Dispatches from the Graduate School of Ghost Stories - Chapter 2

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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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Supernatural Tales and Graduate School (2)
Slave Market
In the darkened office, only Yu Jong-hwa’s monitor gleamed.
The company didn’t stop even when an employee’s funeral was held; someone had to stay behind and work. That someone happened to be Yu Jong-hwa.
Since he’d been with the victim until the end, he’d even imagined being dragged to the police station, but the police, having confirmed the connection to a Supernatural Phenomenon alongside witness testimony, released him with almost disappointing ease.
Yu Jong-hwa entered a search query with an unreal sense of detachment.
The Supernatural Phenomenon information from the Disaster Management Agency that he’d checked yesterday had been updated.

The prophecy must be realized.
First reported on 2025.09.26.
Resembles commercially available plastic capsule lottery products; when opened, contains a slip of paper inscribed with a random prophecy.
The written content is inconsistent. The future may be expressed in ambiguous sentences, so interpretation should be approached with caution.
It is irrelevant whether the prophecy’s subject is the one who opened it or another person.
This Supernatural Phenomenon seeks to realize its own prophecy, and if the victim offers no resistance, the prophecy will invariably come true.
As his eyes moved to read the next sentence, the letters suddenly swelled in size and dominated his vision.
Yu Jong-hwa could not look away…….
Surrender yourself to the embrace of gentle fate!
Why do you refuse mercy? We bestow appropriate suffering to correct you into a ‘desirable’ state.
Such suffering is in no way harmful to you.
The black characters grew large enough to fill the screen. The old monitor shimmered in gaudy colors.
What is karma and what is karmic connection?
Yu Jong-hwa blinked.
The page with its bland design—the kind commonly seen on government websites—came back into focus.
The few lines he’d just read were nowhere to be found.
Had it been updated in the meantime?
The prophecy recommends compliance to victims who refuse fate, and grants three opportunities to realize the prophecy.
Multiple testimonies confirm that pain occurs in the left hand when opportunities are deducted; when all are depleted, the victim dies.
Estimated reason: the Supernatural Phenomenon seeks to eliminate the anomaly that threatens its own value.
The reported methods of death thus far vary, but share a common point—the victim chooses death of their own volition.
So studying is the way to stay alive? Yu Jong-hwa really didn’t want to study anymore.
Since graduating from university, the concept of studying had vanished from his life.
Yet this crazy prophecy demanded that he graduate from graduate school.
To make matters worse, advertisement banners like cheaply printed leaflets began pouring down and filling the screen.
2026 Juzak University Supernatural Studies Graduate School Admissions Now Open!
*Supernatural Studies Department* New Program List and Advantages
We Want You! New JUZAK!
Yu Jong-hwa screamed and closed the windows with a click speed faster than during course registration, but the monitor was already overrun with advertisements.
You still have plenty of time until 2028. Let’s take it slow!
Irritated, he proceeded to click the X on every single ad.
“Even Korea’s supernatural phenomena have impatient personalities…… Argh!”
Feeling a pain as if cut by a blade, Yu Jong-hwa opened his left hand. He’d never known how to read palms, but now he understood what the lifeline was.
The line that had once extended to his wrist was now about one-third shorter.
And they call that ‘granting an opportunity’? He couldn’t begin to understand the prophecy’s logic.
Now two chances remained.
Yu Jong-hwa was still too young to die unfairly. With an expression of utmost composure—which is to say, one of anguish—he opened his messenger.
―Hey, about that Supernatural Studies Graduate School. Is it worth me going?
His carefully chosen question drew warm responses from friends of ten years’ standing.
―What kind of master’s program are you talking about? Just go and grow up.
Yu Jong-hwa haltingly explained Manager Kim’s death, the Supernatural Phenomenon he’d been caught up in, and the fate of death if he didn’t attend graduate school.
His friends, who at first scolded him for speaking in some foreign language instead of Korean, began offering sincere advice once they grasped the gravity of the situation.
―They say lots of people go there because job placement is easy. The pay in that field is decent too. Just figure out how to graduate.
When the Supernatural Phenomenon first appeared, people, as always, thought the end times weren’t far off.
Unlike the stories that had trended online—the convenient settings where dungeons opened or people became superhumans—none of that happened.
Reality is always shabbier than fantasy.
Before the term ‘Supernatural Phenomenon’ was properly publicized, the world was infested with all manner of pseudo-religions.
Eventually the nation stepped in and categorized it as a ‘disaster,’ and now the Supernatural Phenomena business had become a booming industry.
―Thank goodness. Juzak University’s easy to get into. The day one of us graduates with a master’s degree is finally here. And it’s Yu Jong-hwa! Wow! Really! Amazing!
Please shut up……. Yu Jong-hwa demonstrated his anguish by stringing vowels together haphazardly, amusing his friends in the middle of the night.
Yu Jong-hwa lacked foresight, but he had drive and, more than that, possessed exceptional social skills.
Without hesitation, he opened his email and typed in the graduate school’s email address, which he’d copied from the internet.
* * *
The next day, Yu Jong-hwa returned from the funeral and opened his mailbox late at night.
[Hello, this is the administrative office of the Juzak University Supernatural Studies Graduate School.
First of all, thank you for inquiring about admission to our Supernatural Studies Graduate School.
‘The Supernatural Studies Graduate School currently offers the Supernatural Studies Department and the Supernatural Practical Support Department, and dual-major applications are available after admission. The application qualifications for each department are as follows…….]
The message continued on, and the scrollbar on the side of the screen was no thicker than an ant.
Yu Jong-hwa had written only three lines: “Hello, what do I need to enroll, thank you.” Yet the reply was a Great Wall of text.
If you ever receive a kind response from a university staff member, it’s absolutely not a good sign.
Most of them are unmotivated, and they pray that every email arriving in the department mailbox isn’t their responsibility.
Especially if you’ve emailed the graduate school administrative office, you need to be even more careful. That’s a warning that something very bad is about to happen.
Yu Jong-hwa felt something ominous upon receiving the email, but he had no choice.
[The required study period is six semesters.]
Two semesters per year, three times total. He counted on his fingers and confirmed that he would have to live in graduate school for at least three years.
Since the application deadline was only a few days away, if he’d been any later, he might have missed graduating on time.
The Prophecy apparently judged that there was no chance of him graduating on schedule from the moment he ignored the advertisement.
This was too much.
[The graduation requirement for the Supernatural Studies Department includes thesis writing, while the Supernatural Practical Support Department allows thesis substitution through work as a supernatural research support staff member.]
The terminology was difficult, so Yu Jong-hwa relied on the power of an internet search. Simplified, it came down to this.
Supernatural Studies Department = write a thesis vs. Supernatural Practical Support Department = go into the supernatural and graduate through fieldwork.
Naturally it’s fieldwork. Any normal person would choose that.
Rather than writing a proper thesis and graduating cleanly, running on two sturdy legs to earn your diploma had a much higher success rate. At least, that’s what Yu Jong-hwa thought.
The email ended as if determined to catch one last fish, dangling a powerful bait.
[Full government-funded tuition support, living expense scholarships during research work, and job placement with government agencies available.]
A degree and money. Weren’t these decent conditions!
He comforted himself with a psychological victory.
Two days later, Yu Jong-hwa achieved his dream of submitting a resignation letter to his company.
Even the CEO, who’d griped about how troublesome it was to hire a replacement and tried to burn the resignation letter, ultimately had to let him go.
“If I don’t go, I’ll die.”
“Can’t you do graduate school while working at the company?”
“I think it should be possible with two days a week off.”
“Get out.”
“Yes, sir!”
Regardless of the reason, resigning brought him joy.
Freed, he quickly submitted his application and even received his interview date.
Anxiously waiting for the decisive day, worrying that he might not fail admission and somehow die suddenly, Yu Jong-hwa counted down the hours.
* * *
On a Saturday morning when ordinary unemployed people would never be awake, the interview day finally arrived.
Juzak University, like most universities, sat atop a steep hill. Yu Jong-hwa jogged lightly up the incline, breathing the fresh air that was unusual for Seoul. Behind him, a tattered-looking figure who appeared to be a graduate school applicant was climbing up.
Perhaps they were already a graduate student, which would explain their state.
But wait. Was that really a person?
Suddenly, he noticed how overcast the sky was. Yu Jong-hwa had come to school very early.
It was too early to encounter anyone.
Feeling uneasy, he turned to look back. That mysterious figure had vanished.
With a sinking feeling, he slowly lowered his gaze.
That suspicious being, upon closer inspection, didn’t have a proper appearance at all. Its black hair was disheveled, and the checkered shirt was grimy and tattered.
When its yellowed, bloodshot eyes met his, it assumed a posture of crawling flat on the ground.
‘That’s not human.’
The warning from instinct was the most certain message of all.
Yes, he’d seen this in creepypastas that circulated online. When something’s humanity seemed questionable, it was human; but when you got that gut feeling that it definitely wasn’t human, that’s what it was.
Why was something like that roaming the campus path?
Pushing the question aside, Yu Jong-hwa simply ran. He sprinted at full speed at first, then once he’d gotten some distance from that unidentified ‘thing,’ he maintained a lighter pace and occasionally glanced back to check the gap.
It bounded on all fours before abruptly stopping and staring at him.
Perhaps to set the atmosphere, it maintained an expressionless face, though it seemed to be panting slightly.
Quadrupedal locomotion was tough on an incline.
Yu Jong-hwa sheepishly scratched his head and followed the directional signs pointing to the interview venue. The arrows led to some dreary-looking building.
It seemed the Supernatural Studies Graduate School used ‘Injae Hall’ at the summit of the hill.
Whether it was meant to nurture talent or housed human disasters, the building looked like something was about to emerge from it.
He arrived at the interview site early, but the professors were late.
The interviewers, laughing nervously as they entered, began firing questions instead of greetings.
“Are you currently employed? What industry?”
“Is it possible to balance graduate school and work? We have most of our classes on weekdays. Did you check the curriculum?”
Whatever Yu Jong-hwa answered, the professors nodded along. Two more people waited behind him in the queue, and it was clear they hadn’t even met the minimum enrollment threshold.
Good news. Unless he did something spectacularly stupid, he’d get in.
Was this university really worth it?
“I actually quit my job to attend graduate school! I wanted to dedicate myself fully to my studies until graduation!”
A lie spoken without even a flicker of shame.
But the older professors’ faces lit with approval.
“That was wise thinking. The Supernatural Practical Support Department can connect you directly with the lab, so you’ll gain experience right away.”
He nodded vaguely at what he’d barely understood.
The explanation of the department’s nature had been tedious, and Yu Jong-hwa hadn’t really followed it.
You learn faster by doing anyway.
“So have you ever experienced a Supernatural Phenomenon? Not just something scary, but something that would be classified as an actual phenomenon.”
“Well… I haven’t had many, but I think I encountered one at school this morning. It was around eight o’clock—something was chasing me and crawling up from behind.”
The youngest of the professors adjusted his glasses and spoke as if it were nothing.
“Ah, that’s Ji-su.”
“Oh, Kim Ji-su? That doctoral student still hasn’t finished their research?”
“When I saw their last thesis defense, they had quite a bit of revising to do.”
The professors made horrifying remarks as casually as discussing the weather, then broke into chatter. That had been a person?
A male professor caught Yu Jong-hwa’s bewildered gaze and offered a matter-of-fact explanation.
“What the student saw was a researcher enrolled in the Supernatural Studies Department. Since most documented cases of Supernatural Phenomena are about their genesis rather than their resolution, quite a few people are researching artificial creation of such phenomena.”
“Re… really…? It didn’t feel human at all……”
“Ah, they’re wearing a byproduct taken from a creepypasta. You felt uneasy when you encountered them, yes? Even a single stone picked up from one of these phenomena feels completely different from our reality.”
He needed to leave.
Yu Jong-hwa’s leg began to tremble slightly.
That person—if they really were a person. Their eyes weren’t sane. Was that because of the foreign object supposedly taken from a creepypasta, or because they’d failed to graduate with their doctorate?
Statistically it was probably the latter, but he had a strong instinct that he’d walked into a deeply wrong place.

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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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