Ghost Story Club

Teacher Jang Hwaeun licked her finger before turning over the first page.

The file which she was holding contained the answers of the riddles. It seemed Teacher Hwaeun had confiscated the answers as well from the senior. For a moment, I couldn’t help but feel pity for the senior.

“Well, first question.”

[There were two sisters who were twins. One day, they went to a funeral together where they met a wonderful man, and immediately, both the sisters fell in love at first sight. But not soon after, one of the sisters killed the other sister.

Why did one sister kill the other sister?]

“What do you think?”

“Well, I don’t know the answer.”

I had thought about it for a while. But no matter how much I thought, I could only come up with a normal answer.

“Wouldn’t it have been because of jealousy? Since both the sisters liked the same guy, she must have thought her sister would take him away so she killed her sister.”

Certainly, the reason shouldn’t be enough justification to kill one’s family member. However, we were talking about a psychopath here so it could be a possible reason.

For a moment, I couldn’t help but get worried. I didn’t know why but my answer seemed to be similar to what a psychopath would say.

However, Teacher Hwaeun let out a relieved smile while shaking her head.

“That’s what an ordinary person would say.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Usually, if it’s ordinary people, they would take the feelings of the two sisters into consideration in their answer. For them, killing someone for jealousy or fighting over a person seems logical enough to kill someone. However, for psychopaths, they don’t take other people’s feelings in consideration, and only value their own desire before judgement and logic. If it was a psychopath, he would have said, she killed her sister so that she could hold another funeral to see the man again. And this is also the answer to the riddle.”

At the teacher’s explanation, I lost my words for a moment. I couldn’t have thought of the reason that one could kill her sister just to see the man again. Although, no reason could be justified to kill someone but still, to kill one’s sister just so that she could see the person she loved seemed a bit illogical to me.

“It certainly is the most abnormal answer.”

“Right?”

Teacher Hwaeun let out a giggle before explaining further.

“For normal people, they would get jealous if someone likes the person they like and would fight over them. These emotions are pretty normal to come out in this situation. However, psychopaths could say such an abnormal answer because they lack those feelings. To them, only their purpose exists, and in the sister’s case, her purpose was to see the man again.”

“I see. But it’s suspicious that Teacher can explain such a difficult thing so easily…”

“Hey! That’s just my opinion!”

“Really?”

As I jumped up to see the answer sheet Teacher was holding to see if her explanation truly matched the answer, or was she just lying, Teaching Hwaeun quickly hid the sheet behind her in panic.

“No peeking!”

“Fine.”

Since she wasn’t letting me see it, I just shrugged my shoulders and sat back down.

“I was just trying to be sure if Teacher is a normal person or not. I’m glad that you are.”

“Yes, you’re right about me being a normal person. But I think you’ll be in trouble if you can solve the second question!”

Teacher exclaimed vigorously before moving onto the second riddle.

[You stumbled upon an empty room all alone. There, you found a mirror. When you looked into the mirror, you realized that you didn’t like how your reflection looks in the mirror.

Why don’t you like your own reflection?]

After thinking for a while, I answered what I thought seemed most logical to me.

“Because I’m ugly?”

“No. The real answer is because the mirror is dirty!”

Teacher Hwaeun giggled excitedly as the answer sheet swaggered in her hand.

After giggling for a while, the teacher stared at me without saying anything. Her eager eyes seemed to urge me to ask her about the answer but I had no intention of knowing the reason for such an absurd answer. So I kept quiet.

However, in the end, unable to stand the eagerness in her eyes, I sighed before asking as if I was curious.

“Dirty… Hmm. I have to admit that I didn’t think of such an answer. But I also have to admit that it’s not quite an abnormal answer either. I wonder why the answer is considered psychopathic.”

“That’s the thing!”

Teacher exclaimed as soon as I finished speaking as if she had been waiting.

“It’s because psychopaths have a tendency of blaming others for the cause of the problem!”

Then, Teacher Hwaeun explained passionately, as if she hadn’t seen the solution of the riddles at all and the answers came from her own judgement. Her enthusiastic appearance made me think of Gyeongwon for a moment.

“Ordinary people will answer something similar like they think they are ugly, or they are fat, or their skin is bad. For ordinary people, the cause of the problem of not liking their reflection lies in their appearance. However, psychopaths have a tendency to shift the blame onto others. That’s why to them, they didn’t like the reflection not because they are ugly, but because the mirror is dirty, or the lighting in the room is bad.”

“I see. That makes sense.”

Teacher Hwaeun folded her arms before asking curiously.

“Isn’t it fun?”

“Yes… But I think you should tell the students to study rather than gossiping here with me. You’re the one who confiscated the file so that the seniors can’t read it. But now you’re here reading it and enjoying it as if it’s not a problem at all.”

Suddenly, Teacher Hwaeun burst into laughter at my statement.

“Hahaha. That’s why it’s more fun. Besides, what’s fun is fun! Now, onto the third question!”

[On Christmas Eve, Santa gave a soccer ball and a bicycle to a little boy. However, even after getting such wonderful gifts, the boy looked rather unhappy and sad.

Why was the boy sad?]

As I stared at the Teacher with curious eyes, Teacher Hwaeun exclaimed enthusiastically.

“Because the boy has no legs!”

“Oh, my God.”

I could have never imagined it.

Without legs, no matter if it was a ball or a bicycle, the boy wouldn’t be able to play, so it was understandable why he was sad. It was evident that the Santa in the story was not only creepy but also evil, one that took pleasure from other people’s unhappiness.

“I thought that maybe the boy didn’t like the present.”

“Right? Right? You didn’t even think that the Santa was evil, did you?”

I nodded as I recalled that there was someone like the evil Santa who liked to play mean jokes on students in the school. Our homeroom teacher, Damim, the rotund man with a belly that he would occasionally scratch suddenly popped up in my head at the place of evil Santa.

Perhaps because Damim’s appearance was similar to that of a rotund, fat Santa, I could imagine him clothed in a Santa costume to trick young boys.

I could even imagine him rolling on the floor and laughing at the little boy after giving him a soccer ball and a bicycle as presents.

“Now, fourth question!”

[In the middle of the night, you went up to the rooftop to get some fresh air. As you were looking at the scenery, you suddenly felt the presence of something passing behind you.

What was it that passed by?]

“I’d have to have a rooftop in my house first to answer this question, wouldn’t I?”

“Well, since you live in an apartment, you have a rooftop.”

“Yes, I do. But, I’ve never been there…”

“So? What do you think was the thing that passed behind your back?”

“Well…”

A dark rooftop, in the middle of the night, something passed by suddenly.

Shouldn’t it be a ghost even without much thought?

“Ghosts.”

“Normal answer!”

“Then, what’s the correct answer?”

“Now, listen.”

Teacher Hwaeun coughed like an elderly about to give some serious advice before explaining.

“If you stand at your rooftops in the middle of the night, you would surely feel creepy even if nothing passes by, or if it is just wind. Therefore, normal people would answer either it’s a ghost or a person. However, because psychopaths lack emotions like happiness and sadness, they don’t understand the feeling of fear if someone or something did pass by behind them. So they would say it’s an animal, or it’s just wind passing by. There’s even a chance they would make reasoning out of thin air.”

“I see.”

As expected, the answer wasn’t what I thought. All the correct answers were written in the answer sheet, which were far from normal.

“Now, fifth question.”

[You woke up in the middle of the night hearing some weird noises and went to the balcony to check. When you looked down, you saw a man holding a knife with another man lying in a pool of blood at his feet. Suddenly, the man holding a knife looked up and stared straight at you. Then, with a creepy smile, he raised his index finger and began to move his finger up and down.

Why was he moving his finger?]

“Well, he was pointing his finger to threaten me?”

At my unsure answer, Teacher Hwaeun gave me a narrowed stare, as if she was displeased with something.

“You’re purposely saying normal answers, right?”

Suddenly hearing such a suspicious question, I couldn’t help but snap back at her.

“I don’t know. I was just saying what I thought.”

“Okay, I’ll let it go this time. The answer is the man was counting which floor you live on.”

After saying that, the Teacher suddenly burst into a fit of giggles.

“I live on the 19th floor. Don’t you think the murderer would get confused counting all the floors? What about you?”

“I live on the 7th floor, so I think I’ll be caught very easily, haha.”

As I laughed awkwardly, Teacher moved onto the 6th question.

[At five in the morning, you suddenly feel the need to go to your kitchen.

Why?]

Kitchen. Kitchen. Hmm.

“Maybe I saw something weird so I need to report it to the police. But I left my phone in the kitchen so I went there to retrieve it?”

The teacher again stared at me with narrowed eyes.

“Have you ever tried solving these kinds of riddles?”

“No, it’s my first time.”

“Then why!”

Smack!

Suddenly, Teacher Hwaeun knocked down her palm on the desk with the answer sheet in hand.

“Why are you only picking normal answers!”

“Because I’m a normal person!”

“I won’t acknowledge it! Change your answer. Say something else!”

“Haaa, fine. Why would I suddenly go to the kitchen? Because I want to defend myself, so I went there to pick up a kitchen knife or something as a self-defence weapon?”

Even after my careful answer, The Teacher shook her head with a disappointed look.

“The answer is because you’re hungry.”

“What?”

I didn’t even think such an answer could exist.

“As I’ve said earlier, psychopaths lack emotion such as the feeling of happiness and sadness. Because they also lack the feeling of fear, they don’t understand if a situation is dangerous or not, or if it’s appropriate to do such a task so late at night. Therefore, they would answer that they’ll go to the kitchen because they’re hungry.”

“I see.”

“Now, we’re almost at the end. Seventh question!”

[All of a sudden, you hear the sound of your doorbell ringing. Someone was outside. When you asked through the intercom who it was, the person replied that he was a passerby and he’s in urgent need of using the toilet. So he requested you to open the door.

What would you do?]

“Since I live on the 7th floor, I don’t think I’ll let the person in. I mean, I live on the 7th floor. If he was in such a hurry, why did he come up to the 7th floor when he could just ask someone who lives lower?”

“What!!!!!!!!!”

Suddenly, Teacher Hwaeun sprang up from her seat, slapping the desk loudly.

“What did you just say!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“What?”

“What you just answered! That one!”

“That is what a psychopath would say!!!”

“Teacher, you’re too loud. Please be quiet, seriously!!!! I’m going to go deaf!!!”

“Psycho!!!”

Teacher Hwaeun didn’t listen to my request at all and began to run around the clubroom, screaming ‘psycho!’ as if she had truly caught one.

This woman, doesn’t she know when to stop?

“Stop running around and sit down! Even a normal person can answer that!”

“Huuhuu. I see.”

At my shout, Teacher stopped running and stuck out her tongue as if she was being funny with an apologetic expression.

“However, the entrance of all the apartment buildings these days has a secret passcode to enter through the security door, right? You have to punch the passcode to enter.”

“Yes, I also have it in the apartment complex where I live.”

“If someone manages to get through that, then isn’t it normal that I would be suspicious?”

“Hmmm.”

Teacher Hwaeun thought for a while before letting out a disappointed sigh.

Come to think of it, this is the first time I’ve talked to Teacher Jang Hwaeun face-to-face without any awkwardness. I had talked to her before only twice, thrice actually if I take the time Song of Resentment in consideration. Those three times, she seemed like an ordinary teacher, except the time in the bathroom of Red Tissue, Blue Tissue, when she had been possessed by a ghost.

It seemed Teacher Hwaeun was a very energetic person.

“When it comes to passcodes, they’re set quite easy ones like ‘5678’.”

“Oh, isn’t that too easy?”

“It is but the number gets a bit confusing if it’s too long.”

“And as long as you’re a resident, you’ll look suspicious if you make even one mistake.”

“That’s the problem.”

“Okay. Last question!”

[Inside a dark house, a killer is roaming with a sharp knife, filled with murderous intentions towards you.

What is the best place for you to hide?]

“If it’s ordinary people, they would think under the bed or in the closet. However, even if psychopaths hide, they would hide in places where they can attack from. Like behind the doors.”

“Oh, my God, I didn’t even think about that. Even if he hides, he thinks of how to attack the killer.”

“It’s so scary that you got goosebumps, right?”

Click.

Just as we were discussing the last riddle, the door of the clubroom opened and Sunah, who was wearing plain clothes, entered.

“Oh, hello…”

“Sunah! What’s up? Why did you come to school again?”

“I called her. Sunah happened to be free so I invited her to come.”

“That’s great. Now, you should try it too. Sit here.”

“Yes…”

Sunah hesitated a little before sitting next to the Teacher awkwardly.

“Teacher will ask you questions now and you have to answer the first thing that comes to your mind. It can be anything so feel free to answer, okay?”

“Yes.”

“First question! There were two sisters who were twins. One day, they went to a funeral together where they met a wonderful man and immediately, both the sisters fell in love at first sight. But not soon after, one of the sisters killed the other sister.

Why did one sister kill her other sister?”

“It was because she wanted to hold another funeral to see the man again…”

After taking a boisterous psychopathy test of Sunah, Teacher Hwaeun stretched and yawned as if she had a pleasant time before heading back to the Study Room.

Probably I was swayed by the Teacher’s energy, I couldn’t let down my guard at all while she was there. After Teacher left, I felt like all my tension was swept away as I dropped back in my chair.

“Haa, I feel like my energy has been sucked away.”

“Hey, Joon… The clubroom. Don’t you think it expanded again…”

“You must be seeing things.”

For the rest of the time, I sat in the clubroom with Sunah and chatted. Before I knew it, the sun was already beginning to set and it was almost evening.

“Hahaha…”

“It’s true! You pushed me from the rooftop at that time!”

“Joon, stop. This is so funny.”

“Bye~ See you tomorrow.”

“Well, good-bye…”

When it was time to part, Sunah had a sad look on her face even though she was smiling.

I felt sorry for her, but I couldn’t do anything. It’s not like I could take her home with me.

Soon it was evening. It was time for me to go home and prepare for tomorrow.

“See you again tomorrow.”

After parting with Sunah, I suddenly realized that the reason why I called Sunah didn’t happen at all. The situation I was fearing that I may encounter a C-rank ghost story completely slipped out of my mind.

However, after thinking for a while, I realized nothing particularly strange had happened.

“Everything seems okay.”

Perhaps because it was a C-rank ghost story, it would take some time for it to appear.

But even so, why did nothing happen at all?

“Did their strategy change now that I understood their plan mostly?”

Even after thinking for a long while, I couldn’t figure out anything particular.

“Forget it. There’s no reason to waste my time thinking about it.”

Before leaving the clubroom, I took a picture of the riddles with my phone to show it to Gyeongwon.

He might figure out something.

[Hi, Gyeongwon. I got these psychological riddles from Teacher Hwaeun today. It’s a psychopathy test. Do you think they could be related to any ghost stories?]

[Attached picture.]

I had no idea why or what I was asking Gyeongwon, or exactly what kind of information I needed. However, I decided to let it go as long as it was useful information.

Gyeongwon was a smart guy. He would read it and try to decipher the meaning it could contain before figuring out which ghost story it connected to.

Isn’t this what friends are for!

Lalalalaaa~

With such a light heart, I went back home and went to bed early after dinner.

By the time I fell asleep, no reply still came from Gyeongwon, probably because he was still in the cram school. However, I fell into a peaceful slumber not knowing what would happen that night.