Chapter 46: Mujin High School (2)

[2. You must not leave the classroom during lessons. Students found wandering outside during class hours may be subjected to brainwashing disguised as re-education by Security.]

"We made it in."

Han-su's flat voice summed up the situation.

Hwi-yeon looked around, overcome by a strange sensation.

The scenery had changed in the blink of an eye, as though she had stepped into a dream, only deepening the sense of dissonance.

"Everyone, check your phones."

At Su-myeon's words, Hwi-yeon took out her old phone.

Remarkably, the device itself was still hers, but every system and app on it had been replaced by something unfamiliar.

It was the first phenomenon that occurred upon entering a ghost story with Su-myeon.

The Heartphone she had only ever heard about.

"......"

The moment Hwi-yeon checked her phone, Su-myeon's hand shot out.

With the ease of someone who had done it countless times before, he checked the code displayed on her phone, then added them to each other's contacts.

"Sorry for grabbing it without asking. We're in a hurry."

Su-myeon said it, but he didn't sound particularly apologetic.

Given the circumstances, though, Hwi-yeon simply nodded.

There wasn't really anything on the Heartphone that could be considered personal information in the first place.

Unfamiliar apps and an empty message window. Once Su-myeon's, Han-su's, and Ha-min's code names had been saved, she actually felt a little more reassured.

"So this means we can still contact each other even if we get separated in here."

"Correct."

Han-su replied curtly.

Everyone was wearing the school uniforms from their own student days, their faces looking slightly younger as well.

Strangely enough, Han-su looked almost exactly the same as he did now. Even in his youth, he had apparently worn the same stern expression, so there was hardly any sense of incongruity.

Su-myeon, on the other hand, looked noticeably different.

"But... your clothes...."

Setting aside the fact that he looked younger, he was still wearing the sukajan with its ornate lion embroidery over his school uniform.

Everyone else's clothes had changed completely, yet Su-myeon alone seemed to be an exception.

Su-myeon considered how best to explain it for a moment before answering.

"Think of them as items."

Hwi-yeon wanted to ask one more question.

Then was the gray lens covering only one of his eyes an item too?

But that didn't seem particularly important right now, so she looked away from Su-myeon and surveyed their surroundings instead.

The phone — now transformed into a Heartphone — displayed two rules in a format resembling a school newsletter.

The first was the rule they had already confirmed upon entering, and the second was not difficult to understand either.

"But... it looks like class is in session right now...."

Ha-min said, anxiously scanning the area.

The school corridor, drenched in the crimson glow of sunset, was utterly silent.

"Looks like it. Let's find somewhere to hide first."

Sensing the group's unease, Su-myeon took the lead.

The corridor certainly resembled Mujin High School, but most schools had similar layouts, so he couldn't be certain.

Beyond the windows, the athletic field lay shrouded in a strange darkness that seemed utterly out of place beneath the brilliant sunset.

And even within that distant darkness, there was something....

"...!"

Hwi-yeon, who had been staring outside, flinched violently when someone suddenly grabbed her arm.

The self-defense techniques drilled into her body took over on instinct.

She seized the other person's hand and twisted it, wrenching the helpless figure off balance and drawing out a muffled cry.

"Ah...! Ow...!"

The person flailing desperately while trying to suppress his scream was an unfamiliar student.

Su-myeon, who had been walking ahead, hurried back in surprise and quickly separated Hwi-yeon from the stranger.

The unfamiliar student clutched his twisted arm, his face twisted with indignation and irritation, and hissed in a whisper.

"Are you trying to get Security over here?! You're making way too much noise...!"

Hwi-yeon's gaze quickly swept over him.

His name tag read Park Geon-su.

He was a small, pale boy, slight enough that he could easily have passed for a middle school student.

Apparently, he had jumped out from the boys' restroom.

While Hwi-yeon was still assessing the situation, Su-myeon glanced at the restroom sign.

"Let's get inside first."

...The boys' restroom?

But Hwi-yeon had no intention of going off to the girls' restroom alone under these circumstances either.

With no real choice, and urged along by Su-myeon's guiding hand, the entire group slipped into the boys' restroom.

"Who the hell are you guys?"

Geon-su asked, still rubbing his aching arm.

Ha-min was the first to respond.

"How long have you been — no, wait, have you seen anyone else who came in yesterday, or recently......? No, I mean...."

His concern for Geon-su became tangled up with all the questions he wanted to ask, leaving him stumbling over his words.

Seeing that, Su-myeon gave Ha-min a pat on the back as if telling him to calm down, then took over the conversation himself.

"Park Geon-su. That's your name, right? I'm Han Su-myeon."

"Uh.... Yeah. That's right."

Caught off guard by Su-myeon's composure, Geon-su answered almost reflexively.

Su-myeon wore a sukajan embroidered with an ornate lion over his school uniform, a colored contact lens in one eye, and a cat doll perched on his shoulder.

He looked like anything but an ordinary student.

Yet the way he introduced himself so casually, as though they were simply fellow students meeting for the first time, subtly eased the tension.

At the very least, it became clear that neither side intended the other any harm.

"Look, uh. Sorry about that. Security's a woman, so she almost never checks the boys' restroom first. I wasn't trying to scare you."

Once he had calmed down somewhat, Geon-su apologized to Hwi-yeon first.

Hwi-yeon found herself quietly impressed by how quickly Su-myeon had defused a situation that could easily have turned hostile.

It felt strange being addressed so casually by someone who looked so young, but she nodded in understanding.

"I was startled too. Sorry for twisting your arm."

When Hwi-yeon adopted the same casual tone, Geon-su gave a rueful smile and nodded.

"I get it. But damn, you're strong. Scared the hell out of me."

Geon-su had been speaking normally until then, but his expression suddenly grew serious.

"Anyway. About that Security I mentioned — you seriously need to watch out for her. Kids who were talking and acting completely normal went all weird after she caught them."

Like dolls whose minds had been completely rewritten.

Programmed to behave strictly according to the rules of this school.

What Geon-su was describing was not entirely unfamiliar to Hwi-yeon.

"I see."

Su-myeon responded casually, as though he were hearing it for the first time.

In reality, all of that information had already been included in the documents he had prepared.

Hwi-yeon was struck once again by just how crucial Su-myeon's presence was to this operation.

Su-myeon listened to Geon-su's well-intentioned warning, then asked,

"How long have you been here?"

"......I'm not sure. Morning never comes here. Neither does night."

Months, perhaps.

Maybe even years.

At Geon-su's answer, a somber silence settled over the group.

***

Contrary to Hwi-yeon's assessment, Su-myeon was completely thrown off.

Someone had managed to remain sane and survive here for months on end?

The appearance of a person who hadn't even existed in the game was an unpredictable variable Su-myeon had no idea how to deal with.

The student named Park Geon-su had apparently survived here through sheer luck and sharp instincts, gradually feeling out the rules as he went.

Never hungry.

Never aging.

Nothing ever changing.

A seventeen-year-old boy trapped in that stagnant world, watching one person after another arrive and lose themselves.

"See, I've always been kind of sick. I have to take medicine every few hours, no matter what."

But inside this ghost story, none of his pain or symptoms ever appeared.

Su-myeon had thought the boy looked unusually small.

A long-term illness had probably stunted his growth.

And that was likely why Geon-su had managed to retain his sanity when so many others had failed.

"I've been sick my whole life, but at least I don't hurt in here. So it's... bearable, in its own way...."

That alone was enough for Su-myeon to understand Geon-su's circumstances.

"So how'd all of you end up coming here together?"

Poor things.

Under Geon-su's pitying gaze, Su-myeon glanced toward Ha-min.

From this point on, it might be better to let Ha-min — more emotional and sincere by nature — handle the conversation.

"W-we came looking for our friends! One disappeared yesterday, and another's been missing for weeks. Have you seen anyone?"

"......Yesterday?"

Geon-su paused to think at Ha-min's question.

His sense of time was too unreliable to know whether "yesterday" was really yesterday, but something seemed to come to mind.

"The most recent kid who came in... I saw him heading toward the science lab while avoiding Security."

The science lab.

Su-myeon slapped a hand to his forehead without thinking.

Of all places!

"But you guys... you've got it wrong."

Geon-su said, looking at Su-myeon with a grim expression.

Coming from the pale-faced boy, the ominous tone made the words feel even more unsettling than they needed to.

"There's no way out of here."

I don't even know how you got in, but.

As Geon-su's dejected voice trailed off, a bell rang.

The bell signaling the end of class.

A moment later, the corridor filled with the noisy stir of students.

Sounds as ordinary as those of any school.

"Let's get out of here first. If they find a girl in the boys' restroom, who knows what might happen."

Hwi-yeon flinched at Su-myeon's words and quickly nodded.

Geon-su seemed to agree, and together they stepped out of the boys' restroom.

For the brief duration of the break, they were free to move around.

"Anyway, we're here to find someone and get out. And if we can, we're taking everyone else with us too."

"What?"

As Su-myeon spoke while stepping into the corridor, Geon-su stopped dead in his tracks.

Countless students streamed past them.

Yet, like faceless extras, they produced nothing but meaningless noise as they went.

"You can... actually leave this place?"

Geon-su's voice came out thin and trembling.

Su-myeon walked over to him.

"There's a rooftop here, right?"

"There... is, but... it's locked. I've never been up there."

Su-myeon nodded at Geon-su's answer.

"If you get through there, you can return to the real world."

A strange mixture of emotions crossed Geon-su's face.

Whether to believe him.

Whether not to.

Whether he was even allowed to feel happy.

Before he could steady himself, Han-su placed a firm hand on his shoulder.

"Just keep up. Don't fall behind."

"Y-yeah! Come with us. We'll all leave together!"

Ha-min even seized Geon-su's hand and shook it enthusiastically.

At their words, Geon-su managed to summon a small measure of courage and nodded.

As they moved through the noisy corridor again, they quietly discussed what to do next.

"......But if we can't open that door in the end, none of this matters, does it?"

Students bustled past them, laughing and talking as they jostled through the hall.

Yet their voices flowed past like pre-programmed audio.

Not a single word was intelligible.

Just an endless, indistinct murmur.

"If you try to break the door down, Security won't let it slide."

Su-myeon replied to Geon-su.

"I know. We need to find the key."

So they were back to square one?

Where were they supposed to find that key?

And how?

Hopelessness began creeping back onto Geon-su's face.

Then Su-myeon stopped mid-step.

"Peter Pan has the key."

He leaned close to Geon-su and whispered the words near his ear.

Peter Pan?

At the familiar fairy-tale name, Geon-su nearly snapped at him to stop joking around.

But then—

"How did you know that?"

It wasn't Hwi-yeon's voice.

A thin, high-pitched girl's voice suddenly cut into their conversation.