[2019, May 4th | Saturday, 22:26 PM]
[Lee Joon: Number of Attempts – 2]
[Ghost Story Points: 459]
[Causality Rate: 20%]
“Hey, please help me up. My legs are sore……”
“Why am I here……?”
“Excuse me, someone please untie me quickly! Ouch, ouch……”
I passed through the aisles and headed back to my seat, leaving behind the bewildered people who couldn’t understand the situation.
“Why are we in such a strange position….”
“This isn’t my seat?”
Amidst the noisy room filled with confusion and overwhelmed by embarrassment for their actions.
“Oh, put your clothes on! What are you doing!”
“Get up from here quickly! What are you doing in someone else’s seat!”
Passing through the chaotic compartments, I finally returned to my seat.
The bag of money I left there was still lying in my seat, completely untouched.
‘The contents are safe. No one touched it.’
If there had been someone targeting this bag of money, the commotion just now would have been the perfect opportunity.
But no one touched it at all.
Whoever I feared it might be, there was no one around me who was trying to steal this money.
I sat down and quietly gazed at the night scenery passing by outside the window.
Rattle- Rattle-
Why was that girl in that seat and what was she here for.
There were so many things I still couldn’t understand about her.
‘If I asked her, she’d just smile mysteriously as usual and ignore me.’
* * *
[Seoul, Seoul]
Before long, the train arrived at its destination, and the confused passengers prepared to get off.
I too calmly gathered the bag of money and stood up.
“Please be careful. I hope to see you next time.”
The attendant, with a slightly disheveled and tired face, which was a sharp contrast to her previous neat appearance, bowed her head and greeted me.
When I got off, it was past 11 p.m. The outside was completely dark.
The platform of Seoul Station, which was always bustling, was now almost deserted.
I stood in the middle of the wide marble platform and looked around quietly.
‘Am I being followed?’
I already guessed that In Hayoon was involved with the Dogma of Void.
The strange behaviors she had shown during the Psychology Test ghost story.
And her inner thoughts her clones had let out during the MineCraft ghost stories.
Also, the fact that counselor Ryu Jinah, who was involved with the religious organization, referred to her as ‘Young Lady’ during the Kim Eunjung ghost story.
In addition, she had the same last name as the leader of that organization, and she was extremely reluctant to share her private life with us.
She even had an attitude that seemed completely uninterested in other members than me.
‘Is she following me?’
Me?
“……”
If that was not the case, there was no reason for that girl to be on the same train as me.
Unless it was an unavoidable coincidence.
‘From where, and when…’
I didn’t feel anyone following me at all.
And this trip I took was from one end of South Korea to the other.
I even checked several times in the dark, open fields before getting the money that there was no one nearby.
This trip of mine was not a route where anyone could follow me without being noticed.
‘If she didn’t follow me from Seoul… Maybe among the people I met……’
Countless faces flashed through my mind at the moment.
The employee who sold me the ticket, the homeless person in front of Busan Station asking for money, the department store employee where I bought the bag, the part-time worker at Lotte Food where I bought my food, the village bus driver in Gangseo District…..
Among them, was there someone from the school or that organization who saw my face and reported me?
I didn’t know why, but they seemed to be pretty familiar with my face.
‘Then what should I do?’
There was 1 billion won in the bag, and if I was really being followed.
It wouldn’t be a good idea to go to school to hide the money like this.
In Hayoon, who was using the people of the Dogma of Void to follow me, the school was like their den, especially at this time when I’m alone.
But I quickly gathered my thoughts and put the bag on my shoulder again.
‘I’ll go.’
If they have the guts to stop me, let them try.
If I get caught, I would just kill myself and make a different choice in the next timeline.
‘And if I follow the route I came up with, once I get to the clubroom, it’s a success.’
The clubroom of our Ghost Story Club on the 5th floor of the school, the moment I step into it, the game is my victory.
‘And on second thought. If their goal was this bag of money from the beginning, the crowded train earlier would have been the perfect opportunity to steal it.’
Which means the crazy people who were following me weren’t after this money.
Although I had no idea what they were thinking, it was safe to assume that no one was after this 1 billion won at the moment.
‘Let’s go. I’ll decide what to do if I bump into them.’
I immediately exited through the main gate of Seoul Station, took a taxi, and headed toward Nakseong High School.
“You don’t have to go closer. Just drop me there.”
“Yes, it’ll be 14,100 won.”
“Here. Keep the change.”
I handed a 20,000 won bill to the driver and got out of the car.
The dark ‘peaceful’ building of Nakseong High School was visible a block away.
I circled around from a distance, turning onto the main road and moved to the back of the school.
Then, I entered the bushes that no one usually uses and walked along the wall.
‘This is it.’
It was dark all around, but I could see the roof of the cafeteria beyond the wall. I was standing in the bushes where I had defeated the Laughing Woman at the beginning of the semester.
‘I can’t see any surveillance cameras.’
I swiftly climbed the wall in the dark and entered the school.
Thud-
“Huuu.”
My eyes scanned the surroundings of the cafeteria which was dark without any lights.
‘No one’s here.’
I walked silently and pushed the back door of the main building, but as expected, it was closed.
‘Hmm.’
After that, I tried pushing open the windows on the corridor one by one, hoping that there would be at least one window that wasn’t locked.
But unfortunately, all of them were closed.
‘There is no other way.’
I thought this might happen, so I had unlocked one of the windows of our classroom, which was just beside my seat, before leaving school on Friday without anyone else knowing.
Thanks goodness that my seat was by the window.
I had planned that if all the windows on the back were closed, I would use the window I had prepared in advance.
‘… But if I want to get to the window in our class, I have to go to the front of the main building.’
I was at the back of the main building.
Although the surroundings were devoid of any sound, I was worried that I might get caught if I went to the front of the main building.
With trepidation, I slowly walked around the main building without making a sound and moved to the front.
As I turned the corner, the large playground covered in darkness entered my vision.
‘Here……’
After confirming that no one was around, I stood in front of the window of our class, Year 1, Class 3.
Now the only person I had to avoid was the security guard.
And in this large school, it wouldn’t be easy to run into that one person.
Creak. Creak-
‘…It’s opening!’
The narrow window at the top among the three-tiered windows in the classroom.
Since it was a window that no one would necessarily open, it was covered in dust, but I had unlocked it in advance, so it opened without much hassle.
I threw my bag through the open window first, then stepped on the window frame and pushed my upper body in.
Thud-
“Oww.”
Once inside, I closed the window again and looked around the dark classroom.
The classroom was neatly organized in preparation for the three-day holiday.
Among the empty desks, only one desk at the very back piled up with textbooks caught my eyes.
‘… Did Jinhee leave without organizing her desk?’
The textbooks that Jinhee used as pillows during the school time were piled up on her desk.
After a quick glance, I noticed that even though it has been almost two months since the semester started, Jinhee still hadn’t even written her name on the books.
‘Hayoon……’
For a moment, the thought of checking through Hayoon’s desk flashed through my mind, but I shook my head.
Although it was the middle of the night and there was no one around to watch, it would be embarrassing if I wasted time doing that and got caught by the security guard.
‘And, it feels a bit perverted to rummage through a girl’s desk without permission.’
Hayoon has a lot of secrets, but she seemed to be very thorough.
She probably wouldn’t have left any clues in her desk anyway.
Creak. Creak.
I carried the bag of money and carefully stepped out through the front door, scanning the corridor.
Making sure no one was around, I proceeded to walk and climbed the stairs to the upper floor using the stairs on the east side.
When I reached the third floor, I suddenly felt a flash of light coming from far away in the corridor.
‘It’s the guard!’
Fortunately, I wasn’t caught, but hearing the sound of footsteps approaching my way, I quickly hurried back down the stairs and crossed the corridor without making a sound.
And this time, I went back up the stairs using the stairs on the opposite side, the west side.
After moving up to the 5th floor like this without being caught, I sprinted very cautiously to the clubroom at the end of the corridor.
Due to the weight of the bag in my hand, I wobbled with every step, but somehow I finally managed to arrive at the clubroom without being caught.
I paused for a moment in the corridor, listening carefully to confirm it was quiet, and then opened the door to the clubroom.
Creak-
No one was there.
After entering the clubroom, I quickly locked the door from the inside and let out a sigh of relief.
“Haaa.”
I won.
“Let’s see.”
I put the bag down and looked around the clubroom.
The clubroom, bathed in the bluish light of the moon in the middle of the night.
Just like the whole school, the clubroom was also silent.
During the day, it was so noisy with the sounds of students, but at night, it was eerily quiet, and for some reason, had a lonely and desolate feeling.
Even as the President, this was the first time I’ve come to the clubroom at this hour.
‘Okay, now let’s put the plan into action.’
Just at that moment, my cell phone vibrated.
☎︎ Ahn Gyeongwon
‘Oh, that’s right.’
Come to think of it, I was talking on the phone with Gyeongwon on the train.
When the fiasco ended, my mind was completely preoccupied with the name In Hayoon, so I couldn’t even tell him how the situation was resolved.
Dud-
“Hello?”
[President! Are you okay? What happened? It seemed like you were in a really urgent situation, so I didn’t contact you to avoid disturbing you, but when I didn’t get a reply……]
“Ah, sorry, sorry. Thanks to you, everything got resolved. I appreciate it.”
[I see…… T, thank goodness.]
Since the guy already called, I decided to review my plan to hide the money here with him.
I couldn’t tell him until now because I was worried that the information might leak, but since I was already inside the clubroom with the bag of money, I decided to tell him.
‘Now that I’m at the stage where I just need to hide it using the system, I guess it doesn’t matter if I tell him.’
Of course, I had checked the whole process countless times on my own, but it was just a simulation running in my head.
This was my first time actually implementing the plan into action, and the method I was about to use was also quite dangerous, to the point where I could lose my life.
Also, since the scientific elements were important to the plan, I thought it would be a good idea to have Gyeongwon, the walking encyclopedia, double-check it once more.
“I’m going to hide the money now.”
[What? Where?]
“In the school clubroom.”
[What did you say?]
Gyeongwon sounded surprised.
[Are you at school right now?]
“Yeah. I’m in our clubroom.”
[W, WHAT…… ]
Gyeongwon almost screamed in surprise.
[How come you didn’t get caught, Prez…… ]
“The Laughing Woman came in through the wall at the back of the school. It seems there aren’t any surveillance cameras there.”
[… You, you trust that route because your enemy used that. You’re really, Prez…… ]
Gyeongwon swallowed nervously.
[So? Where are you going to hide it in the clubroom?]
“First, I’ll level up the club and upgrade the Space Expansion ability.”
And while the space was being expanded and loading, I would wait inside.
According to what I checked before, at that point, the clubroom doesn’t stay on the school grounds anymore, but is temporarily transported to some other space in the universe.
I could hide the bag of money with 1 billion inside in that space.
This way, no one would be able to steal it.
‘And the only one who can access it is me, as I’m the only one who can use the system to upgrade the inside of the clubroom into a loading state.’
It was the completion of the world’s safest secret space, one that only I could access.
[Wow, you’re crazy… ]
Gyeongwon started stuttering as if he couldn’t believe it.
[What if the location when it was in the loading state before and the location it’s in during the loading state now are different? What would you do then?]
“According to Dukhun’s opinion, it’s the same place.”
I had once quietly asked Dukhun about it without anyone knowing.
Of course, I didn’t mention about hiding the bag, just casually asked about some game elements.
“Dukhun, when the map loads in a game, where was that map before it loads?”
“Um……?”
“Assuming that it definitely exists somewhere.”
Just because it was an open-world game doesn’t mean that all spaces are always loaded.
In the case of some buildings or houses, for the sake of saving resources, the map is only loaded when you enter those places.
If we assume that there is a separate space somewhere in that world solely for loading, where models are loaded onto the map and textures are applied,
Where would that place be?
“Hmm… President, you sure asked some interesting questions. Usually, in such cases, the developers hide an empty space somewhere on the map where they can handle such tasks, such as the home, I guess. Like a default space or something like that…. In a completely separate space, it could be above the sky, behind a mountain, or even underground. Anywhere that’s out of sight.”
According to Dukhun’s explanation, this is a method that isn’t commonly used anymore, as technology has advanced to the point where anything can be loaded in real-time now.
“They can just tell you to wait a moment and process it with a black screen or show a cutscene. But there’s no reason to use that method in new games.”
“I see.”
“Of course, it’s not like it’s not used at all these days. In cases like StarCraft custom maps or indie games made with tools like RPG Maker, they still use such methods. Since the necessary functions aren’t available in the tools, developers create workarounds, hidden secret spaces somewhere on the map that execute various triggers.”
Rather than recreating frequently used NPC objects every time, it’s a designated default location somewhere on the map that simply moves the objects back and forth as needed, performing the loading function.
In the case of the clubroom, if there is an extra space just for loading in order to reconstruct the map anew.
That is the galaxy in the shape of the Demon King which I saw previously when the clubroom was loading somewhere in that space.
In that case, it’s definitely the same place.
Once a coordinate is set, it doesn’t change unless the developers adjust it again.
[Really? Oh my, what does that mean…]
After listening to my explanation, Gyeongwon seemed at a loss for words, as if he couldn’t understand what to say.
[I don’t get it. I, I don’t understand. This isn’t my area of expertise.]
“I know. What you need to tell me is how long a person can survive in space.”
[……]
I explained my plan to enter the loading state while keeping the window open.
“The clubroom will become like a vacuum in an instant as the air is sucked out, and I’ll have to stretch my arm outside the window for a moment to leave the bag outside. That means part of my body will be exposed to outer space. While going through that, I need to know if my body will still be safe. Also, if I leave the money bag in the vacuum of zero gravity, I need to know if it will stay in that exact spot. Just answer those two things.”
[Uhm……]
Gyeongwon let out a sound as if he was about to faint.
[You’re not planning to go out there with just your bare body, right?]
“Of course not. I plan to wear some basic protective gear.”
[Well, then I’ll answer. First, to cut to the chase, even without protective gears, you’d be safe for about 30 seconds, and as long as there’s no external force, the money bag will stay in that position. But, President, there’s something you should be careful about. Have you heard the rumor that if you go into space, your body will explode and you’ll die?]
“Yeah, I know.”
Actually, I originally believed that too.
‘If you go into space without any protective gear, you’ll explode and die!’
However, while researching for this plan, I found out that it was a misconception.
“It’s because the media misrepresented it. In reality, a person won’t explode from just a difference of about 1 atmosphere of pressure.”
[Oh, that’s right, Prez. A difference of 1 atmosphere is at most like being 10 meters underwater… But……]
A person’s body won’t get crushed or explode if they dive 10m underwater and come back up.
Surprisingly, a person can survive in outer space without protection for a short period of time without being harmed.
[But Prez, what I’m worried about is the fact that this rumor is so widely believed… You almost suffocated last time because you were fooled by the misconception that the elevator was airtight, remember…?]
His words reminded me when I almost suffocated to death in the broken elevator at the broadcasting station during the Fourincess ghost story.
Of course, I was released from the ghost story as soon as I realized that it was a false superstition.
“This time, since I’ll be going in knowing from the start that it’s not true, the ghost story part should be fine. Anything else I should be concerned about?”
[Well, then… there is no bright star like the Sun near that space, right? If you are exposed to something like that, you’ll be burned to crisp right away!]
“There are things like nebula, but there’s no other star like the Sun that just shines brightly. It should be fine. Anything else?”
[Um… and…… ]
Gyeongwon fumbled for words before finally letting out a sigh.
[There’s also the issue of losing temperature, and a few other things. Anyway, whatever it is, being in outer space for even a minute without proper specialized equipment is dangerous. Solve it quickly and come back. As fast as you can.]
This guy just wouldn’t stop nagging.
I smiled and answered.
“Got it. Anything else?”
[Um… After you leave the bag there, wouldn’t it be pretty troublesome to level up with points every time and go into loading mode whenever you want to bring the money?]
“I’ve already thought of a way for that, but for now, we need to deal with the money first. The top priority is to finish the job quickly and get out without getting caught. I’ll tell you next time.”
[Huu, okay. Then that’s all I have to say. The end. Be very careful, Prez.]
“Okay. Thanks for your concern.”
[Just don’t come back with some weird diseases or something.]
“Okay~”
[Like space diseases or space viruses or something…..]
“Hanging up~”
I hung up the phone with a smile.
‘What a mama’s boy.’
