Dispatches from the Graduate School of Ghost Stories - Chapter 20

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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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Urban Legends and Graduate School (20)
Special Supplementary Lesson
Both doors of the classroom slammed shut at a terrifying speed.
Something outside kicked violently against the doors, making them shudder with heavy thuds. It was probably Ju-ho.
Yu Jong-hwa looked at the girl blocking his path. The small girl’s face was bright with excitement.
He pondered how to resolve the situation, then sighed and posed a question to Sa-hye.
Even by his own assessment, it wasn’t a particularly good question.
“Sa-hye, um… you really did die a long time ago, didn’t you?”
“Would something change if I hadn’t?”
The large man let all the tension drain from his shoulders. He had no gift for deception, and even less talent for persuading others through lies. So he simply did his best to convey his thoughts directly, as they came to him.
“If it’s already too late, then I don’t know what to call this. But I don’t think it’s my place to convince you of anything. A human life is singular, after all.”
“That’s good. So a life can only be repaid with a life.”
“That’s not quite what I mean, but… I can’t ask you to forgive the people who killed you. Still. If you haven’t died—if it hasn’t come to that—then I’ll quietly save those children when you’re not around.”
“Why not save them now?”
“Because you’d hate it, wouldn’t you?”
The girl laughed shrilly.
The children hidden beneath the floorboards, listening to their conversation in breathless silence, screamed and thrashed about.
“Instead, after I save those children, I’ll go find my homeroom teacher. Maybe see if we can transfer the ones who did wrong to another school, or move them to a different class…”
Though it had already become an urban legend phenomenon, it seemed better to take action now rather than let them keep meeting face to face. He wasn’t sure if the concept of transfers even existed in an urban legend.
“Aren’t you scared of our teacher?”
Scared.
Yu Jong-hwa, who had nearly had his legs torn off, recalled the teacher’s pallid face and broke into cold sweat.
“Still, I’ll try something like that.”
“You’re an idiot. It was a long time ago. I died and became a ghost. Doesn’t it look obvious?”
“It sure does.”
The girl certainly did strange things, and her complexion was ashen. Yu Jong-hwa smiled sheepishly and pushed his hair back. But the child showed no sign of being offended by the criticism.
The noise of the younger children gradually faded. What made the quiet classroom loud again was only the footsteps of the seniors outside, kicking to help free him.
“But do you believe my story? This is an urban legend.”
“Huh?”
“You came in already knowing that.”
Bang. The back door of the classroom shook once with a terrible boom. The child was about to say something when her expression hardened, and she stared at the classroom door.
The door, which had been shaking as if it might shatter, now hung silent and motionless.
“Shh, stay still. The Principal scares me.”
The Principal? Yu Jong-hwa recalled the elderly man with vacant eyes he had seen during the day. He was about to ask Sa-hye something more, but she pressed a finger to her lips, signaling him to keep quiet.
“He hates it most when the number of people in the school decreases.”
As Yu Jong-hwa nodded, the child grabbed the door and slid it open. Through the opening, the Principal’s weathered face appeared directly before him.
The old man with milky eyes stood there with a gentle expression, his hands resting on the shoulders of both Ju-ho and So Hwijyeong.
So Hwijyeong glared at Yu Jong-hwa, his lips moving silently in a threat.
‘What were you doing? We need to talk later.’
Though he didn’t know his senior well yet, his manner carried the weight of someone who wouldn’t be out of place cursing under his breath. He might even get hit.
But being hit by Ju-ho wasn’t a concern, and he wasn’t particularly worried about it.
“Hello, our dear Sa-hye. You’ve brought quite a few friends.”
“Hello, Principal.”
The girl greeted him cheerfully, bowing her head respectfully to the Principal.
Yu Jong-hwa, reading the moment, bowed along with her.
“With three transfer students, that’s wonderful. Now I should ask to cancel the school closure.”
“Sir, we didn’t transfer here—we’re just visiting for a bit…”
So Hwijyeong stopped glaring at Yu Jong-hwa and spoke to the Principal in a casual tone, making an excuse.
And the Principal, as befitted someone born from “urban legend” whose fundamental nature was absurdity, ignored everything and forcibly ushered them into the classroom.
“Now, everyone take your seats. Shall we start class for the first time in a while?”
The seniors exchanged glances, then picked out suitable desks from the row at the back and sat down. Following them, Yu Jong-hwa pulled out the chair at the desk bearing his name and sat.
The Principal waited until they were all properly seated, then stood at the podium and picked up the attendance book.
“Today I’ll call on our new friends first. Everyone, please give them a warm welcome. Kim Jong-sik?”
“Yes, here.”
Fortunately, it seemed his real name wasn’t written in the attendance book. If his true identity were discovered, he felt he would be trapped in this school forever.
Recalling his own name written on that ominous contract, Yu Jong-hwa listened as the Principal read off the aliases of his seniors in turn.
Feeling the fatigue, he looked out the window at the still-dark sky. It seemed dawn was still far away.
“Kim Jong-ho.”
“Yes…”
“Kim Jong-yeong?”
“Yes!”
Yu Jong-hwa carefully shifted his aching legs beneath the elementary-school desk, which was uncomfortably small for his frame.
Unlike during the day, hard candies in glittering wrappers lay scattered across the classroom floor here and there. Only now did he realize they seemed to serve as bait—something meant to draw the eye downward.
“Sa-hye.”
“Here.”
He thought the roll call would end with the girl’s clear response, but the Principal continued calling names.
“Lee Jin-ju.”
“Present.”
“Park Jun-hui.”
“Here!”
“Shin Su-jin.”
“I’m here.”
Like any ordinary classroom scene, the children’s bright voices chattered aimlessly whenever a friend’s name was called.
It would have been a pleasant sight—if all that noise hadn’t been coming from beneath the classroom floor.
They behaved as though they’d all forgotten clawing at the wooden boards above them, screaming and thrashing until their nails tore.
“Woo Su-hyeon.”
“Here.”
About six children answered to their names. Yu Jong-hwa, now aware of the situation, felt no curiosity about their true nature, but the seniors kept trying to glance down at the floor.
‘Don’t look.’
He tapped the desk lightly to draw their attention and made an X-mark with his hand.
“Let me see… one friend is still outside. That one has a bit of trouble with stairs, so would you mind opening the door?”
Sa-hye sat closest to the door. Without hesitation or reluctance, the girl stood quickly and opened it.
Yu Jong-hwa squeezed his eyes shut, seized by a bad premonition about the figure about to appear.
Tap-tap, tap-a-tap-tap, screeeech…
The sound of palms striking the floor and the sickening drag of a crushed body drew slowly toward him.
The three living students instinctively kept from turning to look, their gazes fixed firmly on the teacher’s desk.
There were several empty seats, but the one beside Yu Jong-hwa bore no signs of use. Sa-hye approached his side, pulled out the vacant chair, and helped her “friend” sit down.
“…….”
Even without turning to look, he felt the weight of a stare pricking his cheek.
‘Sa-hye. Weren’t we close? Why right next to me, of all places?’
Yu Jong-hwa fought to shake off the creeping dread and forced himself to concentrate on the Principal standing at the desk.
“Student Hong Gi-seo?”
“Here.”
The girl who had died in the library answered in a drawn-out voice.
Irritated about something, she shoved her desk around noisily and complained to the Principal.
“Sir. This isn’t my desk. My name isn’t on it.”
“Is that so? Let me check.”
Yu Jong-hwa tensed completely, enduring the presence passing near him. ‘Please, not me.’ The old man’s wrinkled fingers traced past the nameplate bearing his false name.
“This isn’t Jong-young’s seat. And the chair’s a bit small for a student this size. How about you and your friend trade legs?”
“Trade seats… is that what you mean, sir?”
“Gi-seo says she’d like to have your legs. Why don’t you lend them to her? Jong-young, you’ve used yours for a long time—it’s only fair to give way.”
The Principal seemed anxious. His clouded eyes studied Hong Gi-seo’s condition before urging So Hwijyeong to make the sacrifice.
The old man’s grip tightened on his shoulder with brutal force.
Ju-ho’s cold hands clenched and unclenched. She rose from her seat, waiting for Hwijyeong’s decision.
Yu Jong-hwa, too, studied the seniors anxiously.
He cast a look of appeal toward Sa-hye, whose identity remained suspicious, but the girl wouldn’t meet his eyes and was working through a problem set instead.
So Hwijyeong quickly rummaged through his bag and pulled out a plastic doll, smudged with fingerprints. Holding the doll upside down—a yellowed talisman stuck to its head—he knelt down on the floor.
“Please take my legs and may your resentment be laid to rest.”
“…….”
May your resentment be laid to rest, may your resentment be laid to rest. The man holding the doll muttered endlessly, his voice filling the empty classroom.
The legless ghost slowly tilted her upper body from the chair and reached toward the doll.
But before her fingers could touch it, the old man’s withered hand reached the doll first. The Principal tore off the talisman and crumpled it, hurling it to the floor.
“Principal…?”
Hwijyeong watched the Principal’s expression turn cold. When he looked up, the ghost from the library let out a cackling laugh and clutched the doll’s legs with her hand, tearing them to shreds.
“Inconvenient.”
It was a death sentence. So Hwijyeong drew in a sharp breath and thrashed violently, throwing off the Principal, then bolted across the classroom. The legless student bounced after him in pursuit.
Behind him, Ju-ho—who had been holding back the ghost—kicked at the classroom door in a desperate bid to escape, but it wouldn’t budge.
The classroom descended into chaos in an instant.
This investigation is finished, Yu Jong-hwa thought desperately, scanning the area for anything useful while praying that So Hwijyeong wouldn’t lose his lower half.
And still, on the floor, countless candies glittered.
Right, Ju-ho will win. So let’s gather whatever we can and escape.
All or nothing—Yu Jong-hwa scooped up a hard candy rolling beneath his feet and shoved it into his pocket.
While the urban legends’ attention was fixed on the seniors, Yu Jong-hwa shoved at the half-open, grimy window.
Screeeeak.
The sound of glass scraping cut through the air like a blade.
Everyone in the classroom froze and turned toward him.
So Hwijyeong, already caught by the ghost’s grip around his ankle, seized the moment to yank a pink character doll from his bag with practiced speed. Holding the creature upside down—a thing that bore no resemblance to anything human—he repeated his plea in a voice of absolute clarity.
“Take my legs and please, I beg you, lay your resentment to rest. Take my legs and please, I beg you, lay your resentment to rest!”
“……But the legs are way too short!”
Yu Jong-hwa shouted in alarm, but the ghost’s assault had stopped.
He’d heard these things were wildly popular among kids. There were so many types that collecting them was supposedly a nightmare. Could they actually work?
“That’s fine.”
Good Lord. Leg length apparently wasn’t the ghost’s concern.
They’d avoided losing their lower halves, but that didn’t mean they were safe.
Hong Gi-seo, her face twisted in terror, lunged at the Principal, who shrieked and thrashed wildly toward So Hwijyeong.
“Jump!”
With Ju-ho’s help, So Hwijyeong finally wrenched free of the Principal and bellowed with crystalline urgency. Without hesitation, Ju-ho scooped him up at the ribs and bolted toward Yu Jong-hwa.
“We’re on the fourth floor!”
Ignoring his junior’s sensible screams, Ju-ho grabbed Yu Jong-hwa by the collar and vaulted through the window without a second thought.
Together with shards of glass scattered by their shoulder-first impact, the three of them plummeted straight down into the pond below, its waters dark and still.

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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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