School Ghost Stories (1): The First is Hard, the Next is Easy

I kept breathing while retracing the meridian map in my mind. A thin thread of true qi settled in the middle dantian at the center of my chest. Refine the Body, Absorb the Qi. Temper the body and gather the energy. The contents of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art manual floated up. Even though I had never learned a single Chinese character, the meaning came to me naturally.

Qi follows the will, and the will guards the dantian. The formulas of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art that had been hammered into my brain guided the true qi straight to my middle dantian. True qi wasn’t something that existed only in the air. It existed inside my body too—from the qi that flowed through the twelve meridians like air to the enormous power pooled in between like molten iron.

“Urgh—!”

The moment the energy from all twelve meridians rushed into my middle dantian, an overwhelming pain slammed through my entire body. It was so intense I wanted to break my lotus position and roll across the floor. My whole body burned. It felt like every blood vessel was being seared with a red-hot iron. A fishy, metallic taste of blood flooded my mouth. I clenched my teeth until they felt like they would shatter. Enduring the agony, I kept breathing.

If the qi entering through my breath was a spark, the power now racing along the twelve meridians toward my middle dantian was lava.

“Grrraaaagh!”

The smell of burning flesh. The groans slipping between my teeth carried a horrible scorched stench. The stronger the pain grew, the clearer my will became. A single spark ignited inside my heart. A single point of heart fire burns. Use suffering as the sacred fuel. The voice rang out like a hallucination. Swallow the bitterness and become a demon. Only then would it become the firewood that grows the Holy Fire.

The instant the pain that had wrapped my entire body converged at the center of my chest, my vision flashed pure white.

“Haa…”

I opened my half-lidded eyes. The heat that had covered me was gone. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Instead, a fierce warmth pulsed near my heart. The Holy Fire now settled in my middle dantian throbbed like a second heartbeat. It felt bizarre, as if I had grown an extra heart.

With trembling fingers, I immediately tapped the write button.

Being suspected so openly made me feel a little wronged. Maybe this would explain it. I recalled the Heavenly Demon Divine Art formulas and drew the spark of Holy Fire from my middle dantian, pushing it downward.

“Oh.”

It worked. The true qi pierced through my chest, traveled down through my abdomen and waist, past my pelvis, and finally reached the soles of my feet. This must be the Yongquan point. I carefully stood up so I wouldn’t fall.

Amazing. Just having true qi flow through my lower body kept me steady. I could walk. Slowly, slowly, slowly. I took a step. Sensations I had forgotten were coming ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠back to life. So this was how good walking felt.

I didn’t even have time to bask in the emotion before the high school girl boss asked.

Something felt just within reach.

No wonder my attending physician couldn’t figure it out. If it was something like this, it made sense.

The molten iron that had pooled in the middle of my twelve meridians. That was the innate qi that had been devouring me. The power of the waiting room had sealed the severed meridians, and the leaked innate qi had become fuel for the Holy Fire. I no longer had to worry about the incurable disease.

A strange sense of relief washed over me. Suddenly, my attending physician’s smile came to mind. If she had known this, would she have been happy? I could never tell her now.

Tick. Tick.

Suddenly a ticking sound reached my ears. It was perfectly regular, like the second hand of a clock. A clock?

A chill ran down my spine. I switched the screen.

Less than ten seconds left. I sprinted toward the Gate of Time and Space. My feet moved on their own. I could run now. With no time to feel joy, I grabbed the first weapon that came ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to hand. A flash of blue light filled my vision.

This world was originally one where no supernatural entities existed. However, a ritual performed by a female student for fun accidentally connected to an entity from outside. Ah, a world without supernatural entities. A world with no resistance to them. What happens when such beings descend upon it?

World Destruction.

Even the smallest supernatural entity can lead to world destruction. That is correct! This world was extremely unlucky. The snowball that began as a female student’s prank had rolled into an avalanche.

Completely preventing the occurrence of supernatural entities is not permitted. However! It is possible to travel to the moment right after the entities appeared, before they ascend into a world-destroying transcendent horror.

Adversary, you have stepped onto the turning point of the First Chimro World. Prevent the horrors and save the First Chimro World. Doing so is the only way to save your own world as well.

A damp, musty smell hit me. The terrible humidity stabbing my nose brought me back to my senses.

“Ptoo.”

I spat out the sand in my mouth, pushed off the ground, and stood up. Asphalt and soggy moss. And darkness. It was a pitch-black night where even the moon and stars were invisible. Only a faintly flickering streetlamp provided any light.

I lifted my head slightly. Next to a rusty iron gate the color of dried blood, a crooked signboard came into view.

It was an ominous name. Creeeak— The iron gate opened by itself. The sound was like nails on a chalkboard. I instinctively stepped back. That was when I realized. A wall. The area around me was blocked off as if surrounded by an invisible barrier. The only opening was the sinister iron gate leading into the school.

Feeling a bit suffocated, I touched my body. The patient gown I had been wearing in the waiting room had changed into a neat school uniform. So it dresses you in clothes that fit the world’s setting.

I thought of the gallery. I had left without finishing my explanation. I tried to open the gallery in a hurry.

It wouldn’t open. I couldn’t get real-time advice. First, I picked up the weapon that had fallen on the ground. It was a sword shorter than a wooden practice blade, but it felt heavy. I hadn’t even properly asked about swordsmanship in the gallery. Would I even be able to swing it?

I had to. There was no way a sword had been placed in the waiting room for no reason. It would definitely be needed. I sent the flame I had drawn from the Holy Fire in my middle dantian not only to my lower body but to my upper body as well. Let the flames flow. Recalling the Heavenly Demon Divine Art calmed my mind.

I gripped the sword and gave it a test swing. Whoosh— Much lighter than before. After swinging it a few more times, I started to get the feel of it. Good. I could do this. Confidence suddenly welled up from somewhere.

I gripped the sword tightly and cautiously stepped inside the school. The sight of the old concrete building turned dark gray and the creaking of wooden structures whenever the wind blew gave me goosebumps. The desolate school scenery wrapped in darkness was horrifying just to look at. My legs trembled from instinctive fear.

School ghost stories were the most basic classic horror tales. Why are basics basic? Why are classics classics? Because they work so well. Of course, compared to hospital ghost stories—which were also classic basics—school ghost stories were nothing but a lower-tier version. I had spent over ten years stuck in a hospital bed. I had overcome every single hospital ghost story my attending physician told me to scare me whenever I misbehaved.

When I thought of it that way, my trembling legs stopped shaking. I moved forward slowly, warily scanning every direction.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

The sound of something regularly striking the ground grew closer. In the pitch-black darkness, something enormous was moving.

The first clear condition: The Statue. No long explanation was needed. A statue of General Kim Yu-sin on horseback was blocking the entrance path. To enter the school, I had to deal with it.

I looked back and forth between the sword in my hand and the moving statue of Kim Yu-sin. That thing? The statue looked at least three meters tall. On top of that, the weapon it held was a nearly two-meter-long ring-pommel sword. With this? In contrast, my sword was a cute little eighty centimeters long. They wanted me to take down that metal giant with this adorable little blade?

The confidence that had risen crashed straight to the bottom. There were no other entrances. Everywhere except that path was blocked by an invisible wall. My thoughts accelerated like lightning. There had to be a way. Even though it was grandly called the First Chimro World, when you thought about it, this was only the first floor. The first floor was basically a tutorial. There was no way the difficulty would be set that high.

A strategy. Yes, there had to be a strategy. Find a hint, find a hint, a hint…

There was none. No matter how much I looked around, there wasn’t any kind of hint. Or was it a gamble? The thought crossed my mind, but I couldn’t leave my life up to luck. The only things I could trust were the Heavenly Demon Divine Art I had just begun and the sword in my hand.

If I poured the Holy Fire from my middle dantian into the hand yang meridians and swung with everything I had… The burden on my meridians and muscles would be enormous, but it was worth trying.

I organized my thoughts.

1. If it’s a gamble, I’ll put it off until later. It said to resolve the five great ghost stories, but it didn’t specify the order.

2. Even if it’s the correct move, I’ll run away as much as possible.

3. If I can’t avoid it, I’ll use a final strike.

I circulated the Holy Fire little by little through the hand yang meridians to test it. I felt my breath leaking between my lips growing hotter. I moved forward while suppressing my footsteps as much as possible.

Thud.

The thing stopped. It was looking at me. I instinctively avoided its gaze.

Slice.

Pain flooded in. My mouth opened but no sound came out. A scream caught in my throat, and only a hissing breath leaked out.

Thud.

The world spun round and round, and something falling echoed in my ears. Only then did I realize. It wasn’t the world that was spinning. It was my head.

A mass of black earthworms. The wriggling black earthworms were looking at me. The moment I saw the disgusting, repulsive creature’s eyes, uncontrollable rage surged up.

I’m dying like this? I had only just escaped my terminal illness. This pointlessly? To a ridiculous monster like this?

My thoughts grew fainter. I can’t accept this. I can’t accept an ending like thi…