Chapter 24: The Old Building’s Secrets

[Explore the old school building first. Be careful with the route!]

‘Do you have to nag every single time?’

Right, the family photo—the item you obtain after viewing the memory—was in the new school building’s principal’s office. Thanks to that, I remembered, but the tone was so irritating that I wasn’t grateful at all.

And why was it so obsessed with the route from the start? In the game, if they wanted to block the player’s path, they could just lock it immediately. But maybe it’s different now since this isn’t the game.

When I played the game, if I tried to deviate from the set route, Seo Yi-han or Yoon Soo-ah would step in and say, ‘There’s no need to investigate that place now,’ or ‘Why are you trying to leave here?’ and nag the player.

Plus, areas you weren’t supposed to enter before certain story points were blacked out entirely, so clicking did nothing. Or they’d mark it as sealed with something like, [A great power is blocking you…].

Yet, the really nasty part was that they didn’t block places that seemed like ‘Huh? I should check this out’ during the story. Places with no useful clues, just dummy locations set up as traps. A prime example was Class 1-5 during the monster fight.

‘Even when finding the family photo, I had to twist my reasoning and ended up suffering.’

To find that damn family photo, I searched everywhere—the broadcasting room, the staff office, the photography club room, the principal’s private parking lot. Because I thought they wouldn’t put it somewhere obvious.

Then I saw the photo sitting right on the principal’s desk, and I was dumbfounded. And that note in Class 1-5? I only stumbled upon it after clicking through every classroom.

…I suspected the system hated me, but recalling my playthrough, I concluded that the game itself was hell-bent on screwing over the players. The system was just doing its usual thing.

And I, who poured thousands of won into this game and acted like a lunatic until I got sucked in, am the ultimate fool and idiot…

“Let’s just go to the principal’s office.”

Thinking more would only lead to the conclusion that I’m a pathetic loser, so I rubbed my eyes with a heavy heart.

***

Unlike the new building’s principal’s office on the second floor, the old building’s was on the first floor. And tucked away in a corner of the building.

On the landing of the stairs, we encountered another ghost that was just an arm.

The arm flailed vigorously when it saw us, trying to assert its presence. It seemed displeased that I had stuck it upside down on the ceiling; it looked more aggressive than before.

Seo Yi-han, who stood out due to his height, even got his hair grabbed by that arm.

“Ha…”

Yi-han, having been accosted, sighed in annoyance and fixed his hair.

Since I was the one who stuck the arm there, I felt awkward. This time, I pulled it out and attached it to the window—the red brick wall covered in ivy.

The arm seemed to enjoy the fresh air after so long, flapping happily and tearing at the ivy.

But that was the end of the cute ghosts. As we descended, unlike the minor ghosts from the monster fight, we encountered things that were skilled at deceiving people, starting to mess with us.

Some appeared as complete humans, sitting realistically and crying, or trying to talk to us. Others, no matter how much we ignored them, would stubbornly follow us, wailing loudly.

One old lady ghost even threw her bundle onto the landing, pounding her chest and weeping so pitifully that Han Bo-bae almost approached her. Yoon Soo-ah stopped her just in time.

Moreover, even Seo Yi-han, whom I had internally considered the team’s ace, fell for it. He must have forgotten all my warnings, because he instinctively reached out to a child running from the other end of the hallway.

“Don’t accept it!”

I hadn’t expected Yi-han to make such a mistake, so my reaction was a bit slow.

I pulled Yi-han’s body toward me with force, and his body twisted just in time, narrowly avoiding the child’s touch. Yi-han saw the child’s form pass through his arm and stammered,

“Sorry… I instinctively thought the kid would fall… Why did I do that?”

There’s no way a little kid would be in the old building at this hour. Muttering that, Yi-han tried to look back, but I slapped his back. He had been just about to be enthralled.

I grabbed the back of his neck to keep him facing forward, then I turned only my eyes to stare at the spot where the kid had stood.

The child who had passed through Yi-han’s arm stood still there. Then, as if suspicious, it tilted its head, raised its arms, and turned its face toward us.

Where its eyes should have been, there were empty sockets, dripping blood.

“Ugh…”

I quickly averted my gaze, pretended to see nothing, and walked like a machine. I could hear the sound of blood dropping from the kid’s eyes onto the floor, but no bloodstains remained.

Han Bo-bae and Kim Ji-ho, who had witnessed this scene, seemed to think they’d ruin everything by screaming, so they moved with their hands covering their mouths.

I should have left those two in the auditorium. I regretted it belatedly.

Now that we had a safe zone, there was no need to drag everyone around. But of course, they didn’t know the auditorium was safe, so if I said, ‘You two stay in the auditorium,’ they might think I was abandoning them and cling to my pants.

Still, seeing even Seo Yi-han, whom I trusted most, get fooled like that was worrying. The fact that he almost got enthralled by that kid ghost meant there was something about it that attracted him…

Usually, ghosts choose a form that best captures a person’s attention when trying to enchant them. Han Bo-bae’s approach to the old lady ghost earlier was probably an unconscious reaction thinking of her own grandmother.

“……”

“What?”

Yi-han was still rigid, with his neck held by me. Even so, he sensed my gaze like a ghost and reacted.

“Do you like kids?”

“Huh? Out of nowhere?”

Yi-han tried to tilt his head cutely again, then realized his neck was in my grip and relaxed it. I could feel the movement of his throat clearly, so I let go and said,

“Was there something about that kid ghost that appealed to you?”

“Oh…”

Yi-han scratched his head, embarrassed by his earlier mistake.

“In my eyes, that kid looked similar to you when you were little, Jae-yoon. So I unconsciously tried to catch him…”

“……”

So, that kid ghost looked like me, so he felt drawn to it…

At his answer, my neck flushed for no reason, and I also scratched my head. To hide my heated face, I deliberately spoke coldly.

“That kid had no eyes. How can you say we look alike…”

“Right. I guess I was really about to be enchanted. Thanks for saving me, Jae-yoon.”

Now free, he smiled gently, matching my eye level again. My heart pounded to the point where I couldn’t ignore it.

Worried that if he came any closer, he might hear my heartbeat, I pushed his face away.

Then, as if to show he could one-up me, he grabbed my wrist, brought it to his cheek, and nuzzled.

The soft texture of his cheek felt strange. Startled, I pulled my hand away and snapped,

“Are you a dog?”

“Ah… come to think of it, you did want to raise one, Jae-yoon. Interpret it however you like.”

Interpret it however I like? His tone, as if suggesting I treat him as a substitute for a pet dog, gave me goosebumps. I mean, I had thought of him as dog-like (in a good way) many times, but this was too much.

“Damn, how do you turn someone into a pervert in an instant?”

Then Seo Yi-han laughed, holding his stomach. The quiet but clear laughter made my heart thump in rhythm, and now even my head was ringing.

That guy really has a talent for messing with people’s hearts. Or maybe, independent of him, my heart has just gone weird.

We found the principal’s diary easily in a desk drawer inside the office. I had no idea why he left his precious diary in this abandoned school, given how long ago the new building was built. Maybe he thought it was safer in a place no one visited.

The diary was full of TMI about himself and his daughter, along with regret and sorrow over her death. But since I already knew all the content and hadn’t been particularly moved when playing the game, I just took notes of the necessary information with a blank face.

– Daughter’s birthday: August 29.

– The principal asked her to bring some documents he left at school, so she stopped by on her way home and met with an accident.

– No trace of the killer was found at the scene.

– Eventually closed as an unsolved case.

I drew a big asterisk next to the part about it being closed as unsolved. It was the biggest grudge of the playground ghost, and it was also the part I focused on the most when choosing options.

It was understandable she would be resentful. Not only was she killed while running an errand for her father on her way home, but the murderer was never punished. It made sense she would wander the earth with an immense grudge.

So up to this point in the story, I hadn’t questioned the plausibility much. It was only after clearing the vengeful spirit quest that I started seriously calling this game a piece of shit.

📚 Also on NHV Novels

We Got Married

BLBoys LoveOmegaverse

Read Now →
Not interested