The Ghost of the Old School
The cool, chilly night breeze of the elementary school wiped the sweat from my brow. “Hah… haa…!” Five whole hours of pink dumbbell lifts had finally come to an end. The thought that I’d have to do this nonsense again next time made me want to scream.
“Is it really that hard?”
“A muscle monster like you wouldn’t understand how normal people feel…”
I’d only lifted a one-kilogram dumbbell, yet both my arms were screaming in agony. I’d whined about how tough it was, but…
“Muscles only grow when they tear! Let’s do one more set!”
After five straight hours of pink dumbbell torture, I was finally on my way home.
“So, are you going to do Rona that favor?”
“Hmm… I’ll have to think about it.”
Rona had asked if I could swing by the guild after my workout to help with some lizard-related paperwork. It sounded like a pain, but I’d probably have to go.
“While you’re at it, could you do me a favor too—”
“Nope. Too tired.”
I frowned. Where did she get off trying to mooch off me? I wanted to slack on my streams too, but I couldn’t, and it pissed me off!
“Pleeease~! You won’t regret it! It’s a place you know too, oppa!”
Ha-im grabbed my arm and started begging like she never had before. It was so out of character that I got curious. Maybe I should check it out?
“…Tsk, fine. I’m curious, so let’s go take a look.”
“You’re going to be shocked when you see it.”
I followed Ha-im, and the place we reached was an old, abandoned school building.
“Where is this?”
“What do you mean, where? It’s the elementary school we graduated from.”
“……?”
The only elementary school we’d graduated from was Hwayeon Elementary School. I looked at the building again. Not a trace remained of its former beautiful appearance.
“It really has changed a lot, huh?”
“They rebuilt the school. They tore down the old, worn-out building and put up a sleek new one.”
She pointed with her index finger at the school in the distance, claiming that was the new building. Just as I was thinking it seemed a bit extreme, a question popped into my head.
“Anyway, why are we here?”
“It’s our homeroom teacher’s request. She says a ghost-type monster seems to have appeared here.”
“Our homeroom teacher?”
Our homeroom teacher had been Manager Lee’s college classmate.
“There are ghost-type monsters too?”
“Of course. If there are plant-type monsters, why wouldn’t there be ghosts?”
I could already guess what she was going to ask me to do, but I really hoped it wasn’t that.
“You’re not seriously asking me to exorcise that ghost, are you? I’d rather die.”
“…….”
Ha-im turned her head to avoid my gaze. This girl…?
Irritation surged through me. I grabbed both of her cheeks and yanked hard.
“Aaaaaah!!!! Why are you doing this all of a sudden?!”
“You’re asking me that? What kind of request is this? Do I look like an exorcist to you?!”
If I really were an exorcist, I wouldn’t feel this wronged. I was a fortune teller, and ghosts weren’t even my specialty.
“(You can just use a talisman anyway.)”
She had the nerve to say that. It was so shameless I was genuinely offended. I pulled her cheeks even harder. Only asking for help when it suited her!
I let go with both hands and turned away.
“Do it yourself.”
“I can’t do it alone! Physical attacks don’t work on ghosts!”
“Yeah~ too bad.”
She should’ve been more selective about the favors she accepted. Anyway, figure it out on your own. I’m leaving—
“It’s our homeroom teacher’s request! You’re really not going to help? We owe her, remember?!”
I froze mid-step at the word “owe.” She was still bringing that up…!
“…Sigh.”
A real, heavy sigh escaped me.
“Just this once. After this, we’re even with our homeroom teacher. No more debts.”
“Got it! Let’s go inside!”
We walked side by side across the schoolyard, slowly looking around. From the horribly rusted slide and jungle gym to the swing whose chains looked ready to snap at any moment, the place was completely neglected, just as you’d expect from an abandoned school.
“Pfft! You confessed to your first love right in front of that swing.”
“Ugh, why are you bringing that up?!”
“Because you cried all night afterward. Of course I remember.”
Of course she hadn’t comforted me at all. She’d just teased me nonstop. Now, it was all just a memory.
We turned on our flashlights and stepped inside the school building. Ha-im hunched her shoulders and stuck close to me.
Hmm, I can see a few ghosts here and there.
But the time of day was the problem.
“We could’ve done this in the morning. What a hassle.”
“W-we’re not supposed to come at night?”
“Obviously. Ghosts get stronger at night.”
At night, yin energy grows stronger and ghosts gain power. In the morning, yang energy dominates and ghosts weaken. How could she not know something so basic? She must’ve felt embarrassed, because she scratched her head.
“I thought ghosts wouldn’t show up well during the day, so I figured we had to come at night…”
“Did you really think I’d be restricted by something like that?”
“…I didn’t think of that.”
Only third-rate fortune tellers waited until night to see ghosts clearly. First-rate fortune tellers like me could see them just fine even in broad daylight.
We ignored the bugs and rats scurrying past and kept walking straight ahead. This was incredibly tedious.
“This is annoying. Can’t I just burn the whole place down?”
“Absolutely not! How could you burn a place full of memories?! You heartless jerk?!”
“Tsk!”
The moment I mentioned burning it, Ha-im started scolding me so loudly my ears nearly bled. It really was the most effective method, so it was a shame. With no other choice, I pulled out a few talisman papers from my pocket, bit my finger lightly, scribbled on them, and started slapping them onto the walls.
“I-is it okay to do it this sloppily? The papers are all torn or crumpled…”
“They’re just lowly spirits anyway. It’s fine.”
If the ghosts had any brains, they’d see the talismans and run away on their own. Of course, if they had brains, they probably wouldn’t have become ghosts in the first place.
Next, we entered the boys’ bathroom. The moment I tried to open the door, Ha-im started trembling violently.
“D-do we really have to go in a place like this…?”
“You’re an A-class hunter. How are you scared of ghosts?”
“B-but ghosts don’t take physical damage, and at night like this my abilities are useless!”
Shadows needed light to exist, and she needed shadows to create her shadow weapons. A place with no light and nothing but ghosts was her natural enemy. That was why she’d begged me to come with her.
Ha-im clung to my shoulder and shook for a long time, but I ignored her completely and opened the door.
Creeeeak.
[Kieeeek!]
“Kyaaaaaah!!!”
The moment the door opened, a ghost shrieked and charged at us. Ha-im screamed at the top of her lungs. Since she was screaming right next to my ear, I thought I might lose my mind. But despite the scream, the ghost couldn’t reach us and was purified on the spot.
“You really are pathetic.”
I had no idea how someone like her had become A-class. She finally calmed down and started looking around.
“H-how did that happen? The ghost definitely charged at us…”
“Tsk. Did you forget about the talismans?”
“…….”
As long as the talismans were there, the ghosts couldn’t attack us. And even if they tried, they’d be purified the moment they tried to touch us.
That was how we went through the first floor all the way to the fourth. We stuck talismans on every place a ghost might appear. The last remaining spot was the chairman’s office.
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen the chairman’s office. I wonder if that old bastard is doing well?”
“Come on, it’s been eight years. He was already eighty-four back then.”
Seeing the chairman’s office brought back fresh memories.
“It was so fun when we drove that chairman bastard out.”
“What were his crimes again?”
“Embezzlement, tax evasion, and abuse of power, I think?”
It had been the summer of fourth grade, when we were eleven. My sibling and I had come to school for summer homework. The reason was simple—we had to write a diary but had nothing to write about, so we came to school to play.
While exploring the school, we happened to find the chairman’s office door open. Unable to resist our childish curiosity, we went inside. Of course, there wasn’t much two elementary school kids could do. So we took a random piece of paper from the desk as a souvenir. It turned out to be crucial evidence of embezzlement and tax evasion.
Instead of finishing our homework, we submitted the paper to our homeroom teacher. When she saw it, she realized the principal had committed those crimes and immediately reported it to the police. Because of that, our homeroom teacher was blacklisted in the education world and eventually had to quit teaching.
Thinking about it now, it was pretty shocking. We could’ve used that evidence to blackmail the chairman and live comfortably…
We pushed open the door and entered the chairman’s office.
“This side hasn’t changed at all.”
The usual work desk, sofa, and the shelf packed with trophies. It looked exactly the same as it had during summer break in fourth grade.
“Whoa! There’s even a trophy you won here, oppa!”
“Huh? Really?”
Ha-im brought over a trophy from the shelf and showed it to me.
It really was. The grand prize trophy from the national elementary essay contest I’d won back then.
I donated the trophy to the school…
The chairman had practically forced me, saying it would be nice if I donated it to the school, so I had no choice.
“Let’s take it back! He’d love to see it!”
“No thanks. What’s there to brag about something I won in elementary school?”
“Ugh! You have no sense of romance. None at all…”
Ha-im placed the trophy back on the display shelf. While she did that, I casually stuck talismans around the room.
“All done. Let’s get out of—”
Bang!
The door that had been open slammed shut. Just to be clear, there were only the two of us in the school.
“Hey, what the—”
Thud!
“……?”
I turned around to ask Ha-im what was going on, only to see her collapse on the spot. Did she seriously faint from something like this?
[…Who dares come to this place?]
“…….”
A cold, sharp voice echoed from somewhere. Soon after, a translucent ghost appeared before me. The moment it revealed its identity, all the tension drained out of me.
“What? It’s the chairman?”
It was such a cliché that it wasn’t even fun anymore.
[Tsk, such rude language. Did your parents never teach you to speak respectfully to your elders?]
Was he really pulling the parent card right now? More importantly, why was he still a ghost?
“How are you still here? I definitely put up talismans.”
[Hmph, how ridiculous. Do you really think those poorly maintained scraps of paper could do anything to me, who has received power from the Great King?]
Damn it! I should’ve taken better care of the paper. What now? I didn’t have any left.
[Listen. Leave that girl behind. I have no business with you.]
“……?”
I could roughly guess why he wanted me to leave her. But no business with me?
I pointed at myself.
“Y-you don’t recognize me?”
[Why would I know a girl like you?]
Ah. He hadn’t realized I was in a girl’s body.
…What do I do?
I was out of talisman paper, and I felt like just drawing a barrier, but this guy wasn’t going to let me. Plus, the muscle-brain next to me had fainted, so I couldn’t break down the door or wall to escape.
I lowered my head and rubbed my forehead. Still, I had to ask.
“What are you planning to do with her?”
[Obviously possess her body, play with it, and then kill her. Hanging from a noose, of course.]
“And if I refuse?”
[What a foolish choice. Behold the power granted to me by my King!]
I’d only asked a simple question, but he suddenly went full chuunibyou. The chairman raised his hand dramatically.
[Ghosts bound to me! Answer my call—huh?]
He’d spoken his cringey middle-school lines out loud.
Doesn’t he feel embarrassed at his age?
[…W-why aren’t the lowly spirits gathering?]
The chairman began to panic when the ghosts didn’t come. I let out a sigh. The ghosts in this school had already been purified by the talismans long ago.
“…….”
[…….]
We stared at each other. The chairman couldn’t control any ghosts to attack us, and I had no talismans left to attack him. A truly hopeless stalemate had been created.