Ch.7007 – Survivors: 0, Dead: 0

# 007 – Survivors: 1, Deaths: 3

Originally, there was no bullying.

I was just an ordinary student in class who didn’t stand out.

But one day, Kim Geonho said to me.

“Hey, Ha Yeongwon, today’s April Fool’s Day. I’ve got something fun to tell you. A loner like you would be perfect for this role. Perfect!”

It was early April, barely a month after the entrance ceremony, but Class D had already become Kim Geonho’s kingdom—he’d been a troublemaker since middle school.

Kim Geonho kept escalating his pranks and reckless behavior, as if testing how far he could go and what would be tolerated in Class D.

“Listen, Yeongwon. I want you to tell Yang Juhui that…”

Refusing Kim Geonho’s proposal would obviously lead to noisy days ahead.

Since I had my reasons for wanting to live a perfectly “middle-of-the-road” life, I accepted his proposal.

It wasn’t a difficult proposal anyway.

“Yang Juhui, I like you. Will you go out with me?”

Before first period.

The kids clapped and cheered, setting the mood.

Even the rowdy group laughed and captured everything on their phones.

“Date him!”

“Date him!”

“Kiss! Kiss!”

“What is this? You’re pulling this prank because it’s April Fool’s Day? It’s not funny at all! Total fail! Get lost! Stop filming! I said stop! The teacher will be here soon, what’s wrong with all of you?!”

Yang Juhui, who always acted proud and bold, seemed quite flustered by this prank and lie that the whole class had conspired to create.

“Hey, Juhui doesn’t seem to dislike it!”

“Yeongwon is pretty cute, right? He’s tall. And he’s smart too!”

“Are you two really dating? Kyaa! Answer quickly!”

The atmosphere was heating up.

Just as Yang Juhui’s white face turned bright red—

I thought they would set off firecrackers or something as planned, but—

“Ah, fuck, this is so boring. Let’s stop here.”

—Kim Geonho appeared unexpectedly and ended the situation.

“You bastard, Ha Yeongwon. I told you to confess to Yang Juhui convincingly, but your acting is so shitty that she knew it was an April Fool’s joke from the start. We won’t get any views like this. You wanna die?”

That’s when it started.

When I became the target of Kim Geonho’s explicit bullying.

The reason this memory came to mind now was because Yang Juhui’s face looked exactly the same as it did on that April Fool’s Day.

The same expression—flushed red with embarrassment, humiliation, and shame, with tears welling up in her eyes.

“Hey, Ha Yeongwon. What did you just say?”

“I said take off your shirt first. Or… should I take it off for you?”

To escape the Nightmare Corridor, I pressured Yang Juhui.

Since it was my first time threatening and pressuring others, I was nervous because my lines sounded somewhat awkward.

I couldn’t get the “Hypnosis App” from the shop I’d worked hard to open, but I was essentially doing something similar.

Of course, this was a humane and righteous act.

To escape from this place, I would gladly drink the poisoned chalice of false evil.

“No. Why should I do what you say?”

“Ha, Juhui. Do you think I’m doing this just for myself? We need to try anything to escape from here. If you don’t want to, let’s just live in this classroom forever! You and me! Just the two of us!”

I threatened her with the prospect of never escaping this terrifying corridor.

After that, I tried to coax her gently.

“It’s not like it’ll wear out if I just look at it or touch it for a bit. You’ve probably had lots of boyfriends, right? Aren’t you used to this kind of thing?”

“Do you really want to die? Yeongwon, I think I understand how you’ve been thinking about me all this time. You creep. You’re seriously disgusting. Ugh! Just try to put even a fingertip on my body!”

“Fine, then let’s just live here. I don’t care anymore. Shit. I like it here. No bullying, no doing someone else’s homework! It’s paradise! Paradise!”

Screech—

I pushed all the desks aside to make room to lie down, then just lay down.

It was more comfortable than I expected for a place where ghosts appeared.

As expected, walking is better than running, and lying down is better than walking.

About five minutes passed.

Rustle—

I heard something like thin fabric falling.

When I turned my head, Yang Juhui was taking off her shoes.

The very fact that a classmate was taking off her shoes in front of me was honestly quite provocative.

I might discover a new fetish!

“…Yeongwon. Promise me one thing. Are you really confident you can escape from here? If you promise, I’ll let you touch me. Not anywhere else… just… my feet.”

Can I escape from here?

Honestly, it was fifty-fifty.

To be frank, my wet dream strategy might not work.

But so what?

Isn’t it better to try something with the girl who used to bully me before dying here?

If we escape, great. If not… well, can’t be helped.

Either way, I was set to gain something.

Of course, without saying any of that, I put on a serious expression.

“I promise. When I wake up from this dream, I’ll go to where you’re sleeping and wake you up. So, can I take off your socks first…?”

Earlier, watching Jeong Sojin take off her stockings gave me quite a reaction.

If I take off Yang Juhui’s socks myself, I’ll get the same… no, an even bigger reaction!

“……”

Yang Juhui remained silent. She just stared at me with a contemptuous expression.

Nevertheless, this silence seemed like consent.

Thump-thump-thump-thump—

Now my heart started beating more violently than when I met the ghost.

What should I do now?

As I reached out with that feeling, tap—Yang Juhui grabbed my wrist.

“…I can’t let you touch me after all! I don’t intend to let anyone touch my body unless we’re dating. If you want to touch me, you have to date me.”

“Are you asking me to date you?”

“And I don’t like casual dating and breaking up. I think when you date someone, you should always date with marriage in mind. Can you agree to that?”

Marriage?

Isn’t that too far ahead for a high school freshman?

I didn’t know Yang Juhui had this side to her.

“Also, if you want to date me, you have to go to church every Sunday.”

Go to church?

Ah shit, I don’t like that, but let me just go along with it.

“Alright. I’ve been to church many times. So we’re good now? Today is our first day. We’re dating with marriage in mind. Are we done?”

Swish—

I removed my wrist from Yang Juhui’s grasp.

Now I really need to escape.

From various “nightmares.”

Tap—

Then Yang Juhui grabbed my wrist again.

“And I think it’s good to start with just holding hands. There should be progression in physical contact, right? Even after dating, for about 100 days, just holding hands…”

“Ah, shit. Why is the great Yang Juhui so talkative? Are you one of those ‘purity after marriage’ people or whatever?”

“…Do you mean ‘purity before marriage’?”

“Whatever. Are you a T?”

I felt unnecessarily irritated.

But… thinking about it again, holding hands was quite appealing.

Who knows? While holding hands, the mood might lead to touching elsewhere—

Kids these days do everything after dating for just one day.

As one of “those kids,” I might be able to do this and that.

No, I can do it! Me!

“Then I’ll touch you.”

Swish—

I took Yang Juhui’s hand that was holding my wrist and held it.

“Ah… why are you holding my hand like that… Just like the creep you are…”

Yang Juhui’s body trembled slightly.

Her hand was slender. Warm and soft.

Her nails weren’t painted but were well-groomed.

“How am I holding your hand?”

“…Like a pervert.”

I thought I was holding it normally.

More than that… a woman’s hand is so small, slender, and delicate.

How can a hand that was so fierce when hitting me be so soft?

If her hand is this soft, then those large breasts must be—

“Ooh—”

At that moment, I felt like my body was melting.

This feeling was dangerous.

# # #

“…Just from holding hands?”

The first thing I did when I woke up was check my pants.

Fortunately, I didn’t need to change my underwear.

“7 o’clock…!? I’m late!”

I hurriedly went to the living room.

A huge American cockroach was wandering around the kitchen and suddenly flew toward my face with a buzzing sound.

“Whoa, shit, you scared me!”

It was really terrifying.

A thumb-sized American cockroach flying toward my face was more horrifying than being chased by ghosts in a dream.

I calmed my startled heart, quickly got dressed, and headed to school.

I arrived at school around 7:30.

The school was already bustling.

There were police at the old school building, and students were murmuring.

“Well, it’s fortunate it wasn’t a missing persons case, teacher. Then we’ll be going now. Since it wasn’t a serious matter, please handle the rest at the school…”

“Yes. Thank you so much. You kids! What were you thinking! Sleeping in a place like this! What do you think would have happened if I hadn’t come to school early and found you!”

At a glance, I saw a woman in a black suit with neatly cut short hair scolding the students sternly.

She was the first-year Korean language teacher.

She was thirty-one, unmarried, and with a refined, beautiful face, making her popular among male students. I liked her a bit too.

“Ah, damn. Why was I sleeping in a place like this? My head feels like it’s going to split open. Teacher, could you be a little quieter? My head hurts.”

I could see a male student who seemed well over 180cm tall scratching the back of his head and shivering. Next to him was a girl wearing glasses.

“What time is it now… huh? 7 AM!? This is bad! My mom’s going to kill me! What should I do! Seriously!”

It was Kim Geonho and Jeong Sojin.

So they were both alive after all.

I felt like a heavy burden had been lifted from my chest.

And next to them…

“…Ah, what the hell. My uniform is all wrinkled. Why did I fall asleep in a place like this?”

Yang Juhui was there with her hair sticking out in all directions, looking annoyed.

They all seemed puzzled about why they had fallen asleep inside the old school building.

Naturally, the school was in an uproar.

Did you drink alcohol—Did you sniff glue—Teacher, these days students even use drugs—blah blah blah—

“Wow. Did you hear? Kim Geonho, Yang Juhui, and Jeong Sojin spent the night in the old school building!”

“Damn, they’ve got guts. In a place where ghosts might appear?”

Before first period.

Class D students were chattering away about the incident that had occurred since morning.

Slide—

Soon the classroom door opened, and Yang Juhui and Jeong Sojin entered, causing all the students to close their mouths.

The teachers who had been interrogating the students must have told them to attend classes first.

Did Kim Geonho go home?

No, I don’t care about that guy anymore.

I smiled slightly as I watched Yang Juhui sit down behind me.

To think she’s my girlfriend starting today.

Honestly, I couldn’t believe it, but it felt good.

“What are you looking at? Loser.”

“Hey now, Juhui, is that how you talk to your future husband? Don’t you know the Bible says that the husband is the head of the wife, so wives should submit to their husbands? For someone who goes to church every Sunday, your personality is quite…”

“What? Future husband? Are you crazy? What’s with this sudden confidence, you loser? And how did you know I go to church? Have you been stalking me…!?”

Yang Juhui’s sudden outburst startled me.

Is she pretending not to remember last night? Does she want to keep our relationship secret?

Just to be sure, I asked Yang Juhui.

“Juhui, what do you think about only holding hands until our 100th day of dating?”

“Hey, what nonsense have you been spouting since earlier? I’m in a bad mood this morning. Did Kim Geonho put you up to something again? Did he tell you to confess to me as a joke?”

“No, I had a girlfriend. My girlfriend said we should only hold hands for the first 100 days…”

“You, Ha Yeongwon, had a girlfriend? Who?”

“She’s gone now… I just got dumped.”

“Hahaha, that’s more like it! But who was she? Should I go beat her up? Who dumped our Yeongwon! Huh? Who is she? Is she in our class? Our school? She must be ugly, right?”

Yang Juhui didn’t seem to remember anything about the dream.

About the “Nightmare Corridor.”

About the conversations we had.

I felt like I had lost a girlfriend I’d never even dated.

A precious person.

A person I didn’t want to forget.

A person I shouldn’t forget.

Where could I express these feelings…

Was it all just my dream?

I was frustrated.

If it was really just a dream, I should have at least touched her chest.

“Status Window.”

In my dejection, I tried to make the text appear in the air.

Ding—

Fortunately or unfortunately, the text appeared.

But the text that appeared was a bit different from usual.

『Congratulations! You have safely returned from the Nightmare Corridor!』

『Beginning settlement for 1 survivor, 3 deaths.』

『3 deaths will acquire quirks.』

『Kim Geonho ◀ Select to confirm』

『Jeong Sojin ◀ Select to confirm』

『Yang Juhui ◀ Select to confirm』