Trigger WARNING: This chapter contains details of extremely gore description. Readers, please be advised.
[2019, May 13th | Monday, 14:30 PM]
[Lee Joon: Number of Attempts – 2]
[Ghost Story Points: 173]
[Causality Rate: 22%]
“Follow me! You guys are going to be punished immediately!”
“Kisamaaa!!“1[T/N: “Kisama” is a Japanese term often used in confrontational contexts, roughly meaning “you” but with strong hostility.]
“Ouch, oww…..”
The commotion was steadily getting closer.
“…Aren’t the classes ongoing? What….”
Everyone stood up from their seats with a questioning look, while the homeroom teacher muttered out loud.
“…Isn’t it that Otaku’s voice?”
“…..?”
The people inside the broadcasting room gradually peeked through the door one by one with puzzled expressions.
Soon, four people moving noisily through the hallway entered our visions.
Our club members, Sunah, Dukhun, and Gyeongwon.
And the strict middle-aged teacher, Vice Principal Jang Yeok, was pulling the ears of the three students as she walked.
She was marching with a stern expression, leading the students into the main faculty office, which was connected to the broadcasting room, while scolding them.
“P, P, Prez!”
“Joon…!?”
The club members, who were being dragged away, saw us blankly staring at them from the door of the broadcasting room and called out to us. At that, the Vice Principal turned to us with a ‘Huh?’ expression.
“Oh, my….… Haha, hohoho……”
Feeling the gaze of the eight people clearly watching them from afar, the Vice Principal quickly changed her expression.
“Ah, it looks like everyone is still here…..”
“What’s going on, Teacher?”
“Wh-what should we do, Detective…? These troublemakers have caused another incident…..”
“… What kind of incident?”
“That, that……”
The detective passed by me and headed out into the hallway to talk to the Vice Principal.
As soon as the club members, whose ears were being pulled, were freed, they quickly rushed over to me.
“P, Prez……”
“J, Joon……”
“…What’s going on?”
“That……”
The club members fidgeted nervously, nudging each other and giving hints to speak up first.
Soon, Dukhun wiped his sweat and spoke up first.
“S, sorry… we got caught…”
“…I knew it.”
What’s the big deal about something like that?
I snorted once and then patted the guys on the back.
“It’s okay. You did well.”
Earlier, when we met during lunch break, I had instructed them to check the body, but it seemed like they tried to do it in the middle of class and ended up getting caught.
“Come inside and tell me everything you saw.”
“Uh, yeah…”
In the hallway, the Vice Principal was frantically protesting about something, while the detective quietly listened.
In the meantime, I got all the club members inside the broadcasting room.
“Ho, hoho… We’ve been taking turns keeping watch, but then…. one of the teachers went to the bathroom, and during self-study, these kids managed to sneak out…..”
“…It’s alright. This was something the police should have handled from the start. It’s not the teachers’ fault, so don’t worry about it.”
“B-By the way, since we’re talking about it… when exactly will the body be removed…? When school ends and the students start pouring out, there will be chaos again. How long do we have to wait…..”
“Actually, there’s a spare vehicle on its way right now. We’ll take care of it before the end of the day, so you don’t need to worry.”
“Th, thank goodness… The investigation seems to have made some progress……”
When Sunah, Gyeongwon, and Dukhun rushed into the broadcasting room.
The homeroom teacher immediately made a face.
“… Is it the day of the Ghost Story Club meeting?”
“Oh, hello……”
“Thanks to all the trouble you’ve caused, everyone ended up gathering here. How wonderful.”
“Otaku. What’s going on?”
“I-I was checking the body…”
“Ugh. There’s blood on your hands.”
Soon, Hayoon handed a wet wipe from the table to the three of them, but Sunah quickly hid behind me, avoiding the sharp gazes of the Vice Class President and Joo Yeseul, as if she was afraid of girls from the same class.
“Joo, Joon……”
“It’s okay, Sunah.”
I shielded Sunah with my body, and then immediately spoke to Gyeongwon, who was looking around with a dazed expression.
“Gyeongwon.”
“Uh? Oh, President. There are a lot of people here.”
“You’ve checked the body, right?”
Immediately, Gyeongwon’s expression turned serious as he nodded.
“Although we got caught quickly, Dukhun was very thorough, he flipped the body over and carefully examined it.”
“Good job, Dukhun.”
Dukhun, who was joking with Jinhee, turned to look at me.
“Tell me everything you saw. What was the condition of the body and how did the person die.”
“Ah, got it. So, um…”
While wiping his hands with the wet wipe Hayoon had handed him, he hurriedly began to explain what he had seen.
“It was really… really a complete mess. I can understand why Teacher Han Ari fainted as soon as she saw it…”
When her name was called, Teacher Han Ari glanced over this way.
Based on what Dukhun had carefully examined, the body was presumed to be male.
“The skin on the face was completely torn off, and the eyeballs, teeth, nose, ears. They were all brutally cut off… The head was completely dismantled, and even the brain inside was seen through..…”
“… It’s really horrible.”
“I see.”
“The upper and lower bodies were separated in half, and the abdomen was completely hollowed out.”
“I see.”
The corpse left there was truly nothing more than a shell with some muscle and flesh attached to it, just excess remains of a human body.
I could understand why Teacher Han Ari, who first witnessed it from a distance, thought it was a doll.
‘That’s right…..’
The body was so brutally mutilated that it seemed almost beyond recognition.
I wondered if there was anything I could find out from it.
I thought about it carefully, but no brilliant idea came to mind right away.
“……”
If there was one thing I could deduce, it was that since the body was so severely emptied of its contents, it must have been quite light, making it easier to transport.
“Huu.”
I paused for a moment, sighed, and then looked up.
Our homeroom teacher was glaring at us with a ‘tch’ expression, clicking his tongue.
Teacher Han Ari was trembling and anxiously staring at us.
Vice Class President Lee Chaerin was looking at us with a condescending gaze, as if we were something beneath her.
The devoted Christian girl, Joo Yeseul, who seemed scared by the unfolding situation, kept shifting her gaze nervously.
Behind me, Sunah was anxiously hiding, frightened by the presence of other female students in the same class, while Jinhee was trying to comfort her.
And then there was Hayoon, quietly watching everything unfold from where she sat.
The whole situation was about to end.
“…I understand. Vice Principal, you should head back now.”
“Ho, hoho… Yes, I am truly sorry for all of this…”
The Vice Principal, who had been wearing a somewhat strained smile, soon entered the main faculty office, and the detective also entered the broadcasting room and closed the door on the way.
Click-
He soon raised his head and glared at us.
“Fortunately, it seems the criminals are all gathered together.”
“……”
“Lee Joon, I am arresting you as a suspect in the murder case. As for the rest of the club members, you will all be taken to the police station for charges of false testimony, tampering with the crime scene, and destruction of evidence.”
“…..!”
“Thank you to everyone who gathered here and helped. You’ve really worked hard. Now, you can all leave for real.”
“Wait, just a moment…! Hey, hold on…!”
The one who shouted and protested like that was surprisingly our homeroom teacher, who had been glaring at us until just now.
“You, you’re actually taking the kids to the police station…?! It’s not just one or two, but six of them…! Are you serious right now…..!”
“The suspect’s consistent false testimony, and the incomprehensible actions of the club members are not something I can easily investigate here alone. I’ve been patient enough.”
“No matter what, this is too much! You’re taking students who are clearly studying…! Is this even possible in South Korea?!”
“Enough! You are obstructing official duties right now, do you understand?!”
“Obstructing official duties! Are you the only civil servant here! I’m a civil servant too, I’m a teacher here!”
The two adults raised their voices, arguing fiercely.
It was such an unexpected turn of events that we couldn’t help but watch in shock.
“Do I really have to bring the police and handcuff them like criminals before you’ll listen?!”
“No matter what, nothing has been fully cleared up, so how can you drag the students in their school uniforms to the police station right now!”
The two adults were shouting and confronting each other, but one thing was clear.
I had hoped a little for an unexpected defense, but in the end, it seemed unrealistic for a mere high school teacher to stop the legitimate law enforcement of the South Korea Police. Gradually, the homeroom teacher began to be overwhelmed by the pressure.
“Joon……”
“P, Prez……”
I nodded at the club members, who were looking at me with worried expressions, giving them an assuring look in return.
“Stop it.”
I tried to stop the adults calmly.
However, the two adults seemed to be too busy raising their voices to hear me because of their argument.
“If I upload this entire process on the internet and file a complaint on the newspaper, do you think you can get away with this……!”
“Then should I just sit here and listen to the conversation for a thousand days? The proper investigation is only possible where…..”
Bang!
“I said stop it!”
“…..!”
In an instant, the air in the broadcasting room froze.
I took my hands off the desk I had slammed down and moved toward the whiteboard in front of me.
Thud. Thud.
“……”
“……”
Thud. Thud.
Everyone’s eyes followed my movement.
They stared at me and murmured with confused expressions, but I ignored them.
Soon, I arrived in front of the whiteboard.
This time, I stood in front of the whiteboard where the detective had been standing, and looked at everyone.
“The mystery has been solved.”
“…..!”
“Prez, Prez……!”
“Joo, Joon…..!”
The club members looked at me with wide eyes, their faces filled with admiration.
Jinhee gasped with an ‘Ah’, and Hayoon stared at me with an amused expression.
“What, what did you say……?”
“Joony Boy……?”
The two adults, who had been arguing, now had blank expressions as if they couldn’t make sense of the situation for a moment.
Teacher Han Ari, the Vice Class President, and Joo Yeseul, all stared at me with wide eyes.
“The eastern hallway where no one went. The unidentified body that was lying there. And the mysterious man who sneaked in without a sound and disappeared in an instant.”
“……”
“……”
“Unless someone is mentally disabled, the situation is clear. The culprit is among us.”
“……!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
“What, what did you say……!!!!!!!!!!”
“Wh, what the…..!!!!! That’s ridiculous ……!!!!!!!!”
“P, Preeeeeez…..!!!!!!!!!!”
Gyeongwon trembled at those words, as if he was too shocked to bear it.
Soon, Dukhun, unable to hide his excitement, shook his chin with a quiver and looked up.
“Yes, I knew it……!!!! I, I believe in yooooooouu……!!!!”
“J, Joon……!!”
Sunah’s face was completely filled with joy, as if she had met her savior.
Even Lee Chaerin, the haughty Vice Class President with her cat-like gaze, who had always looked down on me, gasped and shouted softly, ‘What!?’ with her mouth hanging open.
The church girl Joo Yeseul, who had a somewhat strange misunderstanding, covered her mouth with both hands and stared at me with wide, surprised eyes.
Amidst those two girls, Teacher Han Ari, who had been trembling in a corner the whole time, also took a deep breath and widened her eyes in shock.
All of their attention was fully focused on me, and the air became so tense that it felt like I could barely breathe.
Everyone was staring at me.
Everyone was focused on me.
“I will begin the deduction. The culprit will never be able to escape from here.”
“…..!!!!!!”
“Th, thank goodness……!!!”
“Are, are you serious…..!?”
“I am serious.”
I raised my right hand toward everyone and shouted confidently.
“I will definitely find the culprit. I swear on my grandfather’s name.”
cliff hanger of doom