"Joon.....?"
As I stood there with a pensive expression, Sunah and the other club members soon approached me.
"What are you thinking about....?"
"Club Prez?"
"...Everyone, gather around for a moment."
***
After gathering the club members again in the clubroom, I took my seat.
Then, I announced to them.
"This gamebook. The Red Book. There is no choice that lets you survive."
"....What!?"
"What did you say!?"
The members jumped in surprise. Soon, Jinhee angrily pulled out lighter.
"This piece of sh*t. Let's just burn it."
"I tried burning it. It didn't work."
I shook my head at Jinhee.
In truth, I had chosen the option to burn the book, but despite that, I ended up getting caught by the Red Woman and dying.
"Then what are we supposed to do..."
"No matter what we choose, we die.."
The members began pondering. Suddenly, Gyeongwon looked up.
"Prez, how about we open the last page first?"
"The last page?"
"Yeah."
I already guessed what Gyeongwon was trying to say, but just in case it might be a different approach, I gestured with my chin.
"For what? Go ahead and say it."
"Hmm, with this type of gamebook, the ending is usually on the last page. We can check that first to see how the conclusion turns out, and then follow the choices accordingly. How about it?"
"It's blank,"
Without opening it, I simply held the pages and waved the book at them.
"I already had the same thought and flipped through the pages, but the story just ends without any particular conclusion. There was no proper ending."
Thanks to that, I ended up getting cursed plenty just for recklessly flipping through other pages.
The curse is if you open the door, the Red Woman is hanging upside down, or something like that.
"Then what should we do...."
Sunah muttered dejectedly.
With a thud, I held out the book and
said calmly,
"We'll have to make it as we go."
".....?"
"If it's not written down, we just have
to make the ending ourselves."
***
A short while later.
I led the club members out of the clubroom again.
"That's a good idea, Joon~"
The Teacher came out holding a bamboo cane and smiling brightly.
I pondered for a moment, thinking what she meant by it was a good idea, but soon realized that the line was actuallya sentence from the book.
"... Let's see. Page 37."
[.. It might present an option to commit a crime. Even the fact that we're told to bring weapons is a bad sign in itself.Let's be careful."
"That's a good idea, Joon~"
The Teacher came out holding a bamboo cane and smiling brightly.
She must be proud of me for trying to keep things safe within the bounds of what students can do.
"Alright then, let's see what we have to do."]
'So it's the line from here.'
When I took my eyes off the book again, the Teacher was still holding the cane, beaming as she waited for my instructions.
'Is she unaware?'
Come to think of it, when I tried choosing the same option again, it felt like the situation unfolded exactly the same way, without even a single millimeter of difference.
I hadn't realized it at the time, but looking back, everything had unfolded exactly the same way, without a single word changing.
'It happens exactly as it's written in the book.'
I didn't know if it actually happened because it was written in the book, or because we acted that way and it was written in the book
In any case, what was clear is that when the same option was chosen, the situation unfolded exactly the same way again.
Having sorted out my thoughts up to that point, I nodded as I looked at the club members standing in the hallway waiting for me.
"Alright then, let's see what we have to do."
I looked down at the Red Book.
• Kill Teacher Jang Hwaeun
• Find the Red Woman
...If I choose the first option here, the branch where it says kill Teacher Jang Hwaeun, she would get Scared and run away.'
Conversely, if I chose the second option, it would lead to a situation where we explored the school together.
I checked my plan again to make sure there were no mistakes, then I chose the first option.
• Kill Teacher Jang Hwaeun Page 39
[Continuation from page 38
[Option: Kill Teacher Jang Hwaeun]
"Kyaaaah....".
As soon as I chose this option and turned the page, Teacher Jang Hwaeun, who had been watching to see what I would pick, was so startled that she hurriedly fled down the stairs and disappeared.
"Joon...!.? Why did you choose something like that?]
"The Teacher got scared and ran away-"
"Calm down, Sunah."
I reached out first to comfort Sunah, who was flustered just like it was written in the book.
"I'm doing this for a reason, so don't Worry. Teacher is safe."
"...Uh, yeah. Sorry.."
Sunah trailed off, blushed, and pressed her lips shut.
"Don't blush. Girls can get possessed."
".....?"
"Everyone, be careful about that part.
Because the Red Woman possesses girls or women whose face has turned red."
The members didn't seem to fully understand, but they nodded for the time being.
Perhaps because they were mentor and mentee assigned by the system, Teacher Jang Hwaeun and Sunah seemed to meet often in private. That must be why they were especially close, and why Sunah was worried about the Teacher like this.
I turned back to look at the club members.
"I'm going to call Teacher Jang Hwaeun back now, since she ran away in fright. Whether it works or not, we'll only know by trying, Since I'll have to die anyway if I fail, don't be too surprised even if the Teacher comes up holding a knife."
"..What? A knife?"
"What are you trying to do?"
The members looked at me as if they still didn't understand, but since this was something I could only figure out by trying, I opened the book for now.
'Eun, eun, eun... The page starting with Eun was here...'
It probably would work.
After all, it was a C-rank ghost story.
'It can't be that complicated of a solution. This method will probably work.'
And the hint Hayoon left behind even
as she was dying.
Based on those clues, I decided to bet on this method.
I simply slipped my finger into the page in the middle of the book to mark the page that started with 'Eun,' set it aside for now, and turned to the next chapter to the current situation.
In that part, there was a scene where
Gyeongwon tried to stop me, suggesting
we discuss it together, and soon the real Gyeongwon also approached me and spoke to me rgently.
"P-Prez. Don't choose suddenly. Let's
discuss it together first. That way, the
same situation as before won't happen again."
"Sorry, but I'll choose alone."
I answered casually and looked into the book by myself.
Just then, two choices appeared.
["Prez! Don't choose alone, let's-"
"Sorry. But I don't think it would make
much difference."
I ignored him and looked at the book.
• Wander around and look for the Red
Woman →Page 42
• Burn the book Page → 48]
If I chose the first option here, then
Teacher Jang Hwaeun, possessed,
would come up the stairs holding a
knife.
I chose the first option and turned to
the next page.
Sure enough, from the bottom of the stairs, I heard the sound of someone climbing up stomping their feet, "Thump- thump- thump- thump!", as if they were very angry.
"P-Prez.."
"Is it... Teacher Jang Hwaeun...?"
The club members stepped back in panic, and the thumping sound grew louder and louder, until finally, just as the Teacher was about to turn the corner and come into view...
'Now's the time!'
I grabbed the page I had marked in the middle of the book and, with a ripping sound, tore out the entire page with all my strength.
Thump- thump- thump- thump- thump!
[Continuation from page 41
[Option: Wander around and look for
the Red Woman]
Thump- thump- thump- thump-
thump!
[In an instant, Someone came up the stairs stomping their feet as if they were very angry.
I stopped mid-sentence and looked to
see who it was. It was Teacher Jang
Hwaeun, who had just been startled and gone downstairs, Was now running up the stairs with a bright red face-
The Teacher tilted her head curiously.
"All the famous ghosts in Korea are women, you know. Like Hong Kong Grandma, Red Mask, and so on...".
"What is Hong Kong Grandma?"
"There's such a thing, Prez. A very old
ghost."
"..Really ?"
Gyeongwon pushed his glasses and
nodded.
"Come to think of it, Prez. Remember
that Laughing Woman you met at the
beginning of the semester?"]
"The Laughing Woman. That's right."
"It's been a long while."
"Looking back, it seems like you've
encountered female ghosts much more often than male ghosts. By the way, why are we talking about this?"
"....!"
"...!?"
"....!!!"
We were chatting away when suddenly, struck by a flash of realization, we turned to look at each other.
Teacher Jang Hwaeun came up the stairs, stomping her feet as if she were very angry, but as soon as she turned the corner, she suddenly wore a curious expression and started chatting about ghost stories.
And Gyeongwon naturally picked up
on it and continued the conversation.
"W-what's going on...."
Among the bewildered club members, I alone clenched my fist tightly and shouted inwardly.
'It works.'
**
".That's what happened. Understood?"
By tearing out the entire section between the pages starting with Jang Hwa-' and the one ending with -eun', the he words naturally connected to Teacher Jang Hwaeun.
"Good heavens... You're saying that you tore out all the middle pages and skipped the situation all the way to the page that makes sense?"
Gyeongwon muttered "What the..." with his mouth open, and the other members all stared at me with surprised looks on their faces.
"Joon.. But is it really okay to do that..? It told you not to just flip through other pages recklessly..."
"Listen. This book was probably blank originally. Right?"
I tapped the book as I continued speaking to the guys.
"It's not like this book is some kind of prophecy that had every single of our actions written down from the start.
Originally, there were only blank pages, and the contents of the book were generated at the moment we got entangled. That makes sense, right?"
"....."
The club members pondered for a moment, then slowly nodded.
"....Probably, I suppose?"
"That's exactly why it works. It's like having a thick stack of blank A4 paper you can shuffle the order all you want, but there's no sequence to begin with. When I remove a page, the next one just becomes the following page. I'm not looking into a different page. That's why I don't get cursed."
"Crazy...."
Gyeongwon shook his head, looking
utterly dumbfounded.
"Your way of thinking is really... If it
were me, I would never have done something like this WIthout solid
proof."
"Of course, I had confirmation too."
I grinned and picked up the book.
"On page 130. There was a page that already had signs of being torn."
"....?"
Their faces showed disbelief.
I let out a chuckle, hehe.
I couldn't open it and show it to them
right away because skipping ahead
carelessly would get me cursed, but
from what I saw, it was definitely there.
"The first warning that the Red Woman was the owner of this book, and the traces of it having been kept in the library for a long time. This book probably passed through several owners over a long period before
reaching me. I assume the torn mark
on page 130 was damaged during that process. But look."
I didn't open the book, but instead flipped just the corners to show them.
"Even with a page torn out like this, the numbers at the top right still run in sequence. That's how I realized it. The torn page is simply treated as if it doesn't exist, and the content of the very next page just continues on."
"Oh my god..."
Gyeongwon held his forehead with shaking hands.
The other members reacted with 'I see' or 'that's how it is', but only Gyeongwon's reaction was particularly strong.
"'Ah, I get it, Prez. It's fine, I guess, so let's just move on from this part for now.. "
"But is it really okay to damage it like that!?"
Dukhun then asked in a loud voice.
"It's a cursed book, so tearing it up and doing whatever we want, won't it cause any problems..."
"Nope. I've even tried burning it."
I nodded calmly.
The only Wining condiuon set by the book from the start is this. To survive after going through and carrying out all the branching choices."
• If you survive after going through
all the branching choices in this book
and performing the actions, you have
cleared the game.
"There was no mention about damaging it, tearing it out, or anything like that."
In the end, even after burning it, the Red Woman who had been chasing me simply ended up possessing my mother and killed me. There was no curse at all regarding damage to the book itself.
"What about killing Teacher Jang Hwaeun, Joon?"
Suddenly, Hayoon, who had been silent until now, asked me in a calm voice.
"It says to follow the choices and perform all the actions. But Teacher Jang Hwaeun is still alive."
"....."
"How did you handle this part?"
In an instant, everyone's eyes turned toward Teacher Jang Hwaeun, and the Teacher flinched and stepped back.
I answered this question with the same nonchalant expression.
"I killed her Already."
".....?"
Hayoon narrowed her eyes with a questioning look.
I added in a calm tone.
"In the game."
"....!"
I took out my phone and showed it to them.
PUBG Mobile was running on it, and my character with the nickname Teacher Jang Hwaeun, was lying dead face down.
Teacher Jang Hwaeun [#100/100]
It happens. I guess there are days like this.
Kill: 0 Player
"Right after I returned, I turned it on and put it in my pocket. It seems it jumped out of the plane on its own, stayed still, and then got hit and died. Perfect timing."
"....!"
"Th-this.....".
The club members looked at the phone screen with surprised expressions, and I chuckled again.
"It wasn't a fluke this time either. I was
convinced it would work."
"How did you even..."
"When we were told to grab a weapon and left the clubroom, I grabbed a mechanical pencil, and the game was still proceeding as usual. That's when I realized. It all depends on how we interpret and carry out the
instructions."
"...!"
Hayoon quietly stared at Teacher Jang Hwaeun, lying dead face down on my phone screen.
Whoosh
At that moment, a few surviving characters still left in the game drove up in a car and ran straight over the Teacher's corpse.
Splat-
Teacher Jang Hwaeun rolled off in all directions.
Watching that sight, Hayoon, who had been staring at the screen, let out a small Pfft' and laughed.
[Special ability Lip Reading has activated.]
["Joon your really funny."]
"Alright, let's go!"
"Let's go, Club Prez!"
"Let's go!"
As the explanation seemed to be Wrapping up, I once again led the members and set out to search the main building according to the flow of the book.
It seemed that from here on, the content continued with us going around the school to find the Red Woman.
'We have to be careful.'
I muttered to myself.
Although I came up with the solution of tearing and continuing with the next chapter of the book, this wasn't a foolproof method.
First of all, since clearing the game was only recognized after going through all the branching choices, I couldn't recklessly tear out a page that contained an active branching option.
I could tear out single-direction choices like 'go to the next page,' but I must never touch a branch that had two or more choices.
'Even if I tore it all up and went to the last page, it would only lead to a futile ending.'
So if I just tore pages out recklessly, i would have no choice but to wait
for the Red Woman to come kill me, without even clearing the game.
Therefore, while tearing out scenes where I or the members died, I had to keep the sentences connected as much as possible, and at the same time, I couldn't tear out the parts where branching points appeared, yet
I had to carry out the actions the book
instructed.
On top of this, apart from the book itself, I also had to simultaneously figure out how to counter the Red Woman who was chasing me.
'Damn it. My head is going to explode.'
But thinking that there was nothing I couldn't do with the club members by my side, I took the lead and walked down the hallway.