Chapter 8
Chapter 8
School Ghost Stories (6)
With a crack, the slime covered my body at the same moment the orb shattered.
Goooooo—
The slime’s body twisted grotesquely and began to evaporate.
Clear conditions:
Solve the five great school ghost stories of Inshin Middle School.
Unknown
The clear conditions were also achieved. So it really was the human specimen.
“Phew.”
My internal energy consumption was so severe that my legs trembled.
Fortunately, it seemed that everything related to formalin was treated as an anomaly.
The unbearable stench and the formalin soaking the science room floor vanished like an illusion.
So did the liquid that had covered my body.
“Wow… truly overwhelming strength.”
The female student who had been beside me at some point stared at me with sparkling eyes.
“It’s not like that.”
She seemed to be looking at me like some kind of superhero, but this time too, it had been close.
If I hadn’t pierced the core properly, I would’ve become Kim Mu-han pickled in formalin on the spot.
“If you’ve got a good body, your head gets easy. Perfect fit, right?”
“That just means you’re stupid.”
“You can have both a good body and a good brain.”
“That’s true. I’ll meditate for a bit.”
“Meditate?”
“Think of it as meditation.”
“Ooh… okay.”
I hadn’t even properly rested, so my internal energy was completely drained.
At this rate, I wouldn’t even be able to survive the water ghost if something popped out next.
I sat down in a cross-legged position.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Art consisted of seven stages.
Among them, the first stage, Sacred Flame, focused on cultivating life energy through spirit ignition and absorption.
Within the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, circulation spirit absorption meant awakening the stagnant essence through the power of sacred flame, then absorbing external energy to reignite it.
When I closed my eyes, I saw a single ember burning in the darkness.
It was much weaker than before.
A diminished flame could simply be rekindled.
Didn’t the Blood Demon say it?
That the Heavenly Demon Divine Art was the strongest martial art of all time.
I had never seen other martial arts, but instinctively I knew that statement was not wrong.
Whoosh—
Invisible currents of energy swirled around my body.
The moment I fully committed to circulation, the Heavenly Demon Divine Art began greedily devouring all surrounding energy.
Warm heat filled my empty lower dantian.
How much time had passed?
Even if it wasn’t perfect, it was enough to fight now.
Roughly eighty percent.
I exhaled slowly and opened my eyes.
The first thing I saw was her face.
The female student’s large eyes were right in front of me, so close I could feel her breath.
Then, as soon as she noticed my eyelids moving, she quickly backed away and crouched down, pretending to doodle with her finger.
I don’t know what she’s thinking.
If I had to eliminate her, how would I do it?
Should I try cutting her down like the other ghosts?
I stopped the thought from spiraling further.
“You done?”
As I stood up and shook my body, she responded as if nothing had happened.
“Yeah.”
“Where next?”
“Fourth floor.”
“…Mm.”
She stiffened slightly.
“The classroom where you said you followed the ghost. Let’s go there.”
“Haa…”
At my words, she let out a deep sigh.
“Let’s go.”
Unlike before, her steps were heavy.
I quietly organized my thoughts as well.
We stepped onto the fourth floor in silence.
“It’s there, Room 2-1.”
She pointed toward a classroom labeled 2-1.
“Wait here.”
I didn’t know what might come out if trauma was triggered.
“Yes.”
She nodded politely.
I carefully walked toward the end of the hallway, toward Room 2-1.
Through the half-open door, I saw it.
A girl.
Sitting neatly at a desk, writing something intently.
She had the exact same appearance as the girl who had been talking with me just moments ago.
Scratch scratch— scratch scratch—
The sound of a pen scraping paper echoed through the classroom.
Unlike the ghostly girl, this one had a physical body.
I stepped forward, making my presence known.
Even though I was within striking distance, she didn’t react.
I looked at the notebook she was writing in.
It was filled with completely blackened, unknown symbols.
“Stop.”
I spoke casually.
Then.
With a sickening crack, her neck twisted at an unnatural angle.
Her face was unrecognizable.
Where her eyes should have been, there were only black symbols.
The same unknown writing covered the notebook.
Her mouth tore open as she spoke.
“You’re… not… finished yet…”
Then she returned to writing in the notebook.
This is going to be a headache.
Seeing it up close confirmed it.
This was a living human body.
Probably a ghost had taken over the girl’s body.
Then I couldn’t kill her.
Maybe killing her would be the simplest solution.
But if there was another way, I didn’t want to do it.
She wasn’t actively hostile yet.
I looked around the classroom.
There was something I was curious about.
There it is.
A seating chart on the teacher’s desk.
“Hyun Seo-ah.”
So that’s your name.
Unlike the ghost girl with no name tag, this classroom clearly displayed it.
Whoosh—
A sharp gust sliced past my cheek.
In an instant, the girl who had been sitting at the desk appeared right in front of me.
“Don’t… look…”
Her dry, sand-like voice scraped against my ears.
I didn’t back away.
“Why.”
“That name… is mine…”
“It’s not yours. Return it to its owner. The body you stole too.”
“No!”
Her face convulsed violently.
I must have struck a nerve.
“Hyun Seo-ah.”
“Stop—!”
She slammed the desk.
I dodged her movement by twisting my body.
Before she could rampage further, I moved to where she had been sitting.
A pen.
The pen that had been bothering me since earlier.
Things like this being the key to ghost stories was basically a rule of the world.
And then—
A voice that didn’t belong to this world echoed.
A name is being invoked. The entity descends.
You have died.
Returning to the waiting room.
Everything went dark.
…
Huh?
I looked around blankly.
White walls everywhere.
It was the waiting room.
The last thing I heard was definitely the word death.
So it wasn’t a dream.
Did I really die?
Just from picking up a pen?
What even was that thing that killed me without even giving me time to feel pain?
“Phew…”
My head throbbed at the incomprehensible situation.
Still, this was the waiting room.
There were people I could ask.
Post: Does it make sense to die just from picking up a pen?
Author: 8.8
Picked up the pen the ghost was using and something about a descent happened, then I died
Blood Demon: Foolish mistake. You should never touch a vessel of descent carelessly. If it’s enough to cause instant death, it’s probably on the level of a god bragging about its name. It also means your resonance matched it. What was the divine name of the descending entity?
A reply appeared less than 30 seconds after posting.
Is this guy tsundere?
He’s weirdly kind.
Correction. Not kind. Just rude.
8.8: I didn’t hear anything, it was like noise distortion
Blood Demon: Tch. This is why the ignorant—
Kawaii High School Girl: It’s better to destroy vessels than to mess with them half-baked. Even a high-grade one would kill you just by looking at you
8.8: Is that like a death beam?
Blood Demon: That’s what happens when a higher existence stops hiding its rank.
Kawaii High School Girl: But destruction is also tricky
8.8: Can I learn sword aura within 24 hours?
Blood Demon: Impossible.
8.8: Got it
Then they started talking among themselves.
Another thread began.
It was hard to follow.
A voice entered.
“User… feels like a special constitution☆”
And then—
Blood Demon: You. Learn this.
Attachment: Blood Demon Meridian Expansion Technique (provisional).pdf
I opened the file.
Unlike the Heavenly Demon Divine Art that felt like it would tear my head apart, this was surprisingly readable.
It consisted of eight sections.
In summary.
It forcibly opens the extraordinary meridians and uses innate energy like internal power.
In other words.
A self-destruct technique.
…