Ghost Story Club

After going through the heap of messy things and cleaning supplies kept in front of the door of the roof, I ran to the topmost floor just below the roof.

I was thinking about using the elevator like before, but suddenly, something flashed in my mind that made me stop in my tracks. If I wasn’t wrong, she must have not given up on killing me, and was just waiting for an opportunity.

‘Teacher hasn’t left the premises yet and has been loitering around the first floor. If I use the elevator now, wouldn’t she notice the elevator moving?’

The LED light that indicates which floor the elevator is going would light up when the elevator moves.

If that happened, Teacher, who was pacing around the first floor, would notice it and come to check it.

‘Let’s do this.’

As such trouble arose, I headed to the emergency exit stairs in the hallway rather than to the elevator.

Sensors in the dark staircase sensed my movement and turned on the light of the emergency exit stairs.

Just as I looked down through the gap of the stairs leading downstairs to see which floor I was on.

I suddenly saw numerous lights on the floors below turning on and then going off. It seemed someone was climbing the emergency exit stairs from below, and the sensor turned on the lights detecting their movements.

‘The 7th floor?’

The lights turned off on the 7th floor where my apartment was.

Which meant it was no one other than Teacher Hwaeun who was climbing the stairs.

Instead of using the elevator, Teacher creeped up through the emergency exit stairs and was lying around my apartment to ambush me.

The sensor detected her movement and that was why the lights turned on just now. Perhaps she stopped moving so the lights turned off again.

Likewise, the top floor where I stood also had the lights turned on. As soon as I moved and descended the stairs slowly, the lights were turned off again and only the dark staircase remained, illuminated by the thin strand of moonlight coming through the gap of the emergency exit door.

I was looking below through the gap of the stairs and agonizing about the situation. My head began to feel dizzy at the distant height so I couldn’t help but look away.

‘…what am I going to do now?’

I was on the top floor of the apartment building.

Teacher was waiting for me on the 7th floor.

If I used the elevator to go down, Teacher would notice it right away and press the 7th floor button of the elevator and catch me off guard.

Even if I used the stairs to go down, the sensor would detect my movement and turn on the light one after another. And if that happened, Teacher would notice the moment I reached the 8th floor.

She would raise her guard and chase me upstairs.

What should I do?

[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?]

…Perhaps I should create such a situation and hide in a position from where I could attack Teacher.

 

* * *

 

‘He’s here.’

Jang Hwaeun thought so with her shoulders raised and guard high up.

The LED lights on the elevator that shows the number of floors it is on or passing were moving slowly.

Just a moment ago, the number showed that it was on the top floor. However, not long after, it began to move slowly and descend downstairs.

18… 14… 11…

Ding~

She couldn’t help but frown and wonder why it stopped for a while on the 11th floor. But before she could think too much into it, the elevator began to move again.

Hwaeun quickly pressed the button on the 7th floor and waited for the elevator to reach there.

10… 9… 8…

He should have stayed inside his apartment and hid there forever.

Why did he suddenly go up to the rooftop?

She wondered about the matter but because she wasn’t too curious knowing the reason, it flew past her mind quickly.

The only thing that mattered to her was to teach her student, Lee Joon, a lesson for mocking her earlier.

‘I’ll kill you.’

She couldn’t remember why and how she, a teacher herself, came to kill her student in the middle of the night. However, the strange excitement that was brewing inside her made her stop thinking of a reason.

Happiness writhed inside her, as if she was someone who enjoyed torturing and scaring people.

She was already 34 but still unmarried. The fact was enough to make her depressed for days.

The fellow teachers and staff of the same faculty as hers were able to join different clubs that were popular, like volleyball or football clubs, and gather followers. Except for her, who was stuck with a bunch of useless brats.

There was also the anger of not being able to continue the family business in the family that has been handed down from generation to generation due to lack of ability. The frustration of handling a bunch of rude brats everyday because of her profession.

The constant depression and stress of having such a miserable life.

She used to vent those feelings by being overly cheerful or hyperactive with the people around her. However, it lost its effect to cool her down.

All those intense emotions were exploding at Lee Joon, the high schooler who was 17 years younger than her.

‘I want to torture him!’

Jang Hwaeun had a terrible wish. She wished to see that teenage brat, who was still on his early stage of being an adult, lying with his face down at the feet of hers, an adult woman, with tears and a runny nose.

She wanted to see him crawling on all four and begging for mercy. Only that could help her vent her pent up emotions.

Hwaeun began to lose herself in her dark fantasy, as she licked her knife.

That was how she thought the image of a murderer would be from the countless movies she had seen.

In reality, with the crumpled mask on her face, she looked like a third-rate comedian of a very bad comedy show.

The moonlight coming through the window of the apartment hallway reflected the figure of her as a cheap villain.

Ding~

Finally, the elevator reached the 7th floor.

Hwaeun, who had been hiding to stop the sensors from detecting her movement, stopped creeping.

She swiftly ran to the elevator to greet Lee Joon with a knife in hand.

‘Nice to meet you! Your Teacher is here to kill you!’

The anticipation of killing and stabbing him was boiling all over her body. She raised her knife as the anger inside her turned into excitement and her body shuddered in delight.

The door of the elevator opened.

Slid.

Swoosh!

Hwaeun rushed inside the elevator with the knife raised high and smiling like a maniac.

However, the elevator was empty.

Only the button of the first floor was shining red in the dark as if someone had already pressed it.

‘Where did he go?’

As she was looking around the narrow elevator with a puzzled expression.

Thud, thud-

The sound of heavy footsteps, running through the emergency exit stairs was heard from the other side of the hallway.

Jang Hwaeun gasped in surprise and ran back to the stairs.

As she looked down through the cracks in the stairs, she could see the sensors being turned on one by one for each floor.

He was rushing down the stairs!

hehe.

Heh, heh, heh.

Adrenaline dominated the 34-years old-maid, Hwaeun’s whole body.

She was so excited that she didn’t even notice she was drooling. Without thinking much, she rushed down the stairs with the intention of hunting down her prey.

‘He’s running away! Lee Joon is running away!’

She wanted to join a sports club full of handsome high school boys, like the basketball club, or the soccer club.

However, she was forced to join a strange Ghost Story Club that popped up out of nowhere. She obviously didn’t like it.

Hwaeun hurriedly followed Lee Joon down the stairs, skipping two or three steps at one go.

Thud, thud, thud.

4th floor.

3rd floor.

2nd floor.

Soon, she reached the 1st floor and heard an ominous sound.

Slid.

[Door closing.]

Just as she turned the corner of the 1st floor stairs leading to the 2nd floor, she saw Lee Joon jumping into the closing elevator.

‘Stop right there!’

Hwaeun jumped from the stairs and ran to the elevator, but the door closed smoothly before she could reach it.

Ding-

[Ascending.]

Wee-ing-ing-

“Haa, haa.”

I have to go after him!

Without thinking much, she began to rush up the stairs again from the first floor.

However, it was impossible to keep up with the speed of a machine-operated elevator. Not to mention, she had already exhausted most of her stamina by running after him.

‘He has planned this from the beginning!’

Lee Joon had sent down an empty elevator all the way through the apartment by pressing the button of the 1st floor. This is why when she pressed the 7th floor button, the elevator was empty.

While Hwaeun was puzzled by the empty elevator that stopped on the 7th floor, he took this chance and quickly rushed down the emergency exit stairs. By the time she chased him down, the elevator had already arrived on the 1st floor.

The timing was just perfect. Upon arriving on the 1st floor, Lee Joon immediately jumped inside the elevator.

The plan was risky with a high chance of failing even with a delay of three seconds. However, everything seemed to be working in Lee Joon’s favour and he succeeded in fooling her and escaping from her clutches.

‘No! Don’t go! Teacher will teach you English!’

Hwaeun screamed inwardly as she reached the 7th floor, huffing and sweating a bucket.

However, she was only greeted with the dark hallway of the apartment where the lights were turned off. No sound of anyone running or walking was heard, everything was completely silent.

‘Haa, haa.’

Certainly, the elevator had arrived a long time ago.

Lee Joon also entered his apartment.

‘I’m late.’

The feeling of frustration and depression engulfed her whole being, as if she had lost a lottery ticket which she was sure would win.

Slowly, she approached Lee Joon’s apartment with tears in her eyes.

Tap, tap.

The door was tightly shut.

This… How could this happen?

She almost got him… He was right in front of her…

Sob, sob.

Feeling the frustration sweeping over, Hwaeun couldn’t help but cry. However, while she was wiping her tears, she suddenly discovered something incredible.

The door wasn’t locked!

At first sight, it seemed to be locked but it was only closed.

Happiness rushed inside her as she hurriedly opened the door. However, when she tried to rush in, she noticed that the door could only be opened half. It seemed the foolish brat only hooked the safety chain and forgot to lock the door by mistake.

“Oh, oh… oh!”

Remembering that she still had that magnetic stick, she quickly brought it out with a pleasant mood. As if the world was finally moving in her favour.

The half-hung safety chain opened easily with a pleasant sound.

It opened!

Ahahaha. Hihihi. Ahahaha. Hihihi.

Hwaeun, wearing a stocking mask and laughing like a maniac, looked like a villain from a children’s cartoon. Especially one with bad animation.

Hihi, hihi. Ahihihi.

Just as she gently opened the door with a giddy mood and silly smile.

Tung!

Thud.

Lee Joon, who was hiding right behind the door, hit her with the frying pan in hand. Before she could comprehend what was happening, Jang Hwaeun’s eyes rolled in the back of her skull and her body tumbled down to the floor.

 

* * *

 

“Teacher.”

The moment her eyes opened, Jang Hwaeun realized that she was lying on the hallway of the apartment building.

The figure of Lee Joon standing in front of her playing with her knife entered her dizzy vision.

“Why did you come to my house, Teacher?”

“Joony Boy?”

Hwaeun rolled her eyes, pretending to be puzzled. As if it wasn’t her who chased him like crazy to murder him just a moment ago.

“Where are we?”

However, the answer that came back was as cold as ice.

“Are you asking because you really have no idea?”

Hwaeun stared at the boy half her age in front of her and asked another question, without answering the question asked by him.

“You… is that a knife?”

“Yes.”

“Why are you playing with such a dangerous thing? Put it down.”

“This knife belongs to the Teacher. Doesn’t Teacher Hwaeun remember?”

“Mine?”

Hwaeun showed a puzzled look, as if she couldn’t understand what was happening. But inside, she was thinking hard of how to get out of the situation.

Of course, she remembered everything.

She had been possessed by things like this many times before and had done many strange things.

And every time she went back to her normal self, she forgot everything.

However, perhaps she was still possessed, she could remember everything that happened so far with a clear memory.

But, Lee Joon didn’t know that. Which meant she could pretend to forget everything and trick him into believing that with her pretty words.

“Why am I here? Umm.”

Jang Hwaeun tried to get up.

But Lee Joon’s threat made her stop.

“Stay still, if you don’t want to be stabbed.”

“You.”

Biting her lips, she glared at Lee Joon.

“I’m your Teacher. What do you think you’re doing?”

“Just answer my questions obediently then I’ll let you go.”

“Answer me, why did Teacher suddenly come to my house in the middle of the night. If you don’t answer, I’ll stab you with this knife.”

He was bluffing.

Lee Joon, whom she knew well, was just a child who wouldn’t dare to do such a thing.

It was true that she didn’t get the chance to know him well. However, she was sure that Lee Joon was just an ordinary student who somehow managed to make a strange Ghost Story Club. His temperament was also mild.

Evaluating Lee Joon’s personality in her head, Hwaeun opened her mouth again.

“Don’t joke around with your Teacher. Why don’t you help me up? Hmm?”

Hwaeun intentionally made her voice extra sweet when asking for help.

“Ah, my head is spinning… Hmm? Ohh. Can you help your Teacher stand up? ”

Lee Joon blankly stretched his hand to Hwaeun as if he truly intended to help her.

“Hurry up, Joon… Hmm?”

Pretending to be one of those poor women who are deprived of a normal life, she used her not-so-good social skills to distract him.

It was a piece of cake for her to seduce a high school boy.

“J, Joon… hurry up.”

Swish-

Stab!

“Aaahh!”

Without blinking, Lee Joon stabbed her hand with the knife.

“It, it hurts.”

A drop of blood trickled down her long thin finger.

“What, what kind of behaviour is this?”

“Speak formally.”

Something was unusual.

The aura around him was different.

No, it was not just the aura.

A strange dark energy was emanating from him. As if she was truly speaking to a psychopath. The aura around him was screaming of danger.

His temperament also changed.

He didn’t look dangerous just because he took her knife away. No, something more sinister could be felt from him.

His mental state.

Seemed to change for the situation.

And the air around him, felt ominous.

The whole situation was turned upside down by Lee Joon. It was as if everything about him had changed after doing that psychology test. Now, it was him attacking her.

Now, the victim was Hwaeun.

“Joo, Joon?”

“Get on your knees.”

“All right, I’m kneeling.”

At the irresistible strange pressure, Hwaeun hastily knelt in front of her student.

“Answer me. Why are you here?”

“That, that.”

Hwaeun rolled her eyes everywhere awkwardly.

Although she had been caught and cornered, she was still trying to think of a trick of how to trick Lee Joon.

“I just thought of you suddenly…”

“If you say useless things one more time, I’m going to stab you for real.”

Lee Joon raised the knife as he threatened coldly.

A drop of cold sweat trickled down from Hwaeun’s forehead.

“That… that…”

“Oh, I remember now. I came here because… su, suddenly, I felt like I should meet you… I had that feeling…”

“You felt like?”

“Yes…”

“Why did you suddenly feel like that?”

“That… That…”

Hwaeun began to wring her wrists as she spoke, shaking and barely making some excuses.

“I just suddenly felt this irresistible… intense… a feeling of foreboding…”

“Suddenly?”

“Yes, yes.”

“You make me speechless.”

Lee Joon said, twisting the knife dangerously over his fingers.

Hwaeun gulped down her dry saliva as she waited for him to speak, kneeling like a damn dog. Her heart was pounding like a drum, as if it would burst out of her chest at any moment.

Soon, Lee Joon opened his mouth again as if he remembered something.

“Do you remember meeting me in the men’s bathroom in school?”

“Men, men’s bathroom?”

“Red tissue, blue tissue. You crawled on all fours saying such weird things. Don’t you remember?”

Jang Hwaeun tried hard to remember such memories.

Now that she thought of it, she felt like she remembered doing that once.

“Yes, yes… I remember… it was in the men’s bathroom.”

“That’s right. Why did you do that?”

Why did she do that?

Jang Hwaeun rolled her head again, trying to remember the reason why she did that. However, nothing came to her mind.

“I don’t know why…”

“Okay, it happened a long time ago so you may not remember. Then let me ask you about yesterday.”

“Yes, yesterday…”

“Yesterday afternoon, you were told to supervise the students in the Study Room but came to my club for some reason. You tried peeking inside the clubroom through the small window on the door. Do you remember?”

“Yes, yes … I remember.”

Hwaeun, who was kneeling in front of Lee Joon, nodded her head hurriedly, fearing her lack of response might anger him.

Now that she had been caught, she had no choice but to be honest.

“What happened to you yesterday? Do you remember why you did that?”

Jang Hwaeun didn’t remember.

She remembered the act itself, but she didn’t know why she did that.

Sweats began to trickle down her face behind the mask. She swallowed dry saliva before managing to answer somehow.

“That, that… I just thought I should do that… I had a strong feeling…”

Lee Joon shot a cold stare at her.

“Teacher, you said you were from a shaman’s family, right?”

“Yes.”

Lee Joon asked, remembering that she had said so while introducing herself during the first Club Activity session.

“Could it be that your weird behaviour is related to that?”

“People who get possessed by ghosts are said to do weird things. Perhaps your situation is similar to that.”

“Is, is that so?”

“Seems so.”

“Why aren’t you answering? Tell me.”

“What? What?”

“People who get possessed by ghosts are said to do strange things. Is your situation similar to that?”

“Yes, yes. You are right… my situation is certainly similar to that.”

Hwaeun nodded her head in a hurry.

However, perhaps it wasn’t the answer he wanted, Lee Jun stared at her coldly again.

“Why are you so stupid? You said you were from a family of shamans. Explain how your strange behaviour is connected to that.”

“Oh, yes, yes. What I mean is.”

Hwaeun tried to explain, waving her hands.

“I’m originally from a family of shamans, but… I don’t have the talent to exorcise… This is why I chose teaching as my profession as a civil servant…”

With exaggerated gestures, she tried to explain everything as best as she could.

“Well, I don’t know much about exorcism… When I was young, I was taught a bit of basics but later, I gave up. Seeing my lack of talent, no one at home persuaded me either.”

“Okay. Next question. Whenever you behave strangely, do you remember them when you come back to your senses?”

“I, I don’t remember anything when I come back to my senses… I just feel like I had a weird dream, or I just imagined the whole thing…”

“So right now, you could remember things because you’re not in your right mind yet?”

Realizing that she almost blew her cover, Hwaeun freaked out and began to make excuses.

“No! I’m in my right mind right now!”

“You’re lying.”

“I can tell that just by looking at you.”

‘How did he find out?’

Jang Hwaeun flinched, as the feeling of surprise washed over her.

“I’ll let it slide just this one time. But if you lie one more time… you know what will happen, right?”

“Yes, yes.”

It was true.

Hwaeun was still possessed by the ghost story.

Even though she was kneeling in front of Lee Joon, she was thinking of ways and trying to find the opportunity of how to attack him.

Lee Jun could guess so because the system had still not announced that the ghost story had been resolved. Which meant only one thing; Jang Hwaeun was still possessed.

Soon, another question left his mouth.

“You left your home in the middle of the night dressed up like that. Not to mention, you were also carrying a knife. Was there no one in your family who thought it was strange?”

“I live alone…”

“So, Teacher lives alone?”

“Yes.”

“When we were solving the psychology test back in the clubroom. Were you possessed then?”

“No, I was in my right mind at that time.”

“Then when did you start feeling this ‘strong foreboding’ that told you that you should come to my house?”

“Well, probably after dinner…”

“What did you have for dinner?”

“Chicken…”

“Chicken of which brand?”

Hwaeun scratched her head, trying hard to remember which brand of chicken it was. But because she was too nervous, her head wasn’t working well.

“The, the cheapest one.”

“How was it cooked?”

“Half fried with seasoning…”

“You lied again.”

Hwaeun’s face, which was covered by a stocking mask, quickly turned pale.

“I bought two chickens from a nearby restaurant. One fried and one seasoned.”

Jang Hwaeun answered as she trembled like a rattle.

“I, I didn’t mean to lie to you. I’m telling the truth. I usually buy half fried… and half seasoned.”

“Were you done eating?”

“… What?”

“The two chickens. Did you eat them all by yourself?”

Hwaeun answered, with her face turning a bright shade of red behind the mask.

“…Yes…”

 

 

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