Tattoo sticker.
It was something I received as a complimentary service from the <Moonlight Tattoo Shop>.
“ – Is there a symbol in this that represents courage or boldness to face things fearlessly?”
In response to that question, the tattoo artist recommended a design featuring a tomato tree to me….
And that design was faithfully captured in the sticker.
This tattoo that I’m currently wearing on my neck.
“…….”
In fact, it did have the effects I was roughly expecting.
It felt as if the center of fear in my brain was paralyzed, and supernatural phenomena no longer scared me.
Just like Team D… yes.
…Like Deputy Manager Eun Haje and Supervisor Park Minseong in the past.
I wanted to explore these terrifying supernatural phenomena so calmly and boldly that it felt like my guts were spilling out.
But.
“……?”
I blinked inside the locker.
‘It doesn’t seem to be working…?’
I thought of the students who were chasing me.
It’s insanely scary.
I recalled the crazy rabbit mascot I encountered in the theme park ghost story.
It gave me chills.
I remembered the ghost from the Vengeful Spirit ghost story, pretending to be human while sobbing and knocking on the door.
‘……Terrifying!!’
Everything I thought of sent shivers down my spine.
‘C-could it be a scam?’
Or did I apply the sticker wrong? Honestly, I’ve never used a tattoo sticker before, so I wouldn’t know.
But either way, it’s a situation where I can’t check right now.
“…….”
Damn it.
Anyway, I have to move according to the plan.
Now that ‘the teacher’ has disappeared from the fourth floor, this is my chance.
‘He must have gone downstairs.’
In the end, I swallowed my saliva and stepped out of the locker.
…Of course, what lies ahead will be horrifying.
Since the bloodstains and fragments of Supervisor D from Team D, who died just moments ago, are probably scattered around, I braced myself and stepped out…….
…….
“…?”
‘Tomato?’
Wait a second.
I quickly left the teacher’s office and headed up to the fifth floor.
There….
The reason I’ve avoided the fifth floor all this time was laid out vividly before me.
Aaaah!
The walls of the fifth floor were now plastered with pages from old yearbooks.
And the students in the photos were reaching outward with anguished expressions on their faces.
Aaaah!
Through the torn pieces of the yearbook pages, writhing chunks of flesh could be seen.
A factor that causes immense mental strain and panic for anyone stepping onto the fifth floor.
In truth, it looked less like a school and more like a grotesquely twisted alternate world.
Where the lights should have been, a pulsing red glow emanated.
But….
It’s a tomato.
Ha.
Hahaha!
‘What the hell is this madness!?’
Where human heads should be, there are only tomatoes!
No, it’s not that they don’t look like humans.
The people in the yearbook photos? They all look human. Humans with twisted faces, screaming in agony!
But they just feel like tomatoes.
The rational voice in my head, saying there’s no need to connect this with fear, becomes an emotion in itself.
Yes, that’s exactly how it feels….
It’s nothing.
‘Hahaha….’
The further I walked down the hallway, the yearbooks regressed further into the past, and the graduates melted into more grotesque, inhuman shapes, solidifying on the walls.
Strange talismans and chunks of flesh pulsed on the walls and ceiling.
And then, the voice.
I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry for tearing the talisman I dug up in the school backyard. I’m a student of ■■ High School, I was preparing for the graduation ceremony, I’m sorry… no, no! The graduation ceremony isn’t a ritual, it’s not a sacrificial offering, no!! Save me, save m—
This is some lore from the game’s universe.
Hearing it now doesn’t change anything.
I walked down the hallway with a feeling no different from taking a casual stroll on the street—or perhaps even more pleasant.
Because everything being tomatoes was kind of funny.
And at the end of the hallway, I stopped in front of a massive door on the right.
A neat turquoise iron door.
In this grotesque den that the fifth floor has become, this door alone remained intact.
It was the door leading to the auditorium.
The place where the final chapter of this game unfolds.
<During the Graduation Ceremony>
Only graduates may knock and enter.
I read the printed notice on an A4 sheet.
But wait, wasn’t I set as a first-year student in Class 5? I’m not a graduate, right?
‘This is the kind of gimmick that opens with an item.’
And I already have it.
Something that you would normally obtain only after fully playing the game and reaching the final chapter.
Would you like to use the ‘Nameplate Ornament’?
Of course.
Knock, knock.
I pinned the Nameplate Ornament to my chest and knocked on the auditorium door.
Then, the massive door in front of me gently slid open.
“…….”
Hundreds of third-year students sitting in hundreds of seats turned to look at me.
This year’s graduates.
Half-melted and fused with their chairs, unable to leave their seats, black ink-like tears streamed from their eyeless faces.
But….
No emotion beyond pity rose within me.
After all, in this situation, feeling only pity was appropriate.
‘They can’t harm me.’
The irrational fear was replaced by tomatoes, and I walked along the path between the chairs.
Toward the massive stage opposite me, where a graduation ceremony banner was hung.
Step, step.
As I walked, the graduates turned their heads and stared at me blankly from behind….
I stepped onto the stage of the auditorium.
Then, I grabbed the standing microphone set in the center of the stage and shouted.
“Let’s begin the graduation ceremony.”
[Ding-dong, deng-dong]
As if waiting for it, bright and majestic ceremonial background music began to play in response to my declaration.
The graduation music played….
At that moment.
Aaaaaaaaah!
Screams erupted and swirled around the auditorium.
Aaaaaaaaah!
As if its shell were peeling off, the intact appearance of the auditorium was stripped away, revealing a grotesque, distorted form.
The horrifying scenes I saw in the fifth-floor hallway appeared.
As if it were making a final desperate outburst, the images rushed at me, as if they wanted to punish someone trying to ruin things.
But I’m completely unfazed.
Because they’re all tomatoes.
And the greater danger was just beginning.
‘It’s coming.’
To force the student who had selfishly started the graduation ceremony to sit down in a seat below the stage.
Step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step.
The sound of footsteps rising madly from below.
‘The teacher is coming.’
It’s fine.
‘I’ll do everything I need to before it arrives.’
I took out a stick-type auto-injector from my pocket and injected it into my forearm.
Happy Maker.
The ultra-strong, single-use painkiller made a cute, artificial sound— ‘Ding-dong’—as the glowing liquid inside the vial was injected into my bloodstream.
A soothing, refreshing, and impossibly light vitality coursed through my body via my veins.
As if it were a lie.
‘Good.’
At the same time, I popped two Nostalgia candies into my mouth.
Don’t take more than three candies at a time!
You might sink too deeply into nostalgia!
Yes. I followed the instructions.
Now, I am in an impossibly calm and perfect state.
‘Phew.’
Now, the time has come.
Thud.
Something forced its way through the gap in the auditorium door.
‘The teacher’ pushed in a chalkboard-clad, deformed hand, twisting the metal as they tore the door apart.
Creak, crack.
The door, crumpled, fell off.
And then, its form was revealed.
Aaaaaaaaah!
A gigantic human figure.
But it was only a silhouette.
It looked as if several teachers had been crumpled, fused together, and forcibly shoved into a mold to resemble a human.
A fleshy monster with arms on its head, a head on its shoulders, and shoulders on its knees.
It entered the auditorium, emitting unnervingly precise footsteps….
Step, step, step, step, step.
A chalkboard, textbooks, student registers, chalk, and glasses were haphazardly attached to its body, shaking inappropriately with each movement.
From the opposite stage, I watched the grotesqueness, a sight that could send shivers down anyone’s spine….
“…….”
Only my competitive spirit boiled over.
I have to break through that to return home and fill the collector....
‘Alright.’
This is a situation that calls for persistence, not fear!
The tattoo on my neck heats up, making my stomach, heart, and head boil.
'Ah.'
Now I understand.
The effect of this tattoo sticker is....
'It’s euphoria.'
Overflowing adrenaline.
The euphoria that makes you dive in headfirst when you have something you want or a goal to achieve!
And the sensation that supports it, making everything feel like a tomato!
'I can do it.'
Without hesitation, I grabbed the auditorium microphone and glared ahead.
Swish.
I dodged.
No, actually, I was hit, but instead of my neck being severed, half of my right hand was gone.
"...!"
I was a bit surprised, but there was no pain.
No mental shock, either!
It just felt like watching a tomato being squashed.
The courage to let reason triumph over instinct. And a burning determination.
‘I’ll make it happen, no matter what.’
…Did you know that?
In fact, this horror game isn’t action-based.
While basic gaming physical skills are needed for chase scenes, it is primarily a puzzle and deduction game.
And the student player uses the various abilities acquired during the game in this final stage.
Like solving a puzzle, you had to counter the teacher’s attacks and hold onto the microphone until the graduation song ended.
But as an explorer, this progression is impossible for me.
‘I’m just borrowing a school uniform; I’m not a real student.’
But.
‘I can respond like this.’
I pulled out a glass handgun.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!
The small, transparent pistol I received from the Disaster Management Bureau agent demonstrated its power properly.
The bullet hit the teacher’s shoulder, causing them to scream in agony.
But it didn’t seem to cause much actual damage.
‘Well, it wasn’t exactly high-grade equipment.’
It doesn’t matter.
‘I just wanted to mess up their aim…!’
With a swish, my left foot was severed by the incoming rusty chalkboard.
"···!"
Even so, I didn’t move.
I just stood there, gripping the microphone.
The blood that burst out drenched the stage.
"......"
Right. It’s impossible for human strength to dodge or overcome that monster’s attacks.
After all, I’m not Team Leader Lizard.
Well, that doesn’t mean there’s no way.
‘You just have to give up.’
Thud.
The rest of my right hand disappeared up to the wrist.
I didn’t care and fired the glass handgun again with my left hand.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Listen to the teacheraaaaah! Sit in your seataaaaah! I’ll lead the graduationaaaaah!
Again,
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
My left thigh burst open.
I endured.
Swish.
Both legs disappeared.
‘No bullets left.’
I slid down and grabbed onto the standing microphone.
Swish.
The left hand holding the microphone and gripping the pistol was severed.
But my hanging body clung to the pole of the standing microphone.
Swish.
Using my remaining left elbow, I climbed up the microphone.
Blood spurted violently from my shoulder.
"....."
And then….
Huh?
The sound of the graduation music disappeared.
‘Now!’
As ‘the teacher’ once again lifted the chalkboard with their grotesque mass of flesh.
I shouted into the microphone.
“Congratulations on your graduation.”
........
At that moment.
The auditorium is filled with holographic pixels resembling flower petals.
Eyaiaaaaaaaaah
The teacher melted away with a fading sound and disappeared.
The grotesque, distorted forms that had covered the auditorium also disappeared as if burning away.
Even the chairs that had trapped the students.
Waaaaaah!!
The third-year students, now freed, burst out of the auditorium as if exploding.
Their eyes were now filled with tears and joy.
In the original 'bad ending,' they all became the teacher's minions, leaving the auditorium in zombie-like forms.
They even killed all the remaining explorers....
‘...This time, the ending has changed.’
I lifted my head.
As the auditorium curtains were drawn back, a warm yellow and red light gently seeped in from outside the window....
It was dawn.
"......"
A popup appeared.
Happy Ending 02: The Graduation of Liberation
So, this is the ending.
And then, a review of my final chapter playthrough appeared at the bottom.
Happy Ending 02: The Graduation of Liberation.
Score Rating: A.
I checked the Dream Essence Collector.
Glittering golden liquid was filling it up....
A vivid and mesmerizing hue, just like during the Tuesday Talk Show.
-A or higher.
‘I did it.’
A thrilling sense of accomplishment enveloped me.
I swallowed the last piece of candy on my tongue and smiled in my fading consciousness.
Now, I’m waking up. No, I’m returning to myself lying in bed.
Successfully clearing 1 ghost story and escaping!
‘Alright.’
I’m drifting into a peaceful sleep, waking up in the morning....
…….
…….
…….
...Am I back?
Huh? The manual seems to be back inside my tattoo!
Should I take it out?
Wait.
Since when have I been hearing this voice?
No, it’s not that I’m hearing it…
I’m the one speaking.
…….
Since when has the manual been residing in my tattoo?
Why have I been so naturally brushing off the teacher’s sudden, upright thoughts?
Why did I, who thought ‘I’ll visit the Fox Counseling Room after the next exploration,’ suddenly dismiss it without a second thought, claiming I’m concerned about side effects?
Why have I come to think of the eerie, unknown entity I summoned as a ‘kind friend’ as my most comfortable acquaintance?
Without any biological unease or sense of caution?
……
……!!.
‘No.’
I can’t let myself be consumed like this!
But the doubts are already fading.
As the effect of the Nostalgia candy wears off, the present me is reclaiming its place!
The corruption is flooding in...!!
In the hazy floating sensation of waking up from sleep, I struggled desperately.
‘Kim Sol-eum!!’
Remember. Don’t forget!!
You’ve been comminated….
***
“Huff.”
Wow.
“I thought I was going to die.”
I opened my eyes, drenched in cold sweat.
A deep sigh of relief escaped my lips.
‘Anyway, I did it.’
But at the same time, I feel a chilling sense, as if I’ve forgotten something.......
“ – …….”
“ – You’ve awakened.... My friend.”
……
….!!
‘Aaaaah!’
I hastily got up and immediately rescued Braun, who was on the verge of being flattened under the pillow!
‘That was close.’
“Sorry!”
And then, I sprawled back onto the bed.
With fatigue and comfort overlapping, I let out a small smile.
Anyway... it seems like I’ve made it back safely!
