Dispatches from the Graduate School of Ghost Stories - Chapter 25

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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 (25)
Awakening
A building constructed atop an old burial ground, sightings of a child who died with a grudge. Statues rising to their feet and moving, piano notes drifting through the night with no one at the keys.
Stories passed mouth to mouth through countless ears, distorted and twisted out of shape—that is the essence of a school ghost story.
Which is why, when you dig into their origins, you often uncover truths you never anticipated.
“The one who died wasn’t a girl—it was a snake?”
“There was a girl who got bullied at this school, yes. But she graduated fine. I suppose the rumors got mixed up somehow, and that’s how I became this urban legend.”
The snake slithered smoothly up his arm and coiled around Yu Jong-hwa’s body. He held himself rigid, tense with the fear that it might wrap around his throat.
Fortunately, the white snake seemed content to use him as a living radiator, draping around his neck like a docile scarf.
“…Sahye. Does it have to be right on my neck?”
“Would you prefer it on your head?”
“No, do whatever’s comfortable.”
Yu Jong-hwa graciously offered up his neck and listened intently to the snake. The small, slender white serpent pressed against his ear and chattered tirelessly, recounting the school’s truth that no one had ever heard before.
“Once the rumors spread, the statues started moving. As more people believed, the ghost sister took up residence in the restroom. I was created last of all, but I’m the only one here who truly knows who I am. The only conscious being, you might say.”
The boastful snake shook its head several times. Its smooth scales were bitterly cold, and every time they brushed his skin, chills ran through him.
‘The only one’—well, that wasn’t quite fair to say, was it? You’re not even a person, after all.
Of course, Yu Jong-hwa had no intention of actually voicing this and hurting the snake’s feelings. The creature seemed utterly convinced of its own superior personhood.
Excited by its own verbosity, the snake stretched its head forward and yanked his neck, forcing Yu Jong-hwa to shuffle along in whatever direction it pulled.
The moment he stepped through, the old door slammed shut with a creak. Since Sahye had died in the classroom and become an urban legend, could she move the classroom at will? Yu Jong-hwa cast a curious glance at the closed door, turning the question over in his mind.
“The moment I regained consciousness, I sat still and thought about it. Were those memories really mine? But no matter how much I considered it, something felt off. I clearly have two feet, yet walking feels strange. My own voice sounds bizarre to me. And I can’t remember the faces of any of the children who supposedly killed me. I do have the memory of being struck and in pain, but—”
“Um… snakes have poor eyesight?”
“We do!”
The offended snake spat into the air with a sharp hiss.
“Right, I see. Humans are the problem, then.”
Fervently hoping the spit wasn’t venomous, Yu Jong-hwa offered listless sympathy to every word the child had to say. Snake coiled around his neck, he descended the stairs tensely, eyes darting about.
The school bathed in morning sunlight was quiet and decrepit, unmarred by any supernatural disturbances. The Principal didn’t come bursting out, and no legless ghost came chasing after him.
With the school secure, he had to worry about getting home now. What if the seniors really left? Should he call a taxi?
Fatigue crept over him as his sluggish mind struggled with the thought. Even though he plainly wasn’t concentrating, the snake—or rather, the snake-girl—didn’t seem to mind, continuing to chatter away from his shoulder without pause, as if she’d been bursting to speak all along.
“Anyway. I’m smart, so I noticed this place isn’t real and watched the people who came looking. That’s when I heard them use the term ‘Legend Phenomenon.’ So…”
As Yu Jong-hwa passed through the corridor, he suddenly spotted the library sign and cut off the snake’s rambling. “Then… that accident supposedly in the library was exaggerated too, right?”
“No. That one was real. I asked Hong Ki-seo about it.”
“Ugh.”
“The reason she was so angry is because of the Principal. He falsified her death—made it look like an accident outside the school. You can’t do that nowadays, though, can you?”
For something claiming to be an urban legend, this snake seemed to know the modern world rather well. Yu Jong-hwa nodded along with her words.
“Must’ve been a long time ago. It’s hard to pull off now.”
The ghost’s spirit certainly felt different. The fact that this entity boasted a will entirely unlike the other anomalies had its reasons.
He recalled Sahye’s words about how the Principal hates it when the school’s enrollment drops. If problems arose at the school, the fear was that students would flee—perhaps that was the true motive behind his actions. Now he finally understood why the Principal was so wary of Hong Ki-seo.
Yu Jong-hwa suspected the Principal’s possession of the Yeouiju Fragment came from the same impulse: by any means necessary, fill the school with people. Was that not it?
As the two of them chatted, they reached the first floor of the school. The snake seized Yu Jong-hwa’s neck and dragged him toward the pond.
After the water serpent had ascended to heaven, the pond had dried up almost entirely, leaving only small puddles scattered among the mud.
Golden spheres gleamed faintly, half-buried in the damp earth.
“Pick them up.”
“Marbles? You’re giving them to me?”
“A few should be fine.”
“Really? Won’t that big snake—I mean, the water serpent—get mad?”
“Why would she? She’s my mother.”
“What?”
The white snake dropped to the ground with a splat and muttered blithely, “We’re not that close, honestly.”
As creatures born from eggs, snakes seemed to have a rather vague concept of family.
Good heavens—the school was built on the grave of an entire snake family. No wonder the land felt cursed.
Yu Jong-hwa carefully picked up a marble. The snake crawled along the ground, brought another marble in its mouth, and spat it into his palm.
The objects he’d mistaken for candy in the dead of night didn’t look appetizing at all now. The unmarked spheres glowed luminously in his hand.
“Can you eat this?”
“If it goes in your mouth, it’s food.”
Yu Jong-hwa muttered under his breath, wondering what he’d expected from a snake.
“These are proper Yeouiju marbles, not the candy the teachers hand out. So… eating them makes you really smart?”
“Try it.”
It seemed risky to pop it in his mouth without thinking, but the snake’s determination to have him swallow one of these spheres was absolutely unshakeable.
Recalling what the seniors had said about food found in this place containing nothing harmful, Yu Jong-hwa finally popped the marble that had rolled in the pond into his mouth.

The Yeouiju Marble didn’t taste particularly special—just dirt, pure and simple. This was the second time he’d eaten dirt, and sad as it was, he’d already grown accustomed to the flavor.
The marble dissolved in an instant and slid down his throat.
“It doesn’t seem to have any effect…….”
“Is that so?”
Turn to the right!
The snake’s command to turn his body burrowed deep into his mind, conjuring an urgent impulse to move his legs at once. Yu Jong-hwa sensed something was amiss, yet he turned slowly to the right. The snake continued issuing orders—raise your left arm, wave it, sit down, stand up. After carrying out these bewildering instructions, Yu Jong-hwa soon began to resist the commands slowly, then stopped moving altogether.
How about you stay here forever? Want to be a PE teacher?
His mind, which had grown faintly clouded moments before, cleared instantly as he blinked. With vision restored, Yu Jong-hwa bent forward and gazed down at the snake beneath his feet with a troubled expression.
“That won’t do. There are people waiting outside…….”
The snake stretched its jaw and laughed.
“Pretty effective, the Yeouiju Marble, right?”
“That’s what this was?! But I did everything you told me to!”
“I’m incredibly powerful, you see. Since you refused at the end, that’s what makes you remarkable.”
Sahye held her head up proudly. Then, delighted with herself, she brought over a bundle of marbles and dropped them at Yu Jong-hwa’s feet.
“Everything takes practice. If you keep going, you’ll be able to refuse more decisively.”
“I’m so grateful for all this, but…… do I really need to go that far?”
“Of course. Mother will come to meet you later, after all.”
“That dragon? To meet me?”
“But I don’t know whether she’ll be in a good mood or a bad mood when she does.”
“Why on earth? I helped you so hard. You’re not coming to repay a debt—you’re coming to curse me, aren’t you?”
“I don’t know! If you win, that’s all that matters! Hurry up and practice. You’re really talented at this, by the way. I’m so glad.”
The snake offered no detailed explanation, only harried him further. Sahye ruthlessly gathered up dirt-covered marbles and brought them to him in heaps, while Yu Jong-hwa had to repeatedly resist absurd commands.
“I’m done! Really done! I can’t do this anymore!”
After refusing—in just ten seconds—an order to do a handstand and run around the Athletic Field, Yu Jong-hwa collapsed and cried out.
“Fine. And conveniently, there’s just one left.”
The countless Yeouiju Fragments had vanished without trace. Sahye tapped the last remaining yellow marble with her tail and nagged at him to pocket it quickly.
“Thanks for the gift. This has to stay secret too, right?”
“You’ll figure it out.”
The snake chattered on for a long while about her own past and the people who had come to this place before.
More than half of it was cursing.
As Sahye spoke, Yu Jong-hwa struggled to keep his eyes from drooping closed, and the moment her story ended, he quickly said his goodbyes.
“Thanks, Sahye. I’m grateful for your help. Take care of yourself.”
Yu Jong-hwa nodded and walked across the barren Athletic Field with sand dust swirling in the wind.
When he glanced back, the white snake that had been coiled motionless by the pond was no longer visible.
The school had become completely lifeless, transformed entirely into the image of an abandoned building. It was exactly as it had been when he first entered.
“Hey! Jong-hwa! Why are you so late!”
“Seniors! You’re still here! But I can’t remember anything……?”
“What do you mean? You just took forever to come out.”
Fortunately, the seniors had waited for him without leaving through the main gate.
As Yu Jong-hwa listened to So Hui-young’s affectionate grumbling, he asked listlessly.
“How long do you think you waited?”
“Well, actually it wasn’t that long.”
“About five minutes.”
He’d definitely undergone over an hour of hellish training under the small snake. Yu Jong-hwa checked his wristwatch to confirm his senses had been accurate. Though his seniors viewed the time with him, they detected nothing odd. He saw no reason to explain that they’d been entranced.
Instead, he showed them the marble he’d obtained separately, making it clear he’d brought back a proper gift. Though it must have been a precious object, the seniors made no attempt to take the Yeouiju Marble from him.
“Keep that safe.”
“Shouldn’t I give it to the Professor?”
“We’ve done what we needed to do. When you receive a gift like that on your own, it’s better to keep it to yourself. Sharing it invites spiritual backlash.”
While Yu Jong-hwa couldn’t say exactly what spiritual backlash entailed, he agreed that an object best kept from the world’s knowledge was nothing to boast about.
Since there was only one anyway, he could use it if an urgent situation arose during another Legend Phenomenon.
“Well, we’ve completed the mission, so let’s take a proof photo before we go.”
“I’ll use mine.”
So Hui-young adjusted the three of them so that the letters “Yeongrok Elementary School” on the gate were visible.
Lee Ju-ho raised his smartphone and switched to selfie mode.
“Hold the candy. Look at the camera.”
The wrapper of cheap candy stolen from the teacher’s desk glinted in Yu Jong-hwa’s hand.
The three of them managed to immortalize in a photograph their faces, dark circles under their eyes, looking ready to collapse at any moment.
When So Hui-young sent a message somewhere, a bus with no license plate arrived to pick them up, just like before.
The small rural bus drove along a sparsely populated asphalt road, inducing motion sickness.
Yu Jong-hwa dozed fitfully, while So Hui-young had already leaned his head against the window, sleeping soundly.
Lee Ju-ho sat unflinching, his gaze fixed on the empty fields stretched before him.
The Yeongrok Elementary School exploration had come to an end.

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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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