Ch.9009 – The Auntie from Hell 2

# 009 – The Auntie from Hell # 2

The secrets of the Old School Building and Yeongji High School.

I was looking for someone who could tell me about memories from quite a while back, and Teacher Kang Haneul was perfect for that role.

After all, Teacher Kang Haneul was a student at Yeongji High 16 years ago!

Well, all adult women were once high school girls.

“Was there ever a shaman who came to the school?”

“Tch, forget it! Yeongwon, you never tell your teacher anything honestly, so why should I answer your questions? I’m not going to tell you either.”

Hmph-

The teacher puffed her cheeks, pretending to be excessively upset.

At thirty-one, Teacher Kang Haneul had a childish side that made it hard to believe she was only three years younger than my mom, who’s thirty-four this year.

Maybe it’s the difference between a married woman and a single one.

“Anyway, call me if you change your mind. This is my number. Just so you know, I don’t give my number to just any guy, so you should feel honored.”

“……”

“No response?”

“Yes. Ah, I’m honored.”

I left the library and headed home. On my way from school, I deliberately took a longer route, worried I might run into Kim Geonho’s gang.

When I finally arrived home, the bathroom was locked, so I knocked on the door and found my mom inside.

“Yeongwon, is that you?”

“Yeah.”

“School’s over?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you get a girlfriend at school today?”

“Um… no…”

I really needed to use the bathroom. I wondered how long mom would stay in there.

That’s when it happened.

Woooong-

Katalk-

“Yeongwon, Mom can’t come home tonight, so get your own dinner, haha. So, no cute girls at school today? If there are, introduce them to me right away and I’ll treat you to dinner, haha.”

I got a message from Mom.

A chill ran down my spine as the bathroom door creaked open by itself.

The bathroom I thought my mom was in… was completely empty!

“What? There’s nobody here…!?”

Who the hell was in there just now?

“Advice!”

“Advice from ‘The Broken Clock’: Sometimes silence is the answer.”

Oh shit, sometimes the advice is just useless platitudes, and of course it had to be now!

As if it wasn’t bad enough living in a house with giant cockroaches, now there are ghosts too? There’s a reason why the rent is cheap!

I was terrified and couldn’t calm down at all.

Pabapat-

I ran out of the building.

I didn’t have a specific destination in mind, but I thought it would be good to go somewhere crowded.

Going somewhere bustling with people might make me feel better.

Ghosts probably can’t appear in places like that!

“So where should I go?”

The problem was that I’d only moved to this neighborhood a few months ago and didn’t know the area well. I had lived in Seoul until middle school.

This neighborhood was too run-down with too many back alleys and filled with unidentifiable noises and smells.

Flutter, flutter-

Something white fluttered and startled me.

“Mom!”

I freaked out thinking it might be a ghost’s white dress, but looking closer, it was just a banner.

“Making Gaeryong Metropolitan City prosperous! Revitalizing Gaeryong Metropolitan City development! I, Jung Man-sik, will make the subway line 2 development happen! – Candidate No. 1 Jung Man-sik!”

One of the strings had come loose from lack of maintenance, making it flutter like a flag.

Shit, scaring people like that.

I swear, when I’m old enough to vote, I’ll never vote for that guy.

“This neighborhood is too crappy.”

Until last year, I lived in sophisticated Seoul.

Then we moved to this Gaeryong place because of Mom’s job, and I’m still adjusting in many ways.

“……”

So what do I do now?

Grrrr-

I was hungry.

# # #

“Hmm, it’ll take me about 10 minutes to get there. Why don’t you go into a nearby restaurant? Order some food. I’ll eat with you when I arrive. Order the same thing for me. I’ll pay.”

Thankfully, I had brought my phone with me.

I was able to quickly contact Teacher Kang Haneul, who had told me to call if anything happened, and that meant I could also solve the dinner problem.

I ordered pork soup at a nearby restaurant and waited for the teacher to arrive.

“……”

But this waiting time was more boring than I expected, and also creepy.

Shit, our house was already scary enough with the cockroaches, and now there are ghosts too.

Do I have to live there forever?

I tried to distract myself from my fear by calling up my status window.

It seemed like a good time to check the items I hadn’t been able to look at before and think about how to use my accumulated points.

“Name: Ha Yeongwon Lv.1

Trait: ‘The Broken Clock’

Funds: 210 Points

Description: Once promising, you now spend your days killing time in a meaningless routine. But even a broken clock shows the correct time twice a day.”

“Shop ◀ Click to open”

“Clinic ◀ Click to open”

I still had 210 points left after opening the clinic.

Seeing such a generous amount of points made me feel full even without eating.

Since I had time, should I do some shopping at the store?

“Welcome to the Level 1 Shop.

Our shop sells various items that will help you in battles with heroes.”

“Leveling up the shop will add products and apply discounts.

Shop Level 1 Lv (0/100)

1. Trait Drawing Ticket – 100P

2. Capsule Drawing Ticket – 100P

3. Unlock Locked Item – 100P

4. Open 2nd Floor of Old School Building – 1000P”

What should I buy here?

The most appealing option was the Trait Drawing Ticket.

I already had a trait called “The Broken Clock,” which was an excellent ability that could almost be called a superpower. If I got another one like it, my life would become even more prosperous and abundant.

Tick-

Without hesitation, I selected “Trait Drawing Ticket.”

Pyororong-!

Soon something like a roulette wheel, common in games for various draws, appeared and started spinning. Like a spin-the-wheel game.

“Come on, hypnosis ability!”

Drrrrrrrrrrrk-tak.

It stopped!

The arrow on the roulette machine pointed to:

“‘Holding Breath’: You can hold your breath 1.5 times longer.”

“……”

What is this?

It’s so… mediocre.

I was secretly hoping for something like “Hypnosis App,” so I couldn’t hide my disappointment. An ability to hold my breath better?

Of course, having it is better than not having it, but it seemed a bit underwhelming for 100P. I would have preferred an ability that could help me make money.

“Hup.”

Still, since I’d already drawn this ability, I tried holding my breath as a test.

Normally, I’d start struggling after about a minute, but now I could easily hold my breath for up to 1 minute and 30 seconds.

“Puhaa.”

I had 110 points left.

I considered drawing another trait or trying this “Capsule Drawing,” but decided against it.

“Yeongwon!”

Teacher Kang Haneul was entering the restaurant, so I didn’t have time to manipulate my status window anyway.

It’s probably not a bad idea to keep some points in reserve, just in case.

Teacher Kang Haneul drove a silver sedan.

As soon as I got into the passenger seat, I was hit by the fresh scent of an air freshener.

It smelled nice.

“Teacher, I ate well.”

“Bzzt! When you say it like that, it sounds like you ate the teacher deliciously. Korean is a language where subjects and objects are important. Next time, say you ate the soup deliciously.”

“……”

Is it because she’s a Korean language teacher?

I was corrected in a way I never expected.

“Shall we go to a café now? You had something to talk about, right? Have you finally decided to be honest with your teacher about everything?”

Teacher Kang Haneul seemed to think I had called her because of the bullying and harassment mentioned in the “note.”

That’s because I hadn’t said “There’s a ghost in my house!” I doubted anyone would believe me if I said that honestly.

“I have a lot I want to tell you. I have various requests, but… Teacher, could you let me stay at your place just for tonight?”

“What?”

Teacher Kang Haneul frowned.

Her expression said, “What on earth are you talking about?”

“What are you saying right now?”

“I don’t want to go home. At home… it’s hard to explain what’s happening…”

I tried to look as pitiful and miserable as possible. It was one of the skills I’d developed while being bullied by Yang Juhui, Kim Geonho, and others.

However, Teacher Kang Haneul was quite a principled person.

“You can’t even tell me what’s going on, but you want to stay at my place? Do you know what kind of rumors would spread if people heard a female teacher let a male student stay overnight?”

“I’ll keep it absolutely secret. Please. Teacher. Please. Think of it as saving my life once. I could really die. Really… Really… I might actually die. Ah…”

This wasn’t a lie.

Mom said she wouldn’t be home tonight.

If I went back home now, who could guarantee what would happen to me?

# # #

Teacher Kang Haneul’s home wasn’t far from the school.

It was an apartment with corridor-style access, and each home had garbage and various junk piled outside their doors, making the corridor environment quite unsanitary.

“Yeongwon, you must never tell anyone about today. Come in quickly when no one’s watching. Hurry! The neighbor lady is nosy, and if she sees you, rumors will definitely spread!”

Swoosh-

I quickly slipped through the open door.

“Letting a student into my home. What am I doing…”

Teacher Kang Haneul’s apartment had three rooms and one bathroom.

About 25 pyeong in size.

In the living room, there was a clothes drying rack with various undergarments—

“Wait, turn your face away! Quickly!”

“Yes.”

The drying rack in the living room quickly disappeared.

It was a home that showed many signs of daily life.

So this is what a 31-year-old single woman’s home feels like. I was slightly nervous about being alone in an adult woman’s home, but the teacher seemed unfazed.

“Yeongwon, don’t make too much noise, okay? Tomorrow’s Saturday, so all the neighbors will be home. This building is old and has poor soundproofing, so rumors could easily spread that I brought a man home.”

Teacher Kang Haneul seemed oddly concerned about the neighbors.

“What happens if rumors spread?”

“You’re a minor, Yeongwon. If something goes wrong, your teacher could go to jail. Even if not, it would make it harder for me to get married. You’re still young, so you wouldn’t understand.”

Suddenly, I remembered overhearing some kids saying, “I heard Kim Geonho went to a motel with the English teacher.” And the face of the sophisticated 27-year-old English teacher.

“You can sleep here tonight. This used to be my brother’s room. It hasn’t been maintained, but it should be fine for sleeping after a bit of cleaning. Here’s your pajamas. Would you like some warm milk?”

I changed into the pajamas the teacher gave me in the room.

They seemed oversized for me, probably because they belonged to the teacher’s brother. But they seemed better than staying in my uncomfortable uniform.

Knock knock knock-

The teacher knocked on the door while I was changing out of my uniform.

“Yeongwon, can teacher come in? I’ll clean up what’s inside.”

“Not yet. I’m still changing.”

“How about now?”

“No, I said not yet. Please stop rushing me.”

“Then can I come in now? With a young man in the house, teacher… can’t hold back anymore…”

What can’t she hold back?

Is she in a rush to use the bathroom but needs to clean the room I’ll be sleeping in first? Her voice, mixed with tension and sighs to an almost suggestive degree, made me think it might be something serious.

I hurriedly finished changing.

“Yes. You can come in now.”

I waited a bit, but there was no answer.

With a familiar sense of déjà vu, I felt goosebumps rising.

What if I open the door and the teacher isn’t there again?

Like the ghost in the bathroom pretending to be my mom!

Clench.

I made a fist, ready to swing if necessary, and went out to the living room.

Fortunately, Teacher Kang Haneul was sitting at the dining table, sipping alcohol.

However, her attire was eye-catching.

She was wearing a see-through nightgown so thin that the underwear that had been hanging on the drying rack earlier was visible.

“Uh…”

I was a bit flustered and looked away. Just being here felt like I was doing something wrong.

Then the teacher spoke.

“Surprised? Teacher always dresses comfortably like this at home. Anyway, Yeongwon, sit down here.”

“Why?”

“Sit down quickly. If you don’t listen, I’ll kick you out right away.”