J-Joon! You have to run away……!”

Sunah was desperately pleading.

Gyeongwon continued to smirk condescendingly.

“Hey, you b*stard, is this all a joke to you? Just tell us what it is!”

Gyeongwon just continued to look at me with a smirk on his face.

“Prove yourself. Prove to me that you have the right to stand above me.”

The b*stard adjusted his glasses again, even as he was being held by the collar.

“Prove that this is worth me investing my next three years. Show me why I should help you.”

“You……”

“You don’t think this will end when you die, right?”

“No, even I know that much.”

“Kuhuhu… Then why are you in such a hurry?”

That b*stard, he was testing me. He was testing whether I should be the club president when he knew so much more than me. Whether it would be worth living as a member of the club for three years.

He was telling me to prove my worth, then and there.

“I’ll see you again.”

“……”

KYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

Swoosh!

Slice.

“Kyaaaahhh!!! Jooooon!!! Nooooo!”

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