Chapter 23: The Old Newspaper

“Seeing him act like that at school, it’s highly likely he died around here. You all have attended this school since you were young. Haven’t you heard anything?”

Most of the students at this school start from the elementary division and go straight through to the high school division (I saw this in the story). In the high school division, transfers are especially rare, so my case was unusual.

Kim Ji-ho raised his thin wrist and answered in an uncertain tone.

“I… I transferred in middle school, so I don’t really know…”

“If you don’t know, just shut up.”

Why raise your hand just to convey such useless information? My heart was already troubled, and his pathetic behavior only annoyed me further. Ji-ho, who always listened to me a bit too well, quietly fell silent.

Yoon Soo-ah and Han Bo-bae whispered to each other, discussing something intently, then both let out a groan. It seemed they had no clues either.

In any case, the one to provide a clue here was Seo Yi-han. With a focused expression, Yi-han was deep in thought, trying to recall something. Seeing this, Yoon Soo-ah clapped her hands and asked.

“Your brother! Didn’t you hear anything from your brother?”

“Ah, Yoo-han hyung. Come to think of it, hyung also attended this school… Huh?”

Yi-han smoothly agreed with Soo-ah’s words, then froze. A term of endearment like ‘Yoo-han hyung’ had slipped out so naturally. That person was someone I had only seen in a dream…

But this doubt faded away as if someone had artificially erased the memory. As I stood blankly, having stopped mid-sentence, Seo Yi-han gently tapped my shoulder.

“Jae-yoon, having another migraine?”

“Huh? Oh…”

My left eye socket was aching as if it would fall out, so I kept closing and opening my eyes long. I hadn’t been feeling well since having that strange dream earlier.

I managed to hold down the guy who was determined to go to the infirmary alone, and asked.

“More importantly, didn’t you hear anything from your brother? We can all go to the infirmary together after we start moving.”

If you want to bring me medicine that badly, first confess what you know. When I said that with that implication, it worked immediately.

Seo Yi-han clenched his fists and spoke in a more uncertain tone than usual.

“A long time ago… When my brother first entered elementary? I think I heard that there was a big commotion at school back then. But hyung didn’t tell me the details, and he seemed like he didn’t know much himself.”

“If it was when your brother first entered elementary, we weren’t even born yet, right?”

“Right. And hyung was young too.”

We don’t even know exactly what incident caused a big commotion at school about twenty years ago, and the likelihood of that incident being related to the female ghost on the playground is slim. So it seemed we couldn’t get any useful information from Yi-han either. The others pursed their lips and each fell into thought.

Frustrated by the situation, I thumped my chest. It is related to that incident…! They’ve had enough clues to figure it out by now; should I just drag them to the old school building?

At that moment, Kim Ji-ho, who had been faithfully following my earlier order to shut up, hesitantly raised his hand.

Without his glasses, his already faint presence became even weaker, so it took a few seconds after he raised his hand for us to react.

I nodded to indicate he could speak, and Ji-ho hesitantly opened his mouth.

“Well… isn’t it right to go to the old school building anyway? The fact that we haven’t heard any news while attending school means that the incident happened during the time when the old school building was in use.”

The new high school building was built about eight years ago, and the kids, including Seo Yi-han, started attending this school about ten years ago. It was a reasonable deduction.

This guy, sometimes he has neither use nor tact, and sometimes he does. Since this time he was both useful and tactful, I affectionately roughed up his chestnut-like head.

His bowl-cut hair, already messy from sleep, became even more tangled and stuck between my fingers.

“Hey, just act like this all the time. Your thinking is good!”

“Uh, yeah…”

Uncomfortable with my sudden praise, Ji-ho retracted his neck like a turtle. At the same time, someone grabbed my hand, which was thoroughly messing up Ji-ho’s hair.

“Jae-yoon, stop it.”

“Huh?”

“…Ji-ho probably hasn’t washed his hair yet.”

“Class president…?”

At Seo Yi-han’s words, Kim Ji-ho covered his head and looked up at Yi-han with bewildered eyes. No, more than bewildered, he seemed to feel betrayal, embarrassment, and ‘Why my head…?’

It wasn’t like Ji-ho’s hair was greasy. Even if it was, was there anyone among us who had washed their hair? And even if time had passed, it would be at most a day.

As if Yi-han was telling me not to touch something dirty, I also wore a bewildered expression.

Having instantly confused two people and even inflicted an unexpected insult on Kim Ji-ho, Seo Yi-han finally made me remove my arm, then comforted Ji-ho with a gracious face.

“Ah, I didn’t mean it like that. I just thought it wouldn’t be good to mess your hair up when we don’t know when we can wash.”

“We can wash if we want. The elementary building has showers and changing rooms.”

“…Is that so?”

“Elementary kids learn swimming during PE. Ah, you didn’t know that.”

Wow, there wasn’t even a swimming pool in our neighborhood.

My admiration was short-lived, as Seo Yi-han cheerfully ignored Yoon Soo-ah’s retort. He just patted Kim Ji-ho’s back a few times and finished by saying things like ‘Don’t be too hurt, Ji-ho.’

But maybe it was because I had fully heard how he spoke to his brother in the dream. His gentle speech somehow sounded sarcastic. Like when he told Ji-ho to wash his soap-stained glasses in rainwater…

I wondered if it was a unique way of speaking that put others down, but seeing him smile kindly at me, that thought immediately evaporated.

As long as he doesn’t do it to me, it’s fine.

***

As soon as I closed my eyes and woke up, I had to set foot in this gloomy place again. Looking at the red brick building that was practically crumbling, I let out a deep sigh.

The ivy, left untended, grew wild and fluttered in the wind, splattering water droplets from its leaves. It was quiet now, unlike when it had screamed for us to leave quickly after we found all the clues about the Maw.

The cafeteria door had locked immediately, and I understood well that the system wanted to limit the players’ movement according to the rounds.

I wish it would show me plenty of choices and hints instead of wasting time on such things.

[Quest: Explore the Old School Building!]

‘Thanks, really…’

I was already used to the system’s annoying tricks, so I didn’t have the energy to curse at each one. I still remembered the strategy up to the second boss anyway…

Hoping that the system would at least be cooperative from the third boss onward, where I knew nothing, I entered the old school building.

We found an old newspaper from that time in the library on the fifth floor of the old school building. Its publication date was twenty years ago. Perhaps because of that, the paper was yellowed, and most of the letters were faded.

Squinting hard, we each read a page. In other games, they would have either given us only the page with the relevant article or made that part clearly visible. This game was at the pinnacle of unfriendliness.

After much difficulty, we deciphered the article. It said that a woman’s body had been found on the grounds of a prestigious private school, and the woman was presumed to be the daughter of the foundation’s chairman.

“She didn’t return home last night, so a missing person report was just filed. In the morning, a security guard patrolling the school discovered the body on a bench near the playground and immediately reported it…”

It was Han Bo-bae’s turn to decipher, so she mumbled as she read the article.

“It’s assumed she hid under the bench and was murdered, as the body was found lying face down under the bench.

The killer apparently left without even trying to hide the body. Since valuables were not taken, it is presumed to be a murder due to a grudge, but given that the body was intact, investigation continues with all possibilities open.”

The woman’s cause of death was a sharp wound to the neck, with no other injuries. It seemed she died instantly without resistance.

After reading the article, Yoon Soo-ah and Han Bo-bae whispered.

“Our school… how can so many violent incidents happen?”

“I know… There must have been many incidents when the old building was in use.”

‘That’s because you’re characters in a horror game.’

Due to the nature of horror games, they force in various settings, resulting in many incidents. Honestly, the plot of the chairman’s daughter being murdered at her father’s school itself was forced.

I tossed the newspaper carelessly onto the table and asked Seo Yi-han.

“Is the chairman the same person as back then, or has he changed?”

“He’s in his sixties now, so it’s probably the same person as in the article.”

“Hmm…”

I fell into thought. Because the next step should definitely be the chairman’s office, but I suddenly became confused whether it was the chairman’s office in the old building or the new building.

The clues we still need to obtain are the chairman’s diary, documents, and family photo. Also, a bait item similar to the note from the Maw battle, and the patrol log from the security office.

Among these, the diary, documents, and photo are scattered between the main offices in the old and new buildings, so for a moment I was confused about which came first. The system immediately cleared up my doubt.

📚 Also on NHV Novels

Night Has Fallen, Mafia—Send Your Text Messages

BLDramaModern

Read Now →
Not interested