Ghost Story Club

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“With the advancement of science and technology today, many things have been possible to be revealed. Including the fact that this world is nothing but an endless void.”

Inside a dark, dimly lit auditorium in a large building disguised as a cultural centre.

On the high stage of that strange place, where hundreds of teachers, naked from head to toe, were sitting as the audience, the Vice Principal of Nakseong High School raised her shrill voice and shouted into the microphone with bloodshot eyes.

“Among the elements that make up matter, except for the atomic nucleus and electrons, it is said that 99.999% of everything we see is empty space. The universe is made of ’emptiness,’ and this means that reality is a kind of illusion created by our eyes. This is a fact that has been clearly proven by advanced science and technology.”

“That’s right…”

“Right…”

A few science teachers from different schools nodded their heads, their bodies bare of any clothes and eyes filled with tears.

“In such a completely empty reality, people have been living being entangled in illusions. Looking closely, it is revealed that they have been living obsessed with vain things, clinging to something that is nothing but a hollow, empty illusion.”

“Absolutely right…”

“Right…”

Faculty members from all kinds of schools nodded their heads in understanding and admiration.

The banner above the podium slowly swayed before everyone’s eyes.

[♤ Wednesday Evening Meeting of Dogma of Void ♤]

“As you have experienced, the attitude of recognizing this empty reality helps us realize many things. Only 0.0001% of what we see is real. The rest is entirely made up of human illusion. And we have come to realize that through thorough research.”

“Yes…”

“Right…”

“Soon, a higher-level dimension will be opened. To fill the 99.999% empty space, the ‘God’ we have longed for will awaken, and at that moment, reality will be completely transformed. When the essence of God fills the empty void, this reality will merge with an astral world that is even higher than our mortal illusion. The dream space, where our thoughts are directly reflected in reality, will descend upon this land of Earth.”

The Vice Principal suddenly screamed out, veins bulging in her bare neck.

“So what is there for us to do in that regard? We must empty ourselves! Empty what? Our minds. We must empty our minds. A time will appear when everything inside us will be revealed. Will we still cling to our old desires at that time? When that time comes, everything will be exposed. The absurd fantasies and the shameful thoughts we have been harboring in our hearts, they will all manifest in reality. That’s why we should empty ourselves, we must empty ourselves. Morality, values, right and wrong—let go of them all. That is why we sit here, without even a thread of clothing, completely bare. To welcome the ‘God of Imagination’ who will descend upon this earth.”

After the Vice Principal, who had delivered an impassioned speech, stepped down from the podium to a round of applause, the host, a clean-cut handsome young man, stepped forward to continue with the next part of the program.

Needless to say, he was completely bare without a thread on his body.

“Please give a big round of applause to Lady Jang Yeok, who has delivered the speech and once again guided us with her words.”

Clap, clap, clap.

“Next, I will present the news that the Supreme Lord has given us.”

Hundreds of adults, bare from any clothes, straightened their postures in the quiet atmosphere.

The host conveyed the news into the microphone in a clear voice.

“About two hours ago, it has been confirmed that the students of the ‘Ghost Story Club’, which you are all well aware of, gathered at Seoul Station before dispersing.”

Murmur, murmur.

“The reason has not been revealed yet and the investigation is still ongoing, but it has been confirmed that they came in contact with Detective Bak Gangwoon of Seoul Special Investigation Division again. Regarding this, the Supreme Lord has given instructions to reduce the number of general teachers at Nakseong High School and fill more of the positions with our believers.”

“Those children even have the courage to bring in detectives…”

“What is their plan…”

Some teachers at Nakseong High School, who were familiar with the students mentioned, muttered among themselves.

“Therefore, the school intends to prioritize assigning teachers who have previous connections with the club’s students to Nakseong High School. Those involved, please raise your hand if you are interested.”

Soon, a beam projector shone on the podium, and a PPT (PowerPoint Presentation) with profiles of the Ghost Story Club students was projected onto the screen.

Lee Joon: South Seoul Elementary School – Southern River Middle School – Nakseong High School, (2009 – 2011 Hwashin Taekwondo Club, 2014 Newton Math Academy, 2015 South English Academy)

[T/N: In the original text it was “Namgang Middle School” (남강중 학교 ), Nam (남강) refering to Namgang River which is located in the southern part of the country. Namgang means ‘Southern River’.]

Yoon Sunah: ShinLim Elementary School – Three Stars Middle School – Nakseong High School, (No Private Institute)

[T/N: The original text had Samsung Middle School (삼성중학교). Who knew Samsung (삼성) means “three stars”?]

Lee Jinhee: Undang Elementary School – Miseong Middle School – Nakseong High School, (2010 – 2012 Martial Arts Academy)

Ahn Gyeongwon: ……

Someone suddenly raised their hand.

“Please speak.”

“Yoon Sunah from Three Stars Middle School. I was her science teacher in 2nd grade.”

“How was your relationship with her?”

“I have barely talked with her before.”

Then someone else raised their hand.

“Lee Joon from South Seoul Elementary School. I was his homeroom teacher in 6th grade.”

“What kind of relationship do you have with him?”

“We don’t have much of a relationship.”

The neat-looking host, as if uninterested, glanced around at the other believers.

“Anyone else? Someone who had a close relationship with—”

Then a woman quietly raised her hand.

“Please speak.”

“Lee Jinhee from Undang Elementary School. I was her guidance counselor.”

The woman’s soft voice echoed through the auditorium.

“How was your relationship with her?”

“She was one of the students I was in charge of counseling for the entire three years, from the time they transferred until graduation.”

Teacher Ryu Jinah, the slender teacher sat straight with nothing on her body.

A few bachelor teachers glanced at her curiously.

“That’s good.”

The host nodded in satisfaction.

“Are there any other participants? Since the numbers are insufficient, students from the Student Council may also volunteer.”

Then, a few people raised their hands and started mentioning the connections they knew.

***

[2019, May 1st | Wednesday, 23:56 PM]

[Lee Joon: Number of Attempts – 2]

[Ghost Story Points: 202]

[Causality Rate: 17%]

“Oh my God, my body…”

Sitting on my bed in my pyjamas, I patted my aching waist.

Because of all the running I did here and there frantically today, my whole body ached.

I felt so exhausted, as if I could fall asleep in a second if I just closed my eyes and lay down on my pillow.

Perhaps the members were also exhausted and went to bed early, because even after such an overwhelming event, the KakaoTalk group chat was completely quiet.

KakaoTalk〜♬

[Oh Dukhun: Did everyone fall asleep already?]

Except for Dukhun.

‘It’s troublesome, I’ll reply tomorrow.’

I swiftly tossed my phone on the bedside table and turned on my Status Window.

‘Status Window.’

Paat-

《STATUS WINDOW

Name: Lee Joon

Age: 17

Title: Main Character

Disposition: Two-faced

Special Ability:

1. Lip Reading [B-rank]

2. Life Design [C-rank]

3. -None-

Quirk: Last Second Cramming》

There were a few new problems that arose today which I need to ponder on. Such as Jinhee’s situation or the Detective’s line of investigation. However, I was too exhausted to fry my brain on them, so I decided to leave them for now and think about them later when I was feeling refreshed.

Now was the time for my rest after a long exhausting day.

I decided to relax and change my mood by spending the hundred or so points I acquired.

‘Actually, I’ve already decided where to spend them.’

First of all, I planned to invest in acquiring new abilities, of course.

The System allows me to carry three Special Abilities.

Currently, I only had two, so if I invested the points to fill up one more slot of the three abilities, it might serve as a little insurance for this difficult school life.

Needless to say, this was my own decision without consulting the other club members, but I’ve already made up my mind to do it this way.

Why bother explaining every little thing to them.

‘It’s mine anyway.’

Last time, out of guilt for the members who had a hard time solving the ghost stories, I gave them 1 million won each. But back then, the fact that I had exactly 600 points to divide made a big difference.

However, this time, the points I earned from solving the B-rank ghost story were only a mere 136 points.

‘Divide this into 6 and stick it on their noses.’

[T/N: The slang “stick it on someone’s nose” is not a common or standard slang but rather a colloquial or humorous way of saying something is too little to matter when shared. It conveys a sense of giving something to someone in a way that is either useless or unimportant to them.]

Of course, if I solve an A-rank ghost story and earn a few hundred points in the future, then I plan to distribute them to the club members as well.

If I were to settle all these small points by solving ghost stories and even distribute the points among the members, I wouldn’t be able to focus on my own growth, which was very important.

‘Points are counted in units of 100.’

I promised them 4 billion won after graduation anyway.

Since there was no one this time bringing up the idea of dividing it, I’m going to swallow it all up by myself.

‘Whoever gets upset, just become the President~’

It wasn’t as if I was using it for personal gain.

From a broader perspective, isn’t it ultimately beneficial for the club if I gain one more ability here?

Even though it was an ability, I would not use it selfishly just to satisfy my own greed. In the end, I was going to use it to solve cases.

Do you agree that it’s beneficial for you guys too?

Oh yes, I agree~

“Agree?”

Oh, totally~

“Thanks for saying that, everyone. Really, there’s no one else but you guys who understand me. Now, let’s all check together to see what kind of ability I can get!”

I’m looking forward to it, Prez! I hope you get a good ability!

“Thank you, Gyeongwon! Let’s get one of those crazy abilities!”

Oi oi, hurry up and press the button, what are you waiting for!

“You’re excited too, haha. Just wait!”

Joon…! Are you, by any chance, a God or something…?

“Sunah, you idiot! Where did you learn such sarcastic words!”

I giggled foolishly to myself on the bed at the thought that I had gained a new superpower, then slowly gathered my composure and pressed the Status Window.

[The third ability slot is currently empty. You can unlock it by spending 100 points.]

[Unlock Ability (100) / Go back]

“Yeah! Of course I’m going to unlock the ability!”

While I was laughing and cheering to myself alone, my Mom shouted from the master bedroom.

“Joon! Stop talking to yourself and go to sleep!”

Ahem.

Click.

[You may spend 100 Ghost Story Points to unlock the third ability.]

Soon, a 16-bit cheerful melody began to ring out just like the last few times. Several words began to flash by the empty third slot.

♪ Tada Tan Dada Tan~♬

[…Reading – Identity Forgery – Night Journey – Joint Regression – Fa…]

Swish—

[…gery – Night Journey – Joint Regression – Fast Walking – Bana…]

Swish-

“Hoo… Hooo… Hooo.”

As I was watching with my hands clasped in excitement, and mumbling to myself alone, the spinning finally stopped.

♪ Diiiing!!!!♬

[…king – Banality Manifestation – Identity Forgery – Night Journey – Joint…]

[You have obtained the Special Ability: Banality Manifestation]

《Banality Manifestation

Rank: A-rank

Trigger Condition: Passive

Ability: This ability can be activated when encountering a ghost story. Reality will continue to flow in a mishmash of clichés until the situation is resolved.》

[T/N: Banality Manifestation, previously called as Cliché Manifestation. Let me know if it’s confusing and should I change it to cliché or not.]

“Oh, an A-rank Special Ability!”

It seemed like I’ve gotten quite a good ability for the first time in a while!

Soon, messages after that started to pop up one after another in front of me.

[All three special ability slots have been obtained.]

[The abilities you acquire in the future will be stored in the System.]

[The stored abilities can be changed and equipped at any time in the clubroom.]

“Hmm…”

Just like in RPG games where you can store and equip various items needed for playing while walking around, abilities I would be acquiring in the future could also be stored and equipped in the clubroom.

‘The cluboom seems like a forward base or headquarters.’

The Shop where I can exchange points for items and buy things was also based in the clubroom.

Moreover, the clubroom was also the starting point where not only purchased items pop out, but now I can store equipped abilities as well.

Up until now, the clubroom has simply been a space where we could physically gather together to think of various strategies needed for solving ghost stories, but as we progress further, the existence of the clubroom may become more important than expected.

‘That aside, that Banality Manifestation ability.’

I wonder what that means.

I immediately turned on my phone and searched for the word.

Banality (Cliché)

[Noun] A word that refers to a cliche or stereotypical way of thinking or doing things.

“Ah, so that’s what it means.”

It seemed more like a word I’ve heard often in movies than in everyday life.

I think I have used the phrase “cliché plot” while watching a movie for the first time. That was because the plot had repeated scenes or storyline that I’ve seen in other works.

“… So what kind of ability is it?”

Even after checking the meaning of the word and reading the description of the ability again, I still couldn’t understand exactly how it would be activated or work.

‘Another unpredictable ability.’

Since it would be activated only when I encounter a ghost story, it was impossible to check or know what kind of ability it was in advance.

I shook my head and decided to move on.

‘The next place where I’m going to spend the remaining 100 points is, of course, the Ghost Story Acquisition Skill.’

It was not something obvious, but truth to be told, there really was nowhere else to spend them.

At first, I was worried, wondering why I should invest in Ghost Story Acquisition Skill when ghost stories were already woven one after another even if I just sat still without doing anything.

Although that was what I wondered at first.

But then I flipped my thinking around, and the answer became clear right away.

‘Why does the System grant this ability to the club members when ghost stories are overflowing even without doing anything?’

Then, the reason for the existence of the Ghost Story Acquisition Skill became clear in my eyes.

‘Farming.’

Of course, the difficulty wasn’t necessarily easier just because we collected them through this ability.

I was trapped in the game because of the Legend of Herobrine and the Minecraft ghost stories which were collected by the System in the first place. But at the interference of the Demon King, the stories were intertwined and twisted in a strange way, almost killing me.

‘But even so, they are still better than the ghost stories the Demon King throws at me.’

It was only the matter of whether we are prepared to face the challenges in advance or not.

Whether it’s the Demon King or anyone else, with ghost stories being sent from the outside, by the time I snap out of it, the incident has already begun.

But in comparison, what about the ghost stories collected by the club members through Ghost Story Acquisition Skill?

From the very beginning, we could learn the name of the ghost story, what it was about and even its danger level.

‘At the very least, it even gives the approximate timing when the incident will occur within a day of being collected.’

In a battle where understanding the structure of the story is key, knowing the name of the ghost story and being able to prepare in advance is truly an enormous advantage.

In that sense, the purpose of the Ghost Story Acquisition Skill is ‘farming’.

Well, there was a time when we had a comfortable life, when no paranormal events were happening, and we had an easy time.

Now that the Demon King has realized our attitude has changed, even if we refrain from doing anything, the strange phenomena would continue to unfold nevertheless.

‘The fight has already started.’

Then, raising the level of Ghost Story Acquisition Skill to quickly farm points seemed to be the best strategy we could pursue right now.

Thinking about all this made me sleepy, so I decided to just go to sleep.

‘To increase the level of Ghost Story Acquisition Skill, I need to level up the club. But it doesn’t feel right to do it at home. I guess I’ll just have to do it tomorrow in the clubroom at school.’

I was getting incredibly sleepy, so it was getting a bother…

Just as I was about to close my eyes, I suddenly felt a little sorry for Dukhun, who was left on ‘read’ in the group chat, so I opened my phone and replied to him.

[Lee Joon: I’m going to sleep now. Everyone worked hard today. See you at school.]

And as soon as I closed my eyes, the sleepiness quickly overtook me.

I was pulled into dreamland in an instant.

“Zzz…”

KakaoTalk~

[Oh Dukhun: [Attached Photo]]