"……."
For the longest time, I stared at myself in the mirror.
My body had transformed perfectly into someone else entirely, and to top it off, a strange black mark had appeared in my eye.
"…What is this."
I hastily threw on some clothes and scratched at my head in a frenzy.
I thought I had died, but I hadn't.
Yet if this was how things were, I would have rather died.
How was I supposed to explain my situation to those around me?
Even I couldn’t understand what was happening right now.
My stomach began to churn with confusion.
My appearance, which had at least resembled Mom, was the only thing I’d liked about myself.
Now even the traces of me that she had made had vanished from this world.
The reason I had been alive was solely for that one person.
"Haa… haa… h-urk."
It was hard to breathe.
I had survived, but had I truly survived…?
Was the person before me even me?
"Ugh…!!!"
My head spun.
At the thought that I might now completely forget Mom, my mind went blank.
I ran to the bathroom, opened the toilet lid, and heaved my empty stomach with nothing to expel.
"Hwueeeeh…!!!! Haa… haa…."
I felt like I was going crazy.
I flushed and looked at myself in the mirror.
"…Who are you."
Even when I asked myself, no answer came back.
Had I truly died?
What had happened to our school? What about the people who were there?
What had happened to all the teachers?
Still clinging to the dizzying nausea, I came out to the living room and saw a school uniform soaked in blood lying on the desk.
"…It’s not a dream…?"
If so, then why was I at home?
And why were these clothes here?
[I Sion]
The name tag that Mom had given me, bearing my mother’s surname.
I tore it off and carefully tucked it into the breast pocket of the shirt I was currently wearing.
Though I could feel a slightly enlarged lump of fat.
Given the situation, I wasn’t greatly shaken by that side of things.
"My phone…! If I just check for information on my phone."
With a phone, I could check for information.
How much time had passed, whether it was broken or not.
I searched the pockets of the tattered, blood-soaked uniform.
A fishy stench stung my nose, and something like the smell of spit—foul and acrid—made it quite difficult.
"Ugh…! F-found it…."
Soon, I discovered a phone caked with hair and blood.
I rushed to the bathroom, wiped it off with wet toilet paper, and checked its condition.
"The screen is slightly cracked…."
A phone that had miraculously survived.
Grateful for that fact, I hurriedly turned on the power.
[Low Battery!]
[0%]
"Ah…."
The phone turned on for a brief moment before dying again.
Feeling something strange at that sight, I found a charger and plugged in the phone.
* * *
After charging the phone and unlocking it with the pattern.
I tried unlocking it again with my fingerprint.
[Lock released.]
"It works…?"
For some unknown reason, the fingerprint recognition still functioned.
Feeling puzzled by this, I hurriedly turned my eyes to the date.
[Remaining Battery: 25%]
[Location: On]
[20xx, Month X, Day X]
I couldn’t help but be shocked when I saw it.
"…A whole week has passed?"
The world had moved on for an entire week.
Leaving me behind to die that day at the back mountain.
Gnawing my fingernails, I searched for news about our school.
'There are no… articles? What? Am I the only one who’s gone crazy?'
There were no articles no matter where I looked.
If a student had gone missing while at school, shouldn’t there at least be an article about it?
In that moment, I recalled a post I had glanced over just for fun on my way to school the day I died.
"……."
Moving my fingers, I navigated back to the site.
[Urban Ghost Story Collection.]
Seeing it greet me no differently than usual, I found a sliver of comfort in this incomprehensible world.
[Title: Goldfish Story]
[Title: Jangsan Tiger Story]
[Title: The school ghost stories spreading lately are pretty fun lol]
Though a few eye-catching titles were visible, I moved my fingers and typed a query into the search bar.
[Search: Strange entity stories spreading recently.]
[Not Found]
[No search results found.]
"……."
The post had been deleted.
Just to be sure, I tried searching under other names as well.
[Search: Eerie entity]
[Not Found]
[Search: Eojin High disappearance]
[Not Found]
[Search: Seoul male high school student missing]
[Not Found]
[No search results found.]
Only responses saying no search results could be found came back.
I couldn’t find anything in internet articles either.
As if a person named me had been erased from this world.
And then.
—Ding-dong—
"Hhck…!!"
The doorbell rang, as if someone had come to visit.
"…Shit, what was that."
It came with a voice I couldn’t believe I had made myself.
—Knock-knock-knock!
"Is anyone there? Student I Sion? Are you inside?"
A man’s voice could be heard.
At this, I, who had been about to open the door, froze.
"They know me… so if they see me like this now, won’t it be dangerous?"
I Sion. That man wouldn’t know that I had turned into a woman.
And right now, I was in the state of a woman with only a shirt draped over her bare body.
Not to mention an X-shaped mark had formed in the pupil of one eye.
"…What do I do?"
It was a moment when my mind went blank.
* * *
Eerie Management Bureau.
The very group that investigates perilous eerie entities, dissects them, and punishes, isolates, and utilizes them is the Eerie Management Bureau.
And they had recently been plagued with a terrible headache.
Eojin High School, seemingly as ordinary as any other high school.
An eerie entity had broken out there, and the students and teachers were discovered as piles of corpses.
They had succeeded in controlling the surrounding information and somehow covering up the incident using eerie entities.
However, one variable still remained.
None other than I Sion.
The student of whom only the left arm was found while everyone else was buried under corpses.
The fact that this arm was discovered in the clutches of the security guard—the most threatening existence within the school—had drawn the Management Bureau’s attention.
And so, as they investigated.
"…What, so only that student’s name was marked in red on the attendance sheet?"
"Hee…."
"Did you enjoy your vacation?"
When the man wearing sunglasses said this, the blonde woman nodded in response.
"Yes, well enough. So that’s what happened."
"That’s why we’re heading to that student’s house now."
"Will they be home?"
"…Well, we’ll have to see."
Saying this, the man wearing sunglasses parked the car.
"Let’s get to work."
"Yes, Chief."
"…Put your knife away where the residents can see."
Saying this, the man who calmed the blonde used his phone to track the signal from Sion’s phone.
'Not a single signal had been caught until today, when it suddenly returned from this complex… is it really a coincidence?'
Thinking this to himself, the man didn’t let his guard down as he went up the apartment with the giggling blonde woman.
"There’s soot."
"Ah… it was a building that had a fire, but it seems they never properly cleaned the exterior."
"Eh… won’t the property values drop?"
"Well, I heard it’s practically abandoned. The murderer committed arson, after all."
"…You should have led with that."
The blonde looked at the man with a pouting expression.
At this, the man let out a sigh, sending an annoyed glare from behind his sunglasses.
The blonde immediately went quiet.
"Ahem…! Let’s go. Stay alert, and draw your knife now."
"Yes, Chief."
The woman became quite serious.
Beside her, the man pressed the doorbell nervously.
An eerie entity might pop out.
They had to be careful here.
—Ding-dong.
As the doorbell’s high tone rang, the signs of someone inside vanished.
With the appearance of someone inside holding their breath, the man exchanged glances with the woman.
'Three knocks, and if they don’t come out, we break in.'
Memories could simply be erased using eerie entities before they escaped.
The man raised his fist and knocked harder than before.
—Knock-knock-knock!
"Is anyone there? Student I Sion? Are you inside?"
The man’s question was delivered, yet Sion gave no answer.
At this, the man and woman exchanged glances once more.
If this didn’t work either, they had no choice but to go in directly.
The man knocked on the door with even more force than before.
—Bang-bang-bang!
"We’re from the government! We have a few matters to discuss regarding the Eojin High incident, if that’s alright?"
The man said this and held his breath for a moment, but.
Sion still said nothing.
"…We’re going in. Cover me."
"Yes, Chief."
It was a situation where forced entry couldn’t be avoided.
If an eerie entity truly was inside, the residents would be in danger, so it couldn’t be helped.
And so the man took out his tools and began pounding on the door to break it in.
Meanwhile, Sion, who was inside the room.
"Hic…! N-no… don’t…!!"
The trauma switch had been completely flipped.
The surroundings felt hot.
Stifling smoke rose up, and the image of my mother blocking the door somehow while shedding tears overlapped with the door.
In Sion’s mind, a person’s voice echoed.
'If you want to live—'
—BANG!!!!
'Kill.'
"…!!"
In that moment, Sion felt something snap.
And at the same time, the man who broke through the door and entered.
"S-stay back…!! I, I’m weird! Don’t come…!!!!"
"…!!"
Met eyes with Sion, who was on the verge of rampaging.