GSC: Chapter 134-Fifteenth Ghost Story – Rock-Paper-Scissor (1)

[2919, May 7th | Tuesday, 12:57 PM]

[Lee Joon: Number of Attempts – 2]

[Ghost Story Points: 791]

[Causality Rate: 21%]

“What happened? Did a ghost story just appear?”

“Um, that’s…..”

I slowly looked through the messages and walked to the back door.

“The system said there’s a mailbox in front of the clubroom……?”

“Where, where.”

The club members followed me out.

I opened the door to the clubroom and looked around, and sure enough, there was a box I was sure I had never seen before attached to the wall next to the door.

“Hmm, this is……”

Gyeongwon, who followed me behind, examined the box closely.

“Rather than a mailbox, should I say it looks more like a suggestion box? That’s how it feels like.”

“Right.”

There was a small suggestion box hanging next to the school Principal’s office.

Like a customer feedback box often found in public institutions or wish repair in the military, a small box had been newly placed next to the entrance of the clubroom.

“Open it.”

“Let’s see.”

I opened the small door of the box and reached in, two envelopes caught my hand.

“Where, where.”

“Hmm……”

Both the envelopes were rectangular, ordinary envelopes commonly seen in daily life.

The only difference was that the colors were unusual.

One was just a plain white envelope, but the other was purple and the material was slightly different.

The way it felt slightly rough against my fingertips gave the impression of a high-quality envelope, something more like fabric than paper.

“It’s kraft paper.”

Gyeongwon, who had been quietly examining it, replied.

“It’s a paper often used to create a vintage feel.”

“Really?”

The unique thing was that both of them were firmly stamped with a high-quality, luxurious red seal right in the center.

“This red seal is sealing wax.”

Gyeongwon leaned his face toward the envelopes in my hand.

“They melt the wax, drop a few drops at the tip of the envelope, stamp it and seal it… It’s an old-fashioned method that’s not commonly used nowadays.”

“Really?”

“Foreign paper knives are used to open envelopes sealed with this kind of seal……”

The moment I open the envelope by tearing off this seal, I would face the ghost story written inside.

“What do you think?”

I showed the two envelopes to Dukhun.

“You can tell at a glance that the white one is an ordinary ghost story, and the purple one is more difficult, right?”

“Ah, Sokka……”

[T/N: ‘Souka’ (そうか) in Japanese is an expression that roughly translates to “I see,” “Is that so?” or “I understand.” It’s often used to acknowledge or confirm information that was just explained.]

Dukhun nodded heavily.

“Usually, common ones are white, rare ones are blue. Heroics are purple, and legendaries are yellow.”

“Heroic…..? Legendary…..?”

I explained it to Sunah, who was tilting her head in confusion.

“Remember the Overwatch we played together at the internet cafe before? That’s how they divide the items into different categories. Common, rare, heroic, and legendary…..”

The further you go, the better the items, and this isn’t the case just for Overwatch, this kind of color-scheme is commonly used across the entire gaming world.

The most basic is white, then the next best is blue. Then comes purple, and the last is gold……

“Are you going to open it now?”

Hmm, I hesitated for a moment as Jinhee suddenly asked.

“… Should I just do it right now?”

“How about we leave the purple one just to be safe, and open only the white one first, Prez?”

“That would be good, right?”

♪ ♬ ♪ ♬

The bell rang, indicating that lunchtime was over.

Without waiting any longer, I removed the red seal from the white envelope and opened it.

Scratch-

Inside the envelope was a rectangular white card, with the name and content of the ghost story written in neat handwriting.

[C-rank Ghost Story – 7 Wonders of the School

① Mirror and Rock-Paper-Scissor]

「It is said that if you keep playing rock-paper-scissors in front of the large mirror at the central staircase on the first floor of the main school building, there will be different outcomes other than just a draw.」

* * *

“Ha, Teacher Han Ari~ How did your introduction go during the assembly today?”

At the same time, in the staff room, as Teacher Han Ari was about to leave to prepare for the next class, Hwaeun hurriedly rushed up to her, almost as if she had been waiting for this moment.

“The students clapped and reacted warmly, right?”

“T-that’s right……”

Science Teacher Han Ari smiled with a hesitant expression.

The fact that she was looking up at Hwaeun because of her short stature made her seem even more awkward.

“I think I was just trembling……”

“No, you did well!”

“Ah, haha……”

Teacher Han Ari fanned her red face.

“Actually, I was so nervous that I don’t even remember what I said……”

“That’s how it is at first~ But you did well! At least from my perspective!”

“Then that’s fortunate……”

Hwaeun desperately exaggerated her words to ease the tension and become closer.

In front of Hwaeun’s enthusiastic response, Teacher Han Ari just smiled with an awkward expression.

“So, how about we go for a drink together after we finish today?”

“Oh, after we’re finished today……?”

“Yes~ On a day like this, we should celebrate!”

Hwaeun made a gesture of gulping down a drink.

“While eating something delicious!”

However, Teacher Han Ari stepped back weakly, looking visibly embarrassed.

“I have an appointment today……”

“An appointment? With whom?”

“That’s……”

“You have a boyfriend!”

Teacher Han Ari hurriedly waved her hands in flustered at Hwaeun, who exclaimed loudly.

“No, no, not my boyfriend… With other teachers……”

“Other teachers? Who?”

“Oh, with the new arrivals today…”

The three female teachers who introduced themselves from the podium earlier today.

One of them is Teacher Han Ari, who is standing in front of Hwaeun, and the other two are Teacher Chae Eun the music teacher, and Teacher Ryu Jinah the counselor.

“When I was waiting for a while to be introduced in the auditorium, it happened like that… Since it was a prior arrangement……”

“Oh, I see~ Ahaha……”

Hwaeun was taken aback for a moment, but quickly asked again.

“Who, who took the initiative to ask you out?”

“The one who came for counseling… Teacher Ryu Jinah? That person…..”

“Ah, I see now~! I see, hahaha…..”

“When we were waiting in the waiting room, she suggested we should go have a drink….. And Teacher Chae Eun also said it was fine…..”

As expected.

Hwaeun thought to herself, sweating profusely.

‘That person, she’s from some strange religious group….. and of course, she immediately started making moves…..’

“T-then let’s meet up next time~! I’ll treat you!”

“Oh, thank you… I’m sorry for already making arrangements first today……”

“It’s okay, it’s okay! Well, since you have already made an appointment, there’s nothing we can do about it~!”

“Then I’ll leave now……”

As Teacher Han Ari was about to head upstairs for class, Hwaeun grabbed her again.

“So, when are we going for a meal? Hmm?”

“Ah… Well…”

Teacher Han Ari hesitated to answer, a look of embarrassment and discomfort taking over her face.

“I think I’ll be busy this week…. I’m so busy right now since I’m taking over someone else……”

“T-That’s right~! You’re busy~! Ahahaha……”

Hwaeun’s face turned red as she laughed enthusiastically.

“When I’m free, yeah……”

“Yes… Next time for sure! Let’s go out to have a meal together. I’ll make time!”

“If I have time…..”

“Yeah, yeah! Let’s definitely have a meal together next time!”

“Yes, yes! I’ll go upstairs now!”

“Yes, take care~!”

In the end, instead of hesitation, Teacher Han Ari made a promise.

Hwaeun brushed her chest.

‘Ugh, I thought she hated me.’

Hwaeun shrugged her shoulders and also went to class.

* * *

[2019, May 7th | Tuesday, 1:18 PM]

[Lee Joon: Number of Attempts – 2]

[Ghost Story Points: 79]

[Causality Rate: 21%]

“U, universal gravitation is the force of attraction that acts between objects with mass……”

“Hehehehe hehe……”

“Ah, F**k. Don’t hit with your legs~!”

Tuesday, 5th period science class, Science Lab.

Teacher Han Ari was struggling to manage the class, barely keeping it together, while at the back of the Science Lab, the backbenchers were wrestling with a human anatomy model.

“Uh, speed is V, S is distance, distance travels–”

Wham, bang-!

“F**k~!!!”

“Puhahaha……”

A few intimidating looking backbenchers were ganging up, using various moves on the human anatomy model.

Teacher Han Ari, even while watching that, could only fumble helplessly, unable to stop them, and continued the lesson that no one was paying attention to.

“C, constant accelerated motion…”

“64th move of Palgwae!”

[T/N: “Palgwae” (팔괘) refers to the “Eight Trigrams” in Korean, which are a set of eight symbols used in Taoist philosophy.]

One of the most disruptive boys among the backbenchers stretched out his arm as if using martial arts, furiously beating the human anatomy model, while the group next to him snickered and laughed as if they were about to lose their breath.

“Ah, f*ck, really!”

Jinhee, who had been lying down trying to get some sleep, finally got irritated and suddenly stood up, then strode towards the back of the Science Lab.

“That’s not how you use the Pelgwae!”

Thwack, Thwack- Jinhee unleashed her martial arts talent with precision, breaking the human anatomy model in the Science Lab.

“Oooohhhh~!”

“This is awesome……”

The backbenchers clapped their hands with admiration in their eyes.

“Hey, students… aren’t you being a little too much……?”

Teacher Han Ari was sweating profusely, her voice so hoarse that it was barely audible.

I let out a sigh.

‘Teacher, you seem about to cry.’

Sunah, who was sitting on my right, sighed with a sympathetic expression.

“Poor Teacher Ari……”

Since we were in the Science Lab and could sit wherever we wanted, the members of our Ghost Story Club ended up sitting together at one table, six of us side by side.

Excluding Jinhee, who just went to show her martial arts talents, there are 5 of us now.

“Prez, can you show me that envelope again?”

“Oh, here.”

Gyeongwon, who was sitting on my left, didn’t seem to be paying attention to the class either and naturally talked to me.

I handed him the envelope containing the C-rank ghost story I got from the mailbox during lunch earlier.

“Hmm……”

Gyeongwon read the contents again, pushing his glasses.

“Seven Wonders of the School, Mirror and Rock-Paper-Scissor……”

“This, this refers to the direction of the force acting on an object… Oh, if you could please be a little quieter…”

“Ah, crazy~ you f*ckers, keep using your legs……”

“Khuhahahahaha……”

The teacher was teaching, the students were playing in the back, and we were pondering on the ghost story.

The ghost story written on the white letter card I gave to Gyeongwon.

It was a story about a large mirror in front of the central staircase on the first floor of the main school building. If you keep playing rock-paper-scissors with your reflection in the mirror, you will get different results other than a draw.

“Except for the fact that the location is the mirror of our school, it’s a ghost story we often hear.”

“Right.”

“Please, pay attention for a moment……”

Even when Teacher Ari pleaded to the students who were always at the top, Gyeongwon did not even look at her and rather pondered deeply on the ghost story, quickly pushing up his glasses.

It was not just him, but everywhere in the classroom, there were students who were openly using their phones or reading comics.

Even the handsome class president, who usually helped calm the students, was spinning his pen with a bored expression, and the diligent vice president, Chae Rin, who I thought was honest and smart, was giggling with her friend sitting next to her, chatting away.

High school society is a dog-eat-dog world.

Those who are incompetent can’t survive.

“So, Prez, are you going to do this during the CA session on Friday?”

“Yeah.”

Gyeongwon pushed his glasses and handed me the envelope again.

“Have you thought of a method? I couldn’t think of anything even after reading it many times.”

“To be honest, I’m not sure either. That’s why I’m not doing it right away, I’m just thinking of doing it on Friday for now.”

We nodded, as if in agreement.

“I need to think about what happens if I win or lose while playing rock-paper-scissors with a mirror, and what I need to do to get rid of that.”

“Hmm, what if you can’t think of any other way and have no choice but get entangled in it…?”

“If I have no choice but to get entangled in it, I guess there’s only one option. I’ll just throw a rock at the mirror from far away and run away.”

Gyeongwon opened his mouth with an expression of admiration.

“Yeah, as expected from Prez. We definitely don’t need to respond to something like this. Who knows what might happen……”

“That’s right.”

I nodded with a cool expression.

I wonder if it was because he started hanging around with me or his intelligence was dropping by itself.

Now, Gyeongwon is amazed and surprised by every little nonsense I said.

“In that case, if we’re planning to break the mirror from a distance without playing rock-paper-scissors, what we need to discuss is….”

“How can we break the mirror and escape without being caught by others during the CA session?”

At what point should we break it so that no one sees it? And what route should we take to escape after breaking it?

“I know there’s a CCTV camera near the central entrance, so we need to figure out from which angle and where to throw the stone so it won’t be caught on camera. We also need to consider whether a stone alone will be enough to break it, or if we’ll need to throw something bigger to completely shatter it.”

Next to me, Sunah nodded with a nervous expression.

“Hmm, I think I can entrust this to Sunah. I believe she can do it better.”

“Huh, what!?”

Sunah was startled.

“I’m joking.”

“Oh, okay……”

Dukhun was holding his phone under the desk and watching an animation while giggling to himself, and Hayoon was staring at the blackboard, but she didn’t seem like really paying attention to the class.

“How about we do it this way, Prez……”

“This sounds good……”

At the same time, the human anatomy model that Jinhee was hitting collapsed, spilling out its model organs.

“Hey, there’s a missing part, a nerd who’s good at science, come and stuff it in!”

“Puhahahahahaha……”

“Ac, acceleration is a bit of a difficult concept……”

“If we don’t want to get caught, we should take this route and do it this way. Do you understand, Sunah?”

“Yeah, a little bit……”

“This way……”

“Prez, if you do it that way……”

“Kuhahaha……”

“Hey, students, please pay a little bit……”

“$%@#$@*!@……”

“!#@$……”

 

 

T/N: As a teacher, my condolences to Teacher Han Ari.

By the way, I picked up a new novel! If you like the anime Tokyo Revengers, you may like it too. Give it a try! Link Here