NOVPUBSoo-ho received Ha‑rim’s call and quickly gathered the other club members. The burly Soo-ho often helped ease everyone’s anxiety in Ha‑rim’s absence, since she was their club leader.
The school wasn’t far away on foot. Still, it made no sense that during even the short walk there, they wouldn’t encounter a single person.
Even amid an eerie atmosphere that felt like a ghost town, the club members divided up their roles. Soo-ho led the way, Kyung‑min jotted something down in his notebook, and Eun‑jung scanned their surroundings intently, wary that someone might be around.
“Do you think there’s anyone at school?”
Eun‑jung asked. Kyung‑min adjusted his slipping glasses and replied, “I don’t know. Normally, you’d expect a security guard or some teachers to be around, but if even the police aren’t answering, something’s definitely off.”
Eun‑jung’s expression darkened. Soo-ho patted her shoulder and said, “Don’t worry too much. Let’s join up with Ha‑rim first and figure out what to do.”
The club members briefly debated whether to wait for Ha‑rim outside the school or inside. When someone suggested it might be best to check for any teachers first, Soo-ho nodded and stepped through the main gate.
That’s when something caught their eye near the school’s rear recycling area. In that outfit—it was the security guard!
“Hey, there’s the security guard!”
“Great. Let’s ask him why no one else is around before Ha‑rim ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) gets here.”
They trailed after the security guard and entered through the recycling area. But inside, there was no one.
“Gone?” Soo-ho tilted his head in confusion. Kyung‑min pointed to an open back door and said it looked like the guard had gone inside. With no other place to check, they entered the school. Eun‑jung tugged on Soo-ho’s arm.
“Soo-ho, look—there are muddy footprints on the stairs.”
“Really? Do you think those were left by the security guard?”
Up the stairs leading to the upper floors, muddy footprints marred the steps. It was strange—normally when kids climb the stairs they don’t get them this dirty, and oddly enough, there were far too many footprints. Perhaps the guard had made several trips. Security work is indeed grueling.
“Let’s go upstairs. If we can’t find him, we’ll head back down and try the principal’s office.”
After the others agreed, Soo-ho ascended the stairs. On the second floor, there were more footprints—but they abruptly ended in the corridor. Next to where the footprints stopped, one of the windows was open. Eun‑jung peered out and said, “Could it be that he went out the window?”
“No way.”
Thud!
Soo-ho’s words were cut off. Instinctively, he turned toward the source of the sound—the back door that led to the downstairs trash area, the very way they’d entered.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
The sound of several heavy footsteps echoed as if multiple people were running. Their relentless pace forced the kids to take a step back. Were people rushing toward them? If so, what was with this unsettling feeling?
At the far end of the corridor, on the stairs, the security guard’s face suddenly popped out. Then, dragging behind him was a grotesque body—its form seemed to have about a dozen legs—charging at the kids.
“Run!!!” Soo-ho shouted.
Thud thud thud thud thud thud thud
[Outsiideee... you’re gonna dieeee!!!]
Fear seized them all, and they ran.
“Where to! Where should we go?”
“Downstairs! We have to go downstairs!”
Kyung‑min urged, and they bolted for the lower floor. However, before they reached the bottom half of the stairs, they encountered something unexpected.
It was a corpse, ragged and tattered as though a small animal had taken bites out of it. A blood-soaked mass of flesh—with its eyes, nose, and mouth savagely torn apart—but even so, it seemed to be smiling at them, whether they liked it or not.
“Oh... go up!! We have to go up!!”
Once more, the kids scrambled upward. As they hurried, Eun‑jung screamed at the sound of approaching footsteps—the rapid steps of something pretending to be the security guard. The sound grew ever closer.
They reached the third floor.
“No, if we keep this up, it’ll catch us!” Soo-ho yelled in panic.
“If we split up and head into the classrooms, we might buy some time! The desks will slow it down!” Kyung‑min suggested. With such a large body, the creature would likely be slowed down. Normally, classrooms lock their doors to prevent intruders, after all.
“But if they’re locked—”
“I heard that the class monitor for 6th grade, Class 3, is so forgetful he often leaves the door unlocked!” Eun‑jung said, almost in tears yet determined.
If Eun‑jung said so, it had to be true. But then, how would they slow the monster down? No time to think—the only choice was to survive. Soo-ho bolted for the upper floors.
Fourth floor.
This area was shared by 5th and 6th graders. He sprinted straight to 6th grade, Class 3. Suddenly, Kyung‑min—ever watchful—spotted something out the window. It was Ha‑rim, running from the direction of the playground. Ha‑rim was pointing at her pocket and shouting something.
“...ju...m...ga...u...l.”
It was unintelligible—too far away to make out.
“Ha‑rim’s outside!”
“There’s no time to stop now!”
Even as a monster chased them from behind!
[Youuuuu’re all doo-doo-ook!!!]
Soo-ho prayed desperately that the door to 6th grade, Class 3 would be open as he gathered his strength.
Creak...
It wasn’t locked. The kids rushed into the classroom. Before they could lock the door again, the security guard—pursuing them—shoved his bulky frame against it.
[You baaaaastards!!! Gotchaaa!!!!!]
Soo-ho scrambled to open another door at the far end of the classroom. The security guard, his heavy body clumsily stepping on a desk, toppled over. Yet as he fell, he managed to grab Eun‑jung’s ankle, slowly dragging her away.
“Kyaaaah!”
Soo‑ho grabbed a chair and struck the security guard’s arm with it.
“Let go! I’m telling you—let go now!”
In that extreme moment, Kyung‑min’s mind raced, determined not to miss even the smallest clue. Then, a message from Ha‑rim flashed through his thoughts—she was clearly emphasizing something about her pocket.
Kyung‑min rifled through her pocket. There, nestled inside, was a small hand mirror.
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
When on earth did this get here?
“Ugh!”
Even Soo‑ho found himself caught by the security guard’s arm. There was no time to hesitate. We had to do something!
Just as Kyung‑min was about to casually toss the mirror at the guard—sort of leaving it up to fate—the guard suddenly stopped, staring into the mirror.
“...?”
The security guard was peering into the mirror as if he saw something else within it. And then—scrape—his neck snapped. Blood gushed out in a fountain. In the chaos, Eun‑jung and Soo‑ho, who had been held back, managed to break free and run.
“What the hell is this...?”
When Kyung‑min looked at the mirror, he saw the very object of his terror—the nightmare he’d barely escaped, the deranged ghost girl, Ella—addressing him.
“Hi~?”
“Uh...”
“Uh?”
“Whaaaat!”
Without another thought, Kyung‑min hurled the mirror, shattering it into pieces.
-----
None of us expected the mirror to break like that. Thankfully, each class had a full‑length mirror, so we didn’t have to revert to Ha‑rim’s tiny hand mirror. Kyung‑min—damn this kid—stared fiercely for a moment, then let out a surprised gasp and shrank back. This isn’t supposed to happen, but it’s kind of fun.
“W–were they chasing us?”
“You remember, right? The one who threw a wine bottle at Ella?”
Even as Kyung‑min mustered up the courage to speak, he shrank back again. I decided it was time to stop teasing him. But then, how on earth could we explain all this so he’d understand? While we were pondering that, Ha‑rim burst into the classroom, out of breath from running all the way here from home.
“Heh... Just like Ella said... I... I came in through the back door of the recycling area...”
“Good job.”
It seemed she hadn’t encountered any other ghouls, thankfully.
All eyes turned to Ha‑rim as she spoke normally with me. I figured I’d let her handle the explanation—after all, I’m not one to be bothered by such trivialities. Or so I pretended.
Ha‑rim glanced around cautiously before beginning her explanation to the kids, making it clear that she and the other club members had been preparing gifts and games for Ella.
Noticing the puzzled looks on the others’ faces, Ha‑rim sent me a subtle signal—please, coordinate with me without drawing attention.
“Listen carefully and don’t get startled. This isn’t the world we used to live in. According to what Ella said, this place is teeming with monsters. Just like what happened a moment ago, creatures could ambush us at any time.”
We’ve been dropped into their world.
The atmosphere cooled dramatically.
“No way! Why would we be thrown into such a place?”
“Are we going to have to live with monsters forever?!”
Soo‑ho and Eun‑jung were visibly shaken. Even Kyung‑min, usually so composed, couldn’t hold it together this time. Of course—that’s a perfectly natural reaction. Ha‑rim had convinced him far too quickly.
I mean, what kind of ordeal is this for any of us? But hey, at least the story is moving fast...
“Hmm...”
With a discontented sound and narrowing her eyes as a signal, Ha‑rim suddenly startled and offered me some chocolate. Not that she was asking for more chocolate, mind you—smack smack... What does she think we are... smack smack...
“Kids, no matter what the future holds, we have to survive. First, let’s all calm down!”
“.....”
The children’s panic began to subside. As expected of our leader—Ha‑rim—it wasn’t a responsibility just anyone could handle. Calmly, she continued her explanation.
“We’re Ella’s friends, right? She said she’d help us survive. It’s thanks to Ella that we’re still alive. Do you understand?”
“Yeah?”
“Because we’re... friends. Got it?”
“Uh... yeah! We’re friends with Ella. Ha. Ha. Ha.”
Kyung‑min’s attempt at acting was terribly off. I could barely hold back my laughter. Ever since I became Ella, I’ve found it almost unbearable to mock or ridicule anyone. It feels like even my brain has become part of Ella.
I once heard a ridiculous rumor that if you transplant organs from someone with depression, you’d become depressed too—but compared to that, having your whole body changed is something you should be grateful for, if only your personality remains intact.
“I’ll explain in more detail later. For now, our top priority is to follow Ella’s instructions and survive.”
The others wore expressions that suggested they weren’t entirely convinced—apparently, they thought I was even more dangerous than the other ghouls. But since it was true that Ella had saved them, they had no choice but to quietly follow my lead.
“Now, here’s the first task.”
For a moment, I materialized from within the mirror. The kids were shocked, but I didn’t care to worry about every little detail. I placed my hand on the body of the security ghoul. Like in the Slender Man case, his body began to dissolve into smoke and was gradually absorbed by me.
By the feel of it, this increased the time I could remain materialized.
After the corpse disappeared, something fell to the ground—a brilliantly glowing white talisman.
“Go find these talismans. And of course, defeat any ghouls you encounter.”
