Chapter 78: Ch 78: Blending in
The dark hallway of the fourth floor.
Students stood in a line like mannequins.
I calculated the range of the students’ reach beforehand and carefully took a
step forward.
’Huu.’
First, I unfolded the carefully tucked-away item from my pocket and
wrapped it around my vital areas.
A piece of ’armor’ purchased from the alien store.
Wrapper 12B357나
The loose packaging snugly settled under my high school uniform from
back in the day.
’The Nostalgia Series doesn’t heal wounds or remove contamination
sustained while active.’
From now on, I needed to be extra cautious.
I moved carefully, ensuring I didn’t overlap into the active territory of any
of the students.
Since I occupied a smaller area as an individual, navigating alone might
actually be safer on the fourth floor.
"..."
I wondered if Agent Bronze and Jang Heo-un made it safely.
’They’re probably prioritizing regrouping with others.’
The agent wasn’t foolish enough to head to the fifth floor with just the two
of them. They’d likely search for others on the fourth floor.
Judging from the situation, it didn’t seem like Jang Heo-un would be taken
prisoner or anything.
’Even if he’d do that to you, I did everything I could, my fellow new
hire...’
I walked all the way to the end of the hallway.
"Huu."
I arrived at the staircase we had climbed earlier with the agent and Jang
Heo-un.
And then...
I started heading back down the stairs.
[3F]
I retraced the way I had come, moving in reverse.
Why?
To be perfectly honest, I didn’t have much use for the scattered
informational items throughout this school.
’I already have all that information in my head.’
I had essentially already obtained and seen everything.
I knew everything about this ghost story, right up to the moment it ends.
Why this school ended up in this state, what the theme of this ghost story is,
and what exactly these ’students’ are.
There was only one thing I truly needed.
’The key item that will unlock the highest grade for a clear.’
And now, I was going to get it.
’By now... it should have been ’created’.’
I stopped on the landing.
The third floor below was eerily silent.
"..."
Everything down there had turned into corpses.
Under the bright lights, blood-soaked bodies lay mutilated, their horrifying
condition vividly displayed.
It seemed most of the school-uniformed figures on this floor were dead.
’If any agents survived, they must have moved elsewhere.’
It also appeared that nearly all the students who had swarmed the faculty
office were rendered immobile or killed, as indicated by the death
announcements.
"Huu."
Setting aside the grotesqueness of the scene, it felt as if I were standing in
the middle of a catastrophic disaster site where dozens of people had died.
’Stay calm.’
This is a dream... all of it is a dream...
I repeated this to myself as I continued descending the stairs, constantly
checking both ends of the hallway and the opposite faculty office.
And then, I spotted my target.
Flicker.
In the brief moment I turned my gaze, a student’s posture shifted inside the
faculty office.
"...!"
Of course, it wasn’t chasing me.
The condition of the student entity was far too pitiful for that.
Both arms were broken, one leg was in a compound fracture, and its
abdomen was drenched in blood.
Yet, it seemed to have enough ’awareness’ to tilt its head slightly in my
direction.
"..."
I surveyed the surroundings.
’No sign of other students appearing... good.’
Satisfied, I approached the faculty office.
I walked right up to the student slumped near the front door.
With bleached hair and piercings, he had the stereotypical appearance of a
delinquent, though his injuries erased any impression of defiance.
"..."
Wow, I’m seriously about to go insane.
I grabbed the ’student’ with both hands and lifted him over my shoulder.
"Huuuu."
Carrying the student like a heavy sack over my shoulder, I walked on,
ensuring he stayed out of sight.
’This is insane.’
Lugging a killing machine weighing several dozen kilograms like this
wasn’t exactly easy on the nerves.
Physically, though, I could manage. Nostalgia Candy was still rolling
around in my mouth, keeping me in peak condition.
’And... this is the destination.’
I had mapped out a route in my head.
Given the chaos that had erupted, it was unlikely that many students
remained on the third floor, but just in case, I moved quickly.
With the flashlight held in my mouth, I steadied myself against the wall and
pressed forward.
The powerful flashlight brightly illuminated the entire hallway, defying the
darkness—even if the bloodied scene still suffocated me.
Still.
[Infirmary]
The destination appeared.
Slide.
I silently dropped the name tag my colleague had slipped to me onto the
floor, then quietly opened the door and stepped into the infirmary.
There were three beds lined up near the window, their curtains drawn.
Two of the beds already showed shadows of someone lying inside.
"..."
I took slow steps forward.
My eyes caught sight of a whiteboard with a note attached to the door of the
infirmary:
Students injured during physical activity should lie on a bed and wait for
the nurse to arrive!
"..."
Something about it was out of place.
’So, that’s it.’
This was the clue that had led me to write a continuing exploration log for
this ghost story.
It came from the twelfth exploration log left by the previous explorer.
Exploration Record #12
Assistant Manager Kang Jiwoo entered the infirmary and placed an
injured colleague (Supervisor Park Cha-on) on an empty bed, following
the instructions.
Nothing significant to report.
Afterwards, all were killed by the student entity that chased them into
the infirmary. Clear.
From the moment I read it, I suspected there was an overlooked detail.
’The previous writer seemed to have left this intentionally.’
Explorers in this ghost story are presented as ’outsiders’—as students from
another school.
In other words...
– What if they had placed a real Sekwang Technical High School student on
the bed instead?
That question sparked the imagination that drove me to write the thirteenth
exploration log.
’Writing it was thrilling.’
Even now, my heart raced—whether from tension, fear, or anticipation, I
wasn’t sure.
Taking a deep breath, I opened the curtain to the only bed without a shadow.
On the clean, makeshift bed, I carefully placed the student.
In my mind, I could see the words I had written in my own exploration log
overlapping with this moment.
Exploration Record #13
[...]
Employee ■■■ successfully lured an injured student entity with the
help of a civilian.
After binding the entity, they entered the infirmary and placed it on a
bed.
The name tag was not removed during the process.
The student was limp but could have moved their joints awkwardly if I had
forced them to.
I covered them with a blanket, then stepped out of the infirmary.
Leaning against the bloody hallway wall, I waited for several seconds, my
heart pounding.
’After this...’
After a brief wait, I knocked lightly on the infirmary door and reentered.
Inside, I would find the injured student entity lying on the bed in gym
clothes, having received proper first aid.
And that’s exactly what I saw.
"..."
A feeling of awe—or perhaps fear—overwhelmed me as I approached the
only bed with its curtain undrawn.
The bleached-haired student I had brought lay on the bed, now dressed in
gym clothes.
Bandages and splints had been applied, and he didn’t even look in my
direction.
’At this point...’
In the original exploration record, it was noted that ’the discovery was made
while thoroughly searching the surroundings’.
Slide.
I opened the drawer beside the bed without hesitation.
Inside was a neatly folded school uniform.
[Sekwang Technical High School]
It belonged to the student lying in the bed.
The buttons were loose, and some parts were frayed, but strangely, the
uniform was clean, with no blood or stains.
’Hah.’
My heart pounded fiercely.
Without looking back at the student lying on the bed, I grabbed a sheet of
A4 paper from the infirmary and wrote:
I’ll just borrow your uniform for a bit.
– Transfer student who brought you here
Folding the paper neatly, I placed it in the drawer where the uniform had
been. In its place, I took out the uniform.
"..."
Turning my head, I saw the student lying on the bed, still dressed in gym
clothes, with his eyes closed.
He looked as if they were in a deep, peaceful sleep.
’It worked.’
I quickly began to undress.
I threw my old high school uniform out the infirmary window and started
putting on the ’borrowed’ Sekwang Technical High School uniform.
Luckily, our builds were similar, and it fit reasonably well.
Once I finished donning the old-style school uniform—
Drrk—
"..."
I heard the sound of a drawer opening behind me.
Turning back, I saw that a reply had appeared on the note I left inside the
drawer.
What grade and class are you in?
"..."
Swallowing hard, I wrote down the same profile I had scribbled on the back
of my old high school photo to prepare for this moment.
The name of the class where I first woke up.
Class 1-5.
The instant I wrote that—
The entire world plunged into darkness.
"...!"
A total blackout enveloped me, but as my eyes adjusted, faint outlines of the
world began to emerge.
Emergency lights, LED clock faces—dim glimmers just enough to
distinguish the school’s infirmary from complete void.
And then—
Tap, tap.
"...!"
Something tapped my shoulder.
I turned around.
The student, who had been sitting idly on the bed, was now lightly tapping
my shoulder.
The bleached-haired student casually retracted his hand and began moving.
Yes, naturally.
With movements far too human, he took the A4 paper and pen from my
hands with his bandaged arm and quickly scribbled something before
handing it back to me.
Transfer student, huh? Tough luck.
And then, he lay back down on the bed as if to resume sleeping, every
motion eerily natural.
"..."
With a grim expression, I stood and left the infirmary.
Slide.
The world was still dark.
But strangely, everything seemed unnervingly clear—as though I could see
even the dust floating in the air.
It felt like a peculiar certainty radiated from the uniform, taking root in my
mind.
"..."
Walking down the hallway, I bent to pick up the name tag I had dropped
outside the infirmary earlier and tucked it into my pocket.
[■■■]
The name tag now glowed strangely, far more than before.
Even in this dark, bloodied, and filthy environment, an odd calmness
pervaded me.
But then—
Something appeared in the distance.
"...!"
From Class 2-7, shapes began to emerge, peeking out.
The silhouettes were human.
But their entire bodies squirmed grotesquely, as if pixelation errors in a
video game had manifested in real life—ghastly creatures out of a horror
movie.
Their decaying forms, clad in what barely resembled school uniforms,
looked like glitched-out abominations, errors not meant to exist in this
world.
And the moment they noticed me—
"...!"
I froze.
A sensation like my insides flipping surged within me.
Flicker.
"...!!"
Suddenly, like lightning, the world became blindingly bright.
Instinctively, I dashed forward.
Those glitch-like monsters, blinded by the intense light, couldn’t seem to
look at me. Their movements slowed to a crawl.
This was my chance to finish them!
"..."
’No.’
I forced myself to stop.
I suppressed the urge to chase them down. The sweetness of the candy
rolling on my tongue brought me back to my senses.
And then—
Flicker.
Once again, the world turned pitch black.
When my eyes met theirs again—
They were already far away, sluggishly retreating down the hallway to the
opposite stairwell.
Leaving me behind.
"..."
My entire body was drenched in sweat.
My clenched fists trembled as if I had narrowly survived an overwhelming
addiction.
But I could endure it.
I had read about this moment in the logs, after all.
There was no confusion.
I had merely confirmed what I already knew.
’So that’s how it works.’
Did you notice?
The monsters I had just seen—they were the explorers.
The ones dragged into this ghost story, just like me, until moments ago.
’And now I...’
If an explorer dons the uniform of Sekwang Technical High School with the
permission of a student, they can take on the role of a student in this ghost
story.
I was now a student of Sekwang Technical High School.