Ghost Story Club

 

“Ugh, Fuck!”

 

The movement of the creature was enough to set us into a panic. We desperately tried to open the wooden door on the second floor to escape the mass of crawling flesh.

 

However, after struggling for a while, we felt that someone was pushing the door with the same amount of force we were employing from the outside, preventing us from opening it.

 

“What the heck! Who is out there!”

 

[Ahahaha. Who else if not us?]

 

[Hahahaha.]

 

Beyond the door, the sound of crazy laughter of the fakes of us flowed inside.

 

It seemed it was none other than our replicas which were working together to block the door from the outside, preventing us from opening it.

 

[Come here, Joon… It feels so nice being here… Let’s become one….]

 

[I’ll be the happiest person, we’ll be united together. Ahahaha….]

 

The creature slowly crawled towards us, calling me in a soothing voice.

 

“Damn it! Jump out the window!”

 

Pushing the backs of the members who were struggling against the door towards the window, I loudly instructed.

 

“Won’t we break our legs!”

 

“Better than being here, hurry!”

 

We walked backwards and approached the window closest to us, in an attempt to escape through that.

 

“Aah, aah!”

 

Gyeongwon was the first to jump out.

 

With a shrill scream, he fell to the ground that had turned muddy because of the rain.

 

Thump.

 

“Aah… Ugh… Hey, guys! It doesn’t hurt at all because the ground is muddy! Everyone, jump!”

 

Quickly regaining his composure, he shouted at us who were still on the second floor, encouraging us to hurry. It didn’t seem like it was him who was screaming a while ago while jumping.

 

“It doesn’t hurt, hurry!”

 

“Aaah!”

 

Next, Dukhun jumped out in a hurry.

 

“Kimi wa is the one who’s going to die here, not me!!”

 

[T/N: Kimi wa (キミは) is Japanese which means ‘you are’.]

 

Thump-

 

“Joon! Go first…”

 

Sunah began pushing me through the window, urging me to jump down.

 

“Okay, come quickly!”

 

Without wasting a single second, I jumped right away and fell into the mud, splashing them around.

 

Splash!

 

I quickly wiped the mud that splashed all over my face with the back of my hand, and stood up, looking up at the second floor and quickly moved away.

 

[Where are you guys going? Are you mocking me again because I watch anime?]

 

“Kyaaaaah…”

 

I watched as Sunah jumped down after me with Hayoon following suit. Both of them landed safely on the mud.

 

Thump, thump.

 

“Is everyone okay?”

 

“Yeah, we’re okay!”

 

[Oii-]

 

The creature, amalgamation of the five of us, called out to us from the second floor as it desperately tried to squeeze its large body and haphazardly strewn limbs through the window.

 

[Prez! Let’s get together quickly! Men being together is quite popular these days!]

 

[Jooooon… Kiyaaaaaaaaaa.]

 

The corpses of the fakes that we killed earlier were still on the ground floor. As soon as those zombie-like creatures saw us, they rushed at us, screaming and groaning like starved beasts.

 

“Fuck, Fuck!”

 

Without hesitation, I quickly chopped one of them down with the axe and kicked the stomach of another corpse that rushed at me.

 

Slash. Smack.

 

[Geueuheuh.]

 

I had never held a deadly weapon ever in my life, and it was my first time not only carrying one but also using it. Each swing felt like it was real, the feeling was completely different from the feeling in a game.

 

I was feeling really, really nauseous and disgusted.

 

“Yaaaaaaaaaa!”

 

The fake me, which I had killed earlier by slashing its neck, ran at Gyeongwon, crawling on all fours. In response, Gyeongwon swung the iron rod in his hands while screaming loudly.

 

“Aaah! Aaah!”

 

[Geeeuuu. Geeeeeuu.]

 

Dukhun and Sunah, each of them swung their weapons and fought frantically. Hayoon leaned against the wall to reload her crossbow before shooting at the fakes that were running toward her.

 

Kang- kang-

 

Perhaps because they were our replicas, they were in no way physically stronger than us and we had equal strength. And since we were carrying weapons, we were able to subdue them easily and protect ourselves from them.

 

However, there were just too many of them. Their numbers were far greater than us, which put us into a disadvantageous situation. I began fearing that we may lose our stamina soon.

 

[Let’s become one, ahhhhh… Let’s unite, ahhh…]

 

The creature finally managed to squeeze through the second floor’s window and was about to jump down.

 

Flash-

 

Boom, boom.

 

Just at that moment, in a serendipitous situation, lightning struck the creature right before our eyes. We watched in shock as the creature’s body exploded instantly.

 

Boom!

 

“Ugh, Fuck!”

 

Splash, splatter.

 

In an instant, the surrounding was filled with blood and flesh, some even landed on my face. Just as I was about to wipe it away.

 

Slide-

 

“What, what the hell!”

 

The house suddenly began tilting sideways. A fake Sunah with two heads that was rushing through the front door lost its balance and began to roll around.

 

“The house is tilting! Everyone, be careful!”

 

The corpses of the fakes began to slide down on the floor and gather on top of each other, creating a huge lump toward one wall.

 

“It’s mud! The soil has turned into loose mud so the house is sinking!”

 

“What the fuck! Go back up to the second floor!”

 

Dadadadada-

 

We hurriedly reached the staircase and began climbing to the second floor once again. Some fakes rushed up to us, running on the slanted wall, whom we quickly managed to knock down and barely secured the door to the ground floor.

 

“Go up! Go up!”

 

“Get your balance right! You piece of shit!!”

 

With the help of the pouring rain and raging wind.

 

The ground had turned completely muddy, almost into a swamp.

 

“Get up! Get up! Get up!”

 

“Go!”

 

We urged each other to rush to the second floor while shouting.

 

[You guys-]

 

Thwack-

 

A fake began fumbling its limbs in the mud, as if swimming, and almost reached us. I quickly swung my axe at the fake and chopped its head off like chopping wood.

 

“Get up! Get up!”

 

“Aah!”

 

However, our advance was greatly impacted because the house had completely tilted towards the ground, almost at the verge of collapsing. The stairs had become so steep that they almost looked like ladders.

 

With extreme difficulty, we managed to climb up to the second floor.

 

“Uh… what should we do now! Should we enter the room on the second floor?”

 

“No! Go up to the roof, to the roof!”

 

“…I understand!”

 

Gyeongwon, who was in the front, climbed up the railing of the stairs, grabbed the edge of the roof, and lifted his legs up while struggling.

 

Hyeung. Hyeung.

 

“I’ll push you! Hurry!!”

 

Hiiick.

 

While Hayoon, who was behind Gyeongwon, was pushing him to get on the roof, we were busy stabbing the monsters which were trying to climb up the stairs with our weapons.

 

[Guys, guys.]

 

[Let’s get together, let’s get together.]

 

“Get up! Get up quickly!!”

 

My muscles ached from overworking them. Fatigue was slowly gripping us. But I ignored the severe muscle pain in my shoulders, and swung my axe and chopped each of the fakes down.

 

Sunah and Dukhun also beat down the ones that were trying to climb to the second floor using the railings with their weapons.

 

“I’m up! Hurry up!”

 

Gyeongwon finally managed to get on the roof. Shouting for us, he leaned down and urged the members to grab his hands. Members who were behind him were pulled to the roof.

 

“Hurry up!”

 

“Fuck!”

 

Hayoon was the closest to him and also agile. She grabbed his hands and climbed to the roof with Sunah following behind.

 

After everyone got to the roof, only Dukhun and I remained, who were blocking the fakes from reaching the stairs.

 

“Huu, huu.”

 

The ground floor of our brick house, which had tilted dangerously towards the ground, was already buried in the mud.

 

“Dukhun! Have you climbed up yet? Have you?”

 

“I-I’m sorry! I can’t climb up! President, you go up first!”

 

Dukhun struggled to climb to the roof with his thick legs. However, because of his fat muscle and lack of motor skills, he could only struggle desperately without being able to climb up.

 

The members from above tried their best to pull him up, but he was just too heavy.

 

“Go up first, Lee Joon! Hurry up!!”

 

“Fuck, I’ll push you from behind! I can get up on my own anyway!”

 

“That won’t do! Just go first!”

 

“Let’s do it! Hurry up!”

 

While I was frantically shouting, urging him to climb up to the roof quickly, Dukhun suddenly halted his struggle and put his hand on my shoulder.

 

“Hey, it’s okay, so go first.”

 

Raindrops flowed down heavily on Dukhun’s tightly shut lips as he said with a determined expression.

 

“Just go.”

 

“Fuck… Fuck…”

 

Without giving me any time to refuse, Dukhun got down on his knees and bent his back with his palms opened in front. He was serious about helping me climb first.

 

“Come on.”

 

“…Thank you.”

 

I stepped on his opened palms and gripped the railing to climb up.

 

At that moment.

 

Boing-

 

Dukhun suddenly jumped high, with me, who had just put his feet on his palms. The sudden power that bounced us both high was unbelievable.

 

“Wow, whoaaaaah!!!”

 

I failed my arms in the air, my body floating in the sudden absence of gravity.

 

“What, what’s happening!”

 

“Whoaah!”

 

Both of us were bouncing in the air as if we had no control over our limbs.

 

Our bodies bounced in the air for a while with us flailing our limbs around in panic. Suddenly, the force that was hovering our bodies in the air disappeared and I slammed face first into the roof.

 

“Kwaaaaak!”

 

“Joon! Grab my hand!”

 

The house had tilted dangerously to the side which made my unbalanced body slid down from the roof. Sunah quickly jumped towards me and barely managed to grab my hand.

 

After struggling and bouncing around in the air, the five of us eventually made it onto the roof.

 

“What, what was that just now? Dukhun, how did you jump so high?”

 

“I, I don’t know! It happened suddenly…!”

 

Before he could explain more, he suddenly started sitting down and standing up repeatedly.

 

“Why are you behaving like this all of a sudden?”

 

“I don’t know! My body is moving on its own!”

 

When Dukhun was standing up and sitting down without any reason, this time, Sunah suddenly raised her arms and started flailing around.

 

“Huh, what?”

 

“What are you doing?”

 

“I, I don’t know…”

 

She repeated the incomprehensible behavior, then slowly started walking backward and forward again.

 

“What is happening? What is happening all of a sudden?”

 

The wind was raging with the rain pouring harshly down on us. The mud was sinking our house and we were isolated on the roof. The situation couldn’t be worse.

 

While I was trying to comprehend the members’ sudden inexplicable behaviour, something extremely tall, almost reaching the sky was seen far beyond the horizon. Under the rising moonlight that began to peak through the heavy rain and cloudy sky, the thin and tall tower-like thing was approaching us from afar.

 

“Okay, no time to fool around! Stand properly!”

 

“No! We really aren’t doing this willingly, our bodies are moving around on their own!”

 

Under the stormy environment and almost invisible moonlight, I barely distinguished the silhouette of the tall thing.

 

It was a huge tower, created by the fakes of ours, standing on top of each other.

 

[Gyaaaaaa.]

 

It looked like the status shown in the old fairytale Town Musicians of Bremen.

 

[T/N: The “Town Musicians of Bremen” (German: Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in Grimms’ Fairy Tales in 1819. For more information, click here.]

 

A tall tower which was created by the monsters with our faces by climbing up onto each other’s shoulders and standing together almost reached the sky.

 

It slowly started approaching us, wading through the mud.

 

[Gaaaaaaa.]

 

“Damn it.”

 

The roof was sinking.

 

And a tower of monsters was approaching us, twisting their bodies.

 

At that moment.

 

Following Sunah and Dukhun who had lost control over their bodies, Gyeongwon started spinning around. Suddenly, as if something clicked in his mind, he shouted with urgency.

 

“It’s Jinhee! Jinhee!”

 

“What?….Ah! That’s right!”

 

Their sudden incomprehensible behaviour suddenly made me remember their behaviour when we first started playing the game.

 

When Dukhun was giving instructions to the members.

 

I remembered that at that time, the members were having a hard time controlling the keyboard and their characters. Their characters were also behaving in the same manner as now.

 

“Someone is manipulating the keyboard from outside!”

 

“Jinheeee ah ah ah ah ah ah ah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lee Jinhee, yes yes yeeeeesssss!!!!!!!!!!!!”

 

However, we were currently in the Far Away Land, so we couldn’t just ask her to disconnect the connection.

 

We were glad that at least she could help us to some extent. But we were so desperate and anxious at that time that we just started screaming and discussing among ourselves.

 

“What should we do? What should we ask Jinhee to do?”

 

“Cheat key!”

 

Gyeongwon shouted excitedly.

 

“Lee Jinhee! If you’re listening! Use the cheat key on us quickly!”

 

“Jinhee!”

 

Sunah also began shouting toward the stormy sky.

 

“Jinhee……! Use the cheat key!”

 

“Cheat key!”

 

Following them, I also looked up and shouted.

 

“Lee Jinhee! If you can hear me, hurry! Use the cheat key!”

 

“Jinhee!”

 

“Jinhee, hurry up! Hurry!”

 

“Lee Jinheeeeeeee!!”

 

When we were shouting toward the stormy sky like a bunch of lunatics.

 

[Admin (Oh Dukhun): Power overload]

 

A speech bubble with English words appeared above Dukhun’s head.

 

“What… what is it?”

 

“What?”

 

At everyone’s sudden gaze zeroing on him, Dukhun flinched.

 

“Above your head! A speech bubble!”

 

“A speech bubble?”

 

[Admin (Oh Dukhun): show me the money

black sheep wall

the gathering] 

 

Inexplicable English messages started appearing one after another.

 

“What? What does it mean?”

 

“This, this is…”

 

Dukhun tilted his head up and looked at the speech bubble floating above his head.

 

Soon, his expression brightened.

 

“Cheat… cheat key! From invincibility to infinite money! And infinite stamina!”

 

“Wow… wooow!”

 

Soon, Gyeongwon suddenly fumbled with his neck and shouted at me.

 

“Prez! Look here! The wounds are gone!”

 

“Oh, me too, me too!”

 

The wounds we had here and there from the fierce fight.

 

When I looked again, they were all gone.

 

On top of that, the condition of our skin had improved.

 

The aching pain in our muscles that had been building up and the fatigue that had been gripping us from continuously swinging our weapons had also subsided.

 

“This is worth a try!”

 

“Fuck, Lee Jinhee is the best! I really love you!”

 

“Jinhee! Thank you!”

 

As if we got a confident boost.

 

But.

 

[Gaaaaaaaa….]

 

Slid–

 

The tower created by the creatures was still wading through the mud and approaching us, and the roof was at the verge of sinking completely.

 

“What, what the hell!”

 

“Ugh! Everyone, hold on to the floor!”

 

Now, the roof was almost completely submerged in mud. There were only a few steps left to step on.

 

“Oi, Lee Joon! Even if we use the invincibility cheat, we can’t do anything if the house sinks! We can’t escape in this way!”

 

“Then what should I do? How about using teleportation cheat?”

 

“Using teleportation cheat is impossible unless we know our current coordinates! You have to input the coordinates of both your current location and the place you want to teleport. But the Far Away Land is outside the game world, so there’s no coordinates!”

 

“Then what should I do? What other cheats can we use here?”

 

“Aah… Um….”

 

Dukhun desperately racked his brain for a solution in the urgent situation.

 

“What if we… ask Jinhee to change the weather or the day and night?”

 

“That won’t make the current mud disappear! Wait a minute!”

 

I asked Dukhun cautiously but he immediately declined with a shout. Perhaps he was too flustered, his expression seemed like he was snarling at me.

 

“Do you know any more cheat keys we can use for the current situation?”

 

“There are! But why?”

 

“Then let’s ask her to summon anything that we can ride to escape!! A car or a plane!”

 

“There’s nothing like that in this game!”

 

The storm didn’t stop raging even for a bit, under the pouring rain and sinking rooftop, we barely managed to continue our conversation, shouting at each other.

 

“Then what do we have, fuck! Anything we can ride!”

 

“We can use boats and gliders!”

 

“What would you use those for in this situation, fuck!”

 

“I… don’t know.”

 

“Do you have bombs?”

 

“Yeah, we have dynamite!”

 

“Something stronger!”

 

“There’s nuclear bombs!”

 

I got confirmation from Dukhun, and desperately cried out to the sky without thinking for a moment that it could be dangerous.

 

“Lee Jinhee! Give me a nuclear bomb and a glider!”

 

Dukhun showed a bewildered expression.

 

“Why a nuclear bomb!”

 

“If we can detonate a bomb, the clouds will evaporate and the temperature will rise. We can solve both the weather and the mud problem!”

 

“What! President, have you gone crazy!?”

 

Gyeongwon shouted from the side in anger while listening to our discussion.

 

“Using that will put us in a dangerous position!”

 

“Then we’ll use the invincibility cheat! When the power of the nuclear bomb blows us away, we can use a glider to escape!”

 

“Crazy!”

 

Although unconvinced, Dukhun finally nodded.

 

“It’s a fucking idiot idea, but let’s do it right now!”

 

Then he looked up at the sky and shouted.

 

“Lee Jinhee, give us a nuclear bomb and a glider!”

 

“Lee Jinhee, give us a nuclear bomb and a glider!!”

 

The members looked bewildered for a moment since they had no idea what was going on. However, they also cupped their mouths and shouted towards the stormy sky.

 

“Lee Jinhee, give us a nuclear bomb and a glider!”

 

“Lee Jinhee, give us a nuclear bomb and a glider!”

 

Even Sunah raised her hands and voice and shouted loudly.

 

“Lee Jinhee, give us a nuclear bomb and a glider!”

 

“Lee Jinhee, give us a nuclear bomb and a glider!”

 

* * *

 

“Who are you?”

 

Inside the almost empty internet cafe where only a few people were mingling around, sitting in their respective seats, the five members of the Ghost Story Club had their eyes closed, as if they were unconscious.

 

In front of the computer of Dukhun, a tall but strange man with a wide hat which was pulled down to the maximum to cover his face, was leaning down and typing something on the keyboard. Hearing Jinhee’s voice behind, he paused before slowly turning around.

 

Jinhee had just entered the internet cafe after finishing her cigarette.

 

However, as soon as she approached the seat numbers which were previously sent by Lee Joon, she noticed someone leaning towards the keyboards of the members and typing something.

 

As she stared at the unidentified person silently, the man took his hands off the keyboard. He pulled down the wide hat even lower, concealing his face completely, and slowly moved away as if escaping.

 

Thump-

 

The man brushed past Jinhee, bumping onto her shoulders and left the internet cafe without saying a word.

 

Ting, Ting.

 

He left, leaving only the sound of the bells resonating around the quiet and calm internet cafe through the glass door.

 

Jinhee frowned for a moment but soon approached the location where the unidentified figure was standing.

 

Dukhun’s body deeply buried in his seat with his eyes closed entered her vision.

 

“….Hey, are you sleeping?”

 

She patted his cheek, but he stayed unmoving and didn’t respond at all.

 

“What are you guys doing?”

 

She looked at the other members seated in their seats with their eyes closed, seemingly unconscious.

 

Sound of commotion leaked out of the headphones the members were wearing. Looking at their monitors, she saw that several thin and small characters were shouting frantically at the screen.

 

But the surprising thing was they all looked exactly like the members.

 

[Admin (Oh Dukhun): Lee Jinhee, give us a nuclear bomb and a glider!]

 

[Lee Joon: Lee Jinhee give us a nuclear bomb and a glider!]

 

[Yoon Sunah: Lee Jinhee, give us a nuclear bomb and a glider!]

 

[Ahn Gyeongwon: Lee Jinhee, give us a nuclear bomb and a glider!]

 

Jinhee looked at the messages with a confused look, not quite understanding the situation. But she still typed on the keyboard with the eagle search method, one letter at a time.

 

[T/N: The Eagle Search Method, or Adler Search System is a slang term for an untrained type of typing on a typewriter or computer keyboard. The writer uses one or two fingers to search for the desired letters on the keyboard. The name alludes both to the eagle’s circling search for its prey and to the Adler typewriter company, which has been producing typewriters since 1898.]

 

[Admin (Oh Dukhun): Cheat key? What’s cheat key and how do I use them?]

 

[Ahn Gyeongwon: What are you talking about? You were doing fine just now! Internet! Search the Internet and do it quickly!]

 

A frown appeared on Jinhee’s already moody appearance at the unknown situation. Although unwilling, she opened a new desktop window and began searching on the internet as instructed by Gyeongwon. No, she was about to.

 

The pointer of the mouse only circled around the icons of Chrome, Edge, and Explorer in an awkward motion.

 

“Fuck, what is this…”

 

Finally, she managed to click onto one of the icons with annoyance and opened the search bar.

 

“MineCraft… how to…”

 

Click, click, click.

 

The speed of Jinhee typing on the keyboard was extremely slow. She typed cautiously in fear of clicking the wrong letter, using the eagle search method.

 

It was clear that she certainly had no experience with computers.

 

 

 

 

 

T/N: This chapter and the previous one were so hard….. Also, has the translation quality improved or worsened?

 

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