Ghost Story Club

“Hey,『San』. Are you ready?”

[Ah, of course.『Spy』]

In the classroom before 5th period.

Dukhun was talking on the phone with someone.

“Let’s.”

[Do.]

[This!]

“Everyone’s here.”

Dukhun casually rubbing his nose smiled at us.

“Then let’s shake it up. The world of the internet.”

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Shortly after, it was the fifth period Hanja character class.

Sunah, Jinhee, and I were kneeling in the back of the classroom with our hands raised as punishment for not doing our homework last time.

‘Is he doing it properly?’

My deskmate, Dukhun, was sitting alone next to my empty seat.

I could see him hurriedly tapping his cell phone under his desk.

Sometimes, when the teacher’s attention would be focused on him, Dukhun would pretend to look at the blackboard normally, but as soon as the teacher’s attention shifted, he quietly tapped on his keyboard under the desk.

‘That’s amazing.’

Right now, Dukhun was spreading rumors about Kim Eunjung on SNS, various social media platforms popular among our school students, along with his online friends.

[T/N: In Korea, SNS stands for “Social Networking Service,” which refers to various social media platforms used for communication and sharing content. Popular examples include KakaoTalk, Facebook, Instagram, and Naver.]

Title: My friend is admitted in the hospital after an accident ㅠㅠ

Content: I’m a freshman at Nakseong High School, and you all know that there was a 4-car pileup in ShinLim Neighborhood today, right? My friend who transferred here in March got hurt there and was hospitalized, she lost one of her legs and now crippled ㅠㅠ

Title: A girl in first year class 3 is seriously injured :cc

Content: A freshman who transferred in our school’s first year class 3 had their leg amputated due to a traffic accident.

While Dukhun was busy tapping on his phone, a loud crash of cars colliding came from far away in the schoolyard.

Screeeech- Boom!

All the students in the class instantly shifted their attention toward the window.

Gyeongwon and Hayoon, who were sitting in their seats because they had completed their homework like diligent students, also turned their heads.

The rumors we spread have reached a level of causality sufficient to manipulate Kim Eunjung’s background.

Thud, thud. Slid-

At the same time, someone rushed in from the hallway and flung open the classroom door.

“Huff, have you children seen Eunjung? Is she in the classroom?”

It was the homeroom teacher.

At his sudden inquiry, our eyes were drawn to the back row.

“It seems like she didn’t come to class today.”

The homeroom teacher wiped off his sweat as the Class President answered.

“This is a big problem…”

“What could be the problem…”

The Hanja teacher, who was in the middle of the class, closed the book and asked the homeroom teacher.

“Well, you see, there was a four-car pileup right in front of the school, and it seems that one of our students who was taking advantage of lunch time to go out might have been caught up in it… Are there any other students who aren’t in their seats?”

The homeroom teacher quickly checked attendance again, apologized for disrupting the class and ran back down the hallway in a hurry.

“What’s going on?”

True to her nature as a gossip-loving teacher, the Hanja teacher opened her eyes wide and asked the other students.

“Here, in the news…”

A male student hurriedly searched on his phone and showed a recently posted news article.

“Oh my… It’s right in front of the school. A four-car pileup… What the heck, really…”

The Hanja teacher made a worried expression.

However, she looked like she was just pretending to be worried and more had a face that suggested she had found some juicy news.

“… You guys should never jaywalk. Anyway, let’s get back to class. I hope it’s not something serious.”

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After saying that, the Hanja teacher opened her book again.

However, she herself had a look that suggested her mind was wandering elsewhere.

“Getting hit by a truck means reincarnation in another world (Transmigration), falling means ‘learning from the experience’ (Experience learning), and moving between dimensions (Dimensional travel)…”

‘….Is it over?’

If she lost a leg and were crippled, honestly, she wouldn’t be able to come to school.

It was a somewhat bitter ending, but there was no other way that I could think of.

[“Is this enough?”]

Dukhun turned his head and mouthed this.

I nodded slowly.

Soon, the bell rang, signaling break time.

Just as I was about to lower my hand and return to my seat, the homeroom teacher came rushing in from the hallway again and flung open the door.

“Th, Thank goodness, Eunjung is fine!”

“It turns out the injured person is another student! She’s on her way back to school now. If any of you are startled for the sudden interruption, I apologize. I’m sorry. Hoho.”

All the students let out a sigh of relief.

Except for the members of our Ghost Story Club, who had an expression of regret and worry. We had no choice but to gather around Dukhun’s seat.

“What happened? Why all of a sudden… .”

“Okay, wait a minute…”

Dukhun quickly opened his phone and checked the SNS.

He flinched as if he had found something strange.

“…Look here. Someone messed up.”

Title: My friend is admitted in the hospital after an accident ㅠㅠ

Comment 1

KEJ4444: That was a different student. The witness made a mistake.

Title: A girl in first year class 3 is seriously injured :cc

Comment 1

KEJ4444: A similarly looking student was the one who got hurt, and it was just a misunderstanding by the person next to them.

KEJ. An abbreviation for Kim Eunjung.

“What should we do, Prez?”

“Joon…”

Feeling flustered, I bit my lip as I responded to the club members who were asking worriedly.

“….Push harder.”

Dukhun nodded as if he had been waiting for it.

“Spread rumors, say that she couldn’t come to school because her family fled abroad in the middle of the night or she was hospitalized for some incurable disease.”

Spread false rumors and send her somewhere else.

She’s dangerous.

We must make sure she can’t meet us until we graduate.

Just like when she was sent to an alternative school six years ago.

“Ah, I was waiting for you to say this.”

Contrary to my expression that was heavy with guilt, Dukhun smiled. Being quite straightforward in this regard, he grinned and opened the group chat of his online friends.

“It’s too wasteful to use our otaku group’s firepower only in places like this, where crowds don’t gather much.”

Dukhun soon started typing something on his phone.

[Dukhun the Spy: Hey,『San』Are you still there?]

[Wasanji: yes,『Spy』Anytime.]

[T/N: Wasanji is often a misspelling or playful variation of “Sans” a character from the game “Undertale”.]

[Ashina Genichiro: What’s going on?]

[T/N: Ashina Genichiro (아시나 겐이치로) is a character from the video game “Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.]

[Timeless Lotus: I’ve been waiting.]

Dukhun and his online friends.

A gathering of game addicts who like to call themselves ‘Anonymous’.

Dukhun quickly exchanged information.

[Dukhun the Spy: Oi, there’s one more thing to do. It seems like what we did just now wasn’t enough to satisfy the ‘Master’.]

[Wasanji: Oh my. Are there more annoying tasks?]

[Dukhun the Spy: Oh, yes. But in the end, it’s something only ‘you people’ can do. What do you think? Will you accept it?]

[Ashina Genichiro: You’re blabbering too much. Just tell me what you want.]

[Timeless Lotus: I’ll follow the commander’s orders.]

[Dukhun the Spy: Alright. What you guys have to do is….]

Perhaps because the concept was only to eat and talk, they seemed familiar with this kind of conversation.

‘My friend has amazing online friends!’

Dukhun’s online friends with 2nd grader middle school syndrome, being Anonymous.

They started their job.

Tap- tap- tap- tap-

Dukhun opened multiple windows on his smartphone while doing voice chat on Discord. [T/N: Not even Discord…..]

Gyeongwon asked curiously.

“But what do they do for a living? Being glued to the internet during the day, even on a weekday…”

At his words, I couldn’t help but also be curious about the identities of these members.

Dukhun answered with a smirk.

“Public service worker. Unemployed. Repeating students. They are anonymous hunters hiding beneath the shadows of society.”

“…Amazing.”

They were people who the only thing they have to spare is time.

I clicked my tongue.

“The goal is to spread rumors about Kim Eunjung in online teen communities. Everyone, check your accounts!”

[Wasanji: Okay.]

“If the rumour gets buried in the network traffic, turn them into fake news and send them as a recommendation. It’ll be the best if you can share the link in the chatroom. Let’s start working on the comments.”

[Timeless Lotus: Yes. I just sent one in the Best.]

[T/N: In South Korea, “Best” often refers to a section or feature on various social media platforms where popular or trending posts are highlighted. For example, platforms like Naver, Daum, and some forums have sections called “Best” where top-rated content is showcased.]

“Go there and pretend to be students of Nakseong High School and leave comments. Keep in mind time is not on our side.”

Soon, the 6th period self-study period started.

The members who were watching Dukhun and his online friends’ flashy work also returned to their respective seats.

“Don’t get caught for spamming. Change the sentences periodically as you rotate…”

Dukhun frantically gave instructions to his online friends sitting next to me with his earbuds stuffed.

“…Oh, that’s right. And…”

A few students curiously glanced at Dukhun, who was frowning and muttering to himself, but Dukhun had been consistently pushing the otaku concept since the beginning of the semester.

So they just shook their heads, mumbling to themselves that he was just obsessed with that kind of stuff and went back to what they were doing.

“So that was when she tried to escape at night but ended up returning because of the flight being cancelled? Tsk, you really know how to weave a story. Alright, let’s push the narrative that she got caught stealing and ended up in a juvenile facility.”

Dukhun was fighting a war online.

I had been watching quietly, but I couldn’t hold myself anymore and gently tapped him and whispered softly.

“Could you invite me to the group chat too? I want to see how things are going.”

“Just a moment.”

Seeing that he was working on so many different communities, it was difficult for me to keep track of where and how everything was being done by going through the internet one by one.

In the end, I was invited to the otaku group chat.

KakaoTalk-

[Dukhun the Spy has invited Lee Joon.]

[Dukhun the Spy: Oi, meet the new member.]

[Lee Joon: Nice to meet you. I’m Dukhun’s friend.]

[Wasanji: Who is that guy? I think I’ve heard of him before.]

[Ashina Genichiro: Ah… I don’t know if I should say it but… That person is the perfect person to become the new ‘Observer’ for our ‘Anonymous’ group.]

[Timeless Lotus: Oh? And you can say this by only hearing about him?]

“What are they talking about?”

Dukhun tapped his phone and answered nonchalantly to me, who was feeling flustered.

“Don’t worry about them. They’re just saying whatever comes to their mind.”

KakaoTalk-

[Lee Joon: Um… I’m not quite sure what you mean, but I really appreciate you taking the time to help us out.]

[Wasanji:….Do you still not know anything?]

[Lee Joon: Know what?]

[Wasanji: Haaa. That ‘power’. I guess it hasn’t manifested yet.]

[Timeless Lotus: What? Did you really bring in the right person?]

[Ashina Genichiro: Calm down, everyone. He just isn’t ready yet.]

[Wasanji: Then I guess we should teach him. Our true goal, the annihilation of Clover Corporation.]

[Timeless Lotus: We are the Legion.]

[Ashina Genichiro: We do not forgive.]

[Wasanji: We do not forget.]

[Timeless Lotus: We are Anonymous.]

Dukhun’s online friends, aka the ‘Anonymous.’

“This is crazy.”

I almost threw my phone in frustration, but instead, I held back and quietly observed how the situation was unfolding.

“…Why is it getting buried? Is there a reason for it to be buried at this time?”

[Wasanji: A celebrity’s drunk driving incident broke out all of a sudden…]

“Then let’s focus our efforts on the male-dominated sites for now.”

[Timeless Lotus: Then let’s do this here.]

Soon, their attention on me faded away, and they began updating the situation across various communities.

The members’ number one target of attack was SNS, which was the best for spreading rumors in real time.

The second priority was communities frequently visited by teenagers, especially those with strong female-oriented members.

“Gossip about the personal lives of ordinary people is said to have the strongest influence in teenage communities, especially those with a large female audience or members. Male-dominated sites are often insensitive about this kind of rumors unless it’s about games or sports; if it’s not quickly boosted as a recommendation, it tends to get buried fast.”

From cafes, humor sites, and gaming sites to car communities and even political forums.

They quickly flooded the internet with rumors about Kim Eunjung, even going as far as to use multiple accounts to fabricate information and manipulate the system.

[Do you know that thief girl who got suspended for stealing stuff at the school? I’m scared she might come back since I go to the same school as hers. I heard she put a thumbtack in another girl’s indoor shoes because she was prettier than her.]

[My younger sibling’s friend is called Kim Eunjung. Heard she’s associated with a gang, and I remember a story about her… -ㅠ-ㅠ. But she’s in a juvenile center right now, so she can’t come. Don’t worry.]

[Didn’t she say she couldn’t come to school anymore because she has an incurable disease? She’s still going around like that?]

While spreading all kinds of fake information here and there, the atmosphere in the members’ group chat suddenly became strange.

[Wasanji: Hey,『Spy』. One guy has been following our tracks around and leaving annoying comments since a while ago.]

[Ashina Genichiro: His firepower seems similar to ours? Fast as hell.]

[Timeless Lotus: …Doesn’t seem like an easy enemy.]

Dukhun quickly checked the internet communities again.

He removed his earbuds and turned to look at me, one of his glasses reflecting slightly in the light.

“It’s her, President.”

I nodded silently, since I had already predicted it.

“Keep pushing.”

Then, the homeroom teacher came rushing down the hallway, swung open the door and burst into the classroom before shouting.

“Huff…. I’m sorry for interrupting during the self-study session! Do you remember Eunjung, who transferred here earlier this year, got caught stealing, went to a juvenile detention centre, and then came back to school, got into fights with the delinquents, and after getting her arm injured and getting 17 stitches, was on her way home when she was in a four-car collision, got hospitalized again, suffered from an unexplained respiratory illness, but her condition improved rapidly and she was discharged not long ago, then she was planning to return to school but her family went bankrupt, so she and her family fled to the airport in the middle of but the flight was cancelled, so she came back? She said she would return at the closing ceremony, but I wasn’t sure if she would actually come back, but there’s a chance she might…!”