Chapter 22: Fifth Ghost Story - The Endless 4th Period (4)
"And! Those Japanese bastards drove stakes into our land everywhere, blocking all our vital energy! These days everyone's doing No Japan! Don't spend money on Japan, please! Do your research......"
While the history teacher spat out his tenth tirade, I sank into quiet thought.
This time, they want me to figure it out? 'With what? How the hell am I supposed to do that?'
But I'd been the one to push him into this first.
'Sigh.'
I crossed my arms behind my head and let out a sigh, teacher be damned.
An Gyeong-won. If I get the chance, I'll smack him one.
'But what do I do right now? I don't know jack about ghost stories.'
He'd seen it all firsthand beside me—he knew that better than anyone. So why test me like this? Tell me to come up with something?
Unless... this situation could be figured out with plain common sense alone.
And then.
'I was wrong? All of it?'
All my guesses about this bizarre mess so far—wrong.
I started retracing every claim I'd made, step by step.
First, the clock stopped. Then the whole school vanished. Ghost stories hit us in a jumbled order, and every time we died, we kept rewinding time.
Flip that around?
The clock didn't stop. The school didn't vanish. We're not rewinding time?
'How could that even be?'
It made zero logical sense. No, this wasn't the only thing that didn't add up.
The Demon King was supposed to appear three years from now. If we'd heard the announcement during the blackout and stayed in class, we should've lived. Where the hell did the smiling woman come from? And why were four of us regressing together, not just me......
'No, it's not regression.'
I recalled Gyeong-won's words and corrected my thinking.
Right. Unfathomable as it was, we weren't regressing.
What else had I said? When I grabbed his collar.
'No way.'
I shot to my feet.
"Smash the Nintendos... Huh? What's up?"
"...Student?"
The teacher faltered, mid-rant, staring at me. The whole class's eyes snapped my way.
What's with him? Lee Joon, right? Why'd he stand up? No idea.
Whispers rippled.
Thud. Thud.
I ignored them, weaving between desks to Gyeong-won at the front.
"Hey, student? Student?"
I brushed off the teacher's protests and stopped behind him.
Leaned in close to his back.
"This isn't reality."
"...Heh heh."
Gyeong-won chuckled softly, still facing away.
"Then? If it's not reality?"
I drew a breath.
"It's a dream. The teacher here. The school. The whole class. All of it."
"Heh heh."
"You, me, Seon-ah, and Ha-yoon. Everyone else is just dream characters."
"Can you prove it?"
The softly laughing guy, still turned away.
"Go on. Prove it."
I'd prove it in a way he couldn't deny. Empirical this, that—screw it. I had a talent you couldn't mimic. Not with your straight-laced, knowledge-stuffing type.
"...Hey, student?"
The class buzzed, eyes on me.
"Student? Not a dream. Sit down, ahem."
The teacher looked mortified.
"Hating school that much? Calling it a dream. Ha ha... Huh? Sit, please."
Murmurs swelled. Classmates stared in disbelief.
Seon-ah looked shocked; beside her, Ha-yoon focused on me.
"Don't just stand there—go back. Calm down. Still gotta finish the Japan talk."
"No, it's a dream. Why should I sit? It's my dream—I do what I want."
"I-it's not, so sit down."
The teacher tried gently.
I feigned confusion.
"Really? It's not?"
"No, it's not. No idea what you're mixed up about, but sit."
"For real, not a dream?"
"Hey, it's not. Ha ha."
Classmates whispered, snickered. Look at him. Weird.
"Seriously? Not a dream?"
"You're embarrassing me! Not a dream—it's reality! Please!"
"But what if it is a dream! I don't wanna study even in one!"
"Kid! Then what if it's reality! It's real—so sit down!"
"You're a dream character, that's why you say that!!"
"You punk! I'm real, that's why! Go sit—now!"
"No no! I'm sticking with dream!"
"Sit down! What're you doing at 17!"
"Really not a dream—reality?"
"Yeeeeeeeees! Reaaaaaaality!"
"You swear?"
"I sweeeeear!"
"Really?"
"I'd swear on my life! Not a dream—reeeeal!"
"Then what's the time now?"
"Obviously 36,580 o'clock, duh!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"What time?"
"20,936 o'clock! I can say it a million times!"
"Got it. Then tell me the year, month, day? My memory's shot."
"Of courrrrrse!"
The teacher's face flushed purple as he bellowed.
"30,952 years, 14 months, 067,900th day, obviously!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Silence blanketed the room.
Ha-yoon slowly raised her hand, voice clear.
"Teacher, the numbers are weird."
The history teacher stared blankly into space.
"Are they? Busted, huh."
Thud thud—scrape—
Stoic, he gathered his textbook and bag, then slipped out.
Seon-ah gaped at the open door in disbelief.
"Whew."
I sighed, circled the podium to Gyeong-won's side.
Told the broad-shouldered class rep—Gyeong-won's desk mate.
"Hey, move."
"Huh."
He stood blankly. I sat.
"Satisfied?"
"...President."
Gyeong-won grinned, pleased.
"Using your head."
Seon-ah and Ha-yoon stood, came over. Ha-yoon gestured at our back-row pair; they vacated blankly.
We four turned chairs, facing each other.
Other students stared blankly, motionless.
"W-what's going on? I don't get it......" Seon-ah eyed them nervously, sweating.
I explained to her, step by step, like jogging her memory.
"When did we first notice something off, Seon-ah?"
"Uh... In the club room, telling scary stories, checked the clock and it was stopped......"
I nodded.
"How'd we get to the club room?"
She tilted her head at the odd question.
"After lunch, CA time... went up?"
"Nope."
"If it was CA time, one thing's weird."
She pondered, then looked puzzled.
"Weird? What?"
"The other members."
"Other... members? ...Oh!"
Her eyes widened in realization.
"Jin-hee!"
"Right."
I nodded, adding,
"And Jang Hwa-eun, our advisor."
Yeah. Haven't met her yet, but she's officially listed. First club activity—she should've been there guiding us.
And Jin-hee. Sneaking off or not, CA time means everyone heads to clubs unless special circumstances like Ha-yoon's.
But those two were missing. We'd hung out as a trio all week, no red flags—but if it was real CA time, their absence was glaring.
"It's a dream within a dream."
I summed it up.
"Seen Inception?"
"No."
"Movie about dreaming inside dreams. Haven't? Ever had sleep paralysis?"
"Yeah, a few times......"
"Ever think you woke up in a dream, but nope—still dreaming?"
"In a... dream."
She gazed up, thinking.
"A few... no, often. Morning, I wake up, wash, brush... but dream. Then rush to prep, and that's a dream......"
She blushed mid-sentence. Messy sleep schedule—common for her chronic morning lateness.
"That's what's happening. Each 'wake-up' loops us to the dream's start. Easiest way out? Die."
"We thought deaths rewound time—but we're just false-waking from nested dreams, repeating the same one."
Seon-ah's mouth fell open in shock.
Yeah. No regression.
Prime clue:
[Restarting from Checkpoint.]
[Loading...]
Every death, fading consciousness—those words floated hazily beyond memory before reset.
But not this time. No matter how many deaths.
"A dream? All together? How......"
"Sorry. No clue on that."
I shrugged at Gyeong-won.
He nodded, satisfied.
"Heh, President. Good explanation."
Passed the baton, adjusting glasses.
"The stopped clock, teacher's glitch? That's an RC check."
"RC check?"
"Reality Check. 'Inspecting reality.'"
Explanation mode kicking in—his glasses gleamed.
"Brain sleeps, cognition gets sloppy. Dream logic feels solid—waking review? Nonsense."
"...So?"
"Numbers glitch worst. Test dream vs. reality with 'em."
He pulled his phone.
"What time is it?"
11:35.
"11:35... stopped, huh."
"Not stopped. Check repeatedly."
He covered numbers, uncovered.
12:28.
Then 05:73. 13:24. 75:52.
Look away, look back—changed every time.
"See? Sleeping brain sucks at numbers. Emotions flow real, math? Nah."
"No way......" Seon-ah blinked at her own clock.
"11:35? Last real time one of us checked pre-dream. Sticks in memory—pops up first. Chain-check? Changes."
"Wild."
"That's why dream-you forgets family numbers, door codes, account digits."
"Whoa."
Seon-ah hung on every word.
"President chased teacher out flipping RC—brilliant. Gotta admit it."
"Joon knew......"
Gyeong-won beamed; Seon-ah gazed admiringly. Ha-yoon propped her chin, eyes on me.
I scratched my head.
"Eh, no biggie. Point is, what now?"
"Yeah, that's the issue."
Gyeong-won sighed.
"What d'you wanna do, President?"
"Huh?"
Eyes turned to me.
What? Why me?
"Why ask me? You knew it was a dream ages ago. Made me guess. You know the exit, right?"
"Well......"
Another sigh.
"Dream-in-dream ghost stories I know? All 'woke up somehow' endings."
"Huh?"
We gawked; he fiddled glasses.
"Wandered nightmare, woke up. That's it."
"Dude, you......"
Heat rising. Testing me without knowing himself!
"All cocky—'figure it out'—"
"...Sorry, President. Pride got me."
"That's not how you apologize."
I rolled sleeves.
"Glasses off. Bite your molars."
Like steeling himself, he removed glasses, squeezed eyes shut.
"Here goes."
"Joon-ah......!"
No time for Seon-ah's protest—I swung hard at his forehead.
Whoosh—smack!
"Ow!"
He flinched, rubbing it, bewildered.
Expected harder, huh.
"Let's drop the rivalry, get along. Gyeong-won."
The rich kid stared.
I'm better match for lazy schemer than straight-A tryhard—but infighting kills team. End it here.
"Shake on it."
I offered; he eyed, then clasped slowly.
"Done."
"Keep explaining. Why think I'd know?"
"Right......"
He snapped to, adjusting glasses.
"Thought you'd know 'cause of questions you hit me with. Your thinking style."
Questions? Oh. Announcement ghost story. Mom ghost. And smiling woman manual—though he forgot.
I'd lobbed wild ones plenty. Zero horror knowledge.
"My type? Swallows info raw, crams knowledge. Your gaps? Total panic."
"Figured you got a unique angle no crammer like me could match. Wanted that."
Sunlight glinted off glasses—pace reclaimed. High pride, quick to concede.
"Ingredients ready. Ghost story ID, plot, setup—all. Mix 'em into a solution."
"Overwhelming, I know. Think."
"Me?"
"Feels like you can. Gut says so."
His analysis conclusion.
'I can do it......'
I swallowed, leaned back. Seon-ah watched eagerly. Ha-yoon intrigued.
My 'unique angle'? My innate cunning.
Flattering, embarrassing. But true.
Setup this clear—no more facts needed. Time for twisting clues.
'And I'm the guy for it, huh.'
Hmm. Looping dream. How to wake?
Dying? No—false wake only.
Rampage? Tried running, shocks, dismemberment— nada.
Then.
One way left?
"Got an idea."
"What?"
Seon-ah perked. Three faces turned.
"Think opposite."
Ghost Story Club