A ghost story set in a school.
In truth, it has been a long-standing tradition since ancient times.
Hundreds of teenagers have to spend all day in a single building; it would be more strange if they never took an interest in scary and bizarre rumors, mysterious rituals, or ghosts.
The Seven Wonders, Bunshinsaba….
Naturally, having attended such a school myself, I found them quite entertaining.
They are universal and popular horror stories, after all.
‘That’s why I gathered the courage to add an Exploration Record for the first time.’
Fortunately, the record wasn’t taken down due to a ‘Not Recommended’ rating terror, and using that as a catalyst, I even went as far as creating a ghost story myself….
But.
‘I’m… entering there?’
It was a strange feeling.
Naturally, the thought of entering a ghost story sent a chill down my spine first, but there was also a strange sort of nausea.
It wasn't like having an Educational Manual in front of me—no, it wasn't that….
Anticipation and fear?
‘I don’t know how to put it….’
Regardless, the Manual had already been distributed, and I had to at least ‘attempt’ to enter.
In that case.
-Are you going to perform a short ritual before falling asleep today? I’m curious if it’s Mr. Roe Deer’s own secret to falling into a deep sleep!
“It’s not that.”
I silently tidied my bed.
“I’m trying to have a ‘special dream’ the company told me about.”
-Ah, are you planning to go to that ‘high school’?
Yes.
‘Even if it’s not here, I have to enter a ghost story anyway.’
Since only a few people who meet the specific temporary conditions can enter at a time, it would be better to enter this one, as the company gives good Points for it.
‘Whew.’
Late night at the company housing.
I opened the problematic ‘Specific Tome’ I received from the company.
-On a night with a full moon, if you read the Specific Tome and fall asleep, you may wake up in the school at night.
It was exactly as Section Chief Lee Jaheon had explained.
The unique thing was that this was a text file.
In the Dark Shadow.txt
This file is said to be occasionally tucked into text file collections (which suspiciously ignore copyright) like ‘Masterpiece Horror Novel Collection of the 2000s’ downloaded from the internet.
The file size seemed large enough to be two books. However….
I clicked to open the file.
This all happened on our graduation day.
That single line was the end of the content.
And when I scrolled down further out of strangeness,
((Add))
Indecipherable corrupted characters filled the text file in a dizzying mess before…
The file cannot be opened.
It disappeared.
“…….”
Ha.
Truly, nothing is easy…!
‘I’m going to go from a heart attack first at this rate….’
Just then, I heard the sound of someone swearing profusely from the room next door.
Baek Saheon was likely preparing to enter this ghost story as well. Since it was for all employees….
‘Maybe I’ll run into him inside.’
Well, the probability of Baek Saheon meeting the exact conditions to enter was low, though.
Every time this ghost story opened, the conditions for who could enter changed.
‘But I know the ‘Guaranteed Entry’ method that appeared in the mid-to-late part of the Exploration Records…….’
That’s why I had already prepared that method.
The important thing was that I didn’t know how much information had been released to the employees at this point.
‘Even if the Exploration Records haven’t accumulated much, the nature of this ghost story means other rumors might have circulated privately.’
Since all employees were preparing to enter, this point bothered me a bit.
Hmm.
‘Should I check?’
It was also the right time to keep him in check so he wouldn't do anything stupid.
I went to the front of Baek Saheon’s room and knocked politely.
Knock, knock.
“Wh-what!”
“I’m coming in.”
Creak.
When I opened the door, Baek Saheon glared at me with a face somewhere between flustered, fearful, and pissed off, then gritted his teeth and forced a smile.
“Isn’t it a social convention to wait for the answer ‘come in’ after knocking before entering? Eh?”
“Is it?”
I went back out and knocked on the door again.
Knock, knock.
Knock, knock.
Knock, knock.
Knock, knock.
Knock….
“You son of a…, argh! Just come in!”
I opened the door and walked in, casting a look of pity.
“The result is the same.”
“…….”
“You… live your life really inefficiently.”
Baek Saheon seemed to be seething with resentment, but he managed to suppress it. Hmm, I’m glad to see he’s finally developing some basic human manners.
“Anyway, why, I’m extremely curious as to why you suddenly felt the need to barge into someone else’s room for the first time in the middle of the night….”
And as he spoke, he seemed to come up with the answer himself.
“……Hey, no, doesn't the Assistant Manager also have to enter the darkness as the company instructed? Going into that high school.”
“Yeah.”
“Ah, as I thought. Then you must have been in the middle of preparing?”
And Baek Saheon quickly, persistently, and greedily scanned the area around my pillow on my bed through the open door.
Anyone could see he was trying to squeeze out a hint.
‘Look at him.’
I didn't bother blocking the doorway and smirked.
“Yeah. That’s right.”
“Is that so? I heard you don’t know whether you’ll enter or not until you fall asleep…… but it’s fascinating how the Assistant Manager looks so certain. Do you have some kind of secret?”
“You have a lot of questions.”
“Since you came to my room, I thought I should listen to what you have to say.”
I casually tossed out.
“Need a hint?”
“……Well, if you’re offering?”
“Why should I?”
“…….”
Baek Saheon smiled through gritted teeth.
“…Shall I deposit another three days’ worth of pay?”
“I’m good on money, but there’s something I want to hear.”
“…!”
“You want to enter, right? What’s the reason?”
A brief and fierce conflict crossed Baek Saheon’s face.
It wasn't that he didn't want to tell me, but rather he seemed to be weighing heavily whether he could extract something more from me by saying it.
Whether he reached a conclusion or not, he opened his mouth as if it were no big deal.
“……No, I heard a rumor at the company.”
A rumor.
“Well, that items obtained in that ghost story can be brought outside as they are… so it’s unconditionally beneficial to go in and bring something out.”
“…….”
“And they say you won’t really die for the most part.”
Hmm.
So that’s what the employees know at this point.
As a ‘ghost story that is beneficial once you enter.’
“Actually, I don’t think the hint you’re talking about is worth this much, but since we’re colleagues and roommates, I’m telling you this information….”
Oh, he’s trying to lowball me naturally.
I nodded seriously on purpose.
“You’re right, my hint doesn’t seem very valuable.”
“…!”
“You don't need to hear it, right? Let’s act like this never happened. Ah, I heard your side well.”
“…!! You son of a…….”
I looked at Baek Saheon. Baek Saheon stopped swearing and soon smiled again.
“…Assistant Manager, if an employee living in the same housing extorts the salary and personal information of a poor new recruit through blackmail and threats, couldn't I at least request an interview with a superior for workplace harassment?”
Oh dear.
I looked at Baek Saheon with a face full of regret.
“Do you… really believe this company would care about something like that?”
“…….”
“Well, believing is free.”
“…….”
Baek Saheon seemed to be wandering somewhere between anger and despondency….
Well, shall I leave it at this?
‘I should give what I need to give.’
I said lightly.
“Put a photo from your high school days under your pillow before you sleep.”
“…?!”
“On the back, write down what grade and class you were in and write a profile. Like a graduation yearbook.”
I even kindly wrote an example on a post-it note on his desk.
Name:
A word to friends:
“Then see what happens.”
“…….”
As if he couldn’t believe it, Baek Saheon pestered me, asking, “Did you put a photo from your high school days too, Assistant Manager?”
I went to my room and pulled out the photo from under my pillow to show him.
It was a printout of one of the images from my high school days stored on my Smartphone.
“…….”
Baek Saheon looked at it with an expression of disbelief, then shut his mouth.
“Did you think I was lying?”
“…Usually! You speak so eloquently that you have that kind of image, don’t you, Assistant Manager?”
“Really? I’ve never lied, though.”
“…….”
“Think about it carefully.”
I gave an order to leave to Baek Saheon, who now had a blank face for some reason.
“Anyway, I have to finish the remaining preparations with Braun, so I’ll be going now.”
-I hope you have a safe entry, ordinary fellow employee!
Whether he was fed up or feeling something else, Baek Saheon looked at me with an unreadable expression, then eventually backed away and walked quickly into his own room.
Thud.
‘That’s done.’
It was a bit tiring having to suppress him like this every time, but it couldn’t be helped.
Think of the new employee who came to Team D. That’s just what professional life is like….
“Whew.”
I went back to the pillow on my bed.
First of all, the tip I gave Baek Saheon is the truth.
Exploration Record #15
Confirmed all three members of Team K entered Sekwang Technical High School using the explorer’s high school graduation photos.
Validity proven.
And if entry is guaranteed like this.
The next priority is naturally ‘what to take with you.’
Because only things placed under the pillow before falling asleep will enter as belongings in the dream’s ‘Sekwang Technical High School.’
Since the volume of items that can be placed under a pillow to sleep is limited, I had to choose carefully.
‘If I put it in my wrist tattoo and it doesn’t activate in the dream, I’m finished.’
I was already slightly anxious because it was a ghost story where one’s Exterior changes.
In the end, I fit the important items under the pillow like a game of Tetris.
Finally, I placed Braun under the most comfortable spot at the edge.
Hmm. Naturally… Braun ended up in a rather awkward position.
-…….
‘I’m sorry. Is it very suffocating?’
-Well, it’s bearable! If this were a studio, I think I would have called for the staff. Ha ha!
‘I-I see. Thanks.’
That means it’s extremely uncomfortable.
I shouldn't make the resident of a ghost story, who used to burn people with a snap of his fingers, any more uncomfortable…!
I quickly rested my head on the pillow and tried to sleep. While being careful not to crush Braun as much as possible.
‘The pillow is a bit lumpy….’
“…….”
However,
My eyes close.
To the point where it was hard to believe that someone who had suffered from insomnia was lying on an uncomfortable pillow.
Drowsiness quickly rushes into my mind….
Mist.
Dark Shadow.
And…….
[Ding- Dong- Dang- Dong-]
……School.
[Ding- Dong- Dang- Dong-]
I opened my eyes.
I could see a classroom within the darkness, dim without a single light turned on.
Looking down at my clothes, I was already dressed in a school uniform.
[■■ High School]
The familiar uniform of my alma mater was worn well, though the school name looked as if it had been scratched out with a needle.
I couldn’t confirm it directly, but I knew.
That my Exterior itself had returned to when I was a high schooler….
And.
“Wh-what is this??”
Do you remember the characteristic of this ghost story I heard earlier?
-I heard you don’t know whether you’ll enter or not until you fall asleep…….
In other words, it meant this.
That it wasn't just our company employees entering.
“Huh? Huh? Why am I in a uniform….”
“Oh my god!”
“Excuse me, do you happen to know where this is?”
A classroom at midnight without a single lightbulb glowing.
People who had been sitting at the dark desks began to stand up one by one, looking at each other in panic, screaming, or scanning their surroundings.
They were civilians who had been dragged in here by chance.
“Is this some kind of event? Hah.”
“Wait a minute, why am I in a uniform…… Uh, uh? Wait! Why am I a high schooler?!”
“It’s a dream, this.”
“D-did you see outside the window? I think this is the second floor….”
‘……It feels like I’ve returned to the Subway ghost story.’
I felt a stomachache as I watched the people flailing between panic, fear, curiosity, and amusement while checking their surroundings.
And… a deep sense of tension.
“Huh?”
One person wandering around looked at a corner and finally discovered it.
A student sitting without any movement.
“Why isn’t this person moving?”
It was a bizarre sight.
In the middle of a dark classroom where people in various school uniforms were shouting and moving about actively.
Yet, it was as if one person was frozen in their seat.
Without even blinking.
That male student, who looked like a very sophisticated wax doll, was wearing a complete name tag.
[Sekwang Technical High School]
“Is it a mannequin? Yah!”
Poke, poke.
“Ack!”
The person who poked him with a finger pulled back in surprise.
“He’s warm??”
“No way, really?”
I stood up from my seat.
And without ever taking my eyes off him, I slowly approached the classroom door.
‘I have to open the door in advance.’
Fumble.
I tried to move my hands amidst the tension, and the plush doll keychain almost fell out of my uniform’s front pocket.
I grabbed it in a fright.
Whew.
‘Thank goodness, Braun.’
Silence.
“…Braun?”
I lifted the plush doll.
The doll hung limp.
“……!”
I hurriedly pressed the doll’s belly area. The shape of the coin, the Silver Coin Snake, which I had used in the ritual to call the ‘Good Friend’….
Was gone.
“…….”
This was just a doll.
The ‘Good Friend’ had failed to follow me into my dream.
“…….”
“There, outside… Uh, uh-uh-uh, AAAAAAH!!”
I’m screwed.
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