Sacrificial Choices
Posted by: Ares
Title: Fuck, No Way
Why the hell did it turn out like this???
I can't sleep because this shit pisses me off so much???
Up until now, the choices were basically "pick the obviously easy option" traps, right?
They felt kinda off even back then.
After seeing today's post, it clicked.
Posted by: Hikikomori
Title: Why Ares Is Offering Himself
Either way, he's screwed.
Here's why I think this:
2. The ghost story is deliberately forcing that choice.
1. Running naked
2. Secretly holding hands with a girl
3. Talking alone in a dark room at night
4. Touching a girl's chest while looking in the mirror
5. Buying a doll
6. Sleeping with the closet open and blanket over your head
From 3 onward, the ghost story shows its true colors.
Talking to yourself at night is a classic way to summon ghosts.
Looking in the mirror is the same.
The chest-touching might've been a fake, but the mirror part feels like it's marking him as prey.
From 5 onward, it feels like it's preparing for the real thing.
The doll's purpose is unclear, but the last choice—open closet and blanket over the head—is the most suspicious.
Closets are perfect hiding spots for ghosts, and covering yourself with a blanket is like announcing you're dead.
This thing wants Ares to willingly offer his body or soul.
I knew something felt off.
“Haa…”
Monday morning.
I sat on the edge of my bed and let out a deep sigh.
Reading that creepy ghost story analysis last night had left me in an even darker mood.
‘The only thing that changed in the diary is Noel’s death being added…’
If things keep going like this, I’ll end up offering myself up.
The only remaining option is to pass the ghost story on to someone else, just like Noel did.
‘But Noel’s dead, so I don’t even know how…’
I was stuck.
Ghost stories are usually this nasty, but this time it felt like a dead end.
Posted by: Ares
Title: What if I just hole up in my room??
The choices seem to manipulate people.
What if I ask the nuns at the cathedral to let me hide and keep everyone away??
You’re the one summoning the ghost with your actions.
If you’re around people, those actions get restricted, so school’s actually safer.
Staying alone in my room was ruled out.
The more isolated I was, the higher the chance the ghost story would push me into summoning choices.
So in the end, I went to school like usual.
‘Maybe I should just spend the nights at school for a while…’
I’d sleep in a school locker until I figured out how to deal with the ghost story.
‘No… even that would eventually get hit with a choice from the Jang-san-beom grandma.’
If the worst happened and I had to leave the locker because of a choice, I could die.
That plan went straight into the trash.
“Hey, did you hear…? Someone committed suicide again yesterday…”
“Why are these things happening so often lately…?”
When I arrived at school and entered the classroom, several students were talking about Noel’s suicide from yesterday.
Word had spread fast because of how shocking it was.
“Alright, morning homeroom starts now. Everyone take your seats.”
The homeroom teacher walked in shortly after.
One student had killed themselves, yet everything looked completely normal.
That was just how Wonder Academy worked.
Then—
“Now, for the absentees… huh? Whose seat is empty?”
“It’s Lana. She hasn’t shown up yet.”
“Is she late? She’s never been like this before.”
Lana hadn’t come to school.
‘……What?’
Was she absent? Or just late?
Either way, it was the first time she’d done something like this, so it bothered me.
‘She didn’t get dragged into another ghost story without me knowing, right…?’
Because of the choice ghost story, I hadn’t been paying much attention to the girls I was close with.
Except for Ellie, who was tied to the diary, I’d been trying to avoid getting them involved.
So there was a chance Lana had gotten caught up in something else.
“Alright, that’s all for announcements…”
Just as homeroom was ending—
Creak.
“Oh, what? Latecomer, huh?”
“Sorry. I overslept.”
“First time, so I’ll let it slide. Skip the greeting and get ready for class.”
Lana walked into the classroom.
She was late, not absent.
‘Wait, why am I relieved? She’s a supernatural being anyway.’
…Why did I keep forgetting that?
Lana was a ghost.
In a situation where my life was on the line, there was no reason to worry about her too.
But…
“……”
Before first period started, I couldn’t stop worrying, so I walked over to Lana as she organized her bag.
“Ah, Ares. Hi. What’s up?”
She looked up at me and smiled brightly.
But—
One of her cheeks was slightly red.
“You…”
The sight made my stomach drop.
“Who did that…?”
Heat rushed to my head for no reason.
“Who hit you?”
“Really, it’s nothing~.”
“…You were hit. Who was it?”
“……”
It was strange.
This wasn’t the time to care about something like this.
With my life hanging by a thread, all my attention was fixated on the red mark on Lana’s cheek.
“Hmm~.”
Lana gave me her usual mischievous smile and looked away, thinking.
A moment later—
“Wanna skip class for a bit?”
“What…?”
She stood up, grabbed my hand, and led me out of the classroom.
I didn’t know what was going on, but I followed, assuming it had something to do with her red cheek.
We ended up at the east staircase on the fifth floor—the usual spot where we ate lunch together.
Hardly anyone passed by, so it was perfect for talking.
“So who was it? Who hit you?”
The moment we arrived, I asked right away.
“Why? If I tell you, will you get revenge for me?”
“……”
Lana tilted her head and stared at me, clearly knowing the answer.
“Ares, do you like me?”
Then she suddenly asked something completely out of left field.
“Wh-what?! No?!”
“……Hearing an instant denial hurts, you know.”
“……”
The person claiming to be hurt was smiling in a way that somehow pissed me off.
“Be honest. You like me, right?”
“……I said no.”
“Then why do you care that I got hit? If you don’t like me.”
“…We’re friends.”
“Huuung~.”
A predictable question, a predictable answer.
When she heard the word “friends,” Lana glared at me with narrowed eyes, clearly displeased.
She looked away for a moment, thinking, then smiled and said—
“Hey, Ares. Wanna play a game?”
Out of nowhere, she brought up something completely unrelated to our conversation.
“…A game?”
“Yeah, you know balance game?”
“……”
I knew it.
Actually, it would’ve been weirder if I didn’t, given my current situation.
The choice ghost story I was dealing with was basically a balance game.
‘Don’t tell me…’
Was the ghost story about to activate through Lana right now?
I tensed up and looked at her.
Lana immediately asked—
“I’ll go first. A girl with huge breasts but an extremely obsessive personality, or a girl with normal breasts but who’s a perfect wife. Which one?”
“……”
It wasn’t.
Just a normal, playful balance game.
…I felt like I’d wasted my tension.
“…The one with big breasts.”
“……Tch.”
“Kyaah!! Why’d you kick me?!”
“Just because.”
The moment I answered, I got a shin kick.
The same kind soldiers got in the military.
Since I didn’t have the puppet doll’s protection, the pain lingered.
“Okay, now it’s Ares’ turn.”
“……Me?”
“Yeah, we take turns. You have to ask.”
“……How does this even end?”
“Hmm~, since we don’t have time, let’s say it ends when you ask?”
“……”
I stared at Lana while rubbing my shin, dumbfounded.
No matter how I thought about it, the guy who hit her cheek had nothing to do with this game.
“Haa, if I do this, you’ll tell me why your cheek’s like that.”
“Okay.”
“……”
At least she promised to answer once the game ended.
“Umm…”
I thought for a moment.
What question should I ask?
‘Well, that’s not what’s important right now anyway…’
What mattered was who hit Lana.
So I came up with a random question.
“Then… a guy who only likes one person but has a trash personality, and—”
And then—
“……”
Right as I was about to ask—
Something flashed through my mind.
“……”
“……”
“……”
“Ares?”
“……Huh?”
“A guy who only likes one person but has a bad personality, and…?”
“……”
When I suddenly went quiet, Lana urged me to continue.
“……”
But I didn’t say anything.
Why?
“What~, hurry up and say it~. Class is gonna start.”
“……”
It was just a gut feeling.
But it was definitely a gut feeling with reason behind it.
And that reason was probably…
Lana’s smile.
That smile that looked like she was expecting something, like she’d made up her mind.
“Lana…”
“……”
So I asked something else instead.
“—Who hit your cheek? Answer me.”
“……”
Lana’s sudden suggestion to play a balance game.
At first, I thought it had nothing to do with the guy who hit her.
But I was wrong.
It was connected.
And probably—
—connected to the ghost story I was currently experiencing.
‘Noel passed the ghost story to me by asking a two-choice question…’
The trigger was exactly the same as right now.
Maybe Lana was trying to do the opposite of Noel—take the ghost story from me?
“Who hit you?”
“……”
“Why suddenly suggest this game?”
“……”
“Answer me.”
Lana didn’t answer any of my questions.
She just looked at me, her smile gone.
Then—
“Hmph, this is boring.”
“What…?”
“I’m leaving. Thanks to you stalling, class is starting.”
“Hey, answer first!”
“No.”
She turned around on her own and walked away down the stairs.
Watching her go, I became certain my guess was right.
I already knew from the board game incident that Lana checked the gallery regularly.
She must’ve figured out the choice ghost story I was dealing with through that.
And just now, through that balance game—
She tried to take the ghost story from me.
‘But why…?’
Lana was a ghost.
She wanted to kill me.
So why would she willingly put herself in danger…
To save me?
Lana had helped me several times.
When I spent the night at school, during the movie theater ghost story, and during the board game ghost story.
‘Why does she keep helping me…?’
Was it all just to seduce me so she could be chosen at the graduation ceremony?
So she could kill me?
“……”
No, that wasn’t what mattered right now.
I could think about why Lana wanted to help me later.
What mattered now was—
—that Lana knew how to pass on the choice ghost story.
And that she probably met the conditions for it.
If it could be passed to anyone, she wouldn’t have gone out of her way to make me pass it to her.
‘Then what are the conditions…?’
I thought hard.
But I still couldn’t figure it out.
The difference between Noel passing it to me—
and me passing it to Lana.
I couldn’t think of any common point.
Then…
‘I’ll just ask the guy Lana found out from.’
I headed straight down the stairs.
But I wasn’t going to the classroom.
I was heading outside the school.
Posted by: Ares
Title: Thinking about it
Shouldn’t I have thought about where Noel got it from in the first place??
then there’s someone who cast it.
And if they cast it, they’d know how to pass it on too.
Lana had arrived at the classroom right as homeroom was ending.
And she’d been slapped.
My guess was that she’d learned how to pass on the ghost story from the person who hit her.
So who was the one who hit her?
It wasn’t a difficult question.
Someone connected to Noel, who held a grudge against both Noel and me, and who would cast a ghost story on us.
And someone who wouldn’t have been in the classroom during homeroom—a delinquent.
I headed to the back of the school building.
There, a few delinquent students were gathered.
Among them was a familiar face.
“Fuck, first thing in the morning…”
“You okay?”
“No, ah… it stings…”
The male student I’d beaten up last time when he was chasing Noel—he was wiping the back of his neck with a handkerchief.
Blood on it suggested he’d been injured there.
But that wasn’t what mattered right now.
“Hey.”
“Huh…?”
I walked up to him and immediately kicked him in the stomach.
“Kuhk!”
As he collapsed with a stupid sound, I climbed on top of him and grabbed him by the collar.
The flustered Jaden looked up at me and shouted—
“What the fuck!! What now—!!”
The moment he saw my face, he went pale.
Then he started blurting out answers without even being asked.
“W-wait wait wait!! I’ll tell you!! I’ll tell you how!!”
“……”
He seemed to already know what I was going to ask.
“That curse…!! The way to pass it on is…!!”
But—
“Shut up and get hit first.”
“Wait wait!! Just talk…!! Just talk—!!”
He didn’t seem to understand why I was hitting him.
Imagining this bastard slapping Lana’s cheek made my blood boil all the way to my head.