[2019, May 26th | Sunday, 8:30 PM ]
[Lee Joon: Number of Attempts - 2]
[Ghost Story Points: 580]
[Causality Rate: 32%]
"Joon, that person is looking at us...."
"It's okay. Let's just move it quickly."
We tried to move it as carefully as possible, but since it was a heavy machine, it seemed someone noticed.
But that didn't matter anymore.
What would they do if they noticed?
I bought the karaoke machine at a premium through a secondhand marketplace on the condition that it would be delivered right in front of the building immediately.
Along with a large piece of hardware and a black amplifier.
We hurriedly shoved It inside the Counter.
"Excuse me."
Soon, the senior civil service exam taker sister, who had been watching from behind the door, frowned and walked over.
"Are you moving something right now?"
At that moment, the glass front door Swung open.
A delivery man looked around, holding a bag of chicken.
"....."
The senior sister, who had been walking toward us, stopped and looked at the delivery man.
In the end, she shot us a glare, then went to receive her food.
Seizing the moment, we hurriedly pushed the machine inside the counter, locked the door so no one could touch it, and rushed past the senior sister out the door.
"All right. Let's come back at midnight."
"M-Midnight?"
Gyeongwon showed a confused expression while climbing down the stairs.
"Shouldn't we take care of it right now?"
"Nope. We're going to eat first."
"Eeee... Eeeeek....!"
Gyeongwon's face turned red, and suddenly he bolted down the stairs and stood in front of me.
"Are you insane, Prez! How can you even think about eating right now!! You've been stalling and running us in circles this whole time!! We need to deal with this ghost story right now!!"
Slap!
Without hesitation, I slapped the b*stard across the face.
"...!"
Gyeongwon's head whipped around after being hit by me.
I glared at him, frozen like that, and said.
"Pull yourself together. You were just as angry this morning when someone
suggested getting food before the
competition prep."
"....."
"Remember this. Thinking like if you don't do this now you'll die or if you don't do that everything will fall apart are exactly the trap exam candidates fall into, thinking there's no option besides the civil service job. Steady
your mind and brace yourself."
Gyeongwon touched his cheek, a dazed expression on his face.
The others stood awkwardly frozen on the building stairs as the mood stiffened. I spoke again, firmly emphasizing my point.
"If we start having the kinds of thoughts those people have, we'll get tangled up instantly. Don't forget, we already met the trigger by staying on night watch. If you have the wrong mindset, you'll fall into the trap right away."
It was something I'd experienced just
moments ago when I was alone with Jinhee, I got pulled in instantly.
"Th-Then what are we supposed to do?"
Dukhun looked terrified.
"There's not just one or two messy thoughts people have, you know."
"We'll do the exact opposite of all those countless thoughts."
I looked at them, eyes sharp and firm.
"Instead of having messed-up thoughts about each other, care for one another as friends. Instead of exploiting each other, respect them as human beings."
"Don't get caught up in gambling, don't act on impulse. Take everything step by step with a clear plan. And above all, let go of the idea that there's only one path in life."
The club members stared at me blankly.
"There are many paths in life. Let go of the belief that it has to be this one way Or nothing at all. You can move in any
direction. To put it more bluntly."
I raised my hand and tightly clenched my fist.
"What I'm saying is, there's no reason for us to be so desperate to solve this ghost story."
".....!"
"What, what...?"
"We could just leave everything behind and walk away. We've already gathered all the information we need."
We could simply stop here.
Just like how we earthed a clue about the battle between the Demon King and the Hero earlier.
That alone was an incredible discovery.
So now, we could just move on and go chase after another ghost story.
Whether we stayed there and saw it through to the end and got rid of it, that was something we might do if the conditions allowed, or we might not.
It was our choice.
"But, but the Detective will be disappointed"
"There are still people inside too..."
"It's foolish to stake your life just because you're afraid of disappointing Someone else. Even if you decide to act, that should never be your reason."
"....."
"Whether you do something or not, that's your choice. It's not the end of your life if you don't. All those thoughts are nothing but traps."
In other words.
You can't quit because you're worried about what your family, who believed in you, will say or that they'll be disappointed?
You can't quit because you're afraid of betraying the expectations of your friends, relatives, and family who supported you?
You can't quit because you're angry at the taunts of people, saying you can't even do this and study hard like everyone else?
You can't quit because you don't want
to waste all the time you've already
spent?
'Bullshit.'
Your life belongs to you.
If you think it's worth it, then do it, and if you don't think it's worth it, then just don't do it.
No matter what others think, you are not living to meet their expectations.
"Free your mindset, Ahn Gyeongwon.
Do it if you can, and if you can't, then don't. Let go of the idea that you absolutely have to do this right now. What will you really get from it, just some points? I'm doing everything according to plan right now, So just be patient and take it step by step."
"...."
Gyeongwon absentmindedly touched his cheek and nodded.
"Then Joon...."
As Gyeongwon stood there in a daze,
Sunah asked.
"Is there a reason we have to wait until midnight...?"
"Yeah. There is."
"What is it...?"
"The managers who said they saw a ghost here. It was always at night."
The time the owner was attacked was 12:03 a.m.
The strange video taken 20 years ago Was at 2 a.m.
The time I saw the ghost after my night watch was also at 3 a.m.
The time the previous manager saw the ghost reflected in the window was also at night.
Considering that the longer you live in the boarding house, the more transparent your existence becomes, and the cycle of life becomes disrupted, leading to the reversal of day and night, it was clear that the long-haired manager, who had been here the longest, would only appear at night after midnight.
"And there's one thing they all had in common; right before they saw the ghost, they made some kind of noise."
The owner was about to leave without
incident, but then remembered the video, clapped his hand, and turned back.
The previous manager saw the ghost after loudly closing the microwave door while trying to heat up a late-night snack.
I also thought I should probably go and call Jinhee, then ended up daydreaming and clapping loudly:
Noise.
That was the only thing that bothered
the boarding house residents.
In the previous timeline, i, possessed by the ghost story, felt a murderous intent toward the manager I had no connection with because he was making noise while cleaning.
The victim in the strange video from 20 years ago had no doubt made some kind of noise too, like clicking a pen.
'According to the owner of that time, that manager was extremely sensitive when it came to noise.?'
"Nighttime. And noise. Those two things."
I held up two fingers.
The triggers that summoned the ghost of the ghost story into reality.
The reason I appeared when the Detective and Jinhee came looking for me.
It was the noise made at night.
"Boarding house residents with broken daily cycles are usually awake at night. And the noise others make during that time, that's what grates on their nerves and pulls them into reality. The managers just saw them as ghosts."
When do the long-term exam takers, always holed up in their room, slightly open the door?
When they're hungry? When they need to use the bathroom? When they're bored?
No, all those things can be resolved inside.
The long-term residents hiding within the dimensional rift of this boarding house.
It was the noise made at night that brought them back to reality, forcing them to open their tightly shut doors.
The long-term residents were especially tormented by that noise, almost unbearably so.
For those cut off from the world, that Sound was likely the only stress that Came from the outside.
"The longer someone stays here, the
more their days and nights get flipped, So they only show themselves in the dead of night. The times the victims saw the ghosts support that, too."
"So that's why it's midnight..."'
"Got it?I thought it was because the grudge got deeper the longer they stayed, but it's just their days and nights have flipped. It's a practical reason."
The club members each murmured as they followed me out of the building.
I nodded, then went outside to meet the Detective who would be waiting for us.
** ———
" I'll l handle deploying all necessary police personnel on my end. And even if the boarding house residents report us, well cut it off as already dispatched. That takes care of everything, right?"
"But what do the police think? They won't complain if you call them like that in the middle of the night?"
"It's okay. We've achieved unprecedented results, finding dozens of missing people in one fell swoop."
The Detective, who had parked briefly on the nearby sidewalk, rolled down his window and chatted with us.
Noryangjin, nighttime, bathed in neon signs.
In the midst of it all, wearing sunglasses and resting one hand out the window, the Detective looked like a middle-aged protagonist straight out of a Hong Kong movie.
" I'll handle the cover story. So where are you all planning to be until then?"
"First, we're going to get some dinner. After that..."
I looked back at the club members.
"Thought we'd make some memories together."
"Really?"
The Detective gave a single nod, then pulled his hand back in and rolled up the tinted window.
"Then I'll see you later. I'll be back Soon."
"Yes. Thank you."
After that, we all went to have a nice dinner together.
Of course, that dinner was at the chicken BBQ place we were originally supposed to go to for today's study group meet up.
"This is chicken BBQ?"
Jinhee sat down in the seat where the
senior sister of the boarding house used to sit, tooka bite of the meat, and half-narrowed her eyes.
"It's expensive compared to other places, and it's not even that good."
"Chicken curry would have been better, Joon...."
Sunah mumbled while chewing on the
meat, weighing its value.
"With this money, we could eat four bowls of warm soup and rice....."
"Yoon Sunah, are you a soup-and-rice person?"
Dukhun asked while taking a bite, then went back to munching noisily.
We didn't order any alcohol.
At 9:30 p.m.
I led the club members toward the first-floor billiard hall of the Noryangjin Tower of Despair.
But Jinhee was the only one excitedly
swinging the cue stick, while the other club members didn't know how to play and just played pocket billiards, so I took them back down to the bowling alley in the basement.
"Aww~ why aren't we playing billiards~"
"Because you're the only one who knows how to play."
Back again to the second basement level, the bowling alley.
In the place where I wasted my time bowling with that senior sister, we tried to build a strong friendship.
"Prez, Yoon Sunah can't lift the bowling ball, it's too heavy."
"Ngghh..."
Sunah struggled, whining as she tried to lift the heavy ball with just a few slender fingers.
With her small frame, she wobbled and gave it a try, but the ball rolled off in a strange direction, veering straight off the gutter.
"Zero points~"
Jinhee clapped cheerfully.
I grabbed the ball next, squinted my eyes, and shouted inwardly.
'I won't fail!"
Ability, Perfect Student, activate!
Thwack-! Degeururururu–
The ball rolled down exactly the same path Sunah's had taken.
It flew straight into the curb without hitting a single pin.
"Zero points~ How did it roll the exact same way?"
Jinhee giggled while Sunah jumped up in excitement.
"We really are destined for each other, Joon..."
I flicked Sunah's head , then sat back down and watched the others.
Everyone's faces were full of smiles and enjoyment.
Hayoon and Dukhun were also diligently and quietly rolling balls on the next lane.
Come to think of it, in all the time we've
spent together, we had never once gotten together and enjoyed ourselves like this.
While other clubs prioritized bonding activities under the name of hoping to become closer~, we had never done
anything like that even after months
had passed.
'Maybe that's why. Even just hanging out together feels a little awkward.'
For now, we were smiling, and the mood had definitely eased.
Yet, it still felt like they were engaging
separately, and I couldn't shake the feeling that we were missing that 1% needed to build lasting memories.
"Mavbe the karaoke machine during the late-night exorcism could work."
It might be worth taking a shot there.
"Hoo. Anyway."
I checked my special ability again. Am I using this Wrong?
Status window. Special abilities.
(PERFECT STUDENT
Rank: A-Rank
Trigger Condition: Passive
Ability: This ability can be activated
when facing a random situation.
If the probability is 10% or higher,
success is guaranteed.)
'When faced with a random situation....'
Then why didn't it activate just now?
Bowling, me rolling the ball to hit those
pins.
Does that mean there was no randomness in that action?
'Random...'
I took out my phone and looked up the word.
In Korean dictionary terms, it means
´sudden' or haphazard'.
'Random...? Hmm'
Thinking about it that way, it made sense why it didn't activate just now.
Sports are about skill, not like gambling after all.
'Something with a bit more randomness. What could that be?'
Looking around, I noticed Gyeongwon
sipping on cola in a glass right beside me.
I stared thoughtfully at the glass of cola and then said to him.
"Give me a sip."
"Huh? oh, okay."
"You're a just one sip' person, President."
Dukhun, who had been quietly rolling the ball next to Hayoon, muttered something, while Gyeongwon handed me the drink with a bewildered expression.
"Drink it all. I bought it with your money anyway."
"Nah, I'l just have a sip. Thanks."
Rice and curry lover Yoon Sunah, one-sip parasite Lee Joon.
Holding the glass, I shouted inwardly.
i'll drink from the side Gyeongwon didn't put his mouth on! Activate!
Pop-
[Probability: 13%]
'The condition is at least 10% or more...
good!'
Then the next message popped up.
[Special ability Perfect Student' has
activated.]
Bang -!!
In an instant, the glass in my hand suddenly shattered, sending shards scattering all through the air.
And the cola came gushing down from mid air in that very shape, soaking my face.
"Cough! Pff-pff..."
"Ahh, the heck!"
Gyeongwon jumped back in shock beside me, and I coughed with my face drenched in cola and bubbles in my mouth.
"Are, are you okay?"
The part-timer rushed over to us immediately.
I instinctively launched into an eloquent impromptu speech as if it were second nature.
"Ah, yes.. it seems the glass had a crack in it... and it suddenly broke.."
"I'm sorry, I'l bring you some towels right away..."
The part-timer quickly brought a broom and towels, cleaned up the spot, and cleared away the glass.
At the same time, Jinhee and Sunah came over to me.
"You okay?"
"Joon..?."
"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine."
I brushed off the glass shards stuck to my clothes, cleared the cola that had gone up my nose, and gathered my thoughts.
"Gyeongwon. That b*stard actually put his lips on the whole glass?"
The image of Gyeongwon sucking on the rim of the glass popped into my head.
But honestly, the glass was only about the size of my hand.
Comparing the surface area of the lips to the circumference of the rim, actually, if he sipped from a few different spots, there wouldn't be any place left that his lips hadn't touched.
'So that's why it burst in midair and only the contents went into my mouth?'
Wiping the back of my neck, I once again marveled at the system's sense.
From a perspective beyond human perception, perhaps that's how things
work.
They were just skills that burned down
the whole straw hut to catch an ant.
'..Looks like I won't be able to use this
one lightly either, just like the other abilities.'
Like the Banality Maniiestation, or Life
Design.
The same goes for the Goddess of Luck ability I already used up during the Dreams Within Dreams.
Unless it was a clearly defined ability like Lip Reading, there was no way to predict how the system would act.
"Are you okay, Prez?"
"Uh, yeah. I'm okay."
After sending Gyeongwon, who was also brushing off his clothes, back, I sat down again and resumed watching the others.
"Eeegh, eeegh..."
"Puhaha~ Come on, do it properly. What are you even doing?"
On this side, Jinhee was still laughing and teasing as she watched Sunah struggling with a grunt.
On the other side, Hayoon and Dukhun
silently took turns, just rolling the ball back and forth with quiet focus.
'It feels kind of strange seeing just the two of them like that.'
Hayoon and Dukhun shared the same lane, but they didn't exchange a single word.
'I knew Hayoon was always quiet, but Dukhun's surprisingly silent too.'
He was bowling with such a pretty girl, yet he didn't react at all.
And it didn't look like because he was shy, but his face looked genuinely engrossed in bowling.
Probably, true to his otaku nature, he's
the type who gets completely absorbed once he focuses on something.
Pop-
[Your understanding of the character Oh Dukhun has increased by 10.]
[Your understanding of the character Oh Dukhun has surpassed 50%. You may now view information about his Quirk.]
"Quirk? I haven't unlocked that yet?"
It had been a while since I hit 50% understanding, and including the current progress, it was actually 60%.
Maybe the moment I reached 50% was when I was trapped inside the Minecraft game, so amid the chaos, I must've just missed unlocking the Quirk.
'So they postponed it back then and now that I've leveled up, they're finally telling me.'
Like clicking Don't notify me until the next update' when a Windows update pops up on a computer.
'Unlock.'
I chose to unlock without much thought.
Then...
Pop-
[Opening information about Quirk.]
[Oh Dukhun's Quirk is otaku'.]
Yeah~ I already know~
The system was late!
**
[2019, May 27th | Monday, 12:00 AM]
[Lee Joon: Number of Attempts - 2]
[Ghost Story Points: 580]
[Causality Rate: 32%]
Like that, after building friendships
in a much healthier and cleaner way
than the messy sec-study group of the previous time period, we returned to the boarding house at midnight.
"So it begins now..."
"Yeah."
I nodded to them as I opened the glass
door.
"Let's finish this quickly."