Chapter 11

Hwaae High School (7)

“It says students are forbidden from entering.”

“So you’re not going in?”

Rattle. Clatter.

Every time Team Leader Yong grabbed the locked window and shook it, the commotion in the hallway grew louder.

Of course I was going in. It was too early to give up.

A hidden classroom fit the exact conditions of the place we had been searching for.

“No teachers in sight! We have three minutes left until class!”

“Okay.”

Myeong Haebin had quickly moved to the sunny side of the corridor to keep watch, and now she reported back.

The window was an ordinary old-fashioned one, locked from the inside by a raised latch. Astonishingly, the latch moved a little lower every time Team Leader Yong shook it.

“Can you see inside?”

“No.”

I tried peering through the cloudy glass, but desks and chairs had been piled up haphazardly, blocking the window. I couldn’t see anything inside.

“It looks too narrow for anyone to get through. Maybe there’s another entrance—”

Clunk!

“Got it!”

Apparently, the world sometimes moved through strength rather than intelligence.

With one final clatter, the window slid open. Team Leader Yong must have exerted himself quite a bit, because the bandage around his hand had turned red with fresh blood.

“Team Leader, your hand....”

“Huh? Oh, it leaked a little.”

“People don’t usually say blood ‘leaked.’”

“So what? Just get inside.”

It was somewhat absurd, but he didn’t seem entirely unable to use the hand.

I supposed he could take care of himself.

Beyond the window, the overturned chairs and precariously stacked desks looked like a minefield. Still, there appeared to be just enough room for us to squeeze through.

“Be careful climbing over. One wrong move and the whole pile might collapse.”

“Yes, sir! You go first, sunbae!”

I went first, practically crawling over the desks. After confirming that the hallway was clear, Myeong Haebin climbed over the windowsill next.

“Would you like me to help you?”

“Who are you treating like a child? I’m fine.”

Team Leader Yong was the last one inside. Despite what he had said, he entered through the gap between the desks I was holding firmly in place.

Once we made it through the wall of desks and chairs, we found several sinks and cooking stations, just as one would expect from a home economics lab.

“It’s actually quite cozy in here, isn’t it? Though the lights don’t work.”

“It looks like no one has maintained this room for a long time.”

How could she call this cozy?

Unlike the other classrooms, which showed signs of regular use despite being somewhat dim, the counters and teacher’s desk here were covered in a thick layer of dust. Even the lights didn’t work.

To me, it looked like hell.

It made me want to open the door and ventilate the room immediately. My nose was already beginning to itch, so I put on a disposable mask.

“Now I can finally breathe.”

Only then could I slowly inspect the room, running my fingertips over the tables.

Just as I thought, this place was—

“Sunbae! Look at this. It really is a secret hideout!”

Myeong Haebin called to me from farther inside.

In an area that couldn’t be seen clearly from outside, there were blankets, cushions, a fluffy-looking teddy-bear pillow, and even some unidentified comic books.

“Yeah. It seems some students used to come in here.”

“It could have simply been used for storage. Why don’t you think so?”

“The dust has been wiped away here and here. It has accumulated to different degrees as well.”

When people moved around, the dust that had naturally settled would be stirred back into the air.

The airflow in this sealed classroom wouldn’t have created a dust-free path across the counters. That meant someone had been using the route leading from the door to the blankets and cushions.

“Are you some kind of pervert?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You really are a cleaner. I just find it funny that the first thing you do is run your finger through the dust.”

That felt a little unfair.

I had merely described what I saw.

Nevertheless, I suddenly felt self-conscious and cleared my throat.

“Ahem. Let’s look around for now. There can’t be much time left before class.”

As soon as I said that, something struck the back of my head.

But it couldn’t have been a person. The object had been too small and light—

“Was it my imagination?”

I turned around, but nothing appeared to have changed. I decided I must have imagined it.

This place seemed highly likely to contain the prohibited items mentioned in the app. Whether we searched the hideout or the cooking stations, we were bound to find something.

Bzzzt—

At that moment, a faint burst of static came from the speaker mounted above the blackboard.

“Did you hear something from that speaker just now?”

“That crackling? Yeah, I heard it too.”

“I guess the speaker in this classroom is broken as well.”

An unpleasant static noise seeped from the dust-covered speaker, then abruptly stopped.

We remained frozen for a moment, expecting some kind of paranormal phenomenon. But we soon relaxed and began rummaging through the lab.

“Nothing unusual here. Sunbae, there are still some ingredients left, but this isn’t what you were looking for, is it?”

“There’s flour, rice, and even some salt farther inside. Don’t eat any of it, just in case.”

“Okay!”

“There aren’t any knives. Looks like they removed all the cooking utensils.”

There were no knives, and I couldn’t imagine what significance the uncooked ingredients might have. I poured some flour into a bowl, then thoroughly searched the drawers, lower cabinets, and even the inside of a sink filled with water.

There was nothing that could be called a clue.

“Surely the app doesn’t want me to clean up nothing more than this.”

I felt as though I was overlooking something.

While I was lost in thought, Myeong Haebin raised her head, now covered in a fine layer of dust.

“By the way, how long have we been in here?”

“Let’s see.... Oh, the clock in here has stopped too.”

“It can’t have been very long. We would’ve heard the bell if class had started.”

The school bell had been loud enough to reverberate through the main entrance hall.

So we should still be able to leave now.

Smack!

“Ow! What was that?”

This time, I felt it clearly.

Something had deliberately aimed for the back of my head and struck me.

“What’s wrong?”

“This eraser hit me in the head. Did either of you throw it?”

“What are you talking about? Why would I throw that?”

A mint-colored eraser of the kind nearly every class had possessed back when I was in school lay forlornly on the floor.

It definitely hadn’t been there earlier.

But the window was behind me, and there shouldn’t have been anything outside it.

How had this happened?

Was this another paranormal phenomenon?

“Let me borrow a dismantling marker.”

The marker was much larger than the unsettling eraser, but when I stuck it on, a clear pattern appeared.

So it really was a paranormal phenomenon.

But why was it targeting only me?

Still, I couldn’t remain fixated on something we didn’t fully understand.

“Let’s go attend class for now. Lunch comes after this period, so we should have plenty of time to finish searching—”

“Sunbae, behind you!”

Before I could hurriedly turn around, Team Leader Yong reached out and narrowly knocked away the incoming object.

This time, it was a thick, fully packed pencil case.

“Ah! Damn it, that hurts like hell.”

Apparently, he had reflexively used his injured hand. Team Leader Yong shook it vigorously.

“Are you all right?”

Why did these things keep flying at me?

The pencil case had enough weight behind it that my head would have hurt badly if it had connected.

The first object had been extremely light.

Then came the eraser.

And now a pencil case.

This was frightening.

“Let’s get out for now. It’s quiet outside.”

Quiet outside?

Myeong Haebin climbed onto the desks and carefully began opening the window. I hurriedly grabbed the back of her collar.

Click. Click.

The familiar sound of dress shoes was approaching from the far end of the hallway.

“We can’t go out.”

There was no way the hallway would be quiet during break. It never had been before.

Besides, this room was explicitly off-limits to students. If we were caught climbing out through the window, we wouldn’t have any excuse.

Had the static from the speaker earlier actually been the bell signaling the start of class? Even if it had, the bell should have carried through the hallway. Why hadn’t we heard anything?

“Shh. It’s getting closer. Get down.”

Fortunately, the pile of desks and chairs blocked the view from outside.

Holding our breath, we crouched against them so that we wouldn’t be visible through the window, even by chance.

“But how are we supposed to get back?”

A thought crossed my mind.

When those objects had struck the back of my head earlier, there had definitely been a trigger.

“Maybe we don’t need to attend it.”

“It? You mean class?”

For instance, perhaps it was a certain word I had repeatedly said.

“Yes. But just in case, don’t say—!”

The moment Team Leader Yong raised an eyebrow, a chair tumbled from the mountain of furniture, aimed directly at his head.

“If that falls over here, it’ll be a disaster!”

It wasn’t just the danger to his head. There was no way the teacher would fail to hear something that loud.

Without even stopping to think, I lunged for the chair.

But perhaps I had moved too hastily. Instead of catching it, I merely knocked it away with my hand.

“!”

Myeong Haebin practically slid across the counter and caught the chair with her entire body.

Click.

The “teacher’s” footsteps stopped directly outside the front door of the home economics lab.

We froze as if encased in ice, our eyes frantically darting around.

Click. Click.

But then the footsteps retreated.

Only after the sound had completely disappeared could we release the breaths we had been holding.

“Phew. I thought we were dead....”

“I did well, didn’t I? Seriously, mister!”

“How was I supposed to know it was that word? What kind of school makes that a forbidden word?”

It had been far too close, but at least we now knew for certain.

Inside this lab, the word “class” was forbidden.

It had only thrown a chair this time. Next time, an entire desk might come flying at us.

But we had learned something else as well.

“Since it’s come to this, let’s skip class.”

“What does ‘skip class’ mean?”

“Uh... It’s harder to explain without saying the forbidden word. Let’s call it enjoying fifty minutes of freedom without being confined to a chair. I don’t know whether we’re actually allowed to do that, though.”

I carefully set down the chair Myeong Haebin had caught, then placed the eraser and pencil case—both bearing dismantling markers—on top of it.

“This lab wasn’t merely a hideout. I think students used it to skip class.”

There were enough cushions and blankets here to make it look as if someone had moved in. The room attacked anyone who said the word “class,” and although the teacher had come right up to the door, it hadn’t entered.

This was the perfect place to skip class.

“Besides, even if we somehow went inside now, we wouldn’t be able to get the textbooks.”

“That’s true. And we’d need three of them.”

Team Leader Yong had even been advised to visit the nurse’s office because of his hand. If he wanted to avoid being sent home early, it would be best for him to stay as far away from the teachers as possible.

Team Leader Yong must have decided that skipping class was safer too, because he soon nodded.

He glanced nervously up at the furniture, apparently worried about another chair attack, then sat with his back against the pile.

Watching him, I rolled up my sleeves.

“Ms. Haebin, let’s go.”

“Where are we going?”

“We can’t spend the whole day sitting in this pit of dust.”

Without the slightest hesitation, I pulled garbage bags, cleaning wipes, and other supplies from my bag.

Myeong Haebin’s eyes widened.

“You’re going to clean?”

“Isn’t that obvious? Are you planning to leave the flour you spilled like that?”

It felt as though every breath was filling my lungs with dust.

Team Leader Yong laughed aloud when he saw me, but I ignored him and began spraying water into the air above the hazy countertop.

When dust had accumulated in layers this thick, you couldn’t simply brush it away with a duster. The room couldn’t be ventilated, and we didn’t have a vacuum cleaner.

Once the moisture caused the dust to clump together, I pushed it into a garbage bag with wet wipes. Myeong Haebin then wiped the remaining residue away.

The white surface of the countertop emerged, revealing things that had been hidden beneath the dust.

Theory is boring as hell.
└ Wanna play Gomoku?

Did you see the mushroom tangsuyuk for lunch today? That’s just wrong.
└ Just close your eyes and eat it. Are you sure we won’t get caught?
└ Nope.

They were scribbles left behind by the students who had used this lab.

“Ms. Haebin, don’t scrub too hard.”

Leaving graffiti behind wasn’t to my taste, but it might contain clues about this place. We should preserve it for now.

“What does ‘night study’ mean?”

“It’s short for evening self-study. Why?”

Myeong Haebin called me over while finishing the area where the dust had previously been wiped away.

Are we really going to do it during evening self-study?
└ I’m scared. What about the teachers on duty?
└ We’ll be fine as long as they don’t catch us, lol.

“What were they going to do?”

“Whatever it was, I doubt the teachers would have approved.”

Unlike the other graffiti, which appeared old and had been partially erased or smudged, this exchange remained intact.

What was more—

What if we really die if we get caught?
└ Chicken?

They were planning to do something behind the teachers’ backs during evening self-study?

Judging by how worried they were, it couldn’t have been anything wholesome.

Something about this smelled extremely suspicious.

As I tried to read more of the graffiti, the speaker crackled again.

Bzzzt—

“The bell signaling the end of fourth period.”

That was what I thought—until a mechanical voice emerged through the static.

—Once again, we announce that it is time for a healthy and delicious lunch. Every student hearing this announcement must finish their meal without exception.

The speaker was working properly?

The moment I registered that fact, my body began moving on its own.

“Sunbae, I can’t control my body!”

“Ugh! Watch out for the window!”

Myeong Haebin, who had been wiping the sink, and Team Leader Yong, who had been replacing his bandages, were affected as well.

Like marionettes, our bodies left the lab against our will and walked down the hallway. We descended the stairs, then stopped at the back of a long line as if roots had grown from our feet.

I had a very bad feeling.

[Cafeteria]

Our bodies had brought us to the cafeteria, where the air was thick with the fishy stench of blood.

[The conditions have been fulfilled. A new section has been unlocked.]

The phone in my pocket vibrated.

I barely managed to move my stiffened fingers and turn on the screen.

The newly unlocked section was the [Achievements] page.

[Achievements]

Hwaae High School
! Eat the school lunch and escape the cafeteria. (Incomplete)
※ Warning ※ This achievement may cause irreversible physical injury.

Reward: ■■■■ ■■ + ??

In other words, eating the school lunch and escaping would injure me.

But doing so would also complete the achievement.

As if I’d do that.