Ch.12012 – The 31st Student Ghost Story 2

# 012 – The 31st School Ghost Story #2

“Wow, what’s going on? Move aside. Let me see too.”

“Yang Ju-hui really came to school.”

“Hey! Will everyone get out of the way!”

The area in front of the teachers’ office was swarming with students gathered like clouds.

The teachers tried to intervene, but Yeongji High’s faculty authority had hit rock bottom long ago.

I also peeked into the teachers’ office through the crowd of students.

I could see Yang Ju-hui sitting across from the homeroom teacher having some kind of conversation, though I couldn’t hear what they were saying.

Right now, appearance was more important than sound.

“Looks like she dyed her hair back.”

“It suits her well.”

As the students admired, Yang Ju-hui’s bright yellow hair had returned to a color similar to most students. Because of this, her impression had completely changed, and it suited her extremely well, giving her a totally different vibe.

Ding-dong-deng-dong-

Just then, the bell rang signaling the start of first period.

The students who had been lining up in front of the teachers’ office like they were waiting for idol concert tickets finally had to disperse, and I returned to the classroom too.

The door slid open.

Soon Yang Ju-hui entered the classroom.

Since Yang Ju-hui’s seat was right behind mine, everyone’s attention naturally turned toward us.

This is a bit burdensome.

The atmosphere was so tense it felt like it would burst if someone poked it with a needle.

When the situation was feeling extremely awkward, there was suspicious movement among the girls.

Tuk, tuktuk-

The girls nudged each other’s arms with their elbows.

It seemed like they were passing the buck, saying things like “Hey, you do it” or “No, you do it!”

After this back-and-forth went on for a while, Ahn Young-mi, a quiet and introverted girl who was class president Jeong So-jin’s desk mate, slowly approached Yang Ju-hui.

Then she spoke.

“Um… Ju-hui. We were talking in the class group chat over the weekend… Today… after school… could you maybe come to the back of the auditorium… Class C students said they’ll be waiting for you after school…”

“Class C?”

Seureu-

Yang Ju-hui glared around with her narrow eyes.

Though her hair color had changed from delinquent to normal, her style hadn’t died—her snake-like gaze made Ahn Young-mi tremble like a frightened rabbit.

“What the hell, I didn’t see anything like that. Ugh… these bitches. Did you make another Class D chat room without me? Are you trying to ostracize me this time?”

Kwang-!

Yang Ju-hui stood up, forcefully pushing her chair back.

“Shit! If I go to the back of the auditorium, are you planning to beat me up with the Class C kids?”

Everyone fell silent, seemingly startled by her loud voice.

Yang Ju-hui stood out like a musical actor who had taken over the stage.

“Wow, I can’t believe this. Do you think I don’t know what you’re up to? Hey Kim Geon-ho, did you tell the others to do this?”

“…What are you talking about? I don’t know anything about this. Just go talk to the Class C kids. Bong Ji-yeon from the next class never liked you anyway. Clear up your misunderstandings.”

Kim Geon-ho seemed a bit flustered at being called out by Yang Ju-hui.

There was a girl named Bong Ji-yeon in Class C who usually hung out with seniors, and she was in a similar position to Kim Geon-ho in Class D.

Even Kim Geon-ho seemed to be backing off, not wanting to get on the bad side of Bong Ji-yeon, who had the support of 2nd and 3rd-year seniors. Cowardly bastard.

More importantly, there was a “Class D group chat”?

I was never invited from the beginning?

These jerks!

I felt sadder about not being invited to the group chat than being directly bullied by Kim Geon-ho or Yang Ju-hui!

So…

What would happen now?

Would Yang Ju-hui get beaten up by Bong Ji-yeon’s gang from Class C?

No matter how tough Yang Ju-hui was, she was still just a first-year high school student.

If all 29 members of Class D (excluding Yang Ju-hui) deliberately bullied her, even she would eventually break.

Then what should I do?

If I stand by and watch Yang Ju-hui being ostracized, I’d be no different from those who bullied and abandoned me.

Still, Yang Ju-hui was my girlfriend for at least one night.

It would be right for me to step up.

I did have a few ideas in mind.

“Everyone, teacher’s coming.”

Jeongseok, Class D’s vice president who was keeping watch in the hallway, tapped the blackboard and quickly sat down in his seat.

“Alright, everyone. Take your seats and open your books. Class D president Jeong So-jin… said she went to the infirmary for a moment. Vice president Jeongseok, give the greeting and let’s start class.”

As always, the chaotic classroom atmosphere instantly quieted down, and my phone buzzed loudly with a notification.

Wondering what it was, I looked at my phone and saw an unfamiliar chat room.

“User 30 has been invited to Class D chat room.”

“4: I’ve invited everyone in our class except Yang Ju-hui lol”

“14: lol a group chat without Yang Ju-hui feels new, but why did you make it an anonymous open chat?”

“……”

So this is the class group chat.

Even though class was in full swing, the chat scrolled rapidly upward.

Looking around, I could see everyone tapping on their phones hidden under their desks or behind propped-up books.

“2: Sex”

“15: Damn, is that Lee Jin-sung? So disgusting lol, is he in heat?”

“17: What are you talking about, I’m Lee Jin-sung”

“21: Actually I’m Lee Jin-sung and Young-mi, I love you, date me”

So this is how kids these days spend class time, whispering among themselves.

This was new territory for me in many ways.

It’s kind of exciting.

The fact that I was invited to this group chat might mean I was finally being accepted as a member of Class D.

It probably meant that the ostracism that had been directed at me was now aimed at Yang Ju-hui.

But there was something that bothered me.

It might just be my imagination, but… isn’t something strange?

Didn’t anyone else notice?

# # #

Our class has 30 students including me.

And I think there was an informant among these 30 people.

“Bullying is occurring in Class D.”

The informant who wrote this note.

I was looking at the photo of the note I had asked Teacher Kang Ha-neul to take.

The last conscience of Class D.

That would be an appropriate name for this person.

This was clearly someone suitable to be my ally.

Woo-woong, woo-woong-

But the constant vibration of my phone was annoying.

I’m sure I turned off notifications, so why do messages keep coming through?

Currently, Class D was buzzing in a newly created anonymous open chat room.

If I ignored it for just 5 minutes, there would be about 300 messages waiting.

Well, with 30 people in our class, even one message from each person would be 30 messages.

“2: Honestly, I really hate seeing Yang Ju-hui”

“3: Right, she bullies our Yeongwon every day ㅠㅠㅠ”

Was it because Yang Ju-hui wasn’t in the chat room?

Or was the chat room created specifically to badmouth Yang Ju-hui in the first place?

“7: She thinks she’s a princess, that crazy bitch. Honestly, she’s not even pretty. Isn’t Hui-yeon prettier?”

“15: Number 7, welcome Hui-yeon lol”

The insults toward Yang Ju-hui continued to pile up. It was surprising how they could tear down Yang Ju-hui so much when they had been praising and adoring her until recently.

If Yang Ju-hui herself saw this, she might have cried her eyes out.

Out of curiosity, I asked in the chat room.

“30: Yang Ju-hui is definitely not here, right? Are you sure?”

“1: Yeah she’s not lol, definitely not. Would we be talking like this if she was?”

“4: Coward lol, I would’ve talked like this even if she was here”

“……”

Are you sure Yang Ju-hui isn’t here?

No, this is a bit strange.

Our Class D has 30 students.

If this is a chat room without Yang Ju-hui, shouldn’t there be 29 people here?

I was number 30 in the chat room.

This means there are 30 people in this room even without Yang Ju-hui.

“Ah, shit-“

Just then, someone cursed.

It was Park In-bae, the buzz-cut delinquent sitting in the far right back seat.

I was curious why he cursed, but looking at the chat room, I could quickly figure out the reason.

“15: Ah shit, that’s a disgusting image”

“2: Admin, please kick out number 5”

“7: Is that crazy bastard Lee Jin-sung? Number 5?”

Someone had posted a disgusting photo, terrorizing the chat room.

This was something that could easily happen in an anonymous chat.

It was reasonable to expect at least one attention-seeker among 30 students in a chat room.

But…

A bigger problem suddenly emerged.

“1: Now”

“2: a”

“3: game”

“4: will”

“5: be”

“6: gin”

“7: If”

“12: What is this?”

“8: you”

“9: can’t”

“10: find”

“11: out”

“12: who”

“13: I”

“14: am”

“15: all”

“16: of”

“17: you”

“18: will”

“19: die”

“20: Thirty”

“21: min”

“22: utes”

“23: re”

“24: main”

“25: ing”

“26: Find”

“27: me”

“28: or”

“29: die”

“30: all”

“……”

It was a bizarre message.

Moreover, a chat I never wrote appeared in the chat room under the name “30”.

The intention of that message was clear.

—Now a game will begin. If you can’t find out who I am, all of you will die. Thirty minutes remaining. Find me or die all—

“What is this?”

“Who’s playing this prank…?”

The sound of students stirring spread faintly through the quiet classroom.

Everyone seemed confused by this strange anomaly.

“14: What is this? I can’t leave the chat room”

“15: Me neither”

“4: Damn, what is this? Who’s playing this prank? Everyone reveal your names”

“22: Fuck off lol, if you reveal your identity here, you won’t survive the rest of school life”

“11: We’ve all said things we shouldn’t have, it would be so embarrassing to reveal our names lol”

The chat room atmosphere was stirring in many ways, but they seemed to think it was some kind of ‘prank’.

I would have thought the same if I hadn’t experienced several supernatural incidents.

But I thought this was the work of something supernatural, and it seemed likely to be the case.

“…If we don’t find the identity, we all die?”

My number 30 said “all”.

“30: all”.

Does this mean we all die?

Looking at the clock, there were exactly 30 minutes left until the end of first period.

In other words, if we don’t find “someone” before class ends, we all die—it wasn’t strange to interpret it that way. And I could easily guess who that “someone” was.

“30: Hey guys, I think there’s someone other than our Class D here. If we exclude Yang Ju-hui, our class should have 29 people, but there are 30 people here. I think we need to find the person who’s not from our class”

“12: Is this some kind of surprise?”

“11: This is kind of fun lol”

“1: If you’re not from our class, write ‘yes’ here”

“2: Idiot, as if someone would actually write that lol, ‘yes’ you bastard”

You idiots! This is not a joke!

You could all really die!

It’s so sad that there’s not a single person I can trust.

“Advice…!”

“Advice from ‘The Broken Clock’: Sometimes counting prime numbers can help alleviate tension.”

Count prime numbers?

Is the culprit a prime number?

No, this was just telling me how to relieve tension.

Prime numbers.

Numbers that are perfectly lonely, divisible only by 1 and themselves.

I counted them slowly, trying my best to think.

The easiest way to find the culprit would be for everyone to state their names in the chat room.

That would make it easy to find the culprit.

Even if the 30th person pretended to be a student in our class, if there was a duplicate name, we would just need to find which number that student was.

But the problem was that the people in the chat room had absolutely no intention of revealing their names.

They had already posted adult images and made all sorts of dirty jokes in the anonymous chat room, so they were extremely reluctant to have their names exposed.

And since it was class time, it was awkward to move around openly.

Finding one person out of 30…

This is exactly like finding the informant.

“The informant…”

Wait, finding the informant…!?

Flash-

At that moment, an idea popped into my head.

I opened my phone and looked at the photo of the note that said “Bullying is occurring in Class D.”

This is the hint.

Not the text or content, but the paper!

“The paper is the answer…!”

You ghost in the chat room.

Do you think I, an expert on ostracism, am a joke?

The outcast in our class isn’t me who wasn’t in the chat room, but you who only exists in the chat room!