GDCG c288

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Chapter 288

note: epub is up below the title in the description along with my release schedule!

 

…I had only ever seen the Four Tiger Sword used once in an agent’s hands.

It was the sight I witnessed from Agent Haegum during the resort incident, when the thing inside the Red Mascot mask attacked.

The pure yang energy extending from the sword shook the heavens, and the power of exorcism that fell like lightning pierced through and destroyed the invading impure thing. 

The destruction of the unclean. 

And now— 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH! 

It was unfolding within my own grasp. 

‘Ah.’

Blue lightning. 

The white pure yang power blazing with the principles of the world burned a brilliant blue, surging upward as though it would pierce through the auditorium ceiling before reaching its peak. And then, toward the terrifying and impure thing that had invaded the school….

It came crashing down.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH! 

That divine power.

'Ah.'

It was so overwhelmingly powerful that it burned away the profane world—and shamefully, it burned away impure me as well. But I had no time to look at my hands, now missing three fingers. 

Because right before my eyes, the profane thing was collapsing. 

Thud. 

Thud-thud-thud…. 

One by one, they fell. 

The teachers’ bodies, grotesquely twisted together into a single monstrous form, collapsed onto the auditorium floor as incomplete remains, only fragments of them left intact. 

Along with Team Leader Park Hongrim’s upper body. 

Thud. 

Even the body that fell last into the center. All of them lay still with their eyes closed, piled together as though they had peacefully lost consciousness. 

And then— 

"......."

"......."

Silence. 

“……Hah.”

Thump. I collapsed onto the auditorium floor. 

White ash flaked from my fingers and palms where I gripped the Four Tiger Sword with both hands. My body and mind, abused by something far beyond what I could endure, screamed in agony, yet I did not dare let go of the sword and only clenched it tighter. 

"You did well."

Agent Haegum approached me. 

"Agent Grapes." 

A strange sound, almost like sobbing, nearly rose from my throat, but I swallowed it down. 

Then I steadied my hands and held the sword back out toward Agent Haegum. 

"No, keep carrying it for now. This isn’t over yet." 

"...!"

It felt like cold water had been poured directly over my mind. 

'Right.' 

The auditorium had temporarily regained its silence. 

Because the glass bullets of 'Help' projected the auditorium’s previous appearance, and because I had brought down the 'teachers' and neutralized them. 

But— 

“They’ll probably become possessed again.” 

“……Yes.” 

The Four Tiger Sword had neutralized the monster in that desperate moment, but it had not erased the profane contamination consuming the school itself.

It was the same as when the true body of the red mascot had been burned away by the Four Tiger Sword at the resort, yet the red zone itself still remained. 

Segwang Technical High School was still infested with flesh, radiating an ominous and grotesque atmosphere. 

Which meant we had to hurry. 

There was only one remaining procedure left. 

'Sealing.' 

The atmosphere instantly grew tense again.

“How long until Agent Bronze finishes drawing all the talisman strokes…? Agent Choi?” 

“It’ll take at least another thirty minutes.” 

“Right. Get up. We’re heading to Agent Bronze.” 

I forced myself upright immediately. My balance was ruined, like I had been hit by a truck. Damn it. 

“Do you require transport?” 

“Yes.” 

I’ll gladly accept it. 

Carried like luggage by Section Chief Lizard, I hurried after Agent Haegum— 

Then, suddenly looked back and stopped. 

“Grapes?” 

“Just a moment.” 

I asked Section Chief Lizard to bring me closer to the collapsed pile of the 'teachers' bodies. 

More specifically, to the upper body lying in the center. 

…Half of the torn talisman was still attached to Team Leader Park Hongrim’s torso. 

“Why?” 

Agent Choi approached me. 

After hesitating, I pulled out the remaining half of the talisman I still had. 

“Is it possible to reconnect this with that talisman somehow?” 

“…That’s the one buried in the backyard, right?” 

“Yes.” 

“Let me see it first.” 

Agent Choi performed a brief motion over the remaining talisman fragment, almost like cleansing it of residue, then placed it atop the team leader’s upper body. 

The separated talisman did not fully become one again, but at least it regained enough form to resemble a single shape. 

The shattered glass lantern was gone, but the talisman made using the back of the Hanbit Library checkout slip finally regained its form. 

“…Do you think it’ll have any effect?” 

“Who knows. Someone more spiritually powerful than me made it, so I can’t say.” 

Agent Choi’s eyes darkened for a moment as he looked over the talisman Team Leader Park Hongrim had made and the bodies scattered across the floor, as if lost in thought. But soon enough, he smiled as usual and pushed my back forward. 

“Still, it’s better to try and regret it afterward than not try at all. Let’s go already.” 

“Yes.” 

And so we hurriedly began leaving the auditorium. 

The school’s corruption remained unchanged. 

No—it had progressed even further. 

“Mmgh, mmghhh.” 

Figures wearing school uniforms twitched while stuck to the walls. Those who had already been devoured alive writhed across the floors and walls, their limbs flailing like pain growing from the school itself. 

A cold chill spread through my chest from the horror and misery of it all. 

'Damn it.' 

Honestly, it was better that Section Chief Lee Jaheon was carrying me. At least my instincts couldn’t stop my feet in terror. 

The agents and I gritted our teeth as we moved. 

But instead of heading toward the second-floor classroom, the agents made their way down to the first floor. 

“Agent Bronze is….” 

“We left him with the other agents. First, we need to get somewhere that can avoid the contamination as much as possible—” 

The words abruptly stopped. 

"…...."

Even the first-floor hallway had already been covered in flesh. 

And on the floors and walls were traces of people who looked as though they had resisted before being swallowed. 

Chunks of flesh devouring shattered glass handcuffs and broken restraint ropes. 

And the people who had been consumed. 

The agents’ protruding limbs. 

“…Gomyeong.” 

There was no response. 

The agents’ limbs merely remained embedded in the walls, twitching helplessly. 

…For the first time, Agent Haegum stopped walking. 

“Agent. If we use bullets on the wall, then maybe—” 

“No. Those aren’t life signs anymore. …They’re already dead.” 

"......."

“Conserve the bullets. Move.” 

Then Agent Haegum’s gaze shifted elsewhere. 

Beside the hallway where the traces of agents swallowed and killed by the school remained in groups, there was one place on the first floor that still looked relatively intact and had not yet been fully consumed. 

Class 1-4. 

Golden ropes had been driven around it, delaying the contamination. 

Even that had already been half-devoured, but it was enough to imagine the desperate battle the agents must have fought there…. 

Creeeak. 

Carefully stepping over the golden ropes, we opened the classroom door and looked inside. 

Under the desks in the center, untouched by flesh— 

A faint light flickered. 

Agent Bronze was kneeling on the floor there, carving strokes into a glass lantern. 

With a box cutter. 

“......!” 

Every time the blade carved another stroke, sparks of light burst out. And each time, shadows deepened across the face of the one carving them. 

Sweat—or perhaps tears—dampened his temples and cheeks, yet his expression was utterly blank with extreme concentration. 

He could not even spare a glance toward us. 

Perhaps because the tools were unsuitable, or perhaps because he corrected the slipping strokes with his own flesh, his hands were covered in thin red cuts like strands of thread—yet he never stopped. 

And then… Standing beside him and turning to look at us was a student from Segwang Technical High School. 

“Kim Soleum.” 

It's Lee Gyeol.

The moment I heard the three syllables of my name spoken inside the ghost story, chills ran down my spine. But immediately after came relief and gladness.

He was still alive. 

“You got your memories back?” 

“Yeah.” 

—Check whether the teacher is carrying the paper note. 

The classmate raised his hand and frowned while showing the words he had written on it himself. 

“I was trying to check what the teacher was carrying after seeing this… but then my memories suddenly came back, and I ran into people.” 

“The agents?” 

“Yeah. Since I recognized who they were, they told me to wait for a bit while they grabbed me and… I stayed in the classroom.” 

"......."

“They went out into the hallway among themselves, and since a while ago, I haven’t heard any voices anymore.” 

Everyone knew the reason already, so nobody bothered saying it aloud. 

We merely nodded with hardened expressions. 

Lee Gyeol gestured toward Agent Bronze with his chin. 

“Anyway, I got asked for a favor. Apparently, once this person finishes whatever he’s making, there’s somewhere I’m supposed to go with him.” 

The backyard. 

'…So Agent Bronze arranged this.' 

Because to people who were not students of this school, the backyard outside the infirmary window was invisible, appearing only as a black void. 

But… wait a second. 

“You said you recognized the agents?” 

"......."

“How did you recognize them?” 

To outward appearances, they were simply students from another school suddenly wearing different uniforms due to the error. 

But if he recognized them as 'agents' based on their items or conversations—that meant he originally knew about the Disaster Management Bureau’s agents. 

For example— 

About Team Leader Park Hongrim and the Azure Dragon Team agents who had remained behind to protect this school. 

“How much exactly did you remember?” 

The classmate with dyed hair and piercings answered with a strangely exhausted expression. 

“The day agents first came to this school.” 

"...!"

“And I remember up until the day this school fell apart. Hoo….” 

“Wait a second.” 

Agent Choi interrupted. 

While checking on Agent Bronze, who was still carving strokes. 

“Right… Lee Gyeol. Since we’re here, how about you tell us more about that time? You said the school was ruined.” 

I realized it too. 

The day the school fell. 

That was… 

'The day of the Segwang Special City disaster.' 

The day a Catastrophe-Level supernatural disaster broke out. 

A chill ran down my spine. 

“When was that?” 

"......."

Lee Gyeol slowly opened his mouth. 

“It was May. The day right before Children’s Day.” 

May 4th. 

“Right when first period started, an emergency disaster alert suddenly came in. It said there had been a terrorist attack at city hall.” 

“……!"

[Segwang Special City] Alert warning issued. A suspected terrorist explosion has occurred near the city hall. Believed to involve a biochemical weapon lethal to the human body. 

Signs of chained explosions are suspected, so citizens are advised to prepare to evacuate according to instructions and absolutely refrain from going outside. 

“'Segwang Special City'?”

“Yeah. What, did you think this was Seoul?” 

Agent Haegum had reflexively repeated the name of a city that did not exist in the 'current' Republic of Korea, but the expression on her face quickly shifted from confusion into something deeply grim. 

However, mine and Agent Choi’s expressions were probably even stiffer.

“Every TV channel and WeTube kept running nonstop emergency live news reports, so nobody paid attention to class, and we all watched that instead. There were scenes of people running away and buildings collapsing.” 

“.......”

“And then… suddenly everything got cut off.” 

Soon, even the internet itself stopped working. 

Students who had been calling their families suddenly found that their calls would no longer connect. 

But then— 

“Another disaster alert suddenly came through.” 

[Segwang Special City] 

Alert warning canceled notterrorism notweapon notexplosion dontworry 

comeoutcomeoutcomeoutcomeoutcomeoutcomeoutcomeoutcomeoutcomeoutcomeoutcomeoutcomeoutcomeoutcomeoutcomeoutcomeoutcomeoutcomeoutcomeoutcomeoutcomeoutcomeoutcomeoutcomeoutcomeout 

You came 

A cold shiver crawled down my spine. 

“That was when the first student in the classroom started crying.” 

“.......”

“The teachers hurriedly collected all our phones. They unplugged all the TVs too.” 

The students had panicked, but eventually followed the teachers’ instructions, blocked the windows, and gathered near the auditorium. 

The teachers had explained that if it was a biochemical weapon, it might be heavier than air and sink downward, making the lower floors more dangerous. 

“And then they told us to close our eyes, cover our ears, and quietly lie down.” 

“The teachers did too?” 

“No. They kept talking among themselves.” 

But apparently they played classical music throughout the fifth-floor hallway. 

Loud enough that it became difficult for them to talk over it. 

“And high schoolers just obediently listened to that?” 

“They said it was terrorism. Plus, those weird messages kept coming in, so people thought maybe phones could explode remotely or something. Though obviously there were still some bastards who didn’t listen.” 

“Were you one of them, by any chance?” 

“.......”

Avoiding our gazes, Lee Gyeol confessed quietly. 

“I just… didn’t cover my ears because I wanted to hear what the teachers were talking about. It felt suspicious.”

“So what were they saying?”

“I couldn’t hear very clearly, but one of the teachers tried to leave.” 

“...!”

“He said he had somewhere else he needed to go check, but that there was a place to report situations like this, and he sent a rescue request asking 'agents' to come to the school.” 

“.......”

“I think it was probably the counseling teacher.” 

—Some high schools would periodically receive visits to counsel students. 

Ho Yuwon? 

“That’s all. And then….”

At that moment—

Thunk.

All of us reflexively turned our heads. 

Under the desk, Agent Bronze lifted the cutter blade away from the glass lantern. 

“It’s complete.” 

“…!” 

Everyone’s attention was drawn toward him. 

The agent carefully lifted the glass lantern. Then he took out the paper talisman made at Leejeong Bookstore and aligned it 'properly' against the lantern’s base. 

Blue flames ignited along the carved strokes. 

Whoosh. 

The talisman’s strokes connected with the lantern’s carvings, and the flames flowed along them. The talisman expanded as the connections spread…. 

“……Hoo.” 

Complete. 

The blue light following the strokes was swallowed into the lantern. 

Receiving all our gazes, Agent Bronze held the lantern in both hands and slowly stood up from beneath the desk. 

His face was pale. 

“Are you… alright, Agent?” 

“Bronze.” 

Only then did Agent Bronze seem to notice us, relief and surprise briefly crossing his face. 

“The other agents….” 

“Let’s activate the talisman first, then talk.” 

“.......”

Agent Bronze took in the sight of Class 1-4, now half-covered in flesh, along with the silence of the hallway outside where no sounds could be heard anymore. 

But after taking a deep breath, he focused himself again. 

“….Yes. Where do we need to go?” 

“Do we just take it to the backyard and bury it there? That’s where it was before, right?” 

I tried to answer as energetically as possible. 

“Yes! Straight through the infirmary window and—” 

But then— 

—Foundyougameover

—Theyfoundthebackyardnonononono! 

"......."

Wait. 

“Grapes?” 

“I don’t think we can take it back to the backyard anymore. The location’s already been discovered.” 

I hurriedly added,

“This is… this feels like some kind of hide-and-seek.” 

“Hide-and-seek?” 

“Yes. I saw records that seemed to describe the talisman being hidden so the invading profane thing wouldn’t discover it.” 

I remembered. 

The backyard that errors could not perceive. 

“Maybe it was hidden there because the backyard was a place that couldn’t be rendered inside the game.” 

Everyone’s gaze turned toward Agent Bronze. 

“Agent?” 

“…Theoretically, that is possible.” 

“Okay. Then we need to find somewhere similar inside this school.” 

A similar place. 

A place where it could be hidden from the intruder…. 

'If the backyard was already used because it was the most suitable place.'

Then we needed to think differently. 

If making it completely invisible was impossible, then perhaps…

'What if it could instead be concealed beneath the overwhelming presence of something absurdly powerful?'

And this school was already part of that thing. 

—One of the supernatural phenomena discovered in Hanbit Library used a school as its setting, so let’s use that. 

Hanbit Library. 

“Let’s go to the library.” 

Toward the passage connected to Hanbit Library.

 

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