"Now, chew it properly."
The nurse wiped my mouth with a towel, then scooped up another spoonful of food.
"Alright, here comes the food again~ Ah"
"Ah."
I opened my mouth again and accepted the food.
Then, with weakened teeth, I chewed it with effort and mumbled again.
"..fifth... sixty million won..."
"Huh? What did you say?"
The nurse paused mid-motion, her attention sharpening at the mention of money.
In this place, it was common for families to have their relatives confined if they refused to hand over inheritance or reveal bank account passwords. Because of that, the medical staff were extremely sensitive to the
numbers patients muttered in their
hazy states of consciousness.
I drooled as I muttered again.
"..Fifth locker... sixty million won...and... another eighty million..."
".....!"
The nurse widened her pretty eyes and quickly glanced around.
Fortunately, thanks to doppelgänger Lee Joon's consideration, this was a solitary room I had all to myself.
There was no one around to eavesdrop.
The nurse subtly shifted her position, using her body to block the CCTV camera from view.
Then, with a perfectly casual expression, she scooped up more food and put it into my mouth again.
"Here~ comes the food~ ahh"
"Ah..."
"Good boy, good boy, ahh"
While I was chewing, the nurse suddenly leaned in, bringing her face close to the tip of my nose, and whispered quickly.
"Where is the 5th locker you mentioned?"
"....."
"Tell me."
A strange, unpleasant scent of cosmetics hit me hard.
Unlike ordinary nurses who barely have time to put on makeup, she worked in a hospital run like a criminal organization, so she was
noticeably well-dressed.
I stopped chewing and absentmindedly let the contents of my mouth spill out onto the bib.
"Oh dear, oh my... you're spilling everything like this.."
Even though it was a solitary room with no one watching, the nurse kept glancing around nervously as she hurriedly wiped my mouth.
Then the nurse Scooped up more food
again and placed it into my mouth.
"Alright, this time chew it properly Ahh~"
"Ahh.."
"Ahh~"
Just as the spoon was about to go into my mouth.
The nurse suddenly pulled it away and leaned her face in toward me again. The distance was close enough to feel like a kiss.
The nurse's eyelashes fluttered constantly as her gaze swept across my pupils.
"Tell me, what's in locker number 5?"
"..."
"Is there sixty million won there?"
With my pupils unfocused, I slowly nodded.
"..There... sixty million won... and in another place... eighty million..."
The nurse quickly looked around again.
She shifted her posture slightly, leaning in closer until her body pressed against mine, then slowly sat down on my thighs.
The nurse's weight softly pressed down on my frail body, which had become very thin over the past few months.
Having become completely emaciated, I felt even smaller in front of the healthy, full-of-vitality nurse, as if even my mind was being firmly and gently pressed down and subdued.
Soon, the nurse asked me in a gentle,
soothing tone.
"...Where is it? That locker?"
"..Sinchon Station... long-term storage..lockers..."
"Sinchon Station long-terrm storage, locker number five, sixty million won. What's the password?"
The nurse's healthy body pressed down on my frail, weakened frame once again, firmly yet gently restraining me.
Exhaling a strong scent of perfume, the nurse leaned in closer and whispered in a low voice:
"P. A. S. S. W. O. R. D."
"Password. What is the Password?"
The breath felt between her lipstick-coated lips.
When I didn't answer, the nurse slowly
twisted her posture on my thigh, pressing down more firmly.
"P.A.S.S.W.0.R.D~ Password."
Because I was too emaciated, my
thighs, pressed down by the nurse's
weight, began to grow numb from a
lack of blood, but she continued to
twist her body.
"Password. Password. Password."
My emaciated body swayed back and
forth, tipping and lurching as the nurse pressed and shook me.
Shake, shake.
"Not going to tell me? Hmm?"
"..."
"You want to die crushed under me?
Tell me. Tell, me."
As if it didn't matter whether my body
was being shaken or not, the nrse
continued to press on with her weight.
She seemed determined to hear it no matter what, so she kept shaking me even more wildly as if telling me to come to my senses, pressing me so hard that even the bed began tilting.
"Password. Password. Password~"
"Ugh... ugh.. ughhhh..."
"Password~ Password"
"Ugh, ugh..."
"P! A! S! S! W! 0! R! D! Password!
Password!"
Eventually, when I felt my entire lower body about to become completely paralyzed from being crushed and shaken by the nurse for the lack of blood flowing through it.
With my eyes completely dazed, I blurted out a password.
"..8213... 8213.."
"8213? Are you sure?"
"8213- Mom... Mom..."
"Good. You're such a good boy."
The nurse stopped pressing me down, slowly held me who was drooling, and
gently soothed me.
"8213. Are you sure?"
"Mom. 8213..."
"Good, good. Oh, what a good boy~ Oh, such a good boy"
The nurse gently patted me, as if in a good mood, trying to comfort me.
I felt my consciousness becoming hazy.
"Mom.. Mom...".
"Yes, Mommy is right here. There, good, good"
"Mommy....."
"Yes, here comes the medicine~ prick"
The nurse comforted me with one hand, patting me gently, then stuck the syringe in her other hand deep into my forearm.
Even until the last moment before losing consciousness, cradled in the nurse's arms, I mumbled the password.
"8213- 60 million won... and at another place... 80 million won...."
"Yes, yes, good, good~ Now, sleep sleep sleep sleep"
"Uum.... um..."
"Hehe... sleep sleep... Oh, you're sleeping... Oh, good.. pat pat...".
***
It was a place where medical staff obsessed with money committed crimes as if it were nothing.
Fortunately, my assigned nurse was, as expected, someone who responded to the logic of money.
To prevent the nurse from taking the money and running off in one go, I deliberately named an ambiguous amount of 60 million won, and subtly hinted that I had also hidden money in another place.
Since it was an everyday occurrence here for patients to reveal secrets after being subjected to the medical staff's mental attacks, this strategy worked immediately.
The nurse immediately went to the subway station locker, entered the password, then let out a cry of triumph and turned around holding a bundle of money. Naturally, she was caught by Detective Park Gangwoon, who had been watching for months to see who would take the money, and was tailed
all the way back to the hospital.
Thus, the nurse, who had been quietly forced into an agreement by the Detective, from then on entered the solitary room not with the playful, babying demeanor she used to have, but with a face full of fear toward me.
I told her that it was fine.
"Hah... Now that the gag is off, I feel like I can live. It's okay. Don't worry. I'm planning to stay here anyway."
"Yes, yes..."
"Nothing is going to change. Just keep
administering the drugs like you do now so that I can't come to my senses. However, once a month, when I need to chew food, wake me up and deliver the messages you received from the Detective."
"Ah, I understand.."
The nurse bowed her head with a frightened expression and then stepped back.
I chuckled and then held out a carrot toward her.
"As long as you keep your promise, the money will be delivered in full every month. The next locker is a long-term storage locker at Exit 8 of Hongik University Station. The password is "Oh, Hongik University Station Exit ...2836..."
"You got it, right? Mom."
".....!"
The nurse let out a startled gasp, then quickly turned around and left the solitary room.
I lay back leisurely and slowly closed my eyes.
Now all that remained was to wait.
There was no need to live through those three years again. I just needed to regain consciousness briefly from time to time and listen to the Detective's reports, and that would be the end of it.
**
The updates about my doppelgänger that I heard from the Detective through the nurse whenever I woke up from time to time were shocking.
The moment he returned from space, he expelled all of my club members. Then he convinced Joo Yeseul into believing that he was a messenger of God and spent his days indulging himself to the fullest.
'...That crazy b*stard. Pathetic piece of
sh*t.'
Was he really that desperate to lean on Someone? Of course, I had also become exhausted by the repeated regressions, and there were times when I wished the members would look after me a bit more.
Even so, I hadn't expected the version of me with all restraints removed would go this far.
And so, two years passed, and after confirming every last detail of my evil ending, in which I became a villain until the very end.
"On February 25, 2022, if that guy comes in to see me, please show him this video. And from now on. please increase the amount of medication being administered to me so that I can never wake up."
"..Yes? Uh, understood."
The nurse hesitated, meeting my eyes as if to confirm whether I truly meant it, before pressing the syringe full of medication into my arm.
I nodded, as if telling her to inject without hesitation, and then leaned my head on the pillow.
This was the original version of the diver ghost story.
Two divers, carrying oxygen tanks on their backs, headed down into the depths of the sea.
But along the way, one diver's oxygen tank broke down, so the other diver told him to wait for a moment and went up first.
But even as time passed, the companion who left never came back.
And just as the oxygen was running low, the diver was rescued by his companion who miraculously returned.
'But after coming back, breathing felt strangely suffocating, so he went from hospital to hospital, suffered for several years, and eventually came to realize it.'
A world where there was nothing, only
darkness and silence.
A person carrying an empty oxygen tank.
In this case, the one who would realize it at the end would be the other Lee Joon.
I would be the companion who left first, and although it may have seemed as if we were together for a brief moment in an illusion, I would now leave and never return.
'Now, let's end the story according to the structure of the ghost story.'
After finishing all preparations, I slowly closed my eyes.
When I opened my eyes again, I would become a completely new person.
'Goodbye, Lee Joon.'
***
"Hh... hhk-! Haaah-! Hhk-!!"
"Hey, open it! Open it, you idiot!"
From somewhere, I could hear people
shouting frantically.
Soon, the lid of what had been confining me until now gently opened, and a blinding light poured in.
"Get him out! Harry! Get him out!"
"C-CPR! Someone who knows how to do CPR!"
"Don't bother pulling him out, just move aside!"
"Haahhh- haahh- haahhh- hahh-"
My body struggling crazily and gasping for breath.
While I was struggling and convulsing in confusion like that, someone's hand pressed right on the center of my chest, and with a firm, steady rhythm, they pushed down powerfully on my lungs.
"Huhh- cough- ugh- cough...
"Joon, stay strong... Joon...."
"Cough- cough- coouuugh- blergh,
coouuuugh!!"
Finally, still lying there, I let out a breath and spat out the lump of phlegm that had been blocking my throat all this time.
I panted and gasped for breath, haa, haa, haa, hoo- and saw Hayoon placing both hands on my upper abdomen, as if waiting.
"Prez. Are you okay?"
"Joon..."
The club members huddled together, looking down at me with worried faces.
It was the clubroom.
I was inside the coffin.
Hayoon was looking down at me with a serious expression, her hands still placed on my abdomen.
I nodded.
"I-I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine.."
"H, huuu, that's a relief..."
"Now I get it... now... cough, cough."
I continued speaking in short breaths,
coughing between words.
"I saw it all. Everything. All of it."
"....."
"I saw it all. If you all had left me like that, I would definitely have become a villain."
With difficulty, I raised my upper body, then, supported by the club members, I climbed out of the coffin and sat down leaning against the wall.
After catching my breath, I raised one hand as if making an oath and continued speaking.
"I saw it all... what kind of person I am, and how far I can go.. cough, cough. I saw everything."
"...Joon..."
"Ive been trying to survive. I'm chasing
after ghost stories so I wouldn't die, and I've been running this club because I wanted to live."
"...."
"That's why I got angry at you all. I was scared that if you acted like this, I wouldn't be able to hold on.. cough, cough."
I caught my breath and then continued speaking.
"...I wanted to protect my own mentality, and no matter what happened to anyone else, I wanted to survive first. But not anymore."
"...Oi..."
"Prez.."
The club members stared at me with
serious expressions.
I nodded as I met their eyes.
"From today on, I'll become one. The
hero y'all want me to be."
"...!"
".....!!"
The club members look at me with stunned expressions.
Did they really think I would never grow?
It certainly took a long time to reach this decision that someone with strong convictions would have made much earlier.
"I will live a good life. I'll devote myself to it."
Struggling just to survive is not easy when the opponent is so formidable.
My opponent was no less than a colossal god that had existed since before humanity, quietly lying crouching beneath the earth and in space.
It was not possible to defeat something like that with survival instinct alone; in fact, instinct itself would tell me to run away.
But it's a different story if you have conviction.
Throughout history, great figures who held righteous beliefs did not fall into corruption; they fought until the very end and emerged victorious.
"So help me. Help me become that kind of person."
Leaning against the wall beneath the window, I looked up at them.
The club members, who had been silent, slowly nodded.
For a moment, a heavy silence of resolve passed between us.
Through the window above the wall I was leaning against, a blue sunlight poured in.
Past those clouds and the sky, and beyond the sun, even far beyond the galaxy.
Somewhere in the vast, distant reaches of space, a coffin was still floating through the void.
The coffin that contained my old, wicked self, which I had shed and threw away like waste.
I lifted my head and looked up at the sky, slowly smiling.
"Take care of yourself out there, Joon.'
Don't do anything bad, and make sure you eat properly....
"Watch out for colds too. Hahaha.'
"..Pfft, haha."
"...Ahaha. Aha..."
**
[You have comne across and survived the C-rank ghost story - Diver]
[You have earned 10 Ghost Story Points.]
[You've used remarkable wit and escaped by inserting the other party into the ghost story's conclusion structure!]
[You have earned 50 Ghost Story Points.]
[Current Ghost Story Points: 80 + 10 +50]
Ping~
[Current Ghost Story Points: 140]
***
The Detective's doppelgänger, even in the timeline I went back to, was understanding. He reached out first, saying that he would go alone to a remote, uninhabited mountain and take his own life, so no need to worry
about anything.
I bowed my head to express my gratitude to the Detective who had made the difficult choice, and when I looked up, the Detective had already disappeared.
***
Finally, Monday morning dawned.
I arrived at school safely early in the morning without any incident, and went up to the clubroom with my fellow members planning to study, and opened the door.
[Lee Joon has been authorized.]
The door lock recognized me without any issues, and there was no one inside waiting for me with a gun.
I clicked the switch to turn on the lights in the clubroom, then sat down at the desk with the other members.
And around that time, a message appeared.
[You have come across and survived the B-rank Ghost Story -Doppelgänger Duo.]
[You have earned 15 Ghost Story Points.]
[You have succeeded in defeating the doppelgänger duo through persuasion and sealing methods!]
[You have earned 70 Ghost Story
Points.]
[You'll earn 10% bonus points for each contributing member.]
[Contributing members (5 members): Ahn Gyeongwon, Oh Dukhun, Yoon Sunah, Lee Jinhee, In Hayoon]
[You've earned 50% bonus points on the total acquired points of 85, 43 points.]
[Current Ghost Story Points: 140 + 85+ 43]
Ping~
[Current Ghost Story Points: 268]
'Looks like it's over.'
I propped my chin on my hand as I opened a book to prepare for the upcoming exam.
I originally had over 300 points, but I had spent a large amount on buying a coffin and latex clothing, as well as expanding the space in order to seal the guy, so I was back to square one again.
Still, there was one thing I had gained.
[Congratulations, the clubroom has reached LV.10!]
[Administration features for Nakseong High School have been added to the Menu.]
My club room, which had originally been level 9.
I raised the clubroom level first in order to invest points into Space Expansion to seal that guy, and that was when the message about reaching level 10 had appeared.
"..Status window.'
I opened the menu
Pop-
[2019, July 1st | Friday, 07:30 AM]
[Lee Joon: Number of Attempt - 2]
[Ghost Story Points: 268]
[Causality Rate: 38%]
O Status Window
Manage Club
Manage Nakseong High School
►NEW!!
O Statistics
O Settings
'Manage Nakseong High School...?"
Curious, I clicked on it, but unfortunately, only a message appeared saying it hadn't been unlocked yet.
[The Nakseong High School management function is currently locked.]
[To unlock this feature, you need to unlock the School Education Competency Policy ability of the clubroom.]
[The School Education Competency Policy ability can be obtained as a reward by completing the quest below.]
(QUEST - Camaraderie)
[Congratulations. You have finally shared your secret with your fellow club members! The journey to prevent the Demon King's revival has begun. On that journey, strong
camaraderie among the party is essential. Starting today, you begin to make an effort to understand your fellow members better.]
• Increase one club member's understanding to 100.
• Reward: School Education Competency Policy unlocked.
It was the quest window I had seen a long time ago.
I still hadn't managed to meet the conditions.
"...So in the end, I still have to raise Gyeongwon's understanding to 100.'
Gyeongwon's understanding was what holding me back.
I glanced at the guy who was studying hard, even though the exam was only 30 minutes away, and clicked my tongue.
"Top priority. I will find out this guy's secret no matter what before the school closing ceremony of the first semester.'