“Oh, she replied…”
The text message also appeared to be very normal.
We gaped at the content in surprise.
“Prez, what should we reply?”
Gyeongwon stared at me with a dumbfounded expression.
“She speaks…. better than I expected?”
“That’s right. She can also communicate.”
Now that I think about it, we’ve only been fighting against the traces of Kim Eunjung up until now and haven’t actually tried to communicate directly with her.
‘She has consciousness?’
I was conflicted for a moment.
Among the ghost stories I’ve encountered so far, those who took human form were very few.
Even then, there were not once instances where I could properly communicate with them.
‘….It’s really surprising, but if she’s someone I can communicate with, there might be another way out.’
I took out my phone and entered Kim Eunjung’s number.
[010-4444-4444]
“Joo, Joon! What are you doing….?”
Sunah shrank back in fear as she asked.
“I’m gonna text her. Maybe we can get rid of the ghost story by communicating with her.”
“Hmm…! Through conversation…”
Gyeongwon wanted to protest, he was sweating profusely.
“O, okay. But you know…”
He placed his hand on my shoulder and glanced around.
“Let’s go outside first, Prez. Everyone’s staring at us… .”
Oh no.
Only then did I feel the stinging gazes of the students on the six of us.
“They’ve been really noisy since a while ago.”
“Right? Aren’t they from that strange club?”
“Today they’re making a big fuss together for no reason.”
“Why is a girl as pretty as Hayoon with such a strange group?”
The students in the class murmured among themselves while looking at us.
As usual, we were just running around trying to exorcise ghost stories. However, since the stage this time was the classroom itself, we were getting a lot of unwanted attention.
“….Okay. Let’s go.”
“Yeah.”
We quickly opened the back door and went out into the hallway, leaving the chattering classmates around us behind.
Dud- Dud-
With nervous expressions, we listened to the call connection tone.
Soon, someone answered the phone.
Click-
“… Hello?”
Pooooooo.
Clang, clang.
Rattle.
Instead of voices, only unidentifiable noises could be heard on the other end of the phone.
“… Hello? Kim Eunjung?”
Pooooooo.
Clang, clang.
Rattle.
[….♬ ♬]
Soon, a familiar melody was heard through the phone coming from the other side.
What was it?
I’ve heard it somewhere before… … .
[♬≫♬]
We looked at each other with bewildered expressions.
Soon, Dukhun looked up with a startled expression as realization dawned over him.
“O, oh, this sound!”
[♬ You have arrived at ShinLim Station. ShinLim Station. Please approach the door to the right to get off ♬]
Suddenly, the phone hung up before we could hear the voice of the owner who picked up the phone.
ShinLim Station is about a 20~30 minute walk from school.
It’d exactly be time for the closing ceremony by the time she arrives.
‘…. She’s really coming.’
While I was thinking so, a text message appeared on my phone right away.
Ding-
[Kim Eunjung]
[010-4444-4444]
– Sorry for hanging up. I can’t speak to you right now, can’t hear your voice. I think I’ll be there in 30 minutes.
‘….Is she the type of ghost story that materializes as time passes?’
I hastily replied.
[What are you?]
Ding-
Then, once again, a message flew in immediately as if it were input by a machine.
[Kim Eunjung]
[010-4444-4444]
– I’m Eunjung! We were rivals in study when we were young. Don’t you remember?
“….Rivals in study.”
That was what my Mom said as well.
I tapped the keypad again and sent another text message.
[I don’t remember having a friend like you.]
Ding-
As expected, a reply came flying immediately.
[Kim Eunjung]
[010-4444-4444]
– That’s so mean. I’m hurt.
“She’s pretending to be my friend until the end.”
“Wh, what now…”
“Hmm, let’s see.”
I decided to change my strategy and focus on exploiting its logical flaws.
[You went to the same elementary school as Jinhee, right? But Jinhee went to Undang Elementary School, and I went to Seoul South Elementary School. How do you explain that?]
[Kim Eunjung]
[010-4444-4444]
– That’s where I transferred in the middle of the year! Don’t you remember?
“…Transfer? What the hell is she talking about?”
“It seems like she’s trying to brush off the fact that we were all paired with her from different schools by saying it was due to transferring schools.”
“Transferring within the ShinLim neighborhood?”
That’s a lame excuse, Eunjung.
“Let me also add the fact that she was also deskmates with Sunah and Hayoon.”
Surely she couldn’t claim to transfer in four different schools within the ShinLim neighborhood and coincidentally paired up with the members as a fitting excuse.
Tap tap- tap tap- Ding-
Tap tap- tap tap- Ding-
We started exchanging text messages like this for a while.
[So, according to you, you lived outside the city until the second grade, then moved to Seoul in the third grade and attended Seoul South Elementary School with me, from there you transferred to Undang Elementary School in the fourth grade, then transferred to ShinLim Elementary School in the fifth grade. And finally, you attended a private elementary school where you graduated with Hayoon? Is that what you’re trying to say?]
[Kim Eunjung]
[010-4444-4444]
– Yeah~ That’s right~ And in between, I also played some games online with Dukhun and even studied abroad in the US for a while~
“What a shameless punk.”
“Isn’t she just mocking us on purpose?”
We couldn’t help but click our tongues at the absurdly ridiculous and illogical reasoning.
[It would be heaven rather than the US, you idiot]
Ding-
[Kim Eunjung]
[010-4444-4444]
– Don’t scold me, Joon ㅠㅠ
“Haaa… I’m pissed.”
“What now, Prez? We can’t get any information.”
I let out a sigh and pushed the story forward in the direction of letting things be.
“There’s nothing I can do. I have no choice but to throw a bomb.”
Tap tap- tap tap- Ding-
[You’re a ghost story sent by the Demon King. Maybe B- or C-rank? You materialzed yesterday at Jinhee’s house when she was telling us the story about a ‘friend no one remembers’ of her school days.]
Then, as if waiting for it, a reply arrived immediately.
Ding-
– No. I’m really Eunjung
Although she claimed to be a real person and our friend, I didn’t care about her explanation and just kept pushing forward with the things I had been curious about.
[What the hell are you? Why are you doing this to us?]
[What exactly is the Demon King’s true identity? Is he a strange being like the game-like system?]
[Why on earth did this strange game-like system come into existence and appeared in front of me?]
[Are you a ghost of a person who had died or just a spirit who had never been a human?]
Ding-
[Kim Eunjung]
[010-4444-4444]
– Joon, if you keep asking strange questions, I’ll get angry
[Go ahead and get angry, or if you have the guts just answer the question.]
– I don’t know what answer you want. I haven’t understood a single thing you’ve been asking for a while now.
[This morning, you were at school. Many students saw you wandering around, and you even went to the infirmary and stayed there until the second period. So how can you suddenly go to study abroad?]
– I was at school in the morning because I was packing up. I went to catch a flight at lunchtime, but it was canceled, so I was heading back to school. However, since Dukhun asked me to come tomorrow, I’m delaying it by a day.
[Shut it, you punk]
– ㅠㅠ Don’t curse at me, Joon
“Haa, I’m so pissed…. this punk refuses to admit.”
I thought she was with consciousness but she was exactly the type who uses unreasonable logic and can’t be reasoned with.
“Enough. Stop it, Prez. Don’t get angry. She’s not even human.”
Gyeongwon tried to calm me down, who was trembling in anger.
“Since we’ve already succeeded in postponing her arrival to tomorrow, we have some time. Let’s go and visit Jinhee’s elementary school after we finish school today.”
“Yeah…”
At that moment, the phone buzzed again.
– I promised to go to school tomorrow, but how about we meet today after the school is over if you have time?
I felt like cursing her 7 generations of ancestors.
[Get to hell you punk. I’m not meeting you.]
Ding-
– Why, let’s play together.
– Let’s play together.
– Let’s play together.
– Let’s play together.
– Let’s play together.
– I’m standing right behind you now.
We turned around in panic.
Ding-
[Kim Eunjung]
[010-4444-4444]
– Sorry, just kidding! But seriously, I’m almost there. I’ll wait in front of the school.
* * *
[2019, May 1 | Wednesday, 15:32]
[Lee Joon: Number of Attempts – 2]
[Ghost Story Points: 66]
[Causality Rate: 14%]
“Hurry up, hurry up!”
“Huff, huff.”
As soon as the closing ceremony was over, we quickly packed our bags and dashed out of the classroom.
“T-the counselor is at the elementary school right now! But we have to reach there in time before she leaves work…”
“Run!”
We sprinted across the schoolyard at full speed, ran out to the main road in front of the school, and caught the oncoming 152 bus.
“No one is chasing us, right?”
“Get in, quickly.”
Creak –
[Students getting on.]
[Students getting on.]
Gyeongwon and Hayoon took out their phones and looked over at the map, Dukhun and I swiped our transportation cards, and Sunah and Jinhee put in coins and got on.
Creak-
Scan, shiiiing.
After the sound of the transportation card being scanned once more echoed, an announcement with an unintelligible pronunciation followed.
I instantly looked back, but there was no one behind me.
‘Hurry, hurry up.’
Even though it wouldn’t make the bus go any faster, we anxiously fidgeted, feeling restless.
After a while, the bus stopped in front of a supermarket after moving past three stops.
Screech-
“This is the last stop! Get off, get off!”
“We need to run about 200 meters down the alley, and we’ll be at our destination.”
“Run, damn it!”
The bus left behind us who hastily got down.
Even though the five of us got down and there was no one inside the bus, the bus beeped once more as if someone got down.
[Thanks for – she-she-she-committed- suicide by jumping from a cliff]
Leaving the unintelligible notification sound behind, we rush along the narrow alleyway.
We passed by a tailor shop, a ramen noodle shop, and a real estate agent and in no time arrived at the main entrance of Undang Elementary School, panting for breath.
“Huff, huff… No one chased us, right?”
“Huu, huu, we can’t stop it even if it does… Let’s just hurry and get in…”
Soon, Jinhee confidently entered her alma mater, and we followed quickly behind her.
“This way.”
Jinhee entered the main elementary school building and walked down the hallway as if she knew the layout well.
She looked around here and there, as if feeling nostalgic visiting her alma mater in a long time.
We, too, took a moment to catch our breath and clear our minds.
“Here.”
[Counseling Room]
A classroom located separately at the end of the first-floor hallway, adjacent to the infirmary.
The sign hanging above indicated that this was the counseling room.
“We are here. Let’s go in.”
“Hey! Wait…”
Jinhee stood in front of the door, fidgeting for a moment.
Elementary students leave school after lunch, so the school was eerily quiet at 4 p.m.
The lights were on in the counseling office, and there was a rustling sound coming from inside, suggesting that someone might be there.
“Why? Aren’t you going in?”
“Just wait a moment.”
Unlike her usual bold self, Jinhee seemed strangely hesitant and timid.
Even for someone like her, visiting a former teacher whom she had given quite a lot of trouble during her childhood must still be a nerve-wracking experience.
“….Open the door.”
“Please hurry up and open it. It’s awkward for us to do it ourselves.”
Dukhun grumbles at Jin-hee, who stood still after saying ‘Open’.
At that moment.
[Who is out there? Come on in.]
A friendly woman’s voice was heard from inside the counseling room, perhaps sensing the presence of six people bustling around in front of the door.
In the end, Jinhee closed her eyes tightly and opened the door to the counseling room.
“….Teacher.”
A graceful yet elegant woman in her early 30s who was sitting at her desk organizing documents, appeared in front of our vision as soon as we peeked inside.
She stared at Jinhee for a moment and paused her movements.
A moment of silence passed, and the woman suddenly smiled warmly.
“Lee Jinhee, the Seventh Princesse of Undang Elementary School.”
“…Teacher. You’re embarrassing me…”
Jinhee, feeling embarrassed, fidgeted in her spot.
The pair of teacher and student who met after 6 years.
After exchanging some simple words, a brief moment of awkwardness passed between them.
“Don’t just stand there, come on in.”
“…Yes.”
Soon, the teacher welcomed her warmly.
Jinhee avoided eye contact as if feeling shy and entered hesitantly.
Unlike her usual self, who acted lawlessly in front of us, she suddenly acted like a harmless herbivore.
Then we also followed her in.
“Excuse us. We’re Jinhee’s friend.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“Hello.”
Uhm.
“Oh my.”
The teacher, who was used to dealing only with small elementary school children, was taken aback when a group of completely unfamiliar high school students suddenly swarmed in.
The counseling room, which was about the size of our club room, was now filled with six 17-year-old high school students.
“What a pleasant surprise. I don’t know what’s going on, but would you like to sit on the sofa?”
Fortunately, the teacher didn’t seem bothered by our presence and responded with a smile.
Somehow, she seemed more relaxed than highschool teachers who were obsessed with college entrance exams.
