I Became a Professional Horror Story Cleaner

I had put on that whole show just to get a textbook.

And now where the hell had he hidden it?

At that moment, something hard and flat lightly tapped me on the back.

‘Haebin?’

‘You have to call me “Haebin.” Although I suppose I should have refused, right?’

Barely moving her lips, Myeong Haebin whispered to me in a voice so low I could hardly hear it.

There was a Korean Language textbook on her desk.

Team Leader Yong had given her the book he had stolen.

“Don’t be so nervous. It’s an easy question. Page 91, exercise number 4.”

The Teacher’s words made me react immediately.

If Team Leader Yong didn’t have a book, all I had to do was read mine and let him copy the answer from the desk next to him.

I quickly flipped through the pages until I reached page 91.

While the Teacher read the passage in his monotonous voice, I followed the text with my eyes.

I was walking along a lonely mountain road in the middle of the night, where there were hardly any streetlights. Suddenly, I saw a human being sitting beneath a bus stop shelter. Their head was deeply bowed, and their hands trembled with anxiety. They looked especially miserable.

“What emotion should the narrator feel in this situation?”

Compassion.
Anger.
Happiness.
Fear.
Disgust.

It was a simple question.

All you had to do was read the passage and choose an answer.

But both the passage and the proposed emotions gave off that unsettling feeling unique to paranormal phenomena.

‘This book doesn’t have the answer marked beforehand.’

Back when I was a student, there were people who solved the exercises in advance.

But the owner of this book didn’t seem to be one of them.

However.

I already knew the answer.

And if there was anyone who knew it even better, it was Team Leader Yong.

‘This paranormal phenomenon hates human beings. It rips out brains and, if it could, it would kill as many humans as possible.’

That had already been made clear in both Jeong Dohyeon’s test and mine.

In the passage, that human being was completely alone, in an extremely dangerous place, and in a state of absolute vulnerability.

Wasn’t that the perfect prey for an anomaly?

Then.

‘The answer has to be number 3. Happiness.’

I discreetly lowered my hand out of the Teacher’s field of vision and held up three fingers.

Team Leader Yong smiled and nodded.

But just then.

A chill ran through my entire body.

It was a hunch.

Why did everything seem so obvious?

‘Since when has anything in this paranormal phenomenon been this obvious?’

Jeong Dohyeon had said it.

The answer was in the textbook.

If all you had to do was answer based solely on the passage the Teacher had just read.

Why would you need the book?

I hurriedly shifted my gaze toward it.

Beside exercise number 4 was a small note connected by a dotted line.

‘Let’s think a little more.’

The moment I tried to read it, the letters began writhing like worms made of ink.

As if that information wasn’t permitted for me.

There was no doubt.

The passage was a trap.

The real answer was there.

Gush.

When I forced my eyes to keep reading, blood began pouring from my nose and fell onto the book.

My entire field of vision turned red.

[Let’s think a little more. Of course you would want it. But…]

Even so, I desperately separated those letters piled on top of one another and kept reading.

I had to.

[If you really could do as you pleased…]

I focused all my senses as I followed, one by one, the words trying to escape my sight.

[…Why would the expression “a rice cake in a picture” exist?]

A rice cake in a picture.

Something that looks so real you can almost touch it.

But that you can never obtain.

The book was already soaked with the blood dripping from my nose.

But I felt as if a light had switched on inside my head.

The answer wasn’t happiness.

It was anger.

The anger of having what you desire right in front of you and being unable to reach it.

‘That…!’

I tried to warn Team Leader Yong before he answered.

But my lips were completely sealed.

I couldn’t speak.

I couldn’t even breathe.

Even my hands, which had been moving perfectly normally just a moment ago, became completely still.

“Shhh. If you tell your classmate the answer, the question loses its whole meaning, don’t you think?”

The Teacher’s soft whisper brushed against the edge of my ear.

There was no longer any doubt.

It was a trap.

The correct answer was number 2.

But no matter how hard I tried to shout it, the words remained trapped inside me.

Meanwhile, Team Leader Yong looked me straight in the eyes, as if saying that everything was under control.

And answered.

“The answer is number 3.”

For an instant, I thought I saw the Teacher’s mouth open into an impossible smile.

“Incorrect.”

The very instant I regained control of my body.

The Teacher’s fingers, sharper than an awl and more cutting than the edge of a sword, came down violently on the back of Team Leader Yong’s hand.

“……!”

I wanted to jump out of my chair immediately.

But the mere presence of the Teacher in front of me prevented me from doing so.

Meanwhile, the Teacher began explaining the answer in a voice so kind that it was sickening.

“Why did you think you would feel happiness? Did that human being want to obtain it that badly? Of course, you would be happy. How delighted would you be?”

“Ugh… ngh…!”

“But do you really think it would be possible with such a fragile body? You should know your place.”

The nails buried deep in the back of Team Leader Yong’s hand began slowly sliding downward with a horrifying tearing sound.

The blood, which first formed small droplets, eventually became a stream that formed a puddle.

“That is why the emotion you should have felt was anger.”

“Thank you very much for the lesson, Teacher.”

Team Leader Yong firmly grabbed the Teacher’s hand that was piercing through the back of his own.

The Teacher held Yong’s gaze, whose eyes were bloodshot as he gritted his teeth, and raised only the corners of his lips.

“Exactly.”

“Aaaagh…!”

The nails were ripped out of his hand in one swift motion.

Blood splattered everywhere.

In the end, Team Leader Yong couldn’t suppress a scream, and his hand began trembling violently.

“I hope the lesson was useful, but I think you should stop by the nurse’s office.”

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

Only when the sound of his footsteps receded toward the front of the classroom could we breathe normally again.

“Are you okay?”

“Look at all that blood. I have bandages.”

Myeong Haebin hurriedly pulled out a compression bandage and offered it to him.

However, Team Leader Yong, panting, continued staring at the Teacher with a smile.

“What’s so funny?”

“No… I just thought we got lucky. Look.”

The Teacher was still calmly writing on the board with his hand completely covered in Team Leader Yong’s blood.

On the back of that hand, a Marker of Dismantlement was clearly shining.

Setting aside the fact that he seemed unable to see it.

Had he really done something that crazy, knowing his hand would be pierced, just to place that mark?

Even so.

Was this really the time to smile with that “we got one” expression, you crazy old man?

“Give me your hand.”

Haebin extended hers again.

But I gently moved her hand aside and made her step back.

“I’ll handle it. You sit down.”

The other students were already beginning to look at us strangely because we were whispering.

The wound was severe even at a glance.

The cut was so deep that the bone was visible.

I tightly squeezed the hand, which seemed incapable of exerting any strength at all, to stop the bleeding.

Team Leader Yong rummaged inside his uniform with his other hand, pulled out a bottle of pills, and swallowed one in a single gulp.

Only then did he seem able to breathe a little easier.

Was he carrying painkillers?

“If you hadn’t given the book to Haebin in the first place, you wouldn’t have ended up like this.”

“Are you already starting to get smart with me?”

He looked like he wanted to knock me on the head.

But after clicking his tongue and saying he would let it slide this time, he lowered his voice.

“Haebin is the only teammate you have on your team. If something happens, it’s better for at least one team to remain intact.”

It was surprising that he could say something like that with his hand torn to shreds.

But the real problem wasn’t that hand.

“I appreciate you thinking about Haebin, but what are you going to do? The Teacher told you to go to the nurse’s office.”

With an injury that severe, there was a strong possibility that, just like Jeong Dohyeon, he would be forced to leave the school.

If that happened.

Forget the orientation and everything else.

Only Haebin and I would be left.

Damn it.

“Well, for now it was only a recommendation, right? Don’t overthink it.”

Out of habit, Team Leader Yong raised his hand as if he were going to pat me on the shoulder.

But he immediately frowned from the pain and let it fall again.

“Don’t make that face. I’m the one who makes the decisions and bears the responsibility. I’m the leader, after all. You just worry about getting home.”

“Understood…”

Maybe that was why he was the Team Leader.

Even after swallowing a painkiller, his hand was still trembling from the pain.

And even so.

He was still worrying about his teammates before himself.

I couldn’t take my eyes off Team Leader Yong’s hand, now tucked inside the desk but still giving off a strong smell of blood.

At that moment, the bell announcing the end of third period rang.

Ding~

Dong~

Dang~

Dong.

At last, we could talk freely.

“Let’s go. Move.”

“I don’t remember exactly where it was, but there was a general map of the school on the first floor. Let’s go look at it.”

The moment the bell rang, we raced down the stairs as if we were in a race against time.

Beside the main lobby, on the wall to the left of the staircase, hung a large map of the school.

“Laboratory… Home Economics Practice Room…”

“There are Science Labs 1 and 2, but there’s no Home Economics Practice Room.”

“Haebin, are you sure you didn’t mistake it for another classroom?”

“No! I’m sure I saw it! Then why isn’t it here?”

The three of us practically pressed our noses against the map as we carefully checked each floor.

But there was no place called the Home Economics Practice Room.

“Let’s go up and check it ourselves. The map might not match the actual school.”

Second floor.

Third floor.

And even the fourth.

We went through every classroom.

The map was correct.

There was no Home Economics Practice Room.

“That’s strange… I’m sure I saw it… It was when I went to look for Boss after first period ended. I’m certain I passed by it. Then… why isn’t it there anymore?”

On the third floor, where the second-year classrooms were located, there were only classrooms, the second-year teachers’ office, the music room, and the counseling room.

But Haebin insisted she had seen it while she was on her way to find me.

“Let’s go to the rest area.”

“Why now? It’s at the end of the hallway!”

Although Team Leader Yong protested, I didn’t want to waste the ten-minute break.

So I led both of them back to the area where the vending machine I had cleaned was located.

But the machine wasn’t what I was looking for.

“Haebin, when you came to find me, which way did you go?”

“Since your classroom was one floor below, I went down these stairs.”

The fourth-floor rest area, where the first-year classrooms were located, ended right beside a staircase.

“Let’s follow exactly the same route you took back then.”

Anomalies didn’t obey common sense.

So I thought that if we recreated exactly the same conditions under which Haebin had seen that room.

Maybe it would appear.

I followed Haebin down the stairs.

I wasn’t expecting much, because we had already inspected that place from top to bottom earlier.

But.

“See? I told you I wasn’t imagining it!”

“This looks like a secret room. They hid a classroom.”

Right in front of the stairs appeared a classroom that hadn’t existed before.

The door read.

Home Economics Practice Room.

Could it only be found by coming down those stairs?

“Things like this happen sometimes. What matters is that we found it.”

[No Entry]

Use of this Home Economics Practice Room has been suspended. Students are prohibited from entering.

However, the thick iron padlock and the no-entry sign left me puzzled.

“After all that searching, it turns out it’s locked.”

“With it secured this well, it doesn’t look like anyone could hide anything in here either.”

“Rookie, you underestimate students too much.”

While I tried to peer through the window to get a look inside and ease my disappointment a little.

I heard a heavy noise beside me.

Clank.

When I turned around, I saw Team Leader Yong, with a thick bloodstained bandage wrapped around one hand, shaking the window.

“What are you doing?”

“What do you think I’m doing? Opening it. If someone wants to do something in secret, they have to put in a little effort.”

The words “I’m starting to have serious doubts about what you were like in your youth” nearly slipped out of my mouth.