"Huff, huff... ughhhh..."
"One more coming out! One more!"
Ominous lights flashed fromn the top floor window of the building against the night sky.
And the test takers staggered out of the entrance as if fleeing.
The police officers waiting with Detective Park Gangwoon immediately rushed toward them.
"This way, come on! This way!"
"Haa, haa, haaa..."
"Oh my goodness, what's going on...?"
"What is this...?"
Drawn by the line of police cars and the commotion among the test takers, people from Noryangjin passing nearby approached and peeked curiously.
The police officers immediately raised their hands to hold them back.
"You can't come any closer, step back!"
"Hey, so many students are coming out... was there a fire or something?"
"Look, up there on the upper floor! Some weird lights are flashing?"
The scene was a chaotic mess, with test takers staggering out, pedestrians swarming, police roping off the area, and paramedics helping them.
Despite this, Detective Park Gangwoon
skillfully took the command of the situation with practiced ease, as if it were all familiar to him.
"Block pedestrians from entering. For the missing persons coming out, if they can communicate, ask for their identification. If not, immediately take their fingerprints and run them through the system."
"Detective! This person over here-"
"To the hospital. Now, anyone who looks unstable should be escorted by an ambulance, not a police car. Move quickly."
"Excuse me, sir. What's going on here?"
"I also want to know.....".
When the bystanders asked the police
lining up, it wasn't Detective Park Gangwoon but an older-looking officer who came over to explain in his place.
"Uh, we are in the process of arresting a voice phishing gang in this building...They keep the sign as a boarding house,approach civil service exam candidates who are short on money by offering easy part-time jobs, and once they get caught up, they make them stay here as part of the operation and commit crimes...."'
"Oh my, voice phishing...."
"What a bunch of scoundrels... what could they possibly suck from the poor students..."
The bystanders were indignant.
The moment someone raised a phone to take a picture, Detective Park Gangwoon immediately approached from the side to stop them.
"You cannot take pictures."
"Why...?"
"The victims do not want it."
The Detective firmly raised his hand to block the camera.
"The people being transported right now are victims. Please refrain from taking pictures."
"Come on, lower your cameras.. it could cause legal issues..."
At the officer's supportive words,the bystanders sheepishly put their cameras down.
As the officers from Noryangjin Police Station escorted the bystanders away,
Detective Park Gangwoon returned
to the scene, taking command in the center as if he were the person in charge.
"Don't just put them in the car, ask for their names first, their names. Verify their name and identity first."
"Alright, alright come this way-"
"Ugh, blegh..."
".....!"
Gangwoon quickly rushed to Lee Dohyun, the leader of the boarding house sec-study group, who was about to vomit, grabbed his head, and forced him to tilt it toward the ground.
"Uuugh...uuugh..."
"Are you alright?"
To Gangwoon's calm question,Dohyun shook his head and staggered uncontrollably.
"Ah, sir, those crazy... those crazy brats
are singing and keeping me from studying... I have to study... the exam is coming soon..."
"You don't need to worry about studying anymore. Your family is waiting for you."
"Family..?"
"Let's go."
He said calmly and looped his arm around Dohyun, but Dohyun shook his hand away and stumbled on the floor.
"No, no.. I need to study..."
Gangwoon frowned, grabbed Dohyun's head, and sharply jerked it back.
Then he pulled out his phone and shone the flashlight into his eyes.
"...ugh, ugh..too bright.."
'...His pupils are abnormal.'
They were the kind of eyes Gangwoon had often seen back when he worked in the narcotics unit, like those of someone addicted to something.
"Mister, mister..."
"St-studying... the civil service exam..."
It wasn't just Dohyun.
Many of the test takers who had just rushed out of the building were still trembling uncontrollably, vomiting, and having seizures as they were being taken away.
Reactions almost like withdrawal symptoms from drugs.
Perhaps sensing something similar, another officer approached him.
"D-Detective! Can we just take all of them like this? It looks like they've been on some kind of drugs."
"...."
Gangwoon, still holding onto Dohyun,
looked up at the building for a moment, then soon gave a nod with a serious expression.
"..Yeah, take them all. I'll take responsibility. Go and let others know."
"Yes, sir...! Alright, this way...!"
Thinking as long as Lee Joon dealt with the ghost story, everything would be resolved, the Detective carried on with the operation.
After all, he had even witnessed the miracle of a dead person coming back to life in front of Seoul Station last time.
"L-let go...! You corrupted police...I'm going to be a police officer... why don't you let go...!"
"Whoa, whoa! Grab them!"
The police hurriedly grabbed and pulled back the test takers who were trying to run back into the building while vomiting.
Test takers who just stumbled out trying to crawl back, and the police officers struggling to drag them away.
Amid the chaos in front of the building,
Subin, the CSAT retaker student wearing Hayoon's pajamas, crawled out on all fours.
"Haah, haah... s-someone, please... stop the singing... in Japanese..."
Subin, too, crawled forward drooling, clearly not in a normal state.
Hwaeun rushed over to her.
"Are you okay?!"
"Ah, ma'am... Who are you..."
Hwaeun briefly furrowed her brows at being called 'ma'am', but quickly hid it and gently helped her to stand.
"Okay, let's go, get up. It's okay now. Your family is waiting. Hurry."
"No... but... family.. I blocked them all.."
Supported by Hwaeun, Subin muttered
nonsense the entire way as she walked to the police car.
"B-but ma'am, did you know? Even when studying... there are some pens that help me concentrate, and some don't...so I noticed the ones that work well and... I stole them..."
"I see, I see. It's okay now. Come this
way."
Just then, other officers ran over and took Subin from Hwaeun, while Detective Park Gangwoon, who had just dealt with Dohyun, strode over toward them.
"Thank you for your help, Teacher."
"There was no reason to just stand by."
"Detective! Something just came up here.."
Soon, another officer approached carrying a tablet-like device, and Gangwoon turned his head and asked.
"Oh, okay. Does it show something?"
"Yes, yes. Identity confirmed for Lee Dohyun, 33 years old, who went missing three years ago. I also checked Subin's name, she's a 23-year-old woman who went missing last year in Dongjak District, and now she's showing up."
"Take them to their families and have them confirm their faces."
"Well.. when we contacted their families, from their tone of voice it seemed like they didn't really care much...."
The young officer replied, looking flustered.
"They filed missing person reports, and now that we found them, I told them to come and get them. But they began complaining about being woken up in the middle of the night and acting dismissive.."
"Still, call them over and arrange a meeting first. Go now."
"Yes. sir!"
The Detective muttered toward the police officer, who gave a disciplined reply and turned to leave.
'....They'l all come to their senses soon anyway.'
The families, who had only ever thought of them as pathetic run aways who left home because they couldn't even handle studying, seemed similarly affected.
The Detective, once again thinking
that once Lee Joon dealt with the ghost story, everyone would return to their senses, walked back to the scene to resume command.
Soon, the ambulances and police cars, each packed with staggering test takers, began leaving the front of the building.
Even amid the chaos, the missing
individuals kept pouring out from inside.
"Damn, how many are there.....".
"We've already loaded about 20 of them....."
"Inform them to go quickly and come back quickly! If it doesn't work, call a private service to transport them! We can't just leave them here like this!"
By now, Gangwoon was naturally giving orders in informal speech with his tiger-like charisma. And because of his widely known reputation within the police force, no one dared to question it.
Instead, although he wasn't their direct superior, everyone simply bowed their heads as if he were a senior and carried out their tasks.
And Hwaeun, too, was running around
in a frenzy amid it all, assisting at the Scene.
"Are you feeling very dizzy? Hang on just a little.. come, let's carry you there"
This way! This way! Over here!"
"Mister, I have to study.. where are
you taking me... let go of me..."
"Here! Over here..."
"Let go, I said... I'm going to sue you...
I'm studying law..."
**
[One! Two! Three! Hey!]
Thud-thud, thud-thud-Thud-thud!
[Today Sunah will jump and spin and have fun.]
Sunah began hopping up and down.
[Our Sunah is...really unstoppable....]
"Sunah!!!"
"Blaaargh... Blaaaargh..."
"Save me... Save me..."
While we were singing passionately,
the test takers in the hallway retched and groaned as they rushed toward the entrance.
For them, who had been living in silence in their rooms, our singing suddenly grabbing them by the collar and dragging them back to reality seemed too much of a shock.
"Prez! It looks like more than half of them are gone!"
Gyeongwon also shouted, jumping
excitedly and looking outside.
"A little more like this and it should
work!"
"Great! Let's keep going!"
At that moment.
Rumble-rumble-
The building shook violently with a
tremendous rumbling sound.
Rumble-rumble-rumble
"Wh-what, what was that?!"
"Ah, aah...?"
We stopped singing as the building suddenly started shaking, staggered on our feet and tumbled around the room.
Dukhun, who had been dancing, staggered backward unsteadily as the ceiling shook violently, sending dust streaming down.
Rumble.... rumble....
"Wh-what!"
"W-whats happening? Everyone, hold on tight!"
"Haa, haaa....."
Rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble.
After a moment like that, the shaking
came to a halt.
We stood frozen in awkward poses, trying to keep our balance, while only the noisy karaoke accompaniment continued to play around us.
".E-Earthquake...? What was that just now...?"
"...I'm not sure, Prez... But it seems to have stopped for now..."
We stood frozen for a moment.
I quickly snapped back to my senses and gestured to the members.
"Keep singing for now! Keep it loud!"
"O-okay..! Got it."
Sunah hurriedly grabbed the microphone again.
[Sunah is poor... Sunah has no money...What should we do next...]
I gave instructions to the club members, then peeked out the window through the gap between the blocked-off amplifiers.
From there, I saw long-term exam takers crawling out from between the cracks in the ceiling.
"...Hah!"
I went back among the members and cheered them on.
"Louder! Now even the oldest ones are all coming out! Shout louder and make more noise! Come on, let's go!"
"Waaaah..."
"Wahhh!"
Although the members were starting to show signs of forced enthusiasm, as if they were struggling, we couldn't stop now.
Not until every last one of them had been kicked out.
**
"Ugh, what's that smell...!"
This time, the police officers who were supporting the sick-looking test takers
started gagging.
Even the officers who had been about to approach pinched their noses and staggered back instead.
"S... Save... me..."
"Damn, how many days have they gone without washing..."
The test takers being driven out of the
building grew older and older, and their condition worsened with each one.
Their clothes had long since turned yellow, grime streaked down their faces, and many had insects crawling on their bodies or bedsores forming on their skin.
The people now emerging were the true recluses of the boarding house, ones even the members of sec-study rarely glimpsed, the realest hermits of the boarding house.
They had been parasitic inhabitants of the building's crevices, not even proper rooms, and this was the moment they finally poured out into the outside world.
"Ugh, what is this..."
"What are you all doing!"
While the other officers hesitated and stepped back, Detective Park Gangwoon rushed forward, raising his voice.
"We need to get to work! Come on, everyone!"
"Hey, what's that smell...."
"Crazy....."
Under Detective Park Gangwoon's authoritative command, the police officers eventually held their noses and resumed transporting the test takers.
"Get those people coming out right now into an ambulance and send them to the hospital! Hurry!"
"This way.."
"What's your name.."
**
About an hour passed after that.
Before we knew it, the atmosphere in the boarding house karaoke room had shifted to something much more emotional.
"Going back to that time again... was that overdoing it... or just crazy talk.."
We had gone all out with upbeat songs from the very start, and as time passed, everyone was completely worn out.
Now, the atmosphere had shifted to a relaxed one, with each person singing
whatever songs they wanted.
I, too, was leisurely trying out my favorite song, If Overdoing It Had Practice', which I had only ever heard on the streets.
The club members also took turns singing the songs they wanted.
Among them, Jinhee and Dukhun, as expected, were the ones who grabbed the microphone the most, while Sunah watched blankly. Hayoon leaned against the wall, staring absentmindedly at her phone screen.
"Why does time fly without thinking...
and has left me leaving me no choice.. but to swallow my tears.."
[Bam bam bam bam bam ppabam bam ppabam!]
[100 points! Maybe you should become a singer or not~]
Now, it was a 100-point fanfare that didn't excite me at all.
I sighed and put the microphone down.
"Huu....."
"Mic!"
"Here."
Jinhee naturally took the microphone and started singing the next song.
It seemed like we've already been singing here for over two hours.
[Those were the good times... Only after being torn apart~ did I realize...we were so amazing... We were great~.]
Jinhee sang passionately.
The karaoke lights flashed brightly.
But slowly, as if growing tired, the shoulders of the members began to slump.
Eventually, after staying silent for a moment, Gyeongwon turned to me and asked.
"...Prez. How long do we have to stay here?"
"..Right. Just a moment."
I walked over to Jinhee, who was singing passionately, and turned the monitor's screen.
In an instant, the display switched from the lyrics screen to the CCTV footage.
Regardless, Jinhee, seemingly already
knowing all the lyrics, continued singing without missing a beat.
♪♪♪
"..Haa. Really..."
I let out a sigh as I stared at the monitor Screen.
"Why aren't they going out, these b*stards..:'
Most people had already left, and the hallway was deserted, yet a few still staggered about, holding knives like
zombies, stubbornly holding their ground.
'Just go out, seriously. Please.'
Just go outside and meet some people and everything will be alright, please... Why won't you go out, why?
There's a whole world out there, full of so many things to do.
'Mom, I'm human too, you know! I can't keep singing here forever!'
Now even Mom's nagging sounded like a song to me!
It was so frustrating I seriously considered beating them up and kicking them out, but I needed to carefully weigh my chances.
Let's see, we have got Jinhee on our side, and she's good at fighting....
But the space was too cramped, and there were more than just one or two of them with knives.
'I wonder if she can take them all on...How would it go...'
It was a pointless thought anyway. Even if we drove them away, we still had to hold out there until the main ghost appeared.
'But if we were to do it, imagine Jinhee
running along the wall, delivering a kick, then grabbing the ceiling to use a chokehold... followed by a somersault
Over there...:'
As I was lost in imagining Jinhee versus five knife-wielding test takers, Gyeongwon soon approached and asked while looking at the CCTV screen together.
"The main ghost, Prez. Still hasn't
appeared?"
"...Yeah. Not yet."
"Huu, how much longer do we have to wait.."
Gyeongwon let out a tired sigh.
The other team members, except for Jinhee, also seemed pretty exhausted.
Time Was already rushing toward 3 a.m.
We were physically and mentally exhausted from the long exorcism ritual.
The only one still singing passionately was Jinhee.
[Those were the good times~ only after tearing apart aahhh.....]
But it seemed Jinhee's excitement had settled too, and instead of the upbeat songs from before, she mostly sang. ballads passionately.
Buzz—
Just as I was lost in thought, my phone vibrated.
When I checked, there was a text message from the Detective.
[Joon. We've secured a total of 43 people here. Most of them turned out to be missing persons, and even those without missing reports were people forgotten by their families. How's it on your side? Is there anything I can help with?]
I pondered for a moment.
Was there any way I could get the police to help us?
"...."
No.
I shook my head.
"....."
Even if I could accept help, the one thing I absolutely must not do was take help from ordinary people.
Right now, the boarding house was in a bizarre situation, with people crawling out of cracks in the walls and ceiling.
If ordinary people without any resistance were to see this, there was no telling how they would react.
In the worst case scenario, we might end up drawing attention from the outside.
'That would be dangerous....'
Even if the police could help with the
missing people outside, the exorcism
here must be thoroughly handled
within our club.
So that ghost stories and such wouldn't leak out and attract public attention.
Soon, Gyeongwon, who had been reading the text message beside me, pushed up his glasses.
"Prez. The police might have a hard time, but if you could at least call the Detective and ask him to handle the rest of the people who won't leave "
"....No. The Detective is busy, too."
The Detective had to manage the scene, escorting dozens of test takers, and leading police forces from outside.
"It's difficult for him to even step away briefly to help us. Who knows what might happen out there with only civilians present in the meantime."
"Really?"
"Yeah. While the Detective in charge is away, the civilians might start whispering among themselves. Even if they're police officers, you never know."
We couldn't allow strange speculations to spread about this situation.
For the time being, the Detective needed to be present and maintain strict surveillance.
"We're living in an age where SNS posts pop up the moment something happens. The sight of dozens of people being taken away, if it's not controlled, it will definitely leak. The Detective has to strictly supervise and manage the Scene. "
"Right...."
Gyeongwon slowly nodded.
Then another text came in.
[Teacher Jang Hvwaeun is also here, should I send her up?]
"...Teacher Hwaeun?"
When did she get here?
After a moment of thought, I shook my head again.
[No, it's fine. I don't think there is much to do with summoning the main ghost right now.]
[Alright.]
I summarized the situation to the Detective again.
[More than anything, that's the most important thing. After all, if we can't catch the main entity, nothing else matters. But it still hasn't appeared.]
[When do you think it will show up?]
[I don't know. It's probably going to be the very last one. But even now, a few people are still crawling out from the ceiling.]
[Looks like well have to keep at it.]
[Yes, we'll keep trying to call them out here for now. Please make sure things are well controlled downstairs.]
[Thanks for your hard work. And contact me if anything happens. The building doesn't look normal from outside.]
The moment the Detective finished speaking, the building trembled faintly
again.
Rumble... rumble..
[I thought of you, that's why..]
Jinhee also stopped singing and looked up at the ceiling with anxious eyes.
Sunah and Gyeongwon also flinched, shrinking back as they looked around nervously.
The tremor soon subsided again.
I bit my lip hard and made my decision.
'....Just sitting around wasting time like this is disadvantageous. It's already been three hours.'
It was not like we had any energy to Spare either.
We had to get ready for school as soon as the sun rose, and we also had a competition to attend in the afternoon.
'.. Damn it!"
At this point, singing any longer would be pointless.
Three hours was more than enough.
Having made that judgment, I decided to use the final, last-resort measure.
"Jinhee, give me the mic!"
"Huh? Oh, okay."
Jinhee stopped singing and handed the microphone to me.
"The other one too!"
"Here you go."
I took the other microphone that Dukhun handed me.
With a microphone in each hand, I crouched down in front of the karaoke amplifier.
"Everyone, cover your ears! It's going to be really loud!"
"Uh, huh? O-okay....."
Crouching in front of the amplifier, I held one microphone with my fist like I was playing an instrument, pressing it tightly to my mouth, while pressing the other against the amplifier and took a deep breath.
I took the deepest breath I could.
'Secret technique! The vuvuzela singing style!'
Pruuu-!!
"Ugh, this f*cking idiot..."
"Kyaa, kyyaaah...!"
The club members grimaced and Covered their ears.
Hayoon squeezed her eyes shut, lowered her head, and covered her ears as well.
This is my secret karaoke technique, the vuvuzela singing style!'
I cupped one hand tightly around the
microphone to prevent the sound from escaping, ensuring it reverberated solely within the mic, then pressed my lips against it and let out a loud Puu-sound.
In this way, the maximum volume of sound blasting from the amplifier was captured and amplified again by the microphone in my other hand.
The sound that went into the microphone was continuously and infinitely amplified through the mic again, creating the true noise pollution of the vuvuzela singing technique.
"Haa, the howling phenomenon...! As expected from the Club Prez...!"
Gyeongwon stood up in admiration, but his voice too was swallowed by the growing resonance.
Puuu———!!!!!
-!!!!
"Ugh, my ears, my ears!"
"Ahhh, it's so loud!"
The members covered their ears and
screamed.
But the one suffering the most was me, the one performing it.
Since I was holding two microphones
on both hands while producing the sound, my own ears were taking the direct hit of the noise.
PuuuuuuuuuUU-
"Ugh, ugh..."
"Ahhh... ahhhhh...!"
At the moment when the members scrambled as far away from the amplifier as possible, huddling in the corners with their ears tightly covered, while I gritted my teeth against the threatening pain and screamed at the top of my lungs, feeling as if my
eardrums were about to burst.
Someone came up to me and covered my ears.
"J, Joon..."
"Sunah!!"
Turning around, I saw Sunah wearing a strained expression as she covered both my ears with her hands.
Leaving her own ears completely unprotected.
"...K-Kugh..."
"Ugh, ugh..."
The rising volume, and Sunah's small
hands completely covering my ears without leaving a gap.
We endured the resonance, sweat dripping, as the volume seemed like they would tear us apart.
"Aaah... Aaaah!"
"Kyaaah... Kyaaaah...!"
And at the moment the sound reached its maximum.
BOO00M-!
RUMBLE, RUMBLE-!
An intense vibration, unlike anything
before, as if the building was collapsing, struck the floor.
Only then could I let go of the microphone, collapsing and rolling on the floor with Sunah.
Puuuuuuuuu...
"Hah, hah, haah...!"
"What, what is that..! What's happening.."
Rumble... Rumble...
My ears were ringing. The building was shaking.
Sunah and I collapsed onto the floor, dazed and disoriented, while the other members flailed about, grabbing on to desks or walls for support.
"It's, it's an earthquake! An earthquake!"
Dukhun shouted, looking terrified.
"We need magnetic hinges! Magnetic hinges!"
At that moment, while everyone was flailing around, Gyeongwon pointed at the monitor and said something to me.
But my ears were ringing from the earlier noise, so I couldn't hear, so Jinhee came ver, tapped me repeatedly while pointing at the
monitor on my behalf.
[Special ability Lip Reading has activated.]
["Hey! That four-eyed is telling you to look at the monitor!"]
["President, the monitor..."]
I steadied myself in the shaking room and stared at the CCTV footage on the monitor screen.
Rumble... rumble... rumble...
"He's out! He's out!"
"It's the manager! The manager appeared!"
The club members shouted as if a boss monster had just spawned.
I, too, bit my lip and clenched both hands tightly.
...He's out!'
On the CCTV Screen, at the end of the
hallway inside the violently shaking building.
There, in the space that had originally been a cement wall, a new door had appeared.
"He's coming out! He's coming out!!"
"Everyone, get ready! Grab anything that can be used as a weapon!"
In the shaking screen, the long-haired manager shaking his head, opened the door and stepped out, while we prepared for battle.
***
PuuuuuuuuuU-
The massive sound of a trumpet echoed through the night sky over Noryangjin, spreading from the top of the tower.
The sound, combined with the ominous light pouring out of the top-floor window, sounded like a warning of impending doom.
"Hurry, hurry and move it! Don't stand there just because it stinks! Hold your nose and go"
"D-Detective! Over there!"
".....!"
Hwaeun suddenly grabbed Gangwoon, who had been in the middle of directing the scene.
"Look at that building! Something's happening!"
The Detective looked up at the building and flinched in surprise.
It was hard to make out clearly in the night, but the building had already begun trembling violently, sending clouds of dust rising into the air.
Soon, cracks spread across the building's exterior, and tiles began to crack and crumble apart.
Rumble-rumble-rumble-
"Get out of the way!"
"Kyaah-!"
Crack-
The Detective barely pushed the exterior wall tile away with his body, saving Hwaeun, who had been in its path.
"Haa, haa.."
"Heuk, heuk...."
Rumble-rumble-rumble-
Puuuuuuuuuu-
Unusual vibrations and the sound of the trumpet.
And the dust and tiles pouring down from the building.
The police officers, who had been moving around the scene, also shouted and stepped back.
"Ah, it's collapsing! It's collapsing!"
"Get out of the way, get out! Step back, you idiot!"
"Watch your head! Your head!"
The Noryangjin Tower of Despair shook more violently as time passed, cracking and vibrating more and more.
The Detective clenched his fist tightly and, without a second thought, dashed straight into the building.
"Damn it..!"
"D-Detective! Let's go together!"
The two adults plunged into the fleeing crowd, rushing in to save the students
on the fifth floor.
Rumble... rumble...