2 days pass.
Teacher Jang Hwaeun [#2/100]
It happens. I guess there are days like this.
Kill 2 Player
"Wow, so close... I could've gotten first place, but it was a double angle..."
"You aren't studying, Club Prez?"
Gyeongwon stopped solving a problem and looked up at me.
It was not just Gyeongwon; the other members in the clubroom glanced at me as well.
It was Friday, three days before the final exams.
The atmosphere was like what are you doing when everyone is studying. I leaned back slightly to escape their gazes.
"Studying.."
I already did that three years ago.
But instead of saying that out loud, I awkwardly shoved my phone into my pocket.
'Huu, how much time is left.. Status window.'
Pop-
[2019, June 28th | Friday, 2:30 PMJ
[Lee Joon: Number of Attempts - 2]
[Ghost Story Points: 333]
[Causality Rate: 36%]
It was the last Friday of June, CA session.
Once this weekend passed, July would begin, and on Monday, Tuesday, and
Wednesday, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd day of the month were the final exam period.
So today, instead of club activities,
everyone was studying for the exams
together.
"Ah, there's still plenty of time left..Why are you studying so hard? You guys..."
I stretched leisurely and looked at the club members.
Sunah was in the middle of an inefficient study method, crookedly copying the notes she had made in her textbook back into her notebook.
Hayoon, wearing glasses for the first time in a while, was quickly scanning her already neatly organized notes with her eyes.
Gyeongwon and Dukhun were studying by frantically solving exam problems.
Even Teacher Jang Hwaeun had gone down to the teachers' office to revise the questions, so the only person who could keep me company was Jinhee, who never studied, but now she was asleep on the sofa.
"...Lee Jinhee. Are you asleep?"
"Yeah,"
"How can you answer when you're asleep?"
"I have that ability."
"Let's play with me."
"Don't wanna."
Jinhee turned over, showing her back.
I called out to her a few more times, but she didn't respond.
I opened my textbook for a moment, flipping through the pages, then stretched again.
"Ughhh..."
The club members immediately looked up and glared at me.
I quickly straightened my posture at their cold stares.
'It feels like the boarding house ghost story isn't over yet.'
Creak-
"Oi. The chair."
Dukhun raised his hand and pointed at me.
What creaking sound. It's quite annoying."
"...Sorry."
Then I started clicking my pen for a moment, but Gyeongwon pushed his glasses and squinted at me.
"Please, Prez."
"Sorry... no, but let me ask you just one thing. Why on earth are you guys studying?"
I couldn't hold back and asked them.
"Didn't I promise to give each of you 4 billion won after graduation? Do you really need to study this hard? These are useless pieces of knowledge once you go out into society..."
Once we graduate, a life where we would be too busy spending money to even think about it awaited us, so why on earth were these guys studying so hard for exams?
When I asked as if I couldn't understand, the members finally stopped studying and looked at me.
Gyeongwon, pushing his glasses, answered first.
"I want to go to college, Prez."
"College?"
"Yeah."
He nodded.
"I want to go to a good university and graduate with a good major to gain more knowledge. That's something money can't buy."
"...That's true."
"of course, if you tell me to stop studying for some group activities, I can quit anytime. But you don't have anything for me to do right now, do you?"
"..Noo....."
"Then I'd appreciate it if you keep a bit quiet. It's a little annoying."
"Okay..."
"Not much, just a little annoying. I'm trying to focus on studying, but your
behavior is a bit distracting. That's making my concentration waver a bit."
"I understand..."
This guy... he was super sensitive when it comes to studying.
I had no choice but to agree.
If he wanted to go to a good university, there was nothing I could do.
Of course, I could tell him the CSAT questions in advance, but after that, his college life is something he has to manage purely on his own.
If that's the case, studying now is the right thing to do.
'..I never really have any intention of going to college, though.
I've never been an adult myself, so I didn't really know, but still, if you have a lot of money, wouldn't there be so many things to enjoy in the world? And yet he wanted to save that and go to college.
Just ther Sunah glanced at me and spoke hesitantly.
"Joon... do you want me to hang out with you...?"
"No, no, it's fine. Study. You don't need to force yourself. "
This time, I looked at Sunah and asked.
"What about you, Sunah? Why are you
studying?"
"I...."
Sunah hesitated for a moment before
speaking.
".I want to go to college too, Joon..."
"You too?"
"Yeah.."
"Why?"
"That's..."
Sunah hesitated slightly.
As I leaned closer, urging her to answer, Sunah paused for a moment before opening her mouth.
"It feels a bit strange not going..."
"Oh come on. Do you really have to go to college? I don't exactly have any intention of going either."
"Still.."
Sunah wore a dejected expression.
"I want to go to college and make lots of friends... and learn all sorts of things..."
"...Hmm."
"I want to follow along and do what other people my age do, Joon... Money can come later..."
I made a 'tsk' face and leaned back.
Actually, she was right.
In Korea, there is a fixed rule about what you should be doing at a certain age, so the sense of social aliemation I would face once I broke free from that mold was too great to think about.
Even now, just because I wasn't studying while the others were, made me self-conscious and bored. When I become an adult, no matter how much money I have, Will there be anyone my age to hang out with me?
Kids that age all go to college, go to the
military, and hang out with friends, so would there really be anyone to hang out with me, who doesn't even go to school?
Even if I travel the world alone or go on a yacht trip, wouldn't I eventually have a 'wise man time'?
'Yeah, that's right... I need to go to college too...'
I straightened my posture.
'I should go to college and experience campus life at least once...rather than staying home and being a high school
graduate just because I have money.....'
Korean society is such that even if you were a billionaire, the first thing people do is frown upon you if you are a high school graduate.
It was a social reality that even top wealthy and powerful families would go to great lengths to send their kids to Seoul National University.
I sighed and picked up my pen.
"First, I'm going to Seoul National University. With a perfect score on the CSAT.'
No matter what mess happens, i'm going to a prestigious university.
Because people only look at the fact that you graduated from Seoul National University, not what GPA you graduated with.
" I'll just go to a less popular major at Seoul National University and somehow manage to graduate. This ability will disappear after I defeat the Demon King, and I won't be able to do anything about my university grades
anyway.
I accepted from the start that my grades would be a mess, so I would just relax and enjoy campus life.
And just like that, I'd graduate from a
prestigious university.
If I could just get that far, I wouldn't have to worry about what society thinks.
'No. If I'm going to accept my grades will be bad and just get the diploma anyway, wouldn't Yonsei or Korea University be much better? I heard campus life at Seoul National
University is really boring. But in Yonsei or Korea, there are lots of rich kids who know how to have fun...'
Scratch, scratch.
'And as for the military training, I could just do community service or something like that..."
As I was racking my brain and scribbling away like that, Gyeongwon snickered, thinking I was actually studying.
"If Prez studies hard too, how am I supposed to win?"
The guy grinned, pushing up his glasses.
I stopped writing and glared at him.
This b*stard, earlier he was giving me dirty looks for not studying, and now....
Gyeongwon suddenly put down his pen and smirked, curling the corners of his mouth.
"Prez, I've always thought of you as my rival and competed against you. But now that finals are here and I've thought about it carefully, I realize that's not the case. Looking at it now, you live on such a high level that you don't even stand on the same line as me and competing over grades
seems pointless. What's the point of
competing with someone who's trying to save the world? I feel like you're already in a position I can never reach."
"My ass is going to get sore, f*ck..."
Jinhee cursed while lying on her side.
"You're sucking up like crazy..."
"Hey, you're not sleeping. Get up, I'm bored."
I tossed a slipper at her, and Jinhee squirmed her butt.
"What the hell... what's there for us to do together..."
"Seriously, let's play PUBG together. I'll
install it on your phone."
"I don't play that kind of thing."
"I'm telling you, it's fun once you try it. Just-"
"Be quiet, damn it!"
Suddenly, Dukhun slammed the desk with a thud, spraying spit everywhere.
"If I tell you to be quiet, you should be quiet, why aren't you being quiet-"
"Aww~ sh*t!"
"Ah, geez... spit..."
Everyone grumbled and stood up from the table because of Dukhun, who started spitting in a fit of rage.
And amidst that commotion, the last CA session of June came to an end.
***
[2019, July 1st | Monday, 07:00 AM]
[Lee Joon: Number of Attempts - 2]
[Ghost Story Points: 333]
[Causality Rate: 36%]
"Huok-"
I didn't study a single thing over the weekend.
Ignoring my mom's urging to eat breakfast before leaving, I dashed out of the house in a hurry.
"I'm sorry, I'll buy something to eat on my way to school. I need to review at least one more thing before the exam starts."
"How can you still be cramming even in high school? I don't know how you managed to get 15th place in the midterms.."
"I'll be right back"
I hurriedly checked the group chat and saw that the club members had made plans to meet early to study.
[Ahn Gyeongwon: If anyone wants to study together in the morning. I'll be at school soon.]
[Oh Dukhun: 11111111111]
[In Hayoon: đź‘Ť]
[Yoon Sunah: Me 3]
[Lee Jinhee: F*ck]
I sent a text saying I was leaving and rushed to school.
Ignoring the crazy security guard at the entrance who was picking a fight over why I arrived early, I ran all the way to the main building. By then, it was already 7:10.
I huffed and puffed as I ran to the classroom.
'First period is Korean. It's not a subject that requires that much memorization."
Just skim through the textbook once, and memorize only the spelling words that the teacher said would be on the test, and that's it.
'I can do the same for second-period
English, but the problem is third-period Integrated Social Studies.....'
In the case of Social Studies, it's a completely memorization-based subject, so there was a lot to review urgently.
Just as I entered the classroom, Gyeongwon, Hayoon, and Dukhun were coming out carrying their study materials.
"Oh, Club Prez, you're early. You said you were just leaving."
"Did you fly here or something?"
"Hi, Joon."
"Hi. Are you guys going up to the clubroom?"
"Yeah, Prez. We're going to do a Q&A
session there together."
"Grab your books and come with us, Joon. Let's go together."
"Wait."
I hurriedly tossed my bag down On my seat, grabbed my books, and ran out.
Gyeongwon, ranked 4th in the school, and In Hayoon, who intentionally did a little poorly and was ranked 12th in the school.
With these two, it was clear that they would precisely pinpoint only the core points and give each other quiz questions.
Thinking that, as I left the classroom, I ran into the Class President who was just coming in, and we exchanged greetings.
"hi Joon."
"Hi, President."
"You're early."
"Yeah."
I just nodded awkwardly and joined the club members in the hallway.
Our class's handsome Class President,
Janghoon, the perfect guy and a model student.
I still felt awkward calling him by his name, but Janghoon naturally greeted me by my name.
"He lookS relaxed.'
He was a monster of a guy who not only ranked first in the whole school but also got a perfect score on the June mock exam.
Unlike us, who were rushing out of the
classroom, he leisurely unpacked his things while greeting his classmates. I glanced at him, then led the members to the clubroom on the 5th floor.
"Let's go."
"Okay."
From the first floor where our classroom was to the fifth floor where the clubroom was.
Perhaps because it was a time when we needed to study down to the second even while climbing the stairs, Gyeongwon and Hayoon kept quizzing each other.
"Hmm.. what are the characteristics of
a tropical climate...?"
"The annual temperature is high, and there's a lot of rainfall, so vegetation thrives. Now, tell me where highland cities are located."
"Highland city? Ah, a high-altitude region near the equator. Right?"
"Next."
"Huh?"
"You're right, so give me the next question."
"Ah, yeah... let's see..."
Both Gyeongwon and Hayoon got each other's questions right, but somehow Gyeongwon often seemed to be losing ground in terms of momentum.
'Or maybe he's floundering because he's talking to a girl.'
Meanwhile, Hayoon had her usual blank expression, just doing what needed to be done.
Anyway, Dukhun and I had no choice but to follow behind, climbing the stairs with stupid lookS On our faces.
I glanced back at Dukhun and asked,
"...Hey, what was the goal of the Paris
Climate Agreement?"
"Wheeze, wheeze....."
"Paris Climate Agreement? You don't know?"
"Don't talk to me when I'm climbing the
stairs, hoo..."
Dukhun wiped his sweat with a pained
expression as he climbed the stairs.
Wait, sweating this much just from climbing the stairs....
I grumbled to myself, and walked ahead of the others and opened the clubroom door first.
Ttiririk~
[Please grab the handle again.]
"What the."
"Come here and see, wheeze."
Dukhun grabbed the handle with his
Sweaty hand.
Ttiririk~
[Oh Dukhun has been authorized.]
"So it works better when your hands are sweaty?"
"Let's turn off this voice guidance feature soon, President. Once the Demon King gets wind of it, he'll start using it for ghost stories the first thing."
"I agree. Let's fix it later."
As we said that and opened the door to the clubroom.
We froze for a moment.
There was already someone inside who had come in before us.
Creak-
"...."
A gray Coat.Broad, muscular shoulders.
A middle-aged man exuding a dignified presence stood with his back turned, gazing down at the playground by the window.
'...That's my spot."
In the dimly lit clubroom, a middle-aged man stood motionless by the window.
I slowly turned my head to gauge the
reactions of Gyeongwon, Hayoon, and
Dukhun.
As if asking if he was the Detective, and asking what the matter was.
The club members, as if they too knew nothing, simply shook their heads with
uneasy expressions.
Sensing the ominous atmosphere, I tried turning the light on in the clubroom first.
Click- Click-
"..."
But the light didn't turn on.
"It's Joon"
The Detective slowly turned his head and looked at me.
Then he smoothly pulled a gun from his coat and aimed it at me.
"There's a case. Go back and come find
me. "
Bang-!
Thud-
In that instant, my head snapped back as the bullet hit my skull.
I felt my consciousness slipping away.
[You are dead.]
[previous checkpoint.]
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