Ghost Romance
『1. Exorcise the Red Mask.』
『2. Run away.』
『3. Beg the Red Mask for your life.』
『1. Exorcise the Red Mask. ?』
The moment I picked the choice, I expected my body to move on its own. But no force seized control of me.
So fighting’s left up to me, huh.
That worked out better. System interference only ever pissed me off. I swung the exorcism rod and walked straight toward the Red Mask. When she realized I wasn’t the least bit afraid, she shoved a hand into her coat and pulled out a kitchen knife.
“Kieeeeeek!”
She let out a grotesque screech and charged. I tightened my grip on the rod and met her head-on.
…Her arms are swinging way faster than any human’s.
An ordinary person would never be able to react to the Red Mask’s attacks. Hell, it’d be impossible. The swinging arms moved too fast to even see.
But you didn’t need to watch the arms themselves. Just track her gaze and the angle of her shoulders, and you could predict exactly which way she’d strike.
Clang!
The exorcism rod and the kitchen knife collided. It was the Red Mask who staggered. I put force into the rod and knocked the blade aside.
I glanced at the rod. Not a single scratch. With this thing alone, I could beat every last ghost into paste.
“Kieeeeeek!”
The Red Mask charged again. Once more I read her gaze and shoulders to predict the attack.
Going for the neck. This time I dodge instead of blocking.
I ducked. The kitchen knife whistled over my head. I brought the rod up in a rising arc and smashed it into the Red Mask’s skull.
“Skull! Skull! Skull!”
“Keugh! Kiek! Kuhk!”
With her head cracked open, the Red Mask staggered on her feet, blood pouring down, yet she still swung the knife at me. Her attack instinct alone was impressive.
Even so, with her head broken the path of the blade was crystal clear. I kept dodging her strikes and swinging the rod without pause.
“Head! Shoulder! Waist! Thigh! Knee!”
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!
I gave her a thorough beating from top to bottom.
“Kieeeek…”
The Red Mask dropped the knife and collapsed. I climbed on top of her and kept swinging the rod.
She no longer had the strength to move; her body only twitched now and then. Just as I was about to finish her off… her curved figure suddenly caught my eye.
The face wasn’t my type, but the body was decent enough. I stripped off the coat and every scrap of clothing. Underneath, she looked like a corpse. Still, everything that should be there was there—nipples, pussy, the works.
“Her pussy’s blue. Hmm. Do I fuck her or not.”
Yu Semi, Ji Dahye, Seol Jiyoung.
I already had three knockout-beautiful heroines. Did I really need to stick my cock into some ugly-ass ghost?
“My stamina isn’t infinite right now… If I waste it on this ugly bitch and come up short later, that’s a total loss.”
“Kieeeeeek!”
The Red Mask flopped like a fish and heaved her upper body up, jaws tearing wide open as she tried to bite my throat.
“Not a chance!”
Crack!
I delivered justice with the exorcism rod. The Red Mask’s jagged teeth clattered to the floor.
“You cocky bitch. I was gonna end this clean, and you try a sneak attack?”
『1. Finish off the Red Mask.』
『2. Spare the Red Mask.』
Choices suddenly floated up. I narrowed my eyes.
No idea why these are showing. Because I was screwing around instead of finishing her quick?
Whatever “finish” the choices meant, it wasn’t the kind I had in mind.
Time for Rule Breaker.
You use Rule Breaker.
“FATALITY!”
I hoisted the exorcism rod toward the ceiling, grabbed the Red Mask’s right leg, and forced it up.
“Kieeeek?!”
Her blue pussy naturally spread open. I reversed my grip on the rod and drove it straight down into her. In one stroke I shattered both pussy and womb. A little brutal, sure—but Fatalities are supposed to be like that.
“Kieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!”
The Red Mask screamed a horrible scream. I yanked the rod free and jammed it into her right eye. I felt the eyeball and brain pulp together under the tip.
You have executed the Red Mask.
Your cruelty spreads among the ghosts.
The Red Mask curses you from hell.
This area’s Ghost Qi Degree decreases.
The Red Mask vanished. The teeth that had fallen to the floor, the blood on the rod—everything disappeared as if she had never existed.
“Hah. That felt good.”
Things hadn’t been going my way lately and stress had piled up; dealing with the Red Mask had burned a decent chunk of it off.
“Next…”
I headed for the storage room beside the boiler room. The door was locked.
In the original game you needed a key, but…
This wasn’t a game. This was reality.
I smashed the storage-room window with the exorcism rod and climbed inside.
“There it is.”
What I found was a can of paint thinner. Plenty of uses for this.
I carried the thinner up to the fourth-floor boys’ restroom. The fourth floor held the art room, science lab, and other spaces that usually stayed empty. I slipped into the deserted science lab. Unlike the original game, the door wasn’t locked. I grabbed a box of matches and went back into the restroom.
Fourth-floor boys’ restroom. The innermost stall—the fourth one…
I stepped into the stall, locked the door, and stared at the toilet for a moment.
—Heh… heh-heh-heh-heh-heh.
A low laugh drifted up. A chilling sound. The back of my neck prickled for no reason. I rubbed it with my palm.
Clack-clack-clack!
The toilet lid rattled, then lifted. Where water should have been, there was only a pitch-black void. Something that was not human waited inside that darkness.
—Want blue toilet paper? Or red toilet paper?
The world froze.
『1. Demand red toilet paper.』
『2. Demand blue toilet paper.』
『3. Demand white toilet paper.』
『4. Demand a bidet.』
『5. Demand a rim job.』
『6. Offer a gift.』
A full six choices appeared.
Just like the original.
Ask for red toilet paper and your body gets torn apart. Blue and you drown in toilet water. White and your guts and blood get ripped out. Ask for a bidet and it drags you into the bowl. Ask for a rim job and an enraged ghost appears and eats you alive.
The second you meet this thing it’s basically a bad ending. Every choice kills you.
In the original, even if you never exorcised it, the story barely changed.
But if you do exorcise it, you can lower the Ghost Qi Degree.
『6. Offer a gift. ?』
I opened the thinner can and poured the whole thing straight into the toilet bowl. Then I lit a match and tossed it in.
Whoooosh!
A flaming toilet was born.
—Kyaaaaaaaaaaak!
The ghost screamed. I dug a pinky into my nose and looked down at the blazing bowl.
You have executed the Toilet-Paper Ghost.
Your cruelty spreads among the ghosts.
The Toilet-Paper Ghost curses you from hell.
This area’s Ghost Qi Degree decreases slightly.
???
I left the empty thinner can in the restroom. No one would know it was me. I’d avoided the cameras and left no real evidence. Skipping class meant I had no alibi, but… even if the cops showed up, I could just deny everything. The police in this world were useless anyway.
I headed straight for the science lab. I walked toward the anatomical model standing at the back of the room.
Stories about the science-lab anatomical model coming to life were famous enough that everyone heard them at least once.
I stopped in front of the model—half skeleton, half exposed human organs.
Clack-clack.
The anatomical model began to move on its own. Its single eyeball spun grotesquely and fixed on me.
『1. Exorcise the Anatomical-Model Ghost.』
『2. Run away.』
Same choices that had appeared with the Red Mask.
Option 2—running—was a bad pick. Ghosts were tenacious; they followed you all the way home. In the original, the ones that chased you home killed you. So you had no choice but to fight and exorcise them. Of course, if you already knew the strategy, the exorcism was trivial.
The proper way to exorcise the Anatomical-Model Ghost was to bring a full-length mirror. The moment it saw the mirror from the dance studio, it freaked out and vanished. But going to fetch a mirror was a pain in the ass.
『1. Exorcise the Anatomical-Model Ghost. ?』
Clack-clack.
The model moved.
I raised the exorcism rod and smashed it into the Anatomical-Model Ghost’s head.
Crack!
“Exorcise! Exorcise! Bang-bang! Exorcise-exorcise-bang-bang!!!”
Bang-bang-bang!
I cheerfully beat the Anatomical-Model Ghost senseless.
You have executed the Anatomical-Model Ghost.
Your cruelty spreads among the ghosts. The ghosts grow wary of you.
The Anatomical-Model Ghost fears you even in hell.
This area’s Ghost Qi Degree decreases slightly.
???
4:44 p.m.
Most students had already left; the school had fallen into a silence so deep it felt oppressive.
Piano music drifted from the music room. The piece was the famous Beethoven’s Für Elise.
『1. Confront the Piano Ghost.』
『2. Run away.』
『1. Confront the Piano Ghost. ?』
I yanked the music-room door open and walked in. The room was empty. The piano was playing by itself. I narrowed my eyes at it. The faint outline of a ghost sitting at the keys came into view. It was staring right at me.
“You suck absolute ass at piano.”
Bang!
As if venting its rage, the ghost slammed the keys hard.
I put on a serious face and addressed the Piano Ghost.
“Fail. Your performance has no soul. No soul—meaning no swag.”
The ghost, refusing to accept my judgment, began to play again. A cold wind blew from the piano.
I pulled out my smartphone and opened a YouTube video—Korea’s top pianist performing Für Elise. The Piano Ghost watched the screen, then hung its head.
“Feel the skill gap?”
You have driven the Piano Ghost to despair.
Your cruelty spreads among the ghosts. The ghosts grow wary of you.
The Piano Ghost will never touch a piano again.
This area’s Ghost Qi Degree decreases slightly.
???
11:58 p.m.
I didn’t go home. I stayed at school. Shin Ojeong and I sat in an empty classroom, killing time on our phones.
“Seong Yujin. It’s almost time. We need to get ready.”
“Fuck. I gotta go home—why the hell does this only work at midnight…”
I grumbled as I sat across from Shin Ojeong with a desk between us. Facing that pig made my mood sour.
We laid a sheet of white drawing paper on the desk and stood a ballpoint pen upright on it. Both of us held the pen with one hand. Shin Ojeong looked tense as hell.
Midnight.
I opened my mouth and chanted the spell.
“Saba. Saba. Bunshin saba. Saba. Saba. Bunshin saba. Fuck. Fuck. Bunshin fuck.”
“Isn’t the chant wro—huh?!”
The pen trembled violently. An invisible hand covered both of ours. Shin Ojeong’s face went white.
I looked up at the ceiling. To my eyes, a long-haired black ghost was visible—a rotting-faced spirit. I asked it a question.
“Ghost-nim. What’s your future going to be?”
“…….”
The ghost stayed silent.
Instead it moved its hand and wrote on the paper.
—I die beaten by you.
“Correct.”
I shot to my feet and smashed the ghost with the exorcism rod gripped in my righteous left hand.
You have executed the Kokkuri-san Ghost.
Your cruelty spreads among the ghosts. The ghosts fear you.
The Kokkuri-san Ghost’s arm is broken; it can no longer write.
This area’s Ghost Qi Degree decreases.