I Became a Professional Horror Story Cleaner

I was uneasy.

As I stood there staring at my name tag without trying to hide the concern reflected on my face, Myeong Haebin suddenly held out her hand.

“Boss, how about we exchange our name tags?”

“Can we do that?”

“Look at him. He turned red just from seeing it.”

“That’s not it.”

Even in the face of Team Leader Yong’s blatant teasing, I couldn’t bring myself to say something graceful like, no, it’s fine.

Even though Haebin called me Boss, she knew far more about paranormal phenomena than I did.

It was much safer to do it this way.

I knew I was being a coward.

But my life could depend on it.

“Forget it, rookie. It won’t work.”

However, the safety pin on Haebin’s name tag wouldn’t pierce my uniform.

As if that name tag didn’t belong to me.

And the same thing happened with my name tag when she tried to attach it to Haebin’s clothes.

After trying several more times, I had no choice but to accept that it was impossible.

“We’ll see each other during the break.”

“See you later, Boss!”

“Stay sharp. And don’t go crying, all right?”

While every step felt as heavy as a mountain to me, the other three split up as naturally as if they were used to it.

Clack.

Holding my bag of cleaning tools as though it were my lifeline, I opened the rear door of the second-year, Class 1 classroom.

“……”

The classroom was completely silent.

All the students, identical to one another when seen from behind, remained seated facing the blackboard.

And the Teacher was there too.

No one spoke.

No one turned the pages of a book.

No one seemed to notice my presence.

Unlike outside, that classroom was immersed in an absolute silence that felt deeply unsettling.

‘There are empty desks, and none of them have names.’

Just in case, I confirmed that detail before sitting down in one of the empty seats.

Creeak.

Creeak.

The Teacher began writing on the blackboard.

Or rather.

It looked as though he was holding the chalk on its tip solely to produce that unbearable screeching sound while endlessly drawing something impossible to recognize.

‘If this is all there is, I think I can endure it.’

It was 9:10.

The class would probably end at 9:50.

I only had to endure forty minutes.

Tap.

However, when I raised my head.

The Teacher was standing in front of me.

He had arrived without making the slightest sound.

“Good. Then let the transfer student answer.”

“…Yes?”

Every student in the classroom turned their head toward me.

From behind, they had looked like normal people.

But their faces.

Had disappeared.

There was only an enormous void.

Under those chilling gazes, the Teacher asked me a question.

“What is the most useless part of the human body?”

“1. The brain.”

“2. The lungs.”

“3. The heart.”

“4. The liver.”

“5. The kidneys.”

I couldn’t choose any of them.

Was the answer really among those options?

My eyes quickly swept across the classroom.

Some students had their books open on their desks.

But the pages were covered in black scribbles to the point of being illegible.

If I couldn’t copy the answers

I would have to think for myself.

“What is the answer?”

The Teacher raised his gray hand as he pressed me for an answer.

One of his four fingers began to slowly bend.

It was a countdown.

“What happens if I answer incorrectly?”

“……”

I received no answer.

“What is the most useless part of the human body?”

Instead of answering me, he repeated exactly the same question.

Another finger bent.

Only two remained.

I wiped my sweat-soaked hand against my pants.

The brain?

The heart?

The lungs?

They were all indispensable organs.

To begin with.

Was there really any useless organ?

But there was one.

If I interpreted ‘the most useless’ as ‘the one whose absence offers the greatest chance of survival.’

Just as another finger began to bend, I answered.

“The kidneys.”

Unlike the other organs, there are two kidneys.

The lungs are also divided into two, but unlike them, a person can donate one of their kidneys and continue living.

“Hmm…”

The blunt tip of the only index finger that remained extended slowly swayed as it pointed at me.

That was all.

The next instant

A metallic taste of blood rose from the back of my throat.

My vision began to sway.

Nausea overwhelmed me.

And I had the strange sensation that something, deep inside my abdomen.

Had disappeared.

“You mean this, right?”

Through the blurry vision wavering before my eyes, I saw that the Teacher was holding a piece of purplish flesh in his hand, slightly larger than a fist and shaped like a bean.

Not a single drop of blood fell from it.

But beneath that wet surface, resembling soaked rubber, the capillaries intertwined like a spiderweb could clearly be seen.

I understood instinctively.

That was.

My kidney.

“Ugh…”

My heart was pounding like crazy.

My fingertips felt ice-cold.

I was breathing so heavily that my nose was almost hitting the desk.

Why?

I got it right!

Then why?

As I clutched my abdomen and tried to organize my thoughts, the Teacher’s class continued as if nothing had happened.

“The most useless organ in the human body is the brain.”

Crunch.

With that unpleasant sound, the mass of flesh he was holding began to deform as he squeezed it.

A stream of red blood slowly ran down his forearm.

I couldn’t accept it.

“Why…?”

I barely managed to utter those words through the stabbing pain.

But the Teacher, as if he had been waiting for that question.

As if he found it amusing.

Continued crushing my kidney.

“Because humans are unnecessarily intelligent. Without a brain, they stop thinking, and then they become much easier to control.”

His voice sounded as though an insect were crawling into my ear to scrape at my brain from the inside.

Ah.

Of course.

This wasn’t a place where common sense prevailed.

I was inside a paranormal phenomenon filled with monstrosities.

Once again, I understood that in the worst possible way.

“I hope this explanation was sufficient for our transfer student.”

The kidney, completely deformed into the shape of the Teacher’s hand, fell back onto my desk with a wet sound.

“Good. Let’s continue with the class.”

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

The shoes moved away toward the blackboard again.

“Ha… haa…”

I breathed with difficulty.

I tightly clutched my lower abdomen, trying to ease that painful, indescribable sensation of emptiness.

Then I thought.

What would have happened if I had chosen the lungs?

Or the heart?

Or the liver?

There was no need to think about it.

I would already be dead.

Having to consider this good luck.

Was the worst.

I didn’t know how much time passed as I did everything I could to stop thinking about my kidney, which was still outside my body.

Until the bell announcing the end of class rang.

Ding~

Dong~

Dang~

Dong.

“That will be all for today.”

After saying that, the Teacher’s body disappeared as though dissolving into smoke.

The students did exactly the same.

And I.

Ended up being the only student left sitting in that empty classroom.

“Finally…”

I stared fixedly at the kidney left on the desk.

Then I put it inside a plastic bag, tied it tightly, and placed it inside my backpack.

Damn it.

It was still warm.

I shook my hands several times and pushed open the rear door.

Fortunately, it opened.

On the other side, I was greeted by a hallway filled with the commotion of students.

‘We didn’t decide exactly where to meet.’

I guess I should go back to the staircase where we split up.

As I descended the stairs, feeling the uncomfortable absence of the organ that had been ripped out of me…

Someone pulled on the strap of my backpack.

“Boss, over here! Did everything go well?”

“I wouldn’t know how to answer that… So, no.”

Haebin seemed perfectly fine.

Although, like me, perhaps she also had injuries that couldn’t be seen.

“Nothing happened to you?”

“My head only hurt from the sound of the chalk. Although the hardest part was not falling asleep.”

It seemed she really was fine.

I followed Haebin to the end of the hallway.

There were several backless sofas and some snack vending machines.

It looked like a rest area.

The others had already arrived.

Team Leader Yong walked toward me and grabbed my cheeks, turning my head from side to side.

“You’re nothing but skin and bones. Did you have to answer a question too?”

“How did you know?”

He tilted his head and pointed at Jeong Dohyeon with his thumb.

“Because he told me.”

“Then something happened to you too, Mr. Dohyeon…?”

“He got it right.”

“Team Leader, if you put it that way, you’re only going to confuse Hanmu more.”

Jeong Dohyeon waved the textbook he was holding with an uncomfortable expression.

“It was thanks to this. It was inside the desk. Didn’t you see it?”

Inside the desk?

Damn it.

Why didn’t it occur to me to look?

I had only been thinking about copying the answers.

Although.

Wasn’t that book practically empty?

“It didn’t look like it had anything useful in it.”

“Really? That’s strange. When the Teacher asks a question, some parts start becoming clear. Maybe that’s why.”

Was the answer always inside the book?

How unpleasant.

It wasn’t even a real school, yet it insisted on behaving like one.

“There was a textbook inside the desk? What question did they ask you?”

Haebin curiously flipped through the Ethics textbook Jeong Dohyeon was holding and raised her hand.

“It was the trolley problem. Do you know it?”

“The famous problem where people are tied to the tracks and you have to decide who gets run over.”

A train with no brakes is moving down the track.

Ahead, five people are tied down.

If you don’t switch the track, all five will die.

If you switch it, only one person will die.

And you are the only person capable of pulling the lever.

That was the question.

“I know that one too, but isn’t it a problem without an answer?”

“It has one. At least in this book.”

I already had an idea.

Those teachers seemed to dislike human beings.

So the correct answer was probably to let the five die.

After all.

That would be more people.

“Don’t switch the track.”

“How did you know?”

“Because the ones tied down are humans.”

“Perfect answer. Even the explanation. Hanmu, you adapt incredibly quickly.”

Jeong Dohyeon applauded softly, genuinely impressed.

Although.

If that was the case.

Then it was no longer an Ethics question.

Plop.

While we continued talking, a strange sound came from a vending machine.

“Team Leader. What are you doing?”

“Working. Besides, since today is also your orientation, I wanted to show you how we dismantle paranormal phenomena in our own way.”

The truth was.

That did pique my curiosity.

But I pointed with my index finger at Team Leader Yong’s hand.

The thing that had just come out of the machine looked like a soda can.

Although.

I wasn’t even sure I could call it that.

It had a distorted logo, like a poor imitation of a commercial beverage.

The material was soft.

And every time it moved slightly.

Something seemed to stir inside it.

‘Did that just move?’

“Are you planning to drink that?”

“Yeah. Wait a moment. I’m just going to take a sip.”

Had this Team Leader gone crazy?

Although he said he was working.

Maybe he really did have some method.

Or should I stop him?

“No, Team Leader!”

The moment the can went click, Jeong Dohyeon shot forward and struck Team Leader Yong’s hand.

But Yong raised his arm to dodge him.

“What is it now? What?”

“Put that down! Hanmu, hold him!”

“Hold me? Let go of me! Can’t I even drink a soda?”

The can began to writhe as though something were moving inside it.

Even so, Team Leader Yong tried to bring it to his mouth.

“Anyone could tell that shouldn’t be drunk! Dohyeon, now!”

“Team Leader, loosen your grip!”

When Haebin lunged at him, Yong squeezed the can tightly so they couldn’t take it away.

A deep red liquid began pouring out of the deformed can.

Jeong Dohyeon managed to snatch it away with great effort.

Then he threw it to me.

“Throw it away! Or at least throw it as far away as possible!”

“Rookie, don’t do that. Listen to me. Give it to me. I’m the Team Leader.”

Team Leader Yong struggled to break free.

Jeong Dohyeon and Haebin did everything they could to hold him back.

And I.

Ended up in the middle of the chaos holding something that looked like a time bomb.

One of them was telling me to give it back.

The other two were shouting at me to throw it away.

What the hell was I supposed to do?