Ghost Story Club

“Jinhee?”

The wooden partition of the locker room slowly creaked open, and someone’s head peeking outside was seen.

A skinny face with big eyes.

It was none other than their friend, Kim Eunjung.

“Wow, it’s been a while. Why are you here?”

The tone of asking the question was friendly, as if asking why she had followed her to the bathroom.

Jinhee answered in a low voice, hiding her nervousness.

“…I’m here to stop you.”

“What?”

A bright smile bloomed on her skinny face.

“Stopping me from doing what?”

“…Killing people like this.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

Eunjung, who was hanging from the partition and peering at Jinhee, shifted her weight, making the hinges creak beneath her.

“People die anyway.”

“… But you shouldn’t kill them like this. That’s why…”

Jinhee raised her head, looking at her friend who seemed so unfamiliar to her.

She fumbled for words.

“…You shouldn’t kill people earlier than their original lifespan.”

“Oh~”

Eunjung giggled as she hung from the partition, finding her words funny. She acted as if she heard a joke and asked in response to her friend’s clumsy reasoning.

“So you came here all of a sudden just to tell me that?”

“….”

“Actually, I don’t really care. I’m just doing what I felt like doing.”

Jinhee was trying to find excuses to say to her friend, who was giggling like a crazy person, and stuttered out again.

“…That’s not how it works.”

“What?”

“… You can’t do whatever you want.”

“Why?”

“….”

Jinhee moistened her dry lips with her tongue.

After hesitating several times, opening and closing her mouth, she barely managed to form a coherent sentence.

“… People dislike them. Those who do whatever they want.”

“What?”

Eunjung made a puzzled expression, showing her confusion.

“I don’t understand. Is that why you suddenly came here?”

“… I’m here to stop what you’re doing-”

“We haven’t seen each other in 6 years, you’re not curious how I’ve been? Not even a hello?”

“….”

Only then did Jinhee raise her hand awkwardly.

“… It’s been a while.”

“Yeah~”

Eunjung accepted the greeting lightly, as if she was brushing off her friend’s awkward behaviour.

Jinhee hesitated again before continuing what she wanted to convey.

“… I came to stop you from killing people.”

“You don’t have to stop me. It’s okay. Just leave.”

“… I will stop you.”

“Hey, are you kidding me?”

Eunjung opened her eyes wide, her voice raising a few octaves due to anger.

“Weren’t you the ones who said I was that kind of person?”

“….”

“Didn’t you call me a psychopathic idiot? I killed all the people who labelled me as such, so why are you acting like all high and mighty?”

Unlike her naive and immature appearance as a child, her current appearance was filled with venom.

However, Jinhee clenched her fists without giving in.

“… Sorry. I misjudged you. But you still shouldn’t do that.”

“But Jinhee, you can do whatever you want to do.”

Eunjung pouted, as if she found the reasoning unfair.

“You come to school whenever you want, and you also skip classes whenever you want.”

“… Oh, I’ve changed. I don’t do that anymore.”

“Really?”

Eunjung finally showed a bit of interest as she pressed her face closely against the crack of the partition.

“Then what do you do now?”

“… I work, earn money, and go to school without skipping a single class.”

“Wow. No way~”

“… It’s true.”

Jinhee nodded again to Eunjung, who had her eyes opened not believing her words, as if to confirm her claim.

“It’s true. That’s what I do now.”

“…Why do you do that?”

Eunjung tilted her head slightly as she asked. She looked like she couldn’t understand Jinhee’s reasoning.

“You weren’t like this back then. You lived doing whatever you wanted.”

“…You still remember the kids I used to hang out with back then?”

“The Seven Princesses?”

Hehe.

“Of course I remember.”

“…Some of them are in juvenile detention centre now. Because they lived doing whatever they wanted.”

“….”

“People will take you to jail. Someone who lives according to their own will… someone who can’t suppress their nature…”

“…..”

“Everyone lives following the rules. Suppressing their desire…..”

Eunjung quietly stared at Jinhee without speaking. Jinhee also stayed silent with a slightly stiff expression on her face. Soon, Eunjung narrowed her eyes and stuck out her tongue playfully.

“Yeah~ I won’t be fooled. You’re a liar~ Jinhee is a liar~.”

“….”

“I knew from the moment you made up those lies to get me kicked out of school!”

“…I was stupid. I was tricked. I didn’t know…”

Jinhee’s tightly clenched hand was getting damp with sweat.

“And, and humanity…”

Damn it, what was that Lee Joon said.

Something about identity.

Her mind was getting fuzzy.

“…Are you having a confusion about your identity? If you’re wondering who you are, you’re my friend.”

“Psst.”

Eunjung covered her lips with her hand, letting out a mocking sneer.

“What are you talking about~ Really.”

“….”

“Go away. I’ll spare you as my friend.”

However, Jinhee stood still with her expression hardened.

Feeling anxious that the situation might come to an end like this, she hurriedly took a step forward and tried to say something, anything to appease her friend.

“It’s because you don’t know who you are, right? That’s why you keep doing this, right?”

“No, that’s not it. I’m pretty sure of who I am.”

Eunjung’s lips formed a playful smile as she leaned forward, sticking her head out through the crack of the partition.

“I’m Eunjung, and I came back to kill all of those people who think they’re normal.”

“….”

“Go quickly. Before I change my mind.”

Eunjung pointed her knife at the entrance.

Jinhee’s tightly clenched hands trembled with tension.

“… Let me stay for a minute-”

“Oh! I think I just heard someone badmouthing me somewhere!”

Suddenly, Eunjung interrupted Jinhee’s words and started looking around in the air, as if she was acting in a stage drama.

“Who’s badmouthing me again? Who’s badmouthing me again, huh? Hey, do you think you’re cool? Just because you’re normal?”

Then, Eunjung pointed at the man she was stabbing earlier.

“…..”

The man was leaning against the wall, barely breathing. He still had a knife stuck on his neck, blood pooling around.

Judging by the black uniform he had, he probably was the in-charge of this place.

“Hey, you were the one who just badmouthed me, right? I knew this would happen, really. You bastards can’t be stopped. Oh my~ still saying this. Let me tell you if you don’t know. You, are the worst person. You are the worst human being in the world. Do you understand?”

Even though she was speaking playfully, her eyes were frantically looking everywhere every moment.

“Do you understand? Is it because you don’t know? How can you not know?”

Eunjung, seething with rage, glared at the man who was barely breathing.

“You are the worst.”

“…S, Stop it!”

Jinhee suddenly stopped Eunjung, who was about to rush to the man in anger.

“That, that guy didn’t say anything!”

“You are lying.”

Eunjung suddenly turned her head at Jinhee. The movement was swift, even the sound of bone cracking was heard loudly as she snapped at Jinhee.

“…..”

She glared at Jinhee for a moment, then turned her gaze back to the fallen bodies and muttered.

“Like this, I killed him. He was cursing at me and bullying me. I said, You know~ it’s self-defense. If you feel guilty, you deserve to die. So instead of the judge, I sentenced him to death, and stabbed him.”

“….”

“Who I was. I need to find out. To be honest, I asked because I didn’t know either. Why are you picking a fight with me if you don’t know? Seriously, people are funny. You don’t know who I am? Then stop pretending as if you know everything, haa.”

Then, Eunjung suddenly turned to Jinhee and smiled brightly.

“Oh, Jinhee. It’s been a while.”

“….”

“Has it been 6 years? It’s really been a long time.”

“….”

“How have you been?”

Wrinkles bloomed on her thin face as she smiled foolishly.

Jinhee gazed into those large eyes for a moment, then took a deep breath, and bit her lips tightly.

“But, but I didn’t do anything, yet they keep misunderstanding me. It was really unfair. But what can I do? I was always alone like this~ Jinhee suddenly showed up as my partner. Yes, Teacher. I’m hanging out with Jinhee these days. She takes me to a lot of fun places and plays with me. Really, nobody else really wants to play with me, but Jinhee treats me really well. Isn’t that great?”

“….”

“I watched a clown video yesterday. There, some people were bungee jumping, and the clown cut the rope and killed someone. It was so cruel. I wanted to try it, but it seemed Jinhee didn’t like it. So I didn’t do it.”

“….”

“I think I’ll get bored if I go there. I want to play more with Jinhee. Yes, she’s my deskmate. Teacher, can I not go there? Actually, I don’t want to go there at all. There’s no one like Jinhee, no friends. I know I’m weird, but Jinhee is really nice. She plays with me. She’s such a nice person. Ugh, who’s badmouthing me? This guy honestly deserves to die. But if I kill him, I’ll be taken to jail, so I’ll let him off this once. Ah, I’m bored. Over there… Over there.”

“….”

“Over there, Jinhee.”

Eunjung stopped muttering to herself and opened her eyes wide, as if remembering something.

She stared blankly for a moment, then slowly let out a sad smile filled with pain and unwillingness.

“… Am I weird?”

“… Yeah, hick, yeah.”

Before she could comprehend, tears streamed down Jinhee’s face as she cried quietly.

“… Jinhee, what are you doing? I told you to hurry up and go away. Before I change my mind…-”

“…..”

Jinhee bit her lips tightly and cried silently.

Tears flowed down on both cheeks.

Eunjung, who had been rolling her eyes everywhere and muttering to herself, suddenly seemed flustered.

As if surprised by Jinhee’s sudden show of emotion, she opened her mouth wide.

“Wow~ It’s Jinhee. It’s been so long.”

“… Uh, hick, ugh. Ah…”

“I really missed you a lot, but how did we end up meeting here? How have you been? I’ve always wanted to see you.”

Uncontrollable tears flowed down Jinhee’s cheeks.

She nodded, wiping the tears with her hand.

“… I, I’m sorry. Eunjung… It’s all my fault…”

“… What? What?”

Eunjung, who was still pressed against the partition, made a bewildered expression.

“Why, why are you crying? Is Jinhee going to an alternative school too?”

“Even though I was right next to you, I didn’t know…. I’m sorry…”

Jinhee rubbed her eyes, wiping away the tears overflowing from her eyes.

“… I’m sorry, I was fooled by the counselor…”

“Ah, the counselor.”

Eunjung suddenly shrunk her shoulders at those words and looked around fearfully.

“That person shouldn’t come. She’d make a fool of me again.”

As Jinhee sniffled while wiping away her tears with difficulty, Eunjung shifted her gaze anxiously.

After a moment, Jinhee calmed herself down a bit and wiped her eyes one last time before asking in a quivering voice.

“Alternative school… there…. what happened to you there…?”

“….”

“Something happened between you and the counselor, what is it that happened…?”

“….”

Eunjung’s playfulness gradually disappeared and a stoic expression covered her face.

“Tell me.”

“….”

“I’ll help you….”

Eunjung’s eyes, with her head sticking out through the gap of the partition slowly filled with raw fear.

She shrunk her shoulders further, cowering to herself and looked around the staff room with trembling eyes.

“… What’s wrong?”

“… Over there.”

She pointed to the wall with a trembling finger, her big eyes filled with fear.

“….That person is listening. So I can’t say anything.”

Jinhee turned her head to where her finger was pointing.

In that spot, the staff member who had been applying pressure to stop the bleeding from his neck where a knife was sticking out was barely managing to breathe.

“… Someone is eavesdropping on you?”

“Mmhm….”

In response to her inquiry, Eunjung once again looked around in fear.

Jinhee sniffled and asked with a puzzled expression, not understanding the situation.

“….You’ve already died. What is there to be scared of now…?”

“There is…”

Eunjung whispered anxiously, shifting her gaze restlessly as if to avoid being seen by that certain someone.

“… I think that’s why you should think of me in a different way.”

“What?”

Eunjung’s shoulders shrunk even more as she flinched at Jinhee’s pressing tone, urging for an answer.

“… Think of me as a child, someone who’s still in the 4th grade.”

“….”

“It will be less scarier that way. It’s something that shouldn’t be overheard by anyone…”

Her expression was like that of a child hesitating to reveal a ‘secret conversation that would be a big deal if an adult found out’.

It was a change that could happen because there were so few living people within this space who recognized her.

Jinhee was sniffling in bewilderment.

And Eunjung was staring at her anxiously.

And in between them, a man was clutching his neck, trying to stop the blood that was flowing out.

Thus, the three of them glanced at each other for a moment in a standoff.

Thud-

Soon, Jinhee clenched her teeth and strode strongly toward the man.

“Cough, cough…”

The man, trying his best to escape from the approaching Jinhee, pushed himself off the ground with both hands.

As soon as he removed his hand from the wound on his neck where he was desperately applying pressure, blood started to flow out again.

Jinhee watched the man and broke in a cold sweat, unsure of what to do with him.

The man barely managed to crawl a few steps, but soon he couldn’t control the blood flowing out and staggered in his steps.

One way or another, this guy was soon going to die.

The moment she hastily opened the door to save him, she didn’t know how Eunjung’s personality, which she had calmed down to some extent, might change under the influence of others.

With those thoughts in mind, Jinhee decided to leave the dying man as he was.

“Uggh, uughh…”

Thud.

“Haa, haa, haa, haa.”

The man eventually collapsed, unable to handle the blood gushing out of his neck.

Then, Eunjung, who had only been peeking out from behind the locker room, finally stepped outside.

“Phew, huu, huu… There’s no one around us anymore, Eunjung. It’s okay…”

“… Jinhee.”

Eunjung approached Jinhee, who was sweating profusely.

“Jinhee…”

“… Now, can you please tell me? The alternative school you transferred to, what happened there…”

Instead of answering, Eunjung slowly took Jinhee’s hand and murmured worriedly while looking at the man’s corpse.

“… Jinhee, you’ll be taken to jail if you do that…”

“Fuck. I’ll go if they take me, whatever.”

Jinhee wiped away the cold sweat on her sleeve which was already soaked with her tears.

“It can’t get any worse.”

Eunjung, fiddling with her partner’s trembling hand, slowly opened her mouth as if her heart’s door had been unlocked.

“… That school was a kind of laboratory.”

“Laboratory?”

“Yeah.”

Jinhee’s knuckles, scarred and battered, looked more like those of a fighter than a woman’s, as if she’d been in many fights here and there.

Eunjung gently fiddled with her rough hands as if they were that of a child.

“They gather children who can’t adapt to society, make them take strange medicine… and make them repeat words that sound like spells…”

“… What about your parents?”

Jinhee asked, clenching her molars.

“Didn’t your parents say anything?”

“… They hated me. And they only accept children from families that don’t care about that kind of children.”

Eunjung quietly turned Jinhee’s hand over and over and quietly examined it.

It was as if a child was playing around.

“That counselor, so to speak, is in charge of recruiting… or something like that…”

“… The counselor you’re talking about, Teacher Ryu Jinah.”

“Yeah… her main job is to find students with moderate mental problems and who come from poor family circumstances. She then sends them to their own special school.”

Suddenly, Jinhee recalled the image of the counseling teacher, who used to go around the neighborhood searching for them whenever they skipped class during childhood.

‘She was just trying to win our favor.’

Since Eunjung was one of the students who would be sent to the alternative school, which was more of a laboratory, as part of the experiment, she had no choice but to show care for them deeply and encourage them to keep coming to school.

“… Let’s go and get her now.”

“What?”

Eunjung, who had been fiddling with Jinhee’s hand, suddenly looked up in surprise.

“What did you say?”

“… Let’s go find that woman now.”

Jinhee spoke with a flushed face, filled with betrayal.

Eunjung blankly stared at Jinhee for a moment, then let out a laugh as if to say how foolish that thought was.

“You’re still as reckless as ever. You haven’t changed at all.”

“….”

“They will take you to prison if you hurt someone. Don’t do that.”

Eunjung, who was speaking that way, had already taken a different appearance before she knew it.

Just as Jinhee remembered her young self in fourth grade, the appearance of a frail girl with a mental disability, but still with a pure and innocent heart, was standing before her.

“… As expected, the rope on the roof of that apartment building. You didn’t cut it.”

“What? What rope?”

She had become the Eunjung in fourth grade, who understood well the social reasons for not harming others.

“Which rope? Sorry. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Eunjung just smiled brightly in response.

“I guess you misunderstood something again besides the rabbit incident.”

“….”

“But I really should have done that. That counselor. I should have killed that person first. But…”

Eunjung carefully let go of Jinhee’s hand.

“It’s too late. I’m completely unstable now. From the moment I came to my senses, I only had this strange instinct to establish what kind of person I am.”

“….”

“Even when I was mindlessly stabbing people around here according to the image you guys gave me… I didn’t have any other thoughts. I just had this strong urge to go somewhere crowded and stab everyone to death…”

“… What about now?”

The young Eunjung smiled faintly at Jinhee, who asked bluntly.

“Look at myself. You really thought of me as your friend.”

The young Eunjung slowly walked barefoot on the blood-stained floor, and stood in front of the large mirror in the locker room before looking at herself.

She examined her own reflection, wearing a dress as pure as white, from different angles.

“You even remember me wearing these clothes. Even the tear mole under my eye…”

“… Come here.”

Soon, Jinhee strode over and grabbed the girl’s small hand.

“Let’s go play together.”

“…Mmhm.”

The door to the staff room opened, and Jinhee, covering the head of the young Eunjung with her coat so no one could see her, emerged from behind the doors. She carried the young Eunjung and passed by the club members who were hiding.

“… Jinhee?”

“Shh.”

Just as someone was about to speak, Lee Joon extended his hand and signalled, telling the person to be quiet.

And so, Jinhee carried the girl on her back and walked steadily out of the Seoul Station which had turned bloody from long ago.

Towards the distant entrance that was shining brightly.

[Hey, it’s me. A schoolgirl in a uniform will be carrying a child on her back and leaving the station soon. Since she’s a victim, you can send her out right away so she can receive treatment. I’ve already got her personal information.]

“Yes, Detective. Understood.”

The police officers, who had surrounded the entrance to prevent anyone from entering the station, soon spotted Jinhee walking out through the glass doors of Seoul Station.

And after confirming the girl being carried on her back, they immediately guided her out.

“It’s okay. She’s not hurt anywhere. We don’t need an ambulance.”

As Jinhee was climbing down the stairs while trying to dissuade the police officers who were trying to guide her to the ambulance that had been parked nearby, the coat she had draped over the young Eunjung suddenly slipped off.

The citizens around whispered among themselves as they looked at the young girl on Jinhee’s back.

“Oh my, even such a young child like that got involved.”

“How many people were injured? And another one is being carried out.”

Citizens looked at Jinhee in her school uniform and the young Eunjung in a white dress, being carried on her back, with concern.

They patted their chests in dismay, expressing their frustration and sorrow.

“The end of the world has come. Even some crazy person with knives and stabbing anyone to death has appeared…”

“Oh no, I think she’s hurt somewhere. I hope she’s okay…”

Eunjung, who was now like a blank sheet of paper, began to take the shape of the people’s sympathetic gazes.

“Jinhee, it hurts… I’m hurting…”

“… Just hold on a little longer.”

Her pure one-piece white dress gradually became stained with red with the wounds that have appeared, revealing old injuries.

Vroooom.

Jinhee’s motorcycle sped along the bridge over the Han River, picking up pace.

Behind her, the young Eunjung hugged her tightly with a smile, her one-piece white dress fluttering in the passing wind.

Flutter, flutter.

The grassy area near the neighborhood where she often played when she was young.

The young Eunjung leaped on all fours, chasing after lizards, but they always seemed to slip through her fingers.

“… Idiot. Here, look here.”

Jinhee, watching from a distance, quickly uncovered a nearby rock and caught a fleeing lizard.

“Wow…”

Her partner, Eunjung approached, eyes sparkling with excitement.

“Grab it.”

“Wow…”

Unable to resist Jinhee’s stubbornness, Eunjung ended up picking up the lizard with a smile.

“This time, don’t grab the tail, but the body.”

“Mmhm.”

Following her advice, she slowly picked up the lizard.

Then the girl crouched down as she gazed at the creature with curious eyes.

After watching the lizard struggling for a while, Eunjung looked up at Jinhee and smiled, as if she was done watching.

“I hope you’ll be my friend in my next life too.”

As she said that, her body gradually became transparent.

Jinhee crouched down beside the fading Eunjung, sharing the moment with her.

“Where are you going?”

The girl disappeared with a bright smile without answering.

Jinhee’s lips twitched several times, but in the end, she couldn’t bring herself to say goodbye.

Soon, the lizard that was dropped out of thin air crawled away through the grass.

The grassy field where they used to play as a child.

Traces of the trampled weeds remained, as if someone had once been there.

Jinhee, crouching alone there, muttered softly.

“This is why I shouldn’t play with you.”

Jinhee muttered softly to herself, crouching there like that for a long, long time.