Ghost Story #2
The faint tinkling of bells grew steadily closer. Thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump. The sound of a severed head leaping across the ground in search of its body followed right behind me.
“Tell a ghost story in a graveyard and the ghosts will come. Tell a ghost story in a graveyard and the ghosts will come.”
That maddening, repetitive voice clung to my heels too. I felt like I was genuinely about to lose my mind. Why did these things keep happening only to me? What the hell had I ever done wrong?
For now, I decided to barricade myself inside the library restroom and figure out how to survive this. Thankfully, I had my Status Window—what I liked to call my external CPU.
“Advice!”
Please, just give me the right answer to get out of this nightmare!
《Broken Clock》’s Advice: Every event has its proper cause and effect.
Every event has its proper cause and effect! That was true. There had to be some reason I kept experiencing these horrific things every single day. When exactly had it all started?
When I thought about it, everything had gone to hell the moment I collected 100 points and pressed the “Old Building Open” button in the shop. That was the problem!
Tinkle, tinkle, tinkle— The bell sounds drew even closer. Was it seriously trying to follow me into the men’s restroom in the library?
No. I suddenly realized the sound wasn’t coming from outside the stall. It was coming from… directly above me. From right over the head of the guy sitting here, trembling like an idiot.
“…….”
Creak. Creeeeak—
Tinkle. Tinkle.
Along with some unidentifiable grotesque noise, the bells rang directly over my head. If I looked up now, I’d probably see exactly what was floating there. But… if I did that, I was definitely going to die. I was going to die for sure!
All the blood in my body seemed to drain away. I felt it sinking all the way to my toes, turning ice-cold. My body temperature must have dropped two degrees in an instant.
“…Oh, shit.”
Slide—
I kept my head firmly down and slowly rose in a low crouch. Moving as quietly and slowly as a snail extending its antennae, I reached out, unlocked the stall door… and opened it.
Click—
Good. Now all I had to do was push it open and—
Grab—
Something seized my shoulder. Even through my clothes, the touch carried a chill that froze me straight to the bone.
“GyaAAAAAAGH! Fuck! AAAAAH! AAAAAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAAAH!”
When people get too scared, they really do have seizures. That was exactly what was happening to me. I screamed like I was about to piss myself, my whole body shaking uncontrollably.
“What are you?”
“…Huh?”
“I said, what are you?”
“……”
…What the hell? I was the one who wanted to ask that question.
When I came to my senses, the bells, the restroom, and the freezing hand had all vanished. Instead, a woman in a red blouse and black dress pants, her hair tied back neatly, stood there frowning at me. She was elegantly beautiful. A sophisticated perfume I couldn’t name wafted over me.
“…Teacher Hong Miri?”
“Yeah.”
The woman was my English teacher—the one I’d once had a hopeless crush on. At twenty-seven, she was incredibly young, stylish, and pretty, which made her insanely popular with the students.
“Why are you so startled? Were you sleeping at your desk and had a nightmare?”
“Ah.”
“Maybe it’s because the school grounds sit on a huge Spiritual Water Vein, but a lot of people here have nightmares or see things. Anyway, the library’s closing soon, so get out of here. And wipe the drool off your face.”
Click, click, click. Her high heels struck the hard floor sharply as she walked away into the distance. I shook off my dazed feelings and stood up from the library desk.
In front of me were books like Ghost Story Records and Back-Alley Ghost Tales scattered everywhere. There was even a trail of drool running from the corner of my mouth. I must have passed out while reading.
“A dream…?”
Had everything that just happened been a dream? How much of it was real and how much wasn’t?
“……”
The time was already eight in the evening. I had no idea when I’d fallen asleep, but dinner time had come and gone.
“Damn it, no wonder I had a nightmare after reading crap like this.”
I roughly gathered the scattered books and shoved them into my bag. That was when a book titled Easy Feng Shui Geography slipped out from among my things and fell to the floor. A sticky note with “Yu Dahee” written on it was attached to the cover.
“Feng shui? Why this?”
I brought it close to my nose and sniffed. It smelled pretty nice.
“Did Yu Dahee leave this for me…? So it wasn’t a dream? Maybe she heard me say I like feng shui and recommended it?”
Shiver—
My body trembled. I really needed to pee. No joke—my bladder was about to burst. If I’d woken up having pissed my pants… how much would Teacher Hong Miri have despised me? I might’ve had to drop out of school.
Shaking off the goosebumps with those ridiculous thoughts, I headed toward the restroom, but for some reason I felt uneasy about using the library one.
“……”
Was it because of that nightmare?
“…I’ll just go at home.”
Slide—
I turned around and headed straight home.
Tinkle, tinkle, tinkle—
Behind me, the sound of bells started up again.
“God damn it, what the hell is this?”
This time, it wasn’t a dream.
Tinkle-tinkle-tinkle— The bells kept ringing. I had the distinct feeling that something was chasing me. I genuinely wanted to cry.
The only reason I hadn’t completely lost it yet was because I still had about 620 points left unused. Even if it killed me, I had to keep my sanity until I used every last one of them!
Tinkle-tinkle-tinkle— The bells continued without pause.
“Where…. Where…. Where…. Where….”
When I strained my ears, I could hear a voice that sounded like either sobbing or wailing—something utterly chilling.
I really felt like I was going insane. The dark back alleys of Cheonmun-dong were completely deserted tonight. I’d said not long ago that I liked Gaeryong City, but I take it back. This place was absolute garbage. Seoul, with all its people, was definitely better!
I kept my attention on the eerie presence behind me and made a phone call.
“Yang Ju-hui. Pick up. Pick up. Pick up.”
If I had my comrade Yang Ju-hui with me, maybe we could overcome this ordeal together! The bells were probably from a shaman ghost. And since Yang Ju-hui came from a long line of shamans, maybe two people with shaman souls could negotiate or talk it out!
With that creative but completely groundless hope, I was grasping at straws by calling her—but Yang Ju-hui didn’t answer.
Was she asleep? Taking a shower?
“I’m screwed…”
Tinkle, tinkle, tinkle— The bells were getting closer and closer. The one saving grace was that they weren’t moving very fast. I could probably shake them off just by walking normally. But I had no idea how long this thing would keep following me.
I was still human. I needed to sleep eventually. And if the Bell Woman caught up to me while I was sleeping… I didn’t even want to imagine what would happen.
If it turned into a war of attrition, I would lose. In that case… wouldn’t it be better to find the answer first and take the initiative?
The Broken Clock had said it.
《Broken Clock》’s Advice: Every event has its proper cause and effect.
If I could figure out the origin or background of this shaman ghost, maybe I’d find information that would help me get rid of it. And that information… was probably in the school library.
“…I have to go back there?”
It was eight o’clock at night. The thought of going to the dark, empty school library alone was terrifying. It would’ve been nice if Yang Ju-hui had answered, but my phone stayed silent.
I sent a message just in case: “Can you come to the school library? I’m really scared!” The “1” next to it never disappeared, but… she’d check it eventually, right?
Then another contact caught my eye. “Jeong Sojin.”
Should I call Jeong Sojin? She had the Attentive trait. If that worked in real life too, she might be able to find the exact book I needed in the library quickly.
“No. Bad idea.”
I changed my train of thought. Jeong Sojin was only useful as a comrade when her own safety was guaranteed. If she could see this ghost too… she’d definitely use me as bait and run away. I was sure of it!
“Ha, damn…”
Living without friends was this exhausting. Just then, a brilliant idea struck me. I could use Jeong Sojin. She definitely had the “Class Emergency Contact List!”
Riiiiing—
It was the standard, boring ringtone. After about five rings, someone finally picked up.
“Hey. Vice President. It’s Ha Yeong-won. You need to help me. Remember when I helped you? When you were getting beaten up by Bong Ji-yeon. I helped you, right? So help me too.”
“I asked Jeong Sojin! That’s not important right now! Just help me! I’ll be near the school library, so come quick! If you don’t, I’ll tell everyone who your dad is, got it?”
“Please, just help me! Come on! I’m really going to die! Dude! Weren’t you the one who wanted to help me? You even wrote a note about bullying in Class D! Didn’t you want to help me?”
“If I die today, it’ll be your fault! You bastard! Please! Just come!”
I used both begging and blackmail at the same time. Given the situation, I couldn’t afford to be picky about methods.
“If this works out, I’ll give you 100,000 won! A hundred thousand! Meet me in front of the school library!”
I was practically screaming when I heard a rather deep sigh on the other end. Then a blunt male voice answered.
Oh, shit…! Yes! It worked!
I turned my steps back toward the school. They say two heads are better than one—even if the problem is shitty, having company makes it feel a little less awful. That’s why people can’t live alone. Anyone who claims to be a proud singleton from now on is getting an earful from me. Community life! Helping each other! That’s what it really means to be human!
When I reached the front of the library, a rather blunt-looking guy was standing there.
“Ha Yeong-won. What the hell is going on?”
I was so relieved I almost wanted to hug him.
“Jeong Seok. Starting now, we’re going to find every book in the library related to our school’s history. All of them. Every last one!”
“……”
Jeong Seok frowned. He always looked so serious.
“Why? What’s the reason? Are you saying you’ll die if we don’t do this?”
“Ghost! There’s a ghost! A shaman ghost! The shaman ghost is chasing me! I know it sounds like bullshit! Just help me! The shaman ghost is after me! Please…”
Tinkle-tinkle—
I desperately ignored the bells that were getting closer and appealed to him with pure desperation. Jeong Seok’s frown deepened, as if he was getting annoyed.
“Are you messing with me right now? A ghost? I wasted my time for this. Are you pranking me? Did you even set up a bell sound effect?”
…Bell? I hadn’t mentioned anything about bells to him.
Just as I started to think something was off, Jeong Seok’s expression slowly changed. It looked like he’d seen something over my shoulder.
“…Hey. This shaman ghost… what does it look like exactly? There’s something standing on the road where the cars pass… It’s standing there and coming this way…?”
“It has slender ankles and is wearing white socks. It’s dressed in something like a loose hanbok, and its chest is bigger than you’d expect. Its face is insanely horrifying.”
Jeong Seok was smart enough to place fifth in the entire school on the midterms. After hearing my description, his quick brain seemed to grasp the situation immediately.
“You son of a bitch, Ha Yeong-won.”
“You saw it. You saw it too! You’re my comrade now! My comrade!”