Chapter 153

School festival, an annual event when the spirit of youth is at its peak. At first glance, it might look like every student enjoyed it, but in fact, more than half of the students did not enjoy the festival. After all, the festival was an event where the cool kids shone brighter than the rest.

By the way, Ahinal had bragged about her stamina and dancing skill to me when we were hunting the dance room ghost a couple of months ago. It seems like Ahinal was one of those cool kids.

On the outside, she looked like she was a gloomy loner with no friends, so I secretly felt a camaraderie with her, but I was wrong. I was the one who didn’t have any friends.

Well, it’s unreasonable for me to make friends with middle school and high school students. Because at my age, we usually get to know each other over a drink, but in high school, that’s not possible.

“Seodam.”

“Yeah? Where’s the camera?”

“Here. You can use this one.”

I took the camera from Ahinal’s hand before throwing a glance towards the auditorium. The size itself was as large as a football stadium. And I could see both the teachers and students from elementary to high school being busy preparing for whatever attraction they planned for the festival.

All of those people were magicians. Once again, I thought of the possibility of such a school like this being established on Earth.

“It’s a polaroid camera. If you take a picture, you can print it immediately.”

“Okay…”

I remember that it was used quite often on Earth about half a century ago, this was before digital cameras became common. It seems like the technological degree of this world was far behind the Vivienda Magic Empire which was capable of transmitting video through crystal balls.

“I will go and draw people’s attention. Good luck.”

“….”

As I nodded while fiddling with the camera, Ahinal smiled at me before walking towards the stage.

Cheers erupted from her friends who saw her. And it was not only one or two, it was quite a lot of people.

The moment the cheering crowd focused their full attention on Ahinal, she immediately sent a signal towards me with her eyes.

“Let’s do this, then.”

To be honest, I really don’t want to do it, but I can’t bail out now. Because I had to stay by Ahinal’s side until the day she showed me a gap that would allow me to kill her.

As Ahinal slowly made her way towards the stage, few more students left the auditorium warehouse to watch her rehearsal. After all, she was the female lead of this story.

Perhaps she was able to dance well thanks to the power she got from the ghost she had hunted. Or maybe she was able to dance well because she joined a dance team in order to get some friends. But it was meaningless to think about it now, because right now, it was an episode where her talent was discovered by her peers.

Perhaps. At this festival, she will get noticed thanks to the power of the ghosts she had hunted… just like me.

And become more and more powerful… just like me.

Suddenly, a laugh escaped from my mouth.

It’s not bad really, what’s wrong with living only for herself?

However, two egoistic people couldn’t exist side by side. No matter how close we were right now, we were just temporary allies. At the end of the day, we were trying to kill each other.

Very soon, Ahinal started moving fluidly along with the music. It was powerful yet beautiful and at the same time, smooth yet forceful. Everyone who saw her were enthralled by her performance, whether it was students or teachers, there were no exceptions.

Then, she deliberately stumbled on her foot and fell on the stage.

“Ahhhh! What should I do!”

“Hey!! Call the school nurse, quickly!”

“Hey, call an ambulance!”

Even the students who were working in the warehouse left and gathered on the stage. The time right before the festival, everyone was very sensitive, so one accident was enough to disrupt their peace.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, I quickly slipped into the auditorium warehouse. Then I closed the door behind me and locked it. I only needed a few minutes, as long as no one disturbs me, I will be able to complete my task quickly.

‘Well……’

Contrary to the noisy auditorium, the warehouse was quiet and eerie. Probably because there’s hardly any light inside.

‘Let’s hurry up and be done with it.’

To be honest, I didn’t even want to earnestly try. So, without even turning on the only light inside, I roughly picked up the camera. After making sure that the lens was pointed at me, I pressed the shutter. Since I had never taken a selfie, the composition was … strange, but whatever.

Just how long did I have to sit still in the warehouse and wait like this?

Suddenly, I felt the temperature of the room dropping. I quickly pressed the ‘print’ button near the shutter. A few moments later, a photograph was printed out. To unveil the ghost story, I had to repeat the process for 20 times to see if there was a ghost in even one of the photos. And in case it really appeared, I just had to endure until Ahinal came.

“What the…”

I felt something cold choking my throat. I gritted my teeth and forced myself to not lose control of my body.

‘Just what is this!’

There was something behind me. I was certain. However it was invisible. And I couldn’t feel any energy from it.

‘What should I do…’

As I lowered my gaze, one of the printed photos that had called on the floor entered my field of vision. And there… I could see my stupid face and a woman with black hair wrapped around my neck.

‘Are you fucking kidding me?’

I mean, did a ghost really appear just like this? Besides… if it is a ghost that can only be seen in pictures, how can I attack it? No matter how much I flailed around to free myself, I couldn’t feel any sensation in my neck.

“Damn it!!!!”

In a hurry, I drew my sword. I clad it in holy power like usual and stabbed it around my neck. But, I still couldn’t feel any resistance against the blade.

‘I have to get out of here!’

I force my body to stand up. Even if someone strangled my neck, with my S rank body, I would be able to endure for a few minutes.

But when I turned my body towards the direction I entered from, I couldn’t see the door. It had vanished.

I tried searching for the door around the room, but there were only a regular set of materials, a ball and a few jerseys for exercise. And for some reason, all the mannequins and dolls that were stored to prepare for the festival were staring at me.

Then, a thought bloomed inside my mind.

‘Maybe… this isn’t just one ghost story?’

I know about this story.

It was a story about someone who, one day, while walking down the street, found a department store they had never seen before and went in. But once they were inside, they could not find any exit, so they couldn’t get out. When they finally managed to leave the store after a lot of difficulties, the department store had vanished.

Other than that, there were many ghost stories about being trapped without an exit…

The sound of cracking walls and the sharp screams of ghosts overlapped each other.

Then, another fact dawned upon him. The place he currently stood in was another world isolated from reality.

If so, the wall itself was a ghost.

With one more swing, the solid wall around Yoo Seodam broke apart and collapsed.