Chapter 78
Chapter 78
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: Infirmary Camouflage
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Dark 4th-floor corridor.
Students standing in a row like mannequins.
And me, carefully stepping forward after pre-calculating the standard reach of their hands.
‘Whew.’
For now, I unfolded the item neatly tucked in my pocket and wrapped it around my vital spots.
‘Armor.’ Purchased from the alien shop.
The baggy packaging slipped inside my old high school uniform.
‘The Nostalgia series doesn’t heal wounds or contamination incurred while it’s equipped.’
Time to be even more careful.
I shifted my feet with utmost caution, avoiding any overlap with the dolls’ zones.
Taking up less space actually made it a bit easier in some ways. Solo navigation like this might boost survival odds on the 4th floor.
“……”
I wonder if the bronze agent and Mr. Jang Heo-un made it out okay.
‘They’d prioritize linking up with the others.’
The agent wasn’t foolish enough to head to the 5th floor with just two people, so they were probably searching for survivors on the 4th.
From the vibe, they didn’t seem the type to take Mr. Jang Heo-un prisoner.
‘Even if they did, I did all I could, buddy...’
I walked all the way to the end of the corridor.
“Phew.”
I reached the stairs I’d climbed earlier with my colleague and the agent.
And...
Started descending back down.
Backtracking the exact path I’d taken.
Why, you ask?
To be brutally honest, the info items scattered throughout this school aren’t something I need.
‘I’ve already got them all memorized.’
It’s no different from having already collected and reviewed every one.
I know everything right up to the moment this ghost story concludes.
Why the school ended up like this. What its theme is. Just what these students really are.
So there’s only one thing I actually need.
‘The key item that unlocks the highest-grade clear.’
And that’s where I’m headed now.
‘By now... it should have been ‘created’ just as needed.’
I halted at the landing.
The 3rd floor below was eerily silent.
“……”
Because they’d all become corpses.
Under the glaring lights, blood-drenched bodies lay mangled in horrific states, exposed in stark clarity.
Most of those in school uniforms on this floor seemed to be dead.
‘Any surviving agents would’ve moved elsewhere by now.’
And at least the students who’d swarmed the staff room appeared to have all been deemed immobile and broadcast on the death announcement.
“Phew.”
Beyond the gruesomeness, a chilling dread settled in—like standing amid a disaster site littered with dozens of fresh corpses.
‘Calm down.’
This is a dream... All of it’s just a dream...
I repeated it to myself as I descended the stairs, rapidly scanning both ends of the corridor and the staff room opposite in alternation.
And there it was—my target.
In that split second I glanced away.
A student had changed position—now inside the staff room.
“...!”
Not pursuing me, of course.
That particular entity was far too wretched for that.
Both arms shattered, one leg in compound fracture, abdomen soaked in blood.
Yet it seemed to retain just enough ‘consciousness’ to tilt its head my way...
“……”
I scanned the surroundings.
‘No signs of other students showing up... Perfect.’
I headed for the staff room.
And approached right up to the one sprawled near the front door.
Bleached hair, piercings—the quintessential delinquent vibe. But any menace from its appearance was nullified by the injuries.
“……”
Man, this is straight-up madness.
I grabbed the ‘student’ with both hands and slung it over my shoulder like baggage.
“Whew.”
Carrying it this way kept it in my peripheral vision.
‘Insane.’
Hauling a multi-dozen-kilo killing machine like luggage wasn’t exactly a walk in the park mentally.
Physically, though? Manageable. The Nostalgia candy rolled around in my mouth.
‘And... destination reached.’
I had the route mapped out in my head.
This chaos probably thinned out students on the 3rd floor, but better safe—move quick.
Flashlight clenched in my teeth, hand grazing the wall, I pressed forward.
The high-powered beam cut through the blackout, illuminating the entire corridor.
Blood everywhere still choked the air, though.
Even so.
Destination in sight.
Slide.
I let the name tag my colleague had given me drop silently to the floor, then quietly opened the door and slipped into the infirmary.
Three curtained beds stood side by side near the window.
Two already cast shadows within.
“……”
I advanced slowly.
In passing, my eyes caught the whiteboard notice stuck to the infirmary door.
“……”
An odd feeling washed over me.
‘There it is.’
That was the exact clue—the one that compelled me to pen the next entry in this ghost story’s exploration record.
The 12th exploration record, left by the previous explorer.
Something about it had felt off from the start.
‘Like the previous writer left it intentionally.’
By the ghost story’s lore, explorers are ‘students from another school.’
Outsiders.
So...
-What if you laid down an actual Se-gwang Industrial High School student?
That nagging question sparked the imagination that drove me to write the 13th record...
‘My heart was racing then.’
And it pounded now too.
Tension, terror, anticipation—impossible to tell.
I took a deep breath and parted the curtain on the one shadowless bed.
Laid the student on the pristine cot.
Lines from my penned record overlapped in my mind.
The student might manage a joint twitch if I forced it, but its posture stayed awkward.
I draped a blanket over it and stepped out of the infirmary. Spent a few dozen seconds in the blood-slick corridor, clutching my hammering heart.
‘Then...’
After the wait, lightly knock on the infirmary door and re-enter...
It matched perfectly.
“……”
Awe or dread—I couldn’t tell which—as I approached the sole uncurtained bed.
The bleached-hair student I’d dragged in lay sprawled on it, now in gym clothes.
Bandages and splints neatly applied.
Not even glancing my way.
‘Right here...’
The original record claimed it was ‘found while thoroughly searching the area.’
Slide.
I yanked open the bedside drawer at once.
A neatly folded school uniform sat inside.
The very uniform belonging to the student on the bed.
Missing buttons and fraying were unavoidable, but the blood and grime had somehow been impeccably laundered...
‘Ha.’
My heart thundered.
Without turning to the student, I snatched an A4 sheet from the infirmary supplies and scrawled:
"Lend me your uniform for a bit
-The transfer student who brought you to the infirmary"
I folded the note tight, tucked it into the drawer where the uniform had been, and pulled out the uniform instead.
“……”
Glancing back, the student lay there still, eyes shut, in gym clothes.
Sound asleep, like any person.
‘Perfect.’
I stripped quickly.
Hurled my original high school uniform out the infirmary window, then donned the ‘borrowed’ Se-gwang Industrial High School uniform.
Our builds matched well enough—it fit decently.
Once fully dressed in the vintage-style uniform.
Slide.
“……”
The drawer slid open behind me.
I turned. A reply waited on the note in the drawer.
"What grade and class are you?"
“……”
I swallowed hard, steadying my shaking hand to write.
The exact profile I’d jotted on the back of my high school photo for entry.
And the class where I’d first opened my eyes.
1st Year, Class 5.
That instant.
The whole world went dark.
“...!”
Absolute blackness shrouded my vision for a moment, then my adapting eyes faintly traced the world’s contours.
Emergency lights and the dim glow of an LED clock barely delineating the space... the school infirmary.
And.
Tap tap.
“...!”
Someone tapped my shoulder.
I whipped around.
A student sat on the bed with a bored expression, prodding my shoulder.
The bleached-hair kid naturally withdrew its hand.
Yes.
Naturally.
With achingly human motion, it snatched my A4 sheet and pen, maneuvered its bandaged arm, scribbled swiftly, and thrust it back.
"Transfer student?
Unlucky bastard."
Then it lay back down.
Perfectly natural, like any person drifting off to sleep.
“……”
Face rigid, I rose from my spot.
Slide.
Stepped out the infirmary door.
The world remained shrouded in darkness.
Yet everything felt uncannily vivid...
An awakened state where even airborne dust motes were visible.
A bizarre conviction seeped from the uniform into my very core.
“……”
Out in the corridor, I scooped up the name tag I’d dropped upon entry and pocketed it.
The name tag gleamed strangely now, unlike before. Amid the pitch black, gore, and splatter, fear felt oddly absent.
But...
Something at the far end.
“...!”
Something peeked from the 2nd-Year Class 7 classroom.
Silhouettes unmistakably human.
But their entire forms writhed grotesquely.
Like pixels glitching manifested in reality—like ghouls from a horror flick, utterly nightmarish.
Clad in decaying uniform scraps, they resembled botched errors in the world’s code...
And the moment they locked eyes on me.
“...!”
I froze.