Chapter 4: Interlude - Ghost Story, System, Status Window
While the entrance ceremony proceeded in the courtyard, I was sitting in the ssroom with SunAh and GyeongWon. We spent the time chatting about various topics.
Of course, the delinquent girl was in the back, sleeping away.
In addition to the atmosphere in high school suggesting that one must make friends quickly, the camaraderie built up by escaping from a teacher to y hooky had helped the three of us get closer and be friends.
We spoke of which apartmentplexes we lived in, how far away our homes were from the school, what middle school we graduated from, how well we studied, and which cram school we attended, along with other topics along that vein.
After spending time talking about severalmon conversational topics, the entrance ceremony hade to an end. We could hear the students returning to the school.
Naturally, we broke apart, acting as if we had just gotten into the ssroom.
Afterwards, we were told to wait in the ssroom for a long time. This allowed me to sort out my thoughts.
Many different things had urred, but they could be separated into three broad categories.
Ghost stories, the game-like system, and the fact that when I died, I returned to the past.
First, ghost stories.
It seemed likely that the incident I had just experienced was a ghost story that had been physically realized.
The incident followed the plot of the ghost story, and behaving like the characters in the ghost story allowed me to survive.
Of course, ghost stories on their own were just pieces of fiction spread around by other people. There could be several different versions of the same story, so while the main points were still the same, some of the minute details could differ.
However, what was most important was that the ghost stories were happening in real life.
This was the simplest way of exining the situation.
Second, the game-like system.
There existed a game-like system window that only I could see.
This system could provide me with help and information about what was uring around me.
The first message window warned me of the fact that an unknown being, called the Demon King, would revive in three years'' time. Also, the message window had emphasized the ghost story in the situation that I had just encountered.
Until now, I had just briefly skimmed the contents because I didnt understand what was going on. I needed to properly read through the messages I received from then on.
Especially the Ghost Story Points, understanding level, the status window, and the other words that had been emphasized recently.
Ghost Story Points.
Was it something simr to experience points? Or, since they were called points, would they be something simr to in-game currency?
Understanding.
It seemed to be a stat that went up the more I discovered about an individual, or understood their personality.
When SunAh herself told us that her actions were slow, the level of understanding increased.
When I felt that GyeongWon was the type who liked to show his intelligence or show off his knowledge, the level of understanding increased as well.
Finally, the status window.
It was stated that the status window was unlocked, but how to use it? Hmm
Using the same method as when I opened and closed the tutorial message, I used my will to call for the status window in my mind.
<em>Status window!</em>
<strong>Poof-</strong><blockquote>
Name: Lee Joon
Age: 17
Title: Main Character
Disposition: [Two-Faced] NEW!! > Click to Expand
Special Ability: None
Quirk: Last Second Cramming.</blockquote>
I admired the status window in my mind.
It felt like a character stat window from a game.
The name and age I could understand immediately. My disposition was two-faced does it mean that my personality was two-faced?
The message window told me to click, with a NEW!! alert attached to it, so I clicked on the button to expand the window. However, when a very long page popped up I immediately copsed it again.
<em>Its way too long I should go through this slowly when I get back home.</em>
I wasnt sure about the special ability and the quirk.
Was it something simr to a skill?
Regardless, it felt very much like the character stat window or information window from a game.
<em>Can I use this on other people?</em>
I turned my head slightly and stared at SunAh, who was sitting right next to the wall.
SunAh was staring nkly at her desk as she fidgeted with her fingers.
<em>Yoon SunAh, status window!</em>
<strong>Poof-</strong><blockquote>
Name: Yoon SunAh
Age: 16
Title: Dirt Spoon
Disposition: ??? > NEW!! Click to Expand
Special Ability: ???
Quirk: ???
Understanding: 5/100
[Your understanding of the target character is too low. Please interact more with this character to obtain more information.]</blockquote>
T/N: A Dirt Spoon is a phrase that originates from the idiom, born with a silver spoon in your mouth. A person born with a dirt spoon is someone from a very poor andcking background and family.
It must have been because it hadnt been very long since I''d be friends with her.
A message stating that my understanding was too low had shown up.
Unlike my own status window, her disposition and quirk were all question marks.
I tried pressing the NEW!! message next to the question marks under disposition.
<strong>Click.</strong><blockquote>
Disposition: ???<ul><li>
Her actions are slow.</li></ul></blockquote>
It was only the one line from when SunAh had stated that her actions were slow.
It seemed thatter, when I found out more about the individual, more information would slowly fill in.
This time, I turned my head around and stared at GyeongWon.
GyeongWon was reading some unknown, very thick book.
<em>Ahn GyeongWon, status window!</em>
<strong>Poof-</strong><blockquote>
Name: Ahn GyeongWon
Age: 17
Title: Pro WikiWarrior
Disposition: Exnation Character > NEW!! Click to Expand
Special Ability: ???
Quirk: ???
Understanding: 20/100</blockquote>
T/N Pro WikiWarrior is a reference to a Korean meme which trantes literally to Turn off Namuwiki. The meme is a reference to certain keyboard warriors tendencies to get all of their information from Namuwiki (the Korean equivalent of wikipedia) and acting as if they are an expert, despite the possible misinformation or mistakes on the wiki.
In GyeongWons case, my understanding of him was much higher than that of SunAh.
That must have been why, under disposition, it was written Exnation Character instead of just question marks.
<strong>Click.</strong><blockquote>
Disposition: Exnation Character.<ul><li>
Thinks hes smart, and enjoys situations where he can unt that. His speaking tone is hard, as if he is an expert.</li></ul></blockquote>
<em>Just as I thought.</em>
It was written exactly as I had evaluated in my mind, and my understanding of him had increased greatly in response.
This time, I took a look at the delinquent girl, who was still sleeping at the back.
The quest condition was that I needed to make three friends.
I wasnt really sure why, but the system must have registered that girl as one of my friends.
<em>How in the world is she my friend?</em>
It was a bit unbelievable, but I tried calling up the status window anyway.
Now that I thought about it, I didnt even know her name.
However, I was determined to see her status window. I called up her status window with all of my will.
<em>Delinquent Girl, status window!</em>
* * *
* * *
<strong>Poof-</strong><blockquote>
Name: Lee JinHee
Age: 17
Title: Backseat Delinquent Girl
Disposition: ???
Special Ability: ???
Quirk: ???
Understanding: 0/100
[Your understanding of the target character is too low. Please interact more with this character to obtain more information.]</blockquote>
<em>I knew it</em>
Since I knew nothing about her, of course there wasnt much to see.
<em>So that scary looking girls name is Lee JinHee.</em>
That was information that I had no prior knowledge of, but it was clearly written on the status window. What did this suggest?
Did that mean that the status window transcended beyond the information I knew?
If that was the case, there was one thing that bothered me.
SunAhs age was written as 16.
<em>We were born in 03, seventeen years old</em>
Even those born in the early part of 04 would have already hit seventeen. Did she attend school early?
If I could check this point outter, I could confirm whether or not my guess about the status transcending beyond the information I knew was correct.
I had roughly finished checking out the game-like system, and I finally had to think about my life restarting, over and over.
The first thing that came to mind was a time loop.
I think I had seen it before, in some science fiction novels.
Regression, reincarnation, or time loops.
It seemed like whenever I died, I was returned to the time right before the entrance ceremony.
<em>This might get annoying</em>
Returning to the entrance ceremony every time I died what could be the meaning behind this?
Even if I tried thinking over it right then, I wouldnt have been able to understand.
I decided that I would have to die a couple of more times before I could get the hang of it.
<em>Why are things like this continuing to happen to me?</em>
While I was thinking over things, a middle-aged man with a rotund stomach walked into the ssroom.
He introduced himself as the homeroom teacher, and stated that he hoped we would have a good time.
<em>Three years. Three years of high school life has started for me again.</em>
I had studied to the point of life and death for three years in order to take the standardized tests, but now my three years of high school were going to start all over.
<em>Fuck</em>
I was so preupied with ghost stories and the demon king and what not that I hadnt properly thought about other aspects of the situation. Now that I had properly thought things through, I realized that I was going to have to repeat some very annoying moments.
Even having to repeat admissions for a single year would ruin most peoples personalities, but to think that I would have to repeat three full years again Haah
T/N: Sooneung Exams are the standardized tests taken in Korea for college admissions. It is basically the Korean equivalent of SATs in the United States. One major difference is that it is only avable once a year, so if you fail it miserably, you have to repeat the admissions process again next year.
I will now hand out the printed announcements. For each row, take a sheet and pass the rest to the person behind you.
At the homeroom teachers words, the students sitting at the front of each row came up to the teachers desk to receive a pile.
On the back of each sheet, the rules and regtions are written out. Alcohol and cigarettes are not allowed, and the dress regtions, such as hair length, are written down. Be sure to check it thoroughly. You wouldnt want to be at a disadvantage.
The middle-aged and balding homeroom teacher was using formal speech with the students, who were much younger than him.
T/N: The teacher has been using formal speech, which is usually used to speak with your elders to be very polite. It is very umon for teachers to use formal speech with students. This formal speech is lost in trantion.
The homeroom teacher handed the piles of paper to the students.
I received the pile of announcement paper, took a sheet, and passed the rest to the person behind me.
I thought the sheet would contain the typical boring stuff, like congrattions, the history of the school, and the rules and regtions, so I didn''t even bother reading it.
My brain was already busy trying to sort out the bizarre happenings so far, so my brain was already overloaded.
Whether it was words, knowledge, or information, I did not want to put anything into my brain for at least a while.
<em>My mentality is on the weaker side, afterall.</em>
I had felt this to my core when I had studied for the standardized tests in myst life.
Although my mind wasnt bad, because my mentality was weak I was the type to get sick of things quickly when forced to focus on something for a long time.
In fact, I was the type of person to react quickly in real time, depending on the situation. My gics must have all been poured into being quick to react to a situation.
During exams, I only knew how to cram at thest second.
Because of this, I was able to handle school tests well in a short time, but on the standardized testswhere I needed to study continuously, over longer periods of timeI couldnt help but do poorly. That was why the university I was epted to was just so-so.
I was able to react quickly to any situation that happened suddenly and solve those issues, but I did not have the capacity to do anything that involved consistent effort over a long period of time.
<em>I want to get home quickly and rest</em>
In the current situation, rather than discover more about what was going on, I wanted to go and get some rest.
It couldnt be helped, since my brain was already oversaturated.
<em>... Now that I think about it, since I returned three years into the past, my home must still be my old house. Its been a while.</em>
<strong>Murmur, murmur -</strong>
Suddenly, the sound of some of the ssmates whispering amongst each other could be heard.
They were exchanging uneasy gazes as they began to look at each other.
<em> Whats happening?</em>
An unusual atmosphere.
At that time, the school broadcast system came to life.
[The broadcasting room has an announcement. It has been confirmed that the rules and regtions announcement sheet that was just distributed to everyone was printed out incorrectly. We will be collecting all announcement sheets immediately. We repeat, we will be collecting the distributed printouts with the rules and regtions on it. Each homeroom teacher is to collect every single printout, with no exceptions. That is all.]
<strong>Murmur, murmur-</strong>
Following this, the homeroom teacher, who seemed to have received some sort of instructions, hurried back into the ssroom.
Ah, it seems that the printout was printed incorrectly. Now, lets have the students in the backe forward as they pick up each sheet.
Wanting to find out what was on the printout, I lifted it up to read through it. However, the student who was collecting the printouts just grabbed it right out of my hands.
He must have mistaken it for me holding it out so that it would be easier for him to collect the sheet.
<em>What was written on the sheet that has everyone reacting like this?</em>
I had ignored it because I found it annoying, but now I regretted not even skimming through it once.
Well, it wasnt like I didnt have friends or anything.
I could easily find out by asking my newly made friends, GyeongWon and SunAh.
<strong>Shortly after.</strong>
Sorry. I thought that the information would just be the typical stuff, so I didnt bother reading it.
GyeongWon responded in a straightforward manner.
Then SunAh, who was seated next to him, responded shyly.
I read it. But they took it back quickly, so I dont remember it too well
Oh!
Do you remember what was said on the printout? What was printed out incorrectly that made everyone whisper about it?
After I asked that question, SunAh began to scrunch her brows as she tried her best to remember.
Honestly, there weren''t any mistakes in the printing itself But there were a few weird lines in the content
Weird lines?
That is
Seemingly unable to put into words properly, SunAh opened and closed her mouth a few times without being able to speak.
Most of the information was normal, but in between some of the rules It was written to not meet a certain girl
A girl?
GyeongWon and I responded simultaneously.
A girl?
Why would the girl pop up in the middle of the school rules?
It said to be careful if you ever meet a certain girl
A certain girl?
Ummm, theughing girl? I think that was it
Aughing girl?
If we meet aughing girl in the school, we have to be careful?
SunAh tried very hard to remember, but soon her expression became disheartened.
Sorry, there was also a line about how to be careful around her but I cant remember what it was
Be careful when you meet aughing girl at school.
Was that really a part of the school rules?
......
Do you think someone was ying a prank?
As I slowly looked at GyeongWon and asked him this, it looked like he was deep in thought.
Well, it could be a prank. But it seems like this is based on the recently popr manual ghost story.
Manual ghost story?
Ghost story!
Again, the words ghost story popped up!
It''s a ghost story that recently became popr on the inte, but it''s a story about a in looking announcement flier with some unexinable and bizarre warnings hidden within. Is it your first time hearing about this?
Manual ghost story