[2019, May 26th Sunday, 03:45 AM]
[Lee Joon: Number of Attempts - 2]
[Ghost Story Points: 581]
[Causality Rate: 32%]
After reporting the situation to the Detective so far, this time I checked the footage from a little while ago when I saw theghost and ran away.
"This is it."
"Uh-huh.."
Unfortunately, the recorded footage
didn't capture anything.
All I could see was myself, jumping up and down in surprise, just like the former managers.
Only after confirming that did I let out
a sigh and turned off the computer.
"All done."
"Yeah?"
Jinhee, who was chewing gum noisily,
soon tapped me lightly.
"Shouldn't you leave already? It's
already 3:45. You're way past your
time."
"...Yeah. I really should go to bed now."
It was only then that I felt the wave of
exhaustion and stretched.
"Ugh... Did you say it's 3:45?"
"Yeah"
"Is Sunah next?"
"I guess?"
The last night watch duty at 4 o'clock
was coming up soon.
If my memory was correct, it should be
Sunah's turn.
I checked the group chat again.
It is Sunah.'
Since things had already been messed up when Hayoon woke me up and I was way past my shift anyway, I decided to wait a little longer to at least see Sunah's face before leaving.
"Only 15 minutes left, might as well just
greet Sunah before I go."
"Ah, lookat you being so caring. But
could you move over a bit? I need to sit down."
"Yeah, here..."
Anyway, since it was Jinhee's night
watch shift, this seat originally
belonged to her.
After giving up my spot, I leaned
against the wall this time, and Jinhee
sat in front of the computer.
The two of us quietly passed the time
like that for a while.
'...But what does Jinhee usually do on
her phone?'
Suddenly curious, I quietly removed
myself from the wall and looked over
Jinhee's shoulder with a peek~ motion.
[Starlight Brown 3-Con, 13.9mm,
Recommended for 11 months /2p]
Jinhee chewed her gum and browsed
a website filled with photos of female
models.
It looked like an online store, but most
of it was stuff I couldn't make sense of,
even when I tried reading it.
'Are those contact lenses...?'
Jinhee kept browsing through tons of
other stuff too, mnakeup, clothes, and
more.
She had no idea I was secretly
watching her, hmming away with a
hmm~ and even tapping her feet.
Suddenly, Jinhee scrolled down the webpage and switched to the
KakaoTalk app.
She tapped the screen with her
manicured fingernails, scrolling up
and down through her chat list filled
with unread KakaoTalkmessages.
'Wow, how many people is that
even..?'
Jinhee really was a social butterfly, no
doubt about it.
Looking at the profile pictures of
people quickly passing by, I could
see pretty-looking college girls and
handsome-looking boys.
The only thing they all had in common
was that they were all filled with
unread KakaoTalk messages.
So Jinhee didn't just treat our group
chat that way, she only replied to her
OWn friends when she felt like it, too.
Just as I was thinking that...
Paat-
[Your understanding of the
character Lee Jinhee has increased
by 5.]
[Your understanding of the
character Lee Jinee has reached 50.
You can now view information about
her Quirk.]
"...Huh? All of a sudden?"
I was startled by the message that
suddenly appeared.
I'd been so focused on Gyeongwon,
whose understanding level was at 95,
that I hadn't really been paying much
attention to the other club members.
But it seemed Jinhee's understanding,
which had been building up little
by little over the time, had finally
Surpassed 50.
'Guess I got a little lucky.'
I nodded silently and opened the Status Window.
[Opening information about Quirk]
[Lee Jinhee's Quirk is Hot-tempered.]
Paat-
(STATUS WINDOW
Name: Lee Jinhee LV.1
Age: 17
Title: Backseat Delinquent Girl
Disposition: Sports Bully
Special Ability: None
Quirk: Hot-tempered
Understanding: 50/100)
.. Hmm, hot-tempered....
Well, I had already sensed it before
when she argued with the Vice
Principal during that mystery case, or
earlier when she got into a fight with
What I'd thought was just a random
outburst was finally confirmed by the
system, revealing its exact label.
Unaware that I was nodding quietly
behind her with hmm hmm, Jinhee
was busy chatting with her sister on
KakaoTalk.
[Lee Jinjoo: I told you to stop texting me, f*ck]
[Lee Jinhee: You asleep?]
[Lee Jinhee: You asleep?]
[Lee Jinhee: You asleep?]
[Lee Jinjoo: Blocked.]
As I kept studying Jinhee's Status
Window and comparing it to her real
self, my eyes suddenly caught on the
word under the 'Disposition'.
"..jinhee, were you into sports?"
"Huh?"
At the sudden question, Jinhee locked
her phone, frowned, and turned to look at me.
"Sports? Where'd that come from?"
"No reason. The system just says you
are athletic."
"...?"
She squinted at me.
"What exactly does it say there?"
"Well, just...."
I wondered if she might get offended
by this kind of thing.
It felt like I'd accidentally let slip
something I found while snooping on
someone's Instagram, and now I was
being interrogated for it.
"..There's this section in the status
window called Disposition. And under
that, it says you're a Sports Bully."
"What? Sports bully? Ah~ what the hell,
pfft! Is it crazy?"
Thankfully, Jinhee burst out laughing,
clapping her hands in disbelief.
"It just labels people like that outright?
This much shameless?"
"That's right....."
"That's hilarious, seriously..."
Jinhee laughed it off.
Anyway, she was laughing, so I guess
that's a relief.
Soon after, Jinhee let out a sigh and ran a hand through her hair as she began to explain.
"I used to be a track athlete back in
the day. You know, one of those future
star' kids? I even ran as a regional
representative."
".. Regional representative?"
"Representative of Incheon City. Back
in elementary school."
Jinhee crossed her legs.
Her robust muscles stood out, radiating health and strength.
"I was a promising athlete, but when my parents got divorced and I transferred schools, I just quit. The new school I transferred to didn't even have any sports programs anyway."
"I see "
And that's where she met Eunjung at
the new school.
I began to get a clearer picture of
Jinhee, who I had vaguely thought only as a sports bully and sharp-tongued.
Looking back, I realized I'd never
really taken the time to hear about
Jinhee's life story like this before.
Honestly, I kind of want to take this
chance to ask about her parents'
divorce and stuff like that....
But I couldn't.
Because Sunah was peeking through
the gap in the counter door.
"Joony, why haven't you gone back
to your room even though your night
watch time's over what are you two
still talking about over there why is
Jinhee wearing such short clothes"
"Oh, you're here, you're here! Come
here, come here."
Jinhee spotted Sunah watching through
the crack in the door with blank eyes,
and called her over playfully acting
like it was nothing.
"Youngest of our club, come here, come
here."
Jinhee quickly stood up and pulled
Sunah, who was outside the door, into
a tight hug, and dragged her inside.
"Did you sleep well? Tell me did you"
"Hey, don't...."
As Jinhee suddenly pulled her into a
tight hug and ruffled her hair wildly,
Sunah, her eyes wide like a frozen fish,
frowned in fluster.
"Don' dooo what, hmm? Don' doo
what?"
Despite Sunah's squirming, Jinhee
spoke in a slurred, teasing tone and
continued to tease her roughly.
Sunah twisted her body, trying
to escape with a clearly annoyed
expression.
..Surprisingly, Jinhee's pretty good at
handling Sunah.
In any case, it was a good thing for me.
I quietly gave a small nod in farewell
and stepped out of the counter area.
"...Su, Sunah. Good luck with the night
watch. I was just waiting to see you
before I left."
"....."
"call me if anything weird happens,
okay? I'll get going now. You got this.
Fighting."
Even while being messed with, Sunah
turned her head slightly and just
blinked at me for a moment.
I repeated, " I'm going now. Bye," and
only then did she let out a small groan
and responded.
"Sleep well, Joon....".
"good night~"
I hurried out of the counter area.
Behind me, I could still hear Jinhee
teasing Sunah.
"You even woke up and came on your
own before I went to get you, so good,
sO good.."
"Ah... stop patting my head..."
***
[2019, May 26th | Sunday, 8:00 AM]
[Lee Joon: Number of Attempts - 2]
[Ghost Story Points: 581]
[Causality Rate: 32%]
Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep
[Everyone, hope you all have a day as
beautiful as Dasom. Have a good day]
Morning, boarding house.
I opened my eyes drowsily.
But it was still dark.
It was because there were no windows leading outside.
As I was looking for my phone to turn
off the Fourincess alarm, someone
walked up and banged sharply on the
door.
"Are you crazy! Turn off the alarm!"
...
'What the f*ck, early in the
morning...'
If I can't even set an alarm, how am
I supposed to get up on time in the
morning? Do you think I have some
kind of superpower or what?
These crazy b*stards.
Flick-
I got up and turned on the light in my
room.
It was blinding.
"Umm....".
At home, whenever I woke up in the
morning, the sunlight would naturally
come in and wake me up.
Sleeping in the dark and waking up in
the dark like this felt like wandering
through darkness.
My head felt dizzy, as I'd just woken up
and couldn't tell whether it was day or
night.
For a moment, I just sat on the bed, still not fully alert, then I suddenly felt like I couldn't breathe, so I opened the door first.
Maybe because it was such a small
space, the carbon dioxide I had
exhaled while sleeping overnight had
filled the room.
Creak-
"Huu....."
As I opened the door, a small, barely
breathable fresh air entered the room.
I briefly held my pounding head and
sat back down.
I had been sleeping intermittently,
taking turns for the night watch,
sleeping somewhere else other than
at home, and when I woke up in the
darkness, the space was cramped
and even lacking in Oxvgen. so
I felt extremely nauseous.
'How can anyone live here...:'
As I sat there like that, I soon heard
someone coming from the hallway on
the opposite side.
Thud- Thud-
Soon, Gyeongwon walked up to the
front of the room and poked his head
through the door I had left slightly
open.
".Prez. If you're awake, you should
hurry up and get ready."
"... Oh, right. Sorry."
His tone was strangely sharp.
It seemed like he was feeling on edge,
probably because the competition was
tomorrow.
"Everyone else is already up and
getting ready. Go wash up, quick."
"Okay..."
I waved my hand and got up from my
spot.
Honestly, I hadn't even been sitting for
that long.
And we still had to eat breakfast and
all, so there was still some time left
before we really had to get ready for
the competition...
Getting scolded right after waking up
put me in a bad mood, but still, I was
the one who handed him the authority
So he could lead the team well in the
competition, after all.
I reluctantly accepted, stood up, and
walked into the shower room.
If I kept dragging my feet like this, he'd
get annoyed again.
I should just hurry up, wash up, and
get ready.
Still half-asleep, even taking a shower
felt like a chore that morning, so I just
washed my hair quickly in the sink.
***
After getting ready, I headed out
the front door and saw Gyeongwon
waiting, impatiently tapping his foot
with an irritated expression as he
urged the club members to hurry.
Soon after, Sunah hastily locked her
room behind her and came running.
We stepped outside the entrance and
did a headcount.
"jinhee, Sunah, Gyeongwon, Hayoon.
One person's missing. Where's
Dukhun?"
"I clearly saw him awake. Why isn't he
Coming out...."
Gyeongwon's face grew anxious.
After waiting for a moment, he finally
sighed in frustration with a Damn it,
what's he doing? and went back inside the boarding house.
"Gyeongwon is being so sensitive."
"You bet."
Jin hee look bored.
Trying to lighten the mood, I took
advantage of Gyeongwon's absence,
and kindly greeted the members.
"Did everyone sleep well? Was
everything comfortable?"
"Yeah.."
Sunah answered with a sleepy face.
Her eyes were half-closed, as if she
were still half-asleep.
"Hayoon, what about you?"
She just nodded silently.
Hayoon's eyes were open, but she
was motionless, looking like she was
suffering from low blood pressure in
the morning.
Unlike her usual neat, dignified, and
tidy appearance, her hair was sticking
out in places, lacking the usual luster.
"Are you okay? Are you really okay?"
I tried to get her attention by nudging
her a bit, but Hayoon didn't even look
my way and just stayed still.
"Haam... I'm so damn sleepy."
Meanwhile, Jinhee, without a care for
decorum, yawned widely.
This was the fresh, half-awake morning faces of the female members of our club.
As I was watching with mild interest,
Gyeongwon suddenly stomped over
with an angry look and came back out of the boarding house.
"He was sleeping again. Crazy guy."
"..What is he doing now?"
"I woke him up and made sure he was
in the shower."
Saying that, he stomped down the
stairs like he was kicking the steps,
laptop in hand.
Muttering hoarsely, 'Am I the only one
thinking about the competition?' he
headed downstairs.
The other members watched him
awkwardly.
'Haa...'
After I finally sorted things out, I urged
the mermbers downstairs.
"Alright, good job getting up this morning, everyone. I know you're tired, but just hang in there for today. Tomorrow the competition Now, let's go follow him down, Let's go."
"Let's go..."
Sunah mumbled and rubbed her
sleepy eyes as she went down first.