Chapter 80
Chapter 80
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: In the Black Shade
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Alright. Let's sort this out.
The monster right in front of me... that is, the person whose pixels had smeared together into a horrific mess, was definitely my coworker and fellow newbie, Go Yeongeun.
The mountain goat mask was clearly visible.
'I feel kinda sorry for blasting that flashlight at full power right in her face...'
I gritted my teeth and tried to focus on the mask instead of the revulsion.
The problem was that normal communication was impossible!
I couldn't speak, and I couldn't properly hear what the other person was saying either...
'Ugh.'
It felt like errors were flooding my head too. This was driving me insane.
In the end, after pondering communication methods, I pulled out the pen I'd brought from my pocket and wrote on the floor, avoiding looking at her as much as possible.
Mountain Goat?
And then I waited silently.
"Go Yeongeun" stared at me again, and the moment I froze...
A response came back on the A4 paper on the floor.
Deer?? Do you have a sense of self right now? Can you move on your own?
'Phew.'
Good enough.
I turned to the monster... no, "Go Yeongeun," and wrote my reply.
Yes. I can.
I'm not contaminated, so don't worry. Though I was a bit concerned how this would come across, since even a contaminated person might say the same thing...
I'm exploiting the gimmick in this ghost story.
Gimmick?
Yes.
How should I explain this?
'In a place like this... probably best to go straight for the answer.'
My colleague in front of me was sharp, no doubt about it. After some agonizing, I skipped the preamble and wrote it out directly.
The key to every bit of foreshadowing in this world's lore.
The solution to this ghost story.
This is a school where a horror game has become reality.
.
The registered wiki entry name for this ghost story, and the name of the game that's the root cause of every incident in this nightmare version of Sekwang Industrial High School.
The hints were in the exploration records we'd found in the staff room and certain classrooms.
■ Month ■■ Day Confiscated Items List: Game Console
Obtained from the 1st-year staff room. When powered on, a brief pixelated image of the school at midnight flashes on screen before shutting off.
Notes in the right corner of Class 2-3's blackboard on the 3rd floor:
That guy's the teacher?
Note dropped on the music room floor:
Small scribble in the corner.
-Woke up and why am I at school? (Surprised dog scribble) Graduation prep? What does this mean? It's May right now?
And so on with scraps of paper and items.
You could even find the student's class and desk where the console was confiscated, rummage through the bag, and see the empty game case with the storyline blurb on the back...
It all comes together naturally like that.
This ghost story is a nightmare where the horror game devours the real school, trapping everyone in a repeating playthrough.
That's why the students don't speak.
'No voice acting in the game.'
That's why the 3rd-years on the 4th floor can't leave their seats.
'The main game hasn't started yet.'
That's why... the students don't move when explorers look at them.
'...Because we're bugs that weren't in the original game.'
Exactly.
Explorers hadn't even entered as participants in the game.
'We're not even playing it.'
We'd just peeked at the storyline through an unofficial text file download... and got dragged in.
'Phew.'
Of course, I didn't explain every detail to my colleague—I just cherry-picked the key clues and conveyed the logic.
The point was this.
I got this student uniform in a rather unique way and tried becoming a participant in the horror game.
And it seems to have worked, for now.
A game? Oh, this feels like that one! Like the horror game where you get locked in school the day before White Day!
But isn't becoming a participant in a ghost story game way more dangerous? And who knows what'll happen if you keep wearing that uniform too long?
Go Yeongeun's handwriting started excited but grew hurried and scribbled toward the end.
Reasonable concerns.
You're right. If it gets dangerous, I'll bail immediately.
I'd planned to bolt if things deviated from expectations.
But so far, everything was going according to plan...
Still, this could be the clearest clear route we can document in the manual.
I'll give it a shot.
A brief silence.
Okay, got it. You're always so resilient with ghost stories, Deer...
"......"
It's really a misunderstanding...
Just... please don't do anything too risky.
I'd love that, but the world doesn't always cooperate...
Ah, then to avoid drawing suspicion from the other students, I should get going.
Wha—wait?
Really take care of yourself!
That was the last message.
The moment my freeze lifted, I saw Go Yeongeun slowly walking away down the hall, back turned.
Wait, hold on, Yeongeun...!
'I still have questions!'
Please help me out here!
I chased after her quickly, lightly tapped her back, and hurriedly wrote new text.
One moment, Mountain Goat—I have something to ask you.
Something only you could answer with your expertise here.
Sure sure! Ask away!
Luckily, Go Yeongeun turned around and responded kindly.
Phew!
With gratitude, I quickly wrote my question.
Please tell me where each organ is located in the human body.
What??
Ah, crap.
* * *
Luckily, Go Yeongeun didn't cut me off...
She just grilled me repeatedly on company life, accounting, real-world details—to calmly and strictly verify if I was in my right mind.
Once convinced I wasn't some science room kid contaminated to the point of developing a unique hobby for dissection, she warmed up again.
Got it! I'll answer what I know lol
Thank you... *sob*.
And so, I spent the remaining time in intense Q&A with Go Yeongeun.
Thanks to her, "clear prep" finished safer and more reliably than I'd anticipated.
Good luck.
You too. Thanks!
...Hmm.
Just in case, I added this too.
If you plan to stay in this dream longer, stick to the 1st floor as much as possible.
Because soon, In the Black Shade would truly begin.
"......"
And so,
A few minutes after seeing Go Yeongeun off...
A new broadcast played.
...Just like the thirteenth exploration record I'd compiled.
I headed up to the 4th floor.
The 3rd-year students who had packed the hallway...
Were all gone.
"......"
The broadcast echoed through the empty 4th-floor corridor.
Just like the exploration record I'd written.
The horror game's main storyline had begun.
It was happening for real.
"......"
I swallowed hard.
The atmosphere in the school had changed completely.
The once-comfortable halls for a student now brimmed with an ominous, uneasy vibe.
No...
I could actually hear the BGM...!
Classic 8-bit game music in a eerie, steep minor key began seeping into my ears.
And then the popup appeared too.
'No.'
I wouldn't do that.
I knew a faster route, so steeling my resolve, I would first...
'Hide.'
I bolted to the 3rd-year staff room.
The standard move was to hide in the locker inside...
"...!!"
'Monster!'
I blocked out the ear-splitting glitchy noise and dove into the staff room locker.
The problem was the monster in one of the 4th-floor classrooms right next door.
That monster opened the door hesitantly, then locked eyes on me.
On my shadowed face through the locker.
'......Looks like it's wearing a mask.'
Frozen, unable to move my face, I couldn't make out which mask from my obscured view.
'Anyway, it's one of our company employees.'
The nametag glow was so intense from how many it had, it was barely registering as an error.
'...Hold on.'
Glow?
If it's that noticeable...
Thud.
"......"
Over there.
From upstairs, small and large sounds echoed down.
That is, the sound of something huge making small footsteps as it walked.
Thud thud thud thud thud thud thud thud thud thud thud thud thud thud thud thud thud thud thud
It's coming down, coming, it's coming!!
...The "teacher"!!
'Damn it.'
Terrifying beyond words. I held my breath.
But the error was homing in on my nametag too, rapidly approaching my frozen self...
'Can't it hear this??'
No, of course not. It wasn't a player!
'Errors don't even perceive or get attacked by the teacher...!'
They weren't even aware the game had started—that was the setup.
However...
Thud.
I held my breath, frozen.
The nearby error grabbed the locker door I'd hidden in.
And pulled it—
—S L A S H!
A massive, sharp metal plate slammed down on the masked error. Its mangled form split apart instantly. Thunk.
Blood splattered across my face, seeping through the gaps.
Right in front of me, separated only by the thin locker door, the vertically bisected form of a bespectacled employee fell to the floor.
The error, now reduced to a corpse, lost its pixelated distortion and returned to a human shape.
When an explorer—an error—remains in the school until the game starts and gets discovered by the teacher, they are eliminated.
'...Oh.'
I knew that face.
It was one of the supervisors newly assigned to the D-squad.
He would be eliminated in reality, too. He just died.
"......"
Thud thud thud thud thud thud thud thud thud thud thud thud thud thud thud thud thud thud thud
The "teacher" left the staff room, dragging the supervisor's lifeless body across the floor.
"......!"
I covered my mouth with both hands.
It was the first time I had seen someone from our team dismembered right before my eyes.
'Stay calm.'
Nothing I did now would change what had happened. What I had to do next wouldn't change, either...
"......"
Kim Soleum.
Do you remember? How explorers, prior to the exploration record I wrote, used to collect high-value items like name tags to make their presence stronger in the game or survive longer.
'It's an exploit.'
So, what does a proper player need to do to truly 'clear' the game?
'...They have to see the ending.'
And in most games, the ending... happens after the final boss battle.
"......"
The time had come.
...The time to stop being a coward.
'Let's go.'
I pulled out a tattoo sticker with a tomato tree design.
With trembling hands, I slapped it onto my neck.