Chapter 74
Knock knock knock-
Ms. Hong Mi-ri knocked on our front door again.
━Open the door.
I didn't know what was going on. Why had she come to our house? I didn't know what it was about, but I had a bad feeling.
After all, Ms. Hong Mi-ri was a witch who ate her own students! She lived like a human, but her true identity was actually a crazy ghost!
Maybe it was a mimicking ghost pretending to be Ms. Hong Mi-ri.
That's right! A mimicking ghost!
I had encountered a ghost reflected in a mirror on the newly opened second floor of the corridor. I was so startled that I used the escape talisman.
What's a mirror? Mirror. Reflection. Imitation.
These things naturally come to mind when you think of mirrors.
Maybe the mirror ghost on the second floor of the corridor was a ghost that imitates others.
In other words, the current Ms. Hong Mi-ri might be an act by the mirror ghost.
Is there a way to tell if the Ms. Hong Mi-ri outside the door is a ghost or a human? After much thought, I came up with a bright idea.
I'd recently heard that ghosts behave differently from people, doing things in reverse. Jung Sojin had said that. I'd vaguely heard such stories too.
They say ghosts do things like clap with the backs of their hands. Should I ask Ms. Hong Mi-ri to clap once?
Of course, asking her to clap out of the blue would raise suspicion, so I needed a suitable excuse or joke.
"Teacher, you need a password to enter our house. Please clap the jajinmori rhythm with your hands."
─What? I don't have time for jokes. Open up quickly.
"It's our house rule."
Ms. Hong Mi-ri grumbled as if I was talking nonsense, but I was serious. I wonder if my seriousness was conveyed well to Ms. Hong Mi-ri beyond the door.
Clap clap clap. Clap clap clap. Clap clap clap clap clap clap clap.
Ms. Hong Mi-ri clapped.
Looking through the peephole, I could see that Ms. Hong Mi-ri clapped properly. Although it wasn't the jajinmori rhythm, but a 3-3-7 clap.
Honestly, I still didn't want to open the door. Even if she wasn't a ghost, Ms. Hong Mi-ri was suspicious. But if I stalled any longer, I might seem suspicious too.
I pretended to know nothing and said,
"Okay. Come in."
Ding-
When I opened the door, Ms. Hong Mi-ri was standing there with her arms crossed, looking at me indifferently.
Click. Click.
Ms. Hong Mi-ri entered the house, making sounds with her high heels, glanced around, and clicked her tongue. Did she dislike how small our house was?
"There's a cockroach over there."
"...Where!?"
I looked where Ms. Hong Mi-ri was pointing, but there was nothing.
When I turned my head back to Ms. Hong Mi-ri, something poked my cheek. Ms. Hong Mi-ri had set a trap with her finger.
"Is it okay to tease an adult or not?"
"......"
Teacher took off her heels and came in. Her black stockings caught my eye.
"Where's your mother? Has she gotten better?"
Ms. Hong Mi-ri was the one who found our missing mom, and she had spent quite a long time with her at that mansion.
Maybe... when I reported mom missing, did mom at the mansion say, "My son reported me missing, so I should go back now"?
And somehow her memories disappeared, and Ms. Hong Mi-ri found her wandering the streets.
Maybe Ms. Hong Mi-ri, as someone who lived in the mansion together, was monitoring where and how our mom was wandering. Or maybe not.
It would be easiest to ask her directly, but...
"My mom went out to work. She'll be home late today."
It was 5 PM now. It would be an hour before mom came home.
Soon, Ms. Hong Mi-ri slowly looked around.
I couldn't quite read the emotion in her gaze.
Ms. Hong Mi-ri said,
"Then should I order you a hamburger? Do you like hamburgers?"
"I do."
Why is she ordering me a hamburger? Is she trying to fatten me up to eat me?!
I thought that, but there was no reason to refuse a free hamburger.
After ordering the hamburger, Teacher asked about my studies, my future plans, and if I had any difficulties in school life.
They were formal questions, and I answered normally.
"I heard a transfer student came to your class. What do you think of him?"
"The transfer student..."
Is she talking about Wang Ja-hyun? What an ambiguous question.
"I'm not sure."
"Is that so? That can happen. By the way, why is the hamburger taking so long?"
Ding dong-
Just then, the doorbell rang. I went outside and found a hamburger bag at the entrance.
"Thank you for the meal."
"Enjoy."
I ate a hamburger filled with bacon. It was salty and delicious. But I stopped eating when I witnessed a strange scene.
Ms. Hong Mi-ri was eating the hamburger upside down.
Usually, you eat with the sesame-sprinkled bun on top, right? But Teacher was doing the opposite.
"...Teacher, you're eating the hamburger upside down?"
"Huh? This? This way, it's less messy and cleaner to eat."
Is that so...?
I felt suspicious for no reason. Is it because she's a ghost and behaves in reverse?
Anyway, after the meal ended, Teacher said,
"So, Ha Young-won. I have a good proposal for you, want to hear it? Your family is struggling to pay rent and make ends meet, right? Our school foundation can give you a scholarship and cover all your college tuition."
"Do I have to go to Yeongji University to get the tuition?"
Yeongji University was known as one of the worst universities in Korea. There was even a joke that childbirth was faster than employment for its graduates.
Yeongji High offered full scholarships to some outstanding students and encouraged them to go to Yeongji University. It seemed Ms. Hong Mi-ri had come to our house for this reason.
"Yeongji University... well, you can go or not. By the way, this teacher also went to college and got a job as a teacher with this Yeongji scholarship? But... oh, look at me. I forgot to bring the documents."
"Documents?"
"Ah. I think I left them in my office. It's about a 10-minute drive from here? Young-won, let's go together."
Ms. Hong Mi-ri's office. It might be a chance to find out what Ms. Hong Mi-ri's true identity is.
"Sure, why not."
I headed towards the car parked on the first floor with Ms. Hong Mi-ri.
***
Maybe because it was close to summer, the days were long. The evening sun was setting.
I saw a building standing tall under that sunset. It was a building with a sign that read "Yeongji Foundation Talent Development Institute".
It was about 3 stories high. It looked a bit old, probably built some time ago.
As we entered, there was an eerie chill unsuitable for the recent humid weather. It felt like they had the air conditioning on full blast or had opened a large refrigerator door.
"It's on the third floor, so let's take the elevator. I'm wearing heels, so I don't want to climb stairs."
Teacher operated the elevator to go up to the third floor. The third floor we arrived at was full of mostly empty offices with wide-open spaces.
"Is your office really here, teacher?"
"Yes. It's over there."
At the very end of the third floor. Come to think of it, I hadn't seen anyone in this building. Were Teacher and I the only ones here?
As I started to feel very wary, we arrived at Teacher's office.
Beep, beep beep-
When we entered through the keypad door, inside was an ordinary-looking office with a desk, chair, sofa, bookshelf, and TV.
"Then I'll look for the documents. Sit on that sofa over there."
Rummage rummage-
Teacher searched through the drawers. I took this chance to observe the office again.
It still looked like an ordinary office. If there was anything unusual, it was the presence of a foldable bed. And there was women's underwear left on the bed.
"Ah. Found it."
That's when it happened. Teacher approached me, holding something.
"Read this carefully and fill it out."
[Yeongji Foundation Scholarship Selection Eligibility Explanation and Consent Form
Yeongji Foundation operates various curricula and scholarship programs to nurture global talent. Please read the following items carefully and sign.
Students selected as Yeongji Foundation scholars must be in the top 50% of their class each semester.
....
..
..
If you have confirmed all of the above, please sign.]
It looked like a normal explanation form. But from item 5, the sentences were strange.
Yeongji Foundation scholars must give up their human rights and dedicate their lives to the pursuit of truth.
Scholars will have ghosts living in their brains and their souls will be mortgaged to hell.
Actually, this is all a lie.
Some of these sentences were written by ghosts.
"......"
What's this all about?
I wondered if this was some kind of hidden camera prank. But Ms. Hong Mi-ri was just sitting on the sofa in front of me, looking at me leisurely.
I said to Teacher,
"Teacher. I... The clauses are strange, so I'm not comfortable signing."
"Why? What's the problem? Which items are strange?"
"Everything from 5 to 8 is strange."
The look in Ms. Hong Mi-ri's eyes changed as she watched me. It was the same eyes as the ghosts I had encountered so far.
Eyes filled with murderous intent.
***
Hong Mi-ri was slightly annoyed.
The foundation's chairman, Cheon Dae-gon, had started showing interest in an unremarkable male student. Because of that, Hong Mi-ri's own time was being wasted.
'Do I have to take care of this brat too? I need to get back to the old school building right now!'
A few days ago, Hong Mi-ri had been able to enter the nightmare-like old school building twice. This was an enormous achievement even in Hong Mi-ri's life.
'How was I able to get in there? I just need to know the method. If I know that method, everyone will know how great I am. Even the chairman won't look down on me.'
There's a cause and effect for everything. Hong Mi-ri thought there must be a proper reason why she was able to enter that corridor.
She barely had time to dedicate herself to finding that reason, and now she had to deal with some boy.
Even handing over this consent form seemed like an overreaction from the chairman.
'It looks like we're selecting scholarship students, but it's actually a guide to find Observers. It's a ghost-possessed contract.'
For people without spiritual senses, the form would end at item 4. But if you look with spiritual eyes, you'd see letters invisible to others.
Depending on that sensory talent, items 5 to 7 were divided into stages.
'Even seeing up to 5 shows some useful aptitude.'
Hong Mi-ri looked at the last item, number 7.
"7. Actually, this is all ────."
She couldn't see it clearly, but Hong Mi-ri could read up to item 7. This was an incredible talent as an Observer who sees the spiritual world.
But this dimwit boy said,
"Everything from 5 to 8 is strange."
"...8? What does number 8 say?"
"It says 'Some of these sentences were written by ghosts'."
"Really? Then what does number 7 say?"
"Number 7 said 'Actually, this is all a lie'. Teacher, is this really a contract? Is this really a scholarship application?"
The emotions Hong Mi-ri felt after hearing the boy's words were surprise and jealousy. The surprise came from the fact that the boy wasn't lying right now.
The boy was talking similarly about number 7, which Hong Mi-ri could barely see. No, what he said was probably the correct answer.
"So it was a lie. Everything written there was a lie."
Jealousy. That sticky, chilling, and sharp emotion broke through the wall of her heart for the first time since high school and showed on her face.
When the boy flinched, seemingly flustered by Hong Mi-ri's expression like an evil demon, Hong Mi-ri moved her hand without realizing it.
'If he's here, I'll be second again.'
Hong Mi-ri's hand grabbed the boy's nape.
Crunch-
This clearly contained murderous intent. The boy struggled.
"Aagh! Wh-what are you doing!"
The boy, while struggling, poked Hong Mi-ri's eye.
"Aah! You bastard!"
Hong Mi-ri screamed as her eye was attacked.
"I'll kill you!"
Hong Mi-ri had already decided to kill the boy.
She could just tell the chairman he died unavoidably in the process of becoming an 'Observer'.
Thinking this, she grabbed a nearby box cutter, but the boy seemed to have escaped using the elevator.
"......"
Hong Mi-ri, wearing heels, got on the elevator to follow the boy down. But the elevator buttons had been mysteriously colored with a fluorescent pen, making it impossible to tell the floor numbers.
"Ha Young-won. You cunning little squirrel. Do you think I won't know where the first floor is just because you played this trick?"
She pressed the first floor button hard. But it was strange.
Instead of going down to the first floor, the elevator started going up.
Ding-
"4th floor?"
The elevator arrived at the 4th floor in a building that didn't have a 4th floor.
It was strange.
'Where is this?'
Ding-
Soon the door opened, revealing a dark corridor. It was a corridor filled with the smell of various medicines.
"This is...!"
Hong Mi-ri was greatly surprised.
After all, this was the orphanage where she had died and been reborn.
"...How? Wasn't this place burned down?"
Click. Click.
Soon, Hong Mi-ri heard the sound of high heels from far down the corridor.