The 31st Student Ghost Story #1
“No, I’m telling you, it sounded like a man and a woman fighting! Teacher, stop it already! And lately there’ve been missing students from Yeongji High. What if—”
“No way. I heard it wasn’t fighting, it was—ugh, you know that kind of sound! Like a man and a woman, you know, together!”
The police officers who received the neighbors’ reports knocked on the door. So there really were residents willing to call the cops. Of course, Teacher Kang Haneul protested her innocence.
“I swear I didn’t do anything! And Yeong-won is my student! Why would I do anything to a student…!”
The voices kept rising. In my head I pictured a news headline: Female Teacher Brings Student Home and Commits Violent Acts. If things stayed like this, what would happen to the teacher? Rumors would spread, she’d get fired from school, and in the worst case, end up in jail. Teacher Kang Haneul seemed to know this too—her face grew more and more distressed. That expression looked less like an adult and more like a girl my age.
I felt a moral responsibility. So I made up my mind and spoke.
“It was me. While the teacher stepped out for a moment, I drank the alcohol that was in the house. I must’ve turned the TV up loud and started babbling nonsense while drunk. I’m sorry, everyone—residents, officers!”
I bowed deeply, apologizing to everyone.
“I’m really, really sorry! If you smell my breath, you’ll catch the alcohol!”
Haaaaah— I blasted whiskey breath straight at the police. The young-looking officer frowned.
“Ha, look at this kid? His mouth reeks of booze. Senior, there’s a whiskey bottle over there too. Looks like he just poured himself a glass.”
“Really? Kids these days… Anyway, you said you’re a teacher? Why did you bring a student to your house this late at night?”
Srrrk— The officer called “Senior” narrowed his eyes at the teacher and me.
“Huh? Oh, that’s because….”
“It’s my fault. I’m being bullied. They call me the kid without a dad. The teacher has proof of it. She was just trying to counsel me about the bullying. Teacher, show them the note. Quick!”
“Huh? Ah… the note…!”
Bullying is occurring in Class D.
“I wrote that note.”
The officers looked at the note the teacher held out and nodded, seemingly convinced. My lies were working even on the authorities. Not that everything was a lie. The auntie ghost had poured alcohol into my mouth, so drinking it was true, and the teacher really had been trying to counsel me about bullying. A lie mixed with just the right amount of truth was sometimes more convincing than either pure truth or pure lies.
The officers didn’t seem eager to blow things up on a Friday night before the weekend, so they closed the case.
“You sneak into your worried teacher’s house, drink, and cause trouble. Real nice. Still, if you ever need outside adult help with school problems, contact this number. I’m an alumnus of Yeongji High too.”
Scratch scratch scratch— The officer called Senior wrote his phone number down for me and left. It had been one hell of a stormy night.
“Teacher, I’m sorry for causing trouble. I’ll head home now. I have no excuse. I’m truly sorry.”
“…Forget it. You said you drank, right? Where do you think you’re going at this hour? Go to the room and sleep.”
Teacher Kang Haneul sat at the table and looked at me coolly. I was used to that kind of gaze from Yang Ju-hui, but an adult woman’s stare carried a different kind of force.
“…But Teacher, if a teacher and student sleep in the same house, rumors will spread.”
“If I’m scared of rumors, how can I call myself a teacher when I send a drunk kid outside at this hour? You don’t need to worry about that. How’s your stomach?”
“I feel like I’m dying.”
Honestly, I was feeling a bit dizzy. Maybe because the tension had finally eased, the drunkenness hit me all at once. Was this what being drunk felt like? It wasn’t pleasant. I felt like throwing up, and my stomach churned. So this was how adults felt? What was so good about this that adults drank?
Srrk— I went to the bed and lay down. Teacher Kang Haneul sat near my head and opened her mouth.
“Yeong-won, you’re pretty good at lying.”
“Lying?”
“You didn’t write that note. The handwriting’s different. I compared it to the poem you submitted as homework—the handwriting doesn’t match. Your handwriting is terrible, isn’t it? Like a kindergartener’s.”
That was a fact. My handwriting was a mess.
“The reason I liked the poem you wrote was because the content and handwriting felt so pure, like something a child really wrote. You are still a child, after all.”
“I’m not a child.”
“Yes, you are. And adults know when kids are lying. You’re not the type to drink on your own. There was lipstick on the glass. Who were you with?”
“……”
I hadn’t noticed the lipstick on the glass. When I kept my mouth shut, the teacher placed her hand on my forehead.
“I know you’re lying, but most of the time we pretend not to notice. We don’t want the hassle. I was the same earlier. I shouldn’t have done that as a teacher. I guess I still have a long way to go before I’m a real adult.”
Her hand felt refreshingly cool against my alcohol-flushed face, and somehow comforting.
“When I look at you, I think of my older brother. He was bullied in high school too… suddenly doing things he never did, drinking…”
Srrrk— Listening to Teacher Kang Haneul’s gentle voice, I couldn’t fight off the drowsiness any longer and fell asleep.
# # #
Saturday. Sober now, I left Teacher Kang Haneul’s house. She had said she had a “teachers’ meeting” and needed to leave early.
“Stay safe! House full of ghosts!”
Remembering my bloody battle with the auntie ghost, I bolted away from the apartment. That was how my weekend began. As usual, it was filled with homework and games.
“The enemy team’s Nasus is too focused on farming, right? Stacks over 500? Easy promo to Platinum, huh?”
Nothing particularly special about the day. Just a normal weekend any high school student might have. If I had to point out something unique about me…
“Status Window.”
Description: Once a promising individual, you have been wasting time in a meaningless daily routine. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
Looking at the status window that felt both strange and familiar, I noticed something new. Level 2. I had reached Level 2!
“I was too out of it to check properly back then. It said traits could change when you level up, right? These traits don’t seem different…”
Was there something else that popped up when I leveled up?
The probability of anomalies and Watchers tracking your existence has increased.
What the hell did that mean? I mulled it over whenever I had time. I already knew what “anomalies” were from experience—no further explanation needed. The ghosts I met in the Nightmare Corridor. The auntie ghost that attacked me in reality. Those kinds of things were more likely to come after me now.
“Shit… my life is ruined.”
Did that mean I’d have to go through terrifying experiences like that multiple times? At this rate, I’d either die to a ghost or, if I was lucky enough to survive, end up a mental patient.
“Anomalies aside… what’s a Watcher?”
Watcher. Watcher (). When I searched online, it literally meant “someone who watches something.” In English it was “Watcher,” or sometimes translated as the game monster “Beholder.”
“I don’t know what it is, but it’s definitely bad for me.”
There were so many questions, and no one to answer them. Tsk, if I’d known it would turn out like this, I should’ve asked the auntie ghost all sorts of things. At least she gave proper answers. In the end, I couldn’t even ask Teacher Kang Haneul anything about the old building. All I got from that ordeal was the teacher’s underwear preferences, her taste for younger men, her hysterical side, and the fact that she was more girlish than expected—and still a good teacher. That might’ve been useful information to someone, but it meant nothing to me.
“As expected…”
Explore the Nightmare Corridor in greater detail.
📍 Location: Old Building
🎁 Reward: Unknown
“I have no choice but to go back to the corridor.”
Exploring the Nightmare Corridor in more detail—I made that my number one rule. The reason I got this status window and answers to all my questions were surely waiting there. But the process itself wasn’t exactly appealing. Was I crazy enough to go back to a place full of ghosts where I might die? The fact that Yang Ju-hui, who had been alive in the “1-4” classroom, was marked as deceased was chilling. There was still something in the corridor I didn’t know about. Why did I have to suffer like this just because I got a status window? It was no different from a curse.
“Advice.”
Out of habit, I spent points to ask for advice.
《Broken Clock》’s Advice: Try unlocking the “Bank” from the locked menu! You can exchange points for cash at the Bank. Current exchange rate: 1P = 10,000₩
“Shit…!?”
One point was worth ten thousand won? My temples throbbed, my hair stood on end, my soles and back itched, and it felt like ants were crawling all over my body.
“I’m rich now…!!!”
The status window really was a blessing! If I earned tons of points, I could escape this pathetic apartment, become a building owner!
“You earn points just by entering the corridor. And bonus points for acquiring items, right? The flashlight Yang Ju-hui got was 100P… a million won!?”
The 100 points per survivor was also appealing. Surviving paid more than dying. How could I increase my survival rate?
“…If I think about it calmly, something like the wet dream escape method wouldn’t work for anyone else. I didn’t realize it at the time, but there must be a proper escape method for the corridor.”
The wet dream escape method was basically a “bug” in the game. My guess was that there had to be a proper strategy or method to escape the Nightmare Corridor.
“To earn more money… I need reliable teammates I can survive with. Trustworthy companions.”
I looked at the One Piece figures on my desk. Mostly scantily clad female characters, but there were also male companion figures like a swordsman with a sword or a chef igniting flames from his leg.
Companions. Adventure. Those two words still made my boyish heart race. Friends who could be my companions. Did I have any? Everyone in Class D was trash. No, if I had to pick one… maybe there was one. There was. Definitely! If it was that guy!
“Who are you?”
The school I never wanted to go to suddenly felt inviting. As I waited for Monday to come quickly—
“Nasus has 800 stacks? At this rate, our team’s Nexus is getting destroyed, right?”
Monday finally arrived. The classroom was in chaos. While the kids chattered noisily about the weekend’s events, Kim Geon-ho came over to me.
“Hey, Ha Yeong-won. Did you do the homework I gave you? I told you to find out who wrote that note to the teachers’ office. Did you find out?”
“No. But I think I can figure it out today. I’m curious too.”
Bullying is occurring in Class D.
The bastard who wrote that note and caused trouble. I didn’t know who wrote it, but at least it was on my side. At minimum, someone with a conscience.
Pat— Kim Geon-ho slapped the back of my head with his palm.
“Hey. I said if you didn’t find out who wrote it by this week, I’d assume you wrote it. What’s got you acting so cocky lately?”
Oh? This bastard was hitting me? My temples flared hot. Should I drag this Kim Geon-ho bastard to the corridor one more time…? No, that would really get him killed. Kim Geon-ho bullying me was a bad thing, but it wasn’t something that deserved death. Even without that, I could use the quirk he’d gained to make this guy behave for now.
Creak—!
“Hey! Yang Ju-hui came to school! She’s in the teachers’ office right now! Go check it out! It’s insane! Insane!”
The kids rushed out in a crowd at the appearance of the superstar who had set their mouths ablaze all weekend. Kim Geon-ho was among them. Lucky bastard. Watching their backs, I thought:
“By the end of today, I’ll find out who wrote the note…”
…And by the end of this week, I’ll take down Kim Geon-ho of Class D! I could do it. The current me could! I already had solid plans for both. To be precise, there was a way to solve both at once!