Chapter 4: 4

 I chatted with Gyeongwon and Sunah in the classroom as the entrance ceremony was in progress. Of course, the delinquent girl was napping the whole time in the back.

  We were easily able to get close because of the idea that the three of us were skipping class without permission. Comradery, you know? We talked about topics like which apartment we lived in, how long it takes to get to school, which middle school we went to, how much we study etc. 

  While we were discussing things that normal students would talk about, I heard the other students arrive after the end of the ceremony. We naturally split up and acted like we just sat down.

  During the wait, I was able to get my thoughts together. Many things had happened, but I could largely divide them into three categories.

Urban legends, a game-like system, and that I go back in time when I die.

  First of all, urban legends. It was most likely that what just happened was an urban legend or myth that became real. Things went the way an urban legend horror story would go, and I was able to survive by acting like a character within the story. Of course, since urban legends were mythlike, there are different versions of the same legend as well as small changes in detail. 

But all I had to know for now was that urban legends became reality.

  Second, the game system. There’s a game-like system window that can only be seen by me, and this system gives me various information that can help me understand the world I found myself in. In the beginning the message window actually gave me information that the ···thing that was called the demon king would be resurrected in 3 years, and had already warned me about urban legends as well.

  Till now I didn’t really read everything properly because I couldn’t understand much, but I should be more thorough from now on. Especially for jargon like Ghost Points, level of understanding, and status window.

  Ghost Points. Would they be something like exp? Or since they were points, maybe they were something like in game currency.

  Level of understanding. It seemed to be a number that went up when I found out some part of a person’s personality or something about them. When Sunah told me that she was a bit slow, the number went up for her. Same for when I assumed Gyeongwon was the type of guy who enjoyed showing off what he knew.

Now time to look at the status window. 

The system told me it was unlocked, so how could I use it? Hmm·····.

I called out the status window in my mind.

‘Status window!’

snap-

 

 

<Status Window>

Name : Lee Jun

Age : 17

Title : Main Character

Disposition : [Double-Sidedness]  NEW!!  >Click to open

Special Ability : None

Quirk : Last minute cramming

 

 

I was quite impressed. It felt like a character stat sheet in a game. 

  I get name and age, and my disposition is double-sidedness··· So that means my personality is ambivalent or something? I clicked on the button that said ‘NEW!!’, and a pretty long message popped up. 

‘It’s too long··· I’ll read this slowly at home.’

  I had no idea what the special ability and quirk categories could be. Would they be something like special moves?

Anyway after a quick look it seemed to be like a character info sheet.

‘Can I use it on other people as well?’

  I turn my head and see Sunah, who was leaning on the wall while sitting down. She was absentmindedly twirling her hair while staring blankly.

 

‘Status Window for Yoon Sunah!’

snap-

 

 

<Status Window>

Name : Yoon Sunah

Age : 16

Title : Dirt poor

Disposition : [???]  NEW!!  >Click to open

Special Ability : ???

Quirk : ???

Level of understanding : 5/100

[You lack understanding about this person. Interact with them more to gain information.]

 

 

  There was a message telling me that I lacked understanding, probably because I only met Sunah today. Everything was covered in a veil of ???s, unlike me. I clicked on the ‘NEW!!’ button next to the disposition again.

Click.

 

Disposition : ???

– She’s slow to act.

 

 

Maybe more info will be added in this part once I get to know more about the person.

This time I tried Gyeongwon.

 

‘Status window for Gyeongwon!’

snap-

 

 

<Status Window>

Name : Ahn Gyeongwon

Age : 17

Title : Wiki editing pro

Disposition : [Mr. Know it all]  NEW!!  >Click to open

Special Ability : ???

Quirk : ???

Level of understanding : 20/100

[You lack understanding about this person. Interact with them more to gain information.]

 

 

  I had much higher of an understanding of Gyeongwon compared to Sunah. For that reason, his disposition seemed to be properly written down as ‘Mr. Know it all’.

Click.

Disposition: Mr. Know it all.

– Believes himself to be intelligent, and likes situations where he boasts what he knows. His manner of speech is also quite stiff, like that of an intellectual.

 

 

‘So just like I assumed.’

What it wrote down was the same as I my thoughts when I assessed Gyeongwon.

Maybe it was because his personality was rather simple to see through? My understanding of Gyeongwon was pretty high already.

 

  I wanted to try it on the girl at the back too. I remember the quest wanted me to make three friends. For some reason the system acknowledged even the delinquent girl as my friend.

 

‘Goodness. Why would I be friends with her when we haven’t even talked?’

I was dumbfounded, but I first decided to call open the status window again.

“·····.”

  Now that I think about it, I don’t know her name. But I still wanted to see her stats, so I shouted out in my head anyway.

 

You are reading story Ghost Story Club at novel35.com

‘Status window for delinquent girl!’

snap-

 

 

<Status Window>

Name : Lee Jinheui

Age : 17

Title : Back row delinquent girl

Disposition : ???

Special Ability : ???

Quirk : ???

Level of understanding : 0/100

[You lack understanding about this person. Interact with them more to gain information.]

 

 

‘As I had thought·····.’

It was to be expected, as I didn’t know anything about her.

‘Anyway, so her name was Lee Junheui huh.’

  What did it mean when the status window recognized her, but I didn’t? Does that mean the window transcends my cognition and works separately from what I know?

 

Then there was one thing that concerned me.

It was Sunah’s age, which was written down as 16.

‘All of us are supposed to be 17, since we’re born in 2003·····.’

  It’s been a while since the policy of entering school a year early because of early birthdays was banned. What was the reason she entered early then?

  If I check to see if this is true later, I’d be able to see if my hypothesis was correct.

  I’d thought about the game system, and now it was finally time to think about my repeating life. The first term that came to mind was a time loop. I’ve seen it a few times in science fiction novels.

  Concepts like regression, past lives, or time loops. It seemed that every time I die, I got sent back to the entrance ceremony.

‘What a headache······.”

Every time I get sent back to the ceremony··· now what does this mean.

  I didn’t really have an answer for now. I’d probably have to die a few times more to get a grasp on things.

‘Why did something like this happen to me huh···.’

  While I was overthinking things, a middle aged man with a noticeable beer belly entered the class and introduced himself as our homeroom teacher.

‘3 years. So my 3 years of high school is repeating huh.’

  I studied my ass off for 3 years to take the entrance exam, and now my 3 years of high school had restarted.

‘Fuuuck·····.’

  I didn’t have a chance to think about it this way because of all the weird things going on, but this was a major problem. People grow all cynical with just one year of preparing and retaking the entrance exam, and I have to redo my three years··· sigh·····.

 

“Well, I’ll be passing on the entrance notice papers. The first people in each row can pass them on~.”

The first row students gathered to the teacher’s desk.

“In the back sheet there are school rules like how you shouldn’t do any drugs, smoking or drinking, as well as details on appropriate clothing and hair length. Make sure you read them to not receive any penalties alright?”

  I dully received a page from the guy in front of me, and passed the rest of the papers on. I didn’t even read it properly, because it probably contained really obvious info like the history of the school and basic school rules. My mind was already full from trying to process all the bizarre happenings logically. No text, informatory anything for today please.

‘Cause I’m pretty weak minded.’

  I had no choice but to realize the fact when I was preparing for the entrance exams my previous life. I’m pretty sharp, but I have a severe lack of mental stamina so I’m not able to really focus on one thing for a long time. All my genes were concentrated on moment to moment improvisation and little tricks that got me through.

  When I took tests, cramming was all I’d ever known. Thanks to that trait, I’ve always done well on school grades, which tested short term memorization. But marathons like the entrance exams didn’t go as planned, so I was just able to go to an ok college.

  In the end I was a natural at using my brain to handle urgent problems, but I was terrible at practicing something continually to achieve success.

‘I just wanna go home and take a rest······.’

My brain was already saturated.

‘Huh··· now that I think about it, if I went back three years that means I’m going to be back in my old house again, before I moved. That’s pretty nostalgic··· heh.’

 

murmur- murmur-

  I suddenly hear the other students whispering amongst themselves. They were staring at each other in a nervous manner.

‘···What’s going on?’

  Just at that moment, I heard a school announcement.

[Mic test. Sorry to interrupt everyone. Your school rules paper that was just distributed seems to have an error, so we’ll be taking them away as quickly as possible. Once again, the school rules paper that you received are going to be retrieved. Each class’s teachers, make sure to retrieve all papers please. That will be all.]

  The murmuring continued.  Soon the classroom teacher ran back into the classroom, having received a message from the teacher’s office.

“Apparently they printed something wrong. This time everyone in the back row can collect all the papers while walking to the front alright?”

  I took mine out to see what the wrong printed part was, but the student who was collecting the papers took it from my hand. He probably mistook it as me giving it to him.

‘The broadcasting room seemed to be panicking a little, so what was written on the paper?’

  It was a bummer I couldn’t see it, but I could just ask Gyeongwon and Sunah for details.

  And just a moment later.

“Sorry. I just thought there wouldn’t be anything interesting in it so I didn’t read it.”

  Gyeongwon said matter of factly.

“······.”

  Then Sunah fidgets and says to me.

“I read it. Though they collected it so fast that I don’t remember it that well·····.”

Ooh!

“Do you remember what it said?”

As I asked, Sunah frowned a little as if she was slowly recalling what she read.

“I mean, the printing itself didn’t have any problems··· but there was a weird part in the text itself·····.”

“Something weird, you say?”

“It’s·····.”

  Sunah opened and closed her mouth a few times, as if she didn’t really know how to explain what she saw.

“Everything else was fine, but in between the rules··· there was a rule that said to avoid some woman·····.”

“A woman?”

Both Gyeongwon and I replied.

A woman? Why was something like that part of the school rules?

“Be careful of a woman huh······.”

“What kind of woman was it?”

“Umm, it was a smiling woman? I think······.”

“So it said to be careful of a smiling woman?”

Sunah quietly thought for a bit again, then frowned.

“Sorry, it also mentioned what you should do when you see her··· but I don’t remember that part·····.”

Be careful of a smiling woman when you’re in school. That was in the school rules···.

“Who do you think was the prankster?”

When I asked Gyeongwon, he seemed to be in deep thought. 

“Well, it could be a prank, sure. But I think they used one of those manual urban legends that are popular these days.”

“Manual, urban legend······?”

Urban legend! That word popped up again!

“It’s a type of urban legend that became popular in the internet recently. Basically the premise is that there are these strange warnings within seemingly normal notice papers. Is it your first time hearing about them?”

 

 

To be continued. 

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