Ghost Story Club - Chapter 1
Warning. This novel is a horror novel rated 15+ and might include content that’s not suitable for all readers, read at your own risk
First Ghost Story – Announcement (1)
It was the morning of the day I first entered high school.
While sitting blankly in the classroom, waiting for the entrance ceremony to start, a message suddenly appeared in front of me with a ‘pop’ sound.
『Welcome to Nakseong High School that is full of mysteries and secrets.
Uncover the dark secrets hidden around the school, or fight against urban legends and myths to earn points and unlock special abilities.
Then, gather companions and stop the resurrection of the demon king before you graduate.
The world is in your hands.』
ᐅClick to move to the next page
“……?”
A message window similar to those you see in games.
I looked around in surprise, but none of the other students showed any reactions towards it.
They just sat and used their phones while chatting.
“……”
I stared blankly at the letters wondering what they were about, as I was doing so, a broadcast to inform about the entrance ceremony started playing from the speakers around the classroom.
[Notice from the broadcasting room. Due to a power outage in the school there is currently no electricity. Because we are unable to broadcast through TV, the entrance ceremony will take place in the playground, so please gather around in the playground. Again, informing that……]
The students in the classroom started standing up while muttering complaints.
I also blankly got up and started moving along.
While walking down the hall, surrounded by students, I couldn’t take my eyes off the message.
I tried waving my hands on the air, but the letters just passed through my hand without me feeling anything.
‘A hologram⋯…?’
I think I saw it in movies before.
「Welcome to Nakseong High School that is full of mysteries and secrets.
Uncover the dark secrets hidden around the school, or fight against urban legends and myths to earn points and unlock special abilities⋯⋯.」
Once again, I peaked around me and made sure that no one else reacted to it.
After concluding that I am the only person who can see the message, I just mixed in with the crows and went into the playground.
***
The teachers were spaced out and walking around the classroom.
I stood in a line amidst the students that were complaining.
These days, we lived in an era where most plans would just be resolved by sending kids to school, without having to invite anyone to the playground.
The freshman made annoyed grunts here and there, but the audience quickly became quiet soon after the appearance of the man who seemed to be the president.
“Ah, Dear freshman of Nakseong High School, it really is a pleasure to meet you. First of all, I would like to sincerely welcome you to this school. I am the president of the school……”
With those words, the head of the principal, who was just starting his speech at the podium, suddenly exploded.
A fountain of blood spurted out and drops splattered everywhere.
The crowd went silent, only the squishy sound effects could be heard.
The headmaster’s body, twisting with a missing head, staggered around and covered the podium with packs of blood.
Soon, he stumbled and collapsed onto the ground.
Plop.
“K-kyaaa-agh!”
“A-ahhh……!”
Only then, did the students finally begin screaming.
They either sat down on their seats with confusion or with their face turning pale, pointed at the top of the podium with their hands.
The teachers were standing while facing the students next to the podium, so they weren’t aware of what happened to the principal, but soon they quickly turned their heads to see the situation after hearing the shouts of the students.
“P…Principal seonsaengnim……?”
(선생 – Seonsaeng = A title of respect, can mean Teacher/Sir/Mister/Miss
님 – nim = an honorific added at the end of people’s names)
“Kim Seonsaeng! Call 119 right now!” (119 = emergency hotline)
“Are you all right? Oh, my god……!”
Some of the students that approached the podium had weak stomachs and turned their heads to vomit.
Among the students, girls cried and sat down to support each other despite today being their first meeting, while boys looked at the podium with disgusted expressions or turned their heads in surprise.
At that moment, something even more terrifying happened.
Puck-
The head of a stern looking middle aged woman who was giving out instructions on the podium suddenly exploded and spurted out fountains of blood, soon the head of everyone who was close to the podium started exolidung, spraying bright red blood everywhere.
“Aaaagh!”
“Kyaaaah!”
Now both girls and boys started screaming and running away.
Even when the principal’s head exploded for the first time, the students who looked around in curiosity, not knowing what’s going on, started running away with fear.
Puck- puck- puck-
Plop- plop-
I too, started madly running away from the podium, tossing and crowding with the students. The goal was the school’s front gate.
Even while running, the sounds of something popping and rolling could be heard behind my back.
The heads of the freshmen exploded, and some rolled on the floor of the playground because their bodies couldn’t overcome inertia.
Ha- hagh – haah……
I was out of breath.
‘Crazy, what the……’
I didn’t know what was happening, but I had to run.
By the time I got close to the front gate I could hear the security guards screaming.
“Hey, you! Who are you guys? We are in the middle of an entrance ceremony, where are you running all of a sudden you punks?”
As if he didn’t understand the situation yet, his face had turned red while shouting at us.
“Hey, stop it! Do you think I am kidding? Hey you bastards, can you go back? Go back!”
The distance from the front gate to the podium was about the end of a playground.
Overshadowed by the crowd of over 300 freshmen, and the dust and dirt that floated around the air from all the students running, the guards had not yet noticed the tragedy.
‘Ah f*ck, no matter how you look at it, isn’t it strange to have dozens of students running…….’
As I spit out curses, the students that looked like athletes ran ahead of me.
The sports team, who ran to the front, reached the front gate and hit the shoulders of the security guards blocking the gate without mercy.
“Ack…!”
The security guard fell and rolled on the floor, becoming covered in mud.
Some of the athletes that reached the front gate realised the door was locked, shook it a few times before swearing and just climbing out the iron fence to escape from school.
“Hey! ah f*ck, stop now! Hey!”
The guards stood back up and started yelling again.
Soon, the area near the front gate became a complete chaos because of the scuffle between the huffing and screaming security guards, and students who were trying to get over the gate.
“Ahjussi! We are all about to die! People’s heads are exploding in front of me! Please quickly open the door. Please!”
“What are you talking about? Go gst the teachers! Where are the teachers?”
The guards yelled at us to go back, saying that he was clear on his professionalism and that he absolutely wouldn’t let students out until teachers gave him permission.
He grabbed the buttocks of the students who were trying to climb out the closed gate and began dragging them down to the ground.
Puck-
In the meantime, somewhere in the middle of the playground.
The heads of the students that were running late were exploding with blood.
The students finally reached their limits.
“Security, you son of a b*tch! Open the door, you son of a b*tch!”
“What? Son of a b*tch? Hey, man! Come here!”
The guard grabbed the student who cursed by his neck and began slapping him.
Slap- slaap-
The only identity the security guard had left in his life was his sense of duty to protect the front gate, but he couldn’t stand his anger.
“Aaaah! F*ck, open the door you son of a b*tch guard!”
Maybe it’s because I had sprinted all the way, but my legs were starting to lose strength in the crazy situation.
Students who couldn’t get behind the door started joining forces and running at the security.
“Open the door, you f*cker! Give me the keys!”
The guards who had been yelling and threatening saying that it’s absolutely not possible, started backing away in bewilderment when the crowd started gathering.
“Ugh, what? What, huh? You little bastards……!”
“Open the door, you son of a b*tch! Open the door”
“Give me the keys! Give me the keys!”
The bloody explosions were getting closer.
The guard crouched down and hid the keys as students rushed through his pockets.
Women began frantically scratching the head of the crouched guard, and the man started slapping his shoulders with their fists or kick his body.
Puck- puck- puck- puck-
“Gasp! Argh”
The guard screamed in pain.
The students used violence to search through his pockets.
The front gate of the school was simply becoming a frenzy.
“Ugh….”
“Give it up! Give it up!”
The guard managed to keep the pouch while the girls kept scratching him with their fingernails.
It was a terrifying and frustrating sight, but for me, it was a good thing.
Thanks to the commotion there was an empty area at the corner of the front gate.
I quickly reached the front gate, secured myself a space, and started climbing the gate.
The front gate was made of steel bars which caused it to be slippery and there was no place to step, the end of the gate was also covered in wires to prevent outsiders.
It was quite difficult to climb over, but thanks to my instinct to survive, I was able to make it through.
I managed to get over the door.
I sighed for a moment at the pointy wires that were poking my butt.
Now all I had to do was turn around and jump off to the sidewalk outside the school.
“Ugh!”
The moment I turned around to jump off the main gate.
The range of exploding heads were approaching right in front.
Right in front of me, I could see the security guard being caught by the students and being beaten bloody.
Rather than trying to take the key from the guard and open the door, the students were more focused on trying to get rid of the guard himself.
When someone blocked the path and interrupted their escape route in a situation that threatened their survival, the direction of desperation turned into madness.
The students were terrified and screaming at the guards face.
“Die! Die! Why are you interrupting us, Die! Aaah, f*ck…!”
“Ugh, cough, haa, cough….”
Soon, even the security guards and the students around me had their heads exploding.
And just below me.
The heads of the students trying to climb the gate also began to swell.
‘F*ck!’
I quickly jumped in the opposite direction and landed.
Taaak-
‘I succeeded in getting out of the school!’
And the moment I was about to finally breathe.
I also felt my head beginning to swell.
‘……wasn’t I supposed to be able to live outside of the school?’
That’s right.
I was caught up in the atmosphere of running away, and I unintentionally ran out of school thinking it was a way to save my life.
I just ran instinctively in what I thought would be the way out of this crisis.
It wasn’t something that could be avoided.
The strange sensation in my head that caused my head to swell like a balloon.
Soon, with a tremendous sound, I lost my mind.
[You have died]
[Restarting from checkpoint]
[Loading…]
Glow-
***
「Welcome to Nakseong High School that is full of mysteries and secrets.
Uncover the dark secrets hidden around the school, or fight against urban legends and myths to earn points and unlock special abilities.
Then, gather companions and stop the resurrection of the demon king before you graduate.
The world is in your hands.」
ᐅClick to move to the next page
When I came back to my senses, I was in the classroom.
Students were waiting for the entrance ceremony to start by chatting and looking at their cell phones.
“……”
The lights in the classroom suddenly went out because of the blackout.
But because it was still the morning, it wasn’t that dark thanks to the sun coming from the window.
It was a rather peaceful morning class.
“……”
What just happened?
Just now, I was caught up in a bizarre phenomenon, and my head was about to explode while I tried escaping from the school.
Why was I still alive…?
The smell of sweat, madness and blood of more than 300 students running away, sprinting was still fresh in my mind.
Was it a dream predicting the future? Or had the time turned back….
‘What the… what the hell is going on…’
While looking around the classroom, I noticed the last sentence of the message window that I hadn’t noticed earlier since I was in a hurry.
「ᐅClick to move to the next page」
…I didn’t know what was going on here.
But for now, I figured it had something to do with this message window that appeared before me.
‘Click? Clicking….’
How did it want me to click?
First, I tried touching the last sentence that flickered in front of me with my finger.
Glow-
As if the answer was correct, the screen in the window changed and new messages started appearing.
[Welcome to the tutorial]
「You are an ordinary, shy student who is not good at anything in particular, and led a boring school life because of your ordinary charms.
Today is the first day of high school.
It’s a day full of excitement for others, but you had no special expectations just like the things that had happened until now.
However as the entrance ceremony took place, you had the feeling of ‘this school doesn’t seem like an ordinary place’.
And this ominous premonition is that the events you will experience from now on are not simple criminal ones.
It’s hinting that you are going to face things that are far more bizarre and crazy, but anyways, today is the first day of a long three years.
You ignore the feeling.」
[You have received a quest]
〈Quest-Tutorial〉
○Make 3 friends to create a club (Progress 0/3)
○Reward: 10 Mystery points, unlocking status window.
“……”
My own voice let out a surprised sound.
What.
How was I supposed to take this?
Quest, tutorial. It was like……
‘A game’
It was the same.
While reading the message over and over again and organising my thoughts, I suddenly heard the crackling sound of the classroom’s speakers turning on.
[Notice from the broadcasting room. Due to a power outage in the school there is currently no electricity. Because we are unable to broadcast through TV, the entrance ceremony will take place in the playground, so please gather around in the playground. Again, informing that……]
