Chapter 21
Chapter 21
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: That Place Was Always Thursday (2)
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Once again, from beyond the speaker.
The same voice as before echoed through the corridor.
The guidance announcement repeated over and over.
Zziiing-
......
As always.
I pulled my smartphone out of my pocket as it turned on by itself with a vibration.
That day.
That day was...
The quietest day in the world...
The cars that always blared their horns noisily didn't honk that day.
If only tomorrow could be like today...
The dog that always barked loudly whenever it saw me couldn't be found anywhere that day.
If only tomorrow could be like today...
The homeroom teacher who always called me alone into an empty classroom to punish me.
If only tomorrow could be like today...
The mother who always took me to strange men.
If only tomorrow could be like today...
The uncle who always treated me like a toy when he came home drunk...█▓█▓█.
Today.
Today...
Today......
I wished it wouldn't end.
*The day after the college entrance exam, news broke that a female student had gone missing on school grounds...
When this post was registered on .
It began drawing the attention of countless people.
The reason this post topped everyone's interests at the time.
Was because the contents described in it.
Happened exactly in reality.
The fact that the post went up the day before the college entrance exam.
And news followed that a high school girl who had actually taken the exam had gone missing on school grounds.
The inappropriate relationship between the missing girl and her homeroom teacher.
The mother who pimped out her own daughter for money.
Even the father who repeatedly assaulted his daughter in a drunken stupor every day.
All of it turned out to be true.
I remember encountering this post back then too.
As far as I recall, the original author showed up afterward.
And posted an explanation claiming it was just a 'coincidence.'
Just...
A simple happenstance where improbable coincidences overlapped.
That's what they explained.
But, as expected.
After it was revealed that even the account that posted the explanation was a third party.
The true original author of the post.
Never appeared again.
It became a massive issue among people, truly worthy of being called a ghost story itself.
And this post remained, among all those listed on , as the ghost story that caused an unprecedented event.
'......Damn it.'
And now.
I had stepped into that unprecedented ghost story.
Dopamine from barely buying the 귀물 at 99 O'Clock Convenience Store.
Delayed my realization.
I quickly reviewed the task details that AI had sent me.
The thing assigned to me...
Tyui-D-113.
That Place Was Always Thursday.
It had clearly been introduced as a D-rank ghost story.
But...
No.
This space I'm standing in right now isn't some middling D-rank.
Others might not know.
But I do.
The true rank of this one, with the epithet 'That Place Was Always Thursday.'
Tyui-B-1134.
This isn't even D-rank.
Nor the next step up, C-rank.
B-rank.
"......You crazy bastards."
Even with the Smile Badge equipped, I openly revealed my honest feelings about the situation without holding back.
Of course, that doesn't mean the current ghost story has B-rank level danger right now.
Just...
The moment I deviate even slightly from the rules this ghost story has set.
Escaping from within this ghost story becomes impossible.
So right now, I need to get out of here as fast as possible.
Thud-
Thud-
It's time to move.
Before the 'eighth exam' ends.
No time to rest.
Every moment my steps stop will be the trigger hastening my death.
I quickly recalled the number of people I need to rescue in this ghost story.
-Rescue 1 missing newbie.
Just one.
This was one of the rare pieces of good news.
But right after, another guidance announcement started flowing from the speakers lining the corridor.
The announcement signaling the official start of the first period.
That means...
They're coming.
Once the announcement echoing through the entire corridor ended.
I stood still in place afterward.
......
......
......
Not because I was eagerly waiting for the proctor as the announcement said.
What I was waiting for.
Was to confirm the direction the 'proctor' was coming from.
Click-!
!
The sound of shoe heels starting to echo from the far end of the corridor.
After confirming the direction the heels were coming from once.
Without any hesitation.
With the window showing the snowy outside scenery on my right.
Tatadak-!
I sprinted full speed in the opposite direction from the heels.
'Getting caught by that thing means death!'
After the announcement that the exam had started ended.
The proctor began actively.
Searching for 'no-shows' who weren't taking the exam.
One person who followed the announcement and waited for the proctor turned their gaze toward the heel sounds from the far end of the corridor.
And where their gaze landed...
They spotted a man over 2 meters tall.
With a 2:8 parted hairstyle.
Wearing a blue uniform top and dress shoes below.
Flashing a bright smile that tore up to his ears, holding a baseball bat studded with dozens of nails in one hand.
As stated in the gallery post too.
You can guess what happens next without hearing it.
The moment you're caught by the proctor.
The end is 'death.'
My head would become one with that bat full of nails.
Tatadatadak-!
So I ran for my life.
At a speed I'd never reached in my life.
Squeezing out every last bit of strength from infancy.
Click-!
Click-!
Click-!
Click-!
Click-!
But the proctor chasing me as I fled desperately echoed their heels loudly through the entire corridor.
Click-!!
The proctor was closing the distance so fast I could feel the heel sounds growing louder by the second.
Until the bat in the proctor's hand embeds in my skull.
Just a few minutes.
At this rate, I'll get caught.
'Please, even a women's restroom! Anything!!'
Click-!!!
Close!
Really close!
No matter how long I hold out.
30 seconds at most.
Whoosh-!
No!
10 seconds!!
Whoosh-!!
9 seconds!!!
The moment the wind from the swung baseball bat grazed my nape.
With my life flashing before my eyes and ragged breaths.
I checked the left wall instead of the right one with the outside view until the end.
'......Found it!'
Whoosh-!
Just 0.5 seconds until the bat hits my head.
Whoosh-!
My legs gave out as I threw myself toward the left wall.
Splat-!
I immediately let out a ragged breath.
【.......】
The proctor looking down at me collapsed on the floor didn't immediately smash my head with the bat.
Instead, they stared at me heaving breaths under the black shadow falling on my face.
I too looked up at the proctor's grotesquely torn mouth corners, and as always.
Smirk-
Formed a faint smile on my lips.
"I... really had to use the restroom..."
Even while gasping for breath, I didn't forget the smile.
【.......】
The proctor silently raised their head.
And checked the sign for the space where I lay collapsed.
[Men's Restroom]
After confirming the 'Men's Restroom' sign.
Kkiiik-kkik-
Their waist began stretching unnaturally, reaching toward my face on the floor.
Our noses nearly touching as the distance closed.
【떠.......】
"Pardon?"
Not proper pronunciation.
A garbled sound reached my ear.
【보ㄷㅇㅅㅓ......떠ㅁᅟᅧᆫ.안 ㄷㅗㅐ.】
"......I'll be more careful next time."
I replied with a calm eye smile again.
【..........】
After hearing my response, the proctor's elongated waist returned to normal.
...Click-
Leaving me collapsed in the men's restroom.
Click-
They moved off somewhere else.
Click-
.
.
Click-
.
.
Click-
"......"
I lay flat on the floor for a while, silently watching the proctor move a safe distance away.
Only after 5 minutes passed in that state.
"......Haa."
I finally let out a deep sigh of relief.
'Dodged death there.'
Just now.
The reason the proctor didn't swing the nail-studded bat at me collapsed on the floor.
Wasn't that they didn't swing it.
I was in a place where they couldn't swing it.
The proctor's patrol area is the 'corridor.'
They don't interfere with spaces beyond that.
So the moment I confirmed the 'Men's Restroom' sign.
Splat-!
I threw myself inside.
A life-or-death chase from the very start.
Whether I can survive and return from this B-rank ghost story disguised as D-rank is now the question.
But for now, it was a blessing I found the restroom.
If it had been the 'principal's office' or 'staff room,' it would've been more trouble.
'Guess I should call it good luck.'
Instead of moving recklessly right now, I decided to stay in the men's restroom until the first period ends and plan ahead...
Thud-crash-bang-!
!!
I flinched involuntarily.
"......What?"
The source of the loud noise just now wasn't anywhere else.
It was inside the men's restroom.
Wasn't the restroom safe?
The gallery explicitly said so.
The only spaces worthy of being called safe havens.
-Men's Restroom.
-Women's Restroom.
-Nurse's Office.
Just these three.
Right?
I pulled out my smartphone and meticulously reread the info on this ghost story school.
Reread it.
And reread it once more.
'It really is right?'
No matter how many times I checked, no special anomalies stood out.
And then, a situation that only deepened my doubts suddenly.
Came at me without respite.
"H-Hey... is anyone there?"
"......?"
A person?