Ghost Story Club - Chapter 2
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 (2)
[Again, informing thar. Due to a power outage in the school there is currently no electricity. New students are requested to come to the playground as we can’t broadcast through the TV.]
The students, who were planning to spend some time on their cell phones during the entrance ceremony, got up annoyed at the fact that they had to go to the playground.
“……”
I didn’t get up.
I was just sitting there immersed in my worries.
If I went out into the hallway for the entrance ceremony like this, won’t the events of the past be repeated?
Everything was going the same way.
There was a power outage at school, so an announcement telling us to come out to the playground, and students moving around in annoyance……
If I went out into the playground to attend the entrance ceremony like this, would my head explode again and I would die?
‘The hell, seriously……’
I sat in the classroom and exhaled a sigh hoping for the ground to suck me in.
Eventually, most of the students left and the classroom became quiet.
Only a few students, giggling, rattled their chairs.
One female student and one male student. And one girl lying down on the back.
In this way, except for me, three students remained in the classroom.
I was still sitting in the classroom, unable to do anything.
After a while, a young female teacher passed through the hallway and stopped when she saw us in the classroom.
“Why aren’t you guys going out?”
“……”
I had no choice but to stand up with my shoe bag, and the three students who were doing their own stuff next to me also took their shoes and headed out.
***
“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 headmaster’s head exploded.
‘F*ck.’
F*ck, F*ck… I cursed and sprinted straight to the front door.
So far, the students were still just screaming and muttering over the staggering principal, no one had run away like me.
‘I’m in the lead!’
This time, I was running in the lead.
Then besides the principal the heads of the people close by started exploding one by one.
Only then did the students start to run away when the playground was covered with screams.
‘Haah, haah’
Although I started running first I didn’t have much athletic abilities so I could feel the students who looked like they were from the athletic team immediately following me.
Tak Tak Tak Tak-
‘Haaah, haah… F*ck……’
There was no certainty that we could survive if we ran away like this.
Even if we leave school like before, my head might explode again.
But for now, it was best to get as far away from here as possible.
In the distance, a security guard could be seen blocking the students while screaming.
‘Haah, haah… please, really……’
I swore on the inside.
When I ran away a little while ago, he was confused by the students rushing around.
So I had taken advantage of the timing and succeeded in crossing the door.
But now I was running at the lead.
With my weak athletic nerves, I would be the target of the guards and get caught, so being in the lead gave me a disadvantage.
‘What should I do, f*ck, Haa, Haah…….”
What to do, what to do.
As I desperately racked my brain in the face of death, a way soon came to my mind.
‘Let’s agitate the students!’
I slowly slowed down and shouted for everyone to hear.
“The front door is closed!”
Allowing my throat to go hoarse, I shouted again.
“The front door is closed! The guard has the key!”
“Ahhhhhhhhhh!”
“Ahjussi! Open the door! Hurry!”
“Hurry and open the door-! Aaaah-!”
With heads exploding in all directions, the students had already lost their minds.
For those who were full of desperate instinct to live, they had decided in their minds that they had to get rid of the security first.
“The guard has the key! We have to catch the guard first!”
The first time, the students had ran away frantically and ignored security while trying to cross the gate.
However, when I first planted the perception that ‘the door is closed’, the students recognised the front door as a closed ‘dead end’ rather than an exit.
“Guard Ahjussi! Please open the door! Hurry!”
The students, who were running in the lead with me, rushed to the security guard.
The guard still had strength despite his age, and he yelled at the students who rushed to him, but that was no big deal considering the number of people.
“What are you doing, you crazy bastards! What a mess you are all in! Get me a teacher, teacher!”
“Guards you son of a b*tch, open the door!”
“F*ck! Open the door! Open the door, you idiot!”
I was able to cross the main gate after the sports club by using the gap between the guard and the students again.
I turned around carefully so that my pants didn’t get caught on the grate decorated above the door, and when I looked towards the playground, the exploding heads were only halfway through the playground.
At the same time, there was also the scene where the female students frantically scratched the guard’s face with their fingernails.
‘I ran away much faster than before!’
Without looking any further, I turned and jumped out of the school.
From this distance, I could see the sportsmen running to the main road, holding on to passersby and breathing heavily.
I once again mustered up all my strength, and ran past them to a further distance.
After passing the highway and a few buildings, I came to the nearest subway station where people were passing by, and I took a deep breath and grabbed a passerby and shouted.
“Police, please call the police, the police…”
“What’s going on? Student, are you okay? Calm down, Student!”
“Police… Po… Lice….”
As I collapsed, I could see an uncle who quickly took out his cell phone and called the police, and the people around me were shouting wondering what was going on.
‘Oh, I should have asked for 119 and not the police… No, in a situation where people’s heads started exploding, 119 can’t do anything……’
When a person was at death’s door, it seems that they would worry about things that were not important.
Those were my last thoughts as I fainted.
* * *
When I woke up, I saw a white ceiling and people walking around in patient clothes.
This was a hospital.
My Mom and Dad were sitting next to me with haggard faces, and when I woke up, they hugged me and cried their eyes out
“Oh, my son… oh my god…”
“I was worried when you weren’t waking up… How are you feeling?”
“Mom, Dad… It’s time for you to be at work, so why…”
“Oh, my god. Is that the problem now! I heard you collapsed……”
Soon after, the doctor came and explained that the reason I lost consciousness was due to a severe psychological shock, and there was nothing wrong with my body.
‘… survived?’
And a little later, terrible memories came flooding back.
I told my parents, “People, their heads exploded……” When I tried to explain in a hurry, they told me that they already knew everything, and that the news are all over the place thanks to it, and the government officials would soon come to the hospital.
Watching TV while recovering in the hospital room, the situation was clear.
[Nakseong High School, the heads of 300 people exploded!]
‘…300 people.’
The number of freshmen attending the entrance ceremony must have been a little over 300.
All but a few bunch were dead?
“……”
No matter where I changed the channel to, that’s all they spoke about.
While I was passed out, the whole country must have been in turmoil.
The news reporters on the screen recite their prepared comments one by one with a sad expression on their faces.
[At around 9:30 am on the 4th, a disaster occurred at Nakseong High School in Gwanak-gu, Seoul. It’s a catastrophe with an unknown cause, killing more than 300 people. It is said that each of the corpses had severe damages to their heads.]
[According to the police investigation, it is said that during this incident 14 school-related-people, 293 freshmen as well as Principal Shin (59) were killed. Fortunately a dozen or so students were safe]
The same was true for other channels.
In the news, they were broadcasting scenes of the police carrying out bodies in white stretchers in real time, and the experts were coming out and voicing their opinions on the general channel.
[No traces of explosives, firearms, or gunpowder were found on the scene. Based on that, we can suspect a virus or biochemical terrorism.]
[Then what was the difference between the survivors and the dead? The survivors were also attending the entrance ceremony with them.]
[Eh, that’s really questionable. First of all, most people who quickly fled the scene survived, so it’s important to know how quickly they left the scene, but in reality, some of the people who escaped from the scene first also died.]
[It’s not just how quickly you got out of the scene, there are more variables to it.]
[It is like that.]
I was quarantined in the hospital after that and stayed there for several months.
Starting with parasite testing, blood, urine, feces, endoscopy, MRI… After completing all kinds of tests, I was able to finally leave the hospital after several interviews with detectives that looked scary like bears.
The contents of the interview were mainly about the progress of the incident and whether or not there was anything suspicious, but looking at the atmosphere, it seemed that the government had no ideas regarding the absurd mass deaths.
***
3 years later.
I lied still on the bed in my room ahead of the graduation ceremony.
In the end, the government failed to determine the cause of the incident.
The Sillim-dong area was completely sealed off under the judgment that the virus might remain.
My family had no choice but to move without even being able to pack off all our luggages. The government provided a lot of support, such as providing a new house in an apartment across the Han River.
‘The government in movies usually gets portrayed as incompetent at times like this.’
Surprisingly, they had helped me a lot starting from moving houses to transferring schools, so I felt a little touched.
After spending a few months in the hospital, I almost blew up a grade.
The new school district might have already prepared a countermeasure, so I was able to quietly transfer to a new school.
Aside from the occasional nightmares I had where the heads of my family would blow up, I was able to safely concentrate on my studies for three years and get into a decent university.
And now, the night before graduation.
I read the message that appeared to me that day in front of my eyes after a long time.
[Tutorial- Entrance Ceremony]
「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……
〈Quest-Tutorial〉
○Make 3 friends to create a club (Progress 0/3)
○Reward: 10 Mystery points, unlocking status window.
As I laid on my bed, I thought of the message that was floating in the air, waving it with my hands.
‘… In the end, what was this message?’
Depending on my will, the message appeared or disappeared before my eyes.
I didn’t look at this message on purpose so that I could forget the terrible memories of that day.
Looking back at it now, the day before the graduation ceremony, made me feel uneasy.
I didn’t have too many friends at my new school, but I still made a few new friends.
I also joined the book club, but the number displayed on the quest goal for making friends was still not filled. What was this message really about?
After thinking about it, I fell asleep.
[The day of the graduation ceremony has come.]
[The Demon King has been resurrected.]
beep—
In the middle of the night, not long after I fell asleep, I suddenly woke up to the sound of a beeping disaster alert message coming from my cell phone.
[Safety announcement message: Warning issued at 02:30 in Seoul, Incheon, Gyeonggi area. Residents are requested to prepare emergency goods and evacuate immediately once evacuation is advised.]
A text message in a calm tone on the screen of a flickering cell phone.
What.
What was this?
Was there an earthquake?
My heart was pounding.
Although messages like this occasionally popped up during natural disasters, I had never seen one this serious.
While holding my phone, I quickly turned on the Internet app.
And the first thing that catched my eye was the real-time popular search bar.
1. Unidentified monster in Seoul
2. The appearance of the Seoul monster
3. Unidentified creatures in Seoul
•
•
Late at night. In the dark and quiet house.
Contrary to the calm atmosphere, urgent news were spreading like rapid fire on the internet.
Out of bewilderment, I went to the SNS that I used often.
[A warning to those living in Seoul now. Never leave the house.]
[Moving around the closed off Sillim-dong. Big. Really big. Much bigger than an apartment.]
[Those who live in the metropolitan area, best wishes for you……]
Written by clamoring netizens.
The more I read, the harder it was to breathe.
“Huu, huu…”
The hell was happening.
Should I wake up my parents? Damn, what should I……
Murmur murmur.
I didn’t even have to wake my parents up, soon the neighborhood around the apartment became noisy.
It happened when people realized the situation.
My father woke up to the loud noise and opened the door and came out.
“Jun-ah, what’s going on…”
“I don’t know. I just woke up.”
My family went out to the veranda to check the noise.
Even though it was late, I could see houses in various parts of the apartment building lighting up in real time.
People went out to their verandas and started muttering.
I also opened the veranda window and looked outside, but it was dark outside, so I could only see the Han River filled with black waves.
“Young man! O-O-O-Over there… Look over there! Over the river!”
From the balcony next door, the aunt looked at me and cried urgently.
It wasn’t just next door.
Upstairs, downstairs… Most of the residents living in the apartment were poking their heads out of the veranda window in the middle of the night and became stunned.
Some of them screamed in terror.
“O-oh my God…”
“What the hell is that…?”
What the hell was over there.
I followed the direction the aunt was pointing at and looked at the forest of buildings over the Han River.
The black waves of the Han River, beyond that the city’s border and the neon-shimmering forest of buildings.
I could see a huge shadow moving between them.
I couldn’t determine it’s full shape because of the dark.
The only thing that caught my eye was that it was walking on two legs.
A black silhouette moving through the city lights.
Big.
Really big.
That large, unidentified thing was moving, and it was moving slowly.
I suddenly remembered where that place was.
The sense of distance made it a little confusing since it was far beyond the river, but the direction was definitely there.
It must have been out of intuition.
The location where that unidentified giant creature stood was Nakseong High School, the school I attended three years ago.
And I died in an incomprehensible way.
[BAD ENDING – The price of ignoring]
condition
1. Escape without clearing the tutorial.
2. Do nothing until the Demon King is resurrected.
[Starting regression.]
[Loading……]
•
•
•
「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
Shortly after witnessing that giant monster right before graduation, I once again faced death and opened my eyes.
What I saw in front of me was a familiar message and a place I never wanted to recall.
School.
I came back to the day three years ago when I was waiting for the entrance ceremony in the classroom at Nakseong High School.
Bzzz-
[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……]
