NOVPUBHwang Ji-ho's voice carried a deep sense of regret.
It seemed like he believed it was his fault, but it wasn’t his responsibility that this signal had gone unnoticed.
How many school principals would actually visit just because a problem child was blabbering about ghosts?
As the Class 0 seniors had chattered about in their memories, it wasn’t easy to think well of the neglect that allowed someone like Choi Pyeon-deuk to roam free due to Hwang Ji-ho’s inattentiveness.
As I continued to review the memories, something began to weigh on my mind.
‘Why did Hwang Ji-ho oppose the demolition of the Old School Building?’
Had the building been demolished, the clue would have completely vanished, so in a way, it was fortunate.
While the tigers remained silent, the memories of the Class 0 graduate continued to unfold.
The seniors’ struggles to exorcise the ghost from the Old School Building continued.
[Ah, I saw the Old School Building ghost in my dream...]
[Tell the class president to take responsibility.]
[That’s a bit much.]
[Didn’t see it in a dream, but I watched the exorcism skill lecture video.]
[Is the ghost really that scary? Pathetic idiots.]
[You, if you’re going to talk like that, turn off the hologram where you searched for ‘exorcism.’]
The once fearless seniors of Class 0 completely lost their minds in the face of fear.
They became desperate to learn exorcism, warding, and banishment skills.
Skills that could only be acquired after long training or natural talent—they were grinding their teeth to learn them before graduation.
The class president at the time, who was now serving as the alumni secretary, spoke calmly.
[As the class president, I checked the exorcism-related curriculum, and it seems unlikely that anyone could learn the skill before graduation. It would take at least a year.]
A year? Isn’t that a bit too fast?
It seemed that the seniors, while a bit out of their minds, were still excellent in their own way.
In fact, they succeeded in learning the skills and caused a ruckus at last year’s Yeonggwang High School festival.
[Hey, are you going to give up just like that?]
[The Old School Building ghost appeared because of you, are you going to give up now?]
[Then why did we take the courage test?]
[Oh, that’s a Class 0 tradition. They even asked if we saw the ghost.]
[Tradition? Why the hell do we have to follow that?]
[Crazy, which seniors pass down a tradition of seeing ghosts?]
Indeed.
Now, one of those seniors was showing a ghost to a junior through the Gwangrim, and in the end, those fools had kept the tradition alive.
It seemed the original reason the class president had made them take the courage test in the Old School Building was due to some advice from upperclassmen.
But not every Class 0 senior seemed eager to follow the tradition of exorcising the Old School Building.
‘Though it’s called a tradition, I don’t think all the Class 0 seniors willingly did it. That one senior probably had nothing better to do, so they went along with it.’
So a few idle seniors from Class 0 attacked the Old School Building, and after graduation, they sent juniors in, hoping the active students would handle the exorcism for them.
After all, there were limits to what alumni could do in school.
‘The seniors between me and the secretary, like Ugiwan and Geumchan Wangchan, probably didn’t do the courage test. They’d be too anxious to break the tradition, so they’ll want to sway our class or the first-year Class 0 to go along with it.’
I had never seen Ugiwan or Geumchan Wangchan talk about doing something with the Old School Building.
Since it would be hard to bring those two older years in, perhaps they were planning to pressure me and Eunho into the exorcism work under the guise of an investigation?
The goal was likely to show the Old School Building ghost in detail to make everyone see the necessity of exorcism.
Perhaps when we climbed the alumni hall, they checked if the minimum conditions for exorcism were met, confirming whether everything was prepared for us.
While we pondered this, the seniors continued their debate, close to an argument.
[Of course, we’re not giving up.]
They completely ignored the uncomfortable questions and answered only what they wanted to discuss.
After what seemed like a conclusion, the secretary spoke resolutely.
[If we can’t handle it with psychic abilities, we’ll solve it physically. Let’s just destroy the Old School Building! The ghost will go wherever it’s supposed to if there’s no place left.]
[Oh, the class president is making sense!]
Is it really the right solution?
If students from the student council had heard that, they might have felt slapped across the face.
Though the seniors were ranting about physically destroying the Old School Building to perform an exorcism, no one seemed too shocked by it.
They probably just thought, "Another day, another crazy senior."
There was an exception.
Their homeroom teacher at the time, Ham Geun-hyeong, was so troubled by their chaotic actions that he personally went to the Old School Building to check things out.
‘He actually believed those crazy stories... Our homeroom teacher is something else.’
However, Ham Geun-hyeong found nothing.
Even though he turned on the recording device and thoroughly inspected the Old School Building, he didn’t encounter any spirits.
When Ham Geun-hyeong reported that he didn’t witness any ghosts, the seniors of Class 0 were disappointed.
[What do we do now? Seems like even the ghost is scared of our homeroom teacher!]
[Did it run away after seeing his face? Oh dear.]
[If you keep staring at it, Geun-hyeong’s face isn’t scary, but the ghost is still terrifying!]
[In that case, how about we put a mask on our homeroom teacher and send him into the Old School Building?]
[I'll design the mask!]
While the seniors of Class 0 ran around loudly, Ham Geun-hyeong quietly patrolled the Old School Building.
The seniors must have thought that the ghost ran away because of the homeroom teacher’s rough face, wasting their efforts.
In the end, the only ones who saw the Old School Building ghost were the seniors of Class 0.
They even tried to create proof by rushing in with recording devices.
[It’s not showing up on the recording device...]
[The device must have broken after being in the Old School Building for too long!]
[There’s really something around the Old School Building. It’s the only place in Yeonggwang High without a recording device.]
[Isn’t it because it’s going to be demolished?]
[Then why isn’t it demolished?]
The seniors of Class 0 seemed even more unhinged as they grew frustrated.
They still had time left to learn the exorcism skill, but when they tried to physically destroy the Old School Building, the student council intervened.
They said it was scheduled for demolition, but nothing was happening.
Moreover, no one believed them when they couldn’t even provide proof on the recording devices.
“Yeonggwang High is land full of strong energy. It helps with growth, but when it comes to building and demolishing structures, you must be cautious.”
Eunho spoke, glancing at Hwang Ji-ho.
Hwang Ji-ho, who had been silently watching the seniors’ memories, finally spoke up.
“The Old School Building was built before the dimensional collision. After the collision, the flow of the earth’s energy changed, and it had a significant impact. Some parts of the Old School Building are now fused with the earth’s energy. We will have to demolish it eventually, but we can’t just recklessly interfere with it.”
It seemed Hwang Ji-ho didn’t postpone the demolition due to neglect.
Had he completely ignored it, he would have had no objections to demolishing the building.
If the demolition had been done hastily back in those days, it would have caused problems.
Those unfamiliar with the flow of energy should never have handled the demolition. It was likely to have become even more careless due to the corruption among the teachers at that time.
Eventually, safety concerns could have led to an accident.
Hwang Ji-ho seemed to be deep in thought.
“We’re done here. Looks like the purpose was just to show these memories.”
The seniors’ memories ended.
We were back in the room filled with otherworldly metals.
I had been preparing for another trap, just in case.
Boom!
With a loud noise, the door leading to the 16th floor opened.
Through the open door, many seniors from Class 0 appeared.
“Hey, are you guys okay?”
“The secretary couldn’t control the energy! Watching that for too long makes you dizzy.”
“Even when the psychic force was taken away, the Gwangrim didn’t end.”
They seemed surprised that the secretary had triggered such a powerful Gwangrim.
It looked like they were worried about what might happen to us.
The secretary rambled on about how he hadn’t meant to keep us in the memory for so long, that he just wanted to show the ghost scene.
We greeted them and reassured them.
“We’re fine. We made sure the psychic energy was prepared. Can we move on to the 16th floor now?”
After confirming we were okay, Hwang Ji-ho and Eunho nodded.
Only then did the seniors seem to relax.
“Wow, you guys are fine. I was worried for nothing.”
“You’re still so polite. I never thought I’d receive such a normal greeting from a junior from Class 0...”
The senior muttered.
It was more surprising that a senior from Class 0 would act so politely toward alumni invoking the alumni association rules.
I thought about saying something, but I kept it to myself.
‘If they apologize and show good intentions, it will be easier to talk to them. I have a lot to ask these seniors.’
Now was the time to use the information gained from Fate Power and the position I had gained due to the situation.
The 16th floor had no walls or rooms—everything was wide open.
It seemed like a place where all the alumni could gather.
When we sat down at the designated spot...
“What do you think after seeing the Old School Building ghost? Can you really bear to be in a school with such a ghost? Some people still see that ghost in their dreams!”
The alumni association secretary suddenly asked.
The person he was staring at was me.
Unlike Hwang Ji-ho, I was the vice-president, and Eunho was a first-year, so it seemed they were treating me as the representative.
Though there was no time for consultation, it seemed the tigers were leaving it to me, so I decided to act as I thought best.
“Of course, I became interested. I’d love to hear the details from the seniors.”
Upon hearing my words, the seniors' expressions brightened.
I continued speaking.
“I observed the phenomenon through the psychic energy of the seniors. There were a few changes, but not many.”
“To notice even that, you’re truly a wonderful junior showing interest in the Old School Building ghost!”
Is showing interest in ghosts what makes a good junior?
Well, I decided to try acting like a good junior for now.
I looked around at the seniors present.
There were many alumni of the same year as the secretary, but a fair number of upperclassmen were also mixed in.
Those who had taken the time to meet today were likely witnesses of the ghost from their school days.
“I believe those who witnessed it at different times experienced slightly different phenomena.”
“Everyone here is a witness! And so are you.”
We hadn’t actually seen the ghost in the Old School Building ourselves yet.
But since I had met the entity, the Unsa, it wasn’t a completely false statement.
I looked at the seniors watching me and said.
“I want to hear all of the seniors’ testimonies.”
My gaze stopped at the secretary.
The secretary was so excited that I showed interest in the Old School Building ghost that he seemed ready to tell me anything.
“If you can confirm the phenomenon using the seniors' psychic abilities, it would really help.”
If the secretary could reproduce the memories of others as well as his own, we could verify all the messages from the Unsa.
