School Ghost Stories (4) — Crunch
The sensation returned to my hand. I was about to chain my next attack when—
“Huh?”
Sssss—
The blurry human shape crumbled away like sand. What the hell? I’d cut it down in a single strike, but the whole thing left a bad aftertaste.
Sure enough, nothing had changed.
[Clear Condition]
Resolve the Five Major Ghost Stories of Inshin Middle School.
1. Statue (Completed)
2. Murderer
3. Anatomical Model
4. Security Guard
5. Female Student ???
“Tsk.” This ghost story wasn’t as straightforward as the statue one.
“Whoa… Oppa, are you a kendo athlete?”
The girl poked her head out and asked.
“Athlete? I’m just a regular guy who used to have a terminal illness.”
“Huh?”
The sound of rattling chains suddenly rang out. It didn’t approach from a distance—it dropped straight from the sky. The humanoid monster that had been coming at me vanished like a mirage the moment my sword passed through it. The uniform it had been wearing right before disappearing was definitely a security guard’s outfit.
“Does this school have a separate security office? Not the tiny one at the entrance.”
“Security? Oh!” The girl, who had been tilting her head, continued. “If you go to the far end of the first floor, there’s the Central Control Room. The security officers usually stay there.”
So it was at the opposite end from where I entered.
“Let’s go.”
As I walked slowly, the girl trotted along right beside me.
“What’s your name, oppa?”
“Kim Muhan.”
“Muhan? That’s a weird name.”
“It’s rude to say that, you know.”
“Do you have a girlfriend?”
“Ugh.”
“So you don’t right now? Did you have one before?”
“You’re asking that in a situation like this?”
“I’m curious though.”
The corners of her mouth curled up mischievously. Was this really the same girl who had been sobbing her eyes out just moments ago? Kids really do recover fast.
“Never had one.”
“For real? Wow. Me neither.”
What was I supposed to do with that information?
“Can we please be quiet? If we make too much noise, more ghost stories might show up.”
“Hup. Yes sir!”
She dramatically clamped both hands over her mouth. After a short conversation, we soon reached a plaque that read Central Control Room.
I reached out and stopped the girl. She gave a small nod and stepped back. I steadied the heart that had loosened during our pointless chatter. Feeling the heat of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art warming my meridians, I took a step forward.
Sssss—
A blurry shape rose from the floor like mist. Clank. A security guard wrapped in chains so long they dragged along the ground materialized with a physical body. What was this, some game character?
Anyway, the fact that it was clearly guarding the Central Control Room meant I had the right answer. This was the monster born from the security guard ghost story. It wasn’t a real human.
My mind felt a little more at ease… until—
BAM—!
The thing suddenly swung its chains. The floor shattered and debris flew everywhere. Good thing I’d been on guard, or I would’ve been sent back to the beginning in one hit.
“Kyaa!”
Between the girl’s youthful scream, the chains kept lashing out in rapid succession. I was barely dodging, but the bizarre, unpredictable trajectories made my vision spin.
Still, it was way more manageable than the Kim Yushin statue. When I died to that thing the first time, I couldn’t even see the attack coming.
Maybe the Heavenly Demon Divine Art enhanced my dynamic vision, because I gradually got used to the chains’ movements. They were slow. This must be what the world looks like to a cat.
KWANG—!
Annoyed by my constant dodging, the guard brought both arms down at the same time.
Now.
I channeled the heat all the way to the Yongcheon points on my soles. Clang—! I deflected one chain with my sword and charged in. Thud. With a powerful step, I swung my blade.
Shhhk—
The guard, now sporting a massive wound across its chest, crumbled away like sand. The whole fight had lasted only a few breaths.
“Hoo.” I calmed the strange thrill mixed in with the tension.
“Whoa… It felt like watching a movie.”
The girl, who had crept closer at some point, stared with wide eyes. But it wasn’t over yet. If I waited, the monster would probably reappear.
“Wait here.”
Leaving her behind, I immediately opened the door to the Central Control Room.
Crackle—
High-frequency static assaulted my ears. A heavy pressure crushed down on my body. Every monitor inside the room displayed nothing but broken, distorted screens. They should have been showing CCTV footage. Guess checking the interior this way was impossible.
[Chik… ■.....]
Suddenly, the main monitor in the center flickered red. Ah. I understood perfectly. This was the real body.
An intense energy radiated from the center of the screen. Stab—! I drove my sword straight into the middle of the red monitor.
Gush—!
Blood-red liquid poured out like a waterfall through the cracked screen. A sickening fishy stench stabbed my nose. The static grew louder. Ignoring the sound of chains rattling outside again, I pushed the sword deeper.
Crunch—
The feeling of piercing something solid. I immediately twisted the blade. I poured every last bit of my internal energy into the sword.
Craaaaack—!
The cracks that started from the central monitor spread to the surrounding screens, then engulfed the entire Central Control Room.
CRASH—!
Finally, a massive line was drawn across the empty air, and the oppressive pressure that had filled the room drained away like an ebbing tide. The pouring red liquid, the shattered monitors—everything vanished, returning the room to an ordinary Central Control Room.
[Clear Condition]
Resolve the Five Major Ghost Stories of Inshin Middle School.
1. Statue (Completed)
2. Murderer
3. Anatomical Model
4. Security Guard (Completed)
5. Female Student ???
One more entry had been marked complete. So it really was the security guard ghost story.
“Is it over?”
The girl poked just her head out from the doorway.
“Yeah, this one’s done.”
“…Ohh. So if you have overwhelming power, you don’t even have to follow the ghost story rules.”
“Rules?”
“All ghost stories have rules. The standard way is to solve them while following those rules. Probably…?”
Do not avoid the eyes of the Kim Yushin statue. That must have been the rule. I roughly understood, but the girl was misunderstanding something.
“It’s not exactly overwhelming power. I’m risking my life every single time.”
I had already died once, after all. The pain of being decapitated still felt vividly real.
“Really? You made it look so easy.”
Well, this was the first floor of the tower. There were standard rules here too. They probably hadn’t placed any ghost stories so overwhelmingly strong that resistance was impossible.
That line of thought brought up one question. Was this girl just an NPC of the tower? Would she disappear like an initialization when I left the first floor?
She felt so alive, though. The tower’s power was capable of creating an enormous world and even sending dead people back to the past to let them live again. With that kind of ability, nothing it did would be surprising.
I don’t know.
My primary physician always said: when your thoughts get complicated, focus on the present. I’d leave the unanswerable questions alone and just focus on clearing the ghost stories.
“Next is probably the science lab.”
“Ugh.” The girl’s face twisted.
“What?”
“The science lab… doesn’t that mean the anatomical models come to life and run around the hallways?”
“That’s what I’m expecting.”
“With all those gross, wriggling organs and—ewww. Maybe I’ll just stay here.”
“Then wait here.”
“But I don’t want to.”
Was she always this kind of personality? Her looks made everything she did seem cute, but still…
“Fine. Do whatever you want.”
A teenage girl’s mood swings really made me want to give her a good flick on the forehead.
“Ouch, that hurt.”
She clutched her chest dramatically. I let out a small sigh.
“Let’s go together.”
“I’ll lead the way!”
She straightened her back and marched ahead. A second ago she didn’t want to go at all.
We followed her up to the second floor, but there were no anatomical models running down the hallway.
“At this timing it should’ve gone tap tap tap! That’s the good part.”
“Weren’t you scared?”
“Ghost stories are only fun when they’re scary. If horror movies or amusement park rides aren’t scary, they’re just boring.”
This girl was missing a few screws. Well, the mastermind who caused these ghost stories probably wasn’t normal to begin with.
“There it is—the science lab.”
She pointed at the science lab door. I adjusted my grip on the sword hilt and slowly stepped forward.
Slide—
The moment I opened the door, a pungent, acrid smell stung my nose. Inside were various lab tools, dusty storage cabinets, and in the corner of the classroom, a red-bodied anatomical model. Muscles were exposed everywhere, one eye socket was completely hollow, and the abdomen was covered in transparent plastic so you could see the fake internal organs. A very textbook, ordinary anatomical model.
“Huh? It’s not moving?”
The girl peeked in from outside, glancing at me.
Whack—!
I lightly swung my sword and smashed the model to pieces. Only plastic fragments flew everywhere. I thought for sure this would be it, but I guess I was wrong.
Drip.
A single drop of liquid fell onto my cheek. The stench made me frown. A thick, sharp, unpleasant odor. I had smelled it a few times in the hospital. It was the smell of formalin from the morgue. It felt dozens of times more concentrated than what you’d find in a hospital, but it was unmistakable.
Splat splat splat—
Suddenly formalin began pouring down like rain. Afraid my senses would go numb, I hurriedly retreated outside the lab.
“Cough, cough.”
My eyes, nose, mouth, and even my skin stung. Then—
RUMBLE—!
The ceiling of the science lab collapsed, and a massive clump of formalin writhed in the wreckage.
“What is that?”
The girl narrowed her eyes. What should I even call that thing?
“Formalin slime?”
In the games I used to play, slimes were nothing but trash mobs, but seeing one in real life was incredibly grotesque. And a slime made entirely of formalin? I’d never heard of anything like it. If I hadn’t dodged earlier, I would’ve become a Kim Muhan anatomical specimen pickled in formalin.
So this was the true form of the anatomical model ghost story.
I had to get closer to deal with it, but even from a distance my eyes burned and my breathing grew labored.
“Hoo…”
I steadied my true energy. As my inner power circulated through the twelve meridians, it drove out the poisonous formalin qi. Much better.
I wasn’t sure if it was because the Heavenly Demon Divine Art was amazing or if this was just how martial arts worked, but it seemed that learning a heart method granted resistance to toxic substances.
I cautiously stepped forward and observed the science lab. The formalin slime was still hunkered down inside. It wasn’t coming out. I raised my internal heat as high as possible and took one step inside.
Splat—
As if defending its territory, the slime shot out a tentacle. I swung my sword and severed it.
Hiss—
A sound like burning meat rose from the severed piece along with a disgusting smoke. I cut down every tentacle that came flying at me. After repeating the process a few times, the tentacles twisted grotesquely and were pulled back into the main body.
Apparently the heat of my internal energy was the slime’s natural enemy. The severed tentacles couldn’t return to the main body and simply melted away. This was nothing compared to the Kim Yushin statue.
It’s brutal.
Even while suppressing it with the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, the very air touching my skin stung like acid. Dragging this out wouldn’t be good. I stepped toward the slime’s main body.
The slime extended dozens of tentacles, forming a sea-urchin-like barrier. Severing the Sea. With a single diagonal vertical slash, the tentacles were chopped apart like straw.
Once the tentacles were gone, the slime moved its massive body. The pieces of the anatomical model I had smashed earlier floated disgustingly inside its body. And in the middle of them, something pulsed a dark red like a heart.
A bead?
That must be the slime’s core. I readjusted my grip on the sword. I only had one chance. If I couldn’t destroy it instantly, I’d end up as a formalin-preserved Kim Muhan specimen.
I raised my internal heat to the limit. The feeling of my middle dantian emptying out hit me as I shouted.
“Hup—!”
I thrust my sword toward the approaching slime. Shattering Heaven.
Shunk—
The tip of the blade pierced through the liquid mass and embedded itself in the bead.