Auntie From Hell #3
So here’s the thing. I get nightmares a lot, so if I don’t drink like this I can’t sleep at all. I usually drink alone, but having you here makes it nice to have someone to talk to, Yeongwon. Don’t you think?
Teacher Kang Haneul kept pouring from the bottle labeled whiskey and drinking steadily. The drunker she got, the more her pajamas slipped out of place, and I had no idea where to rest my eyes.
“In the past I tried sleeping pills too, but I built up a tolerance from taking them so often. Alcohol really is the best. You’re a minor, Yeongwon, so you mustn’t drink, right? Have you ever tried it before?”
“No. Never.”
“Really? That’s surprising. When I first saw you, Yeongwon, I thought you were a total delinquent. Always walking around with bandages on your face. Total bad-boy vibe. How many girlfriends have you had? Be honest. You were popular, weren’t you?”
“I had one, but she dumped me.”
“That won’t do. Listen, Yeongwon. When I see kids wasting their golden years, I honestly want to slap some sense into them. I wish I could trade places with them. They have no idea how much precious time they’re throwing away…”
“…Um…”
“But these days everyone talks about student rights this and student rights that, so I can’t even discipline a kid properly. The other teachers pressure me from above, the students ignore me from below, and the parents are absolute nightmares.”
“……”
“Yeongwon, don’t you have any questions for me? Right now I feel like I could answer anything you ask… Anything at all that you’re curious about…? Even the final exam questions…”
Telling me the final exam questions would literally be a crime. She had to be joking, but the atmosphere made it feel anything but.
“…You can ask more secretive things too. Rude, personal questions are fine. Right now the teacher wants to answer whatever you ask, Yeongwon. I’m going full no-guard tonight.”
Her voice had turned thick and sticky like honey, and the air itself felt hot and humid. The mood was growing so awkward and heavy that I decided to joke around just to break the tension.
“Then… what about your first love, Teacher? Or stories about past boyfriends…”
“I only studied, so I never had a boyfriend at all until this age. Okay, I answered one question, so now it’s my turn. Yeongwon, have you had sex before?”
“……”
Wait, isn’t this straight-up sexual harassment? I was completely dumbfounded, wondering what the hell I had been listening to for the last five minutes. So I just kept sipping the milk she had poured for me. Even that ran out, leaving only a few drops at the bottom of the cup.
More than that—why was I so sleepy all of a sudden? The drowsiness was overwhelming.
“Huh…?”
My body felt as heavy as wet cotton and my vision blurred until Teacher Kang Haneul’s face multiplied. Her mouth even looked like it was splitting all the way to her ears.
“Sleepy, Yeongwon? Are you sleepy? Good thing I still had some sleeping pills left.”
In my fading consciousness I heard Kang Haneul’s voice. Had she just drugged me?
Rustle. Rustle—.
The sound of thin fabric sliding to the floor came next, followed by the wet noise of sticky lotion being rubbed onto smooth skin.
Thud. Smack, smack—.
I was so sleepy I couldn’t lift my head from the table, yet somehow my mouth could still move.
“T-Teacher… what are you…”
I was terrified. The story from the start of the semester flashed through my mind—the missing female student that had the whole school and neighborhood in an uproar. Rumors said the culprit might be someone connected to the school. Because there were no signs of struggle, they suspected an acquaintance.
No way—.
“We’re becoming one, Yeongwon. You said it was okay to come inside. So the teacher is going inside you. Don’t be nervous. Just relax. I’ll take care of everything~.”
Her voice was sickeningly sticky. I had never heard anything so viscous and lewd in my life; goosebumps prickled across my temples.
Slide—.
She flipped me over and laid me on the floor. White skin flashed between her underwear. The teacher, now glistening with layers of slick lotion, pried my mouth open and began shoving her hand, then her entire arm, down my throat.
Squirm. Squirm—.
“Yeongwon’s insides are so narrow and warm. Doesn’t it taste good, Yeongwon?”
“Ugh—!”
Taste good? It was the taste of death! She was clearly trying to wear me like a goddamn mascot costume!
“Ugh! Ueeegh!”
“Why is it so stiff? Was the gel not enough? Then I’ll just have to make it wetter. Children should learn to drink from adults, after all.”
Glug glug glug—.
She poured whiskey straight into my mouth.
“Ugh! Ueegh! Teacher, stop! Please save me! Teacher, save me!”
I begged on the threshold of death. The more I pleaded, the wider her smile stretched, corners splitting toward her ears in excitement.
“You sleep so well in class. Why won’t you sleep now? The pills aren’t working well—maybe you have a tolerance. Just wait a moment.”
Slide—.
She left the room for a second. This was my chance! If I stayed like this I’d be killed by some spinster murderer or ghost or whatever the hell she was! I couldn’t die a pathetic death like this!
Maybe it was because I was racking my brain so desperately in the crisis, but like the saying that a broken clock is right twice a day, a brilliant idea lit up in my head like a lightbulb.
“Aaaaaagh! Aaaaaaaaaaagh!”
I squeezed out every ounce of strength and screamed. Just as I predicted, it worked.
Thump thump thump—!
Someone started pounding on the apartment’s metal door. Soon an older woman’s voice rang out.
What the hell is all this noise in the middle of the night! Let people sleep, you crazy bitch! You in there? Did you bring a guy over!? I told you I’d introduce you to my son! My son works at Samsung Electronics! He’s only forty!
Just as I thought! The apartment really wasn’t soundproof—the neighbor had come running.
“Aaa!”
Was that a scream…? Is something wrong?
Should I call 112?
Police! The word felt like a lifeline thrown from heaven. Korea’s neighborly spirit was still alive! The bond between next-door strangers still existed! Anyone who said otherwise could fight me!
Oh shit—.
It was terrifying enough to make me piss myself. But extreme fear sometimes chases away sleep! When I barely managed to sit up, I saw something oozing through the thin gap of the metal door.
“Let’s switch.”
It looked like my mom. It also looked like Teacher Kang Haneul. At a glance it looked like some random auntie.
“Fuck! Auntie ghost!”
“Switchswitchswitchswitchswitch.”
The auntie ghost waved its arms from side to side as it crept closer. A foul stench rolled off it—rotten apples mixed with the smell of a chicken coop.
“Ugh! Chicken coop smell!”
“……”
The auntie ghost stopped. Was it working? Maybe it really hated those words!
“Chicken coop smell! Spinster! Menopause! Auntie! Auntie! Auntie!”
I wished I had better insults, but they still had some effect. The auntie ghost’s face twisted into an expression of pure horror I had never seen before. Then it bent its limbs backward, scuttled across the room in a bridge-like posture, and hid like a giant cockroach. The sight gave me chills.
“Ah shit, it hid again…. I thought that would exorcise it…”
Knock knock knock—.
Someone knocked on the door.
Yeongwon, are you okay? The teacher went out to buy milk and just got back. I heard a commotion inside. Why did you lock the door from the inside?
It was Kang Haneul’s voice! Relief washed over me like a cold shower in midsummer heat… until a terrible premonition rose up.
Yeongwon, you are in there, right?
Look at you—not even answering when your teacher calls. A brat who grew up without a father and has no manners. Your senses are sharp, huh?
It was the moment I felt tears might actually pour out. It was the ghost again, not the real teacher!
Sometimes silence is the answer.
This advice had been for exactly this moment! The problem was that the knocking sounds against the walls had begun echoing from every direction.
Knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock.
Ceiling. Door. Walls. Floor. The knocking came from everywhere.
Then my phone rang.
“Fuck off! That voice is way too old!”
The auntie ghost was going all out, trying to force me to answer questions.
“Do I… really have to live like this forever?”
Should I stop answering the phone from now on? My life had suddenly become exhausting.
But when someone is cornered and pushed to the absolute limit, a stubborn fighting spirit can rise. Even a cornered rat will bite the cat. Right now I was one hell of a rat.
“Fuck it. Let’s see who wins. Auntie! Come out! You want to steal my body, right? That’s why you keep asking me questions, isn’t it?”
With the mindset of charging straight in, I called the auntie ghost out. Then came the sounds of joints cracking—crack, crack—and Kang Haneul stepped out from the dark bathroom. It was still terrifying no matter how many times I saw it.
I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them again to shake off the fear. The thing wearing her face spoke.
“That’s right. I like younger men. The more you answer my questions, the more thrilling it becomes… After I take your body, I’ll take your life too. If you won’t give me your body, I’ll just take this woman’s instead!”
Looking back on everything that had happened, this bizarre auntie ghost both asked questions and answered mine. The last answer was more than enough for me to make my decision.
If it failed to take my body, it would possess Teacher Kang Haneul’s instead. What a nuisance! This whole mess started because of me. As a man, I would tie up the loose ends myself!
I spread my arms toward the auntie ghost.
“No one else will do! Use my body! Come inside me!”
“Good. Then, Teacher, I’m really coming in? Just relax~.”
Shuuuuuur—.
Kang Haneul’s body crumbled like powder and began pouring into my nose and mouth. It forced all the air out of my lungs and took its place, completely cutting off my breath. If I hadn’t obtained the Breath Holding trait from the shop, I would have passed out from suffocation right then!
There really is nothing useless in this world—I thought as I recalled the Broken Clock’s advice.
A Quirk is a bizarre phenomenon that possesses the flesh, the soul, and the mind. If a person possesses two or more Quirks, they will die. Quirks can be cured by opening the Treatment Center in the shop and spending 100P.
A Quirk was exactly like this auntie ghost trying to steal my body!
“…Huk… Status Window.”
Once a promising youth, you have been living a meaningless daily routine and simply killing time. But even a broken clock is right twice a day.
Change with me change with me change with me change with me change with me change with me change with me change with me change with me change with me
Fuck off, you bitch!
◈ Consumes 100 Points to remove one Quirk.
Quirk Ghost Possession has been cured.
“…Done! I won!”
Saving the leftover points just in case had been the right call. If I hadn’t unlocked the Treatment Center I would have been screwed.
Beep-beep-beep—.
The sound of the front door’s electronic lock being opened came from the entrance. The real Kang Haneul walked in carrying a convenience-store bag stuffed full of things. I could see milk and snacks inside.
“Yeongwon, what happened?! Why is the house such a mess?! I went to buy milk and ran into the English teacher, so we chatted for a bit!”
“Teacher… do you happen to like younger men?”
“W-what’s with that all of a sudden?”
I collapsed onto the floor with a thud.
100 Points acquired for 1 survivor.
The 100 points I spent on the cure came right back. After all that chaos and terror, I had only broken even. It felt like a huge loss, but at least I was alive. I’d take that as a win for now.
What the hell was that? So the Nightmare Corridor wasn’t the only place nightmares could happen. I never imagined I’d encounter ghosts in real life too.
Some traits will evolve according to your level.
The probability that Quirks and Watchers will track your presence has increased.
Oh—my level actually went up? I had wondered what the level in my status window even did, but it really does increase. The fact that traits could change with levels was interesting too. What worried me more, however, were the last lines.
Quirks and Watchers…? I was still wondering what those were when the sound of police sirens wailed outside.
“Hello? We received a report that a student may have been kidnapped.”