Dispatches from the Graduate School of Ghost Stories - Chapter 14

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Rumors and Graduate School (14)
Children Are Cleverer Than You Think
The teacher’s voice that had been spilling out from the classroom cut off. The worn classroom door creaked open, and an unfamiliar teacher appeared before him.
“Is something the matter? Ah… you’ve come to help with a special class!”
The homeroom teacher of sixth-grade class three was a man with a pale, washed-out complexion.
Actually, it wasn’t just that his features looked pale—the man’s face was genuinely drained of color.
The teacher, whose dark eyes were darting about, caught sight of the name badge hanging from Yu Jonghwa’s neck and his expression softened at once.
It was clear that without the badge, he would have given the intruder who’d disrupted his class quite a harsh reception.
“Let’s see, since our new teacher is quite tall, why don’t you take a seat in the very back?”
“Yes, understood.”
He’d come as a helper, so why was the teacher showing him to a student’s desk?
Yu Jonghwa wondered at this, but he walked obediently to the seat he’d been assigned. Good heavens—the floor was wooden.
Kids these days probably had never even seen flooring like this.
Each time he carefully stepped over the protruding floorboards, the wood creaked beneath his feet.
The children didn’t look particularly frightening just because they were inside a rumor. They chattered away among themselves with their own incomprehensible talk, paying no attention to Yu Jonghwa whatsoever.
‘Be sure to check the sticker attached to your desk before you sit down.’
‘If your real name is written there instead of an alias, erase it right away.’
Recalling his seniors’ instructions, Yu Jonghwa checked the yellowed sticker positioned at the corner of his desk.
His name was written in childish, crooked handwriting as if someone had scribbled it.
[Yu Jonghwa]
Is it standard for your real name to be exposed when you enter a rumor?
Yu Jonghwa took a small spray bottle from his pocket and sprayed salt water over the sticker.
Fortunately, the black ink spread quickly and began to fade away.
So Hwiyoung, who had insisted that salt and red beans were essential when entering a Rumor Phenomenon, had distributed supplies generously between Yu Jonghwa and Lee Juho.
Moreover, since he’d brought along plenty of snacks to hand out to the children, Yu Jonghwa’s pockets were practically bursting.
Suddenly, he noticed the room had grown unusually quiet.
When he lifted his head, stung by the sensation of many eyes on him, every child in the classroom had turned around and was staring at him.
Yu Jonghwa picked up a red pen and hastily scrawled an alias over the sticker.
[Kim Jongsik]
“Now, it’s still class time. Eyes on the blackboard, please!”
The teacher, striking the blackboard with his palm, drew the children’s attention back.
Tap, tap. White chalk moved across the deep green surface.
Yu Jonghwa glanced at the blackboard where a simple math problem was written, then quietly began searching through his desk.
The drawer beneath held only a few papers with odd dates stamped on them—no special items.
Instead, at the right corner of the desk where his name badge had been attached, faint scrawling in pencil was visible.
‘Don’t look at the floor so hard!’
As Yu Jonghwa pondered the meaning of the scrawl, he jerked his head up at the teacher’s voice.
“What is 73 minus 27? Today’s the second, so who is number two?”
A small boy sitting in the first row stood up from his seat.
Being called on by roll number to solve a problem—how nostalgic.
“Forty-six.”
“Well done! Take a piece of praise candy!”
Of all times, a math lesson! Yu Jonghwa had never been comfortable with mathematics, neither then nor now.
He had no idea how far modern elementary school children studied these days.
But simple subtraction was something even Yu Jonghwa could manage. After all, he was a man with a bachelor’s degree.
“What is the volume in cubic centimeters of a cube with edges of 8 centimeters?”
This was bad. He couldn’t do it.
Volume? That concept had been scrubbed from his brain long ago, right after the college entrance exam!
Did elementary school textbooks really include calculations like this?!
The seniors had clearly told him it would be easy before he entered the classroom.
‘Our expectations shifted a bit, but you’re listening to class anyway, so it’s fine. Just answer the questions correctly and there won’t be any problems.’
‘What if I can’t answer correctly?’
‘That wouldn’t be good. But this is elementary school. At least we didn’t go into a high school rumor, so we’re lucky, right?’
‘It won’t be difficult.’
Now that he thought about it, they were all graduate students. People with considerable academic pedigree.
Could it be that only he was the fool?
Yu Jonghwa fired up his long-dormant mathematical mind and silently screamed inside. Still, the difficulty level was manageable so far.
“Then let’s have number twenty-two stand up and give it a try.”
“I don’t know.”
“We did this yesterday. Subin, come up here and take your punishment.”
The children erupted in laughter. Even the child about to be punished grinned brightly and stepped forward.
The teacher didn’t look particularly angry either. He extended his hand toward the child with a gentle voice.
“Left foot. Confiscation.”
Yu Jonghwa rolled his eyes.
The child named Subin giggled and detached his own foot, placing it on the teacher’s palm.
Fortunately, this was a Rumor Phenomenon. The child’s body came away cleanly, like a ceramic doll, not a drop of blood.
But Yu Jonghwa’s body would not be so fortunate.
Hopping on one leg—thump, thump, thump—the child bounded back to his seat.
He felt some relief that the young one showed no pain. Still, Yu Jonghwa had to worry about his own predicament.
There was no way he’d escape a problem, having come as a Helper.
Why hadn’t the seniors given him a tip to at least work through a problem set beforehand?
“Excellent. Now, shall our Helper Teacher try the next one?”
The teacher’s white chalk moved across the blackboard with a pleasant scratching sound, each stroke precise.

“What’s the answer?”
……
Yu Jonghwa stared blankly at the blackboard.
He couldn’t even parse the problem, let alone solve it.
“Um, Teacher? Is this really Elementary School level difficulty?”
“Are you an elementary student?”
“No.”
There was nothing to say.
A Rumor Phenomenon was a collection of irrational hearsay, yet it pursued human logic in the strangest ways.
Cold sweat beading on his forehead, Yu Jonghwa slowly rose from his seat.
He crab-walked to the back door and tried rattling the handle behind his back.
Of course, the door wouldn’t open.
“The answer?”
The teacher’s face went blank. His features seemed to blur.
Staring at that featureless, egg-like face, Yu Jonghwa looked down at his own palms.
His lifeline didn’t hurt.
So the confiscated part wasn’t anywhere vital after all.
Being stupid isn’t a crime. He decided to accept his fate humbly.
Jingle.
The child sitting just beside the back door was tiny.
Small enough to worry whether she could see properly past the other children.
Jingle, jingle.
The girl was kicking her red bag with her foot, making soft sounds.
Behind her chair, her left hand appeared. One finger extended.
‘The answer to the math problem is zero or one!’
He didn’t know who said it, but there was a saying that if you guess zero or one on a math test, you’ll get it right.
Could this elementary student really be teaching him—a graduate student—that the answer is one?
Yu Jonghwa answered hesitantly, his voice uncertain.
“Um… is it one?”
“That’s right~. Take a praise candy! Everyone, let’s clap!”
The heavy pressure that had been crushing him lifted instantly.
Yu Jonghwa ran forward and eagerly accepted the candy the teacher offered.
The candy inside the gleaming wrapper was tiny, a cheap lemon-colored lollipop.
Amid the halfhearted applause of the children, a staticky bell chime sounded from the speaker.
[♩♬♩♪♪♬]
When the break-time bell rang, the classroom stirred with energy.
The moment the teacher left, Yu Jonghwa went to the desk of the girl who’d given him the answer and rummaged through his pockets.
Her desk was covered in drawings and doodles. He could even see what looked like curse words, though the handwriting styles were all different.
“Hey there, thanks so much. You gave me the answer, right? Do you like snacks? I’ve got candy and chocolate. What’s your name?”
“I’m Baek Sahye.”
“Sahye, thanks. Want some candy from me?”
……, ……
“Sorry. I’m an uncle. Or, a mister…….”
“Why’s he only giving snacks to her?!”
The children who’d been running around suddenly swarmed in.
Yu Jonghwa was stripped of all his snacks and his pockets were thoroughly emptied.
“Got it, line up! But remember—you can’t accept candy from strangers outside, understand? Here, take one each!”
Several boys practically wrestled him for the sweets, tearing them from his hands.
With his soul half-departed, Yu Jonghwa held out a large lollipop to Baek Sahye again.
“The man hid the biggest one. You take this one, Sahye.”
“……Thank you.”
“No, I’m the one who’s grateful…….”
The cold-faced girl extended her small hand and took the lollipop he offered.
Her fingertips were red, marked with countless wounds.
“Are you… all right? It looks like it hurts…….”
“Why didn’t you give me any?!”
A girl who’d been gone to the bathroom suddenly burst through the door, rushing at him.
“Sorry! I’m all out!”
“Give it here!”
The taller child lunged at him like a demon, and even the ones who’d already received candy joined in, shaking his body.
“Ahhhhh! Help! Why are kids these days so terrifying!”
Yu Jonghwa’s screams only ceased when he surrendered the candy he’d received as a prize for answering a question.
His hair was nearly torn out, and his scalp nearly came away with it.
Please, he thought, praying the seniors had gathered enough material. He bolted for the hallway where they were waiting, empty-handed.
The children no longer chased him, but sat in the classroom, grinning as they watched him disappear.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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