Ch.14014 – The Dancing, Laughing Shaman Ghost 1

# 014 – The Dancing and Laughing Shaman Ghost # 1

“Hey, Jeongseok. It was you, right? You wrote this note.”

Swish-.

I asked in a voice only audible to Vice Class President Jeongseok, who was distributing money.

Jeongseok’s gaze flickered like a candle in the wind when he saw the photo on my phone.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Vice President Jeongseok denied it.

He probably didn’t want anyone to find out that he was the informant for Class D.

I completely understood how he felt.

He must have seen when Kim Geonho said, “Find out which bastard wrote the note.”

What would Kim Geonho do if he found out who the informant was?

It’s obvious.

That’s why everyone either ignored or went along with the bullying in Class D.

“Your handwriting is identical, what do you mean you don’t know?”

Swish-.

I showed him Jeongseok’s signature on the hidden quest that read “Confirmed.”

The handwriting was neat, as if typed on a computer.

Finding the informant by handwriting-.

This simple yet classic method was inspired by Teacher Kang Haneul.

Teacher Kang Haneul had said, “Yeongwon, your handwriting is terrible, so you couldn’t have written this note.” So I decided to find the informant by handwriting too.

I thought it would be easy to find someone who wrote so precisely, as if using a ruler.

While I was wondering how to compare everyone’s handwriting, the “Group Chat Death Game” hit us, and thanks to that, I was able to collect signatures from all the students.

Turning crisis into opportunity-!

Reversal-!

Words that perfectly suit me right now.

“What are you saying? What about my handwriting? Don’t pick fights for no reason.”

Objection-.

Of course, Vice President Jeongseok was still in denial.

Does he think Attorney Ha Yeongwon’s “evidence submission” is insufficient?

“I have more evidence. Look at this.”

Take that-!

I pointed out another similarity between the note and the signature besides the handwriting.

Jeongseok flinched as if caught red-handed.

“Hey, Vice President. Do I really look like Pikachu when I’m imitating one under Kim Geonho? You’ve been underestimating me too much.”

I am Ha Yeongwon, the library representative of Class D.

I’ve read enough books to consider myself a literary young man.

And people who read a lot inevitably end up writing.

Books-.

I’ve scribbled some short stories before, and I developed a habit.

A quirk, if you will—I can’t stand not putting a period at the end when I complete a sentence!

Habits can be quite frightening.

“Bullying is occurring in Class D.”

This short sentence had perfect grammar and punctuation.

The signature on the hidden quest was the same.

“Jeongseok: Confirmed.”

While other guys scribbled their signatures or played around, only Jeongseok wrote in neat handwriting with a period at the end.

“You have a habit of always putting a period at the end of your sentences. It’s a quirk that people who write a lot tend to have. And you’re the only one in this class who does it.”

The thugs at Yeongji High don’t have this kind of attention to detail.

But… I had to admit this evidence alone wasn’t enough to prove his guilt.

I needed something more decisive.

Still, Jeongseok’s unusually flustered attitude was enough to confirm he was the informant.

I said to him:

“Hey, if you’re going to write something like this, you should have used your left hand or changed your handwriting somehow. Of course, you probably didn’t think anyone would compare handwriting or look for habits.”

“…What…”

“Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone it was you. If anyone asks, deny it like you just did. From now on, let’s say I wrote this note. Got it?”

I called Jeongseok over to tell him never to reveal that he wrote the note. Let’s say I wrote it-. That way, I could deal with Kim Geonho quietly and effectively.

Ding-dong-deng-dong-.

The bell rang throughout the classroom and hallway, signaling the end of break time.

“Hey, Jeong Sojin. Are you feeling better now?”

“Yeah, Youngmi. I’ve been acting crazy lately, haven’t I? Sorry. I’m better now.”

Among the students returning to their seats, I watched Jeongseok’s back.

Vice President Jeongseok.

What kind of person are you?

# # #

May.

Warm spring.

It’s been about two months since the semester started, but since I’ve been somewhat of an outsider, I didn’t know much about my classmates yet.

Jeongseok.

At first glance, he seemed like a proper young gentleman type.

He was reasonably tall for a freshman and good at ball sports like soccer.

His midterm exam results… ranked 5th in the school?

He was the best student in our class.

But to me, he was just another bystander, and I wasn’t particularly interested in him.

Mutual indifference.

That’s how it was.

But now I wondered why someone like him would suddenly write such a note.

Buzz-.

Just then, my phone vibrated.

I checked it and saw a message from “Jeong Sojin: haha.”

…What the hell is this?

Class President Jeong Sojin texting me during class?

Is this the start of new harassment?

Maybe she was sending revenge messages for when I slapped her in the infirmary.

“Jeong Sojin: What are you doing?”

“……”

Damn, another one!

This girl must be enjoying tormenting me!

I decided to reply briefly.

“Listening to class”

“Jeong Sojin: Liar lol you’re looking at your phone right now lol”

“……”

Hey, Jeong Sojin.

What are you trying to do?

How did you even get and save my number?

…Actually, it wasn’t strange that Jeong Sojin had my number.

She was the class president, so she probably had an “emergency contact list” for the class.

I remembered Jeong Sojin passing around a paper at the beginning of the semester, saying, “Could you write your phone number here?”

“Class president…”

Someone with that position would naturally know a lot about our classmates, right?

I decided to use this situation as an opportunity.

“Hey do you know what Vice President Jeongseok is like?”

“Jeong Sojin: lol of course”

The reply came so quickly that the “1” confirmation mark barely had time to appear.

That means Jeong Sojin was constantly watching our chat!

It was a bit scary and burdensome, but also surprising.

“Jeong Sojin: Jeongseok is my cousin lol why?”

Vice President Jeongseok is Class President Jeong Sojin’s cousin?

Now that I think about it, they both had the same surname, Jeong.

So cousins were running Class D as president and vice president.

What is this, some kind of dictatorship?

“Jeong Sojin: Seok’s dad used to be a prosecutor he’s super scary so don’t get caught doing bad things later haha”

Jeongseok’s father was a former prosecutor. Past tense?

That’s quite useful information.

“Jeong Sojin: If I tell my uncle you slapped me earlier you’ll be in big trouble haha”

“Jeong Sojin: Just kidding haha”

This Jeong Sojin girl.

True to her backstabbing nature, even her jokes sent chills down my spine.

“My battery’s low text your boyfriend if you’re bored”

“Jeong Sojin: I don’t have a boyfriend haha”

Go to hell!

Swish-.

I put my phone away, using the low battery excuse.

If I kept texting her, I felt like my lifespan would shorten.

In some ways, Jeong Sojin scared me more than the ghosts.

Anyway-.

The day gradually came to an end.

“Hey! Geonho! Let’s go smoke! Or should we skip class? We already got 30,000 won!”

“No way. Teachers have been patrolling around the old school building lately.”

“Huh, Kim Geonho, why are you acting like such a coward these days?”

Today was more peaceful than usual.

Kim Geonho, unlike his usual self, seemed subdued and didn’t bully me, and Yang Juhui sitting behind me didn’t act out either, probably reading the room.

That was fortunate for me.

I was honestly drained both mentally and physically from fighting the “Death Game” since first period.

Soon it was time to go home.

Yang Juhui behind me was fidgeting more frequently.

She was probably stressed about potentially having to face Class C students at the old school building auditorium after school.

But I was confident that Yang Juhui wouldn’t get beaten up today.

# # #

“Hey, there’s a police car outside?”

“Why? Because of the missing person case?”

“Shit, is it because I scammed someone on the online marketplace?”

The police had arrived at Yeongji High School.

No matter how tough they acted, they were still first-year high school students.

It was natural for the atmosphere to become strange with the arrival of police.

In this atmosphere, it would be impossible for Class C students to beat up Yang Juhui behind the auditorium.

Even thugs wouldn’t cause trouble with police cars at the front gate, right?

“Geonho, why are you shaking so much?”

“This bastard, are you scared they came for you?”

“…Shut up, asshole!”

I was admiring my own cleverness while looking at the contact information of the “senior police officer” I had acquired during the “Auntie Ghost” incident.

I was also surprised that the police actually responded to my text saying “There might be an assault at school today.”

There are many trustworthy adults in the world.

As I passed by the main gate on my way home, partly to check out the police car, I made eye contact with a familiar-looking police officer.

What if he calls me over—then it might be revealed that I was the one who called the police? That would definitely make the rest of my school life troublesome.

I worried about this, but surprisingly, the officer didn’t call or stop me.

Soon the vice principal came out to the front of the school and bowed politely to the police officer.

“Oh, Detective. Thank you for your hard work! Now that you’re patrolling like this again, the school atmosphere feels safer! This is the first time I’ve seen you since that… incident, right?”

“We’ll be patrolling regularly from now on. To prevent any additional incidents—”

“Ah, let’s discuss this inside.”

I see.

Well, this should be enough to have protected Yang Juhui.

Today I’ll go home and think about which players to put in the “Nightmare Corridor.”

As I was heading home along the winding alleyways with that in mind—

Rumble rumble-.

I saw a familiar group of students entering an alley.

A girl with short hair, braces, and an extremely shortened skirt caught my eye.

Judging by the white socks and sneakers, it looked like Bong Jiyeon, the tyrant of Class C.

“Hey. Shut up and follow me, you bastard. You’re dead today.”

Who was Class C’s Bong Jiyeon gang taking into the alley?

Could it be Yang Juhui?

Peering into the alley, I could see Class D’s Vice President Jeongseok heading somewhere with Bong Jiyeon! What was he doing there?

“And who are you? Bongi, do you know this guy?”

Just then, someone grabbed my shoulder.

It was an unfamiliar male student, but I could tell he was from Class C.

“Oh, I know him. Isn’t he Kim Geonho’s lackey? Since we’re talking, let’s check his pockets. How much do you have?”

They want to steal my money?

No way! I have my hard-earned points-converted cash in my wallet right now!

“Oh? Look at this guy? Are you resisting? Must have a lot of money? Should I strip you completely? Down to your underwear? Stay still if you don’t want to get hurt. Attention! Oh? This won’t do. Take off this bastard’s pants and underwear.”

Bong Jiyeon narrowed her eyes.

She crunched on candy with her braces, making me feel chills down my spine.

I could tell at a glance. Unlike Yang Juhui, Bong Jiyeon wasn’t the type of bully who joked around!

She really intends to strip off my pants and underwear!

Slip-. My pants fell down pathetically.

I’m screwed! That thought filled my mind when—

“HEY!!! BONG JIYEON!!!”

Someone shouted loudly.

What happened next was so sudden that I could hardly believe my eyes.

Wham!

Yang Juhui appeared out of nowhere, grabbed Bong Jiyeon’s hair, and slapped her hard across the face!

Slap slap-.

“Kyaah! Wh-what! What’s happening?!”

Charging alone against a gang of five people, including some guys.

As I wondered if this was even possible, I remembered the quirk Yang Juhui had acquired.

“Yang Juhui: ‘Boiling Blood’ – Blood that heats up like a blast furnace sometimes clouds judgment. Do you know that courage and anger stem from this heat?”

Yang Juhui had been fidgeting all day not because she was scared.

It was because she was angry due to her boiling blood!