Ch.192192 – The Labyrinth Called School 1

# 192 – The Labyrinth Called School #1

The seemingly endless midterm exams had finally concluded.

The students of Yeongji High School had steadfastly taken their exams despite a classmate’s disappearance and others refusing to attend school. And everyone was shocked by the surprising results.

“Jeongseok got first place?”

The rebellious student who had caused trouble relying solely on his father being the mayor had undergone a dramatic academic transformation.

Jeongseok, who had been ridiculed for scoring at the bottom during the entrance placement test and mock exams, had now answered every question correctly and received a perfect score.

He went on to achieve another perfect score in the May mock exam.

Some students suspected foul play.

“Do you think he switched answer sheets?”

“There must be some secret behind this.”

It was natural for grades to improve with studying.

Anyone could get good scores with effort.

But that required certain steps.

It was impossible to go from the very bottom to perfect scores in less than a semester without some unsavory secret.

Surely he must have committed some kind of entrance exam fraud.

That’s what the students thought.

Of course, for Jeongseok, getting perfect scores on midterms and mock exams was easy.

‘It would be stupid to get questions wrong when I’ve attended the same classes twice. Whether it’s my Computer trait still working or not, it takes me just seconds to read through problems.’

Jeongseok thought his strategy had worked quite well. A bottom-ranked rebel crushing the special A-class students with his grades overnight was certainly an extraordinary event.

‘Sometimes wrong answers can become right answers.’

Originally, school studies were meant for self-achievement, pursuit of truth, and career preparation. If deliberately giving wrong answers could help pursue truth, then incorrect answer sheets could become excellent correct ones.

“His cousin Jeong Sojin is still missing.”

“Could that be related to Jeongseok suddenly getting first place?”

“Remember that weird group chat where he got a penalty…”

“Wasn’t that just someone playing a prank?”

Jeongseok overheard students in Class D whispering while he was out in the hallway.

Even seemingly unrelated incidents were being connected, expanding and reproducing conspiracy theories.

Though these were merely gossip to pass break time, the fact that such stories were circulating was important.

Jeongseok thought it might be time to implement the next phase of his plan.

“Hello, everyone.”

One day after midterms ended, while the lingering spring sunlight streaming into the classroom was making students drowsy, a girl who immediately drew everyone’s attention transferred to Yeongji High School.

She had flawless porcelain-white skin with very light makeup that made her look pretty. The atmosphere in Class D heated up slightly at the transfer of such a beautiful girl.

Mainly among the male students.

“Is she an aspiring idol?”

“She could be an actress or model.”

“Isn’t that bag she’s carrying super expensive?”

The transfer student was Yu Dahui.

Dahui looked at the buzzing Class D students and said:

“The reason I transferred to Yeongji High School is because I heard there are ghosts here. My mother is a researcher who primarily studies East Asian culture.”

A girl as pretty as the most popular idol talking about ghosts?

Students thought she was just making a joke to lighten the mood on her first day, but seeing the seriousness in her expression, they were slightly taken aback.

Ghosts? How could anyone talk about such things seriously?

But some students couldn’t dismiss it so easily.

‘Wasn’t Lim Huiyeon refusing to attend school because she saw a ghost?’

‘According to social media, the reason Yeongji High School female students went missing was because of ghosts…’

The school, teeming with students, was a place full of vitality, just as its name Yeongji (sunny place) suggested. But for the past few days, no one wanted to set foot in the darkened school after hours.

No students stayed for self-study; only the security guard and the teacher on night duty remained to watch over the ominous building.

To students who had become fearful of their own school, Dahui’s talk of ghosts seemed somewhat ominous.

Still, a pretty girl naturally drew people in.

During break time, students gathered in a circle around Dahui.

“Where in Seoul did you live?”

“That bag looks amazing! It’s this spring’s new release, right?”

Chatter chatter.

High school break time was incredibly noisy, like chattering birds. Amidst the talking students, Dahui calmly asked:

“More importantly, isn’t there a male student named Ha Yeongwon in this class? I want to talk to Yeongwon.”

“Ha Yeongwon?”

“There’s no one like that.”

“Wait a minute…”

The name was quite familiar to some students.

From Yang Juhui’s April Fool’s prank to the bizarre death game, that name had been mentioned.

How did this student from Seoul know that name?

“Yeongwon is my friend. We were exchanging messages just yesterday. He said he was a student in Class D at Yeongji High School. So where is Yeongwon?”

The transfer student’s attitude didn’t seem like she was acting or lying.

The transfer student truly behaved as if she believed a male student with that unfamiliar name existed in Class D, sending chills down the spines of several students.

The school atmosphere was already tense with strange incidents happening.

Shudder-

Looking at the empty seats of Lim Huiyeon who refused to attend school, and the missing Gong Yerin and Jeong Sojin, the students’ mood rapidly deteriorated. Soon, the delinquent Kim Inho burst out laughing.

“Shit, look at Kim Geonho. This bastard looks so serious! Do you really believe in ghosts?”

“Sh-shut up! Ghosts are real! You don’t know!”

Kim Geonho was one of Class D’s troublemakers but was always scared.

When the bear-sized male student got genuinely angry while sweating nervously, all the students couldn’t help but feel tense.

# # #

“This is my first time seeing the night duty room.”

Yang Juhui marveled at Yeongji High School’s night duty room.

It was where teachers stayed on duty, working and maintaining school security, but a place students rarely had any connection with.

Jeongseok said:

“Now that we’ve heightened the atmosphere with the transfer student, the real work begins. Tonight, Teacher Kang Haneul will be staying in this night duty room and patrolling the school. The security guard will also be in the security office.”

With so many disturbing incidents happening at the school, teachers were reluctant to take night duty. After sunset, Yeongji High School looked like a giant tombstone rising from the ground.

It was a place students hurried to leave and teachers rushed to depart from after work.

Only the fearless Teacher Kang Haneul and the security guard who proudly claimed to be a former marine remained at the school.

Of course, Jeongseok, Yang Juhui, and Yu Dahui were still hiding in the school without leaving. Teacher Hong Miri was there too.

“I’m pretty close with Teacher Haneul. It hurts my heart that we have to scare her.”

“I’m close with my aunt too.”

At Dahui’s words, everyone fell into thought for a moment.

Teacher Kang Haneul being her aunt?

Come to think of it, it made sense.

Yeongji High School’s Korean language teacher Kang Haneul was the younger sister of Dahui’s father, Kang Bada.

Darkness fell-

As time passed, it became 11 PM.

Female teacher Kang Haneul finished her work and returned to the night duty room.

After shaking off the darkness of the corridor with a shiver, she opened a cold beer can from the refrigerator and felt good. Despite everything, it was a bit scary for a woman to guard the night duty room alone.

‘With all these disturbing incidents happening at school lately.’

Someone had to stay on night duty. Only responsible and fearless teachers could take on this task, and today was her turn.

As she watched TV in the night duty room, Kang Haneul felt an eerie gaze and looked toward the window.

Wasn’t that someone running away with a patter of footsteps?

“Who’s there!”

True to her fearless nature, Kang Haneul immediately stood up. The only things Kang Haneul feared were the thought of missing her chance to marry and the opinions of neighborhood women.

Patter patter-

Soon, Korean language teacher Kang Haneul saw something fleeing into the corridor. Thinking it might be a student staying late, she illuminated the dark end of the corridor with her phone.

And she discovered a strange woman moving as if dancing and staggering.

“…Excuse me?”

The woman was dressed entirely in red.

The only white part was her slender legs, with extremely high red shoes on her feet. Stagger stagger-

The way she swayed as if dancing might have been because she wasn’t used to those shoes.

‘…She’s coming this way. Who is it?’

Since the corridor lights were off, the face wasn’t clearly visible. There was a limit to how much light her phone could provide.

Kang Haneul, thinking it might be a fellow teacher or a parent, couldn’t help but feel goosebumps as the staggering, creaking body came closer and closer.

Because nothing about it seemed normal.

‘The footsteps…’

Walking on a stone corridor with such high heels should produce clicking sounds. As a woman who often wore heels herself, though not as high, Kang Haneul knew this better than anyone.

But from the woman staggering toward her, there was no sound that should have been heard. No footsteps at all.

Kang Haneul wondered if she was seeing things due to the alcohol, but getting drunk on just one can of beer would be strange too.

‘A ghost!’

Shudder-

Feeling her hair stand on end, Kang Haneul thought she should run away.

“Aaaack!”

When she entered the night duty room, she became dizzy at the sight of talismans attached everywhere and a bloody pigeon carcass. Then a loud noise reached her ears.

[Hurukukkuruhueehurukukkuruhuee]

It was like waves crashing inside her head.

It was the sound of someone screaming, so Kang Haneul covered her ears, but more surprisingly, the voice remained clear even with her ears covered.

[Hurukukkuruhueehurukukkuruhueehurukukkuruhueehurukukkuruhueehurukukkuruhueehurukukkuruhueehurukukkuruhuee]

“What is this! What is this! My brain is twisting! My brain is shaking!”

Kang Haneul eventually rolled her eyes back and collapsed on the night duty room floor with a thud. Soon, Yang Juhui and Jeongseok, who had been hiding in the night duty room, jumped out.

“Phew, I thought we were caught. We haven’t finished setting everything up yet.”

“The plan worked well. Fortunately, we still have our traits. Let’s clean all this up.”

Jeongseok packed the pigeon carcass into a bag and wiped away all the blood.

Yu Dahui, who had been hiding in a nearby classroom, also appeared and laughed.

“Sorry, Aunt. Maybe my telepathy output was too strong. It’s been so long that I had trouble controlling it. Huruku.”

Hong Miri, who had played the ghost by completely silencing her footsteps with the Lightly trait, returned as well. Seeing Hong Miri in all red with disheveled hair made Jeongseok’s knees weak.

“I wasn’t a ghost for 10 years for nothing. But I didn’t know I could still reduce footsteps by holding my breath. Shouldn’t we be unable to use our traits since Ha Yeongwon disappeared?”

“Perhaps the error rate has increased because of what we’re doing. Maybe the clock is slowly coming back? Now only the security guard is left.”

Jeongseok wondered how to scare the security guard who boasted about being a marine officer who catches ghosts.

It wouldn’t be easy to instill the concept of ghosts in a stubborn man in his 60s.

But conversely, if they could make the security guard scared, it would be like completely breaking down the school’s security and safety.

What could frighten students more than a school security guard quitting his job after seeing a ghost?

“My huruku won’t work. It’s difficult to communicate telepathically with people whose minds are closed.”

With Yu Dahui’s hurukukkuruhueehurukukkuruhuee- unusable in this situation,

Jeongseok was deep in thought when Yang Juhui spoke:

“…I have a method. Actually, I didn’t want to do this, but I saw it in the Shop. The wriggly kunekune!”

Swish-

Yang Juhui waved her arms from side to side.

It was truly a wriggly dance, and everyone who saw it became disoriented.