"Why in the restroom?"
"Well... because I need you to."
"For what?"
There was no time.
Even at the very moment, the club
members in the clubroom were likely
struggling to restrain the rampaging
Hayoon.
And in order to execute the branching
point that appeared after this, this
person absolutely must enter the
restroom with me.
Just then, I peeked through the book
and saw two options floating there.
• Confess to the counselor that someone actually called to bully you in the restroom. → Page 115
• Enter the bathroom alone.→Page 144
I chose the first option on my own
terms, regardless of the teacher's
wishes.
Fp-
[Continuation from page 114
[Option: Confess to the counselor that
someone actually called to bully you in the restroom]
"Um... wait a moment!"
When I urgently called out to Counselor Ryu Jinah, who was turning to leave, she stopped walking and looked at me.
"Actually, you're right... Someone who
bullies me called me in here... So I came out alone during CA time..."
The counselor quietly looked into my
face and asked.]
"So what?"
"..."
"Do you have a mental illness? Why are you telling me that?"
She narrowed her eves and looked at
me with contempt.
'Is that something a counselor should
say?'
Of course, I was an idiot for kissing
her out of the blue, but since she was
a psychopath who had kidnapped
countless young students to the Void
cult's alternative facility, I didn't feel
particularly sorry.
'You want to know for what?'
To go in together and see a ghost.
I tore the paper.
Riiip-
I"..."
Soon, Counselor Ryu Jinah, who had
been quietly looking at me, moved her
steps and came back this way.
"Then let's go in together. With me."
"..Yes."
Creak-
I opened the restroom door, and the
Counselor slowly followed me in.
She paused for a moment as she
entered, as if trying to figure out why
she had come in.
Without giving her a chance to turn
around, I quickly approached the
fourth stall and flung the door open.
Creak-
For a moment, I flinched at the
sensation that there was a ghost above me, but when I looked again, it was just an illusion caused by my nervousness.
Since the ghost was currently
possessing Hayoon, there was nothing
here.
Nevertheless, to fulfill the branching
point of the choices, I shouted loudly to Counselor Ryu Jinah, who was standing behind me.
"Teacher! The kid who bullies me is
hiding in the ceiling of this bathroom!"
"Are you crazy?"
"It's true."
Riiip-
[Soon, the counselor spoke to me in a
quiet voice.
"..You said your name was Joon."
"Yes, Teacher."
"Joon. Don't look up; just turn around
and come out. Quickly."
As she said that, she herself also
seemed to slowly step backward,
and I heard the clicking sound of her
high-heeled slippers.
"...Step back. Hurry."
"...."
"Let's go outside, Joon. Come with me,
quickly..."]
Whoosh-
• Ignore the teacher's warning and lift
your head to check the person above
you. →Next Page
• Run avway following your teacher.
Page 134
I've finally made it this far.
In the current branching point, from
the two options; whether to look up at
the ghost or run away with Counselor
Ryu Jinah, I had to choose the first
option.
Once I completed this branching point, it was Over.
'...But since I've come this far. I should
at least watch the teacher tap dance
before I leave.'
Although the club members were
working hard waiting for me in the
clubroom, the tap dance was also
important.
I skipped a page and opened to the
middle page.
[Click, click, click- bang!
When I tried to lift my head instead
of running away, Counselor Ryujinah
hurriedly left the bathroom alone and
then closed the door, and then outside she paced frantically in place, making clicking footsteps sounds, deliberately
trying to scare me.
• Ignore the counselor's warning and
lift your head to check the person above you. → Next Page
• Run away following the counselor.
→Page 134]
From here on, the branching points
repeated a few times, so I only needed
to choose this one.
Whoosh-
[Option: Run away]
Thud thud thud thud- Bang!]
Click, click, click, click-
When I opened the bathroom door and came out, Counselor Ryu Jinah was outside enthusiastically tap dancing, deliberately making clicking sounds with her heels to scare me.
Click, click, click, click-
"Haa, haa, haa."
The psychopathic counseling teacher
was tap dancing so enthusiastically
that her face turned red.
However, perhaps because the Red
Woman had already possessed Hayoon, the counselor's face only turned red; and she wasn't actually possessed.
I quietly watched the counselor's
dancing time and then asked.
"What are you doing?"
"Haa, haa, haa.."
"Excuse me."
Click- click- click- click-
A modest white blouse, a stylish office
skirt. A graceful beauty with monolids.
Stockings and high-heeled slippers.
The faint smile that the psycho
counselor always used to wear
was nowhere to be seen. With her
face flushed red, she was shaking
his whole body with all her might,
enthusiastically tap dancing.
Click- click- click- click-
"Haa, haa, haa."
Click-click-click-
The book said she did this on purpose
to scare me.
As befitting of her sadist nature, she
was into this kind of thing.
"Haa, haa...."
"Haa, huff huff..."
Then, after dancing like that for a
while.
The counselor suddenly came to an
abrupt halt and slowly looked at me.
She was even sweating a little, and
strands of hair were sticking to her
flushed cheeks.
The young counseling teacher, looking
at me with that slightly disheveled
appearance, breathed heavily.
"Haa, haa-"
"Haa, huuuuu.."
I spoke to the counselor with a mocking look in my eyes.
"Did you finish dancing?"
"I enjoyed it. Thank you."
"....!?"
In an instant, the counselor's monolid
eyes widened in disbelief.
"You...."
She trenmbled, her elegant eyes
gradually contorting from surprise into
rage.
"You, you b*stard..."
The counselor suddenly raised her
right hand and swung it with all her
might to slap my cheek.
Slap-!!
"..You, you b*stard! What did you do to
me!! You f*cking brat!!!"
The counselor trembled with rage,
veins bulging in her slender neck.
Since we were in the hallway,
specifically on the second floor where
the teachers' office was located, soon
a few teachers peeked their heads out
and looked in our direction.
Only then did Counselor Ryu Jinah
let out a gasp, quickly glanced at
the hallway and at me, then pointed
her finger between my eyebrows
and spoke in a trembling voice, as if
suppressing her emotions.
"You. Come visit next week. To my
counseling room."
"..."
"I don't know what I'll do to you if you
don't come."
With those words, the counselor
quickly turned around and hurriedly
went down the stairs to the first floor.
And I, too, dodging the gaze of the
teachers peeking out from the teachers'
office, ran straight up the stairs to the third floor.
With this, I had completed all
branching points.
Although there were still some options
remaining, such as searching the
restroom on the third floor or the
restroom on the fourth floor.
Only a linear future awaited, where on
the 3rd floor, without any branching
points, I would trip over a Bacchus
bottle and die, and on the fourth floor,
I returned to the clubroom with no
results only to be killed by the female
club members.
'Let's go back. Let's go to the clubroom.'
I ran up the stairs two or three steps at
a time and arrived on the third floor,
where I happened to run into Lee
Hyejin, a precocious transfer student
who was about to enter the boy's
restroom.
"The girl's restroom is over there. Good
luck."
"...Huh? Oh, right, thanks.."
She blankly stared at me as I dashed up
the stairs as if flying and passed right
by her.
As soon as I arrived on the fourth floor,
I ran into the science teacher Han Ari,
who was struggling to find her book.
"Teacher, the book is by the window
near the central staircase. You left it
there while you were on the phone
earlier."
"Huh? What?"
"The book. Your book. Good luck."
I flew up the stairs and arrived at the
fifth floor.
I heard Teacher Han Ari belatedly
shouting her thanks from downstairs,
and sprinted to the clubroom at full
speed.
"Give me the book! The book!!"
"Grab her! Grab her!"
"Pin her down with your body! Hurry!"
As I got closer, it seemed chaos had
already broken out, as I could hear
the shouts of the club members yelling
from inside the clubroom.
A few older girls from the Dance Club
right next to ours, wearing crop tops
that showed their midriffs, had come
out and were lingering around.
I quickly unlocked the clubroom door
and dismissed the Dance Club seniors.
"It's nothing serious. They are just
doing a roleplay right now. You can go
back."
"Ah, oh..."
Beep-
[Lee Joon has been authorized.]
When I opened the door and went in,
sure enough, Hayoon, her face flushed
red and her fingernails bared, was
engaged in a physical fight with the
other club members.
"Ack, she scratched my thigh!"
"Get it together! Grab her hands!"
Fortunately. Jinhee had already
subdued her with the wrestling
technique, but Hayoon was thrashing
her partially freed limbs wildly and
scratching the members.
I quickly sat down beside them and
tried to hand over the book, only then
realizing that the ghost story hadn't
been cleared yet
'....The system message didn't show up!"
What the?
Were there still branching points left..?
"President! You're here! Hurry, hand it
Over!"
"...Sorry. Just a moment!"
After thinking for a moment, I soon
realized which branching point I had
missed was.
'..The last page!"
The scene where, after completing all
the choices, I had lamented to myself
that no matter what choice I picked, I
would die.
No way, could it be that even that scene was part of the book?
"...Let's just tear it up!"'
I grabbed the thick stack of over 30
pages and tore it all apart.
Rip-!! Riiip-!!
[• Kill Teacher Jang Hwaeun. → Page
39
• Search for the Red Woman. → Page 55
"This is the first branching point.
And.....'
Just in case I had misunderstood
something, I went back and tried
choosing every option, and also
followed the same choice all the way
through again.
And only then did I realize.
"...Damn it.'
No matter what i chose, I would die.]
The paper that I tore apart with
difficulty. And the two choices floating
on page 179.
• Kill teacher Jang Hwaeun.
• Find the Red Woman.
After choosing the first option earlier,
I killed Teacher Jang Hwaeun in the
game.
This time, I chose the second option
and went back to the page again.
"Page 55... Page 55.."
And as I flipped through the pages, I
suddenly realized something.
The page 55 I needed to go back to
was one of the pages I had torn out in
chunks at the very beginning.
"...fuck...fuck..fuck....."
I hurriedly flipped through the book
back and forth, then came to my senses at the eerie shriek of Hayoon, who was causing a commotion again.
"Give me back my bɔ¬ NTIO! Give me
back my bɔh NT10!!"
"...Hey! Someone give me some glue! Or just tape!"
"T-tape..?"
"Quickly!!"
The members turned their heads
with tense expressions and reached
out their hands to each other, as if
demanding someone hand it over.
Of course, there wasn't anyone who
had it.
'Damn it. There's never anyone who
has this kind of thing when you really
need it.'
Actually, high school students don't
really have any use for glue and tape.
I quickly opened the store window and
searched for a roll of scotchtape.
"Gyeongwon! Go out into the hallway
and get it!"
"Uh, yeah!"
[3M Multi-Purpose Scotchtape 550
(12mmx 30m) 12 Rolls] -1 Point
[Purchase has been completed.]
[Current Ghost Story Points: 142-1 -
141]
Fortunately, the people in the hallway
were gone, perhaps having believed
what I said earlier.
Soon, Gyeongwon, following my order,
hurriedly came in carrying a bundle of
tape.
I roughly tore off the tape wrapper,
found the torn page 55 in my pocket,
pulled it out, and pasted it right into the middle of the book.
Ssss-
And as if to make it clear that I had
made this choice, I held it open in front
of Hayoon, whose face had turned red.
[Option: Find the Red Woman]
I recalled the warning on the first page
of the book.
• The Red Woman, the original owner of the book, is chasing you.
Of course, she wouldn't be chasing me
with good intentions.
If I were caught, I would undoubtedly
die.
'But it's telling me to go find her first?']
"I found her! Right in front of me!"
"Give it back-"
"Take it!"
I threw the book at the raging Hayoon.
The book hit the chest of her school
uniform with a thud and fell.
"Lee Jinhee! Let her go!"
"....!"
Jinhee released the arm lock she had on Hayoon.
Immediately, Hayoon sprang up on all
fours like a wild animal and pounced
on the book.
"O5INT105DINT105DIN71D---!!!!!"
I took out all the pages I had been
cramming into my pocket and
scattered them all over the head of
Hayoon, who was crawling on all fours
"Take them! Take them all!"
Swoosh- Swoosh-
"Take them and never show up in front
of me again, you f***ing b*stard!!"
Swoosh- Swoosh-!!
Piles of paper scatter wildly throughout the clubroom.
Then, suddenly, even though it was a
closed room with no breeze, the papers in the air swirled around Hayoon.
Whoosh- Whooooosh-
"ODNT1DDEINT1DDEINT10---!!!!!"
Just as Hayoon's phlegm-filled death
cry passed by and the paper swirled
like a whirlwind.
In an instant, a red flash burst forth
from the book.
Flash-!!
[You've come across and survived
the C-rank ghost story-The Red
Book.]
[You've earned 10 Ghost Story
Points.I
[You have cleared the game by
completing all branching choices in
the book and surviving!]
[You've earned 50 Ghost Story
Points.]
Pop-
[You've come across and survived
the C-rank ghost story-The Red
Woman.]
[You've earned 10 Ghost Story
Points.]
[You've displayed amazing wit to
clear the book instead of the Red
Woman and returned it!]
[You've earned 50 Ghost Story
Points.]
[You'll receive an additional 10%
bonus points for each contributing
member.]
[Contributing Members (6
members): Ahn Gyeongwon, Oh
Dukhun, Yoon Sunah, Lee Jinhee, In
Hayoon, Jang Hwaeun]
[Youve earned an addtionaI 60%
bonus points on the total earned
points, 120 points.]
[Current Ghost Story Points: 141 +
120 + 72]
Ping~ >
[Current Ghost Story Points: 333]
In an instant, the papers that had
been swirling around Hayoon lost
their power and fluttered down to the
ground.
Hayoon, as if exhausted as well,
collapsed onto the floor with a thud,
her long black hair spreading out.
"In Hayoon!"
"H-Hayoon..."
I quickly approached Hayoon, brushed her hair back, and looked at her face.
Hayoon had returned to her usual pale complexion.
"...Huu."
"Haa...."
The club members let out a sigh of
relief.
The long eyelashes on Hayoon's face,
held in my hands, trembled slightly,
and she slowly began to open her eyes.
"...Are you okay? Are you coming to
your senses?"
Hayoon stared blankly for a moment,
then just nodded once, closed her eyes again, and murmured.
"....Help me on the sofa. I feel dizzy...."
"Okay. Got it."
Together with Jinhee, I lifted Hayoon
and laid her down on the sofa.
"Thank you, Hayoon. You did a good
job."
Hayoon just nodded her head slightly
while lying there like a sick little girl.