I Became a Professional Horror Story Cleaner

Let’s organize the situation.

To survive, I had to get out of this cafeteria before lunchtime ended.

But I couldn’t just leave.

The Nutritionist was watching the entrance, and the Professor was blocking the exit.

To be able to leave, finishing the entire lunch was mandatory.

Though that didn’t mean I intended to eat it.

‘The achievement didn’t have any warning for failure. I don’t have to do it.’

A few tables behind me, Team Leader Yong had an arm around the shoulders of an anomalous student.

“Hey. Give me your tray.”

— ……

“Don’t fuck with me. I have to go upstairs right now, so hand it over already.”

I had been wondering what he was doing.

It turned out he was threatening the entity.

If this weren’t a paranormal phenomenon, it would look like a situation that should immediately be reported as school bullying.

No.

Rather, someone should report that a grown man was harassing a student.

‘Does that actually work?’

I found it hard to believe.

But it worked.

The anomalous student, unable to stand up to Team Leader Yong, exchanged trays with him amid metallic clattering.

‘This man isn’t afraid of anything.’

Could I do the same?

I don’t think so.

I wasn’t even confident that I could naturally imitate those gestures and that attitude.

“I’d better do it my way.”

— ……?

The anomalous student who was eating turned his head toward me, but I simply waved a hand and picked up my utensils.

“Eat, eat.”

Then I began dumping everything on my tray into the soup bowl.

As if I were gathering the leftovers to throw them away.

The deep-red side dishes and rice mixed with the watery soup until they became a liquid mush.

‘This should be enough.’

I picked up the tray and stood at the end of the line of students heading to throw away their leftovers.

As the line slowly moved forward, all my senses were focused on one place.

‘Here.’

When I got close enough to the tray return area, I naturally pretended to lose my balance and crouched down.

“What are you looking at?”

The anomalous student behind me stared at me.

I raised my head and stared back at him, hardening my expression.

— ……

I guess this won’t work either.

Maybe there were things only certain people could do.

The awkward and strange standoff continued for a few moments.

“Sorry. Go ahead.”

Only then did the anomalous student pass by me and move forward.

The students behind him mechanically re-formed the line.

Meanwhile, I lifted the soup bowl.

What was I planning to do?

Splash.

If I couldn’t throw the leftovers away in the proper place, I would use the drain.

Because of their very structure, many school cafeterias need to clean their floors with water.

And to do that, they need drains.

In this school, one of those open drains happened to be right on the path toward the tray return area.

Moreover, since lunchtime was coming to an end, they had already started cleaning, and water was flowing through the drain.

It was perfect for discreetly emptying the bowl.

“……”

I think I just made eye contact with the ‘Professor.’

The smiling face of the Professor, who was looking in my direction, was hidden by the students continuing to move forward.

When the space cleared again.

There was no one there anymore.

‘Maybe it was just my imagination.’

I tried to convince myself of that.

But then, what was that unpleasant feeling twisting my stomach?

Even so, no one tried to stop me.

So I finished emptying the entire contents of the bowl and naturally joined the line.

“Ahem.”

Finally, it was my turn.

Like the other anomalous students, I lifted the tray and tapped it twice against the tray return area.

“Wait.”

“Is something wrong?”

The Professor’s voice stopped me.

I forced my racing heart to calm down and asked as calmly as possible.

The Professor’s hand slowly approached and brushed against my chin.

“You got something on yourself.”

On the tip of that abnormally long finger was a reddish substance.

“…I did?”

Why was that on my chin?

I had thrown it away.

I had definitely thrown it away.

With my own hands.

Just a moment ago.

As if hypnotized, my gaze followed that hand down toward my clothes.

My uniform was covered in dark-red stains.

Even the white T-shirt I wore underneath was completely filthy.

And that wasn’t all.

My hands were covered in filth too.

My entire body was damp.

Sticky.

My stomach felt completely full.

Every time I breathed, a revolting stench came from inside me.

My vision began to flicker.

Fragmented memories stabbed into my mind like shards of glass.

Me, stepping out of the line and crouching down.

Picking up the chopsticks.

Plunging the chopsticks into the soup bowl.

Bringing them to my mouth.

Swallowing.

As if that weren’t enough, I picked up the spoon.

I brought that to my mouth too.

Swallowed.

Faster and faster.

Like a starving man I shoveled the food into my mouth by the handful lifted the entire bowl and poured its contents directly into my mouth some of the food spilled because it wouldn’t fit but I didn’t care I kept eating and eating I had to finish it all so I ate everything.

Drip.

“Ah.”

My vision turned red from the liquid beginning to pool in my eyes.

It felt as though all my organs were burning.

No.

More precisely, as though something were devouring my tissues.

I opened my mouth from the pain.

And as if it had been waiting for that exact moment, thick blood began pouring from my nose, mouth, and ears.

“Cough, urgh, haa…”

I could no longer remain standing.

I staggered backward until my back hit the wall.

“Are you just going to stand there?”

The ‘Professor’ who asked me that terrified me.

I was scared.

And my entire body, consumed by pain, screamed at me to run away from there.

I could barely see.

I could barely hear.

Even breathing was difficult.

Even so, I ran without thinking.

Out of the cafeteria.

Anywhere.

“Bo…!”

I think Myeong Haebin called out to me.

But I couldn’t answer.

Nor could I stop.

It felt as though every organ inside my body were melting.

I pressed my cheek against the cold wall as I staggered forward.

When had I stopped realizing what was happening?

At what point had everything gone wrong?

I wanted to live.

I wanted to live.

But with my brain melting inside my head, it was impossible to think clearly.

Bzzz—

The phone vibrated inside my pocket.

I clung to it as though it were my only lifeline.

But with my vision flooded by tears of blood, I couldn’t see anything at all.

I wasn’t even sure I actually had the phone in my hands.

I have to see it.

It’s the only thing I can rely on…

“Kim Hanmu!”

At that moment, someone calling my name faintly from behind grabbed me tightly in his arms.

My memories cut off.

***

Team Leader Yong thought the rookie had gone insane.

“What the hell is he doing over there?”

He had taken his tray and gotten in line, but suddenly he stepped off to the side and began frantically devouring everything on it.

“Move already!”

— ……

When he stood up, thinking he had to stop him, the line had already become packed, and no one was willing to let him through.

Meanwhile, Kim Hanmu, his mouth and clothes completely covered in blood, stood up and staggered until he was standing in front of the Professor.

Then, just like the other students, he began spewing blood from every orifice on his face.

‘I should’ve kept him by my side. Damn it.’

Team Leader Yong cursed as he roughly handled his tray.

He emptied it in such a hurry that he didn’t even know how he had managed it and ran out.

“Kim Hanmu!”

When he finally caught up to him, Kim Hanmu, leaning against the wall, was beginning to lose his strength and collapse.

“Mister! What happened in there? What’s wrong with Boss?”

“Wake up. Hey, wake up!”

“Ugh…”

The young man, who already seemed to have lost consciousness, was struggling to breathe.

His breathing sounded terribly obstructed, as though something were lodged in his throat.

“Move aside.”

Team Leader Yong didn’t like reckless rookies.

But he didn’t want this one to die.

He had to do something.

He pressed his closed fist against the pit of Kim Hanmu’s stomach, placed his other hand over it, and thrust forcefully upward.

Once.

Twice.

And three times.

Crack.

The unpleasant sound of his ribs shifting could be heard, but he didn’t reduce the force and continued compressing his abdomen.

“Cough! Cough…!”

A grotesque mixture of gastric juices, blood, and food spilled onto the floor with a wet sound.

“The blood…! The bleeding has slowed down a little!”

“Let’s move him.”

“Do you think… he’ll survive?”

Team Leader Yong wanted the rookie to survive.

But instead of saying it aloud, he hoisted him onto his back.

He had a superstition that if he said something he desperately wished for out loud, it wouldn’t come true.

The phone screen flickered in Kim Hanmu’s limp hand.

[Notification > ]
! You ate lunch and escaped from the cafeteria. (Completed)

But no one saw that notification.

***

‘It smells like dust.’

The first thing I noticed when I opened my eyes was the smell of dust-laden air, even with my nose completely congested.

Was I in the Home Economics Practice Room?

How did I survive?

“Mister! Boss woke up!”

“How…? Look at me first.”

Team Leader Yong abruptly stood up, approached me, grabbed my chin, and looked directly into my eyes while turning my head from side to side.

His touch wasn’t particularly rough.

Even so, I felt a stabbing headache, and my vision shook so badly that I weakly pushed his hand away.

“I’m dizzy…”

I couldn’t finish speaking.

It wasn’t that I had lost the ability to speak, but my throat was so irritated that it felt like it was burning.

“You’re hard to kill. As long as you’re alive, that’s enough for me. Do you notice anything else?”

His voice reached me muffled and distant, as though my ears were blocked.

I had to frown and concentrate to understand him.

“…My head and chest hurt… My ears too…”

“It looks like you’ve got some broken ribs too, but the fact that you survived is already a miracle. Do you want some water?”

Why are my ribs broken?

Did they perform CPR on me or something?

I didn’t even have the strength to answer, so I silently accepted the plastic bottle Myeong Haebin offered me and drank.

When I took a sip, I also swallowed the blood pooled in my mouth.

My throat still burned, but I felt much better.

Bzzz—

The phone inside my pocket made its presence known again.

Right.

I had tried to look at it earlier, but I couldn’t.

“I’m going to… use the sink.”

“Okay. Clean yourself up a little. Do you want me to help you?”

“I’m fine.”

My body was clearly not in normal condition.

I had to stand up unsteadily because it felt as though the floor were swaying beneath my feet.

‘After nearly dying, I guess this isn’t that bad.’

I turned my back on the two of them, who were watching me as though they were looking at a newborn fawn trying to walk, and turned on the sink faucet.

[Achievement]

! You ate lunch and escaped from the cafeteria.

Reward: Improved digestive function +??

The reward that had previously been hidden could now be seen.

Improved digestive function.

I remembered the Exploration Team member who had died after eating lunch.

I couldn’t shake the thought that, if I hadn’t had this app, I probably would have ended up exactly like him.

High risk, high reward.

A risk I never wanted to experience again.

‘The question marks still haven’t been unlocked.’

When I tapped them, another window appeared.

[Available after completing the cleaning currently in progress.]

‘Then I’ll have to check it once I get out of here.’

The water from the sink seemed suspicious too, but I had no other choice.

After cleaning the blood from my mouth and nose as best I could, I slowly raised my head.

“How long… was I unconscious?”

“Quite a while. Eighth period is about to end.”

“And… that?”

“Ah, that? The Professor came by here more often, but it seems that as long as we stay inside, he can’t find us.”

In other words, they had skipped class.

“While you were unconscious, we also found the key!”

Apparently, they hadn’t just sat around doing nothing while I was out cold.

Myeong Haebin showed me a small key.

“What is it for?”

“For the lock on the Home Economics Practice Room. It was stuck to the bottom of one of the counter drawers.”

So there really was another way in.

No wonder the route through the window had been so complicated.

What else had I been trying to do?

Ah.

“The scribbles on the counter.”

“We uncovered them completely so you could see them when you woke up!”

“Let me see.”

The scribbles talked about doing something behind the teachers’ backs during night study.

I had to read what came next.

I wanted to get out of this damn school as soon as possible.

ㄴ But do you know how to do it? I’ve only heard the name.

ㄴ I had it written down in a notebook. But the teacher confiscated it. Guess we’ll have to do it by intuition.

ㄴ How reassuring; but can we really keep skipping class like this?

ㄴ As long as they don’t catch us, they don’t even come in here lol.

The last one seemed to confirm that the Home Economics Practice Room was a safe zone for skipping class.

A notebook.

Where did things confiscated by teachers normally end up?

“In the teachers’ office.”

I had just escaped death, and yet the road ahead of me seemed to be getting longer and longer.

That room was probably packed with those grotesque ‘Professors.’

“How much time do we have left?”

“Next is cleaning time, then the end-of-day homeroom, and after that, night study.”

One phrase immediately lodged itself in my mind.

Cleaning time?

Maybe that would be our opportunity.

“Then, during cleaning time… Ugh.”

Something sweet forced its way into my mouth.

It was an energy bar with nuts and cereal, hard but brittle enough to break apart with my teeth.

“Eat first. Ah, can you swallow?”

“Where did you get this?”

“Where do you think I got it? I brought it with me.”

Team Leader Yong had already taken a bite and was chewing like a ruminating cow.

The nuts, packed tightly into the bar to concentrate as many calories as possible, were painful to swallow even after chewing them thoroughly.

Even so, hoping they would help at least a little, I resolutely chewed and swallowed.

Despite the pain, the sweetness of the chocolate coating eased the tension throughout my body.

“Is this also some kind of company-issued supply?”

“No? I bought it with my own money. At a convenience store.”

“Our company doesn’t cover food expenses while we’re working. Besides, a lot of the time we can’t even eat what we bring inside, so they don’t recommend it. Strictly speaking, this also violates the rules.”

Myeong Haebin nibbled on the energy bar like a squirrel eating an acorn while criticizing Team Leader Yong as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

But he seemed used to it and simply laughed.

“People have to eat something. How are you supposed to keep going without eating anything?”

As I carefully chewed until what was in my mouth had turned into a paste, I found myself nodding without realizing it.

After all, you work so you can live.

Only after we had completely finished the energy bars did Team Leader Yong ask again.

“So, what were you saying about cleaning time?”

“I’m thinking of going into the teachers’ office during that time.”

We could have barged in during the break with any excuse, like asking about something we didn’t know.

But the only time we had left was cleaning time.

And besides, it seemed like a time specifically prepared for me.

Team Leader Yong’s eyes darkened noticeably as he stared at me.

‘This idiot nearly died and still hasn’t learned his lesson.’

He seemed to be thinking something like that.

Though that was probably just my imagination.

And even if it wasn’t, I didn’t care.