“I can cut that one down too!”
Tae-woo shouted the words like a magic incantation and charged at the ghost.
THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD—
As though it had been waiting for him, the ghost raised its arm high.
WHOOOOOSH—
Then it swept the arm horizontally toward the approaching Tae-woo.
SWOOOOSH—
Tae-woo dropped into a slide as he ran, slipping beneath the ghost's arm.
At the same time, he slashed its knee with his sword.
STAGGER—
The ghost reeled as its knee was cut.
SHRAAK—
Still sliding with his body lowered, Tae-woo dug in his foot to stop himself. Using the momentum of the sudden halt, he sprang upward and slashed with his sword from below.
SHHHRAAAK—
A long gash opened from the ghost's abdomen to its chest.
FWOOSH— HISSSSS—
Its upper body split in two, then dissolved into black smoke and disappeared.
“Oh. Oh, oh, oh!”
He could only marvel at the fact that he was capable of moving like that.
He had never been so agile, not even in school or during his military service.
But something else struck him as strange.
Just before the previous ghost appeared, and again before this one appeared, his smart glasses had malfunctioned.
Suddenly, he remembered the types of ghosts described in the Ghost Observation Record.
“Wait a minute.”
He took a notebook from his pocket and looked over the notes he had made.
He had written down the characteristics of ghosts by grade, which he considered some of the most important information in the Ghost Observation Record.
Grade 1 Mountain Ghost: The most commonly encountered type of ghost. Can cause light bulbs and similar devices to stop working momentarily. Can exist anywhere in the world.
There had been no light bulbs when the book was originally written, so someone from a later generation must have added that entry.
It was clearly information someone had considered important enough to insert into the original text.
And if a ghost could make a light bulb stop working, that presumably meant it could interfere with electronic devices.
According to the book, higher-grade ghosts could use all the abilities of lower-grade ghosts, in addition to possessing the power to harm the living.
In other words, if a Grade 1 Mountain Ghost could cause electronic devices to malfunction, ghosts of every grade could affect electronics.
“Then wouldn't it be possible to detect ghosts, too?”
If ghosts could cause problems with electronic devices, it stood to reason that the same effect could be used in reverse to detect ghosts electronically.
If that worked, he might even be able to build something like a ghost-detecting radar.
He added another task to his notebook for when he returned.
[Build a Ghost Radar]
Once he had finished writing, he slipped the notebook back into his pocket and approached the assembly platform again.
There were staircases leading up both sides of the platform.
Using his flashlight to guide him, Tae-woo climbed the steps.
“Phew.”
From up there, he could get a clearer view of the abandoned school building and its shabby exterior walls.
When he aimed the flashlight at the main entrance in the center, he caught a glimpse of the interior.
All kinds of abandoned furnishings were scattered across the floor, coated in thick layers of dust.
“Ahem.”
He was still afraid to go inside.
Tae-woo cleared his throat and turned his flashlight toward the windows.
The light briefly illuminated the classrooms, the teachers' office, and the ceilings inside.
Perhaps because of the angle, faint shadows fell across the rooms, making everything seem even more sinister.
That was when it happened.
Someone was standing at the window of a second-floor classroom.
But before he could make out whether the figure was male or female, or even how tall it was, it slipped back into the classroom and vanished from sight.
The figure had looked so distinct that he wondered whether there might actually be a person inside rather than a ghost.
“What if I end up cutting a person?”
Tae-woo glanced down at the Joseon-era saber in his hand, then shook his head.
“There's no way anyone would be in a place like this at this hour.”
Muttering to himself, he looked to either side.
Apart from the central entrance, there appeared to be glass entrance doors at both ends of the building, one on the left and one on the right, which students had once used to come and go.
“Let's think about efficiency.”
Tae-woo took a step back and considered his options.
He was already frightened enough. He had no desire to stay in this place any longer than necessary.
He wanted to make one quick circuit of the school and get out.
His task was to film the second floor of the building.
The most efficient approach would be to enter through a side door, take the stairs up to the second floor, sweep through it in one direction, and head straight back down.
“Right. Let's do this efficiently.”
He drew a deep breath and started toward the glass entrance on the left.
Not being inside the school yet did not make the situation any less frightening.
Even as he walked, he could not shake the feeling that someone was watching him.
He repeatedly shone his flashlight toward the classroom windows.
But he could not make out anyone clearly.
All he saw were classrooms that looked profoundly eerie and unsettling.
Desks and chairs lay in disarray, the bulletin boards at the backs of the classrooms were filthy, and some of the lockers stood open.
It would not have surprised him if something leaped out at any moment.
“Making an intern go through this for training... Sigh. Well, when you think about it, if Gwihon Trading really is a company that catches ghosts, I suppose it makes sense, but... Ah, I don't even know what to say anymore.”
Tae-woo kept muttering to himself as he walked, trying to drive away some of his fear.
When he reached the far left end of the school building, he found a firmly shut glass door.
He slowly approached and shone his flashlight through the glass.
Straight ahead was a staircase leading to the second floor. Beneath the stairs was a makeshift storage room, and to the right he could see the beginning of the first-floor corridor.
“Good. I'll go up to the second floor here, make a circuit of it, then check the first floor.”
Tae-woo nodded and tried to open the glass door.
RATTLE— RATTLE—
It was locked.
“Damn it.”
He frowned and stepped back.
‘Should I go through the central entrance? Or try the far end on the right?’
He glanced along the route he had taken, weighing his options.
But whatever the reason and whatever the route, he did not want to retrace his steps.
Even if he could cut ghosts down, he still did not want to encounter them.
“Damn it. Why should I care?”
He looked around and picked up a loose brick jutting from the ground.
“Oh, to hell with it.”
After a moment's hesitation, he hurled it straight at the glass door.
CRASH!
The glass shattered, sending an enormous clatter echoing in every direction.
* * *
“Manager, he just broke the glass door!”
Assistant Manager Yoon Ye-rim looked away from the monitor in surprise.
Manager Bang Ji-seok, who had been watching the screen beside her, rubbed his chin with a displeased expression.
He was the same manager who had occasionally interjected from the desk beside hers.
“That bastard doesn't have an ounce of common sense.”
He narrowed his eyes as he muttered.
From Bang Ji-seok's perspective as Tae-woo's superior, there was little else he could say.
As a general rule, whether they were locked or not, doors were considered passages through which ghosts came and went.
For those tasked with catching ghosts, that made doors and windows extremely important.
Ghosts were perfectly capable of passing through walls, but memories of their lives often led them to use doors and windows instead.
That was why, barring special circumstances, keeping doors shut during an exorcism was extremely important.
And yet this fellow had gone and smashed one open.
That meant the ghosts inside could get out. Conversely, it also meant the ghosts outside could get in.
In short, this Kim Tae-woo, the so-called grandson of the founding chairman, lacked even the most basic knowledge of exorcism.
“Hey, what are you all doing?”
Just then, Department Head Cha Jun-ho came over and stood behind Yoon Ye-rim.
“Oh? It's the rookie. Is he finally getting into a scrap today?”
He watched the monitor with interest.
“Ah, Department Head. But this bastard's a complete idiot. The door was locked, so he smashed the glass. He's out of his mind. He doesn't know the first thing about exorcism!”
Manager Bang Ji-seok spoke with a frown.
“Hmm. Well, there's no single right way to perform an exorcism.”
Contrary to the manager's expectations, Cha Jun-ho folded his arms and replied calmly.
“W-what?”
“There are some rather aggressive ghosts out there, so we have a few guidelines. But telling people to do this or that is just guidance, isn't it? If he can perform an exorcism effectively that way, then that's another valid method.”
“Come on, I understand that, but only someone at your level could afford to charge in like that. For a brand-new recruit to do it is...”
“Just watch. He's the founding chairman's grandson, after all. And the Ghost-Observing Blade seems to be responding to him, too. This should be interesting.”
Cha Jun-ho smiled as he spoke.
* * *
CRUNCH— CRUNCH— CRUNCH—
As Tae-woo stepped through the broken glass, the sound of the shards grinding beneath his shoes echoed faintly down the corridor.
He glanced nervously along the first-floor hallway.
Dust particles were clearly visible in the pale shafts of moonlight spilling through the windows.
After directing his flashlight that way, he turned toward the stairs leading to the second floor and the cleaning-supply cabinet beside them.
That was when it happened.
RATTLE—
A small noise came from inside the cleaning-supply cabinet.
His eyes and flashlight swung toward it at the same moment.
But the sound did not come again.
‘If I open this, a ghost's obviously going to jump out, isn't it?’
It was an obvious cliché.
Most people had encountered situations like this in horror films or games, but for Tae-woo, they were part of everyday life.
Whenever a noise came from somewhere it had no business coming from, investigating it meant finding himself face-to-face with a ghost.
This situation was surely no different.
He decided to ignore the cleaning-supply cabinet and head up the stairs.
Then, suddenly, he remembered his seniors' instructions to film every nook and cranny.
“Haaaaah.”
Tae-woo let out a long sigh and approached the cabinet again.
With the Ghost-Observing Blade in one hand and the flashlight in the other, he put the flashlight between his teeth and grasped the door handle with his newly freed hand.
He intended to count to three in his head before opening it, and he turned the handle slightly.
‘One.’
The handle turned a little farther.
‘Two.’
He would open the door on three.
‘Thre—’
But just as he was about to finish counting, a gypsum ceiling tile suddenly dropped from above and hit the floor.
CRACK—
Startled by the unexpected noise, Tae-woo recoiled.
BANG!
At the same instant, the cleaning-supply cabinet flew open, and a female ghost with long hair burst out.
Her eye sockets were completely hollow, every one of her fingernails had been bent backward, and her emaciated body was wrapped in a pitch-black dress. She rushed toward Tae-woo as though she intended to strangle him.
“Uwaaaah!”
Tae-woo immediately spun through 540 degrees, lowering his stance as he turned.
At the same time, he thrust out the Ghost-Observing Blade and sliced through the ghost's neck.
SHHHRAAAK—