GRR 53

Jion gestured to Yu Chasa with his eyes and then cautiously added.

“That’s right. I came to listen to your story. So, we…”

Before he could finish, a gust of wind blew. Jion frowned and shielded his eyes with his forearm. He opened his eyes again to see Nam Seunghee trembling with her fists tightly clenched.

Jion scrutinized Nam Seunghee. Her strained eyes were bloodshot, and her lips trembled as if she were about to burst into tears.

Fortunately, as time passed, the aura radiating from Nam Seunghee began to slowly subside. Jion took the opportunity to approach her. Startled, Yu Chasa tried to stop him, but Jion simply gave a small smile to signal that it was alright.

“Seunghee-ya, can you tell me what happened?”

“…”

“I don’t know if I can help or not… but I still want to listen. Will you let me?”

His voice sounded earnest. Nam Seunghee was unresponsive at first, but soon began to relax the strength in her tightly clenched fists.

Jion smiled more brightly and nodded to tell her that it was okay. At that, Nam Seunghee suddenly slumped onto the floor and cried loudly.

She cried sorrowfully while rubbing her eyes with the back of her hands. Only then did her aura completely soften, allowing Jion to breathe a sigh of relief.

Seeing Yu Chasa exhale in relief, Jion also sat down on the floor like Nam unauthorized copy Seunghee. He waited in silence until she finished crying.

It was only after a long while that Nam Seunghee regained her calm. Once her breathing had fully stabilized, Nam Seunghee began to talk.

“That day, I stopped by the classroom for a moment after night self-study in the school library before going home. My bag was heavy… so I wanted to leave some workbooks behind.”

As Jion nodded to show he was listening, Nam Seunghee continued.

“At our school, there are so many students who go to academies that almost no one stays for night self-study, so it’s really quiet at night. Yeju… Lee Yeju, my friend… only she and I did night self-study in our class, so we always went home together. But when I said I had to go to the classroom to drop off my workbooks, Yeju came with me.”

“…”

“…But I think someone was following us then.”

Jion’s expression became serious.

“I opened the back door and went into the classroom, and suddenly I heard Yeju scream from behind. When I went back out to the hallway, a man was holding a knife… and it looked like he had stabbed Yeju.”

“…”

“But then the man saw me and tried to charge at me too. I ran and got cornered by the window… the man stabbed me in the stomach. After that, I suddenly felt my body falling from high up to down below… and that was it.”

Nam Seunghee took a deep breath, her clenched fists trembling.

“I’m so upset that I couldn’t see that man’s face properly. I don’t know why he did that to me and Yeju, [Read on]and I just… I was just so angry and felt so wronged.”

A man who appeared at the school late at night, stabbed two girls, and fled. Jion remembered seeing a similar incident on the news a few months ago. He barely suppressed urge to sigh. The culprit in this case had also not been caught yet.

Why do things like this keep happening? He was angry just like Nam Seunghee, but he felt frustrated that there was nothing he could do.

Now that he thought about it, he recalled hearing that of the two victims at the time, only one had died and the other had lived. If Nam Seunghee was the one who died, it meant her friend Lee Yeju was still alive. Feeling that her unstable emotions might be related to Lee Yeju, Jion spoke cautiously.

“By the way, what happened to… Yeju? Do you have any news about her?”

“…All I know about Yeju is what I heard other students saying shortly after I died. They said she was in the hospital then… and I even heard she was discharged. But it’s been a while now, and Yeju isn’t coming to school. I want to go see her if I can move, but I can’t leave the school grounds…”

Nam Seunghee stopped mid-sentence and bit her lip. Tears began to pour from her eyes.

“If I hadn’t asked to go to the classroom back then… Yeju wouldn’t have ended up like that…”

Her words were heavy with self-reproach. It seemed that the anger over her death and the guilt toward her friend Lee Yeju were what had intensified Nam Seunghee’s ghostly energy. Jion tried to comfort her with silence, fearing that hasty words might make things harder for her. Yu Chasa also remained in his spot with a somber expression.

Then why was Nam Seunghee bound to this world? Since she couldn’t leave the school, her desire might be linked to this place. Jion waited until she stopped crying.

“Seunghee-ya, then… why couldn’t you go to the underworld? Is there a reason?”

Nam Seunghee bit her lower lip as she looked at Jion. Seeing her lower her gaze slightly, Jion realized she knew what she wanted.

“Actually… I thought about it seriously not long ago. I wondered why [stolen content]I couldn’t leave this place.”

“…”

“At first, I didn’t really know why. I just thought it was because I felt so wronged…”

Nam Seunghee cleared her voice and continued after taking a deep breath.

“I think… I want to see Yeju get healthy and come back to school. That’s why… I don’t think I want to leave the school. Every morning, I go to the classroom to see if Yeju is there or not.”

Jion felt relieved that his guess was correct to some extent. On the other hand, he was worried about whether he could fulfill Nam Seunghee’s final wish, so he couldn’t bring himself to speak to her right away.

Although he didn’t know the full details yet, Lee Yeju must be traumatized as well. Especially since her friend had died and the culprit hadn’t even been caught. She might still be barely surviving day by day in fear.

Was there a good way? After thinking for a while, Jion came up with an idea. He would find out news about Lee Yeju on behalf of Nam Seunghee, who couldn’t leave the school.

“Seunghee-ya, should I look into it? To see how Yeju is doing.”

He might not be able to get Lee Yeju to come to school right away, but if he put in the effort, he might at least hear some news. He didn’t know if simply relaying the news would satisfy Nam Seunghee, but he planned to do everything he could.

“To be honest… I can’t make Yeju come to school right. I don’t know how she’s doing yet or what her circumstances are.”

“…”

“But I think I can find out how she’s doing.”

When Jion gave a faint smile, Nam Seunghee hesitated for a moment before suddenly asking a question.

“…But why are you doing this for me? What do you gain from it?”

Even when confronted with her slightly skeptical attitude, Jion smiled brightly. Then, when he saw Yu Chasa staring at him with wide eyes, he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck and spoke.

“Um… to do lots of good deeds so I can go to heaven later?”

“…Student Jion, was that it?”

He felt awkward because he had never told anyone the reason why he did these things. Since it wasn’t something he felt comfortable sharing, he just dodged the question. But Yu Chasa’s reaction felt unsettling. Jion didn’t want to pursue the topic further, so he quickly changed the subject.

“They say the longer you stay in this world, the harder it becomes to reincarnate. So I want to help you leave this place as soon as possible. I can see you, and I know what the better path is, so pretending I don’t… feels a bit wrong.”

Jion glanced at Chasa Yu for help. Fortunately, Yu Chasa cleared his throat and continued speaking.

“It’s as Student Jion says. Student Seunghee, you need to leave this world quickly to get a chance at reincarnation.”

“…”

“When you go to the afterlife to stand trial, I will take responsibility for you until the very end. So, after you get news of your friend with Student Jion’s help, why don’t you come with me to the underworld then?”

Yu Chasa finished with a voice that inspired trust and gave a bright smile. Perhaps because of that, the ghostly energy felt when first seeing Nam Seunghee Read on had softened significantly, and the whites of her eyes, which had been so red they looked as if they might weep tears of blood, had returned to their original color.

After a long while, Nam Seunghee slowly spoke.

“Then… can you find out if Yeju is doing well? Just knowing that she’s healthy and doing well… would be enough.”

When Jion gave a smile and nodded, Nam Seunghee wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Then, as if something had just occurred to her, she hurriedly began to speak.