Ghost Story Club

<<Trigger Warning: This chapter contains depictions of Excessive Gore. Readers Please be advised.>>

It was the first morning after high school enrollment.

As I idly waited in the classroom for the entrance ceremony to start, a message window appeared before my eyes with a sudden “Pop!”.

『Congratulations on your acceptance at Nakseong Highschool, the school of secrets and mysteries. Uncover the shady secrets hidden within the school, or fight against the legends and ghost stories of the campus in order to earn points to unlock special abilities. Additionally, you must gather comrades to prevent the resurrection of the Demon King before graduation. The world is in your hands.』

> Click for the next page.

“……?”

It was a message window, similar to one you would see in a game.

I looked around in surprise, but none of the other students seemed to notice. They were just staring at their phones or chatting with each other.

“……”

While I was staring blankly at the words in confusion, an announcement was broadcasted over the speakers. The entrance ceremony was about to begin.

[The broadcasting room would like to inform all students that the school is currently experiencing a blackout, so the electricity is not working. Because television transmission is impossible, the entrance ceremony will occur in the courtyard. New students are to gather there. Once again, the broadcasting room would like to inform…]

The students in the classroom stood up while murmuring complaints. I, of course, stood up with a blank expression and moved with them.

As I was swept down the halls by the surrounding students, I could not take my eyes off of the message from before. I tried swiping my hands in front of me, but the words had no substance and my hands simply passed through them.

‘A hologram…?’

It was like something I’d seen in movies.

『Congratulations on your acceptance at Nakseong Highschool, the school of secrets and mysteries. Uncover the shady secrets hidden within the school, or fight against the legends and ghost stories of the campus in order to earn points to unlock special abilities. Additionally, you must gather comrades to prevent the resurrection of the Demon King before graduation. The world is in your hands.』

I quietly checked for anyone paying attention to me again by observing my surroundings.

As I moved to the courtyard amidst the human wave, I concluded that the message was only visible to me.

***

In the courtyard, the teachers were circling around us to keep us properly in line.

Naturally, I lined up in the middle of the complaining students.

Nowadays, most schools don’t gather the students at the courtyard. Instead, they use a school wide transmission to deliver most of the schedule.

The students were grumbling as if they were annoyed, but when a man who appeared to be the headmaster stood at the podium, the crowd instantly grew quiet.

“Ah, to the newly admitted students of Nakseong Highschool, who I love, I welcome you. First, I congratulate you all for your acceptance into the main school. I am this school’s headmaster……”

Just as the headmaster was about to begin his solemn speech, his head suddenly exploded.

As a fountain of blood spurted up, something began to scatter around them.

“……”

The crowd was silent, the only sound the gushing of blood.

The headless body of the headmaster swayed back and forth as the spray of blood covered the podium. It continued to sway until it finally collapsed.

Plop.

“Kyaaaa- Ack!”

“U-aaaaaahhhh……!”

It is then that the students began to scream.

They were either stunned, collapsing on the spot, or they pointed at the podium with pale faces.

The teachers next to the podium were facing the students, so they didn’t even realize what had happened to the headmaster until the students’ flailing caused them to turn their heads.

“H-Headmaster……?”

“Instructor Kim! Call 119 right away!”

“Are you alright? Th-this is crazy……!”

A few of the more squeamish teachers that had approached the podium had to turn away to vomit.

Some of the newly admitted girls began to cry, while others sat down and comforted each other, despite meeting each other for the first time today.

The guys, on the other hand, were either staring at the podium with grimaces on their faces or tilting their heads with shocked expressions.

At that moment, an even more terrifying event occurred.

Bam-

As a strict-looking middle-aged woman was issuing orders at the podium, her head also exploded into a fountain of blood.

Afterwards, the heads of those near the podium exploded, one after the other, creating a squall of crimson blood that sprayed everywhere.

“Uaaaaaahhhhh!”

“Kyaaaaaa!”

Girls and guys alike began to scream and run away.

When the headmaster’s head first exploded, a few of the students who did not understand the situation had looked around curiously.

Now, without exception, all of the students ran away in fear.

Bam-

Bam-

Boom-

Plop-

Plop-

Naturally, I ran away from the podium like crazy, hands flailing about just like the other students.

Our destination was the front gates of the school.

The continuous sounds of explosions and bodies collapsing could be heard as we tried to escape.

As the heads of new students exploded, their bodies—which couldn’t resist inertia—rolled over the floor of the courtyard.

Gasp, gasp, gasp…

My breathing was hard.

‘This is insane. What is this…?’

I wasn’t exactly sure what was happening, but knew I needed to run. As I approached the front gates to the school, I could hear the sounds of the security guard shouting.

“Hey, you punks! What are you guys doing?! It’s still the middle of the entrance ceremony, so where do you think you bastards are going?!”

Since he didn’t know the situation, he was shouting at the students to the point that his face reddened.

“Hey! I said stop! Do I sound like I’m joking?! Hey, you fuckers! Get back to your places! I said get back!”

The distance between the guardroom, which was by the front gates, and the podium was about the same distance of the courtyard from end to end. With the wave of 300 fleeing students, as well as the cloud of dust the running created, the guard didn’t notice the tragedy that was occurring.

‘This fucker. No matter what, if dozens of people are fleeing he should realize that something isn’t right……’

Some of the athletic students dashed past me as I was mentally cursing the guard.

The athletes running in front rammed their shoulders into the security guard blocking the way, running towards the front gates like there was no tomorrow.

“Ouch…!”

As the guard hit the floor, he was covered in dust.

Some of the athletes that reached the front gates realized that it was locked. After shaking it a few times, they cursed and began to climb the bars to escape the school.

“Hey! You fuckers! Stop! Hey!”

The guard started screaming again as he stood back up.

The front gates quickly descended into chaos because of the scuffle between the shouting security guard and the students that were attempting to climb the gates. A few of the non-athletic girls, who found it difficult to climb over the gates, began to cry and shout at the security guard.

“Mister, we’re all about to die! Back there, their heads are all exploding! Open the gates quickly! Please!”

“What bullshit! Go get the teachers! Where are all the teachers?!”

Maybe it was because the security guard was serious about his work, but he shouted at the students that they would need to go back. He wouldn’t budge without permission from the teachers.

He began grabbing and pulling on the pants of some of the students, who were busy trying to climb the front gates.

* * *

* * *

Bam-

It happened in the middle of the courtyard.

The heads of some of the students at the back of the pack exploded, their blood spraying.

The students went crazy.

“Guard, you fucker! Open the gates, you bitch!”

“What? Fucker?! Hey, you punk! Get over here.”

The security guard grabbed the cursing student by the scruff of his neck and began to slap his face.

Slap-

Slap-

Maybe it was because the sense of duty he got while guarding the gate was the only piece of identity he had in his life, but the guard couldn’t hold back his anger.

“Aaarrrgghh! Fuck! Open the front gate, you guard bitch!”

It may have been because of the full on sprint from trying to escape, or that the entire situation made their legs go weak, but many of the students could not make it over the gate. Those students began to group up and confront the security guard.

“Open the gate, fucker! Give us the key!”

The guard, who had previously wailed that he would never let them go, began to backtrack as the mob grew in size.

“Urgh, what is it? What is it, huh? These little bastards……!”

“Open the gates, you fucker! Open the gates!”

“Give us the key! Give us the key!”

The storm of blood began to approach, closer and closer.

As students rushed to try to empty his pockets, the guard began to huddle into a ball to try to hide the key. The girls who saw the guard lay in the fetal position began to scratch at his head, while the boys would either punch his shoulders or kick at his back.

Smack-

Smack-

Smack-

Smack-

“Argh! Ack!”

The guard was screaming in pain as the students used violence to try and search his pockets.

The school’s front gates were a crucible of delirium.

“Ack, aaaaccckk……!”

“Give it! Give it to us!”

Even as his skin tore from the girls’ fingernails, the guard protected his pockets. It was a cruel and frustrating scene, but it actually worked in my favor.

Because of this chaos, the spot by the gate’s hinges was free.

“Gasp, gasp…”

I quickly ran to the spot, secured the area, and began to climb over the gate.

The gate was made of steel bars, so it was very slippery and there were no proper footholds. The edges of the gate consisted of bars to prevent outside access. It was quite difficult to climb, but because my survival instincts had kicked in I was able to squeeze out every bit of strength I had left.

Somehow, I barely made it to the top of the gate.

I stopped on top of a bar, which poked at my behind, to catch my breath. Now all I had to do was cross my leg over the top and jump off the gate.

“Hmph!”

The moment that I was about to jump off the gate, I noticed that the wave of head explosions had almost reached me.

I could see the guard. His face was bloodied all over and he was still being pummeled by the students.

At that point, the students seemed less concerned about stealing the key and more focused on obliterating the guard altogether.

The fact that an obstacle has appeared in their path to survival led to desperation in the form of chaos and violence.

The students had expressions of fear on their faces as they continued to attack the guard.

“Die! Die! Why are you in our way?! Die, fucker…!”

“Argh, ack, ugh, agggghh…!”

Soon, the heads of the guard and the surrounding students all exploded. And right below me, the heads of some of the students still trying to climb the gate began to swell.

‘Fuck!’

I quickly jumped off the gate and landed on the other side.

Thump-

‘I escaped the school!’

And as I began to catch my breath so that I could dash away, I felt my head also begin to swell.

‘… Escaping the school doesn’t mean you survive?’

That was right. I had been swept away by the atmosphere and thought, just like everyone else, that the path to survival was getting out of the school.

Running from the school was instinctual behavior that kicked in when trying to escape danger.

There were no guarantees that it was the actual path to survival.

I came to terms with that fact as my head began to feel like a growing balloon. Soon, I heard an incredibly loud sound. I lost consciousness.

[You are dead.]

[You will restart at your previous checkpoint.]

[Loading…]

Click-

***

『Congratulations on your acceptance at Nakseong Highschool, the school of secrets and mysteries. Uncover the shady secrets hidden within the school, or fight against the legends and ghost stories of the campus in order to earn points to unlock special abilities. Additionally, you must gather comrades to prevent the resurrection of the Demon King before graduation. The world is in your hands.』

> Click for the next page.

When I came to, I was in the classroom.

The students were all either on their smartphones or quietly chatting about rumors they’d heard as they waited for the entrance ceremony.

“……”

Because of the blackout, the lights in the classroom were off. However, since the bright morning sunlight was seeping in through the windows, it was not that dark.

Rather, it was a very peaceful morning.

“……”

What had happened?

I had definitely just gone through a bizarre situation, and my head had exploded as I tried to escape the school.

Why was I alive right now?

I could almost feel the chaos, smell the blood and sweat of over three hundred students sprinting to escape as some of them exploded into fountains of blood.

Was this foresight? Or did I go back in time……?

‘What is this…? What is happening……?’

That was when the sentence, which I hadn’t been able to check before because I was busy, caught my eye.

「> Click for the next page.」

… I couldn’t understand what was going on at all.

I had the sudden thought that whatever had occurred was related to the message window in front of me.

‘Click? Click, huh…’

I wondered how I was supposed to click it.

First, I tried pressing the last sentence with my fingers—as if the message window was a touchscreen.

Click-

That seemed to be correct. The window changed and new text was visible.

[Tutorial - Entrance Ceremony]

『As a plain and timid student, with nothing you are particularly good at and nothing about you that is particularly charming, you have spent your school life in a dull manner.

Today is the first day of your three years in high school. Other students may be nervous or excited about today, but you had no expectations. However, after the entrance ceremony you feel that ‘this school does not seem ordinary.’ And these anxious thoughts refer not to simple criminal cases, but other crazy and bizarre situations.

Regardless, it is the first day of the next three long years. You reluctantly accept this anxious feeling.』

[You received a quest.]

<Quest - Tutorial>

• Make three friends to create a club. (Current 0/3)

• Reward: 10 Ghost Story Points, Status Window unlocked.

“......”

A sound of surprise automatically slipped from my lips.

What was this?

How was I supposed to just accept this information?

Quest, tutorial, it seemed like…

‘A game.’

As I continued to read the message that was floating in front of me and considered what I read, the speakers in the classroom came to life with the sound of static.

[The broadcasting room would like to inform all students that the school is currently experiencing a blackout, so the electricity is not working. Because television transmission is impossible, the entrance ceremony will occur in the courtyard. New students are to gather there. Once again, the broadcasting room would like to inform…]