NOVPUBThe secretary began talking about his Gwangrim without me even asking for an explanation.
In addition, after Eunho asked a sharp question and received an answer, we came to understand the Gwangrim quite well.
Though the focus was on how, to what extent the Old School Building ghost could be recreated, in the end, we almost fully grasped the nature of the secretary's Gwangrim.
The secretary's Gwangrim was powerful, but it came with many limitations.
‘The ability to replay others' memories once conditions are met is quite impressive. Despite the limitations, it’s a strong Gwangrim. But did they really set up the 15th floor like this just to show the ghost using the secretary's Gwangrim?’
The secretary's Gwangrim was challenging to control.
It consumed a lot of psychic energy, and if concentration wavered, the memories would become blurry. It was also difficult to show memories to multiple people at once.
The secretary needed tools to use his powers effectively.
Just as someone like Han Gyeo-don would wear protective gear for hand-to-hand combat, or someone like Do Won-u would use a supporter for natural energy-based abilities, the secretary needed a similar tool.
‘For the secretary, that tool was likely the 15th floor of the alumni hall.’
The space covered in otherworldly metal was optimized for transmitting and recreating memories, making it ideal for using the secretary's powers.
The seniors from Class 0 certainly seemed to put a lot of effort into strange things, like building a whole building just to make it easier for them to gather.
At least this allowed us to see the messages of the Unsa.
“The amount of information is too large to show all three of you at once. Earlier, Gwangrim activated strongly without much effort, but usually, it’s not that easy. It would be possible if we spread it out over several days.”
“We can’t take up that much of your time, senior. Also, using Gwangrim repeatedly might put a strain on you.”
“I’ve never seen a junior worry about me like this...!”
The secretary said this in a touched voice.
It wasn’t so much that I was worried, I just didn’t want to waste any time, but I decided to let him misunderstand and leave it at that.
The seniors, who were preparing to make the secretary use Gwangrim, handed him energy drinks meant for players.
Along with the energy drinks, recovery item cards and food were taken out. These items were clearly the kind you would find at the forefront of an otherworldly campaign, but I didn’t bother asking why they were in the alumni hall.
Regardless, the secretary’s powers allowed us to confirm the appearance of the Unsa in the memories of many of the seniors.
‘It’s probably better for me to see it than the tigers.’
I had to choose one person to watch the memories.
Earlier, Eunho had felt nauseous from the memory, so picking him, a first-year, seemed out of the question.
Hwang Ji-ho seemed troubled after seeing the Unsa in the memories, so I didn’t want to show him more of it.
I was about to offer to take the lead when...
“I’ll do it.”
Hwang Ji-ho stepped forward.
He didn’t ask for permission, simply stating it as if it were decided.
He didn’t seem open to giving in, but I decided to at least offer a response.
“It’s fine if I do it. Or we can take turns watching.”
“I’ll watch it all alone. Jo Eui-shin, you’ve been busy lately, right? I don’t want to burden a junior.”
Hwang Ji-ho’s gaze landed on my left eye.
He was probably treating me like an injured person.
‘But, is it really okay to pretend to be a high school student in front of seniors?’
Hwang Ji-ho didn’t speak in a high school-like tone, but the seniors didn’t seem to question it or suspect anything.
There were so many people in the alumni hall who spoke in stranger ways than Hwang Ji-ho, so there was no sense of discomfort.
Eunho, who had heard Hwang Ji-ho call me a junior, asked.
“Are you sure you’re okay with this?”
“Of course.”
Hwang Ji-ho stood up and spoke.
“I’m just doing what should’ve been done earlier.”
Once he said that, I couldn’t argue any further.
The seniors, who had no idea what was going on, continued talking.
“Junior, it’s not too late yet!”
“Yeah, you’re a second-year, after all.”
“You’re talking like it’s been a hundred years since you joined.”
“A hundred years is a bit much, maybe fifty years?”
“No, you should’ve been focusing on exorcising ghosts as soon as you entered school, it’s already too late!”
Hwang Ji-ho didn’t respond to their nonsense and headed straight for the 15th floor.
Today’s investigation wrapped up without a major issue.
It ended smoothly, but honestly, it wasn’t without its challenges.
While Hwang Ji-ho was watching the memories, Eunho and I conducted interviews with the seniors.
Although the seniors gave answers, they continued to grumble and complain.
—Why did you only come for the investigation now? The Old School Building ghost story barely even made it into the yearly ghost specials.
—If the Old School Building ghost story made it only halfway into a Fletch article, that ghost would’ve been at peace by now!
I also thought there were a lot of students at Yeonggwang High who paid attention to the Fletch articles.
After all, numerous incidents had happened around the school, and with the big event of the Korea-China-Japan Youth Exchange just around the corner, the topic never seemed to lose its appeal.
Moreover, among the newspaper club members, there were fans of that “godly game,” and articles about it kept coming out regularly.
Meanwhile, there was another figure who was being a bother, aside from the alumni seniors.
‘Ugiwan must have been making a scene since he found out the article topic was set on the Old School Building ghost.’
Ugiwan, a Class 0 senior who had graduated, had an interview scheduled.
It seemed like he was trying to use the interview to make a fuss.
He had likely tried to lobby for an article condemning the homeroom teacher, Im Yeon-hwa, who hadn’t been participating in challenges lately.
‘He says Im Yeon-hwa doesn’t participate often... didn’t they have a match on Teacher’s Day? He keeps losing, but now he wants to fight more often.’
Lately, Im Yeon-hwa, the team leader of the satellite management team, had been busy helping with a project requested by Im Ji-hwa from the association.
Though he still held the position of head of the research department, he was so busy that the Class 0 homeroom position had been handed over to Gong Cheong-hwon.
Im Yeon-hwa was a powerful individual, but it didn’t seem like he had much to do lately. I was curious why the association had asked him to cooperate.
‘Im Yeon-hwa is an expert on the Jin clan. Could it be related to the Jin clan?’
Im Yeon-hwa’s excessive strength often led to suspicions about his ties to the Jin clan.
Because of that, he studied and earned a degree in the Jin clan's practices.
And the association’s satellite was a result of the combination of the Jin clan's abilities and modern technology.
Considering that, it wasn’t strange that the satellite team from the association requested his cooperation.
Although Ok To-yeon, the leader of the Tzu clan, was also on the satellite team, he wasn’t very trustworthy, so it made sense to invite a Jin clan expert separately.
While I was organizing my thoughts, Eunho called me.
“Eui-shin hyung, have you finished organizing everything from today’s investigation?”
“Yes.”
I was now in the guest house of the Tiger Mansion.
I still hadn’t heard from Hwang Ji-ho about what he saw.
After watching the memories, Hwang Ji-ho hadn’t suffered from motion sickness, but he was keeping quiet.
Hwang Ji-ho had said, “I’ll speak in front of everyone,” meaning he planned to share it when all the tigers were present.
That’s why I had come to the Tiger Mansion.
It didn’t seem like it was the time to ask for him to speak now or later, so I decided to follow his lead.
“Jeokho-nim and Baekho-hyung are here. Let’s go talk to Hwangho-nim now.”
Following Eunho, who was in his true form instead of his disguise as Cheon Eun-ha, I headed to the reception room.
In the reception room, Jeokho and Baekho were sitting, looking like they had just arrived.
At the head of the table was Hwang Ji-ho, who had been waiting alone.
Jeokho spoke.
“Did the investigation go well? Seeing Hwangho’s face, it looks like there’s something to say. Hurry up and speak. If it’s nothing special, I’ll just go see the Unsa.”
“....”
“See? Baekho’s not speaking, but he’s urging you on.”
Jeokho dragged Baekho into the conversation, though Baekho just looked silently at him.
“Baekho, if you want to refute, why not say something? If you stay silent, I’ll just interpret it my way.”
“I wasn’t urging.”
“Sure you weren’t.”
If he wasn’t going to accept the rebuttal, why say something like that?
Jeokho seemed to be returning to his old ways with his talk.
Hwang Ji-ho spoke.
“We confirmed the Old School Building through the memories of the Yeonggwang High graduates. They witnessed the distress signal sent by the Unsa.”
“Really sent a distress signal? Why go to the Old School Building, of all places? If they had reached the middle of the Enhui Square, they would have seen Hwangho lounging around.”
“The Unsa’s distress signal was transmitted through the ley lines. That’s likely why it ended up in the Old School Building.”
Upon hearing Hwang Ji-ho’s calm response, Jeokho seemed to realize something was different in Hwang Ji-ho’s attitude.
Hwang Ji-ho had served tea as usual, but he didn’t take a sip himself.
Amid the silence, Hwang Ji-ho spoke.
“The Unsa sent dozens of messages. Some were barely messages at all, but there was definitely an attempt to communicate.”
Hwang Ji-ho began describing what he had seen.
The places were all the Old School Building, but the times were from different witness accounts.
The Unsa appeared as either burning or charred.
When it could move its mouth, it would try to speak with its lips, and when it had no mouth, it used its fingers. When that was impossible, it would try to draw something on the ground with its body.
That appearance was so terrifying that ordinary humans could hardly accept or interpret it, especially the 0th generation seniors, who were only teenagers at the time.
Paaaaaa......
Hwang Ji-ho sprinkled golden psychic energy into the air.
The psychic energy transformed into the form of the Unsa he had seen in the memories.
It looked like golden fragments, but in the actual memory, it would have appeared as a ghost made of fire and ash.
“When the Unsa spoke about places, it mentioned betrayal warnings as well. It seems it tried to convey something about its plans, but it was hard to interpret. If we hadn’t known about the Unsa in advance, it would have been difficult to understand what it was saying.”
“The Unsa looked like that...”
Jeokho seemed to be imagining what the golden psychic energy had looked like in reality, and his face twitched.
Hwang Ji-ho then projected a hologram.
It was a map of the Old School Building.
The map was dotted with numerous points, each marked with a time and a short memo.
The memo described the appearance of the Unsa and the messages it had tried to convey.
It seemed that Hwang Ji-ho had witnessed the Unsa burning away at those points.
“I’ve compiled all the locations and times it was witnessed. I’ll go to the Old School Building myself, confirm the Unsa’s lingering energy, and clarify the exact messages. That’s all.”
Hwang Ji-ho finished his briefing with no expression.
He then suggested sharing the map, but the tigers didn’t move.
They just looked at him in silence.
Seeing that, I began to wonder if it was the right decision for Hwang Ji-ho to watch the memories alone.
‘It can’t be easy for him.’
When Hwang Ji-ho saw the Unsa in the memories, I remembered him saying he should’ve visited the Old School Building sooner.
He had always been someone to smile wryly, yet now he seemed so serious. It felt unsettling.
Without thinking, I spoke.
“It wasn’t your fault that we didn’t discover the Unsa’s message.”
Hwang Ji-ho, clearly not expecting me to say that, widened his eyes slightly and looked at me.
A slight expression returned to his face, which had been suppressing his emotions.
