Chapter 6: Chapter 6: The School Grounds

The game didn’t depict the moon, so I hadn’t known, but it seemed they had set up all sorts of details surprisingly thoroughly.

Fortunately, there weren’t many ghosts near the sports field.

I could only see a man repeatedly slamming his head against the outer wall of the building, and a pale figure looping around a roadside tree, mimicking hanging itself over and over.

As if some barrier had been erected, the center of the field was utterly free of any wandering spirits.

It was obvious that a powerful ghost had claimed this territory. Come to think of it, the second boss fight had taken place right here on the sports field.

Those barely maintaining a human form seemed incapable of even approaching the area of that restless spirit.

We huddled together under the platform of the command stand, where a single bright incandescent light flickered, to escape the rain. All of us clutched our phones as if they were lifelines, our faces pale as we stared at the field.

“Don’t step onto the sports field.”

Fearing that we might inadvertently trespass on its territory and escalate things, I warned the kids in advance. At that, Kim Ji-ho, who had been trembling like a newborn deer, suddenly lunged at me and started sobbing.

“Lee Jae-yoon…! Do something! What are all those? Why is the school suddenly….”

Ah, so damn annoying.

As he rushed into my arms as if to bury his face in my chest, my expression soured, and I stepped back.

Just before Kim Ji-ho’s snot could smear on my clothes, Seo Yi-han stretched out his arm and caught him. Then, in a gentle voice, he stopped Kim Ji-ho.

“Ji-ho, calm down first. What can Jae-yoon do about this situation?”

“But he’s a shaman’s kid…”

“What did you say, you bastard?”

The rest of that sentence was obvious: something like ‘So he must be used to ghosts’ or ‘He must know something.’ But it was my mother who was the shaman, not me.

And even a shaman would hardly see this many ghosts except in known haunted houses or sites of mass slaughter.

He’d already caused trouble earlier, and I’d let it slide, even giving advice and saving his ungrateful ass. Now he repays kindness with ingratitude.

I cut him off with a glare, and Kim Ji-ho whimpered while checking my expression. Had I ever hit him? Had I ever said harsh words? Why was he so scared of me?

But I did think the setting matched my reality suspiciously… Even being a shaman’s son was included as is.

At first, I thought, ‘So I’ve entered the game. I guess even something as ridiculous as this can happen to me,’ but now I had an ominous feeling.

“Ji-ho, I understand you’re scared, but you should watch your words.”

Seo Yi-han, gripping Kim Ji-ho’s shoulders with both hands, said to him with a smile.

But from the prominent veins on his fair hands and forearms, and Kim Ji-ho’s groans, I could tell Seo Yi-han was squeezing his shoulders as if to crush them.

Kim Ji-ho was already skinny, and with Seo Yi-han’s large hands applying force, it looked like they might actually break.

Yoon Soo-ah, watching him with a dismayed face, patted Seo Yi-han’s back from behind. It was a signal for him to let go and release him. Shrugging his shoulders, Seo Yi-han nonchalantly removed his hands from Kim Ji-ho’s shoulders.

“Kim Ji-ho didn’t mean to upset you, Lee Jae-yoon… Um, your mother is famous. So he’s grasping at straws. I want to ask you too… So don’t take it too personally.”

Yoon Soo-ah offered an excuse and apology on Kim Ji-ho’s behalf.

She had a fierce look but was actually quite tolerant and meddlesome. I nodded and glanced at Kim Ji-ho, who was still sniffling.

“Hey, let me ask one thing. Did I ever hit you? Then why have you been whining ever since I said anything?”

“Th-that’s…”

“Remember at the beginning of the semester, Kim Ji-ho got pushed back while trying to stop you and his glasses flew off.”

At Yoon Soo-ah’s reply, I had no choice but to shut my mouth.

…So I had accidentally hit that shriveled anchovy of a guy. And he wore glasses, too.

According to my mother’s advice—‘Hitting someone with glasses is attempted murder; take them off first before punching’—which I faithfully followed, even if I didn’t recall the act, I felt guilty.

Sobering, I scratched my chin for no reason and patted Kim Ji-ho’s shoulder. Seo Yi-han had grabbed him so hard earlier that even my light touch made him wince.

“Sorry. Did I pay for the glasses?”

“Uh-huh…”

“Good. You got a nice pair, right? Then it’s fine.”

If my family’s setting was the same, I would have paid properly.

Looking now, they were quite an expensive brand. Knowing my mother, she might have intentionally paid for even better ones.

After all, even though my family had no choice but to live in a remote mountain village, we had plenty of money.

During special occasions like New Year’s or election season, politicians and conglomerate heads constantly visited, and those types would casually give thousands for a few words from my mother.

Plus, with talismans and rituals, we earned literally billions.

My father drove a foreign car in that rural backwater, which says it all.

For reference, my father, a stout man, lived a cushy life—he only set up the ancestral table and greeted guests whenever my mother held a ritual.

He considered fulfilling his duty by carrying various items and hiking up to the mountainside once a month when my mother performed a devotional rite.

‘But the shrine is on that mountain, so how did I transfer here?’

This magnificent private school couldn’t have been built in the countryside. Since Yoon Soo-ah even called my mother ‘famous,’ she must still be working as a shaman.

Not only did I enter the game, but my mother also exists here exactly as in the original world. What the hell is going on?

“…But is my mother that famous?”

“Yeah. Even my dad said he’s indebted to your mom. And didn’t Bo-bae say her grandmother knows her too?”

“Right. She still goes to that remote place every New Year to get talismans.”

I had momentarily forgotten the setting that these kids were all from wealthy families.

Right, with parents holding at least director-level positions in politics and business, it wasn’t strange for them to know my mother’s reputation by word of mouth.

But from Han Bo-bae’s words, it seemed my family was still in the countryside. I glanced at Seo Yi-han, who smiled gently and continued.

“My grandfather is always grateful to your mother, so he’s letting Jae-yoon board for free.”

“Ah, you two live together, right?”

“Yeah, until Jae-yoon graduates high school.”

“Well, Jae-yoon’s hometown is too far from here.”

A shock like a lightning bolt wrapped around my body.

Live together? At Seo Yi-han’s house?

Now the overly friendly attitude of Seo Yi-han made sense. We’d been living in the same house for a year already, so it was natural for him to feel close.

My questions were mostly answered, except why I had transferred to Seoul. But if I asked them about this, I’d get strange looks…

Seo Yi-han, in particular, had been worrying about me acting a bit off since earlier. Just then, a system window appeared.

[You caused so much trouble in your small rural town that your parents kicked you out to Seoul.]

This bastard had a knack for not appearing when needed and only showing up to annoy me.

Trouble? Aside from a few fights with guys who picked on me first, I was a very diligent student. I was disgusted by the setting that instantly branded me an irredeemable problem child.

But as if to taunt me, the system window flickered again.

[You were kicked out because of violent incidents. They were ashamed to show your face to the neighbors.]

…’Ashamed to show your face to the neighbors’—that was something my father often said. Specifically, whenever the school called for parental attendance, he’d pat my back. Then my mother always comforted me, saying, ‘Well done.’

After all, I only fought those who started it, and since everyone knew that, things never blew up too big. Still, my father always scolded me to control my temper.

So in this world, they actually kicked me out. Can’t be helped.

It wasn’t such a bad thing, though—I transferred from a school on the verge of collapse to this nice one, and I was living for free at Seo Yi-han’s house.

Seo Yi-han was said to be from a chaebol family, so I was living in a fancy mansion without paying a cent. For a moment, I thought it was quite a gain.

“But Kim Ji-ho! Why did you turn on your phone earlier?”

Yoon Soo-ah’s low scolding snapped me out of my thoughts. The system window also disappeared immediately.

Earlier, she had stopped Seo Yi-han, but now she was taking the lead in shaking down Kim Ji-ho. Unlike when he faced me, Kim Ji-ho answered with a somewhat confident tone.

“We agreed to wait ten minutes, so I turned it on to check the time!”

“Then don’t scream!”

“How could I not scream seeing that? You were all shocked too!”

He had a perfectly valid reason to take out his phone, and a justifiable cause to scream.

This guy was a character born to troll, so no matter what he did, he was doomed to be a nuisance.

“Let’s quietly make our way to the school gate… Maybe it’s open.”

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