Ghost Story Club

Chapter 115: Twelfth Ghost Story – Horror Movie Cliches (8)

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.

[Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.]

[Gyaaaaa….]

“……”

[…..]

[……!?]

I unlocked the door.

The ghost who had been banging on the door from outside as if wanting to break it paused for a moment.

Giggle, giggle.

Outside the door, the ghost giggled to itself.

Creak-

The doorknob turned, and the ghost with disheveled hair giggled and poked its head in.

Giggle, giggle.

Did you think I gave up?

“If you think so, you’re mistaken, you fucking bastard!!”

[…..!?]

The ghost that was opening the door flinched at my sudden outburst.

I immediately spread my limbs wide at it and shouted.

“Because this is no longer a horror movie, now it’s an adult movie!”

[……!]

I dashed forward after shouting like that, proudly showing my bare body without a single thread on it.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!”

Rustle.

[Wait a minute.]

The ghost, who had been so aggressive before and chasing us around suddenly became polite. It stepped back and extended both its hands forward as if to stop me from approaching.

[Please calm down, Mister.]

“Shut up, you crazy bitch!!!”

Thump, thump, thump-!

I ran at it in a full sprint!

My rushing body collided with the ghost, who was showing a flustered expression and we both fell over, tumbling across the living room floor.

[Aaa……!]

Bang-

We both fell down, tussling and rolling across the wooden floor.

[W, Wait a minute!]

“This bastard, ascend to heaven, ascend to heaven, now!”

The ghost and I engaged in a wrestling match while rolling on the floor.

Soon, the ghost overpowered me and gained the upper hand. It climbed onto my stomach, pressed down on my struggling legs, and grabbed my wrists.

[What the heck! Why did you suddenly take off all your clothes and threw them away!]

“It’s, it’s hot… I feel so hot…”

[Huh? What do you mean it’s hot! It’s so cold here!]

I shook my hands off its grasp and grabbed its hand.

“My feelings for you… are too intense and hot.”

[Mr. Mr. Joony…]

The ghost’s pale face slowly turned red.

It quickly turned its head away as if embarrassed.

[…. We shouldn’t do this. I, I’m a ghost, you know…..]

“What does that matter! Why does that matter?!”

[……!]

“I… want you with all my heart.”

My hidden trea/sure~ ♪

[T/N: This is from a popular Korean song My Hidden Self (숨겨왔던 나의). The singer of this song is IU, a popular South Korean singer-songwriter and actress. The song is from her album “Lullaby” (2011).]

※Romance Movie Cliché: When a man and woman bump into each other and fall, it always results in a strange pose and atmosphere.※

A man and a woman lying down and looking at each other, their breathing rough from rolling around on the floor.

And an enchanting background music echoed around.

Heyyyeeeeee〜♪

At that moment, the cliché was activated.

“Mr. Joony….

“My Ghost….”

A blush spreaded across the ghost’s white face as it called my name.

Before I knew it, the ghost had changed into the face of an ordinary young woman. Her unbelievably long neck became a bit shorter but her hair was still messy.

“Why don’t you speak? Don’t you have a mouth? Can’t you scream? Say this is my man. This man is my boyfriend! Why don’t you say it!”

“How can you love me so much when I look like this! I’m just an ugly ghost…”

Amidst this intense moment, my phone suddenly rang loudly.

♪ Everybody! Four! In! Ce! Ss! Oh yeah~ Oooh Yeah~♫

[☎︎Mom]

Our eyes turned sideways and locked on my Clover phone, which was blaring the latest hit song of Fourincess as a product advertisement.

♪ Everybody! Four! In! Ce! Ss! Oh yeah~ Oooh Yeah~♫

When the brand of the product was being sung in the song for the consumers, I was lying down on the floor with a ghost hovering above me. With a blank expression, I reached out, picked out my phone and answered it.

“… Hello?”

[Hello? Do you think I’m in the state of hearing your hello right now?]

My Mom’s voice, screaming at the top of her lungs, transmitted through the speaker.

“Ah, Mom! Stop yelling! Why are you calling when you’re at the funeral hall in the middle of the night…”

[You’re dating a ghost! How have I raised you all this time? Are you planning to turn your mother’s world upside down until the end?]

“Mom! That’s not true! I really, really love Ghost!”

[You’re still saying you love her, but I’ll never let it happen until I become blind! This marriage is impossible!]

At that moment, the ghost sitting on top of me suddenly snatched the phone away.

“Hello? Mother-in-law. Aren’t you being a little too harsh?”

[Mother-in-law~? Why would I be your mother-in-law!! Who the hell said I’m your mother-in-law?!]

“I’ve lived for over 300 years and have done everything except for ascending to heaven! I’m not in a position to be kicked away and insulted like this-”

[How dare you talk back to me? How rude~ Was there no one in your house to teach you how to respect your elders!!]

“Mother-in-law!! You’re really going too far!!”

[Where did you get the guts to look me in the eye and glare at me? Oh my, honey! Look at them talking back to me. Oh my, honey! Honey, oh… oh my…]

My mother screamed in despair, as if she was about to grab the back of her neck and fainted.

The call ended there.

Dud-

In the silence, the ghost and I stared blankly at each other.

Suddenly, the ghost jumped off of me and approached the air conditioner in the corner of the living room.

“Talking to your mother made me so angry that I feel hot all over. Let’s turn on the air conditioner to clear away the heat.”

The air conditioner was also a product made by Clover Corporation.

“These days, yellow dust is everywhere. It’s good that this thing has both air conditioning and air purifying functions.”

[T/N: Yellow dust is a natural phenomena native to East Asia. It refers to fine dust particles that are carried from the deserts of northern China and Mongolia by strong winds. This dust is often referred to as “Asian dust” or “Korean yellow dust” because it frequently affects Korea, Japan, and other parts of East Asia.]

It was a 17-inch Clover Stand Wind-Free Air Conditioner, with the basic installation cost free.

It was capable of personalized care by detecting the indoor environment and learning the user’s patterns.

“Right, Ghost? I agree. I really like how the whirlwind with a high-pass method lets me feel cool and comfortable without the cold air touching my skin, even in the heatwave. It’s great because I can enjoy a long-lasting, pleasant coolness.”

Production Support: Clover Electronics

Cause you are my girl~♫

[T/N: This sentence was actually spoken in Korean (꾸쥬워마걸). It is a phonetic transcription of the English phrase “Cause you’re my girl,” as pronounced with a Korean accent. This phrase gained popularity as the title of a mobile application that allows users to create parody images.]

The ghost’s messy hair fluttered in the air conditioner wind, and the surrounding suddenly became covered in a sepia-toned color.

In order to see and feel that scene again, summer would have to be here.

I thought to myself that I must stay alive until summer.

“Joon.”

While the ghost and I floundered in the cliché situation, struggling to be out of it as things continued to flow like that.

Suddenly, when I looked back, Sunah was standing on the threshold of my room.

Only then did I snap back to my senses and hurriedly straightened my back.

“Sunah, I told you not to come out…”

Sunah’s hair was disheveled, covering her eyes, so her expression was completely hidden.

“…Sunah?”

“…..”

“What’s wrong?”

Soon, the ghost who had been turning on the air conditioner slowly approached me and put a hand on my shoulder.

“Hey, Mister. How about we get out of here for a moment and talk?”

“Huh? Why?”

“Something feels a bit strange all of a sudden….”

The ghost, with a tense expression, twisted its neck and looked at Sunah.

“Let’s go somewhere else and talk. What the hell is going on right now?”

“Uh, uhh. Alright, let’s do that for now.”

I hurriedly stood up, and only then did I realize what was going in.

※Obsession Troupe Cliché: When an ambiguous situation with another person of the opposite sex unfolds, it’s inevitably discovered by a jealous girlfriend.※

“Joony, why have you taken off your clothes and rolling around with that girl……?”

Sunah muttered slowly, her tangled hair covering her eyes and her expression unseen.

Even she has gotten entangled in the cliché?

‘I’m going crazy….’

I quickly turned around and punched the ghost in the face.

Whack-

“Aah…!”

The ghost grabbed its nose and made a sound of displeasure. Bending its neck in an S shape, it started scolding me as if angry.

“Why are you hitting me suddenly, Mister!”

“You need to be exorcised quickly for this situation to be resolved! Ascend to heaven, quickly!!”

“That doesn’t mean you should hit people!!”

The ghost grumbled, twisting its neck in disbelief, as if exasperated.

In the meantime, Sunah was slowly walking towards me.

“Joon, this is too much… I’ve always protected you, even risking my life for you.”

“Oh, wait. Please just wait a moment.”

I swallowed hard and tried to make an excuse.

But.

In this outfit, barely anything on my body, no matter what excuses I made it would be useless.

Sunah slowly approached me with steady steps, sharpening the blade of the boxcutter along the way.

Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap.

The sound of plastic bouncing echoed as the blade of the boxcutter was fully exposed, shining brightly.

In a flash.

I quickly ran to my Dad’s study without a second thought.

‘Haa, haaa, heuk, haa…’

Bang! Creak-

And just as I was about to lock the door.

“Mister, let me in too!!”

The ghost hurriedly ran over and shoved its head through the crack in the door, trying to squeeze through.

I ignored it and tried to close the door, but the ghost’s neck got caught between the gaps, so I couldn’t close it.

Bang- Baang-

“What the f*ck, pull your neck out!!”

“Ahhh, mister, mister…”

I slammed the door hard against the ghost’s neck, causing it to cry out in pain.

In the midst of this, Sunah approached from behind the ghost, scratching the wall with the boxcutter and making an ominous sound.

Screeeeeech-

“Mister, please……”

“This bitch…”

Seeing no other choice, I swung the door open and let the ghost inside.

“Thank you, thank you…”

The ghost rushed into the room.

I immediately locked the door after it and grabbed it by the neck.

“What happened to you all of a sudden? Huh?”

“Cough, cough.”

“What the fuck are you, you idiot. Why can you suddenly talk and even try to run away? Weren’t you going crazy trying to kill us earlier?”

“I don’t know either, Mister… please let me go….”

The ghost twisted its neck with a frightened expression, trembling uncontrollably.

I exhaled in disbelief.

Come to think of it, when I got caught up in the cliché situation earlier, I was so immersed in the atmosphere that I ended up saying some weird lines.

It was the same with my Mom, who has been calling non-stop from far away and saying some bizarre things. Even Sunah, who seemed to have lost her sanity and was acting weird right in front of the door.

More than the influence that ghost stories have on reality, it seemed the system’s influence far suppressed them and had a stronger influence on this world.

I had thought that the Demon King and the system were polar opposites, but their methods of manipulating reality had some similarities.

“Joon, why did you lock the door……?”

Sunah, standing outside the door, began speaking to me.

“I’m just trying to talk. I have something to say…..”

“Calm down, Sunah.”

I swallowed hard in anxiety. Still with my bare body without a single thread, I spoke to Sunah on the other side of the door, trying to persuade her.

“You just got caught up in the cliché ability right now. Although we were in a questionable position, that’s just a ghost. We need to exorcise it, you know.”

“I wasn’t upset about that.”

What the heck. Then why are you chasing me?

Ah, KakaoTalk messages!

Now that I thought about it, Sunah had secretly checked my phone when I was sleeping earlier.

She must have been upset that I messaged Hayoon.

“Ah, is it because I texted Hayoon privately? B-but you saw the contents too. I was just asking what I needed to ask. It’s nothing serious.”

“Hayoon likes you…?”

“What?”

I flinched at the absurd conclusion for a moment.

In the dark house, Sunah’s faint voice echoed.

“Why are you mentioning Hayoon’s name now…?”

“T, that….”

What’s the reason? Why the hell was she chasing me? F*ck.

“You also like Hayoon….”

“Oh, no. You’re mistaken…..”

“Lies.”

Click.

Sunah desperately turned the doorknob from the outside.

“You always stare at her. I know.”

As expected, women are quick to catch on to things like this, regardless of how they are academically.

I guess it’s their intuition as a woman.

‘Of course I stare at her, I know that too…’

But it was not just me, all the boys in our class would sneak a glance at her too.

It’s just an instinct as a man seeing a pretty girl… It wasn’t like I had a crush on Hayoon or secretly fell in love with her or anything even close to that.

“Joony, really, what’s so good about someone like her……”

Screeeeeech.

Sunah quietly scraped the door with her boxcutter, muttering quietly.

“She’s just playing with you… Only showing interest when it suits her, replying only when she feels like it. Even when you text, she leaves you on read……”

“I-It’s not that I like her. Why would you misunderstand like that…”

“Why are all the men like that? Is it all about a pretty face? You get distracted by a weird girl like that just because she’s pretty, every one of you…”

“……”

“I’m so jealous of In Hayoon, really.”

Sunah’s faint voice resonated lowly.

“She’s rich, and she’s pretty… She has everything she wants, and she lives doing whatever she pleases…”

Her tone seemed to carry a hint of sorrow.

This is the first time I’ve heard Sunah speaking like that.

“She’s good at studying, smart, pretty, and has great parents… What could someone like her possibly be lacking to end up clinging to my Joony? She’s really a fox.”

“……”

“There are so many other handsome and cool guys out there, why my Joony of all people, why, why, why.”

Screech, screech, screech.

Sunah’s emotions seemed to be getting more and more intense as she scratched the door with the boxcutter more hurriedly.

“Why did she become my deskmate, why did she join our little Ghost Story Club? Why is she following my Joony around and trying to seduce him, why, why. What could she possibly be lacking? I really don’t understand… I can’t comprehend this… Those kinds of people live for the thrill of snatching things away from people like me, who can’t afford much. Don’t you think so, Joony…?”

Not knowing how to respond, I quickly glanced to the side. The ghost behind me was nodding rapidly with a frightened expression.

Activating my Lip Reading ability, I read the ghost’s lips who seemed to be saying not to provoke Sunah and just agree to whatever she’s saying.

“…Yeah. I think so too.”

“Really…?”

“Uh, yeah.”

I also rambled, quickly saying whatever came to my mind.

“I, I also feel that way when I see handsome, successful guys. Like our class president, Ban Janghoon. He’s tall, good at sports, and the top student in the school. When I see guys like that, I feel the same way you do, Sunah. Like, ‘He’s really amazing, he’s going to live his life doing whatever he wants’… That kind of feeling…”

“Joon, you’re the same as me. I’m so happy… As expected, we’re destined to be together……”

Des… destined to be together…..

Why did that word suddenly come out…

I glanced at the ghost, and it waved its hand, signaling for me not to look at it as it had no way to know how to get out of the situation.

“Then you can understand, right…? My feelings of not wanting to lose something precious……”

“Uh, yeah~! Understand~! I understand very well……”

I exaggeratedly nodded my head towards Sunah, who was on the other side, as if the door between us was invisible.

“I understand~ Well, that’s why I’ll stay by your side, Sunah! I’m not running away, you know that! Even if the world ends, where else would I be other than the Ghost Story Club? So calm down, we’re together…”

“I want to be closer, I’m scared…..”

“What, what…..”

What are you scared of, please……

Don’t start digging a tunnel……

“What, what are you so scared of, Sunah…? Hmm? If there’s anything I can do, I’ll try my best. Do you want to talk about it…?”

“I’m worried that you’ll run away to another timeline…”

Ahhh… Please…

This story again…

I once heard it from the rooftop of the broadcasting station…

“I can’t believe that the Sunah there is the same Sunah as me… The experiences and thoughts are different from the past. Every day, my feelings for you are growing stronger, Joon…. I can’t even imagine my life without you anymore. If you go back to the past and my memories of you disappear… That feeling of love I have for you will disappear from me as well……”

“…….”

“It hurts my heart just to think that Yoon Sunah doesn’t like Joon… I’m afraid that the Sunah from the past, whom you have already left in the past, might not choose to love Joon… That’s why I can’t stand it… This is one of the few precious feelings in my insignificant life……”

“…….”

“That’s why… That’s why……”

….I didn’t fully understand, but if I think about it, it seemed to be the case.

If I were a member, and someone else had been chosen as the President by the system…

And if that person dies, and I had to live with the constant awareness that time would reset every time…

Perhaps I too would live with various insecurities, constantly questioning my identity of that moment.

I remember a movie I saw once, about a man who loses his memory every 10 minutes.

That was the moment when I realized something important, that one day time would reset suddenly, and I would not be able to remember anything at all. I might never be able to face that turning point again.

Things that I thought were precious in another time period might be completely ignored in a new time period.

Similarly, if there was a moment that made me value someone, but suddenly time resets and my feelings become out of sync, my heart would feel empty.

In the newly reset timeline, I might live a life where I don’t cherish that person at all anymore.

“Joon, you liking another girl… I can actually tolerate it to some extent. But, what if… I’m afraid that I’ll make a different choice when time goes back… what if this feeling of liking you now disappears or fades… Whenever I think about that, my heart really hurts so much… I just want to cry…”

“…Sunah.”

“So now I’m going to cut off your limbs so you can’t turn back time, and I’m going to lock you in my refrigerator… From now on, Joon’s house is my refrigerator…”

Please.

Please…

I grabbed my hair in frustration, still naked.

Why does it have to be like that…

Why does the flow of thoughts turn out that way…..

Please…

“Mister.…”

The ghost looked at me with sympathy as I held my head in my hands.

In that moment, anger surged within me, and I rushed to the ghost and tightly grabbed its neck.

“It’s all your fault, you piece of shit!!! If I just get rid of you now, the situation will be over!!”

“Cough.”

This ghost!

If I just get rid of this guy, the cliché ability would be deactivated, and I would be able to escape from this psycho-thriller movie!

“Die! Die!!”

“Cough… Calm down, mister… Let’s talk it out…”

♣️♦️♣️♦️♤♣️♤♣️♦️♣️♤♣️♦️♦️♤♣️♣️

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