Ch.74074 – Twin Ghosts 1

# 074 – Twin Ghosts # 1

Knock knock knock-.

Ms. Hong Miri knocked on our front door again.

“Open the door.”

I had no idea what was going on.

Why had she come to our house?

I didn’t know what this was about, but I had a bad feeling.

Of course, Ms. Hong Miri was a witch who devoured her students!

Though she lived like a human, her true identity was actually a crazy ghost!

Maybe she was even a mimic ghost pretending to be Ms. Hong Miri.

That’s it! A mimic ghost!

I had encountered a ghost reflected in a mirror when I opened the second floor corridor.

I was startled and used my escape talisman.

What’s a mirror?

Mirror. Reflection. Mimicry.

These things naturally come to mind when thinking about mirrors.

Perhaps the mirror ghost from the second floor corridor was a ghost that imitates others.

In other words, the current Ms. Hong Miri might be an act put on by the mirror ghost.

Was there a way to tell if the Ms. Hong Miri outside the door was a ghost or human? After much deliberation, I came up with a brilliant idea.

I recently heard that ghosts, unlike people, do things backward.

Jeong Sojin had said so.

I’d vaguely heard such stories before.

They say ghosts do things like clap with the backs of their hands.

Should I ask Ms. Hong Miri to clap once?

Of course, asking her to clap out of nowhere would raise suspicion, so I needed a reasonable excuse or joke.

“Teacher, you need a password to enter our house. Please clap a jajinmori rhythm with your hands.”

“What? I don’t have time for games. Open up quickly.”

“It’s our house rule.”

Ms. Hong Miri grumbled as if I was talking nonsense, but I was serious. I wonder if my seriousness was conveyed to Ms. Hong Miri beyond the door.

Clap clap clap. Clap clap clap. Clap clap clap clap clap clap clap.

Ms. Hong Miri clapped.

Looking outside through the peephole, I could confirm that Ms. Hong Miri clapped properly. Although it wasn’t a jajinmori rhythm but a 3-3-7 clap.

Still, honestly, I didn’t want to let her in.

Even if she wasn’t a ghost, Ms. Hong Miri was suspicious.

But if I stalled any longer, I might seem suspicious too.

I pretended to know nothing and said:

“Okay. Come in.”

Ding-a-ling-.

When I opened the door, Ms. Hong Miri was standing with her arms crossed, looking at me indifferently.

Click. Click.

Entering the house with the sound of high heels, Ms. Hong Miri glanced around and clicked her tongue. Did she dislike how small our house was?

“There’s a cockroach over there.”

“…Where?!”

I looked where Ms. Hong Miri was pointing.

But there was nothing.

When I turned my head back toward Ms. Hong Miri, something poked my cheek.

Ms. Hong Miri had set a trap with her finger.

“Is it okay to tease an adult like that?”

“……”

The teacher took off her heels as she came in.

Her black stockings caught my attention.

“Where’s your mother? Is she feeling better?”

Ms. Hong Miri was the person who found our missing mother.

And she had spent quite a long time with her at that mansion.

Maybe… when I filed the missing person report, did my mother, who was living in the mansion, say, “My son reported me missing, so I should go back now”?

And then somehow her memories disappeared, and Ms. Hong Miri found her wandering the streets.

Perhaps Ms. Hong Miri, as someone who lived in the mansion together, was monitoring where and how our mother was wandering.

Or maybe not.

It would be easiest to just ask her directly, but…

“My mom went out to work. She’ll be home late today.”

The current time was 5 PM.

It would be about an hour before mom came home.

Soon, Ms. Hong Miri slowly looked around.

I couldn’t quite read the emotion in her gaze.

Ms. Hong Miri said:

“Then shall I order you a hamburger? Do you like hamburgers?”

“Yes, I do.”

Why is she ordering me a hamburger?

Is she trying to fatten me up to eat me!

I had such thoughts, but there was no reason to refuse a free hamburger.

After ordering the hamburger, the teacher asked about my studies, my future plans, and if I was having any difficulties at school.

They were formal questions, and I answered normally.

“I heard a transfer student came to your class. What do you think of them?”

“The transfer student…”

Is she talking about Wang Jahyeon?

What a vague question.

“I’m not sure.”

“Really? That’s possible. By the way, why is the hamburger taking so long?”

Ding-dong-.

Just then, the doorbell rang.

When I went outside, there was a hamburger bag at the entrance.

“Thank you for the meal.”

“Sure.”

I ate a hamburger loaded with bacon.

It was salty and delicious.

But I stopped eating when I witnessed a strange scene.

Ms. Hong Miri was eating her hamburger upside down.

Usually, you eat with the sesame-sprinkled bun on top, right?

But the teacher was doing the opposite.

“…Teacher, you’re eating your hamburger upside down?”

“Huh? This? This way, it’s less messy and cleaner to eat.”

Is that so…?

I was needlessly suspicious.

Was it because she was a ghost and acted in reverse?

Anyway, after the meal was finished, the teacher said:

“So, Ha Yeongwon. I have a good proposal for you, would you like to hear it? Your family is struggling financially, even having trouble paying rent. Our school foundation can give you a scholarship and cover all your college tuition.”

“Do I have to attend Yeongji University to receive the tuition?”

Yeongji University was known as one of the worst universities in Korea.

There was even a joke that students there gave birth faster than they got jobs.

Yeongji High School offered full scholarships to outstanding students and encouraged them to attend Yeongji University. It seemed Ms. Hong Miri had come to our house for that reason.

“Yeongji University… well, you can go there or not. By the way, this teacher also attended university with this Yeongji scholarship and got a job as a teacher. But… oh, look at me. I didn’t bring the documents.”

“Documents?”

“Ah, I think I left them in my office. It’s about a 10-minute drive from here. Yeongwon, let’s go together.”

Ms. Hong Miri’s office.

This might be an opportunity to find out what her true identity is.

“Sure, why not.”

I headed to the car parked on the first floor with Ms. Hong Miri.

# # #

Maybe because summer was approaching, the days were longer.

The evening sun was setting.

Under that sunset, I saw a towering building.

It was a building with a sign that read “Yeongji Foundation Human Resources Development Center.”

It was about 3 stories high.

It seemed quite old and a bit worn down.

When we entered, despite the hot and humid weather, there was an eerie chill in the air.

It felt like they had the air conditioning on full blast or as if a large refrigerator door had been left open.

“It’s on the third floor, so let’s take the elevator. I’m wearing heels, so I don’t want to climb stairs.”

The teacher operated the elevator to go up to the third floor.

The third floor we arrived at was mostly filled with empty offices.

“Is your office really here?”

“Yes, over there.”

At the very end of the third floor.

Come to think of it, there were no people visible in this building.

Are the teacher and I the only ones here?

Just as my suspicion was rising, we arrived at the teacher’s office.

Beep, beep beep-.

After opening the door with a keypad, inside was an ordinary-looking office with a desk, chair, sofa, bookshelf, and TV.

“I’ll look for the documents. Sit on the sofa over there.”

Rustle, rustle-.

The teacher rummaged through the drawers.

I took the opportunity to observe the office again.

It still looked like an ordinary office.

If there was anything unusual, it was the presence of a folding bed.

And there was women’s underwear on the bed, as if someone had taken it off.

“Ah, found it.”

At that moment.

The teacher approached me with something in her hand.

“Read this carefully and fill it out.”

“Yeongji Foundation Scholarship Selection Qualification Description and Consent Form

The Yeongji Foundation operates various curricula and scholarship programs to nurture global talent. Please read the following items carefully and sign.

1. Students selected as Yeongji Foundation scholars must rank within the top 50 percent each semester.

….

..

..

4. If you have confirmed all of the above, please sign.”

It seemed like a normal description.

However, from item 5, the sentences became strange.

“5. Yeongji Foundation scholars must surrender their human rights and devote their lives to the pursuit of truth.

6. Scholars will have ghosts living in their brains, and their souls will be mortgaged to hell.

7. Actually, this is all a lie.

8. Some of these sentences were written by a ghost.”

“……”

What is this?

I wondered if this was some kind of hidden camera prank.

But Ms. Hong Miri was just sitting on the sofa in front of me, looking at me leisurely.

I said to the teacher:

“Teacher, I… The clauses are strange, so I’m hesitant to sign.”

“Why? What’s the problem? Which items are strange?”

“Items 5 through 8 are all strange.”

The look in Ms. Hong Miri’s eyes changed as she stared at me.

They were the same eyes as the ghosts I had encountered so far.

Eyes filled with murderous intent.

# # #

Hong Miri was slightly annoyed.

It was because the foundation’s chairman, Cheon Daegon, had started showing interest in an unremarkable male student.

Because of that, Hong Miri’s own time was being wasted.

‘Do I have to take care of this kid too? I need to return to the old school building right now!’

A few days ago, Hong Miri had managed to enter the nightmare corridor of the old school building twice.

This was an incredible achievement in Hong Miri’s life.

‘How was I able to enter that place? I just need to know the method. Once I know that method, everyone will realize how amazing I am. Even the chairman won’t look down on me anymore.’

There’s cause and effect for everything.

Hong Miri believed there must be a proper reason why she was able to enter that corridor.

She barely had time to dedicate herself to finding that reason, yet now she had to take care of some boy.

Even presenting this consent form seemed like an overreaction from the chairman.

‘It looks like we’re selecting scholarship students, but it’s actually a guide to find the Watcher. It’s a ghost-possessed contract.’

For people without spiritual sensitivity, the form would end at item 4.

But with spiritual eyes, one would see letters invisible to others.

Depending on one’s sensory talent, items 5 through 7 were classified in stages.

‘Even seeing up to item 5 shows decent aptitude.’

Hong Miri looked at the last item, number 7.

“7. Actually, this is all ────.”

Though it wasn’t clearly visible, Hong Miri could read up to item 7.

This was an extraordinary talent as a Watcher who could see the spiritual world.

But this clueless boy said:

“Items 5 through 8 are all strange.”

“…8? What does item 8 say?”

“It says ‘Some of these sentences were written by a ghost.’ That’s what it says.”

“Really? Then what does item 7 say?”

“Item 7 says ‘Actually, this is all a lie.’ Teacher, is this really a contract? Is this really a scholarship application?”

The emotions Hong Miri felt upon hearing the boy’s story were surprise and jealousy.

The surprise came from the fact that the boy wasn’t lying.

The boy was speaking similarly about item 7, which Hong Miri could barely see.

No, what he said was probably more accurate.

“So it was a lie. Everything written there was a lie.”

Jealousy. That sticky, cool, yet sharp emotion broke through the barrier of her heart and showed on her face for the first time since high school.

When the boy flinched at Hong Miri’s demonic expression, she moved her hand without realizing it.

‘If he’s around, I’ll always be second.’

Hong Miri’s hand grabbed the boy’s nape.

Squeeze-.

It clearly contained murderous intent.

The boy struggled.

“Gaah! Wh-what are you doing!”

While struggling, the boy poked Hong Miri’s eye.

“Aack! You little bastard!”

Hong Miri screamed after being attacked in the eye.

“I’ll kill you!”

Hong Miri had already decided to kill the boy.

She could just tell the chairman that he died unfortunately during the process of becoming a “Watcher.”

With that thought, she grabbed a nearby box cutter, but the boy seemed to have escaped using the elevator.

“……”

Hong Miri, wearing heels, got into the elevator to follow the boy down. However, the elevator buttons had somehow been colored with a strange fluorescent pen, making it impossible to see the floor numbers.

“Ha Yeongwon, you cunning little squirrel. Do you think I won’t know which floor is the first just because you played this trick?”

She pressed the first floor button firmly.

But strangely enough, instead of going down to the first floor, the elevator started going up.

Ding-.

“Fourth floor?”

The elevator arrived at the fourth floor in a building that didn’t have a fourth floor.

It was strange.

‘Where is this?’

Ding-.

Soon the doors opened, revealing a dark corridor.

It was a corridor filled with the smell of various medicines.

“This is…!”

Hong Miri was greatly surprised.

This was the orphanage where she had died and been reborn.

“…How is this possible? Wasn’t this place burned down?”

Click. Click.

Soon, the sound of high heels echoed from far down the corridor, reaching Hong Miri’s ears.