[2019, May 31st | Friday, 2:20 PMJ
[Lee Joon: Number of Attempts- 2]
[Ghost Story Points: 344]
[Causality Rate: 34%]
"No one's around, right?"
"Yeah."
The club members once again scanned the surroundings in the hallway, and I opened the Store window from inside.
[Cheongsong Honey Apple Small Package Weight + 270g- 1 Point]
[Caution: Products purchased with points cannot be exchanged, returned or refunded.]
[Would you like to purchase?]
"I'll order one now. Everyone, make sure to track exactly where it comes out."
"Got it. Start."
I pressed the button.
[Purchase has been completed.]
[Current Ghost Story Points: 344-1= 343]
Clink-!
An apple instantly appeared in midair, and Jinhee swiftly snatched it, while Gyeongwon, holding a measurement tape, marked the location.
"Here. It's about 1.5 meters high, right in the center of the third tile."
It was roughly the height of a person's neck or chest.
Given how many times we had used the Store window so far, it was a relief that not once had our bodies overlapped with an appearing item, even by accident.
'I wonder what would have happened if it got overlapped....'
That's what we were about to find out.
"I'll order again. Get ready."
"Got it."
Jinhee stabbed a wooden chopstick into the apple and handed it to Gyeongwon who stretched his arm ahead while keeping his body out of the place.
It was a precaution to ensure that even the tips of his fingers wouldn't overlap with the apple that was about to be delivered again.
[Cheongsong Honey Apple Small Package Weight ± 270g-1 Point]
[Caution: Products purchased with points cannot be exchanged, returned or refunded.]
[Would you like to purchase?]
Tension filled the air among the club members.
"..Buy."
I pressed the button, keeping my eyes on the apple Gyeongwon was holding
outside the door.
[Purchase has been completed.]
[Current Ghost Story Points: 343 -1= 342]
Flash!
Splatter-!
At that moment, a bright light erupted from the apple in the hallway, accompanied by a sound of something bursting with a splatter.
"Ugh, uuaaah...!"
"What the, crazy!"
Something began to swell from inside
the apple, the skin bursting out in places, and from within, protuberances started to sprout wildly.
Startled, Gyeongwon dropped the chopstick he was holding, and the apple, swollen with protrusions, fell to the floor with a wet squelch.
At the same time, dozens of tentacle-like things burst out from the holes in the protrusions and started wriggling around.
"Eeek, eeeeeek...!"
"W-What the f*ck..!"
Just like that, the apple, as if it were a living creature, suddenly leaped into the clubroom.
As I flinched and took a step back, the
apple's tentacles burst out even longer with a splat- sticking to various spots on the walls and ceiling, and started wriggling.
Like a spider hanging from its web,dozens of tentacles pierced through the floor, walls, and ceiling, with the apple in the center dangling from them.
Again, something swelled and squirmed inside it.
"Joon! Get out..."
"Ugh, f*ck..."
I lifted my legs high to carefully step over the numerous tentacles stretched out like a spiderweb before me and barely managed to rush out into the hallway.
And as I hurriedly shut the door, a horrifying sight became visible through the glass window.
"What, what the hell! What is that thing!"
"Ugh, gross..."
The bizarre creature, which could no longer be called an apple, was still spewing green fluids from its dozens of protrusions with a squelching sound, and now something like insect legs were sprouting from it.
Soon, the tentacles strewn about everywhere began to burrow into various spots on the walls and ceiling, like insects with a will of their own.
Just like a worm gnawing at a fruit, it began to gradually gnaw its way into the cement wall and the building.
"C-crazy!"
"It's going down to another floor, Joon..."
"Damn..."
The situation had unfolded so suddenly.
I was a bit flustered, but still, with the option of killing myself in case of the worst, I decided to just watch for now.
Just then, from the stairs down below, I could hear Teacher Jang Hwaeun and Mr. Kim from the handyman shop coming up together.
"Almost there, Mr. Kim. It's a bit far, isn't it? You just need to install a simple door lock and you can go."
"Joon..."
"Prez...!"
The club members turned to me urgently.
Before we knew it, the creature had eaten through the walls and floor, revealing the entire steel frame of the building.
And at its center, the apple, as if it were a completely different creature, was slowly unfurling its wings as if awakening.
Down the hall, people from other club rooms were starting to poke their heads out, wondering what all the commotion was about.
I thought of one solution and quickly opened the club's Status Window, urgently pressing Space Expansion.
[Ghost Story Club LV. 8]
[Points until next level up: 0/200
[Abilities:
- Space Expansion LV.3
- Ghost Story Acquisition Skill LV.2
- Manpower Capacity LV.2]
"Space expansion! Quickly!"
[No ability points available to distribute.]
[You can distribute one ability point each time the club levels up.]
"Then level up first, hurry the f*ck up!"
Bwooong-
[Points until next level up: 17... 28...
52... 15... 95... 124... 157... 183... 199.
200/200]
Ding!!
Ping~a
[The club has leveled up!]
[Ghost Story Club LV.8 -LV.9]
[Current available ability point: (1)]
Finally, from the center of the apple
hanging in the web of tentacles, an
insect-like creature awakened.
It shook its body, and just the moment
it stretched out its long, branch-like
legs and was about to step onto the
floor.
Tring~♪
[Space Expansion LV.3 - LV.4]
[The clubroom expansion will begin soon. Please close the door and step outside for loading.]
"It's already closed, you idiot!"
[The clubroom is loading. Please wait.]
[0%]
At the same time as the loading began, that demonic-looking insectoid creature lunged at the glass door of the clubroom we had been looking through.
Splat-!
"Kyaa, kyaaak..."
"F*ck..."
But perhaps because the loading had just started, even though the glass window was quite thin, it didn't even shake or break.
Flap, thud- Flap, thud, thud-
"...!"
The creature born from the apple swung its wings and tentacles, charging wildly around the clubroom, but as the loading began, the walls and floor started to ripple.
The creature's legs were sucked into the rippling floor and torn apart, making a bizarre noise.
Crunch- crunch- crunch- crunch-
The glass window of the clubroom door we were looking through slowly began to grow foggy and blur.
[12%]
[27%]
Clink clang clink clang-
A strange mechanical sound echoed from inside the room.
It was the sound that came out every time it loaded.
Soon, around the corner, Teacher Jang Hwaeun and Mr. Kim appeared together.
"Kids~ what are you all doing out in the hallway?"
"Te, teacher..."
"I brought Mr. Kim with me~ Let's quickly let him in~"
"T-That's.. "
[35%]
The loading was now about one-third
completed.
Soon, Mr. Kim, the quiet, mustachioed,
muscular man from the handyman shop, strode over carrying a toolbox and stood in front of us, then without a word, he grabbed the doorknob.
Click-
[41%]
"W-Well, actually, the door is broken."
"It won't open, so we came outside..."
Thump- Thump- Thump-!
Just as we were making up excuses, a
strange thrashing sound came from inside the clubroom.
Boom, bang- bang- bang- thump, thump.
".....!?"
"..W-What was that sound? Is there Someone inside?"
Teacher Jang Hwaeun's face showed
confusion.
Mr. Kim, still holding the doorknob, also paused.
We exchanged glances, our expressions stiffening.
"..We don't know."
"You don't know..."
Then, as if sensing something, Teacher
Jang Hwaeun quickly came over to me and whispered in my ear.
"What is it? Why won't it open?"
"...We're expanding the clubroom."
"Suddenly?"
"Well... there's... a bit of a situation.."
"Hmm.,"
Click- Click-
The quiet, mustachioed man, Mr. Kim,
jiggled the doorknob a few more times, but finding it still wouldn't open, he suddenly set his toolbox down on the ground with his left hand.
Click-
Then, opening the box, he took out a few tools like nippers, a bench, and a screwdriver, and began to skillfully pry open the doorknob.
[68%]
"Uh, you shouldn't open that lock-"
Click, click, click- click.
Before anyone could stop him, Mr.Kim unscrewed and turned the screws a few times, and iust like that, the doorknob was completely dismantled.
With a practiced gesture, he removed it and set it down on the floor, and through the hole, the inside of the clubroom was now clearly visible.
For a moment, we all held our breath.
Inside of the clubroom, visible through the wide-open hole where the doorknob used to be, was still undergoing its transformation.
Click, click, shhhhhhk-
The walls and floor rippled like waves, changing into brand new tiles, and beyond the window was a black universe filled with constellations we had never seen before.
Against that backdrop, a bag containing 1 billion won was floating in the air in front of the window.
Just as Mr. Kim, having finished organizing his tools, was about to kneel down and peer into the clubroom.
I cried out inwardly.
"The, the probability of him not seeing
inside the clubroom!"
Poof-
[17%]
At that moment, as Mr. Kim looked into the room through the door handle, suddenly a red eye peered in from the other side.
A red eye so large it could completely block a fist-sized hole, with a pupil split into dozens of branches.
It was that monstrous creature, so swollen and repeatedly transformed that it was impossible to believe it had been born from an apple.
F*ck, it didn't die when it got sucked in
earlier?
Like that, the taciturn, mustachioed,
muscular Mr. Kim and the monster that had burst out from the apple stared into each other's eyes.
".....?"
[83%]
Then Mr. Kim, who had been staring at
that eye, went, 'Hmm...?' and suddenly
picked up a screwdriver and stabbedit
into that eye socket.
Squelch-!
Thunp, clatter, clatter- clatter- clatter-
Click, click, rattle- rattle- rattle-
The stabbing sensation was that of a
living creature, and Mr. Kim frowned
as he pulled out the screwdriver.
At the same time, the monstrous
creature that had been thrashing
about was caught by the ceaselessly
transforming waves of the floor and
walls and flailed helplessly.
And this time, it didn't survive. Like
meat being grinded into a mincer, its
entire body was sucked into the rapidly
undulating tiles, starting from the place where its flesh had been caught.
Click clack click clack-
Crunch squelch squelch-
[94%]
"Ah~ haha, hahaha..."
Teacher Jang Hwaeun, finally coming to her senses, blocked the doorway to prevent Mr. Kim from seeing inside.
"S-Since the doorknob is off now, shall we go inside~?"
The teacher signaled to me with her eyes, and I nodded.
[100%]
[The clubroom has been expanded]
Fwoosh-!
Creak-
The clubroom opened by the teacher was utterly clean.
Afternoon sunlight streamed in through the window, and the whiteboard and desk were all neatly arranged.
I quickly rolled my eyes, scanning the room just in case there might be any sign of the creature, but fortunately, the interior was completely spotless.
The clubroom's space expansion function wasn't simply about making the interior larger; each expansion involved replacing all the tiles, resetting everything completely.
Therefore, there wasn't even a single
speck of dust on the floor.
The walls, which the monsters had been gnawing away at, were now pristine white cement without a single groove, as if they had never been damaged in the first place.
"Haha, ah~ haha....."
Teacher Jang Hwaeun let out an awkward laugh as she walked inside the clubroom.
Then, she took out the digital door lock from Sunah's bag and brought it over to the door.
"Ah~ Here it is~ This is what I asked you to install~"
"....."
"This is it~ Here....."
Mr. Kim, still kneeling, stared blankly at the screwdriver.
When Teacher Jang Hwaeun, with an awkward smile, handed the door lock to him again, only then did he take his eyes off it and, without a word, accepted it and stood up.
Then, he immediately grabbed the pen he had tucked behind his ear, swiftly drew a design on the door, and silently focused on installing it.
We watched awkwardly fom one side of the hallway.
I looked around the hallway.
Thankfully, the students pulled their heads back in when they saw the adults present.
I turned to my club members and whispered,
"..Do you think we drew too much attention? Should I die and turn back time now?"
"Don't chicken out, you idiot."
Jinhee patted me on the shoulder.
"Why are you worrying about that? What are they gonna do about it? Be confident, be confident. Puff out your chest. Straighten your shoulders."
"....."