Ch.189189 – Lies 4

# 189 – Lies # 4

“The world needs rules and discipline. If it’s inevitable that some grand zeitgeist must exist, wouldn’t it be better if a good kid like Ha Yeongwon played that role?”

Jeongseok intended to make Ha Yeongwon into something like the world’s rule and king.

He believed that would solve most problems humans face as existing beings, including war and famine. Ha Yeongwon had already proven his altruism.

To Jeongseok, this seemed like an incredibly remarkable thing, and in this world where Ha Yeongwon’s very existence had disappeared, he couldn’t feel even the slightest hope.

Like a prisoner who escaped from a cave can no longer live inside it.

Jeongseok felt as if he had returned to darkness after being in a world of light.

“What are you talking about?”

Yang Juhui couldn’t understand more than half of what Jeongseok was saying. She understood his desire to find Ha Yeongwon, but wasn’t his approach a bit strange? Something seemed suspicious.

“Jeongseok. Did you happen to become gay in this world? You don’t like men, do you?”

Yang Juhui began looking at Jeongseok with suspicious eyes.

Soon Jeongseok shrugged his shoulders.

“I’ve wondered about that myself. But I’m a crystal-clear heterosexual. I’ve even checked.”

‘He checked?’

Yang Juhui became very curious about that, but decided not to ask.

Sometimes it was better to leave things buried.

“So, what are we supposed to do? Gaeryong City has become a place that never existed. Nobody knows about the Old School Building’s nightmare or anything like that.”

Yang Juhui felt like she had been thrown into the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean on a wooden boat with no compass or sail.

Ha Yeongwon’s existence had been erased. She felt like she’d lost her direction.

Soon Jeongseok answered.

“It hasn’t been erased. At least it remains in your memory and mine. Remember what your sister said before? She said humans brought blueprints and made a clock.”

“In front of the 4th floor entrance? My sister did suddenly go crazy and say something like that. She said they made a clock with blueprints that couldn’t possibly exist in the world… It feels like that happened just yesterday.”

“Yes, but she said that since humans made it, it ultimately lacked ‘perfection.’ That means the wish Ha Yeongwon made wasn’t perfect either. He couldn’t completely erase himself.”

Jeongseok thought that the reason memories of the past remained with him was because of that imperfect error. And he considered that error to be the key to changing this reality.

“Juhui, as you started to remember Ha Yeongwon, that error rate increased. If we continue to increase this error rate, the world will change. Time doesn’t flow in just one direction, you know?”

Jeongseok recalled what he had explained to Ha Yeongwon.

Time doesn’t just flow from past to future. It also flows from future to past. If you change the future, the past can also change. Jeongseok thought that was the answer.

“We’re going to create the ‘Clock of Eternity’ in this world. Just as they did before. I’ve thought of a method. We’ll tell a huge lie to the world.”

“A huge lie? I understand even less of what you’re saying.”

“Simply put, it’s this. Have you heard the saying ‘three men make a tiger’?”

At Jeongseok’s question, Yang Juhui fell into thought for a moment.

Who was Seongho—?

Just as she was thinking she’d never heard that name before, the fortune-teller’s door opened with a creak.

And Bong Jiyeon, who introduced herself as Bong Yeonji, a minor-aged shaman, approached and handed something to Jeongseok and Yang Juhui.

“Someone visited our house before and gave me this. They said to give it to the woman looking for Ha Yeongwon. It was difficult to dispose of and gave me the creeps, so I’ve been holding onto it.”

In Bong Jiyeon’s hand was a small talisman.

On the black talisman, numbers were written in yellow letters.

Gaeryong Metropolitan City, Gangnam District—.

“This is an address.”

Yang Juhui could tell this was an address for some location. An address with the non-existent name “Gaeryong Metropolitan City.” And what this meant was clear:

Someone who remembered the previous time had visited Bong Jiyeon first.

“Not Gyeryong City but Gaeryong Metropolitan City. I thought it was some kind of joke, but it didn’t feel right to just burn a talisman someone gave me. They paid me well too.”

Jeongseok entered the address, substituting the new city “Daejeon Metropolitan City.” Of course, there was no Gangnam District in Daejeon Metropolitan City.

This was clearly a Seoul address.

“Juhui, let’s go check it out. If we take a bus, we can get there today.”

Jeongseok called to Yang Juhui as he opened an app to catch a taxi.

As Jeongseok was leaving, the girl who called herself Bong Yeonji spoke.

“Hey.”

“What is it?”

“That Bong Jiyeon woman who supposedly looks like me. I hope you can find her. She was someone you liked, right? I’ve seen many couples who come to have their love fortunes told. You have that look.”

“Someone I liked…”

Jeongseok seemed to fall into thought for a moment, closing his mouth.

Then he smiled slightly.

“Well, I suppose I did.”

With that, Jeongseok and Yang Juhui parted from Bong Jiyeon, caught a taxi, and headed to the address. But at the terminal entrance where they were going to catch a bus to Seoul, they were caught by the nape of their necks by someone completely unexpected.

“Yang Juhui! You! You skipped class again!”

“Urgh!”

Yang Juhui was caught like a stray cat.

When she turned her head, a female teacher with extremely dark red lipstick was scolding her.

“Are you going to keep doing this? Your sister was so well-behaved, but you’re just a problem, a real problem. Do you have any idea how worried your mother and father get every time you go astray?”

“H-Hong Miri teacher.”

“I’m Hong Yeri!”

She was Hong Yeri, an English teacher at Yeongji High School.

# # #

In the end, Jeongseok and Yang Juhui had to return to school and attend classes. School was boring and tedious.

Students were drowsily taking notes with the scratching sound of pencils under the lazy spring sunshine, and watching them, Yang Juhui thought about everyday life.

‘What would happen if suddenly everyone in the class was invited to a suspicious group chat? There’s a culprit hiding among them, and if they don’t find the culprit, someone dies.’

It was impossible. Purely in the realm of fantasy. In this world, students didn’t get caught up in suspicious death games, and high school girls didn’t get kidnapped, triggering investigations.

Just ordinary days.

This was probably the tomorrow everyone had wished for, but Yang Juhui now realized that the everyday life she had wanted to return to wasn’t actually that valuable.

As classes ended and Yang Juhui was about to go home, class president Jeong Sojin handed her a notebook from an alley.

“Juhui, you missed the class at 10, right? I have notes, so copy these. And don’t hang out too much with Jeongseok. He only causes problems and gets scolded at home.”

Yang Juhui made eye contact with Jeong Sojin.

Jeong Sojin didn’t seem to have changed at all.

“What? Is there something on my face?”

“No, you’re not wearing glasses. Contact lenses?”

“That’s right. Contacts. I do wear glasses at home, but how did you know? Did I ever mention glasses to you? I don’t think we’ve really talked much.”

Jeong Sojin smiled brightly.

Yang Juhui felt somewhat uneasy, so she took the notebook and quickly walked away.

When she got home, it was late.

She had gotten lost because she confused her home address.

Now Yang Juhui was living in a luxurious high-end apartment complex where she used to live, not in the public housing apartment. Her affectionate mom and dad were sitting on the sofa, and her scary sister was scolding Yang Juhui as usual.

“Hey, I heard you skipped class again today? Why do you keep doing that?”

“Dohui, don’t scold her too much. When Dad was in high school…”

“She must take after our mom. Mom was a real tough woman.”

“Your mother-in-law? Come to think of it, what is she doing in Peru now?”

“I don’t know. Something about excavating ruins, she said.”

It was a family laughing together.

Yang Juhui had been longing for this scene to return, but somehow she felt a great sense of loss, as if something important was missing.

‘I should go up to Seoul this weekend. I’m curious about the address Bong Jiyeon gave us.’

After closing her eyes that night, the next day arrived.

Yang Juhui could see that police had gathered at the school, causing quite a commotion. What could have happened? As her heart began to race, a police officer approached her.

It was a female officer with a kind-looking face.

“Are you Yang Juhui? We heard that you were the last person to meet with Jeong Sojin. The CCTV footage confirms this too. Could you tell us what you talked about?”

“What? What happened to Jeong Sojin?”

“A missing person report was filed.”

A high school girl’s disappearance.

Yang Juhui felt like popcorn was popping in her head.

She didn’t know what was happening, but this was extremely problematic. It was out of the ordinary and strange.

While it was a terrible situation for the reportedly missing Jeong Sojin, if this abnormality was due to the “error rate” Jeongseok had mentioned?

“I received a notebook.”

Yang Juhui truthfully told the female officer what she knew.

Classes continued amid the chaotic atmosphere, and the school was filled with talk about the missing high school girl.

“Actually, this isn’t the first time a female student has gone missing from the school.”

“Really?”

“Some say she was kidnapped.”

It was a scene she had seen somewhere before. Even though Teacher Kang Haneul tapped on the podium saying, “Everyone, focus,” the strange scent and atmosphere of abnormality that had spread among the students didn’t dissipate.

That’s what high school students were like.

They were unstable beings standing at the boundary between adulthood and childhood.

Ding—.

Just then, Yang Juhui’s phone rang.

“Host: You have been invited to Class 1-D’s ‘Death Game.’ If you fail to find the one outsider hiding in this chat room, a random student will receive a ‘punishment.'”

“Host: The culprit will be identified through voting.”

“Kim Inho: What is this?”

“Lim Huiyeon: lolol this looks fun, but April Fool’s was yesterday”

“Kim Geonho: What kind of punishment?”

Yang Juhui couldn’t understand the current situation. A high school girl goes missing and suddenly she’s invited to a strange group chat. Soon Jeongseok spoke in the chat.

“Jeongseok: There are 29 people in our class. But 31 people were invited here. Looking at it, there are two people who aren’t from our class. The answer should be obvious if you look at the profiles and names.”

“Gong Yerin: Why is the class dunce Jeongseok suddenly acting smart?”

The scroll moved rapidly upward.

A mysterious group chat that suddenly appeared.

Soon someone said:

“Kim Jeongbeom: There’s someone named Ha Yeongwon in the chat list, isn’t he the culprit?”

“Lim Yangwon: ok lolol seems right, that was easy”

“Kim Eunji: That name sounds familiar, doesn’t it?”

“Host: Night has fallen. Voting begins now. Time limit: 60 seconds.”

The class students began voting.

Votes were piling up on Ha Yeongwon’s name.

Watching this scene, Yang Juhui, with her long experience fighting strange phenomena, could tell this was a trap.

“Everyone, don’t vote carelessly! It’s not Ha Yeongwon! There’s one more person in the chat who isn’t from our class besides Ha Yeongwon! The host! The host is the culprit!”

Yang Juhui jumped up and shouted.

Everyone was shocked to see Yang Juhui shouting in the middle of class, but the voting had already ended, and “Ha Yeongwon” had received the most votes.

“Ha Yeongwon was not the culprit.”

“A random member of Class 1-D will receive a ‘punishment.'”

“AAAAARGH!”

Just then, someone let out a loud scream. It was Jeongseok.

Jeongseok was vomiting blood, and blood was flowing from his eyes and ears as well, causing everyone who saw him to scream loudly.

“What the fuck is this!”

“KYAAAAA!”

“WHAT! WHAT IS THIS!”

Teacher Kang Haneul was nearly on the verge of fainting.

A student suddenly vomiting blood and dying.

Seeing this, the cowardly Lim Huiyeon shouted:

“It’s the punishment! There really was a punishment! Because we got it wrong! Seok is receiving the punishment because we got it wrong!”

There was no time to think of anything else.

But the only important thing to Yang Juhui now was that she needed to save Jeongseok.

“I’ll take him to the infirmary! Or to the hospital!”

Yang Juhui practically lifted Jeongseok up and left the classroom. It was a situation that could cause panic in many ways. As they walked down the corridor, Jeongseok laughed, “Khuhu—.”

“How stupid. Everyone’s falling for such a pathetic trick. It’s funny, so funny. Khuhu—. Students steeped in peace, is this all they amount to… Hehehe—.”

“Hey, what the hell are you saying?”

“I’m saying it was all my act. Though swallowing the poison was real. If I take the antidote before a hole burns through my stomach, I’ll be fine. It was a lie. A lie. Let’s leave the school first. To the parking lot.”

Limping along, Jeongseok headed to the school parking lot.

Soon a bright pink compact car came into view.

The window slid open.

A woman who looked exactly like English teacher Hong Yeri but wore pink lipstick instead of red waved to Yang Juhui from the driver’s seat.

“Let’s go to the hospital quickly! To the hospital! Juhui! Bring Jeongseok and get in!”

She was also an English teacher, Hong Miri.

Yang Juhui got into the back seat in a daze, but someone was already sitting in the passenger seat wearing a deep hood. That face was familiar.

“You’re Jeong Sojin.”

“That’s right.”

“…Weren’t you missing?”

“That’s how it needed to appear.”

Yang Juhui couldn’t understand what was happening.

Soon, wiping the blood flowing from his mouth, Jeongseok said:

“If Ha Yeongwon doesn’t exist, we can create him. Juhui, thanks to you causing a commotion in the classroom yesterday asking if anyone knew Ha Yeongwon, things might move faster.”

It was then that Yang Juhui remembered the meaning of “three men make a tiger.” It meant that if many people tell a lie, everyone will believe it as truth. Yang Juhui understood what Jeongseok was thinking.

Just as Jeongseok and Yang Juhui remembered Ha Yeongwon, if the non-existent male student “Ha Yeongwon” became imprinted in many people’s minds—

The error rate of the Clock of Eternity would surely grow larger, and the past and future would change.

“Teacher, let’s go to Gangnam in Seoul. I’m curious about what’s there.”