Chapter 125: Dismissal Time (1)

Seo Yu-hyeon was a seventeen-year-old high school student.

'IwanttodieIwanttodiejustkillmeIwanttodieIwantthisend.'

How much time had passed with his body frozen like this?

His mind was being shaken apart by hunger born of psychological deprivation, the need for sleep, and every other unfulfilled desire.

His entire body, unable to move, would itch as though ants were crawling over it, only for the sensation to turn into pain at some point.

Screaming inwardly through phantom pain, he had struggled to move his hands and feet as though trapped in sleep paralysis.

He had cried and begged in his mind, pleading with whatever it was that had imprisoned his body.

But with nothing ever changing, his mind had completely broken down.

-I'm sorry it took us so long to come get you.

“.......”

But then, suddenly, he heard a voice.

A voice he could never forget.

-Now let's stop and go home.

Even through the poor-quality speakers, there was no mistaking that voice.

The voice he had heard more than any other.

“......Mom...?”

Yu-hyeon lifted his head.

“Uh....”

“Grandpa...?”

“Sis...? Is that you...?”

One, then another.

The other students in the classroom began lifting their heads and murmuring as well.

The children who heard the voice of their 'Guardian' began recovering their reason from the very edge of their shattered minds.

-Everyone, come up to the rooftop.

The rooftop?

The scraping of desks and chairs echoed from all around.

As though possessed, everyone rose from their seats.

For a moment, Yu-hyeon wondered if this might be some monster's trick to lure them all out and kill them.

But then another thought followed.

'Even if it is, I don't care.'

He was incapable of any detailed reasoning.

It was blind instinct.

Even if it was only one more time before he died.

If he could hear his mother's voice again.

-Let's go home.

At those words, the classroom door opened.

When he stepped into the hallway and looked to the side, it was not only their classroom.

Every classroom door had opened, and children began pouring out.

To someone, it was their father. To another, their mother, grandmother, aunt, older brother, older sister.

Everyone's guardian was different, but one by one, they opened their doors and headed toward the rooftop where the voice was calling them.

Before long, without exception, their walking turned into running.

“Where are you all...... going?”

At that moment, screams erupted from the students running ahead.

Yu-hyeon had no idea how long it had been since screams had echoed through the silent school.

“It's dangerous outside.... You mustn't go somewhere dangerous.......”

“Aaaagh!”

Yu-hyeon screamed as well when he spotted Wendy appearing at the far end of the hallway.

Then three boys he did not recognize stepped out in front of them.

“Everyone, get to the rooftop! We'll handle th—”

“Watch out behind you!”

Yu-hyeon urgently warned the guy in glasses wearing a sukajan and holding what looked like a toy gun.

The monster's long arm was crashing down toward him.

Bang! Bang-bang-bang!

Then came the gunshots.

Yu-hyeon had never heard the sound in real life before, but it was not all that different from how it sounded in movies.

So it wasn't a toy... it was real?

Amid the students' startled screams, the monster staggered violently from the bullets and toppled backward.

“Get upstairs! What are you all standing around for?! Didn't you hear?!”

“Y-yeah! Go! We'll figure something out!”

With those two blocking the way and shouting at them, everyone hurried toward the rooftop again.

Right! They have guns! If they keep shooting it, even a monster has to die eventually!

Clinging to that vague belief, Yu-hyeon ran.

He had no idea how long it had been since he had moved his body, but perhaps it had been much longer than he thought.

His legs trembled as he climbed the stairs, but he could not stop.

“You did well.”

The guy holding the rooftop door wide open said it with a surprisingly dependable expression.

Really?

I did well?

Can I really... go home?

This isn't some trick?

The rooftop doorway glowed so unnaturally brightly that he could not see anything beyond it, but Yu-hyeon did not even have the presence of mind to hesitate.

His unsteady legs carried him straight through.

“We're outside!”

“Waaaah-!”

“Waaah, Mom...!”

“Did we really... get out? Are we really outside?”

With that single step, the children's voices burst out all at once.

Even the sunlight beyond the cloudy gray sky dazzled his eyes.

Countless cold drops of water fell against his cheeks.

The humid air and raindrops, and the bright sunlight hidden behind the clouds even though he could not tell exactly what time it was.

Every sensation seemed to pour into him all at once.

“......,”

Not once had it ever rained inside the ghost story, so he knew for certain.

Spread out before him was a wide school athletic field.

Together with the other students, Yu-hyeon ran out into the rain and reveled in his freedom.

“Hk, h-hic... waaah....”

In the midst of that freedom, Yu-hyeon burst into tears.

Now, more than anything, he just wanted to see his mother.

The Unnatural Threat Governance was in complete chaos.

The phones were ringing nonstop, and no amount of convenient excuses or preparation was enough to satisfy every one of the hundreds of parents.

“Did you get connected to those counselors?”

At Ju-hee's question, Mi-ae shouted back frantically.

“No, no, no! Just a second. Yes, you're Kim Han-gyeol's mother, correct?”

“Yes, this is Gangnam Police Station, ma'am. It's just, we're with a special division, so....”

Hwi-yeon was also clutching a phone, completely overwhelmed as she piled excuse upon excuse.

The National Intelligence Service could cover things to a certain extent, but even they only had partial information, so there was only so much they could do.

Sometimes it was better not to act like some intimidating government agency and instead handle things at the level of, 'Government workers, you know how they are....'

Fortunately, because it was the weekend, the school had been empty early that morning.

But parents who had suddenly realized on a weekend morning that their child was missing could hardly avoid wondering why their child had come home soaked in the rain and still wearing a school uniform.

On top of that, each of the children had been trapped inside the Infinite School Grounds for a considerable length of time.

Even though everyone around them would believe they had been together until yesterday, the children themselves knew otherwise.

Reality Return Guide

1. The people around you will not remember your absence.

2. Do not remind them that anything feels out of place. Simply return to your daily life.

3. We remember what happened to you. If you need counseling, come see us.

4. If anyone is aware of your absence, please contact the Governance. This may greatly assist future rescue operations.

Most of the children, changed in one way or another after spending so long inside the ghost story, burst into tears the moment they saw their parents.

Granted, it was normal for teenagers to seem strange to their parents.

But a child suddenly coming home drenched in the rain on a weekend morning and immediately bursting into tears?

There were plenty of parents who became convinced something had happened and ended up reporting it somewhere.

“Geon-su is waking up from the anesthesia!”

In the middle of all that, Ha-min rushed into the office and shouted.

Su-myeon, who had been watching the chaos with bleary eyes, hurried down to the medical room as well.

“...Cold....”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Here. I'll cover you with this.”

Du-pal, sitting right beside Geon-su, had returned to the familiar appearance of a middle-aged man.

His face covered in tears and snot, he wrapped Geon-su tightly in a blanket.

With Geon-su still barely conscious as the anesthesia wore off, Jae-hak spoke.

“For now... surprisingly, the surgery went extremely well.”

Young-cheol had fallen asleep almost as if he had fainted from exhaustion and tension, so Jae-hak had performed another full series of examinations in his place.

“We'll need to monitor his progress, but I think he'll be fine.”

Jae-hak added that it was a very clean, healthy heart and told them not to worry.

At those words, Du-pal practically began sobbing.

“Ah, do I have this room to myself or what...? It's damn noisy.”

Even in the middle of all that, Cheshire was still occupying one of the medical room beds and grumbling.

His recovery had been fast enough that the stitches had already been removed, but apparently he still needed a little more time before he was completely healed.

Su-myeon snapped at Cheshire for pointlessly ruining the mood.

“Just stay quiet. Please.”

“Ugh....”

Beside Geon-su, who trembled from the pain of the surgery as the anesthesia wore off, Du-pal fussed over him with extraordinary devotion.

There were several other students from the Infinite School Grounds in the medical room as well.

They were students who had lost or injured parts of their bodies....

“Hmmm... so this is paternal love.”

Su-myeon gave Ryang a weary look as she rolled around on the bed beside them, watching the father and son with fascination.

A student with a bandaged arm had been pushed out of the medical room bed and was now sitting in a chair instead.

“Ryang, there's nothing wrong with you. Give the student your spot.”

Do these supernatural creatures just never grow up? For God's sake, I wish they'd act their ages.

Apparently unaware of Su-myeon's thoughts, Ryang immediately pouted.

Grumbling as she climbed down from the bed, Ryang stalked out of the medical room with exaggerated footsteps, letting out a loud, “Hmph!”

She actually said “Hmph!” out loud.

It was ridiculous, but with her young and adorable appearance, it did look a little cute.

“I shan't show thee!”

Show me what?

Before Su-myeon could ask anything more, Ryang was already gone.

“....”

At the entrance to the medical room stood Mu-yeon, wagging his tail as he panted cheerfully.

Su-myeon stared into empty space for a moment, feeling mentally exhausted, then shook his head.

Let's not expect too much from those who either aren't human or have only just barely become human again.

With that thought, Su-myeon rose from his seat too.

It was enough to have confirmed that everyone had made it back to reality more or less safely.

“I'm going to get some rest too.”

Time to go home.

***

It took exactly five days for the situation at the Governance to return to normal.

Geon-su's condition improved at an astonishing pace.

They would need to monitor his recovery for a long time, but.

“As long as he's careful, there shouldn't be any major problem with him going back to school.”

Both Jae-hak and Young-cheol judged his condition to be that good.

Even so, for Du-pal, who could not help worrying, they arranged outside examinations as well and had Geon-su undergo a complete full-body checkup.

But Geon-su recovered so quickly that everyone called it a miracle.

The only thing the doctors found slightly concerning was mild malnutrition. Most of his other values had improved so drastically that they were hardly comparable to his previous test results.

When the surgeon conducting the examination heard that Young-cheol had performed the operation, he pestered Young-cheol so much about how he had done it that it became annoying.

“It's not like I can tell them the secret was an organ and IV fluid from inside a ghost story, so this is awkward.”

Young-cheol said it only to Su-myeon, half joking and half serious.

Whenever anyone else asked, all he could say was that it was covered by a confidentiality agreement, so apparently he found it frustrating.

In any case, now that those major problems had been resolved, there was still another issue that needed to be addressed.

“You really had no plan at all.”

Su-myeon spoke to Du-pal, who sat there like a criminal awaiting judgment.

They needed to settle the matter of how Du-pal's sudden actions had forced everyone to work overtime instead of getting any rest.

Du-pal had been reckless enough that he would have had no grounds for complaint even if he had been disciplined over it.

“In the end, we closed out another ghost story. That's enough for me to overlook it.”

Unexpectedly, Director Jang Bok-eum did not hold him particularly accountable.

But the reason only made the Governance agents feel even more uneasy.

Did he truly not care about anything else as long as a ghost story could be brought to an end?

In any case, even if Du-pal had avoided disciplinary action from above, that did not erase the effort of everyone who had suffered because of what he had done.

“I'm grateful too.... I just couldn't see any other way.”