Ghost Story Club

 

“Suppose you’ve drawn a picture on a piece of paper. Then what remains outside and around that picture?”

 

“…Only blank paper.”

 

“That’s right. This time, imagine someone built a sand castle on the beach. Then what is outside that sand castle?”

 

“Only sand.”

 

“The house we worked so hard to build earlier. What remains outside and around the house now?”

 

Sunah thought hard before mustering up the courage and answering.

 

“Construction materials… the pulley… leftover bricks and trash…”

 

“Exactly.”

 

Pushing up the glasses, Gyeongwon smiled as he began explaining more.

 

“Outside of a creation, the elements that form the basis of that creation remain. The similar concept could be used outside in this world of game, the Far Away Land. Beyond the area created by the programmer, only the essence that becomes the game’s components remains and is constantly repeated.”

 

“….I see.”

 

“When this game starts generating the map, the computer randomly blends some common elements. Sky, ground, water, trees, NPCs– these elements are randomly implemented while creating the world map. In the areas which are designated by the developers, those mixed elements are appropriately controlled and function as the game’s overall elements. However, what happens beyond the space not coded or created by the developers?”

 

Gyeongwon shrugged his shoulders lightly.

 

“We’re witnessing the consequences if that were to happen. Outside of the area not coded by humans, in this Far Away Land, those elements surpass their limits and create a world where they repeat themselves in a frenzy. The random variable generation unfolds in this uncontrollable world endlessly. Houses, land, NPCs…”

 

At Gyeongwon’s diligent explanation, we nodded in an understanding manner.

 

“I can guarantee that if we explore further from here, we’ll only stumble upon the same scenery. The house, trees, hills, and us, randomly copied by the computer’s meaningless random variable generation, are the only thing that would await us.”

 

“….Haaa.”

 

I let out a weary sigh.

 

“Then that means there wasn’t any reason for this house to exist, it was just randomly created.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Then why did you mention the Roguelike genre earlier?”

 

“To explain the concept of random variable generation of this game more clearly.”

 

“Right….”

 

I sighed again.

 

“So the house and everything was just randomly generated without any definite reason. I expected to unearth some great, hidden secret…”

 

We stepped into a nonexistent realm by crossing the border of the edge of the world.

 

Before stepping into this hidden realm, I expected some great conspiracy and secret to be hidden. However, now I learned that it was all just meaningless copy and paste created by some sort of random variable generation.

 

With a slightly deflated expression, I couldn’t help but shake my head.

 

I had no idea about the danger level of this ghost story, however, if it was a world created by the computer’s random variable generation, there was no way we could defeat it while being inside the said world.

 

“Do you understand now, Prez? Dukhun’s explanation that the three ghost stories are connected is also related to that. I think ‘Herobrine’ was probably some gamer who got sucked into the game world like us and was unable to leave this game. This is why we were able to cross the border and step into the Far Away Land’.”

 

“….Then, what about the third ghost story, the one about the Netherworld? If you reach the underground and change the version, a place called Netherworld appears-”

 

“That’s also quite similar to this ‘Far Away Land’. In the end, we’ll still have to go beyond the area set by the game to reach that place.”

 

Gyeongwon shrugged again before frowning.

 

“I think they named it Netherworld because the elements must have been endlessly copied and spread out in a horrible state.”

 

“Huuu. I see.”

 

I sighed for the third time, my expression a mix of disappointment and sadness.

 

“So there’s nothing we can do out of the three ghost stories? If the opponent is the game world itself… It’s not something we can see or touch. It’s just some space coded by invisible numbers. How do we resolve it?”

 

“What if we delete the game…?”

 

When Sunah voiced out her opinion with a curious expression, Dukhun shook his head.

 

“Actually, I deleted and reinstalled it a few times while installing it earlier, but since there’s nothing in this game that makes it out of the ordinary, nothing changes unless you delete all the illegal versions of the game floating on the internet… just deleting one file on your computer wouldn’t change anything.”

 

“That’s right…”

 

“But don’t be too dispirited so soon. We can still get points as long as we survive.”

 

“Well, that’s true.”

 

I answered in a dejected voice.

 

“But the points earned just by encountering and surviving a ghost story are pretty cheap. Like… a fifth of the whole? That’s really too little.”

 

“Don’t lose heart, Prez.”

 

Gyeongwon tried to comfort me with a cheerful expression, despite my tone and face that looked like a wilted eggplant.

 

“Still, I think this adventure was quite fun. It helped us getting closer to each other and gave us a reasonable motivation to work hard for the next three years.”

 

“That 4 billion won?… Yeah, well. The offer was not bad. I don’t think we’ll lose our enthusiasm in the future anymore.”

 

Even if the members were motivated for their personal gain, like earning some easy money or levelling up, at least it was better than losing their enthusiasm completely.

 

Although there was a heavy responsibility of saving the world placed on our heads, I didn’t want them to fight the battle being reluctant.

 

“But when will Jinhee come…?”

 

I coughed in vain at Sunah’s question, who had been blankly staring at me for quite some time.

 

“Ahem, that… Actually, she didn’t say when she’ll be arriving.”

 

“I see…”

 

Sunah replied in a slightly lethargic voice.

 

She had been eagerly waiting for Jinhee to arrive in the internet cafe. Perhaps just like others, she was also anxious to go home as soon as possible.

 

“Well, should we head back then?”

 

I slowly got up from my seat as I asked.

 

“You guys must be eager to go home too. It must be evening in real life.”

 

“Hmm.”

 

Gyeongwon tilted his head at those words.

 

“I think we probably still have some time left, Prez. The flow of time in the game and in real life are different.”

 

“… Really?”

 

Dukhun nodded in agreement as I sat down again.

 

“As far as I know, it’s 72 times faster. So…”

 

Folding his thick fingers one by one, Dukhun calculated for a while before saying.

 

“A day here is 20 minutes in reality.”

 

“….20 minutes? I wonder how much time has passed in real time according to the game.”

 

“Hmm. Since about half a day has passed in the game, then it must have been about 10 minutes in reality.”

 

10 minutes.

 

At those words, we looked at each other.

 

“We have a lot of time left before going back.”

 

“What should we do then?”

 

After thinking it over, I voiced my opinion of heading back again.

 

“It’s a little early, but I think we should still head back. After all, we couldn’t find anything noteworthy here nor unearth any hidden secret. Even the terrain that we’re seeing is just randomly ‘copied’ scenery created by the computer’s program without any meaning.”

 

“…But if we want to end the game, we have to logout from somewhere safe.”

 

“That’s right.”

 

I nodded at Dukhun’s words.

 

“That’s why we should head back to the border and the original game world map.”

 

“But it’s getting dark…”

 

Sunah muttered worriedly, gazing out the window.

 

“…You’re right. It’s getting dark.”

 

All of us looked out the window at the approaching dusk.

 

By now, the outside was gradually being enshrouded in darkness.

 

When we entered this house, which according to Dukhun and Gyeongwon was a replica of the house we built, it was already a bit dark outside. I guess too much time passed while we were engrossed in the explanation.

 

“Should we really head back now?”

 

“Um… wait a moment.”

 

My thoughts of heading back suddenly faced an unexpected worry.

 

Was it okay to leave this place when it was pitch black outside and I couldn’t see even an inch ahead of me?

 

To find the right way, we would need the sun. However, we had no compass, and since we entered a realm beyond the game world, we couldn’t craft one either.

 

“Since we have time left, it wouldn’t be bad to just stay in this house for the night and leave.”

 

“Yeah, Joon. What if when we’re out in the dark, and the fakes get mixed with us like before…”

 

“….It’ll be hard to tell them apart.”

 

Their point was reasonable.

 

So I nodded and reached the conclusion.

 

“Okay. We’ll leave when the sun’s up. We can observe our surroundings better during the day and can notice if someone approaches us from afar. The risk of being attacked is also reduced. On top of that, we can also use the sun to find the correct direction.”

 

“Let’s do that.”

 

“Yeah…”

 

The members nodded their heads in agreement at my decision.

 

Crackle. Crackle.

 

Silence descended once again in the small and cozy living room. The light coming from the fireplace flickered softly with a crackling sound, enveloping the room in a shadowy environment.

 

Amidst the silence, we leaned against the wall and sat with our knees bent. It was how we thought of spending the night.

 

Although just a few minutes had passed, we felt like an hour had passed.

 

With our eyes half-lidded, almost at the verge of slumber, we warmed ourselves with the warmth of flame by the fireplace.

 

However, a sudden noise broke our drowsiness, startling us awake.

 

Sunah, who had her face buried in her knees, also blinked in confusion and raised her head.

 

The sound was faint.

 

And

 

Thud. Thud.

 

Looking up at the ceiling from where we perceived the noise to be coming from, we heard the sound once again.

 

Thud.

 

“….Prez.”

 

“I heard it.”

 

I nodded toward Gyeongwon, who was calling me quietly.

 

Upstairs to the second floor, the only thing that should remain was the fake Sunah’s corpse.

 

We clearly confirmed beforehand that she died earlier, but why was there a sound?

 

Creak-

 

Creak. Creak. Creak.

 

Before we could comprehend what the sound was about, we heard the wooden door on the second floor opening.

 

And the footsteps of someone coming down the stairs outside.

 

“…Get up, everyone.”

 

“Whatever it is, it’s coming this way.”

 

Creak. Creak.

 

The members stood up at my command, each holding a tense expression on their faces.

 

Picking up the wooden stick, iron bars, and pokers, they armed themselves.

 

Creak. Creak. Thud.

 

The sound of the footsteps stopped right outside the door.

 

“….There’s no lock on the door. The moment whoever it is tries to open the door, I’ll kick it open right away.”

 

“O, okay…”

 

After saying that, I quietly walked to the door with the members and patiently waited for the person to barge in.

 

Creak–

 

The moment the person on the other side of the door pulled the doorknob.

 

I kicked the door with all my might.

 

Bang-!

 

The wooden door slammed open with a loud noise, ripping off its hinges.

 

Boom!

 

“Geuuuuu.”

 

The person who was on the other side was thrown onto the floor as the door was kicked open.

 

“Huuh!”

 

Thump–

 

Before the person, who was rolling around in the darkness could stand up, I jumped over and stomped on her stomach to subdue her.

 

“Geuu, geuuuuu…”

 

As I searched in the darkness to see the person’s face, I realized that it was the fake Sunah, with an arrow still stuck in its forehead.

 

“T, this is…”

 

“How is it alive?”

 

“Shit, it looks like a corpse… but it’s moving.”

 

Dried bloodstains, empty eyes, visible veins on its face.

 

This wasn’t normal.

 

Other members crowded around the fake Sunah, who was squirming its body beneath my feet that was pressed onto its stomach, to prevent it from slipping out through the front door.

 

Just as I was wondering what kind of nightmarish situation this was.

 

“Eh, yikes…!”

 

Sunah, who appeared behind everyone and saw the scene, suddenly raised the wooden stick in her hand and hit the fake one with all her might with both hands.

 

Whack–

 

As if hammering a protruding nail, the arrow that Hayoon had driven in was embedded even deeper into the fake’s head and the corpse finally stopped moving.

 

“L-Let’s kill it first…”

 

Catching her breath as if she had run a marathon, Sunah suggested as she wiped away her sweat.

 

“…Good job, Sunah.”

 

Hiding my inner fear, I blankly praised Sunah.

 

“Even if it’s a game, how can a corpse become alive and move like this?”

 

“Hmmm.”

 

Dukhun carefully examining the fake Sunah’s body, but soon he flinched back before exclaiming loudly.

 

“So, Souka! No way!”

 

[T/N: Souka (そうか) is a Japanese word which can mean ‘I see’ or ‘I understand’. It is often used to show acknowledgment or realization of something that was just explained or revealed.]

 

“What is it?”

 

Dukhun’s face turned pale as beads of cold sweat dripped down his face.

 

“We have to run away right now! There are countless of these guys coming for us!”

 

“What? Why so suddenly?”

 

“Oh, maybe you guys forgot or I forgot to mention it but one of the monsters in the MineCraft is called ‘zombie’. And this corpse has the exact appearance as that! A zombie that turned into a monster at night!”

 

“It’s a monster of the night!”

 

Pacing back and forth anxiously, Dukhun kept rambling on.

 

“Monsters appear at night in this game, remember!? That’s why I told you to carry a torch before!”

 

“Yeah, I remember!”

 

When Sunah and I were wandering around the southern part of the game world at night, I remembered Dukhun instructing us to carry a torch and be careful of monsters. I also remembered that we crafted two torches from the coal we found in a rabbit hole.

 

“The monsters that appear at night aren’t ordinary monsters that were there in the original version of the game. They’re just randomly scattered around everywhere by the computer!”

 

“….So?”

 

“Listen carefully, President.”

 

With extreme seriousness, Dukhun began explaining.

 

“This place, the Far Away Land, is a space that had neither been coded nor created by the developers. It’s a place where the computer’s random variable generation is the sole creator and all the elements lose their limits and run wild! Unlike the mobs and monsters which were generated appropriately in the original game world, this place must be filled with countless monsters that are replicas of us being duplicated right now!”

 

“That’s crazy!”

 

I quickly motioned for my club members to follow my instructions.

 

“There’s nothing you guys left behind, right? Then let’s get out of here right now!”

 

* * *

 

Under the sky that had darkened to the fullest, laid a vast pasture where nothing could be seen even an inch ahead.

 

There was no moon glowing in the dark sky either, making it difficult to navigate the correct way.

 

And to top it all, droplets of rain started to pour down.

 

“Huuu, huuu.”

 

“Gasp, gasp.”

 

Our steps fell quickly while our breathing laboured.

 

Including me, none of the members exercised ever in their lives. The walk back to the border was only 30-minute, but at the urgency of the situation, we couldn’t help but run.

 

The five of us moved quickly, our senses heightened to the peak.

 

“Huuu, huuu.”

 

“Are we, are we going the right way?”

 

“Damn….”

 

The worst prospect of the situation was we were completely inside the game. We couldn’t even use the minimap to navigate our way.

 

All we had around us was a dark horizon above us and the dark plain beneath our feet. Being surrounded by the endless darkness, there wasn’t any way to find the exact direction.

 

“We have no choice but to believe that we were going in a straight line… Huuu, huuu.”

 

We silently but quickly walked forward, stepping on the grass green grass that has also turned dark in the profound darkness.

 

[Prez! Prez…. Don’t leave me behind…Prez]

 

From afar, the voice of Gyeongwon crying out to me was heard.

 

“Ignore it. Huff, we should only focus on moving forward. Huu, huu.”

 

Droplets of rain that started to fall one by one soon turned into a drizzle and began to soak our clothes.

 

“Gasp, gasp.”

 

The dark endless plain was still stretched before us.

 

Our steps continued to move us forward.

 

[Joon! Where are you, Joon…!]

 

[President, you son of a bitch! Once I find you, I’ll kill you.]

 

Another scream was heard from afar.

 

And it wasn’t the voice of just one person.

 

Different words, overlapping with the same voice, were also heard.

 

“Huuu, huuu.”

 

As we were moving forward without uttering a single word.

 

Jump-

 

A small object suddenly jumped out and blocked the path between the lawns that had become muddy from the rain.

 

“Wait!”

 

The members all stopped at my exclamation.

 

“….Sorry, it’s just a rabbit.”

 

“Huu, I thought it’s them….”

 

I was startled when something suddenly jumped out of the dark, however, as I looked over, I realized it was just a small rabbit.

 

‘Doesn’t it seem like the one that ran away after seeing Sunah and me in the forest before?’

 

The rabbit that blocked my path, shook its plump body a few times before looking up at me.

 

It had two heads.

 

Two heads attached to one body.

 

Quietly gazing at me with its four red beady eyes, the rabbit then jumped forward and ran far away.

 

[Joon… Joon…….]

 

[Oi! Where are you… Let’s watch an anime together…]

 

“….Let’s move again.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

We resumed our walk, sweeping through the ominous atmosphere created by the darkness and heavy rain.

 

Pitter. Patter.

 

The rain started to pour more heavily, making it unable to see forward.

 

As if that weren’t enough, the ground beneath our feet had turned muddy, making it difficult to walk.

 

“Haa, haaa. Are we there yet?”

 

“I don’t know!”

 

The sound of the rain pouring hard even made it difficult for us to hear each other.

 

Wiping the water dripping down our faces and almost blocking our sight, we continued moving forward.

 

At that moment, a ray of light appeared in the darkness far away.

 

“Look over there, there’s a light!”

 

“Finally!”

 

A small blink of light was seen far away.

 

The light was most probably emitting from the fire of the fireplace we built. The firewood, still burning in the fireplace of the living room of the brick house built at the border of the world, created a light as faint as our hope.

 

“Hurry, hurry up!”

 

“Hoo, hoo.”

 

Boom-

 

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.

 

The pouring rain soon turned into a raging storm.

 

The ground had turned so muddy that even our ankles were buried deep as we tried to walk forward.

 

Mud clung to our socks, taking even one step was difficult.

 

We barely made it through the sloppy ground and finally arrived near the light.

 

“Oh, as expected! We reached home!”

 

“Hoo, hoo… We’ve arrived!”

 

The weather had suddenly taken a drastic change, to the point where it was hard to even keep our eyes open amidst the wind and rain.

 

We braved the heavy rain and headed toward the house standing tall at the edge of our vision.

 

“Hurry, hurry!”

 

“Huff, huff.”

 

We hurriedly move forward, enduring the pouring rain from above us and mud beneath our feet.

 

Step-

 

Thump.

 

My feet, reaching the threshold of the house suddenly stopped. At my sudden pause, the members who had been coming in a line behind me all bumped into my back.

 

“What, what’s wrong? Prez? Let’s go in quickly!”

 

“Huff, huff… Joon?”

 

The front door of the house looked like it was forcefully opened with its hinges ripped off.

 

And inside, the corpse of the fake Sunah, with an arrow stuck in its head, was lying there.

 

“W, what the hell…”

 

“What the hell is this….”

 

The members, seeing me showing no sign of moving, followed my gaze that was stuck at the corpse of the fake Sunah and muttered blankly at the sight.

 

Without saying anything, I walked briskly to the front door.

 

“P, P!”

 

The members came chasing me in a hurry.

 

Soon, we entered the living room through the broken door and gathered around.

 

At the predicament we found ourselves in, I bit my lip.

 

“What is this…”

 

The members held their breath as their eyes landed on the object of my predicament.

 

The words that were written in large letters on the living room wall in crimson.

 

Welcome to Hell.

 

 

 

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