Chapter 8
Hwaae High School (4)
Like a proper citizen of a democracy, I decided to follow the majority.
To tell the truth, democracy had less to do with my decision than the notice written on the vending machine.
[ONE DRINK PER PERSON IS MANDATORY WHEN USING THE LOUNGE.]
I concluded that the notice was why Team Leader Yong had become so obsessed with the drink.
Crunch!
I threw the can onto the floor and stomped on it. It burst with a sickening sound, spilling its liquid along with a clump of hair that could have belonged to anyone.
I had expected Team Leader Yong to berate me, but he was surprisingly quiet.
“Team Leader? Team Leader?”
“Whew, I almost died.”
“Are you back to your senses now?”
Drenched in cold sweat, Team Leader Yong wiped his face with his uniform sleeve. The veins that had been bulging across his skin subsided, and he grinned at me while raising a fist in approval.
“Yeah. Good call. Thanks.”
“What just happened?”
“The moment I pressed the vending machine’s button, my body started moving as if I absolutely had to drink that stuff. Look at it. Does that look like something I’d willingly drink while in my right mind?”
The clump of hair tangled in the thick, fluorescent liquid was revolting enough that I shook my head vigorously.
“Why did you touch the machine in the first place?”
“You saw the sign too, didn’t you? One drink per person.”
“I did, but....”
“I’ll show you something interesting. Come here.”
Team Leader Yong pulled a notebook about half the size of his palm from inside his uniform.
I thought he intended to write something, but instead, he tore out one of its pages.
A sticker?
“Now, watch.”
He slapped the rectangular sticker onto the vending machine.
A dog emblem gradually emerged on the previously blank black surface.
“Pretty interesting, right? This is called a Dismantling Marker. What it does is—”
Not missing my intrigued reaction, Team Leader Yong puffed out his chest. But Myeong Haebin stole the explanation before he could finish.
“You attach one to an aberration or a confirmed anomalous phenomenon inside a ghost story. We call that ‘marking’ it.”
“So we can’t simply stick them on anything?”
“It has to be an anomalous phenomenon. Confirming that first is essential.”
“I see.”
Having missed his chance, Team Leader Yong pouted in a manner entirely unsuited to his enormous build. I naturally pretended not to notice and kept my attention fixed on Myeong Haebin.
“Will attaching that make the vending machine normal?”
“No.”
“Then I don’t understand the point of attaching it.”
“Hmm... Think of a ghost story as containing a certain number of aberrations and anomalous phenomena. The more of them we mark, the more our completion progress rises. As the completion level increases, the ghost story itself gradually weakens. Then, once we attach the very last marker—bam! The whole ghost story is dismantled.”
I tilted my head as I listened.
Wouldn’t that be too easy?
“Then couldn’t we find one harmless-looking anomaly and stick every marker onto it?”
“That’s a good point. But you didn’t know this, did you? No duplicates allowed. No matter how many markers you attach to the same thing, exploiting that loophole won’t increase the completion level.”
“What if we use them recklessly and run out?”
“The supply of Dismantling Markers is infinite. We also have no idea how many remain until we tear off the final one.”
Infinite?
Then again, neither the ghost story nor the way we had entered it obeyed common sense.
Should I think of it as building up stacks?
I still couldn’t imagine what it meant for the ghost story itself to weaken, but at least I understood the basic idea.
“Thanks for explaining.”
“Okay!”
Myeong Haebin beamed and clapped her hands. Then she poked Team Leader Yong in the side, as he was still pouting.
“Mister, how long are you going to stand there like that?”
“Oof! I was... Never mind. Hurry up and get your drinks so we can move on.”
“Do we really have to take a drink?”
After seeing what happened to Team Leader Yong, I was understandably reluctant. Besides, we had already marked the machine.
No sooner had I spoken than the vending machine’s lights turned red and it began rattling.
Ah.
The notice said, when using the lounge.
So we weren’t allowed to enter this area and then leave without taking a drink.
I hadn’t even sat on one of the sofas. How unfair.
“Choose something. We just have to make a selection.”
Carbonated drinks, vitamin drinks, banana milk, and other beverages were displayed inside. Befitting a school vending machine, its surface was covered in children’s fingerprints.
It looked like an ordinary vending machine.
More precisely, it had been decorated to resemble one.
“There’s no coin slot.”
“Good eye.”
The vending machine had no place to insert coins, bills, or cards. Only its selection buttons were blinking.
“Don’t worry. Whatever comes out, if you try to drink it, I’ll stop you.”
There was an ominous gleam in Team Leader Yong’s eyes.
Why was he rolling up his sleeves?
“Which one did you choose earlier?”
“This one.”
Team Leader Yong pointed to the green carbonated drink in the second row from the top.
It was the product we had seen outside the machine.
After slowly examining the vending machine, I decided I needed confirmation.
“I’ll let Mr. Dohyeon go first.”
“All right. Let’s see, which one should I choose...?”
“Could you select the banana milk?”
The button for the banana milk was also blinking. Jeong Dohyeon tilted his head but readily agreed.
“Sure. You have good instincts, Mr. Hanmu, so I’ll trust you.”
When he pressed the banana milk button, a drink dropped as before. This time, the impact sounded fairly heavy.
Jeong Dohyeon picked up an intact, jar-shaped plastic bottle. Unidentifiable lumps floated inside the thick-looking milk.
“It’s not often that we get a chance to drink something inside a ghost story. How fortunate.”
There was no way Jeong Dohyeon hadn’t seen the lumps, yet he opened the banana milk without hesitation.
“Not again. Mister!”
“Get a grip!”
Of course, we had expected this.
Anyone who selected a drink from that vending machine would try to consume it, no matter what came out.
Team Leader Yong, who had been waiting for this, struck Jeong Dohyeon’s throat with the edge of his hand. Startled by the unexpected attack, Jeong Dohyeon dropped the bottle, and Myeong Haebin caught it and threw it into the trash.
“Cough, hack... Team Leader, wasn’t that a little too hard?”
“It brought you back quickly, didn’t it?”
“It’s good that we have a solution, but this is incredibly troublesome.”
Myeong Haebin kicked the writhing garbage bag, then pointed confidently at the vending machine.
“Now it’s your turn to drink, Senior. I’ll ask Mister to hit you gently.”
“I’d rather not be hit at all.”
I hadn’t been certain before, but Jeong Dohyeon’s experience had confirmed my suspicion.
“I’ll choose this one.”
I pressed the button for the vitamin drink.
Clatter—thud.
I heard a glass bottle drop and reached in to retrieve it.
I felt no compulsion whatsoever to drink it.
I was right.
“Newbie, I have nothing against you, but....”
“I’m perfectly fine. You don’t need to hit me.”
While the two of them stood fully prepared to subdue me, I demonstratively opened the bottle and poured its contents into the trash.
The clear liquid trickled out without a single solid piece in it.
“Huh? What, you’re not going to drink it?”
“Why would I? It feels suspicious.”
Team Leader Yong relaxed his fist. He took the bottle from my unresisting hand, sniffed it, and turned it around several times.
“This drink is perfectly normal.”
I tapped the vitamin drink’s selection button with my fingernail.
“It was the only button without any fingerprints.”
The carbonated drink Team Leader Yong had selected had several fingerprints on its button, while the banana milk button was so thoroughly covered in fingerprints that it looked filthy.
In other words, interpreting the way to avoid the vending machine’s mind control through my own perspective... this clean button was the only safe choice.
“You’re right. This really is the only button without fingerprints.”
“Then Haebin should select that one too.”
After inspecting the vending machine as though he could hardly believe it, Jeong Dohyeon nodded in acceptance. Team Leader Yong’s face broke into a broad smile.
“Thank you, Senior! I was actually a little scared.”
Myeong Haebin whispered something she clearly didn’t mean, then dispensed an ordinary drink.
Now we could use the lounge without getting sick from the drinks or needing to be beaten into submission.
“That worked well. This newbie is... sharper than you, isn’t he?”
“If you keep saying things like that, I’m going to request a transfer to another team.”
“Hey, it was only a figure of speech.”
Team Leader Yong awkwardly changed the subject and thumped my shoulder with his enormous hand.
“All right, let’s meet here again during the next break. Don’t forget your textbooks. Everyone, return to your classrooms!”
“Yes! Aren’t you coming, Senior?”
“I’m going.”
It was already time for another class. I really didn’t want to go.
...But I had to. I wanted to encounter the teacher even less.
The next class was mathematics, but surprisingly, it wasn’t too bad.
There really was a textbook inside the desk. I wished I had noticed it sooner, but unlike in the previous class, the teacher didn’t ask me a question.
Should I check it now?
I meant my phone.
I suspected something had been updated, just as before, but this was the first opportunity I’d had to look.
[Completion Condition: ■■■ the ghost story “Hwaae High School ■■■■■■I■.”]
- All students must leave school after completing their daily schedule.
- Do not store unauthorized items on school grounds. (Uncooked food, bladed objects such as knives or scissors, etc.)
- Conduct unrelated to academic activities is subject to disciplinary action.
- 1 11 1 1
But this was different from before. Large portions of the text were obscured by solid black blocks.
It still seems to be telling me to clean something, but why is this part hidden?
[You do not meet the requirements to view this information.]
A new section called [Achievements] had also appeared. But when I selected it, the same message came up.
Then why had it appeared at all?
Requirements....
Since everything was grouped together, I could tell that the requirements were somehow connected to the Hwaae High School ghost story.
But what were they?
Judging from the information the app had given me at the house yesterday, these rules also seemed to be clues connected to this ghost story. Yet the more closely I examined them, the more something bothered me.
This school is so strict that teachers punish students for being even slightly late to class. But these entries make it sound as though....
Something inside this school was already violating its rules.
Someone had eaten a snack during class or engaged in dangerous behavior.
But could anything like that exist in a place occupied solely by students who moved like machines?
Since I sat in the very back, I could see into almost every student’s desk.
They were all empty.
Just like my abdomen.
Stop thinking about it. Stop.
I lightly slapped my cheeks to keep myself from dwelling on what had already happened. As I repeatedly examined the app, the bell rang to signal the end of class.
Ding-dong-dang-dong.
The lounge at the end of the corridor would probably be our meeting place again.
When I arrived, however, one person was missing.
“That lazy bastard Dohyeon. How dare he arrive later than the newbie?”
Team Leader Yong smacked his fist into his palm, though he didn’t look genuinely angry.
Well, Dohyeon would probably arrive soon.
“This sofa is so soft! Those classroom chairs were much too hard.”
Myeong Haebin lay innocently across the sofa. Team Leader Yong impatiently tapped his foot while staring down the corridor.
And then there was me, who eventually couldn’t resist cleaning the vending machine.
“Do you really have to clean that?”
“It’s bothering me.”
How was I supposed to ignore something so filthy and covered in fingerprints?
Only after removing every print and polishing the surface until it practically gleamed like a window did I withdraw my hand in satisfaction.
“Leave him alone. It looks better clean anyway.”
“Whose side are you on?”
“Am I supposed to be on your side, Mister?”
Until then, none of us had thought much of Dohyeon’s absence.
Though only three minutes had passed.
“What the hell is taking him so long?”
“Could he have gotten lost?”
“He found this place just fine the first time.”
Jeong Dohyeon still hadn’t returned.
Three minutes might not sound like much, but it was significant during a break that lasted only ten.
“Something may have happened to him during class.”
“Dohyeon was in Class 3, right?”
His classroom was on this floor.
We crossed the corridor, which was filled with formless noise, and searched for Year 1, Class 3.
“Class 3, Class 3... Here it is!”
The door to Year 1, Class 3 was closed.
When we looked through the window, we saw Jeong Dohyeon standing inside with the “teacher.”
Were they having a conversation?
Or....
Slide—
Just as Team Leader Yong was about to knock on the window, the rear door abruptly opened.
“What are you all doing here?”
Jeong Dohyeon stood in the doorway, staring blankly at us.
“Are you all right? Why didn’t you come out?”
“Were you brainwashed again?”
Team Leader Yong grabbed Jeong Dohyeon’s cheeks and turned his face from side to side. Frowning, Dohyeon shook his head.
“The teacher told me I appeared to be badly injured and should visit the infirmary.”
“The teacher said that?”
“I find it difficult to believe too... but yes.”
Jeong Dohyeon certainly looked awful.
Because his ear had been cut off earlier, one side of his face and neck was covered in dried blood.
If this had been an ordinary school, I would naturally have told him to go immediately.
So why did this feel so ominous?
“Did the teacher order you to go right now?”
“The teacher said something similar during the previous class. But this time, it sounded like a final warning.”
Looking troubled, Jeong Dohyeon glanced back at the now-empty classroom. Then he turned to Team Leader Yong as though leaving the decision to him.
“The infirmary was on the second floor, right? Fine, let’s go.”
“Agreed. What could they possibly do to an injured person?”
“At our workplace, you shouldn’t say things like that carelessly, Senior. Hurry up and spit to ward off the jinx!”
Team Leader Yong seemed deeply conflicted, but I doubted he could have made any other decision.
If we ignored the instruction, there was no telling what might happen during the next class.
The moment the infirmary door opened, the harsh smell of alcohol assaulted my nose.
Two beds stood behind white curtains. There was also a medicine cabinet, a simple chair, and a trolley holding bandages, ointments, and other medical supplies.
At first glance, it looked like an infirmary anyone might have seen before.
“No one’s here?”
The instant Myeong Haebin said that, someone cleared their throat near the desk.
“School nurse? I was told to come here....”
That was when a teacher’s figure appeared behind the previously empty desk.
The word [NURSE] was written on its forehead, and it looked up at us.
We all froze at the figure’s soundless appearance. The “school nurse,” however, merely crooked a finger at Jeong Dohyeon, beckoning him closer.
“Uh, yes. It’s this ear....”
The school nurse leaned forward to examine Jeong Dohyeon’s injury. It looked as though it might plunge its long fingers into the wound at any moment.
But when the brief yet interminable examination ended, all it handed him was a sheet of paper.
[EARLY-DISMISSAL SLIP]
Name: Jeong Dohyeon
Reason: Physical injury
The above student is ordered to leave school immediately.
The gazes of everyone who read the few printed words on the rough paper crossed in confusion.
It wanted him to leave?
Right now?
From this place?
Immediately...?