I Became a Professional Horror Story Cleaner

There were still about twenty-five minutes left until eighth period ended.

I used that time to thoroughly clean the Home Economics Practice Room.

I neatly arranged the desks and chairs that had been carelessly piled up, organized the cushions and comics scattered everywhere, and cleaned the blackboard again, which still had some marker stains left after I had only given it a quick wipe earlier.

Then I washed the sponge and left it to dry.

“Tsk, tsk. You almost died, we managed to save you and feed you, and now you already look perfectly fine.”

“It’s nicer when everything is clean.”

“That’s true, but who the hell starts cleaning in the middle of a paranormal phenomenon?”

“I was hired as cleaning staff.”

“Can’t you ever let a comment slide?”

Honestly, I wanted to tell him that looking at Team Leader Yong also made me want to give him a proper shave and smooth the wrinkles out of his uniform.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“It’s nothing.”

If I told him, he would probably look at me as if I were even crazier than he already thought.

My body wasn’t exactly in good condition.

My hearing and sense of balance still hadn’t fully recovered, and my ribs hurt with constant stabbing pains.

But the cleaner that place became, the more my anxiety subsided.

It was as if I could at least give my mind a little peace.

Apparently, Team Leader Yong couldn’t stand watching me like that anymore and finally spoke.

“When we’re done with this, go home.”

“I can’t. I’m a third-year now.”

“You still have the name tag you were using before.”

“I threw it away.”

“What?!”

Actually, I hadn’t thrown it away.

I pretended not to hear him and continued moving around diligently.

By the time the bell rang to announce the end of eighth period, the Home Economics Practice Room was still dark because there were no working lights, but now it looked like a brand-new, perfectly clean room.

“Hmm.”

Satisfying.

Now I could die without regrets.

Although, of course, I still had things left to do.

“Let’s go.”

“I’ll go out first and open the door for you!”

Myeong Haebin quickly climbed out through the window and opened the door for us.

Outside, the hallway was full of paranormal students moving back and forth, busy cleaning.

I supposed we would have to blend in with them too.

“We didn’t see hide nor hair of them during the breaks, but now there are a ton of them.”

“It’s not exactly helpful to us that there are so many.”

First, we decided to return to the classroom.

In schools, each student usually has an assigned cleaning area, so we wanted to check whether it worked the same way here.

“Ah, look. There’s a file on the teacher’s desk.”

On the desk was an open file listing the assigned cleaning areas.

On the left were tasks such as sweeping the first row, mopping the first row, cleaning the blackboard erasers, and cleaning the bathrooms.

The students’ names seemed to be written on the right.

Ours weren’t there.

“Do we have to write our names in an empty space?”

“It also lists cleaning the third-year teachers’ office, but there’s already a student assigned to it.”

You couldn’t expect luck to always appear right at your feet.

Although this time, we did have a little.

“Look. It says temporary next to this one.”

“Huh? You’re right! Should we ask?”

Myeong Haebin naturally stopped one of the paranormal students who was cleaning the blackboard.

“Hey, don’t you need someone to clean the teachers’ office?”

— ……

“Then can Hanmu do it?”

— ……!

The paranormal student stood still, staring at her, but Myeong Haebin nodded as though she were listening attentively.

“He says the teachers’ office can’t be left without someone assigned to clean it, so one of the students was taking care of two areas. I asked him, and he says Hanmu can do it.”

“How did you understand that?”

“I just did.”

Now that I thought about it, Myeong Haebin had also communicated pretty well with the paranormal students in the cafeteria.

‘Does Haebin have some kind of special affinity with them?’

While I was thinking about it, Myeong Haebin pointed at the student standing in front of the blackboard, as if demanding an answer from me.

“You’ll do it, right?”

“Ah, yes. I’ll do it. Is that okay?”

Nod. Nod.

Although I couldn’t see his face, the paranormal student seemed a little more cheerful as he went to inform the other student.

Was it really that big a deal?

“Are you sure you can do it? You’re still a little unsteady.”

“I’m just a little dizzy. I’m fine.”

I had always done everything on my own.

But after what had happened in the cafeteria, I was a little scared.

Even so, this was ‘cleaning time.’

“I’ll be back.”

“Don’t chicken out. You said yourself that you’re cleaning staff, didn’t you?”

“I’m not scared.”

This man seemed to be able to read my mind.

Right.

I couldn’t be afraid here.

Two years ago, shortly after the rainy season ended, I had gotten sick with a fever of forty degrees Celsius and still had to climb down into a flooded sewer.

Compared to that, this was better.

I wrote my name in the file and confidently opened the door to the teachers’ office, completely alone.

‘No one is paying attention to me.’

No one paying attention to me was pretty good.

It seemed one student had come from each class, because four paranormal students were cleaning their respective areas.

At some of the desks, ‘Professors’ were staring at completely black monitors while tapping randomly at their keyboards.

‘Which area belongs to third-year Class 2?’

The notebook I was looking for had to be somewhere inside this teachers’ office.

And it had to belong to a third-year student.

After all, in this school, only third-year students had night study.

But I had an assigned task.

First, I had to clean the teachers’ office.

After observing carefully, I discovered that there seemed to be a kind of rule.

Each paranormal student was responsible for one of the aisles formed between the teachers’ desks.

‘Then this one must be mine.’

It was the aisle where the desks of the third-year Class 5 and Class 4 teachers were located, along with the Social Studies and Culture teacher’s desk.

‘The trash can is over there, and I’ll use the broom I brought.’

Cleaning may seem simple, but the method changes depending on the place.

And when it comes to cleaning an office, you have to be especially careful.

Some people absolutely hate having others touch their belongings.

Why would it be any different just because I was inside a paranormal phenomenon?

No.

I decided to think of this place as simply a concentration of every troublesome client imaginable.

‘Let’s begin.’

First, I swept the empty paper cups and snack wrappers on the ‘Professors’ desks onto the floor.

I didn’t touch a single sheet of A4 paper or any files.

However, some crumbs that had fallen to the floor, instead of landing somewhere easy to sweep, had rolled beneath the Social Studies and Culture teacher’s desk and dried there until they were completely stuck.

“Excuse me.”

Even though I had politely asked permission, I still couldn’t remove them with the broom.

‘What would I have done if I hadn’t brought this? That’s why I always say everything ends up being useful if you carry it with you.’

Precisely because I had anticipated something like this, I had my bag of cleaning tools hanging at my side.

I sprayed a cleaning solution containing slightly diluted bleach, took out a cloth, and cleaned it directly by hand.

Then I untangled the cables beneath the desk one by one, grouped them together, and secured them with Velcro ties.

As I continued meticulously cleaning even the desk’s storage compartments, I found a tray with a label.

[Confiscated Items]

‘This is…’

Inside was a completely black notebook with the name ‘Lee Seryeong’ written on it.

I discreetly looked around and opened it.

There was no doubt.

It was exactly what I had been looking for.

(How to Play Bunshinsaba)

Warning! If you don’t finish properly, the ghost will follow you.

Materials Needed

White paper, red pen.

How to Do It

— Draw a large ‘O’ and ‘X’ on the paper. Then, two people must sit facing each other and hold the same pen together.

…….

Besides that, it was filled with games like (Charlie Charlie), (Ouija), and (Fox Window), all related to summoning ghosts or being able to see them.

At a glance, this went far beyond simply being an activity unrelated to studying.

It looked dangerous.

While I hesitated over whether I should take the notebook with me, the atmosphere in the teachers’ office changed.

“…No?”

Since I couldn’t hear properly, I poked my head out.

There was a ‘Professor’ there.

But why was he wearing white gloves?

The ‘Professor’ began going through the areas the paranormal students had cleaned, like an extremely strict supervisor.

His white gloves meticulously ran over the desks, partitions, and files.

“Why didn’t you clean here?”

The ‘Professor’ had stopped in front of a flowerpot where a completely black plant grew perfectly straight.

After running his fingers along the stem, his fingertips became covered in something resembling dark plant dust.

— ……!

The paranormal student hesitantly stepped backward.

I couldn’t tell whether he was confused or terrified.

“It’s not good to make excuses. Give me those useless little hands.”

I had barely thought that he might take out a cane when the ‘Professor’s’ hand came down on the paranormal student’s palms.

There was no cane.

Nor any other instrument of punishment.

But that was enough.

All ten of the paranormal student’s fingers, cleanly severed, fell to the floor.

‘……’

My entire body stiffened.

‘This goes far beyond a simple scolding.’

Was that why the paranormal student had so readily agreed to hand over the task of cleaning the teachers’ office to me?

Even the silence with which he endlessly picked up his own fingers was chilling.

“Good, are you finished here too?”

However, as if that were a completely everyday occurrence, the ‘Professor’ and the paranormal students continued with the cleaning inspection.

I couldn’t afford to waste time either.

If I lost my fingers, I wouldn’t even be able to get out of here.

For starters, could I even stay alive after something like that?

‘Stop shaking. You don’t even have time for that!’

Even though I was screaming internally, my hands were already reaching for my bag of cleaning tools.

I had to use absolutely everything I had brought.

I took out the glass cleaner and cleaned the desks.

With a dry microfiber cloth, I wiped down the window frames and partitions.

“It’s not completely clean here either.”

As the ‘Professor’ finished inspecting one area after another, none of the students came away unscathed.

He always found some flaw and ended up cutting off their fingers.

‘A little more. I have to get this mouse and keyboard perfectly aligned…!’

I still couldn’t hear properly, but the tension spreading through the teachers’ office reached me like a row of dominoes falling one after another, putting every nerve in my body on edge.

One of the severed fingers from the student beside me rolled into my area.

I did my best to ignore it while rummaging through my bag of cleaning tools.

‘Febreze? No. Some people like the scent and others don’t. Ah, here it is.’

I sprayed the liquid from a small plastic bottle onto the back of my hand.

After checking its smell, I sprayed it into the air throughout the entire area assigned to me.

‘Is that enough?’

I turned around to perform one final inspection.

And my heart nearly stopped.

The ‘Professor’s’ face was right in front of me.

“Are you finished here too?”

My heart nearly leaped out of my chest.

“…Yes. You can inspect it.”

I thought I would be nervous because I hadn’t had time to perform one final inspection.

But when I saw the Professor personally touching and meticulously checking every corner, surprisingly, I wasn’t afraid.

‘It’s clean.’

I think it was because I was certain.

Working as cleaning staff, I had met countless clients capable of finding fault with anything.

I had also taken jobs where I was given absurdly short amounts of time.

And not once had I received a complaint about an area under my responsibility.

“Hmm…”

The ‘Professor’ even bent down to look beneath the desk before letting out a thoughtful murmur.

“Perfect. You did very well, Kim Hanmu.”

I did it.

I didn’t know why something like that made me so happy, but I secretly clenched my fist behind my back.

“Besides, the air feels a little different here.”

Ah, that.

I quickly raised the bottle I was still holding so he could see it clearly.

“I sprayed deodorizer. It’s unscented so the air smells as clean as possible.”

“No wonder. Very good.”

He had praised me.

There were different types of deodorizers.

Some covered bad odors with a fragrance.

Others directly eliminated the particles responsible for the odor, neutralizing it.

I had chosen the second type.

And it seemed to have been the right decision.

“Everyone should follow Kim Hanmu’s example. Even the scent is perfect.”

I couldn’t have received greater praise.

Who would have thought I would someday end up being praised by a paranormal creature?

If he was in such a good mood.

Maybe I could try it.

“Professor, could I… ask you a favor?”

“Tell me.”

The Professor answered kindly.

I couldn’t let myself be fooled.

But I had to try.

If I left now, I might never get another chance.

“Could I take the notebook you confiscated from Seryeong? I was told she’s very sorry.”

Without showing the slightest hesitation, the Professor reached beneath the third-year Class 5 teacher’s desk and took out that notebook.

“This one?”

“Yes. Please.”

The Professor seemed to think about it.

The two pupils, tiny as dots against his completely white eyeballs, swept over the area I had cleaned.

“All right. Take it as a reward for cleaning so well.”

“Thank you very much!”

I did it.

I finally had the notebook in my hands.

I bowed ninety degrees and received it with both hands before leaving the teachers’ office.

The moment I crossed the doorway, I leaned against the wall and opened the notebook.

I couldn’t contain my urge to find out what the hell they had done to force me to go through all of this.

But as I flipped through the pages, a deep crease of irritation appeared between my eyebrows.

“Is this a joke…?”