[2019, May 4th | Saturday, 22:15 PM]
[Lee Joon: Number of Attempts – 2]
[Ghost Story Points: 195]
[Causality Rate: 19%]
Creeeeeeeaaak–
The train gradually slowed down, thanks to the operator wiggling through the passageways and leaving the control room behind. Eventually, it came to a complete stop in a mountain valley in the middle of the night.
People rushed out through the open door and lined up again, wiggling in a straight line next to the KTX. Following the crew who were also wiggling ahead, the passengers quickly aligned themselves and soon began playing the train game in the mountains.
“Stick together, everyone!”
“Place your hands on the shoulders or waist of the person in front of you! Stand in a straight line!”
The length was exactly the same as the length of the KTX train that had just stopped.
“Wiggle wiggle~ Wiggle wiggle~”
“Wiggle wiggle~ Wiggle wiggle~”
The passengers, who were playing the train game instead of being on the train, began to move with an indescribable, strange motion, and we all started to make our way through the mountain in the middle of the night.
We wandered for a long time, with hearts pounding with excitement as if we were on our way to a festival.
By the time dawn broke, the procession arrived at a suburban city on the outskirts of Seoul.
“What’s that over there?”
“What kind of line is that?”
The merchants and laborers, who had just woken up to start their morning, saw us first. In a moment, they also got infected and joined us in the rear.
“Me too, I want to join too!”
“I can’t believe I didn’t know about such a good thing until now!”
“I’ve wasted half of my life!”
We marched down the sidewalk, dancing and wiggling like that.
People who were driving on the road couldn’t help but stare at the procession as they wondered what kind of bizarre sight this was, causing them to slow down. Wherever the train of people went, traffic accidents and chaos occurred.
Screeeeeech- bang!
“Kyaaaaah! An accident!”
“Wiggle~ wiggle~”
One of the truck drivers, while watching our procession, lost control and ended up crashing into the sidewalk.
Aside from watching a few people being knocked over and bleeding, there was nothing we did.
“Alright, let’s quickly fill in the empty spaces!”
“Forward!”
Leaving behind the severely injured ones, who were smiling and still dragging themselves while wiggling despite their bones being broken, we continued our march.
By around lunchtime, we had left the outskirts and completely reached the heart of Seoul.
Before we knew it, the train game which had followed us in a long chain, had turned into a procession of thousands of people.
The early people who had walked with me all night were covered in sweat, but their faces were oddly filled with excitement, showing no signs of fatigue.
Rather, they seemed filled with immense exhilaration, like an audience waiting for a concert.
“Wow, young people really are the best! The students walked all night, and they still look fine!”
“It’s all thanks to wiggling.”
I, too, felt my heart pounding, filled with anticipation as I sensed that a new world was about to open before us.
Finally, we finished our march at the original destination of the train, Seoul Station.
At Seoul Station, all the crew members rushed out and gave us a warm welcome.
“Wow~ Wow~”
“Welcome! Welcome!”
Soon, an important-looking man in a neat suit came out from inside the station, holding a microphone and smiling at us.
“Thank you for your hard work! From here, you can disperse and spread this truth wherever you want!”
The endless procession of the train game continued. Following the instructions, we dispersed in order from the front, rushing to nearby large supermarkets, government offices, churches holding Sunday services, and our own homes.
The streets were completely filled with a festive atmosphere.
Fireworks were fired from all over the place, and whenever one of our people entered a building, everyone in the building would soon rush out into the street and start dancing around in a twisting manner.
I smiled as I enjoyed the atmosphere, and then I suddenly thought that I should tell my members about this. So I took out my phone and made a video call to Gyeongwon.
Gyeongwon immediately answered the call as if he had been waiting for it.
[Prez! Are you okay? I heard the streets are in total chaos right now!]
“I’m fine! But more importantly, there’s something you absolutely need to see!”
[What?]
I asked an old man nearby who was wiggling to hold my phone, so that my whole body would be on the screen, and then I began to dance, wiggling along.
[What are you doing? Prez! Prez!]
My waist moved so fluidly and vigorously, as if it could completely mesmerize anyone.
[…Oh …Oh my.]
Gyeongwon, who was watching my waist wiggling seductively, seemed to become dazed and remained silent, making no sound at all.
Gyeongwon’s face looking at me was getting more and more excited. And then, he started shouting all of a sudden with a look of realization.
[Ah! This is it! Prez! This is amazing! This is it! Thank you!]
“Yeah, fighting!”
Realizing that he had figured it out, I immediately started making video calls to Sunah and the rest of the team members.
[…Hello? Joony…?]
“Sunah, look at this!”
[…Wow. Joon is amazing……]
Sunah followed along with clumsy movements, twisting her frail body.
[Is, is this how you do it……?]
“Close!”
[I have to teach Grandma quickly……]
Next, I called Dukhun.
[Konohitowa dare~ Why make a video call so suddenly~]
[T/N: Konohitowa dare (コノヒトワダレ) is in broken Japanese which probably means ‘Who is it?’ This should be the full sentence in Japanese: この人は誰ですか]
“Dukhun, hurry up and do this! It’s urgent!”
[What… Oi oi. You’re spreading something amazing!]
Soon, Dukhun shook his heavy belly as he shouted, “wiggle, wiggle!”
[Big Brother, what are you doing……?]
The call ended when Dukhun’s family, who were curious about what he was doing, peeked in from the side.
‘Next is Jinhee!’
EMAX’s new song echoed as a ringtone, and Jinhee’s face, receiving the call with her messy hair as if she had just woken up, appeared on the screen.
[T/N: I couldn’t find any band called EMAX on the internet. Either I translated it wrong or the author just made it up.]
[What.]
“Jinhee! Look carefully! I have something to show you-”
[F*ck off.]
Dud-
The phone call was coldly hung up.
Perhaps she was annoyed because I woke her up from her sleep.
I had no choice but to call my next target, Hayoon, but she didn’t pick up.
Just as I was about to give up and change my target to Teacher Jang Hwaeun, my phone rang first.
☎︎Teacher Jang Hwaeun
“Hello? Teacher?”
[Joon! Want to see this? Your Teacher found out something amazing!]
The Teacher, as if trying to charm me, began shaking her hips wildly on the video call.
I smiled and hung up the call.
‘As expected, the Teacher is quick to get into this kind of thing.’
I finished what I had to do.
As I wandered around the streets aimlessly, still wiggling like an earthworm, it was already evening before I knew it.
“Student, eat this while you wiggle! You have to eat before you start slacking off!”
“Haha, thank you.”
The shop owners started handing out free food to the people on the streets while wiggling themselves.
The managers of nearby shops and offices swayed their hips as they wiggled around, as if flirting with their employees.
The faces of Seoul citizens, who usually always wore a neutral frown, were filled with smiles, and we all enjoyed the festive-like atmosphere together, laughing and chatting.
[Dear respected citizens.]
Suddenly, I turned my head and saw a video of the President of Korea declaring a state of emergency playing on a large screen on a building.
[Currently, an unknown infectious disease is spreading in the downtown area of Seoul. In response, the government has announced the following measures, and we ask that you carefully read and follow them to prevent further damage. First of all, let’s wiggle this way, aaahhh!!!!
Second, wiggle like crazy, aaahhh!!]
The President threw off his wig and began wiggling and squirming, his whole body filling the entire screen.
We, who were watching it on the street, all burst into laughter, feeling love, joy, gratitude, peace, and a sense of complete unity with each other.
Immediately after, against the backdrop of the sunset, black armored vehicles began pouring out, making loud noises as they rolled out.
Vroooooom.
“Ahahaha.”
“Hahaha.”
However, few people paid attention to the armored vehicles, as we were busy laughing and talking about the President’s video.
A man, dressed like a mercenary in full black armor, poked their upper body out of the armored vehicle’s hatch and quickly scanned the chaotic street.
[It is my order as the President! From now on, anyone who doesn’t wriggle like this will be treated as a non-citizen!]
“Ahahaha.”
“Hahaha.”
After quickly scanning us, the man dressed like a mercenary gave orders through his radio, and immediately, people began pouring out of the armored vehicles in perfect coordination.
They were dressed in identical black glossy combat suits, wearing helmets, and in their hands, each of them was holding a gun.
“Fire!”
Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-
“Ahhhhhhhhh!”
“Ahhhhhhhhh-”
Suddenly, the black-clad mercenaries began firing submachine guns at the people.
Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-
“Urrrgh!”
“Keergh-”
Amidst the chaotic squirming, a sudden barrage of gunfire erupted, and the citizens were unable to recover their senses.
“What, what! Who…”
“Run away! Everyone, run away!”
At the same time, a black armed helicopter appeared in the sky, making a loud sound with the propeller.
Tatatatata- Tatatatata-
It paused in the air for a moment, as if looking down at the dazed people wiggling and fleeing. Then, the helicopter soon flashed a burst of flames.
Whoosh-!
A burst of flames erupted, and several missiles flew out, leaving trails of smoke as they soared toward their target.
The armed helicopter began bombarding the people on the streets.
Boom-boom-boom-boom-!
Bang- Bang
“Ahhhhhhhh-!”
“Kyaaaah.”
Against the backdrop of the reddish sunset, the mercenaries in black protective gear began wrecking havoc, mowing down people with machine guns and missiles.
In an instant, the festival-like atmosphere began to turn into a hellish slaughter.
“Huff, huff, huff.”
While fleeing with the crowd, I instinctively observed them.
‘They’re not the military!’
We have infected even the President.
At this point, there would be no soldiers left in the country who would normally follow the chain of command.
And the armored vehicles and armed helicopters, designed in all black with a glossy texture, showed no sign of the camouflage patterns typically used by the South Korean military.
Even their faces were completely covered by black helmets, and they looked like futuristic soldiers straight out of a sci-fi movie.
‘Where are they from?’
I hurriedly wiggled and hid under an overpass, escaping the bombing.
Dud-dud-dud-dud-dud-
Bang–! Bang–!
The cement fragments on the road exploded, dust flew up, and the ground trembled.
And the screams of people echoed.
“What is this! Who are you!!”
“Police! I’m a police officer, don’t shoot! Ugh! Aaaahh-”
Men, women, children and even police officers were massacred without question by the mercenaries in black futuristic combat suits.
Under the overpass, people who had fled from the ongoing inexplicable massacre, were all still wiggling, hiding like me.
“They are from Clover! Those people from Clover are trying to stop our revolution!”
One bespectacled, bearded uncle, looking like a wreck, wildly danced as he wiggled his body while shouting angrily.
“I saw it! Those bastards had a small Clover logo attached to the side of those armored vehicles!”
Are they really from the Clover Corporation?
I bent my arms to wiggle, breaking into a cold sweat.
Clover Corporation, a multinational company that had amassed an enormous amount of wealth worldwide.
I had heard rumors that they secretly operated a private military company with the money they’ve earned and trained private soldiers.
‘I never expected it to be like this…..’
Soon, a black armored vehicle arrived near the bushes where we were hiding, making a loud noise. From it, mercenaries wearing glossy black visors and gas masks poured out.
[Fire! Open fire!]
The mercenaries fired their rifles without hesitation.
Dud-dud-dud-dud-dud-
“Aaaahh! Aaaahhhh!”
“Keuk, cough.”
They didn’t seem to be affected by our wiggling, and with skilled movements, quickly massacred the infected people.
I was thinking hard, only wiggling my fingers so that I wouldn’t be seen, lying flat among the corpses casting long shadows in the setting afternoon sun.
Bang-!
“Aack!”
But I was shot by a mercenary who was going around and shooting randomly at people, as if making sure they were killed.
“Haa. Haaa.”
“Survivors found.”
[Shoot.]
Bang-!
With a bullet going through my head, I lost consciousness.
[You are dead.]
[Restarting from the previous checkpoint]
[Loading…… ]
* * *
I took two coffee mixes from the freezer.
Tearing open the packets, I poured one into my cup and the other into a different cup.
Then I poured hot water into each cup and stirred with a teaspoon.
A sweet aroma rose up.
Suddenly, the expiration date on the torn coffee mix packet caught my eye.
[Expiry Date 2022.05.37]
It was long past the expiration date.
But I knew it was no problem since I had them stored in an ultra-low temperature freezer where even bacteria can’t survive.
The food stored here could be eaten even after a considerable amount of time had passed.
Thanks to that, even after the world had fallen to this state, we were still able to enjoy our favorite treats often.
One of the two cups was for me and the other for Gyeongwon.
I went into the lab holding two coffee cups.
“Captain.”
Gyeongwon, wearing a white lab coat, turned to look at me before turning back at the monitor screen.
“Coffee.”
“Thank you.”
I took a sip from the cup, savoring the taste.
“You know, I once encountered a ghost story called wiggle wiggle.”
“Hehe.”
[2026? November? 11th, 03: +0]
[Lee? Joon: Number of Attempts – 1]
[Ghost Story: 2nd day]
[Causality Rate: 83%]
“It was like a contagious disease that spread from mind to mind, and it was triggered by seeing others wiggling.”
“Oh my……”
Gyeongwon took a sip of the coffee and chuckled in disbelief.
“The Captain has really experienced all kinds of strange things.”
“You were there too.”
In the underground base where everyone was asleep, we sipped our coffee while chatting pleasantly.
“Yeah, it’s just the same old routine where time goes back and I guess I don’t remember.”
Gyeongwon waved his hand dismissively.
Whenever I tell him about memories he doesn’t know about, he grumbles like this as if he’s tired of it.
“So how did you get rid of it?”
“That’s-”
Bang!
“Oi oi- Let’s have some midnight snacks.”
Dukhun opened the lab door and entered, carrying a tray full of food.
Homemade chicken and french fries.
Similarly, they were all from the freezer.
I deliberately chose the bad ending, so I also prepared enough food supplies to fill an entire building in case an apocalypse like this happened. And thanks to that, I could not only enjoy the luxury of coffee but also chicken.
“I fried it myself.”
“Thanks for your hard work.”
Dukhun carefully stepped over the tangled wires dangerously scattered on the lab floor and placed the tray on the desk.
“Eat up. I’ll bring some beer too.”
“Is it already fermented?”
“Almost.”
Stumbling, Dukhun left the lab, and Gyeongwon grumbled as he put down the coffee cup.
“I am drinking coffee, and he suddenly brings in chicken.”
“It’s already night, so instead of caffeine, let’s have some chicken and beer for a change.”
“Hmm.”
He picked up a french fry and chewed them loudly, making a crunching noise.
“So, the wiggle wiggle ghost story. If you understand the essence, you’ll go crazy. Then, does that mean the Captain has also gone crazy?”
“Yeah. Not only did I go crazy, I even diligently spread the virus everywhere.”
This was the reason why mind contamination-type ghost stories were the scariest.
The person couldn’t even realize what they were doing or control it.
“How did you come back to your senses?”
“I didn’t, I died.”
Taking a bite of the crispy fried chicken, I answered.
“When I died and started from the checkpoint, I still remembered what I had done, but my mind was in the same state as before I understood it.”
“Ohh, hmmm……”
Gyeongwon nodded thoughtfully while munching on french fries.
“It’s a ghost story where understanding the true essence makes you go crazy, but even if time goes back, as long as you understand the essence, you will stay crazy. So, that part is compensated by the system.”
“Probably. It’s vague.”
“Then in the end, you still don’t know? The true nature of the wiggle wiggle ghost story?”
“No. I know.”
“…….?”
Gyeongwon made a questioning expression.
“If you understand it, you’ll go crazy, but the Captain is still fine. So how—”
“It means you can make an assumption.”
I gave a hint while picking up a french fry.
“Among the creatures we know, there’s another one that makes you go crazy if you understand it.”
“… The Demon King.”
Gyeongwon’s glasses shone.
“The true nature of the wiggle wiggle ghost story is directly related to the Demon King.”
“Correct.”
As I broke off the crispy french fry, I drew a circle with my finger.
