Chapter 28
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: I'm Here
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I'm here.
For a moment, my heart sank.
The school store's CCTV was definitely showing Dayeon. So, who was the Dayeon I met in the classroom?
I immediately turned my gaze to the other monitors.
The teachers' office, the art room, the science lab—scenes from all sorts of classrooms came into view.
Among them, I found the one for the computer room.
I quickly checked the current situation in the computer room. Normally, Dayeon should have been examining the turned-off computer right about now.
But there was no one in the computer room.
What's more, the computer that had been off was now on. The monitor was glowing brightly on its own.
...On top of that, Dayeon had long since vanished without a trace.
Not a single sign of her remained.
It was as if no one but me had ever been in the computer room in the first place.
“Stop playing around and come out, seriously...”
I checked the computer room two, three times.
But there wasn't a hint of Dayeon.
That's when I was sure.
The Dayeon I had just met was a fake. A chill ran down my spine, and goosebumps broke out all over my body.
Someone unidentified had been pretending to be Dayeon and accompanying me.
Was it a ghost?
Or was something else I didn't know about, besides ghosts, hiding in this school?
Whatever it was, I was sure it wasn't something I could simply ignore.
There's something else in this school besides me and Dayeon.
The realization made my head spin.
I'd encountered many ghosts until now, but never face-to-face like this.
And that wasn't all.
I'd freely exchanged silly jokes and conversation with that thing pretending to be Dayeon.
To think its true identity wasn't Dayeon, but some stranger.
My stomach started to churn.
I felt like I needed to empty my stomach completely.
Fortunately, since I hadn't eaten anything in this school, all I could do was dry heave.
Thanks to that, the bitter and sour taste of stomach acid filled my mouth. It was not a pleasant experience.
I took a shallow breath and slumped into a chair.
It must have been the teacher's, because it was soft and not hard.
My thoughts were in such a tangle that my throat felt dry. I caught my breath and opened the inventory.
[Canned Cola]
【The school store's second most popular item, Hyo-gwa Cola. Its large size makes it a hit with male students. Use to slightly recover stamina.】
With a *psst*, I popped the can open. Then I took a drink.
As the sharp carbonation wet my throat, I felt some of the tension ease.
After downing the can of cola in one go, my head cleared a little.
It seemed the 'slightly recover stamina' in the description wasn't just for show.
It probably served the same role as a consumable item in an RPG Maker game.
“Phew...”
Still, my mind was a mess.
I took another breath and checked the monitors.
Dayeon was still on the school store's CCTV.
She was lying on a stack of chairs. Her expression was one of utter boredom.
Seeing her look so dejected, it seemed she hadn't found a way to escape.
So the Dayeon stuck in the school store was the real one after all.
“But that's strange.”
A question suddenly occurred to me.
I had been completely defenseless when I was with the fake Dayeon.
It wouldn't have been strange if she had killed me at any moment.
But the fake Dayeon hadn't laid a finger on me. That was the mystery.
What was its reason for approaching me, going so far as to pretend to be Dayeon?
It seemed to have some other ulterior motive besides killing me.
“Is this part of the curse, too...?”
I suddenly recalled the situation in the computer room.
Right after I read the news article, I was about to check the Sacrifice's Diary.
An announcement suddenly blared out.
I don't know if it was a coincidence, but the timing was perfect.
Thanks to that, I headed to the broadcasting room without even getting to open the diary.
For some reason, that bothered me. What on earth could have been written in that diary?
I needed to check it, if only to resolve my current doubts.
I crushed the empty cola can and stood up.
I had to get out of this broadcasting room quickly and meet up with Dayeon.
Before the fake, who came from who-knows-where, could cause any more confusion.
First, I carefully examined the entire broadcasting room.
Rows of monitors lined the walls, and a large machine that looked like state-of-the-art equipment was whirring and clicking.
It was so disconnected from what a normal high school broadcasting room should look like that it was hard to believe.
It was as grand and flashy as a command center in a spy movie or a monitor room at NASA headquarters.
Of course, I never could have imagined the school would change so drastically at dawn.
Hoping to find a clue, I began to investigate everything one by one.
[A large machine is humming. It's connected to the monitor cables.]
[It's a large monitor. It's showing the teachers' office.]
[It's a large monitor. It's showing the science lab.]
[It's a large monitor. It's showing the art room.]
[It's a large monitor. It's showing the library.]
The monitors didn't yield any decent clues. Disappointed, I was looking at the school store's CCTV.
Something faintly glittered on the other side of the monitor. I leaned in closer to the CCTV feed.
Something small was glittering on top of the vending machine.
It was an item.
Since it was placed on top of a vending machine that was well over two meters tall, I hadn't noticed it when I was in the store.
Then again, I never would have dreamed there'd be an item on top of the vending machine.
The same seemed to be true for Dayeon, who had given up long ago and was just lying there.
What kind of item was it to be hidden so secretly?
I didn't know what it was, but I had to tell Dayeon about it quickly.
“But how?”
Dayeon was locked in the school store, and I was locked in the broadcasting room.
Communication was literally impossible. If only I had something like telepathy.
The Dayeon on the monitor looked perfectly carefree. Meanwhile, I was burning up with anxiety.
If only there was a phone...
“Wait, a phone?”
Come to think of it, this is the broadcasting room.
Besides, the reason I came here was because of that earlier announcement.
I silently recalled the words I had heard then.
-I'll repeat that.
-This is an announcement from the school broadcasting room.
-Student Lee Hyeon, please come to the second-floor broadcasting room immediately.
The announcement had said it itself.
That it was an announcement from the school broadcasting room.
Which meant it was possible to use the announcement system from the broadcasting room.
On a hunch, I examined the machine in the center of the room.
And sure enough, I saw a jack with a microphone symbol.
Following the cable, I found a microphone hidden in a corner.
“This is it.”
I immediately pressed the power button on the microphone. A light on the machine's jack turned on, indicating it was active.
Next, I connected the microphone to the CCTV system.
All preparations were complete. After double-checking that everything was connected properly, I slowly began to speak.
“Ah, ah, can you hear me?”
My voice echoed out into the hallway. The announcement worked.
The problem was whether my voice could reach the school store...
Fortunately, she seemed to have heard it.
Dayeon, who had been lying there blankly, shot up.
And looked around.
Her gestures suggested she found it strange that she could hear my voice but couldn't see me.
“It's an announcement. I'm in the broadcasting room, so don't bother looking for me.”
Dayeon finally spotted the CCTV in the corner of the store and waved happily.
She moved her lips as if she wanted to say something.
But the CCTV didn't have a microphone.
No matter how much she babbled, I couldn't understand what she was saying.
“For the record, there's no mic on your end, so I can't hear you no matter what you say.”
Dayeon stopped talking and gave me an okay sign with her fingers.
I guess that meant she understood.
“Can you hear me clearly?”
Dayeon nodded.
Thankfully, there didn't seem to be any problem with the sound quality. This meant we could communicate smoothly.
Albeit one-sidedly, from my end.
Anyway, I got straight to the point.
“There's an item hidden on top of the vending machine. Use a chair to get up there and find it.”
Hearing my words, Dayeon signaled that she understood. Then she grunted as she moved a chair from the store.
This feels like I'm playing a horror RPG Maker game in real time.
Dayeon placed the chair in front of the vending machine, stood on it, and reached up.
The sparkle on top of the vending machine disappeared, as if she'd found something.
Soon, she came up to the CCTV and dangled a key.
“A key?”
Dayeon nodded. The key in her hand was rather small. It didn't look like it was for locking a door.
“Check if there's a sticker on the key.”
Dayeon fumbled with the key and found something. She held the key up to the CCTV as if to show me.
[Vending Machine]
The words 'Vending Machine' were written in small letters on the head of the key. It was obviously for unlocking the vending machine door.
“Use that to open the vending machine. See if there are any items inside.”
Dayeon raised her hands high above her head and made a big circle.
...I guess that was her way of showing strong agreement.
She went to the vending machine and inserted the key.
The door clicked and slowly swung open.
Then, the rather bizarre interior of the vending machine was revealed.
A normal vending machine would have drinks or a coin box.
But inside this one, a deep, dark path stretched out.
I couldn't believe it, but it was a secret passage.
The vending machine itself was a large door connected to the secret passage.
Dayeon pointed at the secret passage. It was a gesture asking if she should go inside.
“There are no other paths in the store anyway, so go in. It must lead somewhere.”
After confirming my intentions, Dayeon quickly entered the vending machine.
Soon, she appeared on another monitor.
It was a monitor showing the end of the hallway. Dayeon emerged from a side path right in front of the school store's entrance.
To think there was a hidden path in a place like that.
It was so dark back then that I walked right past it without even knowing it was there.
Anyway, with that, Dayeon had escaped the school store. But a new problem arose.
This time, I was the one trapped.
Even if I could see the entire school through the CCTVs, as long as I was stuck in the broadcasting room, there was nothing I could do.
I had no choice but to send a rescue signal to Dayeon.
“Once you're out of the store, come straight to the broadcasting room on the second floor.”
First, I kept the fact that I was trapped a secret. If I told her the truth, she might use it as leverage to make some strange demand.
So I only gave her the bare minimum. Just enough so I could cleverly evade if she found out.
Dayeon didn't seem to notice my intentions at all. She gave me an okay sign with her hand and headed for the second floor.
I breathed a sigh of relief at the sight.
That Dayeon was the real one. I was sure, having watched her escape the store.
I wouldn't fall for the fake's tricks like before.
Now all that was left was to wait for Dayeon to arrive.
“Let's just rest for a bit...”
I leaned back in the chair and rested for a moment.
Before long, I heard a *knock, knock*.
‘She's here already?’
I sat up from my half-reclined position.
But the more I thought about it, the stranger it seemed.
Given the school's layout, it was impossible to get from the store to the broadcasting room that quickly.
Unless she didn't just run but teleported, there was no way she could have gotten here in such a short time.
“This doesn't make sense.”
Puzzled, I looked at the CCTVs.
I checked the monitor connected to the first-floor hallway.
I could see Dayeon on the other side of the screen.
Dayeon was strolling down the hallway with light steps.
If she was on the first floor, she was still a long way from the broadcasting room on the second.
Then what was that knocking sound?
-*Knock, knock.*
The knocking came again from beyond the door.
The sound sent another chill down my spine.
‘What the hell...’
Without hesitating, I forced myself to stay calm.
I slowly turned my head to check the CCTVs.
Among the countless monitors, I found the one labeled '2nd Floor Hallway'.
The monitor for the 2nd floor hallway showed a desolate and dark corridor.
The broadcasting room door was also visible. In front of the door, a silhouette was faintly visible.
Someone in a girl's school uniform was standing stock-still in front of the broadcasting room door.
...It was Dayeon.
-*Knock, knock.*
“I'm here. Open the door.”