Interlude: Club Level LV.5

“Bye bye.”

“See you tomorrow~”

That afternoon, after leaving school through the main gate with the club members, I pretended to head home before turning back toward the club room. Just as Deok-hoon had advised, I planned to spend points from now on to level up the club.

'They can't find out about this.'

Even Seon-ah, Gyeong-won, and Ha-yoon, who had come to accept the supernatural phenomena to some extent, knew nothing about this game-like system. There would come a time to tell them, but not now. So I headed to the club room alone.

The classrooms were quiet, with only a few seniors preparing for self-study. The school I'd attended before had mandatory evening study, but Nakseong High seemed more lenient—there weren't many people left. Students here often negotiated with the school to skip it, opting for hagwons or reading rooms instead, which they felt were better for studying. Of course, that required parental consent, so the seniors who hadn't reached an agreement stayed behind to prepare for self-study.

'That's horrifying. I've gotta get out of that for sure.'

Having already taken the college entrance exam and gotten into university in my previous life before regressing, I was barely enduring it since it was only a month into the new semester. But with my personality, I had no confidence in going through that grueling exam prep life again. I headed up to the club room, idly wishing the system that manipulated reality could somehow let me skip classes.

Creak—

Opening the door revealed the sunset over the city through the club room window.

“Who left the window open?”

I closed it and slowly looked around the club room. Desks, chairs, whiteboard. Simple but cozy—our Ghost Story Club's own space.

'No one's watching, right?'

I poked my head into the hallway. It was quiet, thankfully.

“Club status window!”

“Number 1. Club management.”

Last time, as a test, I'd leveled up the club and chosen space expansion to make the room bigger. The other options back then were probably Ghost Story Collection and Talent Accommodation. Names that didn't give much clue as to what they did.

“Today, I'll level up, unlock the shop, and grab those abilities one by one.”

I remembered that each level up let me pick one ability.

“Alright, level up!”

I pressed the level-up button floating in front of me hard with my finger. Points started draining away.

“Nice! Straight to level 5! Let's check out the shop!”

I kept smashing the level-up button up to 5.

“Yes! Let's go!”

The system followed a game format, but grinding points for one level took forever compared to MMORPGs where you could skyrocket levels in a day. So this rapid chain of level-ups felt exhilarating.

Suddenly, holographic firework effects burst in front of me, followed by a message.

“Phew, done.”

The shop was unlocked. And I'd gained three ability allocations as the level rose.

“Status window... status window... Hmm.”

I tried swiping back to check the new shop, but the screen wouldn't move.

“Guess I have to assign abilities first.”

It was like old classic games—forcing you to complete the prompted action before proceeding.

“Three... let's see.”

Perfectly, there were three abilities to choose from. Distributing one to each seemed fair.

“But space expansion... it was so cramped before that suddenly making it bigger once flew under the radar, but if it gets even larger now, it'll be too obvious.”

“What to do?”

I pondered briefly, but switching my thinking made it seem like an opportunity instead. I'd have to convince the others eventually anyway. If the club room suddenly doubled in size overnight! That could serve as proof later when explaining the game system. And honestly, I'd been hiding it out of worry for their reactions, but I wasn't doing anything wrong. Beating the Demon King and bringing peace to the world—was that something to hide? The moment to share all this weirdness with the members would come eventually, whether tomorrow or next month. For now, I decided to expand.

“Alright. One point each to all three abilities.”

I tapped them one by one.

The existing ability leveled up, and the other two were newly added.

Three abilities activated at once. Messages piled up like internet popups.

The top one was about space expansion.

“What, do I have to go out every time? Can't I stay inside?”

I grumbled, but the system didn't respond. Come to think of it, what happened inside the club room during loading?

“Now I'm curious.”

I thought about setting up my phone to record video inside and stepping out to check.

“Let's see.”

I carefully propped my phone on the desk and opened the door to leave.

“Angle's off. Better put it in the corner for a good view.”

As I closed the door again to adjust,

“Huh.”

The room started loading with me inside. Opening and closing the door must have been the trigger.

“Perfect, since I was curious.”

I wouldn't die, probably. Arms crossed, I stood by the door to observe the loading club room interior. The room began to shimmer faintly.

Flicker—

The whole space vibrated like an elevator, feeling like it was being transported somewhere. Like when your ears pop moving from low to high altitude, the scenery outside the window blurred past in an instant.

Flicker— Flicker—

It felt like ascending somewhere for a long time, ears aching, so I swallowed to pop them.

Fwoosh—

“Ugh, what the—.”

Suddenly, the sunlight from the window vanished. The room plunged into pitch black. Panicking, I fumbled for the light switch.

Click—

The bulb flickered on unsteadily. Now I could see the changing interior.

Clank— Clunk—

Tiles stood up like falling dominoes, flipping and replacing themselves. Walls divided into squares, pushing out one by one to expand the space.

It reminded me of Transformers. Cars shifting into robots, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠parts flipping and folding wildly—just like the club room transforming.

The desk sank into the churning floor tiles, then rose again in what seemed the new center.

Thud!

“Ow, my shin!”

Standing right at the edge, I got smacked by the rising desk corner and rolled on the floor. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Then the whiteboard dropped from the ceiling, spinning to smack my head.

Whack!

“Aaaagh! Fuck!”

That's why it told me to go outside. The instruction was the system's consideration for the user.

Regaining my wits, I staggered up and approached the window. I remembered that during loading, the windows fogged up from outside, hiding the interior. And why had it suddenly gone dark? Was the whole space being moved somewhere? Curiosity surged to check before loading finished.

“Hmm, pitch black.”

Dodging shaking tiles, hunching my legs, I peered through the closed window. Nothing but inky darkness. Far, far away in that void, something faintly twinkled.

“A star?”

It had been daytime earlier. What the hell? Squinting, I scanned around. Where was this? Where had the club room been transported for loading?

“What's that?”

Something sparkled at the window's corner, too far and at a bad angle to identify. Leaning closer might help, but the window wouldn't budge.

Pressing my face flat against the glass, fogging it with my breath, I finally made it out. It was... a cluster of strangely shaped, shimmering somethings... a nebula.

“Space?”

Science textbook images flashed: Pillars of Creation, Horsehead Nebula... interstellar clouds floating in dark space, glowing in various forms. Was I in space? But the nebula's shape was odd.

'Ah, upside down.'

Twisting my head while pressing my cheek, the full picture emerged.

'...The Demon King.'

In the pitch-black heart of the universe loomed an unimaginably massive molecular cloud shaped like the Demon King.

100%

Fwoosh—

The scenery shifted abruptly, light flooding in, forcing me to squint. Slowly opening my eyes, the usual playground appeared outside. Loading complete, back to normal space.

Thud.

I collapsed into a chair. What the hell was that? Some universe-scale... living thing? Why was the nebula shaped like that? And where in the universe had that been? If such a nebula existed, it'd be in magazines, but I'd never heard of it. Beyond humanity's observation tech... incredibly, incredibly far away. The opposite end of the universe?

“Whew.”

Another incomprehensible sight. Shaking my head, I looked around. The club room was noticeably larger now—like from a tiny studio to a decent apartment living room. Big enough for two groups to sit separately. One side for meetings at a table, the other partitioned off for watching TV.

The blinking message urged me to click.

“Whew. Fine, clicking.”

“What? No, fuck! Stop!”

Thud.

Ghost Story Collection literally collected ghost stories. And graded ones meant the real-deal entities I'd been fighting.

“No way... Even staying still, I've dodged death ten times a month. Now members will bring them on purpose?”

“How does this even... fuck!”

Cursing the innocent system got no reply. Sighing, I skipped the message, hoping Talent Accommodation would be useful.

'Oho!'

Talent Accommodation! This seemed useful. Unlike space expansion or death-magnet Ghost Story Collection, this felt practically helpful.

“Detective!”

A detective on our side! Great news. These ghost stories killed five or six per encounter—no joke. A cop, especially a detective, as backup would make future ops way easier.

All messages read. I sat blankly waiting, but nothing happened.

“Where's the detective?”

Hand over the detective, fuck. Shaking the system did nothing. No immediate change, so probably like when I first got the club room—it'd connect naturally over time.

“Phew, good. Time to wrap up.”

Only the shop left! Stretching in my seat before checking, I felt an odd vibe and glanced at the door. Someone was there.

Peering through the glass panel in the door center—Advisor Jang Hwa-eun.

'Since when?'

She stared piercingly without moving. Heart sinking, I rapidly brainstormed. Had I done anything suspicious? Quick memory scan: Waving fingers at thin air, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fumbling alone—but the system windows were invisible to others. Space expansion fogged the windows during loading.

'As long as the bigger room isn't noticed, no big deal.'

After mental checks confirming nothing off, I relaxed and waved casually at the glass.

“Hey, Teacher~ You scared me! What're you doing out there?”

She stared wide-eyed, no reply.

Ghost Story Club