Chapter 52
The atmosphere in Class D has been quite tame lately.
Kim Geonho, the king of troublemakers who stirred up the most trouble in the class, hasn't been coming to school.
Kim Geonho's lackeys like Kim Young-ho, Lee Jin-sung, and Park In-bae were noisy at first, but their influence has been wilting. They've been either just sleeping in class or skipping altogether.
This meant that I, Ha Young-won, had been liberated from the era of being bullied in various ways.
In a way, this was an achievement I had accomplished on my own.
So, has my life become more peaceful─? Well, not exactly.
"Young-won. Ms. Hong Mi-ri said she's buying ice cream for Class D during English class and asked us to get it from the school store. I don't think I can carry it all by myself. Will you come with me? The teacher said to go with you."
Jung Sojin's words made me frown.
Lately, I've been under attack from Jung Sojin on all fronts.
Why is Jung Sojin acting like this towards me?
Ever since I slapped Jung Sojin, who was suffering from 《Paranoia》 in the infirmary to snap her out of it, she's been like this.
Maybe Jung Sojin thought something like, "Oh my! That woke me up! Ha Young-won is the first man to slap my cheek!" and started to like me.
It's really troublesome.
"Did Ms. Hong Mi-ri really say to go with me?"
"Yes! Let's go together! Hurry!"
Swish-
Jung Sojin grabbed my hand and pulled hard. She's quite bold about holding a guy's hand.
Considering that she used this hand to push my chest towards the head ghost, I couldn't help but get goosebumps.
At this rate, it's better to get this ice cream errand over with quickly!
"Carrying ice cream like this reminds me of when we moved textbooks together at the start of the semester, Young-won. It's already time to prepare for final exams, time flies, doesn't it? Right?"
Jung Sojin was trying to create a sense of camaraderie with me while carrying the ice cream bags.
She tried to kill me before, what a shameless person...!
Of course, Jung Sojin didn't remember trying to kill me in the Nightmare Corridor. That's why she's acting like this, I guess.
"If Kim Geonho comes back to school and bullies you again, tell me! I'll go directly to the principal and report it! Bullying, geez, what a childish behavior."
Jung Sojin spoke boldly. In my opinion, Jung Sojin had made out with Kim Geonho near the old school building. After I caught her, didn't she pressure Kim Geonho, saying "Bully Young-won more!"?
For someone like that to say this, really. Seeing this, humans are scarier than ghosts. I pretended not to know anything and asked,
"Why isn't Kim Geonho coming to school these days?"
"I don't know. Why would I care? That cowardly idiot. Always bullying people weaker than him. I hate such cowardly people the most. Acting all tough and all that."
"......"
"Young-won, I heard you didn't say anything about being bullied because you were worried about your mother? That's really amazing. That's what a real man is!"
Being praised like this doesn't make me feel good at all!
But I couldn't just tell Jung Sojin to "Get lost!" She's the type that would be fatally troublesome if turned into an enemy.
It's better to sweet-talk her if possible.
"I think I'm a real man too."
I played along with Jung Sojin's opinion. Then Jung Sojin burst into laughter as if she had heard an incredible joke.
"Ah, what! How can you say that about yourself! That's hilarious!"
"I'm pretty funny, I guess."
Chatting like this, we arrived at the classroom. I distributed the ice cream to the class while the kids cheered for Ms. Hong Mi-ri's generosity and boldness.
"Damn, which bastard picked 10 Bibi-big ice creams!"
"Ha Young-won, you crazy bastard!"
"One out of three people has to eat Bibi-big!"
No, I didn't pick those, you crazy idiots! I'm going to remember the faces of those who just cursed and put them all in the corridor.
Anyway, the English class was quite fun.
English teacher Hong Mi-ri was a woman with a mysterious identity, but she taught well, had a tough personality, and above all, was pretty.
However, even I couldn't have a crush on a ghost who had chewed up and swallowed girls.
"Alright, then number 25, read this paragraph and interpret it."
Click. Click.
After asking the students to read the passage, Ms. Hong Mi-ri was leisurely walking around the classroom.
As she walked between the students making noise with her high heels, some male students couldn't concentrate on their textbooks and kept glancing at Ms. Hong Mi-ri.
Some male students were even blatantly staring at her thighs exposed under her short suit skirt.
That's me. I was trying my best to examine Hong Mi-ri's exposed skin.
It wasn't because I was a pervert, but to find the 'butterfly-shaped birthmark' that might be somewhere on the teacher's body.
In my opinion, Ms. Hong Mi-ri must have a butterfly-shaped birthmark somewhere on her body.
And that butterfly-shaped birthmark... probably moves and changes position like a real butterfly.
Swish-
Ms. Hong Mi-ri came near me.
As a strong perfume scent wafted, Ms. Hong Mi-ri poked Yang Juhee, who was sleeping bent over behind me.
"Wake up, you brat. Is this a motel? Are you here to sleep?"
The kids laughed, "Hahaha-"
I couldn't help but feel tense.
In the last corridor exploration, Yang Juhee was killed by the third ghost, the "Red Woman".
She was killed by Hong Mi-ri!
How could Hong Mi-ri act so nonchalantly towards Yang Juhee, whom she had killed, probably chewed up and swallowed alive?
In reality, teacher Hong Mi-ri was doing just that!
"Yang Juhee. You read from here. And interpret it."
"Of course... This is discriminatory behavior towards fairy. Please call a lawyer. This is discriminatory behavior towards fairies. Please call a lawyer."
Yang Juhee was a delinquent, but she was good at studying.
Click.
Now the English teacher approached me, sitting in front of Yang Juhee.
Ms. Hong Mi-ri must have seen me escaping in the last nightmare.
What if Ms. Hong Mi-ri brings up our encounter in the corridor?
"You come to the staff room after class. Bring the vice class president Jung-seok too."
***
"Hey. Young-won. Why is Ms. Hong Mi-ri calling us?"
"I don't know."
"According to what you said, Ms. Hong Mi-ri is our enemy. You don't think she's calling us because of our encounter in the corridor, do you?"
Jung-seok made a similar guess to mine.
Whatever it was, we headed to the staff room and heard unexpected words from English teacher Hong Mi-ri.
"Ha Young-won. Jung-seok. You two were sneaking around in the old school building's basement before, right? Write a reflection paper about that."
The teacher didn't say much about me and Jung-seok entering the "Nightmare Corridor".
Is it a bluff? Is she deliberately hiding it? Or... does she not remember?
Or maybe the "Red Woman" isn't Hong Mi-ri?
I thought my memory couldn't be wrong. So I stared intently at Ms. Hong Mi-ri's legs as she sat in her chair.
Flutter flutter-
Looking closely, I could see a black butterfly flying on her left thigh.
It was a birthmark, but a birthmark that moved like a real living butterfly. The size was slightly smaller than my palm.
"Hey. Ha Young-won. Are you listening to the teacher?"
"Huh?"
"Tell me what I just said."
"To write a reflection paper?"
"Besides that."
What else did she say? Damn, I must have missed it while looking at the butterfly on the teacher's thigh.
"Are you really not going to pay attention? Ha Young-won. Your mind is completely elsewhere these days. I told you the chairman invited you for dinner tonight, so keep your schedule open."
"Ah─"
An invitation from the chairman?
I thought this was out of the blue, but what surprised me more was that the butterfly was flying around Ms. Hong Mi-ri's neck area. It was flying around her choker.
Flutter flutter.
If it's flying around so openly, don't people notice? As I was slightly taken aback, Ms. Hong Mi-ri asked me,
"What? Ha Young-won. Is there something on my face?"
"...No. About the dinner invitation, is it just for me? Or can my friends come too?"
For some reason, I thought it was better to pretend I didn't know about the butterfly.
"You can invite Dahee's friends too if they're available. The chairman seems curious about what kind of friends Dahee is making."
Ms. Hong Mi-ri looked at me with slightly narrowed eyes but didn't ask anything more.
We had to prepare for the next class, so we left the staff room. When we were a bit away from the staff room, I asked Jung-seok,
"Hey. Jung-seok. Did you see it too? The butterfly flying around the teacher's neck?"
"Butterfly? I didn't see anything like that?"
"You didn't see it? It was flying around so openly."
What's going on? It was really flying around so openly.
Jung-seok seemed to be interested in something else rather than the butterfly.
"If Ms. Hong Mi-ri is really an 'Observer' or 'Hero', what could her purpose be? Why is she catching and killing students in the corridor? I'm also curious about the principle behind entering that corridor."
"I don't know about that either."
We weren't the only ones who could enter the "Nightmare Corridor".
For some reason, Yoo Dahee was there too. And Ms. Hong Mi-ri was there.
Also, in my estimation...
Swish-
I handed Jung-seok the business card I had kept in my pocket.
"It's the business card of the president of Sakuras. Kang Bada. The Morse code 'Be careful of the sky' you translated was written on this card. Wasn't the game this guy made incredibly similar to the 'Nightmare Corridor'? Like he had experienced it."
"It was at a level that wouldn't make sense unless he was an experienced person. From what I saw, it seems that guy might have entered the corridor too. Didn't you say he was Ms. Kang Ha-neul's older brother?"
Jung-seok seemed to be slightly wary of the suddenly appeared 'Kang Bada'. I was too.
A man who might be after my mom. Someone who looks somewhat sinister. And a person who might know about the "Nightmare Corridor".
We can't help but be cautious.
"Be careful of the sky. Does this mean to be careful of Ms. Kang Ha-neul?"
I asked.
Soon, Jung-seok pondered for a moment and said,
"It could be, but 'sky' could also mean something else. For example... the Cheon family, Yoo Dahee's family. There are many possibilities for interpretation. The sure way would be to ask directly."
I had the business card. It meant I could contact him if I wanted to.
Crash-!
Just then, we heard something breaking. When we turned our heads, there was a commotion in Class C.
"You crazy bitch! Are you insane?"
"Get out! Aaargh!"
A male student was lying on the floor, bleeding. And a female student was screaming as if possessed, holding up a chair.
That girl was... Bong Ji-yeon!
"Get out! Just get out!"
"Do you really want to die? You haven't been coming to the meetings lately! Who do you think shielded you from the seniors, and now you hit me? Ah, nosebleed... You bitch. Do you need to be trampled by the seniors like in middle school to come to your senses?"
"Get out!"
"Bong Ji-yeon, you're really dead today. I don't know anymore. You've been ignoring Suho hyung's calls too."
While our Class D has become peaceful, Class C is still in the midst of war. I guess this is what all delinquent high schools are like.
At this moment, Jung-seok was looking at Class C with a rather serious face.
His expression seemed to say, "I need to help Bong Ji-yeon." Jung-seok then looked at me and asked,
"Hey. It sounds like Bong Ji-yeon might get beaten up by the seniors. Shouldn't we help her?"
You want me to meddle with the delinquents from another class? I didn't want to get involved, but the problem was that Jung-seok wanted to do it.
If I refuse and Jung-seok gets upset saying, "I won't help you anymore in the future," it would mean trouble for me in many ways.
Jung-seok usually seems smart, but when it comes to Bong Ji-yeon, his reason seems to be paralyzed and his judgment clouded.
I guess I have no choice.
"Alright. I'll try to do something."
I do have the "Mercenary Group" system.
Honestly, if I put my mind to it, I'm not even scared of these delinquents.