GSGW c253
Chapter 253
Lee Jaheon opened his eyes.
A neat bedsheet and a refined, clean atmosphere in a two-person dormitory bedroom where gray bricks were exposed.
Outside the window, gray clouds hung dimly, maintaining a gloomy, sunken density.
During the fifteen days he had awakened here, sunlight had never appeared even once.
It must have been a characteristic of this place.
♩ - ♩ -
A low, resonant bell rang out. Lee Jaheon rose from the bed and changed his clothes.
At Saint Anticus Boarding School, it was a school rule to always wear the uniform outside the bedroom.
He arranged the pajamas on the bed.
Every trainee was given pajamas cut from gray linen cloth, and the sizes were divided into five categories. Lee Jaheon neatly folded the largest size of pajamas he had been given.
And those were not the only pajamas that had to be arranged.
Next to the trainee’s pajamas, a white bride’s dress must always be laid out side by side.
This was practice as the groom, and part of the curriculum taught here—“training for a successful wedding.”
Lee Jaheon finished arranging everything in an instant and left the bedroom at the designated time.
♩ - ♩ -
And then breakfast.
One must not be late for mealtime and must eat with proper posture while holding the cutlery in the prescribed order.
The menu differed each time, but today it was almonds, roasted heart, and cornelian cherry juice.
During the meal, students are trained to make sure the bride’s glass is never empty.
The groom’s opposite seat remained empty, and at times the drink in the bride’s glass placed there disappears for no apparent reason.
A failure occurred. Demerit points accumulated.
♩ - ♩ -
In the morning hours, students learned the culture expected of the groom.
They studied and recited poems and idioms related to weddings, learned to play the string instruments preferred by the bride, and practiced etiquette for receiving guests.
Lee Jaheon completed everything flawlessly according to our decision, without receiving a single thing to reprimand.
A failure occurred. Demerit points accumulated.
♩ - ♩ -
Lunch consisted of light sandwiches or finger foods, and through the fingers served alongside them, one became accustomed to the bride’s appearance.
So as to become adept when placing the ring during the wedding ceremony.
After finishing the meal, the afternoon was spent going together to the kitchen to prepare the evening’s course meal.
Selecting fresh ingredients, and learning how to cook according to the bride’s taste…
“Ghk—ugh!”
"......"
"......"
“W-wait, no, I—!!”
A failure occurred. Demerit points accumulated.
♩ - ♩ -
The evening course meal continued long and elegantly, and the groom trainees maintained their dignity while eating quietly and cleanly.
Out of consideration for the bride’s eating habits, they separated and left the foods on their plates that they should not eat.
Once all servings are finished, including dessert, they could stand up only after clearing the table and offering thanks to the supervising instructor for the day’s training.
♩ - ♩ -
Then came a short rest period.
Lee Jaheon walked down the corridor at the designated pace.
At this boarding school, for the sake of cleanliness, trainees were advised not to step into places considered unclean or outside the trainee-designated areas, and even the method of rest was specified.
Thus, the most recommended way to spend rest time was to imagine what vows one would speak at the wedding with the bride.
Sometimes they asked about it during breakfast the next morning, so it was best to have an answer prepared…
Someone grabbed his arm in the corridor.
“Hey—hey…!”
Lee Jaheon stopped walking.
A desperate whisper followed him.
“Y-you’re human, right? You are, right…!”
“Yes.”
A pale face, an expression twisted with terror.
A civilian.
“What… what the hell is this place?!”
“This is a boarding school that conducts training to become a good groom, according to the judgment of Saint Anticus.”
“What the hell kind of thing is that in twenty-first century Korea?!”
Lee Jaheon answered.
“It does not exist.”
“H-huh?”
Lee Jaheon moved his foot—
“W-wait! Then… this isn’t Korea? What is this, some cult? Was I kidnapped? This isn’t some fucking horror game… not even a ghost story.”
“That is correct.”
“……What?”
“You are currently trapped inside a strange phenomenon that can be described as a ghost story.”
Lee Jaheon finished his response.
And moved again to carry out the planned task—
“Hey.”
…….
“Then why the hell are you so calm? You must know how to get out. That’s why you’re calm, right?”
“No.”
“What do you mean no? Fuck.”
In the whispering voice, a damp fury with nowhere to go twisted together with desperation as his eyes rolled wildly.
If anyone else had heard it, they would definitely have felt a chilling sensation.
Lee Jaheon did not perceive that complicated atmosphere, but he understood the next words clearly.
“If I’m going to die anyway, want to die together?”
“That is not—”
“Bullshit. If I start a fight with you here, it’s a demerit, you bastard. Want both of us to get demerits? Or want to share how to get out?”
It was a threat.
—During rest time, one must not raise their voice.
He must have been someone who recognized that rule.
No—perhaps that was precisely why he had survived until now….
The problem, however, was that fear had dulled his powers of observation.
“Hey, answer—”
“Do not walk while stomping your feet.”
“…What?”
It was already too late.
A massive shadow fell over the man gripping Lee Jaheon.
The supervising instructor.
“W-wait a second. We’re not fighting—we’re just chatting. It’s rest time. Haha….”
The supervising instructor acknowledged this.
However, since they had behaved in a way that diverged from the school’s educational goals, demerit points would accumulate.
Of course, they were not expelled—only encouraged and assisted.
“…What?”
Because they had walked noisily while stomping their feet in the corridor.
If a groom behaved so inelegantly during a wedding, how shameful that would be. That was why it must be prevented now.
After all, that was why they were receiving instruction at Saint Anticus Boarding School.
“E-excuse me.”
The man was seized.
“Mmmph!”
The supervising instructor moved to assist the one with demerits.
In accordance with the penalty.
“ ~!!! ”
The surface of the man’s soles was sliced open and exposed.
The supervising instructor kindly placed soft rubber and clay into his hands. A noise-dampening pad to shape according to the form of his foot.
He had to complete it himself and insert it into the sole of his foot for the demerit to end.
A gag made of cotton and flesh was inserted into his throat so he could not scream.
Blood from the man writhing in pain and terror stained the corridor.
That too was a demerit.
—Do not cause disturbances during instruction.
Under the supervising instructor’s troubled contemplation, additional measures were carried out.
The trainee in question must walk without producing sound once the foot procedure was complete.
Repeatedly, until he could walk properly without making any noise.
“…!!, !!!”
Before all of this, Lee Jaheon paused and attempted to judge by our standards.
/tn. "our standards" probably meaning the collective lizard alien standards
Whether there was justification to help.
Whether helping would be useful in this situation.
……
Each conclusion was reached.
Ambiguous.
Negative.
Over the past half month, of the three trainees who sought his assistance, two died instantly after accumulating penalty points, and one died during training due to complications.
Compared to the two who had to give the penalties to themselves while crying, a penalty administered with the help of the training supervisor might be better in terms of psychological suffering.
Far better than struggling in fear and resignation to carry out bizarre acts that were no different from torturing oneself, just to somehow stay alive.
“~~!!, !, ……”
The commotion in the hallway subsided.
According to our judgment, Lee Jaheon walked quietly down the corridor and returned to the bedroom.
And then he saw it.
On the opposite bed lay a trainee who had died after his intestines burst because the incompatible dinner ingredients.
It seemed he had tried to take the food out of his small intestine himself.
"......"
♩ - ♫ - ♩ -
The sound of the bell changed.
From this point on, passage was forbidden; to preserve the bride’s privacy, the groom must remain in the bedroom and rest.
Lee Jaheon placed his hand on his white uniform to change clothes…
—Section Chief.
"......"
Lee Jaheon blinked.
A voice ringing inside his head.
Not “us.”
Someone else’s.
And yet…
A personality he could recognize—someone he knew.
—Are you all right?
“Yes.”
Kim Soleum.
After several months, he was hearing in his head the voice of an acquaintance who had once been a member of his team.
But just because it was recognized as a voice did not mean it was truly sound. Lee Jaheon knew that.
This was Kim Soleum’s mind.
In a way similar to how we are connected to one another, Kim Soleum now existed inside the mind of the entity Lee Jaheon.
How was such a thing possible?
—Section Chief, please listen carefully.
—I’m not a hallucination or a fake. I’m really inside your head.
In truth, he already knew that as well.
Because Lee Jaheon is part of “us,” he knows what conversations one of us had with Kim Soleum.
And he also knows by what method Kim Soleum has now entered Lee Jaheon’s mind and formed a mental connection.
—I’m currently… using the “We Help!” button in reverse to enter your body, Section Chief.
That’s right.
'If the ghost story is blocked, then use someone who’s already inside!'
…With that idea, Kim Soleum went to the extraterrestrial reptile in the Space Shopping Mall and declared that he would enter the body of Lee Jaheon, who was trapped in the ghost story, and try to escape that way.
Since there was an item like “We Help!”, he reasoned that if the mechanism was similar, it might work.
And it really did work.
—If you give me control of the body, I’ll clear this darkness and escape myself.
Lee Jaheon felt the pride within Kim Soleum’s mind inside his own.
A similar chemical reaction of emotion existed in himself as well.
Gladness.
—Then… please hand over control.
However.
“I refuse.”
-…!?
***
'What do you mean?? Why!?'
Trying to hold back a scream, I tore at the lizard’s head—no, I looked through the lizard’s field of vision.
After entering this mind, I experienced everything that had happened just before in full surround detail, and more than anything I just wanted to escape as fast as possible!
'This is a completely insane gore-type ghost story!'
A crazy boarding-school ghost story.
…According to Baek Saheon, this darkness in which Section Chief Lee Jaheon has currently gone missing is a ghost story I’d also read about plenty of times on the wiki.
=====================
Darkness Exploration Record / Ghost Story
[You May Now Kiss the Bride]
A ghost story appearing in <Darkness Exploration Record>, identified by Daydream Inc. under the code Qterw-C-5012.
It describes strange events that occur in an educational institution called Saint Anticus Boarding School.
This institution identifies itself as “a school for grooms preparing for their wedding,” and constantly recruits applicants for training support, operating a trial training period for that purpose.
Most exploration records describe experiences undergone while completing this trial training period.
Accounts from this place must always be written in essay form, reading somewhat like autobiographical reflections.
The training begins with various forms of culture that might be required for an upper-class wedding, and gradually becomes ritualistic and bizarre in detail, creating a chilling suspense as readers begin to speculate about the true nature of the wedding.
Written in a calm essay style, the horrifyingly detailed experiences of accumulating penalty points form a suffocatingly grotesque ghost story.
=====================
Back then… back then it was fine because it was written text.
'Seeing it in person is unbelievably creepy.'
Even with the body of 130666, which is dull to most stimuli and emotions, the horror was enough to make me sigh.
Well, technically that body was asleep while only my mind was connected to Section Chief Lee Jaheon’s body, so maybe that made it feel even more vivid.
'Anyway, after coming up with this method I worked like crazy gathering information…'
I squeezed information out of Kwak Jaekwang, and even interviewed people on the list of those who had escaped after filling a C-grade dream-essence solution to the brim.
…Chief of Security and Supervisor Park Minseong, that is.
Back when they were on the field exploration team, both of them were unmarried men, so apparently they had been suitable candidates.
—You want me… to tell you about that……?
…Considering this was something I brought up right after a teammate who’d disappeared suddenly reappeared, without even properly catching up, it was honestly pretty embarrassing.
Of course, we talked about various things first… and I even heard some news about Director Cheong from Kwak Jaekwang, but I’ll organize that later.
For now, the urgent thing is this.
Lee Jaheon’s escape.
—Please trust me, Section Chief.
—If you just give me control, I’ll quickly take measures to complete the training successfully.
Using the <Darkness Exploration Record> and interviews with explorers, I identified the benchmarks, irregular variables, and weaknesses.
I know the passing criteria, and I even came up with a slightly unconventional way to pass.
'You just have to follow it…!'
Even if Section Chief Lee Jaheon is currently repeating the training after failing the trial course, I can still save him!
Even if a new training period hasn’t opened and he’s stuck in some kind of remedial class, I’ve found a way to break through.
—I will make sure you pass, Section Chief.
“I see.”
Yes!
“It won’t be necessary.”
……
—What?
“Yes.”
No, this extraterrestrial reptile isn’t trying to pick a fight.
He really means it isn’t necessary.
…Wait.
If that’s the case, then could it be—
—Why… is it not necessary?
“Because I have already passed.”
……
“I was separately selected during the trial training period. I became an official trainee as one of the groom candidates who will hold a wedding with the White Bride here, and I am preparing for the ceremony.”
Wait a second.
“To avoid this, I considered methods such as bombardment with holy flames, but postponed them due to the likelihood of severe civilian casualties.”
……
“Mr. Roe Deer?”
—So… are you saying you’re about to get married, Section Chief?
“If things proceed without change, then yes.”
This is insane.
—…Are there any other unusual details?
“There are.”
—Please explain.
“Yes. In order to acquire an appearance suitable for the wedding, groom candidates undergo blood extraction every night before sleep. It is part of the process of creating a pale complexion similar to the color of the bride’s attire.”
Then Lee Jaheon took something out from the bedside table.
…A modern-style blood-drawing syringe.
But the size…
Wait, it’s that big?
“If this condition continues for more than four days, Lee Jaheon will become a high-risk case for death due to anemia and complications.”
……
…Section Chief!!
NO!!! THE BRIDE SHOULD'VE BEEN ME😭YOU CAN'T!!
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