Exploration Record #13, which I had added.
If you acquire and wear a school uniform in the proper manner, you will be treated as a student.
This is, in truth, a rather groundbreaking concept.
Handled incorrectly, it could distort the original essence of the ghost story. The school ghost story.
Monsters that only move when unobserved.
'Within the Shadow of Darkness', which was built by remixing these two classic tropes, originally adhered to the theme of classic 'fear of the pursued'.
A nightmare in which familiar places and people turn into incomprehensible horrors that chase you down until you're dead.
However, as exploration records accumulated beyond ten entries, a subtle build-up began to emerge.
'It's the kind of thing that adds the fun of imagining a more specific backstory to the world.'
Exploration Record #05
Text found on the blackboard: Avoid the teacher. The teacher is (the rest of the text was crudely erased).
In this way, bits of foreshadowing steadily piled up.
For twelve entries, it had only been accumulating, and the story had gained enough popularity to make it seem like it would keep 'accumulating' indefinitely.
'That sort of thing gets frustrating after a while.'
It becomes difficult to sustain the original theme of fear born from gaps in information.
But then, a thought occurred.
'If I could explore as an insider, as a student, wouldn't it add the thrill of retrieving all these clues?'
The thirteenth exploration record I wrote aligned with what the creators of the ghost story had been craving.
Thus, the ghost story of 'Within the Shadow of Darkness' reached a new turning point.
From mid-to-late explorations onward, all the eerie foreshadowing scattered throughout the logs would be retrieved, revealing shocking twists. The latter half was filled with deeper, more story-driven exploration records.
It was a remarkable experience to witness indirectly.
Seeing the seeds I had sown grow into a larger, new story through the contributions of many others.
'But to actually experience it myself…'
Right.
I planned to encounter the very climax of that story a little earlier than expected.
'Let's go.'
Dressed as a student, I walked down the dark hallway on the third floor of Sekwang Technical High School.
In the distance, I saw 'monsters' full of fear slowly disappearing around the corners of the hallway.
The urge to chase them surged and then subsided.
'Huu.'
Strangely, existing in this school as a student felt comfortable. It felt like I was standing where I belonged.
This only intensified the rejection and destructive impulse I felt when witnessing those alien 'monsters' roaming the school.
Especially.
[A death has occurred in Class 2-2.]
When I first heard that announcement, my heart sank.
A bittersweet sadness and a chilling emptiness.
And a sense of duty to uncover the cause of the accident! [Please observe a moment of silence for five seconds.]
I wanted nothing more than to sprint through the now-brightly lit school, eagerly eliminating the source of this error and 'observing silence'.
But…
'I'm not really a student.'
I must not forget.
Kim Soleum has many tasks to accomplish.
First, I had to go up to the fourth floor.
I stepped onto the stairs.
'Ah.'
Huh?
The classroom of Class 1-5, which I belong to, is on the second floor.
It seems there's no reason to go up to the third floor.
A thought that popped up like a notification.
"..."
This is why students were described as 'rarely leaving their assigned floors'.
Of course, I wasn't bound by that restriction.
I was only borrowing the uniform, not a true student of this school. 'Huuu.'
I resumed walking.
Step by step.
[4F]
Before the blinding 'light of silence' that filled the hallway disappeared completely, I reached the fourth floor.
The place was dark, with flickering lights and shattered bulbs. The floor that had once been filled with dozens of mannequin-like students staring lifelessly was now…
Alive.
"...!"
The students now exchanged lively glances, gestured at one another, and silently chatted among themselves.
I bit my tongue to ensure I made no sound.
Students of Sekwang Technical High School had no voices. If I spoke to them in my normal voice while wearing this borrowed uniform, I would ■■■ ■■■■.
Afterward, I would wake up and regain consciousness.
To think that I would end up bound by the very sentences I had written. I walked through the crowd of students who occasionally glanced at me indifferently or smiled awkwardly when our eyes met.
Don't appear awkward…
'Act natural…'
I passed a corner in the hallway and stopped right before the stairs near the faculty office for the third years.
A small iron door stood there.
[Faculty Storage]
It was an ordinary storage area typically used to keep cleaning supplies in schools.
And right in front of it, five or six students were gathered in a tight circle.
If I weren't wearing Sekwang Technical High School's uniform, I would have never been able to approach such a densely packed group. 'But now, I can.'
I stepped forward.
The students looked at me with puzzled expressions.
Why has a first-year come all the way up here?
Their expressions seemed to ask that very question.
I pulled out an A4 sheet of paper I had brought from the infirmary and wrote slowly.
Seniors asked me to fetch a ladder from the storage room. May I take it with me?
One of the students chuckled, took my pen, and wrote a reply.
ok lolol
Clink.
When I looked up, another student was already holding a set of keys and shaking them in front of me.
I took the key bundle.
Using the key labeled '4F Storage', I unlocked the storage room and stepped inside.
A place only students could enter.
Creaaak.
The light reflecting through the gap in the door stabbed at my eyes. Inside, various objects shimmered, as if radiating their own presence. Much like the nametag Jang Heo-un had given me.
'Damn.'
As expected, the sight was even more bizarre and eye-catching than I had imagined.
After carefully shutting the storage room door, I immediately reached out toward the objects…
It seems I can't take this item yet.
Ignoring the thought that popped into my mind like a notification, I rummaged through the shimmering items—buckets, mops, small whiteboards—and finally found what I was looking for.
"..."
It was a decorative brooch.
A somewhat clumsy-looking decoration made by laminating thick paper, as if handcrafted by an amateur.
Obtained a 'Name Tag Decoration'!
Name Tag Decoration: A flower decoration that says 'Congratulations on Your Graduation'. It seems to be modeled after Sekwang Technical High School's official flower, the azalea.
Perhaps it's intended as a gift for graduates?
I tucked the glittering 'Name Tag Decoration' into my pocket. 'Got it.'
I now had the essential item to 'attack' this ghost story.
I continued exploring places that only students could access, verifying whether the information I knew from the exploration records matched reality.
I borrowed a book from the library, tapped on the piano keys in the music room…
'If anything was even slightly off, it would be better to die and wake up quickly.'
Fortunately, everything aligned perfectly.
'…Good.'
During this process, I avoided going to the fifth floor, where the 'graduation ceremony preparation hall' was located.
It wasn't time yet.
'When will the notification come?'
Taking a tense breath, I waited slowly…
And then.
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A tremendous roar struck my ears.
"...!"
Would this be what a sound glitch feels like?
It was like the noise of hundreds of people scratching their nails against chalkboards—a maddening cacophony!
And I knew what it was.
'…The monsters!'
The voices of explorers, who appeared as glitched monsters to me, were unmistakable!
The deafening noise of whatever they were saying to each other downstairs pounded not just my ears but my brain.
A powerful urge enveloped me.
'So this is why they chased noisy ones first!'
At the very least, I wanted to eliminate the sound…
'...! Calm down, calm down…'
I suppressed the overwhelming urge and refrained from running down the stairs.
Instead, I took a few seconds to quell my impulses.
'Now, let's move.'
Once I was fully composed, I proceeded carefully and checked the monsters at the far end of the fourth-floor hallway.
The monsters were confronting a student.
No, the situation was almost over.
The student was lying immobile on the ground, unable to move. Yet, the monsters weren't all retired.
'Damn.'
I prepared myself.
One monster was still intact.
It stared at the student lying on the ground before turning to look at me. And it stopped me in my tracks.
...
I saw it from a distance.
The monster that froze me in place.
Its face, horrifyingly melted, resembled a grotesque figure smeared like pixels.
But one thing was different from the other monsters.
'It's wearing a mask.'
And the mask was…
A goral!
'…Go Yeongeun!'
***
"Wow."
I'm the only one left.
Go Yeongeun caught her breath and leaned against the hallway wall. In front of her lay (probably) the last student on this third floor, immobilized on the ground.
It seemed to still be alive, but she had no intention of killing it. 'If I kill this one, there'll be another blackout, and more will swarm in… ha.'
The civilians she had been escorting were all already dead. 'At least the last three had nametags with them when they died…'
According to company protocol, even if someone dies, they can live their daily lives in reality.
Still, it was unsettling that the liquid in the Dream Essence Collector only refilled when a 'nametag' was obtained.
'…Something's definitely up.'
Go Yeongeun had somewhat given up on collecting nametags meticulously for a high-grade clear.
Instead, she subtly shared information about them with her companions and divided what she had.
And those people had just all died.
'Ugh…'
Having worked at this company long enough to grow accustomed to gore-filled carnage, monsters, and ghosts, she wasn't overwhelmed.
After all, she'd completed anatomy studies and cadaver practice without any trouble during her time at med school, so she'd always been strong-willed.
'Thank goodness they didn't actually die for real…'
She had become so desensitized that even thoughts like this came naturally now.
'…Should I go upstairs now?'
Just as Go Yeongeun decided to catch her breath and start moving again—
Flicker.
"...!!"
Beyond the hallway…
Another 'student' appeared.
They were tall, wearing the somewhat disheveled uniform of Sekwang Technical High School, giving off the atmosphere of a delinquent. 'Ha.'
Wow…
I can't take this anymore!
'Let's just go.'
Surely, lasting this long should be enough to avoid any issues in her performance review.
Go Yeongeun felt so worn out that she wanted to rip off the ultra-powerful headlamp strapped to her head.
She was ready to wake up from this wretched nightmare…
Flicker.
…Wait?
'H-Hold on.'
Under the dim light, she caught a glimpse of the student's features. Their face was calm, sharp, and composed.
"…Mr. Roe Deer?"
It was Kim Soleum.
At first, she thought it might be a lookalike student.
But even though they looked slightly younger than the face she was used to seeing, it was unmistakably them.
It was really Kim Soleum.
A chill ran down Go Yeongeun's spine.
'W-Wait a second…!'
What kind of situation was this?
Could it be?
If certain conditions were met in this ghost story, would someone get 'corrupted' and end up like this?
Turned into a student monster?
"Ah…"
Having worked for months, she knew enough about ghost story contamination to feel a surge of terror.
But in the next moment, she resolved herself.
'I need to confirm this.'
If she woke up now and something had truly gone wrong, she would hate herself for running away.
'It's fine if I die and wake up from the dream anyway.'
Determined, she approached the hallway, trying not to blink both eyes at once.
The closer she got to the student standing still, the more certain she became that it was Kim Soleum.
'…Even the rabbit plushie is gone.'
The keychain plushie he usually carried wasn't with him, leaving Go Yeongeun with a strange mix of bitterness and sorrow as she moved closer.
Flicker.
The light flickered, but the flashlight secured on her head saved her from any trouble.
'Just a little closer.'
She drew nearer.
But then—
Thud.
Suddenly, a burst of blinding light pierced Go Yeongeun's eyes.
"...!!"
Her vision vanished temporarily.
The source was a flashlight in Kim Soleum's hand.
It was set to flash a few seconds after being activated, momentarily blinding whoever approached.
Go Yeongeun couldn't tell exactly what object had caused it, but she quickly grasped the situation.
'A trap?! Set in advance?!'
A sudden wave of dizziness hit her, but she composed herself quickly. 'It can't be helped.'
What frustrated her was not understanding the strange situation in full. But there wasn't much time to dwell on it. The monsters were insanely fast. In the next moment, she would die…
"...??"
She didn't die.
There was no pain or the floating sensation of waking up from a dream. …She was fine!
'What?'
As her eyes adjusted to the aftereffects of the flash, Go Yeongeun looked up at the 'student' in confusion and froze them with her gaze. ...
Kim Soleum, wearing the Sekwang Technical High School uniform, wasn't looking at Go Yeongeun.
Instead, he was staring at the floor.
'The floor?'
Go Yeongeun stepped back slightly, aligning her view to see both Kim Soleum and the floor simultaneously.
"...!"
On the floor, words had appeared.
An A4 sheet of paper had been laid down, and writing was scrawled on it.
Ms. Goral?
"GAAAHHHH!!"