Chapter 17: The reason it had to be that way(2)

I had an old dream.

A dream from when I was young, during a time when I went through something difficult.

In the past, having that dream would’ve made me feel a little down, but now, maybe because I’ve gotten used to it, it didn’t really move me much.

It was more like, “Oh, I had that dream again.”

Stretching out and shaking off the lingering sleep along with the remnants of the dream, I tidied up my bedding and went straight into making breakfast.

Of course, the “menu” was nothing more than some ramen I bought from the discount store.

And to be honest, it was nowhere near enough to fill me up.

These past couple of days, I had to take the bus to school to make sure Yoo Da-hyun didn’t get into trouble again, which pushed my already tight food budget to the edge.

Still, the good news was that since I dealt with that stalker spirit yesterday, I could now redirect the transportation budget back to food.

From almost having to rely on tap water to fill my stomach, being able to eat ramen felt like a blessing, so instead of complaining, I ate gratefully and headed out to school.

“…Looks like it disappeared yesterday.”

Passing the bus stop where that presence always gave me a weird feeling, I walked the remaining 30 minutes to school with lighter steps.

Being the first to enter the still-empty classroom, I sat at my desk, nodded to myself, and muttered,
“Yeah, this distance is best covered on foot.”

Spending money to ride the bus for a walk that only takes 30 minutes felt a bit excessive.

I felt satisfied that I could finally go back to commuting the right way and opened a book to start studying.

It was then, while I was focused on studying—

“…Hey, Lee Hwi-jun.”

I heard someone next to me calling my name.

Looking up from my book and turning to the side, I saw that the classroom had filled up, meaning it was almost time for class.

Next to me sat Yoo Da-hyun, wearing a slightly pouty expression as she looked at me.

I closed my book and greeted her softly.

“Hey, how’s your ankle?”

“Huh…? Oh, yeah… it’s fine.”

“Really? That’s good.”

I thought to myself that it was a good call to carry her yesterday instead of making her walk.

Her face turned slightly red as if embarrassed, and she shook her head vigorously before asking,
“S-So, you! When did you even get to school? Did you come without taking the bus?”

“Me? I came around 7. I walked to school today.”

“What? Seven…?! And walked?! So you left the house around 6:30…! Who comes to school that early…!”

She looked flustered at my answer.

“I didn’t know that and ended up waiting at the bus stop wondering when you’d show up…?!”

She grumbled, sounding annoyed, then suddenly looked startled, as if she realized she said something she shouldn’t have, and quickly shut her mouth.

Yoo Da-hyun was blushing like a ripe persimmon, glancing around nervously as she watched me.

I asked her, “Were you waiting at the bus stop for me so we could go to school together?”

“What?! N-No way…! Why would I wait for someone like you…!”

Despite her strong denial, I had already heard her admit it, so I said, “If you wanted to go to school together, you should’ve just called me. You have my number, don’t you?”

The reason she had my number was because I had given it to her when we had that issue over her phone bill before.

I didn’t expect we’d end up in the same class, so I thought it’d be a one-time thing.

Now, she was the only one who had my number.

When I pointed that out, she looked like she wanted to die of embarrassment and muttered quietly,
“If I called, it’d make it obvious I wanted to go to school with you…!”

“Didn’t you?”

“No! I mean… no…!”

Not very honest, huh.

But I could understand why she was embarrassed, so I reassured her, “It’s okay. No need to be shy. After what happened, it makes sense you’d be scared to go to school alone.”

“Like I said, that’s not—wait, what?”

“You were scared to go alone, so you wanted to walk with me, right? Wasn’t that it?”

Yesterday, she almost died because of that evil spirit, and she’d found out that it had been lurking around the bus stop all along.

Even if that ghost was gone now, it was only natural to still feel scared about going to the same bus stop alone.

Understanding her feelings completely, I said so.

Yoo Da-hyun looked at me with a complex expression, seemingly too embarrassed to admit it, then finally sighed and nodded.

“Haah… fine, let’s go with that.”

Then, with a red face and fidgeting shyly, she muttered, “S-So… um… since I am scared to go alone, starting tomorrow, can we go to schoo—”

“Quiet, everyone. We’re starting morning homeroom.”

Just as she was saying something, our homeroom teacher, Ms. Kim Jiyoon, walked into the classroom.

Thinking we shouldn’t be chatting while the teacher was here, I whispered to Da-hyun, “Anyway, we’re supposed to talk with Na Seon-yul later, so let’s discuss whatever it is then.”

“…Okay.”

She nodded, looking quite disappointed.

***

As classes went on, the 7th period finally ended, and school was over.

Normally, I would’ve headed straight home, but I stayed behind to talk with Yoo Da-hyun and Na Seon-yul Seonyul as planned.

“I was dying all day trying to keep quiet…!”

“Ugh… I thought I was going to lose it. I told you to just wait till after school, but you kept pacing around me like a dog that needed to pee.”

Yoo Da-hyun had clearly been dying to talk about what happened yesterday.

Still, knowing it wasn’t something she could bring up in front of everyone, she had somehow managed to hold out until the end of class.

“Anyway, we’re not talking about this here. Follow me—I’ll take you somewhere more appropriate.”

With that, Na Seon-yul led us out of the main building where Class 1-3 was located and took us toward the annex behind it.

The open first floor served as a cafeteria during lunch, while the upper floors housed the art and music rooms.

While listening to the school orientation, I vaguely heard that most of the club rooms at Nakwon High School — known for its active club activities — are located in the annex building.

“What? We’re going to talk over by the annex? That place probably gets even more crowded than the classrooms after school because of all the club activities.”

Just as Yoo Da-hyun had said, the annex was fairly bustling even after school, likely due to all the club-related activity.

Curious, Yoo Da-hyun asked Na Seon-yul:

“Is this one of those ‘hide a leaf in the forest’ kind of things? I guess if you’re going to stay behind at school to have a conversation, this place would attract less attention than a classroom…”

“Well, you’ll see when we get there.”

But to that question, Na Seon-yul simply said that one line and then led us up the stairs of the annex building.

We passed the first floor with the cafeteria, then the second floor with the art room and computer lab.

Then past the third floor, where, even though the music rooms were soundproofed, faint sounds of music could still be heard beyond the doors.

Finally, we arrived at the fourth floor of the annex.

Like the other floors, this one also seemed to be used for clubs, as students were wandering around here and there.
We passed the first, second, and third classrooms on the fourth floor.

And finally arrived at the last, the fourth classroom on the fourth floor.

Standing in front of that classroom, we—“Huh? Wait… something’s off. Didn’t it suddenly get really quiet?”

“…Doesn’t feel like it’s just our imagination.”

Feeling like the atmosphere of the place had changed, we muttered cautiously.

Then, as if explaining, Na Seon-yul, who was standing in front of us, spoke:

“From the third floor to the fourth. From the third classroom to the fourth. We imbued the location itself with ritual meaning. This place — past the number three, now at four — is the world of death, beyond the Sando River (*Samdocheon, the mythological river separating life and death).”

” Ordinary people without spiritual inspiration can’t know of this place, can’t see it, can’t even come here.
That’s why only those with inspiration can come. Sadly, it’s always the poor souls who’ve come to know the world of spirits — a world they’d have been better off not knowing.”

With that, Na Seon-yul opened the door to the fourth classroom on the fourth floor, stepped inside, and looked back at us with a grin.

“So, to you poor souls who’ve managed to arrive here — welcome to the Problem-Solving Club.”