Chapter 33
As I got up after discovering it, the creatures hanging from the ceiling simultaneously raised their heads and looked down at me.
Their upside-down faces all glared at me. Then they opened their mouths in unison and shouted a strange sentence loudly, as if doing deep breathing exercises.
“Thenighthasdeepenedhehasppearedifeyesmeeteveryonediessthenighthasdeepenedhehasppearedifeyesmeetseveryonedies!!!”
It was hard to understand because they spoke without breathing, but if you listened carefully, the sentence was complete.
The night has deepened. He has appeared. If eyes meet, everyone dies.
What on earth does that mean?
While I paused my steps in tension, Senior Noah slowly got off the bed on the opposite side.
He put his index finger to his lips, gesturing to be quiet.
‘Melody, can you do it?’
His lip movements seemed to be saying that. I looked up at the ceiling. It seemed he was asking if I could insert the glass piece.
Although proper communication was difficult, we were quite in sync.
‘They said I’m the only one who can eliminate them.’
From the start, Senior Noah couldn’t see them, so I was the only one who could do this job.
‘Let’s focus and think.’
Next to the stained glass window on the ceiling was a chandelier. Below it, I could see a rather tall desk and chair.
I finished calculating the distance, planning to utilize the terrain features as much as possible, and nodded to Senior Noah.
I saw Senior Noah take out a glass bottle containing holy water from his pocket.
He uncorked the bottle.
As he sprinkled the holy water towards the ceiling, the skin of the evil spirits that received the holy water baptism started to burn.
“Aaaaargh-!”
“Kyaaaah!”
The creatures hanging from the ceiling like bats began to writhe and scream.
‘That was too accurate?’
I was impressed by him attacking them so precisely just by sensing their presence, even though he said he couldn’t see the evil spirits.
“Melody, now.”
At Senior Noah’s words, I came to my senses and quickly jumped, stepping on a nearby chair and then the desk.
Then I grabbed the chandelier hanging from the ceiling and hung from it. As I stretched my arm upwards, the stained glass piece fit into the hole as if being sucked in.
“Done!”
But at that moment, the chandelier couldn’t bear the weight and fell.
‘Ah. I might get hurt.’
Thinking that, I closed my eyes tightly, but nothing happened.
Senior Noah had run below and caught me effortlessly.
When I looked up, the evil spirits that had been writhing while hanging from the ceiling burst into flames simultaneously as the stained glass piece was fitted.
The scene of bat-like creatures hanging from the ceiling burning was incredibly impressive.
Soon they turned to ashes and disappeared from sight.
Because the medium had disappeared, their forms were no longer visible, but that didn’t mean they were eliminated.
The elimination mark hadn’t appeared on me yet.
‘I was told to open or close the door after finding the medium.’
Door. I need to find an open door.
Senior Noah put me down on the floor with a calm face and then pointed to another window.
“The window was open.”
There was an open window next to the bed. That’s it.
“Melody, can you close the door?”
It was within Senior Noah’s reach, but he deliberately asked me to do it.
‘Surely… It can’t be that only I can open and close the door connecting the other world and the real world. That can’t be it, right?’
With uncertainty, I immediately closed the window.
As expected, this door was indeed ‘that door’ connecting the other world and the real world.
‘The student council president from 903 told me to be careful about closing doors. I guess this is really the reason why.’
Just then, Father Cesario returned.
He looked at the state of the prayer room and shook the bell in his hand with an exasperated expression.
Ding—
Then the priest closed the treatment room door and spat holy water in front of it.
“You spit too.”
Following him, I also spat out the holy water.
“Hey Hastings, are you alright?”
Father Cesario checked my condition.
Meanwhile, Senior Noah took out a handkerchief from his school uniform pocket and directly covered my nose with it.
“Your nose is bleeding.”
The priest told me with an unbelieving face.
‘Ah. It stings.’
I raised my forearm. As expected, a cross tattoo appears and disappears on my forearm.
Finally, they have completely vanished.
“Wait a moment.”
Father Cesario lifted my forearm with a suddenly serious face.
“What’s this? Why do you have this mark?”
He interrogated me in a more subdued voice. He must be talking about the vanishing mark.
“I don’t know either. It just suddenly appeared.”
Father Cesario, seeming to judge that I wasn’t lying, looked at my now smooth arm where the mark had disappeared with a serious face.
“This mark only appears when destroying evil spirits. I’ve read about it in the Bible. It’s my first time seeing it in person too. You probably wouldn’t find anyone who’s seen this even if you searched through all historical records.”
The priest, who had been looking at me with a contemplative face, made a somewhat meaningful comment.
“I think Melody would be more suited for the Student Council than the Disciplinary Committee.”
“What? Why?”
Senior Noah was still holding my nose. Blood continued to flow.
Now, it had even stained Senior Noah’s hand. Why is it flowing so much?
Senior Noah now takes out another handkerchief to cover my nose. It’s the first time I’ve seen a male student carrying two handkerchiefs.
Meanwhile, Father Cesario’s explanation continued.
“The Student Council is an unofficial ghost story investigation unit. As I said before, it’s rare to find someone like you who can see them even in normal circumstances.”
An unofficial ghost story investigation unit. It sounds like a title that would make the Disciplinary Committee faint and interfere if they found out.
‘I’ll have to keep it a secret.’
As I was making that resolution, the Student Council President, who was holding the handkerchief to my nose, stroked the back of my neck with his free hand.
“Tilt your head slightly forward.”
I obediently lowered my head as the senior instructed.
“I owe you one. Thanks to you, we solved the problem.”
“I’ll make sure to repay you later.”
I answered in a sulky voice.
Senior Noah, who was directly holding the handkerchief to my nose, raised his head.
Deep, cold cobalt eyes stared at me piercingly. I felt as if my mind was being thoroughly penetrated.
After a while, he finally answered.
“…Okay.”
“Shouldn’t we go to the hospital first?”
The priest, who had been watching us with his arms crossed and a disapproving look, threw in a comment.
I had momentarily forgotten that the priest was beside us. I shook my head to clear my thoughts and replied.
“Yes. I’ll go to the hospital first.”
Of course, I had no intention of going to the hospital. It seemed a bit much to go to the hospital for a nosebleed.
If I went to the hospital, I felt like the doctor would scold me again for feigning illness.
If you’re sick, you just need to take medicine.
There’s plenty of over-the-counter medicine in my dorm room, so that should suffice somehow.
“Let’s talk again after you’ve been to the hospital. I think we have a lot to discuss.”
I let Senior Noah’s words go in one ear and out the other. He seemed to have a lot to say to me, but I had nothing more to discuss.
Because he seemed to have no memory of the events of 903 at all.
Above all, Senior Noah and Father Cesario both needed my ability and were suspicious of it.
“I heard that you can freely cross the threshold to the other world. Not only can you see them, but you can also find the medium and even destroy them?”
Father Cesario, having heard from Senior Noah about what had happened to me, couldn’t hide his astonishment.
He meant arriving at school through the door of Chesswind Village. Opening the door in the elevator ghost story and returning directly to reality. Opening the lobby door of the hospital and moving to the cemetery hut, and so on.
“For an ordinary person, it’s something they might experience once in a lifetime, if at all. If you’ve already experienced it three times, it’s not an exaggeration to say you have the ability to cross thresholds.”
I don’t need such an ability.
It seems I’m really the only one who can control these doors.
The Student Council President added an explanation.
“As I said earlier, someone is intentionally causing ghost stories to occur at the school. It means that doors connecting to the other world keep opening. With your ability, you could close those doors before the ghost stories occur.”
It seems that in cases where ghost stories have already occurred, the troublesome and scary task of removing the medium and destroying them needs to be done.
That’s how to prevent casualties, they say.
“Why on earth do you have such an ability? You’re not even a clergy, and you don’t seem to have faith, even though you’ve been baptized.”
Father Cesario also expressed his doubts.
‘That’s too accurate.’
My baptism was forced by my late mother, and I didn’t believe in God.
‘Would they believe me if I told them I came from 903?’
After pondering, I cautiously spoke to them.
“Actually, I came from the future, one year ahead. From 903. That’s probably why I have these special abilities.”
Father Cesario and the Student Council President silently stared at me.
“You probably won’t believe me, but it’s true.”
An uncomfortable silence fell for a moment.
Father Cesario, who had been staring at me, finally opened his mouth after a while.
“Were you perhaps very uncomfortable with all the talk about ghost stories? I didn’t mean to pressure you.”
“There’s no need to reject it in such a roundabout way.”
The Student Council President added.
I knew this would happen. I knew they wouldn’t believe me. I closed my mouth with slightly sad eyes.
I shouldn’t bring this up again in the future. If even Father Cesario and the Student Council President, who talk about ghost stories and evil spirits, don’t believe it, how would other people react?
I let out a sigh.
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Thank you for reading! ♡
