The 31st Student’s Ghost Story (2)
“Wow, what is it? What’s going on? Let me see, too.”
“Yang Juhui really came to school.”
“Hey! Everyone step aside!”
The front of the faculty office was bustling with students who had swarmed in like clouds.
The teachers tried to calm them down, but the authority of Yeongji High School had long since fallen.
I also peered into the faculty office with other children.
I saw Yang Juhui sitting across from the homeroom teacher, talking about something, but of course, I couldn’t hear the conversation.
What was more important than the sound right now was the appearance.
“Looks like she stopped using the dye.”
“It suits her well.”
As the children admired Yang Juhui’s bright yellow hair, it returned to a hair color similar to that of most students. Thanks to that, her impression completely changed, and it suited her very well, so the atmosphere was very different.
*Ding dong dang dong*
Then, the bell rang to signal the start of the first period.
The children who had been lining up in front of the faculty office as if waiting for an idol’s concert ticket eventually had to disperse, and I also returned to the classroom.
*Screech*
Soon, Yang Juhui also entered the classroom.
Since Yang Juhui’s seat was right behind me, the gazes were naturally focused on us.
It’s a bit burdensome.
The atmosphere was tense. If someone poked it with a needle, it would burst.
When this situation felt completely awkward, the movement of the girls was suspicious.
*Tap, tap tap*
The girls hit each other’s arms with their elbows.
It was like saying, “You do it” or “You do it!”
I thought they were having an argument like that for a while, then Ahn Yeongmi, the quiet and introverted girl who is the seatmate of class president Jeong Sojin, slowly approached Yang Juhui.
And then she said,
“Hey…Juhui. There was talk in the class group chat over the weekend… Today…um… after school, could you come behind the auditorium?… The kids from Class C said they’ll wait for you after school….”
“Class C?”
*Swoosh*
Yang Juhui glared around with her thin eyes.
Although her hair color had returned from delinquent to normal, her snake-like eyes showed that her form had not died, and Ahn Yeongmi trembled like a frightened rabbit.
“What, you bitches didn’t see the message I sent? Did you make another group chat for Class D without me? Are you trying to bully me this time?”
*Kwang!*
Yang Juhui forcefully pushed her chair back and stood up.
“You fuckers! If I go behind the auditorium, are you going to trample me with the kids from Class C?”
As if startled by the loud voice, everyone fell silent.
Yang Juhui stood out like an actor who had taken over the stage.
“Wow, I’m dumbfounded. Do you think I won’t know what you’re doing? Hey Kim Geonho, did you tell the kids to do this?”
“…What are you talking about? I don’t know anything about this? Go talk it out with the kids from Class C. Bong Jiyeon from next door always disliked you. Clear up the misunderstandings, too.”
Kim Geonho seemed a bit flustered at being called out by Yang Juhui.
In Class C, there was a girl named Bong Jiyeon who mainly hung out with upperclassmen and was in the same position as Kim Geonho from Class D.
Even Kim Geonho didn’t seem to want to go against Bong Jiyeon, who relied on upperclassmen to act up. What a coward.
Moreover, there was a “Class D Group Chat”?
I was never invited from the beginning?
These jerks!
The fact that I wasn’t invited to the group chat made me sadder than being directly bullied by Kim Geonho or Yang Juhui!
So….
What’s going to happen now?
Will Yang Juhui be trampled by Bong Jiyeon’s gang from Class C?
No matter how tough Yang Juhui acts, she’s just a first-year in high school, after all.
If the 29 members of Class D, excluding Yang Juhui, seriously tried to bully her, even Yang Juhui was bound to break.
Then what should I do?
If I just stand by and watch Yang Juhui get bullied, I’ll be no different from the kids who bullied and neglected me.
But Yang Juhui was my girlfriend for at least one night.
I should probably step up for her.
I did have a few methods in mind.
“Guys, the teacher is coming.”
Jeong Seok, the vice class president who was sitting in the very back right seat and watching the hallway, tapped on the blackboard and then quickly sat down.
“Okay. Sit down and open your books. Jeong Sojin, the class president of Class D… went to the infirmary for a bit. Vice president Jeong Seok, do the greetings and start the class?”
As always, the classroom atmosphere, which had been chaotic, became quiet in an instant, and *ding!* my cell phone rang noisily.
Wondering what it was, I looked at my cell phone and saw an unfamiliar chat room.
User 30 has been invited to Class D Chatroom.
- 4:
For now, we invited everyone in our class except Yang Juhui, lol. - 14:
A group chat without Yang Juhui, that's new. But why did you make it an open anonymous chatroom?
“……”
So, this is the class group chat.
Even though it was the middle of class, the scroll of the chat room went up and up.
I looked around, lifting my head, and saw the kids all typing on their cell phones behind their desks or behind a book they set up as a screen.
- 2:
sex - 15:
Fuck, is that Lee Jinseong? So dirty, eww, are you in heat? - 17:
What the fuck, I'm Lee Jinseong. - 21:
I'm actually Lee Jinseong. Yeongmi, I love you, go out with me.
These days, kids do this and chat among themselves during class.
It was news to me in many ways.
Somehow, my heart is pounding.
The fact that I was invited to this group chat may mean that I’m recognized as a member of Class D.
It would mean that the position of being bullied has moved from me to Yang Juhui.
But there was one thing that bothered me a bit.
It might be my imagination, but… isn’t it strange?
Didn’t anyone else notice?
Our class has 30 students, including me.
And in my opinion, there was an informant among these 30 people.
‘Bullying is happening in Class D.’
The informant who wrote this note.
I was looking at the photo of the note that I had asked Kang Haneul to take.
The last conscience of Class D.
You could call them that.
It must be someone suitable to become my comrade.
*Buzz, buzz*
But my cell phone kept vibrating annoyingly.
I was sure I turned off the notifications, so why do messages keep coming?
Currently, Class D is hooked on the newly created anonymous open chat room.
Even if I cut off my interest for just 5 minutes, 300 messages would pile up instantly.
After all, if 30 people in our class each say one thing, that’s 30 lines.
- 2:
Honestly, I really hated the sight of Yang Juhui. - 3:
Yeah, she bullied our Youngwon every day.
Is it because it’s a group chat without Yang Juhui?
Or was this group chat created from the beginning to curse Yang Juhui?
- 7:
She thinks she's a princess, lol she's not pretty at all, isn't Huiyeon prettier? - 15:
Welcome Huiyeon #7!
The insults toward Yang Juhui kept coming up. It was amazing how they could put down Yang Juhui, whom they had worshipped and adored until recently.
If Yang Juhui had seen this herself, she might have cried her eyes out.
Out of curiosity, I asked the group chat,
- 30:
Yang Juhui isn't here, right? Is that for sure? - 1:
Yeah, she's not here. I'm sure! Would we curse her like this if she was here? - 4:
You scaredy cat. I could curse her even if she was here.
“……….”
Are you sure Yang Juhui isn’t here?
No, doesn’t it seem a bit strange?
Our Class D has 30 students.
If it’s a group chat without Yang Juhui, there should be 29 people here, right?
I was number 30 in the chat room.
That means there are 30 people in this room, even without Yang Juhui.
“Ah, fuck…”
Then someone cursed.
It was Park Inbae, the delinquent with a buzz cut, sitting in the far back right seat of the classroom.
I was curious why he cursed, but looking at the group chat, I felt like I could tell the reason.
- 15:
Ah fuck, that gross pic. - 2:
Chat room host, kick that #5 out! - 7:
Is that fucking Lee Jinseong #5?
Someone had posted a dirty picture to terrorize the group chat.
It was a usual thing to happen in an anonymous chat room.
It was plausible that there would be at least one attention seeker among the 30 students.
But….
An even bigger problem suddenly arose.
- 1:
From - 2:
Now - 3:
Let's - 4:
Start - 5:
A - 6:
Game - 7:
To - 12:
What is this? - 8:
Find - 9:
Out - 10:
Who - 11:
I - 12:
Am - 13:
If - 14:
You - 15:
Fail - 16:
To - 17:
Find - 18:
Out - 19:
Who - 20:
I - 21:
Am - 22:
You - 23:
Will - 24:
All - 25:
Die - 26:
You - 27:
Will - 28:
All - 29:
Die - 30:
Min
“……”
It was a strange message.
Moreover, a message that I had never written came up in the chat room under the name of “30”.
The intention of that message was clear.
- From now let’s start a game. If you fail to find out who I am, you will all die. 30 Min.
“What, what is this?”
“Who’s playing this prank…”
The sound of the children getting agitated spread faintly in the quiet classroom.
Everyone seemed to have their minds on this bizarre anomaly.
- 14:
What is this? I can't leave the chat room? - 15:
I can't leave either... - 4:
What the fuck is this? Who's playing this prank? Everyone, reveal your names! - 22:
Fuck that, if you reveal your username here, you won't be able to live the rest of your school life. - 11:
Everyone said what they wanted to say. It would be so embarrassing to reveal your name...
Although the atmosphere in the group chat was agitated for various reasons, they seemed to think it was some kind of “prank.”
I would have thought so, too.
If I hadn’t experienced several bizarre ghost incidents.
But I thought this was the work of something unusually bizarre, and it seemed like it really would be.
“…If we don’t find the identity, we’ll all die?”
My number 30 said “Min”.
- 30:
Min
Does that mean there are 30 minutes left?
I looked at the clock, and there were exactly about 30 minutes left until the end of the first period.
In other words, if we don’t find “someone” before class ends, we’ll all die… it didn’t seem strange to interpret it that way. And I could easily guess who that ‘someone’ was.
“The informant….”
Wait, finding the informant…!?
A flash of inspiration…
An idea popped into my head at that moment.
I opened my cell phone and looked at the photo of the note that said, “Bullying is happening in Class D.”
This is the clue.
Not the content, but the paper!
“Paper is the answer…!”
Chat room ghost bastard.
The outcast in our class wasn’t me, who wasn’t in the group chat. It’s you who only existed in the group chat!