The dark 4th-floor corridor.
Students standing in a row like mannequins.
And in between them, I moved my feet after pre-calculating the range within which the students' hands could reach.
‘Whew.’
First, I took out the item I had folded neatly in my pocket and wrapped it around my vital areas.
The ‘armor’ I purchased from the Alien Shop.
Wrapping Paper 12B357Na
The loose wrapping paper settled inside my high school uniform.
‘The Nostalgia Series doesn't heal injuries or contamination sustained while it’s in effect.’
I have to be more careful from now on.
I moved my steps cautiously, trying my best not to overlap with the dolls’ territories.
Since I took up less space, it was actually somewhat easier. Moving alone like this might actually yield a higher survival rate on the 4th floor.
“…….”
Did Agent Bronze and Jang Heowoon make it okay?
‘They’ll probably prioritize joining up with others.’
The agent wasn't a fool enough to go to the 5th floor with just two people, so they're likely looking for people on the 4th floor.
From the look of things, it didn't seem like they would take Jang Heowoon prisoner or anything.
‘Even if they do get caught, I really did my best, my colleague…….’
Walking all the way to the end of the corridor.
“Phew.”
I arrived in front of the stairs I had climbed earlier with my colleague and the agent.
And….
I began to head back down the stairs.
[3F]
I was backtracking the path I came from.
Why was I doing this?
To be perfectly honest, I don't particularly need the information items scattered around this school.
‘Because I already have it all in my head.’
It’s as if I’ve already obtained and seen everything.
I know everything until the very moment this ghost story ends.
Why the school turned out like this, what the theme of this ghost story is, and exactly what these students are.
So, there was only one thing I practically needed.
‘The Key Item that will serve as the key to a highest-grade clear.’
And now, I was going to get it.
‘By now… what I need should have been ‘created’.’
I stopped at the landing of the stairs.
The 3rd floor below was very quiet.
“…….”
Because they had all become corpses.
Under the bright lights, the blood-soaked bodies, brutally slaughtered, were vividly revealed.
It seemed that most of those wearing uniforms on this floor were dead.
‘Even if there are surviving agents, they would have gone elsewhere.’
And it seemed like almost all the students who swarmed the faculty office were judged unable to move and appeared in the death accident broadcast.
“Phew.”
Aside from the grossness, I felt a terrible sensation, as if I were in the middle of a disaster scene where dozens of people had died.
‘Let’s stay calm.’
This is a dream…. It’s all a dream…….
I repeated it to myself as I continued down the stairs. I kept checking both ends of the corridor and the faculty office across the way in quick succession.
And then, I found my target.
Blink.
In the short moment I turned my gaze.
A student who had changed posture was inside the faculty office.
“…!”
Of course, they weren't chasing me.
That student entity was already in too wretched a state for that.
Both arms were broken, one leg had an open fracture, and their stomach was covered in blood.
However, they seemed to have enough ‘consciousness’ to tilt their head toward me….
“…….”
I looked around.
‘There’s no sign of… other students appearing.’
Good.
I headed for the faculty office.
And I went right up to the student collapsed near the front door.
Bleached hair and piercings. They had the typical look of a delinquent student, but that vibe from their appearance was nearly gone due to their injuries.
“…….”
Wow, this really feels like a crazy thing to do.
I grabbed that ‘student’ with both hands and hoisted them up.
“Phew.”
If I carried them on my back, they’d be out of my sight, so I threw them over my shoulder like a piece of luggage and walked.
‘This is insane.’
Carrying a killing machine weighing dozens of kilograms like this was no small task mentally.
Still, my physical condition was quite sturdy and manageable. Because the Nostalgia Candy was rolling around in my mouth.
‘And… the destination is here.’
There was a route I had mapped out in my head.
Since this mess had broken out, students would probably be rare on the 3rd floor, but I should move quickly just in case.
I held my flashlight in my mouth and moved forward, touching the wall.
The powerful flashlight illuminated the entire corridor brightly, blackout be damned.
Even so, the sight was so bloody it took my breath away.
Still.
[Infirmary]
I saw my destination.
Slid.
I silently dropped the name tag my colleague had thrust at me onto the floor, then quietly opened the door and entered the infirmary.
I saw three beds lined up near the window, hidden by curtains.
Behind two of them, the shadows of people were already visible.
“…….”
I moved my feet slowly.
As I passed by, the notice on the whiteboard attached to the infirmary door caught my eye.
Students injured during exercise, lie on the bed and wait until the school nurse arrives!
“…….”
It felt strange.
‘That’s the one.’
That was the very clue… that made me continue writing the Exploration Records of this ghost story.
The 12th Exploration Record left by the previous person.
Exploration Record #12
Assistant manager Kang Jiwoo entered the infirmary and, following the instructions, laid the injured person (Supervisor Park Chaon) on an empty bed.
No unusual occurrences.
Afterward, everyone died by a student entity that chased them into the infirmary. Clear.
I saw a loophole ever since I read this.
‘It felt like the previous author left it intentionally.’
The explorers are set as ‘students from another school’ within this ghost story.
It means they are outsiders.
So….
—What would happen if you laid down a real Sekwang Technical High School student?
The imagination branching out from that question created the impulse in me to write the 13th Exploration Record….
‘My heart was racing back then.’
And now, my heart was pounding again.
With something that could be nervousness, fear, or expectation.
After a deep breath, I opened the curtain of the remaining bed that had no shadow.
And I laid the student on the clean cot revealed.
The phrases from the Exploration Record I had written overlapped in my head.
Exploration Record #13
(Omitted)
Staff ■■■ succeeded in luring only one injured student entity along with a civilian.
After subduing them, they entered the infirmary and laid them on the bed.
During this process, the subject's name tag was not removed.
The student might have been able to move their joints if I forced them, but even so, they were in an awkward posture.
I covered them with a blanket and briefly left the infirmary. Then, pressing down my thumping heart in the blood-stained corridor, I waited for several dozen seconds.
‘After this.’
Once the wait was over, I lightly knocked on the infirmary door and entered….
Witnessed the injured student entity lying on the bed in a gym suit, having received appropriate first aid.
It was exactly the same.
“…….”
Feeling something that could be wonder or fear, I approached the only bed without its curtain drawn.
The bleached-haired student I had brought was lying on the bed in a relaxed posture, wearing a gym suit.
They were covered in bandages and splints.
They didn't particularly look at me, either.
‘From here….’
In the original Exploration Record, I wrote that it was found while ‘thoroughly searching the surroundings,’ but.
Slid.
I immediately opened the drawer next to the bed.
Inside, there was a neatly folded school uniform.
[Sekwang Technical High School]
It was the school uniform of the student lying on the bed.
Missing buttons or frayed parts couldn't be helped, but the blood and filth were strangely washed clean….
‘Ha.’
My heart pounded fiercely.
Without looking back at the student on the bed, I hurriedly took a sheet of A4 paper provided in the infirmary and wrote.
I’ll borrow the uniform for a moment
-From the transfer student who brought you to the infirmary
I folded the paper well and put it in the drawer where the uniform had been, taking the uniform out instead.
“…….”
When I turned my head, I saw the student lying there in their gym suit with their eyes still closed.
They looked as if they were sound asleep.
‘It’s done.’
I quickly undressed.
After throwing the high school uniform I was originally wearing out the infirmary window, I began to put on the ‘borrowed’ Sekwang Technical High School uniform.
Thanks to our similar builds, it fit reasonably well.
Once I finished putting on the old-style school uniform.
Slid.
“…….”
I heard the sound of a drawer opening behind me.
When I turned my head, a reply had returned to the note I wrote in the drawer.
What year and class are you?
“…….”
I swallowed hard and wrote with a trembling hand.
The same profile I had written on the back of my high school photo to enter this place.
And the name of the class where I first opened my eyes.
1st year, Class 5.
At that moment.
The whole world turned dark.
“…!”
A darkness that felt devoid of a single speck of light briefly blinded me, and soon, my adjusted eyes faintly showed the outlines of the world.
The school's infirmary... where the emergency light and faint glows like an LED clock barely allowed one to distinguish the space.
And.
Tap, tap.
“…!”
Someone tapped my shoulder.
I turned my head.
The student who had been sitting on the bed with a bored expression was tapping my shoulder.
The bleached-haired student naturally withdrew their hand from my shoulder.
Yes.
Naturally.
With an incredibly human motion, they took the A4 paper and pen I was holding, moved their bandaged arm, scribbled something, and held it out.
A transfer student?
Unlucky bastard.
And they lay back down on the bed.
Naturally, as if a person were trying to sleep.
“…….”
I stood up with a stiff face.
Slid.
I stepped out of the infirmary door.
The world was still dark.
But strangely, everything seemed to be visible with extreme clarity….
An awakened state where I felt like I could even see the dust floating in the air.
A strange conviction seemed to emerge from the uniform and settle in my heart.
“…….”
Walking into the corridor, I picked up the name tag I had dropped when entering the infirmary and tucked it into my pocket.
[■■■]
The name tag looked strangely radiant, unlike before. Moreover, even though it was dark and splattered with blood and filth, I didn't feel an unusual amount of fear.
But….
I saw something at the end.
“…!”
In the 2nd year, Class 7 classroom, some things were peeking their heads out.
The silhouettes were definitely human.
But their entire bodies were writhing disgustingly.
As if a glitch in pixels had been manifested in reality, they were as horrifying as ghouls in a horror movie.
Clad in various decaying school-like uniforms, they looked like errors wrongly implemented in the world….
And the moment they looked at me.
“…!”
I stopped.
The moment my stomach churned as if it were backflowing.
Blink.
“…!!”
Suddenly, like a bolt of lightning, the whole world turned bright.
In my brightened vision, I unintentionally ran forward.
The error-like monsters couldn't look at me, as if blinded by the bright light! Now they were moving very, very slowly….
I can get rid of them here!
“…….”
‘No.’
I barely managed to stop my feet.
I suppressed the urge to hunt them down. The sweetness of the candy rolling on my tongue brought me back to my senses…….
And the next moment.
Blink.
Before I knew it, the world had turned pitch black again.
And when I made eye contact with the monsters again.
They were already running slowly down the stairs at the other end of the corridor, far away….
Leaving me standing still.
“…….”
My whole body was soaked in sweat.
My clenched hands trembled as if I had barely endured some intense withdrawal symptom.
But because I had actually experienced what I already knew from text, I could endure it.
Because there was no confusion.
Because I had merely confirmed it.
‘…So it was this.’
Have you noticed?
Those monsters I just saw are the explorers.
The people who were dragged into this ghost story, who were in the same position as me until just moments ago.
‘And I….’
When a Sekwang Technical High School uniform is acquired and worn with a student's permission, the explorer can also perform the role of a student in this ghost story.
I am now a student of Sekwang Technical High School.
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