Chapter 149
1 PM. In front of the school. Jung-seok said.
"How about we call it a day for now? Let's go home, check on our families, and meet again tomorrow."
I fell into deep thought at Jung-seok's suggestion.
Humans, not ghosts, are trying to kill us─ Everyone seemed tense and tired from this unfamiliar experience.
I felt that at times like this, it's better to stick together, but... It also seemed like a good idea for everyone to go home and warn their families about the danger.
There's no guarantee that Wang Ja-hyun's crazed group wouldn't take our families hostage or harm them.
"Okay. Let's disband for now. Always check the group chat. I might call everyone to the secret base even tonight, so try to stay alert if possible."
On my way home, I decided to make two things clear.
Wang Ja-hyun's group knew about our theft─
Because of point 1, they're full of thoughts about killing us─
To be honest, I had expected them to figure out our crime.
As they chased down various incidents in Gaeryong City, our names were bound to come up eventually.
It was the same with finding Gu Hyena's body, and it was strange that I, who used to be Yang Juhee's errand boy, suddenly started hanging out with mismatched kids like Yang Juhee, Jung-seok, Yoo Dahee, and Bong Ji-yeon.
'That guy's up to something. Something's fishy.'
It wouldn't be strange for people to think like that. I thought it was only a matter of time before we were found out, but I'm just flustered because it happened faster than expected.
It meant Wang Ja-hyun's group was not to be taken lightly.
The important thing is what we do from now on. They know our identities and are trying to kill us.
I let my guard down because they were classmates, but they really tried to kill me, who studied in the same class with them. If I hadn't turned back time, I would have really died.
In that sense, my 《Sloppy Clock》 was really amazing. To think it had this much effect after just one enhancement from 《Broken Clock》.
I wondered what would happen if I enhanced it one more time from Sloppy Clock.
『Do you want to use 100 points to enhance the unique-grade trait 《Sloppy Clock》?』
『Enhancement success rate 10%』
『If successful, trait will change to 《???》』
It took 100P each time to enhance 《Sloppy Clock》, and the success rate was only 10%.
I really wanted to see the next enhancement stage, but the 100P consumed for each enhancement attempt felt too precious for me who was struggling with a lack of points.
Even the 100P I spent to turn back time to appease Yang Juhee felt significant. I should have saved those points and tried enhancing instead.
Anyway.
Because it was such an emergency, my thoughts kept wandering off track. Actually, what I need to do now is come up with a countermeasure against Wang Ja-hyun's party.
'What should I do about those guys?'
It would be nice if we could resolve this through dialogue, but the shock and pain from when Gong Ye-rin stabbed me in the chest still seemed to linger. It feels like my soul was wounded, and there's no guarantee it won't happen again.
Next time, it might not be me but my friends or family who get hurt. The points to turn back time are limited...
The easy path and the difficult path.
I pondered long between these two options. Given the situation, I had to decide the direction for our group.
"Status window."
I looked at the list of mercenaries. The list of mercenaries I had was as follows:
『Curse of becoming a ghost after answering three times
Death game
Electric Fan Ghost Story
Invisible Hand
Water Ghost
Jang Hee-bin Ghost
Monkey's Paw』
Which of these could deal an irreversible blow to Wang Ja-hyun's group? When I experienced them myself, I thought they were all terrifying ghosts.
But now that I'm thinking about using them to take down Wang Ja-hyun's party, each seemed to have unreliable aspects. If I'm not careful, I might just waste points.
After much deliberation, I decided to dispatch "Death Game" and "Jang Hee-bin Ghost", which had given me the most trouble, to Kim Geon-ho.
It cost 200P, but it would surely keep my pirate crew friends from getting blood on their hands.
***
"Is there really a way down?"
On the way up from the school basement to the ground. Gong Ye-rin whined.
Gong Ye-rin didn't like exploring the school's basement. It smelled strongly of strange mold and was creepy.
"We have to find it first."
Wang Ja-hyun's attitude was firm. Since the recent theft incident, the smile had disappeared from Wang Ja-hyun's lips.
Both Im Hee-yeon and Gong Ye-rin were scared of this Wang Ja-hyun.
Of course, they couldn't say that, so they continued to explore the scary school basement to go down to an even deeper basement.
The responsibility for the theft incident played a big part in this.
"Can't we just kill them first?"
Gong Ye-rin asked.
Most of the suspects who stole the items had been identified. Ha Young-won, Jung-seok, and Yang Juhee's group, who had been doing various strange things throughout the first semester, were likely candidates.
The fact that they were hanging out closely with Yoo Dahee, the chairman's granddaughter, was also a reason.
According to Wang Ja-hyun, the chairman seemed to be a very bad person. He said even building this school was the chairman's intention.
Therefore, she thought they could just get rid of the identified suspects first. It could be a good idea for Gong Ye-rin.
"I could pretend to be betrayed and infiltrate their group. Then bam-! How about it? Doesn't it sound like a good idea? It would be easy that way."
Gong Ye-rin was anxious. The fact that there were beings aiming for their lives.
She couldn't sleep because she was shaken by the fact that there were beings who might ruin their daily lives.
It's natural to want to get rid of such things quickly. But Wang Ja-hyun was more cautious than expected.
"They know about us too. Unless they're idiots, they won't believe you were suddenly betrayed."
"What if I say Kim Geon-ho attacked me? Couldn't I say I ran away because Kim Geon-ho went crazy and tried to rape and kill me? That kind of story seems like it would work well."
Gong Ye-rin prided herself on understanding boys her age well.
If she gave off a sexual vibe, she could easily cloud the eyes and ears of stupid teenage boys. Of course, such methods didn't work on male students like Wang Ja-hyun, who were too familiar with women and knew they were handsome and used it as a weapon.
'Ha Young-won and Jung-seok are clearly virgins.'
Men with experience with women and those without.
The 'confidence' and 'composure' between these two were clearly different. Gong Ye-rin could smell the scent of awkward men flowing from Jung-seok and Ha Young-won from far away.
That's why she was full of confidence that her plan would work well.
"What the hell am I supposed to do? Shit, do I look like that kind of person to you?"
But Kim Geon-ho got angry.
He seemed to find it insulting to suggest that he would attack and beat women to death. Im Hee-yeon also added.
"If things don't go well. You'll just end up being taken hostage. Gong Ye-rin, please think about it."
Im Hee-yeon was Gong Ye-rin's best friend. But since hanging out with Wang Ja-hyun, she had also become her most annoying rival.
'Telling me to think? That bitch. Ah, if only she wasn't here...'
If only Im Hee-yeon wasn't around, Gong Ye-rin could have Wang Ja-hyun's affection all to herself. Just as she was thinking that, ring ring- Kim Geon-ho's phone rang.
"What's this?"
Kim Geon-ho frowned as he looked at the message on his phone. Some strange text had arrived.
[Mafia Game]
[A new room has been created.]
[Invite various friends and chat.]
It was a bizarre chat room. Kim Geon-ho was the only one in the chat room.
'I didn't create anything like this.'
Kim Geon-ho felt somehow uneasy and creeped out. So he tried to leave the room, but he couldn't.
"Did you guys get something like this too?"
"What is it?"
Wang Ja-hyun, who had been irritable all day, snatched Kim Geon-ho's phone. Soon, Im Hee-yeon and Gong Ye-rin's phones also buzzed and chimed.
"I got invited too?"
"Me too!"
Buzz-
Wang Ja-hyun's phone also rang loudly.
A chat room with four people invited before leaving school. Just as Wang Ja-hyun was thinking this couldn't be a coincidence, a message appeared in the chat room.
[Ja-hyun: Find the hidden mafia.]
[Geon-ho: Time limit is 1 hour.]
[Hee-yeon: If you fail, all innocent citizens will die.]
[Ye-rin: Night has fallen.]
"Wh-what is this!"
Im Hee-yeon, the most easily frightened, trembled. She wanted to throw her phone away.
"It must be a ghost! A ghost!"
While Im Hee-yeon was scared out of her wits, Wang Ja-hyun raised his hand and slapped her cheek.
"Hee-yeon, please shut up. Don't make us all nervous for nothing."
"O-okay..."
Gong Ye-rin thought Im Hee-yeon got what she deserved. She had been subtly bragging about going to the movies with Wang Ja-hyun recently.
"Find the mafia..."
Wang Ja-hyun fell into thought while looking at the message on his phone. The mention of citizens dying if they failed bothered him.
Citizens and mafia.
'It probably means one of the people in this chat room is the mafia.'
Wang Ja-hyun quickly came to a conclusion.
"I think there's a mafia among us."
"I-it's not me!"
Im Hee-yeon, her cheek red and swollen, shouted in panic. Soon, Kim Geon-ho also spoke up.
"What's a mafia? Like in the mafia game?"
Flash-
Just then, it was as if lightning struck Gong Ye-rin's head.
"Could it be a traitor? There's a traitor among us. Think about it logically. How could Ha Young-won's group have robbed our houses? How did they pick the locks? There must be a traitor."
Traitor.
That word resonated strongly among the four. But that wasn't the only problem.
"But don't you think we've been going around in circles for a while now?"
Ground floor.
They were trying to get out of the old school building, but they had been going around the same place for a while. Wang Ja-hyun had already realized this too.
'Is this related to that strange mafia game?'
Glance-
Wang Ja-hyun peered inside the teachers' office with its broken window.
"......"
Wang Ja-hyun's hair stood on end. Women in white mourning clothes were standing in a row inside the teachers' office.
They had something like burlap sacks over their faces and ropes around their necks, looking like hanged people. What was even more unsettling was the laughter coming from somewhere.
Laughter that sounded not like humans, but like foxes eating corpses.
"Everyone be careful. It's laughing ghosts."
Ghosts don't really have emotions. Spirits tend to become dull after death.
Sometimes there were ghosts who cried or grieved over their own deaths, but that could be considered within the normal range.
But laughing ghosts were different. Laughing ghosts could all be called truly wicked evil spirits without exception.
"Prepare your crosses."
At Wang Ja-hyun's emotionless instruction, everyone took out crosses from their pockets.
These were crosses made from a tree that had long spread its roots as the village guardian tree in Gaeryong.
As Wang Ja-hyun's group walked down the corridor like this, they encountered the laughing ghost.
It was a ghost with eyes so large they took up half its face, and blood dripping from its mouth.
It was dancing and laughing, and the sight was so creepy that everyone was stunned. Wang Ja-hyun, who quickly came to his senses, said.
"Hold out your crosses!"
Pop-!
Everyone held out their crosses. Because these crosses were made from a tree whose roots reached deep into the underground water veins of Gaeryong, they could easily get rid of most ordinary ghosts.
The ghost that had been laughing and dancing opened its mouth wide and screamed as if very angry at seeing the crosses.
Soon, ghosts in white mourning clothes with burlap sacks over their heads started approaching from the teachers' office and classrooms here and there, making jingling bell sounds, and at that sight, the easily frightened Im Hee-yeon collapsed.
"Kyaa!"
Im Hee-yeon was completely terrified. Seeing this, Wang Ja-hyun shouted in anger.
"You damn bitch! Hold up your cross now!"