"Boss, in our boarding house… has anyone ever died...?"
[T/N: Goshiwon (고시원) or a boarding house/ rental house is a type of small, inexpensive living space in Korea, often rented by students or low-income individuals.]
"Huh? What? A, anyone died?"
When the manager of the boarding house asked that question during a brief stop to settle accounts, the owner couldn't hide his look of surprise.
"No? I don't think that's ever happened?"
"Really...? It's just that I saw something strange last night—"
"No, it's fine. It's a normal building and a normal floor. Don't worry about it, just focus on your studies."
"Yes..."
After saying that, the owner hurriedly finished his work and quickly left the building again.
It was already the fourth time.
Every time the manager said they saw a strange woman and couldn't continue working.
* * *
A boarding house is, by nature, a place managed by the manager.
Of course, the owner is technically in charge, but he only drops by for a few hours a day to do some inspections, nothing more.
Basically, a boarding house is a place where a young manager lives 24 hours a day, sweeping and cleaning the entire floor, and manages the residents.
The position of manager is usually filled by young people in their 20s to 30s preparing for civil service exams, because the job doesn't require a heavy workload and is easy to balance while studying.
Since cleaning and miscellaneous tasks only take about two solid hours, the manager's job basically boils down to just sitting at the front desk and keeping watch.
Of course, the hourly wage is low, but even so, like study room supervisors, the boarding house manager is a popular position for young people planning to study long-term.
However, this boarding house manager position had already been abandoned three times by managers who saw ghosts and ran away.
Even now, when the owner tried contacting them to ask if they could come back since the position was vacant, the first two who ran away didn't even answer, and the most recent one who quit had committed suicide, so the owner's heart was left burning with worry.
In the end, after convincing a new civil exam taker to move in and giving them a free room, he asked them to temporarily take the manager position, but hearing that he saw something strange just two days into the job made the owner furious.
'Damn, that damn ghost...'
The previous manager was so scared that he even asked the owner to stay with him once, but the owner didn't see anything at all.
At this rate, it was clear that the current manager would be the fourth to run off, claiming to have seen a ghost.
On top of that, he had a main job elsewhere, so he couldn't afford to focus solely on the boarding house.
In the end, after finishing his work for the day, he vented his frustration to his wife.
"Honey, they said they saw a ghost again. Again."
"Oh my, again...?"
His wife took his coat with a worried look.
"The last person also said the same thing before they ran off."
"The one before that too. And the one before them said the same thing and ran off."
"Then maybe there really is something there? I think we should look into it..."
"But since this kept happening, I looked into it a bit myself. Isn't our boarding house pretty old? There have been a few people who died inside from illness. But they were all middle-aged men in their 40s or 50s. Why would a young woman be showing up? Why..."
The owner of the Noryangjin Boarding House let out a deep sigh.
He decided to run a boarding house as a side income since it was a rental business that required minimal investment. But never in his wildest dreams did he expect that the problem wouldn't be violation of fire codes, taxes, or troublesome tenants, but a ghost.
"And whenever I'm on shift with them, it's like the ghost chooses not to show up. At first, I thought the managers were just crazy, but now that even the current one is saying the same thing. It doesn't seem like nothing anymore."
"Honey, you know."
The wife snuggled up close to her frustrated husband, trying to comfort him.
"I know this one mom from the daycare who, I don't know if she suddenly developed schizophrenia or what—started screaming about ghosts haunting her apartment, and then started slashing the neighbors with a knife…..?"
"…Really?"
"The residents were really worried the house prices would drop because of the investigation, but the detective in charge handled it so well that no weird rumors got out during the investigation."
"…Hmm."
"That detective is apparently kind of well-known among the police for that sort of thing. You know, those cases that get weird rumors attached to them—ghosts and all that. Like when shamans get involved, or cases tied up with religious fanatics. They say he handles those cleanly, so nothing ends up leaking to the tabloids."
"But no one has died in our boarding house yet..."
"Someone did! The former manager who ran away!"
"But they said it was suicide..."
"That's just how you choose to spin it!"
The wife persuaded her hesitant husband.
A shadow fell over the owner's eyes.
"Why bother a hardworking cop for no good reason, just because business isn't doing well…..."
"Still, just try something, honey. Four employees quit, if you say it might be tied to a crime, won't they look into it? There's been a lot of news lately about shady stuff like rival businesses or neighboring shops doing strange things to interfere with business."
"…That makes sense."
The owner nodded.
"Then, should we give it a try?"
"Let's do it, honey. I'll ask an acquaintance and get that person's contact info."
The owner nodded, deciding that he should at least try to talk to him somehow.
* * *
The next morning, Detective Park Gangwoon, who had been contacted, visited the boarding house.
"Oh my, Detective! Thank you so much for coming all the way here! Can I at least treat you to a meal or something…"
"No, it's fine. I'm a public servant, getting treated to anything could be a big problem."
Detective Park Gangwoon stood upright in front of the bowing owner and glanced up at the boarding house building.
"I'm not on duty right now; I took a day off from my annual leave, so relax while I'm here."
"Oh my, you came all the way even on your day off…...."
"Do I enter this way?"
"Yes, the elevator is this way…"
The owner hurriedly guided the Detective into the boarding house.
He looked completely surprised that the Detective came this quickly.
"H, here we are. Our boarding house is on the 5th floor of this building. It's co-ed, and each room has its own shower."
"Is there anything above that?"
"Yes, yes, the building goes up to the 5th floor, and above that is the rooftop. There's a washing machine and drying racks up there..…"
"I'll take a look around."
Detective Park Gangwoon gestured for the owner to make himself comfortable, then proceeded to thoroughly inspect the boarding house.
After arriving on the 5th floor, he changed into slippers at the hallway entrance.
Then, after walking around the corridor once, he inspected the bathroom and kitchen.
After that, he went up one more flight from the 5th floor, looked out at the rooftop briefly, then came back down to the boarding house and entered the counter where the manager worked.
Then, a young man with glasses, the manager of the boarding house, came out of the restroom next to the counter probably after finishing his business and greeted them.
"Oh, hello..."
"Are you the manager here?"
"Yes..."
With a chubby build, lifeless demeanor, and a blank face that looked depressed and worn out from studying.
He was a typical young man preparing for the civil service exam.
Detective Park Gangwoon glanced around inside the counter area and then spoke to the manager.
"Have you ever seen a ghost while working here?"
"Oh! Yes, yes...! I saw it, definitely..."
"Was it captured on the CCTV as well?"
"No, on the CCTV…"
The young man scratched his head.
"It only shows me jumping in surprise, nothing else…"
"Let me take a look."
"Here..."
Perhaps he had already prepared it to show the owner, the video was right there on the computer desktop.
"This is it. The person getting startled here is me, and there was a woman standing outside the window, but she wasn't captured in the footage….."
"Outside the window?"
"Yes..."
The footage showed the boarding house kitchen in the middle of the night.
Sure enough, the video showed the manager heating something in the microwave late at night, then suddenly jumping in fright.
"Where is this place?"
"It's just around the corner right outside the counter here. In the kitchen…"
Telling the manager to wait, Detective Park Gangwoon walked into the kitchen.
Then, he stood in front of the microwave where the manager had been in the video.
He glanced out the window from that spot for a moment, then briskly walked back to the counter.
"You were startled by the reflection of someone in the glass. Since it was late at night with no other lights around, the window acted like a mirror, and you were surprised by the reflection of someone standing in the hallway behind you. The reason it didn't show up on the CCTV is because it wasn't an actual person standing there, but just a reflection. Since the camera above is positioned at a different angle, it didn't capture it. If you look here, you can see a slight shadow. It's because someone was standing on the opposite side."
"I, is that so...?"
The manager leaned back in his chair with a bewildered expression.
Soon after, the owner followed the Detective out of the building, bowing politely as he saw him off.
"Thank you for coming by and checking things out today…"
"It's nothing, I didn't really find anything anyway."
Detective Park Gangwoon gave a curt nod, then took a business card from his pocket and handed it to him.
"There's my phone number on it. If anything 'strange' happens here again, please don't hesitate to contact me."
"Th, thank you..."
* * *
[2019, May 20th | Monday, 08:35 AM]
[Lee Joon: Number of Attempts - 2]
[Ghost Story Points: 781]
[Causality Rate: 32%]
"We can't? Why?"
"Our school has already selected the team for this competition. Sorry, but I think it might be better for you to look into a different competition."
With that, the third-year science teacher casually headed upstairs to teach her class, showing little concern.
I turned around with a crumpled expression.
"Joon..."
"Prez..."
"What the heck."
Our club members grumbled with baffled expressions.
I led them out of the teachers' office and stood into the hallway.
"I guess the team representing our school in this competition was already formed, probably."
"But they still sent an official document yesterday? This is ridiculous."
"Exactly, haa."
Although many science high school students participate, the Clover Science Exhibition was also often attended by regular schools.
Last Friday during CA session, we decided among ourselves to participate, and as soon as Monday came, we went straight to the teachers' office to register, but we were told on the spot that we couldn't.
Only one team per school could register, and it turned out that our school had already formed the team.
Soon, Gyeongwon strongly protested to me.
"This isn't fair, Club Prez. If the participants are already decided, then they shouldn't have sent out the official notice, and the poster shouldn't have been hung either."
"Who are they? Are they really that good at studying?"
"Well, maybe it's the seniors who are preparing for it….."
While we were quietly exchanging opinions, Teacher Han Ari passed by us in a hurry.
I quickly stopped the flustered Teacher Han Ari.
"Teacher, hello."
"Huh? Oh, oh. Hello…"
She looked around in a fluster, then saw us and tilted her head in confusion.
It seemed she didn't recognize who we were.
"We're first-year students from Class 3 who take your class. We have a quick question….."
"Oh, yeah. What is it?"
She seemed busy, but hearing her students had a question, she immediately turned back to us.
I asked her directly.
"Teacher, about the Clover Science Exhibition, you know. The official notice that came down yesterday. Do you know who are representing our school?"
"Science Exhibition...?"
After a moment of thinking, she asked us,
"Are you planning to participate...?"
"We're just thinking."
"Maybe your seniors… second years, I think? I heard the students from the Chemistry Club are participating…"
"Chemistry Club?"
"Uh, yeah..."
The teacher, seemingly intimidated by the six students surrounding her, shrank back slightly as she answered.
Soon, Dukhun stepped forward, fuming.
"Are they even good at studying!?"
"Uh, uh-huh!? I-I think they're all top students, at least…"
"When was this decided? Do they have any experience with competitions?"
When Gyeongwon joined in and pressed her with more questions, the teacher averted her gaze and stepped back.
"I-I'm not sure. The supervising teacher is the third-year science teacher, so if you ask her..."
I'm only in charge of the first years, the teacher added and quickly scurried away.
Soon, the club members burst out in indignation.
"If it's a third-year teacher, then it's the same teacher who just turned us down!"
"She turned us down just to send out her own team, President! Let's go confront her!"
"Calm down. We have to make a plan."
I held back the excited club members.
Getting emotional in a situation like this would only be bad for us.
After all, she was the third-year teacher, the one with final authority over anything related to science competitions.
'And she's from the cult.'
"What should we do, Joon...?"
Sunah asked with a worried expression.
For us, there was a definite reason we had to participate in this competition.
Because only the top team would be given a tour of the headquarters and a chance to meet Clover's founder, Chun Seungjae.
"…For now, I'm not thinking of giving up. Even if they go, there's no way they'll win any awards. They're just regular students. No matter what it takes, us going is the right choice for the school."
"That's right, Prez. How could those people even compete against the science high school students?"
"The problem is, their supervising teacher is exactly the one who has the final say over the science competitions…"
Simply whining wouldn't get us anywhere.
But somehow, we have to snatch this opportunity away.
'Anyway, the seniors who are going to participate will probably only think about adding a merit to their student records.'
On the other hand, we were participating to save the world, our purpose was noble, and if we competed, winning first place was a sure thing.
Having us compete instead of those seniors would be better for the school too.
"So, what should we do?"
"Okay, listen."
I gathered the restless club members to one side for a moment.
"First of all, in the case of a big competition like this, it's right to hold a preliminary competition within the school to decide which team will go."
"…That's right."
"Absolutely right!"
"But look. The supervisor, the third-year science teacher, just wants to send her own students, right? And even if we complain, I don't think she'll just give way for a bunch of rookie first-year freshmen. So, we need to broaden the playing field a bit."
"Broaden the playing field?"
"Yeah."
I nodded.
"We need to talk to other teachers and parents, explain the situation, and try to spread public opinion."
This kind of social injustice can't be solved by fighting alone.
The key to winning is to make it a public issue, involving people outside the school as well.
"If it's about other teachers…"
The members looked at each other.
"Teacher Jang Hwaun?"
"…Teacher Hwaeun doesn't seem very convincing."
Teacher Jang Hwaeun would definitely speak up for us if we asked, but since she was an English teacher and not very well connected within the school, her influence was limited.
That said, the only science teacher we knew to ask was Teacher Han Ari, but she was not close to us, and she was new, completely powerless rookie teacher who just arrived recently.
"Prez, in my opinion, talking to Teacher Jang Hwaeun or someone she knows won't do much good. We should try speaking to someone higher up."
"Aren't the higher-ups there all from the cult?"
"Do you think they'd even listen to our side...?"
The third-year science teacher had quite the influence, and there was a high chance she would cut off any meaningless complaints coming from below.
Then we would have to express our opinions through the higher authorities, but the top officials of this school are full of Dogma of Void cult members.
"But there's exactly one person. One of the higher-ups who isn't from the cult."
And that person held the highest position.
"What do you think will happen if we talk to him?"
"…You're talking about the Principal."
Gyeongwon answered nervously in my place.
The highest-ranking official in the school and its top authority.
Principal Shin Moonhyup.
"We have to ask that person…"
"Isn't this making a big deal out of things?"
Jinhee, having had several meetings with the Principals during middle and elementary school, made a weary face.
"He's so high up, it's kind of intimidating…"
Sunah also wore a scared expression.
That much reflected the social distance between us and the Principal.
The Principal, who holds the highest position in the school, and the first-year freshmen, who are at the very bottom.
We were truly at opposite ends within the school.
'But one end connects to the other.'
They say the most intimidating thing in the military is a private's letter.
Sometimes, being the underdog can be a source of strength.
"For now, let's head back to class and then we'll make a plan."
How to leverage the Principal to push out the seniors.
And how we would take their place.