I Became the Hidden Mastermind

019 – Ghost Story #1

019 – Ghost Story #1

“Why didn’t you come yesterday?”

The literary girl held Baudelaire’s “The Flower of Malice” in her hand.

Her jet-black hair shimmered like the night sky, and her fair skin was as translucent as milk spilled by accident.

The moment I realized that a faint smile was lingering on her lips, my mind went blank.

“I’ve been waiting for you lately. I haven’t seen you around.”

The girl I secretly had a crush on since I saw her at the library said she had been waiting for me.

I wondered if she was talking to someone else besides me, so I looked around again.

Swoosh-.

A pale, slender finger approached me and gently brushed off the dust on my shoulder.

“There’s some dust on your side. Let’s meet later.”

Thump-.

Vroom-.

The literary girl got back into her black car, emitting black exhaust, and disappeared.

I was certain that I would never forget what just happened, even until the day I die.

“Hey, Hayoungwon. Do you know Yudahee?”

Yang Juhee asked me.

Finally, I was able to snap out of my dazed state.

It felt like I had been wandering in a dream just a moment ago, and now I had suddenly awakened.

“Her name is Yudahee? Was I acquainted with her?”

Yang Juhee seemed to know the literary girl’s name.

Well, if a girl as pretty as her had a famous name, it wouldn’t be surprising.

Of course, Yang Juhee was also beautiful, but in comparison, they had different styles.

If Yang Juhee gave off the vibe of a pretty SNS high school influencer, then the literary girl I just encountered felt more like someone who would listen to Bach or Mozart and find beauty in it.

“Just a moment ago, pretending to know each other, and now why pretend not to know? It’s funny. By any chance, is your ex-girlfriend the infamous Yudahee? You really crack me up. Wow, how─.”

Moore was about to say something when Yang Joo-hee frowned.

Even though he said it’s funny, there was no hint of a smile.

“I’m leaving first. Don’t want to be late.”

He looked at his phone and confidently started walking with a swift pace. Saying he walks fast would be an understatement; it was more like running, perhaps due to his long legs.

“Hey! Wait up!”

Yang Joo-hee walked away quickly, disappearing in a flash.

I tried to catch up by walking fast, but the awkward atmosphere made it difficult to strike up a conversation, and I eventually couldn’t catch up.

It seemed like Yang Joo-hee misunderstood something.

Did he think I dated Yudahee?

Yang Joo-hee seemed upset, as if there was some bad blood between him and the literary girl Yudahee.

When we arrived at school, Yang Joo-hee was lying down behind me.

He remained lying down even after the class started, and he stayed that way until the lunch break ended.

Sleeping during class at school, he was a complete troublemaker. Well, he was a troublemaker to begin with.

# # #

“Do you know who Yudahee is?”

“Jung So-jin: Eternal, don’t use your phone during class hahahaha.”

“…….”

I must be a fool to ask him.

As I was thinking that, another reply came.

“Jeong Sojin: Is it Yoo Dahee from Class A talking? I don’t really know much except that she takes the car to school every day hahahaha.”

I don’t know.

Even though Jeong Sojin is the class president and has a wide network, she can’t possibly know everything about students in other classes.

After some time passed with that feeling, it was after school.

Yang Juhee quickly grabbed her bag as soon as the bell rang.

I was planning to briefly talk about “The Nightmare Corridor” today.

Instead, another girl approached me.

“Yeongwon, what are you going to do after school today?”

It was class president Jeong Sojin.

The attention of the kids who were packing their bags shifted subtly as Jeong Sojin, who could be considered popular in Class D, came up to me and started talking.

What kind of situation is this again – that’s how it felt.

I thought the same.

Why did Jeong Sojin come to me again?

Was it because of the message I sent earlier? I regretted my actions.

“If you have nothing to do, would you like to go to the bookstore with me? I want to find a book for a book report for the essay competition, but I’m not familiar with novels or that kind of thing…”

Does Jeong Sojin have an image of me as someone who knows about novels?

At the beginning of the semester, I did read a lot of different books during break times and lunch hours.

Shh-.

That’s when it happened.

“Hey, Jeong Sojin. Why haven’t you been cracking down on the kids smoking lately? The class president should be good at enforcing the rules. Come to the faculty office tomorrow at lunch.”

Kim Geon-ho approached my seat and spoke casually.

These past few days, I thought school life was a bit quiet, but I had a premonition that I would be entangled in some annoying matter. And my prediction was correct!

“What are you saying, Kim Geon-ho? Why should you come to me?”

Jung So-jin shot a thin glance at him.

Shivering, Kim Geon-ho.

“Wow, seriously. Scary. Scary. Hey, Ha Young-won, did you just hear that?”

Click.

Kim Geon-ho’s hand rested on my shoulder.

Just now, Kim Geon-ho joked as if it were a jest, but he seemed genuinely scared of Jung So-jin. As evidence, the hand on my shoulder was trembling.

I understood. I was scared of Jung So-jin too!

I knew better than anyone what Jung So-jin could do when pushed to an extreme situation.

“Oh damn, so boring.”

Kim Geon-ho swiftly got up.

Watching him leave, Jung So-jin frowned and flicked him.

“You punk coward.”

“What? Damn, Jung So-jin, what did you just say?”

“What did it sound like? You’re the one who said something just now. What? Damn it?”

A subtly flowing atmosphere.

Even the kids who were packing their bags for the end of school stopped and stared at this scene as if frozen.

“……”

I was really on the verge of death, sandwiched between them.

No, why is this happening right in my seat!

Even if it’s true for Kim Gun-ho, why is Jeong So-jin suddenly doing this?

Suddenly, I remembered Jeong So-jin’s proclamation that appeared this morning.

《Matchmaker》: Betrayal if you fail. Revolution if you succeed. There is no retreat in the world of matchmakers. Only progress awaits them, even if they don’t know where that path may lead.

Is this proclamation 《Matchmaker》 turning people into fools?

Jeong So-jin and Kim Gun-ho stared at each other as if they were going to devour one another.

Kim Gun-ho was the first to break the tension.

“Damn… D-class is such a mess these days.”

Whoosh.

That guy Kim Gun-ho vanished from the classroom.

The atmosphere in the classroom, which was as heavy as if it were covered in mud, became slightly lighter.

“Yeong-won. If Kim Gun-ho ever bothers or hits you, tell me.”

“……”

…No, class president.

I’m more scared of you right now than Kim Gun-ho.

I was so scared that I was trembling.

What kind of strange premonition is this?

“Hey, class president. The homeroom teacher is calling you.”

Whoosh.

At that moment, someone stood up and called Jung Sojin.

It was Jung Seok, the vice president of our class.

“The homeroom teacher?”

Jung Sojin opened her narrow eyes.

Then, looking alternately at me and Jung Seok, she said, “Yeongwon, see you later,” and disappeared down the hallway with occasional footsteps.

It was truly a stormy day.

Now, I also need to go home.

But the thought of going home didn’t sit well with me.

“Ajummagwi.”

“Mom’s ghost.”

A ghost has already appeared at home twice.

Even if I go home now, my mom is working overtime, so I’ll be alone, and if another ghost comes, I might… I might really die!

What should I do…? At times like this, it’s good to use the advice function.

“Advice.”

『Advice from “Broken Clock”: “The library is a temple where all the artifacts of ancient sages full of virtue, and everything free from illusion and deceit, are preserved and rest without disturbance.”』

What nonsense.

It seems like it’s suggesting to go to the library.

Not a bad idea.

# # #

I felt this before, but Yeongji High School’s library was excellent.

There were many old books, and new ones continued to fill the shelves, making it a paradise-like place for me.

“Suddenly, I need to pee.”

They say that smelling ink can make you feel the urge to urinate.

And that’s exactly what happened to me.

Ssh-.

I placed my bag in a suitable corner and picked up the broom. As a library committee member of Class D, I had the responsibility to clean the library.

It was the seat recommended by Teacher Kang Hanul, and he said it would be advantageous for my grades and school records.

“….”

While sweeping the floor with the broom, I glanced around. I wondered if the literary girl, Yudahee, was here, but she was nowhere to be seen.

“You came today?”

“Hey, Mom!”

I jumped up in surprise more than a cat startled by a cucumber when I saw Yudahee.

My voice echoed in the quiet library.

As I calmed down and turned my head, the girl I had seen in the morning was standing nearby.

“Why are you so surprised? I cleaned everything here yesterday.”

“Cleaning?”

“Yeah. I’m also a library committee member for Class A. Haven’t you heard from Teacher Kang Hanul? I waited for you, but you didn’t show up these days, so I cleaned everything alone.”

Yudahee was a girl who spoke with a gentle voice.

It seemed like she had an ease that people living in poverty and struggling places like Yang Juhee and me couldn’t afford.

Feeling like there was no reason to rush through life.

Perhaps because of that, I was able to find some leisure myself.

“Oh, you were a library committee member.”

I didn’t know Yoo Da-hee was a library committee member.

Wasn’t I the only one in charge of this library as a committee member of Class D?

Well, now that I think about it, it’s too big for one person to handle.

Class A and Class D each had a committee member to manage.

What Yoo Da-hee said about waiting for me in the morning.

It meant that it was related to the duties of a library committee member!

“You’re Ha Yeong-won, right? I’m Yoo Da-hee. I’ve heard about you from Teacher Kang Ha-neul quite often. This is the first time we’re having a conversation like this. I never had a chance to talk to you because you were always reading books.”

“Oh.”

“You read a lot of Haruki Murakami, right? You read A Wild Sheep Chase. And you also read The Decameron, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, and Lolita a lot. The common point of these books is…”

I was surprised that the literature girl I had a crush on knew all the books I had read.

And then I became afraid.

The common point of the books I read…

It was that they all had explicit s*xual descriptions!

While I was flustered, Yoo Da-hee burst into laughter.

“The common point is that they’re all foreign novels. I also like foreign novels. I’ve read The Catcher in the Rye ten times already. Lately, I’ve become interested in feng shui and geomancy…”

Was it because her voice was gentle?

Or was it because I was tired from various things, I yawned unknowingly.

“Do you not really like stories like this?”

Yudahee, who had been speaking cautiously, tilted her head.

Honestly, I was moved.

“No, I do. I like feng shui too. Like Baesu-jin.”

“Baesu-jin is a form of traditional medicine, and feng shui is about mountains and rivers.”

Yudahee laughed heartily.

Understanding my joke and laughing along, Yudahee was truly an advanced girl!

Honestly, I never thought I could have such intellectual and sophisticated conversations at Yeongji High School. While I was deeply moved and trembling, Yudahee looked at my hand.

In my hand were books about folklore and ghost stories.

I had brought them to learn about Yeongji High School.

“Do you like scary stories?”

“Do I have to say that I do?”

“Oh, really? Then, Yeongwon, let me whisper in your ear.”

Swoosh.

Without giving me a chance to respond, Yudahee brought her mouth close to my ear.

There was no distance.

An attitude that seemed to be confident that others wouldn’t mind her approaching.

An attitude that seemed to have never experienced rejection from others in her life.

“Speaking of which, they say that this school was actually built by pushing away a large cemetery. Is that true?”

I felt a pleasant shiver as a soft breath brushed against my sensitive ear.

“Cemetery? Why are you whispering…?”

“If you tell ghost stories in a place where ghosts gather like a cemetery, the ghosts really come. They think you’re talking about them. So we whisper, just in case.”

“Ah…”

“After the construction of this school was completed, people and students continued to go missing. Some students were found with only their heads missing. It’s said that those heads are still wandering around, looking for their bodies.”

The whispered words sent shivers down my spine.

Ghosts that only have heads… It’s a chilling story.

“Many shamans came to the school. But most of them ran away while performing a ritual in the school building.”

The breath and the sound were provocative.

I wished this moment could last forever.

“Some shaman gouged out their own eyes and hanged themselves in the bathroom. After that, the sound of the shaman’s bell started to be heard in the hallway. Ding, ding, ding, ding-.”

Yoo Da-hee seemed to enjoy telling scary stories so much that she even imitated the sound of the bell with her mouth.

But she was surprisingly good at it, and it really felt like the sound of a bell was coming from nearby.

Ding ding ding ding ding ding-.

…Wait, is that really coming from somewhere?

Just as I was getting flustered, Yoo Da-hee continued speaking.

“But the scariest thing isn’t the shaman ghost or the ghost with only a head. The real terrifying ghost is…”

Yoo Da-hee’s voice trailed off.

Was that the end of the story? I took a step back.

“……”

“…….”

Now that I look at it, Yudahee was expressionless.

It was an empty expression as if all emotions and desires had completely disappeared.

It felt like someone had pressed the pause button.

Was the expressionlessness of the smiling girl this eerie?

“Um….”

As I looked at the transformed Yudahee, who no longer seemed like a person of this world, a chill ran down my spine. I wondered if she might be a ghost at that moment.

“If you talk about ghosts at the graveyard, ghosts will come. If you talk about ghosts at the graveyard, ghosts will come. If you talk about ghosts at the graveyard, ghosts will come. If you talk about ghosts at the graveyard, ghosts will come. If you talk about ghosts at the graveyard, ghosts will come. If you talk about ghosts at the graveyard, ghosts will come.”

“Mom, seriously! The kid, damn, it’s starting again! Again! Again! Agaaiiin!”