Chapter 17: Surprise Event

I had a strong premonition that this guy would follow me by any means if I said I’d handle that demon alone.

No, it wasn’t just a premonition—I was certain.

He’d chase after me even if he had to grab my pant leg.

“Ha… Let’s go, let’s go.”

“Are you angry?”

“What reason would I have to be angry…”

I was just unsettled because of you.

I left Seo Yi-han, who was tilting his head cutely, and flung open the door of the new building.

From the front gate to the cafeteria was quick.

Just turn the corner to the left.

Unlike the old building, the hallways were teeming with low-level spirits as soon as we entered, but we immediately turned off our phones, kept our mouths shut, and walked with Seo Yi-han, whose night vision was sharp, in the lead.

We reached the cafeteria without any trouble, but…

?

Seo Yi-han grabbed the doorknob, then immediately turned around, made an X with his hands, and shook his head.

As if to show it was locked, he shook the door once more.

‘It wasn’t locked in the game…’

Common sense said that the cafeteria staff would lock up when they left, but when I played, I never had to find a separate key.

The kitchen door was also open, so from acquiring the braised ribs to exorcising the demon, it went smoothly.

After all, boss fights ending anticlimactically was a characteristic of this game.

I pushed Seo Yi-han aside and took charge, shaking the door back and forth, but it wouldn’t open.

Instead, the rattling sound drew the nearby low-level spirits one by one.

Seeing this, Yoon Soo-ah pulled us back, suggesting a retreat.

So, just a few minutes after entering the new building with great bravery, we were back outside.

***

“As things stand, the convenience store…!”

“If you give him that, he’ll get mad. You give it to him instead.”

At my cold retort, Kim Ji-ho immediately shut his mouth.

He seemed to know that giving him that kind of trash would get his arm torn off.

Seo Yi-han had been silently pondering something for a while.

He was staring up at the pitch-black sky without a moon, as if admiring the heavy rain.

“Hey, what are you thinking?”

It felt like that was always the question Seo Yi-han asked me.

It wasn’t that embarrassing of a question, but coming out of my mouth, it felt awkward.

At my voice, Seo Yi-han turned his gaze from the sky to me.

Then he gave another eye smile.

It was so radiant that I thought he could replace the moon in that moonless sky.

“…Why do you smile whenever I say something?”

“Because you’re curious about what I’m thinking, it makes me happy.”

Is there so little to be happy about? Annoyed, I lightly kicked his shin, and he sat down, pretending to be hurt with a fake “Ow ow ow…”

All I did was touch his shin with my toe, but he suddenly sat down, which really got on my nerves.

“Are your bones made of paper? What’s with the fake pain?”

“It doesn’t work on you…”

Did you think it would? When I looked down coldly without offering a hand, Seo Yi-han grumbled.

Muttering something incomprehensible like “It worked earlier…” he cheerfully got up and met my eyes.

Then, stroking his chin with his long fingers, he said, “I was considering whether the cafeteria key is kept in the security office or the administrative office. Probably the administrative office, right?”

“Uh…”

I didn’t know. And it seemed I wasn’t the only one; everyone stared at Seo Yi-han with looks of realization.

Meeting the four clueless faces, Seo Yi-han, without any sign of disappointment, kindly suggested we go to the administrative office.

We had no choice but to silently follow behind Seo Yi-han.

The administrative office was on the opposite side from the cafeteria, but still on the first floor.

The problem was that “opposite side” meant crossing a glass bridge connecting to the main building of the new school.

This school was ridiculously large, unnecessarily so.

As we reached the glass connecting bridge to the opposite building, the sound of the pouring rain grew louder.

If it were daytime, we would have seen the refreshing bamboo grove spread out beyond the floor-to-ceiling glass bridge.

That was a shame.

Now, only the eerie sound of wind brushing through bamboo leaves filled the air.

As Seo Yi-han said, the cafeteria key was hanging neatly on the wall of the administrative office.

It was even courteously labeled “Cafeteria.”

I stared at the two keys clinking on the metal ring with a complex look, then sighed and picked them up.

It bothered me that the flow of events was slightly different from what I knew.

[I prepared a surprise event!]

‘Shut up…’

The system, which read my mind, flashed again.

It had been displeased that I was breezing through from the start, and now it seemed it intended to slightly twist the progression and claim it was a surprise event.

If it prepared a second surprise event, it would kill someone.

Even though I knew all the strategies, it was taking annoyingly long.

Seriously considering if there was a way to eliminate that damn system, I opened the administrative office door.

The hallway was still pitch dark, and ghosts roamed around.

By now accustomed to the scene, we naturally held our breath and walked in a single file.

Seo Yi-han was at the front, and I stood behind him, directing actions.

Whether out of consideration for the timid Han Bo-bae and Kim Ji-ho, Yoon Soo-ah naturally took the rear.

We would have headed smoothly to the cafeteria, if not for the demon cub that appeared without warning.

“Ah!”

“Soo-ah!”

The demon, as if it had teleported, silently approached without its characteristic lip-smacking and dragging sounds, and grabbed Yoon Soo-ah’s leg.

Yoon Soo-ah fell forward and was dragged, scraping the hallway floor with her fingernails.

The sound of nails scraping, which Yoon Soo-ah hated, echoed everywhere.

The moist indoor air made the sound travel further and louder.

Screams, noise, explosive breaths, and the hastily shone phone light to catch Yoon Soo-ah—all these elements combined, creating chaos in an instant.

Ghosts swarmed from all directions.

Unlike the ones we saw in the old building, these had distinct forms, maintaining the horrific appearance of their death, and they smacked their lips not to eat us but to possess our bodies.

[Surprise event^-^]

Flash flash, my vision flickered.

This f*cking bastard! The phrasing was subtly irritating—”prepared a surprise event” rather than “prepared with a surprise event.”

Han Bo-bae, crying loudly, ran over and desperately grabbed Yoon Soo-ah’s hand, holding on.

Yoon Soo-ah, her torn nails in pain, frowned but struggled not to let go of Han Bo-bae’s hand.

Kim Ji-ho, wailing, ran to me and Seo Yi-han faster than anyone else.

Naturally, we threw him aside and rushed to Yoon Soo-ah.

“My leg! Leg!”

As Han Bo-bae held on with all her might, the demon, annoyed, bit Yoon Soo-ah’s leg on the spot.

Startled, Yoon Soo-ah yelled for help, a rare outburst.

I and Seo Yi-han grabbed the hands that Han Bo-bae was holding.

I took the left hand, Seo Yi-han the right, and we pulled hard to free Yoon Soo-ah.

But the demon cub had an immense tenacity.

Having roamed the fourth floor and consumed every low-level spirit in sight, it was still hungry and refused to let go of its prey.

With its dangling jaw, it repeatedly failed to bite down, but it grabbed Yoon Soo-ah’s leg and was dragged along by us.

Even then, it kept trying to clamp its upper teeth to close its jaw.

“Han Bo-bae, shine your phone on it. And Kim Ji-ho! Come and grab Yoon Soo-ah’s left hand instead of me! If you keep acting like that, I’ll leave you behind!”

At my irritated shout, Kim Ji-ho, shocked by the threat of abandonment, crawled over trembling.

I kicked the guy acting as if he had no legs, venting my anger.

He rolled over to Yoon Soo-ah and, following orders, grabbed her left hand.

Han Bo-bae pulled out her phone and shone it on Yoon Soo-ah’s leg.

The greedy face, with its mouth buried in the leg and drool dripping, was laid bare.

Its eyes showed only bloodshot whites without pupils.

After confirming that Kim Ji-ho was putting strength into his arms, I took out a yellow talisman from my pocket.

If I used this, how many would be left? My heart sank at the thought that the talismans were running low.

“Hold tight and pull! Yoon Soo-ah, when I signal, can you get up and run?”

“I’ll try!”

Yoon Soo-ah’s reliable answer came from below. Even in this situation, her characteristic spirited voice and attitude remained.

With that, I ran and threw the talisman onto the demon’s face like throwing a dart.

It let go of Yoon Soo-ah’s leg and flailed to remove the paper stuck to its face.

Seizing the opportunity, I kicked its skinny leg.

“Kyaaaaah!”

Unlike when I kicked Seo Yi-han, I put real force into it.

The creature, already flailing its long arms, quickly lost balance and fell, struggling.

Its abnormally long arms made it hard to get up.

“Now!”

At the signal, Yoon Soo-ah jumped up, grabbed Han Bo-bae’s arm, and ran.

Han Bo-bae immediately turned off her phone, and both ran toward the cafeteria with mouths shut.

They were students worth teaching.

And Seo Yi-han too.

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