After looking around the school with the club members, I opened the book, and sure enough.
Two more choices appeared there.
• Suspect In Hayoon as the Red Woman
• Stop by the restroom and search
further.
'So this is where we are now.'
If I chose the first option here, the one that says suspect In Hayoon as the Red Woman, then Hayoon would strangle her own neck, and the scene immediately cuts to the funeral.
And if I chose the second option, check the restroom, then a branching point would appear where I have to choose again which floor to go to, from the first to the fourth.
What should I choose now?
Which one was the correct choice?
I glanced at Hayoon, and Hayoon looked at me with a blank expression in return.
"...."
How many times club members have to die before everything falls into place before graduation?
'But this time, I won't let them die.'
I paused for a moment, then looked around at everyone and spoke.
"Before choosing the next option, let's go back to the clubroom. There's something else we need to do."
***
"..We're back again."
"I know."
The members muttered to themselves as they re-entered the clubroom.
After confirming that everyone was seated, I stood and announced to them.
"It's time to end everything."
"...Hoho"
Dukhun made an intrigued expression.
"You b*stard. Did you come up with something else again?"
"A long time ago. But I was waiting for the book's instruction to catch up."
I looked around at them with a serious
expression and explained.
"First, let me warn you; no matter what happens from now on, you must never get excited. To be more precise, you must not let your faces turn red. Especially the female club members."
I pointed at Sunah, Jinhee, and the Teacher and warned them.
"Absolutely do not get excited no matter what. The Red Woman possesses people whose face turns red."
"..I understand."
Starting with the Teacher, everyone nodded.
"Then I'll explain. The method we are going to use..."
After my brief explanation time passed.
The female members' faces turned pale.
"You roughly understood, right? Then, Lee Jinhee, Yoon Sunah."
Without waiting for an answer, I pointed at Jinhee and Sunah.
"Now, strangle In Hayoon."
".....!"
"Hurry!"
The two looked hesitant.
And Hayoon just sat there, without any reaction.
Without waiting any longer, I turned the page.
Flip-
[Continuation from page 64
[Option: Suspect In Hayoon as the Red
Woman]
"Hurry! Do it now!"
"With both hands! Hurry up!"
Sunah hesitated at first, then stood up and approached Hayoon.
Hayoon looked down at the approaching Sunah with a gaze that seemed to say, 'How dare you?".
"Go! Strangle her!"
"....."
"Now!"
Jinhee remained frozen, and Sunah's face shifted from one of hesitation to firm determination.
Suddenly, she let out a cry of 'Eek!' and sprang up, straddled Hayoon and reached out with both hands.
"...!"
"Eee, eeeeee...!"
Hayoon looked slightly surprised.
But even as Sunah strangled with all her strength, Hayoon only frowned slightly and didn't seem to be in much pain, so I urged her more loudly.
"Sunah! Choke harder! Harder!"
"Eeeeeeeeeee..."
"Ugh..."
At the unexpected grip that suddenly appeared, Hayoon's eyebrows began to tremble, and slowly, as she grew out of breath, she grabbed Sunah's hands and tried to break free.
"...Ugh, ugh...."
But the more she struggled, the more Sunah revealed her true nature of dark madness.
"Eeeee... Eeeeeee....."
"..Ugh, ugh..."
"You, you wicked b*tch.... Just
dieeeee....."
As Sunah gradually transformed into the form of a demon, she strangled Hayoon's frail neck harder.
Just as Hayoon, who had always been
calm, finally began to frown and struggle, I opened the book.
Riiip-
"Alright, guys! Go stop her now!"
"Y-yes!"
"Pull them apart! Pull them apart!"
[Hayoon trembled uncontrollably before finally collapsing..
As the veins on her pale face became more prominent, her complexion gradually turned red.
"L-Let it go! Let go!"
"Ugh, ugh... ugh.. ugh..."
At the sudden conmotion, other students engaged in club activities peeked out from the hallway one by one.
Even as the club members struggled to pry her hands off, Hayoon ignored them and thrashed about wildly. then suddenly mustering her remaining strength, she shoved the members aside and rushed straight at me.]
[She pounced on me and with a soft thud, slumped down on top of me.
Hayoon lowered her head, looked into my eyes, and whispered quietly.
[Special ability Lip Reading has activated.]
["Sunah's hands are surprisingly strong. It hurt a lot. "]
".....!?"
["The Red Woman is inside me now. You'd better resolve this quickly, Joon."]
After saying those words, Hayoon became completely possessed, her eyes rolling back, and she trembled uncontrollably.
Originally, Hayoon should have strangled herself, just like the description in the book, 'Strangling her neck with two hands.'
Now, thanks to me having set up the situation in advance, those two hands had come to mean Sunah's hands instead.
The description of Hayoon pushing the club members and rushing at me was also originally supposed to be a scene where she was strangling herself while running towards me.
Now, since Sunah was the one strangling her neck, Sunah was naturally included among the members that Hayoon had pushed away, and thus she was able to survive.
As a result, the incident of Hayoon strangling herself to death no longer occurred, and what actually happened was a certain moment when Sunah was strangling her and the other members were trying to stop her. It ended up becoming a situation
where Hayoon, pushing everyone away
by herself, rushed toward me.
And the reason all of this could unfold so naturally was thanks to the hint Hayoon, who had become the Red Woman in the previous timeline, gave hints in advance.
"Grab In Hayoon! Make sure she doesn't cause a ruckus!"
"Uh, yes!"
Jinhee, who had been frozen and unable to follow my instructions, finally came to her senses and rushed to Hayoon who was convulsing.
The current Hayoon did not become the Red Woman by dying; rather, while alive, she allowed the woman to possess her from within.
Just as the trembling Hayoon swiftly and flexibly spun her body around and raised her fingernails, Jinhee hastily applied a wrestling technique at the moment to subdue Hayoon's limbs.
Crunch-
"Huu, gasp."
"Joon, give me the book."
I quickly hid the book and shouted as I left the clubroom.
"Everyone, hold onto Hayoon tightly! She's trapping the ghost inside herself!"
"Ah, got it!"
"I have something to take care of and be right back! It'll take just a moment!"
"Uh, okay!"
"And be careful not to let your face turn red!"
"Hey, just get the hell out of here and come back quickly!"
Except for Sunah, who was sitting there in a daze after being pushed away by Hayoon while trying to strangle her, everyone rushed to help Jinhee.
One might expect Jinhee's face to turn red from using force on Hayoon, who was thrashing wildly, but even after subduing Hayoon's limbs, Jinhee just let out a long breath and composed herself.
"Huuu... huu."
"Where's the book?"
"Huu... hu."
After taking one last look at Hayoon wiggling her body, I quickly slipped out of the clubroom.
Although I didn't know how long the members could hold out, I would need to resolve this as quickly as possible.
[Continuation from page 64
[Option: Stop by the restroom and
search further]
'From here on, it's all about searching the restroom.'
I hurried down to the first floor, organizing everything that had happened so far in my head.
First off, the Red Woman was a ghost story separated from the book; it was a formless spirit that possessed only women whose faces have turned red.
Judging from what I've experienced so far, she had always appeared possessing a woman, like the Teacher, my mom, or Hayoon, but I had never seen her true form.
Even during the one time I thought i had actually witnessed her in the second-floor restroom, I was with a female teacher, Ryu linah.
And finally, when Dukhun was fiddling with the computer in the clubroom and I was messing with him, all the female members were possessed and strangled us, while the male member, Gyeongwon, stayed completely sane and remained outside the whole time.
"Just like the name suggests, a ghost that possesses only women whose faces turn red! The Red Woman!"'
The method of exorcism was clear.
Just as she had been demanding me to
hand over the book until now, if I just give it to her the way she really wants,that'll be the end of it.
'Of course, not just the book as it is, but the one that has been cleared.'
That was likely expected to be the condition for her to find peace.
Given her obsession with this book and the book's purpose, I believe the Red Woman was a victim from my previous generation.
After accidentally discovering this book in the library, she fell into the trap of a book with no correct answers. and even after dying, she had been unable to clear it, wandering the world of the living.
If I clear it for her and then hand it over, that should solve it.
If I cleared the book, then naturally the
woman who had been chasing after it would also be free.
That is why I was rushing to the restroom to clear the book first.
'As much as I'd like to skip ahead quickly for the sake of Hayoon's suffering, the clear condition clearly states that I have to go through all the branching choices.'
It seemed that only by surviving through all those situations would it finally be recognized as clear.
I skipped two or three steps at a time
to reach the first floor, and just as I expected, the Principal, who was passing by, stopped me.
"Hey, student!"
"....."
"Come here for a moment. Don't pretend to be in a hurry."
'Shut up!"
I muttered a curse inwardly and tore out a page of the book with a ripping sound.
Riip-
Suddenly, he just let me go.
"Alright, go ahead. Good luck!"
"Yes, thank you.....".
I greeted the Principal, who was laughing heartily in a good mood, and hurriedly headed toward the restroom at the end of the hallway.
"Hahaha... Wait, why am I laughing? Student! Come back here! Hey!"
I ignored him as if I couldn't hear him
because he was far away, and ran toward the restroom door.
"The boy's restroom on the first floor is
broken anyway!"
As I ran straight ahead, I tore out the page of the book.
Riiip-
[Having checked the first floor, I turned
around and went up the stairs, thinking that I should now take a look around the second floor.
• Check the restroom on the 2nd floor
near the teachers' office. Page 105]
In the corner of my vision, I saw Mr. Kim, our school handyman, came to put up the 'No Entry' sign.
Without slowing down, I just turned around with the same speed and climbed the stairs as if I were flying.
['Second floor. This is where the
second-year classrooms and the main teachers' office are.'
Our school had a simple structure where the first floor was for first-year students, the second floor for second-year students, and the third floor for third-year students.
Of course, it was not just classrooms, there were various other rooms for different purposes as well. In particular, the second floor was where the main teachers' office was located, the place where all the teachers in the school work.]
"I know, f*ck!'
I hurriedly tore up the pages of the book to skip over the monologues that popped up in my head.
Then, from the teachers' office right in front of me, counselor Ryu Jinah and Vice Principal Jang Yeok quickly flung the door open and rushed past me, poured out their conversation as if on fast-forward, and then parted ways immediately.
Soon, Counselor Ryu Jinah walked toward me, clicking her heels.
After this, only by going into the restroom with her would another branching point appear, asking whether to look up at the ghost or not.
To do that, I briefly caught my breath for a moment while waiting for the Teacher, and prepared to tear the book to skip any meaningless conversation.
["Hi?"
I flinched as I suddenly heard that
problematic voice from beside me.
A gentle voice of an older person that
completely disarms someone younger than themselves.
Still holding the doorknob, I slowly
turned my head to the side.
"Why are you standing outside instead
of going in?"
There stood Counselor Ryu Jinah,
smiling, who had fnished her
conversation with the Vice Principal
and walked over alone.
She must have followed me on purpose.
Since she was a teacher, I opened my
mouth-]
Riiip-
[She pursed my pretty lips painted with lipstick.]
Smooch-
When I came to my senses, I was leaning my head forward and pressing my lips against the teacher's pretty, lipstick-painted lips, making a chuup Sound.
".....!?"
A kiss.
Smooch.
The mysterious sensation of an adult's lips, glistening with bright red lipstick.
A deep body scent suddenly wafted up, along with a dizzying, flushed feeling.
In that instant, I felt as if I had returned to a pubescent kid who has a crush on adults, and an indescribable dizzying feeling, like the tingling sensation of electricity, shot down all the way down to my toes.
"...."
"....."
Crazy.
I tore it wrong.
I quickly came to my senses and stepped back.
Counselor Ryu Jinah looked at me, her lips trembling slightly.
I couldn't really tell from her expression, whether she was angry or just expressionless.
The usually kind gaze of her monolid
eyes felt eerily chilling today.
She stared at me blankly for a moment, then suddenly raised her finger and pointed at my lips.
"Wipe your lips."
A tone devoid of emotion.
Frozen in place, I raised my hand to wipe the lipstick off my lips.
A brief moment passed again.
Counselor Ryu Jinah, who had been
maintaining an expression that made it impossible to tell what she was thinking, broke the silence and spoke.
"You definitely need counseling.Come visit next week. The counseling room next to the infirmary on the first floor. I am the counselor."
"Yes.....".
"Then goodbye."
Counselor Ryu Jinah said this without any intonation, then turned around and walked away.
I urgently called out to her.
"W-wait a moment....!"
She coldly turned her head to look at me.
"....."
Her expression seemed to ask what I was plotting this time.
"...Please come into the restroom with me."