Ghost Story Club

T/N: This is the end of the mass release of unlocked chapters. We’ll be going back to our previous schedule.

 

We were so immersed in the discussion that we weren’t even aware when the pretty girl sneaked in between us and started chatting along as if she was our acquaintance.

 

At my inquiry, both Gyeongwon and Dukhun turned around to face the girl.

 

The girl with long black flowing hair and curled eyelashes stood there calmly.

 

A hint of makeup could be on the transparent skin. Contrary to Sunah, with a girly but cute temperament created by her fluffy short hair and red cheeks, the girl’s pretty jawline and slender neckline showed an unknown feminine charm.

 

She truly was a heavenly gorgeous girl.

 

And the moment I realized who it was, my heart couldn’t help but pound at her beautiful appearance. The pretty girl standing there was none other than Hayoon.

 

“Hello, Joon.”

 

Gyeongwon, who just turned his head to look at her, froze instantly as if turned into a statue.

 

Even Dukhun, who was only interested in 2D girls, flinched as if blinded by her beauty.

 

‘…She’s so damn pretty.’

 

The only people who I thought could be compared to her were the five members of the idol girl group, Fourincess, whom I met last time.

 

‘Oh, no… she doesn’t exude that cheerful atmosphere either…’

 

The temperamental aura she seemed to express was similar to those ‘precious daughter of a noble family’ or ‘only daughter of an aristocratic family’, written in novels.

 

“…Ha, Hayoon. Oh, hello.”

 

Noticing my flustered expression, she showed a slight smile, waving her hand.

 

My heart almost stopped at the simple gesture.

 

It seemed that the glasses were only there to enhance her beauty, she looked completely different without the glasses.

 

“Are you all going to play the game? MineCraft?”

 

“Uh, yeah… that’s what I thought at first.”

 

“Then I’m gonna go top up my time.”

 

“Yeah, yeah.”

 

While we were too astonished to make a sound, Hayoon walked elegantly to the machine at the counter to top up her time, her long black hair fluttering behind.

 

After she left, Dukhun finally turned his head with a ‘hmm’ and focused on the game again.

 

However, Gyeongwon was still frozen in his place, seemingly unable to overcome the shock.

 

“….Joon.”

 

“Oh, yeah. Sunah.”

 

“How…how do you play that game?”

 

“MineCraft? I’ve never played it before, so I’ve no idea. When Dukhun finishes playing Dungeon & Fighter, I’ll ask him to install it. Let’s all learn together.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Although I tried to answer nonchalantly, pretending to be calm, I was also unable to overcome the momentary shock. My heart still pounded heavily behind the ribcage.

 

‘Ugh… crazy. She looks so damn pretty without glasses and with light makeup.’

 

Her sudden appearance truly shook me to the core.

 

Mumble, mumble.

 

A moment later, the members of the Ghost Story Club sat side by side, each facing a computer screen.

 

From the left, Hayoon, Sunah, me, Dukhun, and Gyeongwon sat chronologically.

 

The five of us sat in a row, with me, the president of the club in the middle. The male and female members were seated on either of my side, creating a harmonious sitting arrangement.

 

“You have to do it like this…”

 

Dukhun, who finished playing his game, started to download the pirated version of the game to each of our computers. Meanwhile, I took out my phone and called Jinhee.

 

Compared to us, who were always buried in our own little corner and didn’t exude much of our presence either in school or in the classroom, Jinhee always seemed to emit an immense presence from the back of the classroom.

 

Although I was calling to invite her to play with us, I never expected her to be someone who likes to interact or hangout with acquaintances from school.

 

But since all the members of Ghost Story Club were together, I thought it would be unfair to not invite her over.

 

I just wanted to politely invite her since I thought it seemed unfair to leave her out. However, I had no intention to appear forceful to her to come here and play with us, I was too scared of her to do so.

 

[Now I’m~ a mayfly~ living day by day♬ still lost tomorrow… oooh, oh, oh]

 

The song ‘Mayfly’ by MC and the MAX was heard the moment the call was connected. This song was rather popular among teenagers, and after the music passed by, a rather blunt but familiar voice answered the phone.

 

[T/N: M.C The MAX (Korean: 엠씨 더 맥스) is a South Korean rock band. They debuted in 2000 as a 4-member band under the name Moon Child.]

 

[Hello?]

 

“Oh, Jinhee. Are you free?”

 

[Who?]

 

“I’m Joon. Club president.”

 

[Ah.]

 

Before I could say more, the sound of a girl’s voice, who most probably was beside Jinhee, transmitted from the other side of the phone, asking who had called her.

 

[A friend. Wait a minute….]

 

Friend!

 

Jinhee thinks of me as a friend?

 

[I’m free. What do you need?]

 

“Oh, that’s… it’s just all of us are hanging out in an internet cafe.”

 

[….]

 

“Would you like to… come and join us?”

 

As I asked, I could hear my voice trembling.

 

[Internet cafe?]

 

However, the voice that was heard from the other side, asked back in bewilderment, as if she couldn’t comprehend if I had called her just to tell that.

 

[What are you guys doing there?]

 

“Uh, we’re about to play MineCraft together here…”

 

[What? What’s that?]

 

“It’s a game where you can build houses and stuff… It’s like playing Lego… you’ll understand it better if you play it…”

 

[….]

 

“We can explore… create weapons, defeat monsters, make blocks…”

 

[….]

 

“And the weather in the game also changes. And the constant cycle of day and night are also present…”

 

As I kept blabbering, I realized my voice was getting constricted the more I continued talking. I started feeling anxious, as if I was trying to make excuses to the most grumpy teacher in the school.

 

The image of a girl with dyed blonde hair, wearing a short skirt and jacket, sleeping face down in the back of the school every day, suddenly appeared in my mind.

 

And the scene that I saw today, riding a motorcycle, smoking, and hanging around with people who look like your typical social bullies, even her persona was set in my mind as a bully.

 

And I was calling such an eminent figure in a local run-down internet cafe to play games?

 

“I mean… we’re all here gathered together, so I just wanted to invite you… If you have time then-”

 

[I’ll call you back on my way.]

 

“Oh! Oh, oh, okay! Thanks!”

 

Dood. Dood.

 

As soon as she finished speaking, she hung up as if she had something more important to do.

 

“Is she coming?”

 

“Yeah. She’s coming.”

 

“That’s unexpected.”

 

Gyeongwon answered indifferently, fiddling with the mouse, not particularly showing if he was astonished.

 

Before long, the pirated version of MineCraft was installed and we all started our computers. As soon as the desktop appeared, the window program passed by.

 

“How do I make it full screen?”

 

“Are you not familiar with desktop computers? Look at the top of the window screen.”

 

Similar to Sunah, Hayoon also didn’t seem to be familiar with computers and playing games, so she was sitting gracefully in her seat beside Sunah, who was fiddling with her mouse. As a result, Dukhun had to run between the four of us to check things and teach us how to do certain actions with the mouse.

 

“Here, Fullscreen, if I click this, will I have fullscreen?”

 

“Stop asking and start the game. I have played a few rounds with my online friends before. You’d learn things as you play.”

 

So Dukhun even had online friends.

 

After fiddling around with the screen for a while, I adjusted the screen to my liking before returning to the desktop and starting the game. A screen popped up as soon as I started the game, asking me to set a name. Without hesitation, I typed my original name, Lee Joon, and clicked ‘Set’.

 

[Hello, Lee Joon.]

 

“Okay. Have you guys all entered? I’ll make a server.”

 

Dukhun returned to his seat as he finished explaining things to others and asked. Writing down a few complicated commands while referring to a video he saw on YouTube about making a server, he urged us to click on the panel that popped us on our window.

 

Soon, a local server was added to the server menu which was previously blank and the game started uploading.

 

[MINECRAFT SERVER: 1/5]

 

[Lee Joon: Crimson World (Beginners Only)]

 

“This server is quite popular.”

 

Gyeongwon, who was seated beside me, snickered as if he understood the reason.

 

“No, why is my name…”

 

As I grumbled to myself, Dukhun only chuckled and showed a satisfied look as if he was pleased to have created a server in my name.

 

[MINECRAFT SERVER: 2/5]

 

[Lee Joon: Crimson World (Beginners Only)]

 

[MINECRAFT SERVER: 3/5]

 

[Lee Joon: Crimson World (Beginners Only)]

 

The number beside the server increased one by one, implying that the members all were being connected to the server.

 

“Okay. Let’s start.”

 

With that, I also pressed connect.

 

[MINECRAFT SERVER: 5/5]

 

[Lee Joon: Crimson World (Beginners Only)]

 

[MINECRAFT SERVER: Full]

 

[Lee Joon: Crimson World (Beginners Only)]

 

[Loading….]

 

On a lazy afternoon weekend that we achieved after the hectic midterms.

 

The members of the Ghost Story Club gathered at a local internet cafe, spending a pleasant moment by playing games on the computer.

 

[Select World]

 

After the loading was over and we all successfully connected to the server, a blank screen appeared with nothing on it. Obviously, all of us, except Dukhun, stared at the letters that appeared at the middle of the screen in puzzlement.

 

The letters in the middle of the screen spelled [Select World], indicating our next step.

 

“Wait. I’m doing it.”

 

As the only one who had played this game before, Dukhun once again started fiddling around, his fingers flying on the keyboard as he typed hurriedly. Soon, the words which appeared in the middle of the screen changed to [Create New World], before [Lee Joon: 1st Round] appeared.

 

[Create New World: Lee Joon: 1st Round] 

 

“No, why did you use my name again…”

 

“Because you are the club president.”

 

[Loading….]

 

Before long, the dark screen lit up as the game started.

 

The world that appeared on the screen was as we expected, filled with blocks of hexahedral cubes. Each and every object was created of countless blocks, adding to the bizarreness.

 

As we looked around, the head of green grass and small puddles were seen scattered all around. It seemed we had landed on a marsh.

 

“Wow, although I expected it, I’m still a bit surprised… The graphics are a bit weird. They seem worse than Sudden Attack.”

 

“It was done on purpose, President. I think that’s probably the game’s concept that the developers intended. To imagine our own creation.”

 

The games I had played before, like Battleground and Overwatch, had excellent graphics along with likeable characters and powerful weapons. However, seeing a world only made of blocks, I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.

 

But even so, the overall concept had an atmosphere of creating pleasant memories, so I thought it wasn’t that bad.

 

“Let’s see. You have to press W, A, S, D kyes to move around. Use the spacebar to jump…”

 

The method of operating the movements of the characters inside were similar to a typical FPS game like Sudden Attack.

 

“If you click here, the tiles will break. All right then, let’s all follow along. Walk forward.”

 

“Walk forward….”

 

For some odd reason, Dukhun seemed to have his time teaching everyone things, perhaps the feeling of teaching people stuff which you are so passionate about made him so enthusiastic about the matter.

 

Sunah, as always, followed Dukhun’s instructions with a devoted expression, as if her life depended on it and started leading her character just behind Dukhun’s character.

 

Unlike others, I had played first-person perspective games before, so I was quite familiar with the movements and instructions on how to play such games. Therefore, I simply skipped the introduction and just started walking around on my own, attempting to explore our surroundings.

 

‘Excluding Dukhun, I’m probably the only one who’s played the most games here… Hmm.’

 

Swoosh.

 

Thud!

 

Thud.

 

“…Huh.”

 

My character, which was running around at my guidance, suddenly fell into a hole while I was absentmindedly lost in thought.

 

As soon as I fell into the hole, my health bar, which was full a moment ago, turned less than half in an instant.

 

‘What the, why is there a hole in a place like this? Seriously.’

 

I looked around for help, however, everyone else was busy learning how to operate the joystick and the movements of their characters, and none of them seemed to be aware of my predicament.

 

‘Damn it, I’m the president. How can I fall into a hole like an idiot? I’m gonna lose my dignity.’

 

Thinking that I should get out of the hole as soon as possible and pretend as if nothing had happened, I looked around and started breaking the wall to get the blocks from them and make a stair.

 

However, as I had no equipment with me and had to do it empty handed, the speed which I was doing the process was incredibly slow.

 

“You have to move the mouse like this here.”

 

“Aha.”

 

In the end, after fumbling alone for a while, I still couldn’t get out of the hole. Seeing no other choice, I called out to Dukhun, who was already busy running around left and right, explaining things to every one of the members.

 

“Hey, Dukhun…”

 

“I fell into a hole. Please help…”

 

“Oi. President.”

 

Taking a deep breath as if he was annoyed, Dukhun approached me and started lecturing.

 

“You wandered around without listening to my explanation. And now you are asking for help…”

 

“…Well, I don’t think there’s any way out of there. You should just restart the game…”

 

“Ah… Sorry….”

 

[Lee Joon: 2nd Round]

 

In the end, I had to re-enter the world.

 

As I restarted the game, the number next to my name automatically increased.

 

“This time, don’t wander around on your own and stay still.”

 

After the loading was finished, I found my character underwater this time.

 

“Why doesn’t it let me start from somewhere more normal?”

 

I swam up to the surface of the water before looking around.

 

An endless forest made of blocks stretched before my vision.

 

The place where I started from this time was a small pond.

 

“Follow my instructions everyone. Gather around.”

 

A male character ran past me after those words.

 

‘Is it Gyeongwon? I’m gonna follow him.’

 

Not wanting to wait for Dukhun’s instructions, I decided to follow the character.

 

As I reached a clearing, I saw a group of characters who looked exactly the same, jumping around in a disoriented manner.

 

Except for the character, which appeared bigger than the ones gathered around and had more fluent movements, the other characters, including Gyeongwon which I just followed looked exactly alike.

 

“So everyone chose the same character except Dukhun?”

 

“We must have done it by default.”

 

“I can’t even distinguish you guys.”

 

“Keep your character still then you will see each other’s name above their head.”

 

Soon, a character suddenly jumped in front of me and stood still before jumping around again.

 

I tried to check the name, however, the character kept jumping around so wildly that I couldn’t even read the first letter.

 

“Who the hell is it!”

 

Unable to hold the frustration, I hit the character hard. At the gesture, Sunah, who was on my left, started giggling.

 

“Don’t hit me, Joon…”

 

“So it was you, Sunah, you idiot! You’re blocking my path… aish, aish.”

 

“Oh, stop fooling around. As soon as the sun sets, monsters will start appearing. We must hurry up and build a shelter.”

 

A large character, most probably Dukhun, brushed past me, indicating me to follow him.

 

“After we finish building a shelter, I’ll explain how we can hunt down the ghost stories.”

 

At Dukhun’s dissuasion, we stopped jumping around and followed him to a large clearing in an attempt to build a shelter.

 

“Come this way, this way…”

 

Among us, Dukhun appeared to be the only one who was serious in building a shelter.

 

Since it was everyone’s first time playing the game, they were unfamiliar with how to control and operate their characters. Therefore, let alone build a shelter, their characters only kept jumping around, or falling down.

 

Among the characters of us who were crazily running around, the large character of Dukhun was the only one diligently working.

 

‘…Is he trying to build a wall with that?’

 

With bewilderment, I watched Dukhun’s character digging up the ground, separating the blocks and trying to build a sturdy wall that would help him be protected from the monsters.

 

“We should help Dukhun. Tell us what we can do to help you, Dukhun.”

 

“Kuso, I don’t remember well either… We should just dig up the ground for starters and try to build a thick wall. Scary monsters will appear at night, a safe shelter is a must to be protected from them and to discuss future strategy.”

 

The blocks around were stacked in a heap, and since we had no equipment either, it seemed the only way we could build a shelter was by combining the blocks. Unlike in other games where you have to gather the equipment first and leave the rest to the game system, we had to build a wall there from scratch, just like in real life.

 

A rough explanation was given by Dukhun. After that he went back to dig up the ground and separate the blocks to combine them and build a wall all by himself.

 

‘I would have already started ordering them around if it were me.’

 

Probably because it was his first time attempting to lead a group of people and teach them things, he seemed to prefer to just explain things roughly and do most of the task by himself.

 

However, a wise leader never carries heavy burdens alone. Rather, he draws out and measures the abilities of his subordinates and uses their assistance for a better outcome.

 

“Everyone, gather around. We should help too.”

 

“Okay.”

 

While Dukhun’s character was digging the ground frantically and separating the blocks, I gathered the rest of the members around and started commanding them.

 

“We can get blocks by breaking the soil apart. To make a heap, click the right button of the mouse. For now, just follow what Dukhun is doing and stack the blocks.”

 

“Okay.”

 

Eventually, under my command, the members stopped jumping around and dispersed, digging the ground with all seriousness.

 

While we were busy digging the ground, out of the corner of my eyes, I saw someone’s character diligently breaking the wall which Dukhun had worked so hard to build. Squinting my eyes, I read the character’s name and realized it was Sunah.

 

“Sunah, that’s the wall we just built. Don’t break it. Follow my instructions.”

 

“Okay….”

 

 

 

T/N: Extremely sorry for the late update. This chapter was supposed to be updated on 30th June. But I fell sick again and also got very busy with real life work. Pray that I can update the next chapter as soon as possible.

 

Thank you for you understanding ❤️❤️