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The Pursuer V

8

Following this, the operation to eliminate the school ghost went smoothly.

Cheon Yohwa and I continued to patrol the school. Whenever we found survivors, we immediately transported them to the ‘safe zone.’

The survivors shed tears of joy.

“Are the ghosts…gone?”

“We can use the bathrooms freely!”

“Thank you, security officer!”

“Ah, but there are still corpses… Well, we’ve seen plenty of them already.”

“Damn, this cup ramen is so delicious…”

Since the first to third floors were mostly declared ‘safe zones,’ there was plenty of space for the students to stay.

The main concern was providing food and maintaining hygiene for the hundreds of survivors. Fortunately, I had packed my trunk with enough supplies to handle the hygiene part.

Food, however, was another story.

The trunk I obtained in the 115th turn boasted a capacity akin to a subspace, but it was no more than an ordinary study in size. It wasn’t romantically spacious like the “mysteriously larger than a mansion” studies often described in fantasy novels.

Luckily, the Korean Peninsula, once one of the world’s poorest regions, had a knack for quickly resolving food shortages (though this applied to only 50% of the area).

“Let’s use the cafeteria.”

“Ew.”

Yeohwa grimaced. She had a natural talent for expressing words like ‘disgust’ and ‘contempt’ using only her facial muscles.

“Are you talking about the first-floor cafeteria? That place is… I’ve only been there once, but it’s really full of ghosts.”

“Of course it is. Didn’t you know? Ghosts typically gather in bathrooms, bedrooms, and kitchens.”

“No, I didn’t know…”

The dominant ghost in Baekhwa Girls’ High School’s cafeteria was the ‘Human Flesh Restaurant.’

1. Meals were served in the cafeteria daily.

2. The meat in these meals included human flesh.

3. Those who consumed this flesh quickly became addicted, craving more human flesh until they turned into cannibals. If deprived of human flesh for even a few days, they went mad.

Ghosts related to human flesh were commonly found in the Void.

They appeared frequently in areas where large-scale massacres occurred, and this school ghost story was no exception, given that hundreds had already been slaughtered.

The Void was a more brutal environment than Antarctica. When faced with the choice of “starve tomorrow or go mad in a month or three,” even seasoned Awakened beings had no choice but to resort to cannibalism.

However, the school ghost story was slightly different.

“Did the meals here usually include good portions?”

“What? Oh, no. Dinner was okay, but breakfast and lunch were terrible. Living in the dorms was tough.”

“Then there’s nothing to worry about. The meals are served separately in stainless steel trays, right?”

“What?”

“As long as you stick to the veggie dishes, you’ll be safe. From now on, breakfast and lunch will be the main meals.”

If eating human flesh would drive you insane, just avoid it and eat everything else!

Usually, breaking through the ‘Human Flesh Restaurant’ in other Voids wasn’t so simple.

Korea, harsh on vegans, had Voids that targeted meat lovers with restaurants specializing in stir-fried pork, soups, and pork cutlets.

Unless there were menus like Aglio Olio or easily separable dishes like burgers, it was challenging to avoid meat in most Void restaurants.

But schools and the military were different.

Unlike other areas, these two groups took life very seriously, being true to veganism.

In my view, the human flesh-infested cafeteria at Baekhwa Girls’ High School was just an excellent source of nutrients.

“You can even use ghosts this way…”

Receiving meals from the ghostly cafeteria workers, Yeohwa looked both amazed and disgusted.

“There are surprisingly useful ghosts if you get rid of your prejudices.”

“Maybe… Oh. The stir-fried anchovies are good. So good, it’s unsettling! Are you sure this is safe, security officer?”

I glanced at Yeohwa’s profile. The student council president was staring down at her tray with a complicated expression.

I remembered our first meeting at the school gate during the 5th turn, recruiting Yeohwa.

-Your abilities are potent, Yeohwa. Whether you turn corpses or living people into zombies, I’m not sure.

-Corpse?

Back then, Yeohwa couldn’t grasp the word ‘corpse.’ The same probably applied to ‘human flesh.’

Survival-induced brainwashing.

Considering what the 17 survivors ate for four years, it wasn’t hard to guess.

Indeed, all members of the Baekhwa High School Guild were addicted to human flesh, going mad if they didn’t consume it every four days.

“…This isn’t a particularly clever idea. If more time had passed, the students would have reached the same conclusion.”

“Us?”

“Yes. And this solution isn’t permanent. Eat as much as you can while it lasts. I’ll also pack as much long-lasting food as possible.”

“…?”

My prediction was correct.

A week later, the cafeteria menu began to change.

“Hey, security officer. Doesn’t it seem like there’s more meat now?”

“Hmm.”

The strange beings moved as if they were alive.

In terms of the pace of life, these beings were far more urgent and hasty compared to humans. While humans evolved slowly over thousands or millions of years, filtering mutations through the web of time, these beings could transform entirely within a single day.

As a result…

“Ah. Two-thirds of the side dishes are… meat.”

Cheon Yohwa’s stainless steel tray was lavishly filled.

There were chicken drumsticks, beef radish soup, mini meat patties, and boiled pork slices. The only non-meat items were vegetable curry, white rice, and salad.

In the past, this could have been photographed and posted online with the title [Can you believe this is a high school lunch these days?], drawing both admiration and envy from the older generation.

“Throw away everything except the vegetable curry, rice, and salad.”

“Yes… Ugh, what a waste!”

Yeohwa threw away the side dishes into the waste bin, looking distressed.

“Yesterday, someone couldn’t resist and took a bite of the cheese pork cutlet. I scolded them a lot, but I could understand their feelings…”

“A bite or two should be fine. But if they keep eating more, it will be the end. At least we still have curry. Soon, there might be nothing but plain rice left.”

“Ugh. The nutritional value is terrible. If only we had protein supplements…”

It was obvious that the food situation would deteriorate quickly.

But we didn’t just sit around doing nothing.

We increased our patrols, exploring the entire Void, and as a result, we secured over 150 survivors.

We almost completely eradicated the school ghost stories. The school building, which had bizarrely expanded to 13 floors, returned to its original 4-story structure. The playground and dormitories were also restored.

…Though we also found over 500 corpses.

Compared to the previous turns where only 17 survived, the 117th turn was significantly better.

Thanks to accurately locating the victims this time, future turns would improve even more.

But let’s focus on the 117th turn for now.

“Are the funerals over, sir?”

On the playground.

Wooden desks and chairs were piled up and burning like a campfire. The black smoke was harsh due to the poor quality of the wood, but the flames were well-contained, rising straight up to the sky.

At least it served as a decent rope to guide souls to heaven.

“Yes, it just finished.”

“Hehe. Did our kids cry a lot this time too?”

“Crying is good. Just as laughter knows no borders, neither do tears.”

Yeohwa stood beside me with her hands behind her back. The sky of Baekhwa Girls’ High School, tainted by the Void, was always blood-red.

The red spider lilies surrounding the school building were equally red. The only things not red were the white birch trees, which formed a white iron cage, imprisoning the school.

No matter how many strange beings we defeated, the spider lilies and birch trees never disappeared.

“Indeed. Holding a funeral seems to have eased the kids’ minds a bit. You even gathered all the ashes. Nowadays, they make small pouches of their friends’ ashes to wear around their necks.”

“To give to their families when they meet them?”

“Yep. Even if they can’t, it still serves as a charm.”

“It must be hard for you at your age to take care of the dead. You’re admirable.”

“Haha… Ah, here, have this!”

Yeohwa handed me a rice ball. White rice with stir-fried anchovies wrapped in seaweed.

Now, there were extremely few side dishes without meat. Some students had formed a cooking team to transform the cafeteria food into something edible.

“Thank you.”

Of course, this was still a feast for me.

By tomorrow, even the stir-fried anchovies would likely be gone. The day after, even the rice would turn into Bolognese pasta.

Though I had stored some long-lasting food separately, it would only last a few days at most.

The hourglass of the school ghost story was rapidly building a pyramid in the desert.

Yeohwa looked up at the blood-red sky.

“Sir, when will we ever escape this hell…?”

“Tomorrow.”

Yeohwa’s eyes turned to me.

“Tell the other students to wait near the school gate, ready to escape at any time. Yeohwa, you come with me.”

“…”

“By tomorrow, we will carve out the heart of this Void.”

9

The upper floors of the school, including the dormitory, academic building, old school building, playground, and auditorium, had been thoroughly searched.

Naturally, the strange beings were also exterminated.

The total number of beings eradicated by me and some of the remaining students was 99. Of all numbers, it had to be 99.

It was an almost miraculous achievement, yet the blood-red sky of the “school ghost story” remained intact. This meant there were still hidden beings lurking somewhere.

And I had an idea of where the secret hideout might be.

“It’s underground.”

Cheon Yohwa blinked.

“Underground? But our school doesn’t really have an underground… There are small basement storage rooms here and there, but that’s about it.”

Indeed, there were no stairs leading down from the first floor in any of the buildings.

Yes, stairs.

As you might have realized by now, the most prominent mode of transportation in the Void wasn’t stairs.

“Yeohwa, we’re going to take the elevator down.”

“Elevator? Where would an elevator be… Oh, no way?”

Yes, that way.

Yeohwa and I gathered our supplies and headed to the old school building. Although it was called the old school building, it was still in use as a club building and wasn’t too dilapidated.

A service elevator for meals was installed in the old school building.

Dumbwaiter, lift—there were many names for it, but students just called it the meal elevator.

It wasn’t designed for people, but it was still a proper ‘elevator.’

“Alright, you go in first.”

“No way. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to go inside, but I never thought I actually would… Ahh! Sir, no! It’s too cramped! Really cramped… Huh? Surprisingly spacious…”

“In the Void, physical space has little meaning.”

Crash.

We squeezed into the elevator and turned on a flashlight. Surprisingly, there were buttons visible.

[B001] [B005] [B009] [B013]

[B002] [B006] [B010] [B014]

[B003] [B007] [B011] [B015]

[B004] [B008] [B012] [B016]

Yeohwa shuddered as the flashlight revealed the wall of buttons.

“Sixteen basement floors? There’s no way our school has sixteen unexplored basement floors! This is crazy! Sir, this won’t be over in a day or two…”

“Don’t worry. It’s not the numbers, but the pattern we need to understand.”

“What?”

“Look at the buttons. Four rows and four columns. It’s just a way to represent the number 4.”

“Ah…”

“Press any button. It doesn’t matter which one.”

“Uh, okay. Here goes.”

Yeohwa extended her finger and pressed the button for the 12th floor.

Clunk!

The elevator jolted. Yeohwa yelped and grabbed my shoulder.

Clunk, clunk…

At that moment, the elevator buttons began to flicker red.

[死444] [死444] [死444] [死444]

[死444] [死444] [死444] [死444]

[死444] [死444] [死444] [死444]

[死444] [死444] [死444] [死444]

[PR/N: Death symbol again.]

The red light from the buttons bathed the inside of the elevator in a sinister glow.

“…”

Yeohwa swallowed hard.

The red light, though no different from ordinary LED lights, felt viscous, like sticky liquid. The red hue oozed from the buttons, clinging to our bodies.

Clunk!

The elevator jerked violently like an old boat docking at a pier.

Then, the door slowly descended, revealing not the false ground level, but ‘Basement 4,’ the true ‘afterlife’ of the school ghost story.

“Step out slowly. Follow me exactly, step for step. Don’t walk more or less.”

“Y-Yes. This place…”

Yeohwa cautiously exited the elevator, looking around.

There was no need for a long observation.

“A hospital…?”

Because the scenery was the same, endlessly repeating.

White hospital corridors and ceilings. There were no patients or doctors, just eerily clean beds lined up along the corridors. Transparent IV lines hung over each bed like suspension bridges. The corridor seemed infinite.

――I had seen this exact scene, albeit briefly, during the 89th turn.

‘Endless.’

Yes.

The 89th turn was when I witnessed Endless.

Prison, school, hospital, swimming pool, movie theater, scenes from a screen chaotically overlapping and merging. A vision. No, a maddening spectacle.

‘…So this was the main base.’

The true body of the alien god Endless.

It had nested in the infernal Endless of Baekhwa Girls’ High School’s Basement 4.