Chapter 144 – Ghost ‘Like’ (3)
“Good morning, Ho artist-nim.”
“Come in. Hehe… hehehe…”
A few days later.
Kang Min-hyuk arrived at the Korea University Occult Research Club in an oddly refreshed (?) mood.
There was only one member, so he wasn’t sure if it could even be called a “club”…
“Did you sleep here again today?”
“No, I went home yesterday. There was something… I needed to handle privately.”
As Min-hyuk took out his laptop and asked, Ho Tae-yeon answered with the corners of her mouth lifted.
Maybe it was her unique atmosphere.
‘It feels like she came back after drowning someone somewhere.’
Just from that, Min-hyuk felt a chill run down his spine for no reason.
After they finished setting up,
“Alright, then please take a look at what I worked on yesterday.”
“Yes, let’s do that. Hehe…”
The two of them opened the <Gangryeong> roughs they had worked on overnight on the laptop and began reviewing them.
Boom! Crash!
Sound effects were added.
There were effects where the screen cracked as if glass was breaking.
At other times, footsteps or spatial audio were inserted.
Not only that.
The scroll timing had become much more dramatic in speed…
And visual enhancements had been made in various places.
The corners of Min-hyuk’s mouth naturally lifted as he checked the pages.
‘As expected… This was the right choice.’
It had already been the fourth day since he started coming to the Occult Research Club to work.
During that time, Min-hyuk could clearly feel the quality of his roughs improving noticeably.
And of course, Ho Tae-yeon’s contribution to that was quite significant.
“Hmm, this part is good. Let’s tweak it a little like this. Hehe… If we add a slight off-beat to the timing, it’ll make people jump even more, right?”
Tap tap tap! Tap tap tap!
Ho Tae-yeon frantically typed on the keyboard, adjusting the Flash code.
Watching her, Min-hyuk felt not just admiration but also a slight sense of futility.
‘She’s amazing… When I tried to do even a simple scroll effect, I had to dig through Knowledge-iN and all sorts of books just to manage it. But she handles so many things so quickly…’
She even suggested,
“How about having the scroll suddenly stop dead and then a voice whispering right in the ear? I can record it myself.”
“Yes, that sounds good. Let’s put everything in first, and if it feels too much, we can remove it later.”
While working, she seemed so excited that she kept pouring out ideas nonstop.
The only slightly difficult part was—
“Hehe, uhehehehehehehe! Kyaahahaha!”
“W-why are you suddenly…?”
Ho Tae-yeon would abruptly lift the corners of her mouth and laugh like a maniac.
For a moment, she looked like she was wearing a red mask, causing Min-hyuk to flinch backward in surprise.
“I’m just happy. To think I’m creating a masterpiece with Kang Min-hyuk artist-nim… one that will leave its mark on the history of Korean comics! I’m so thrilled!”
“Ah… yes.”
‘That startled me…’
During work, she would suddenly let out strange screams or laugh in unsettling ways.
“Ufufufu, Min-hyuk artist-nim… If you’re bored while working, shall I tell you one of the ghost stories from this annex? It’s a really thrilling and scary one.”
“Ah, no. It’s okay, you don’t have to.”
She would also suddenly launch into soul-chilling ghost stories with no warning, which was a bit hard to handle.
After spending yet another frightening (?) daily routine like this,
“Whew… Let’s call it a day here.”
“Thank you for your hard work, Min-hyuk artist-nim.”
“I’ll send you the work files by email.”
Having barely survived another day without a heart attack, Min-hyuk opened his email to send the day’s progress.
But then…
“Huh?”
Suddenly, it wouldn’t connect.
The internet.
“Why… is it doing this?”
“Please wait a moment, artist-nim.”
Ho Tae-yeon took over his seat and fiddled around with various settings.
Then she scratched her head vigorously and said,
“It looks like… it’s dead.”
“Huh?”
“Ah, not a person. The internet. We’re basically stealing internet here, so this happens often.”
“…Stealing internet?”
“Yes. Since this isn’t an officially approved club room. Anyway, this is troublesome. When it goes down like this, it usually doesn’t come back for the whole day. Uuuugh…”
It was awkward.
Most of today’s work had been done on Ho Tae-yeon’s laptop.
Min-hyuk needed to go home and finish the polishing based on these files, so if he couldn’t send them now, the schedule would be delayed a bit.
‘I should have brought an external hard drive.’
He had left it behind because the internet had been working perfectly fine for the past few days — that was his mistake.
While they were stuck in this difficult situation,
Ho Tae-yeon scratched her head and said,
“If it’s really not working, do you want to sleep here tonight? I’ll sleep on the floor. Hehe… hehehe…”
As she lifted the corners of her mouth with dark circles hanging under her eyes, a bead of sweat formed on Min-hyuk’s forehead.
‘No, absolutely not.’
He swallowed hard, and a faint tremble ran through his body.
Spending the night here felt like he would genuinely get possessed by a ghost.
Min-hyuk smiled and answered,
“No, I’ll find a way. Maybe I can ask for help from another club?”
“Uuuugh… I wonder if they’ll help. I’ve asked a few times before, but I’ve never once received any help. The people at our school… tend to be pretty unfriendly in general.”
Dark energy seemed to rise in wisps behind Tae-yeon as she lifted the corners of her mouth.
‘The reason they didn’t help… I think I can guess.’
Looking at her overwhelming presence, Min-hyuk somehow felt that…
The people in the annex had probably just been scared of her.
Min-hyuk let out a deep sigh, then unplugged the LAN cable from the laptop and said,
“It’s fine. I actually… already have a place in mind.”
“A place in mind?”
“Yes. On the way here, I saw a club room with people inside. Let’s go there and ask for help.”
“Ah, okay!”
And so, the two of them hurriedly left the basement… no, the club room.
***
Korea University annex building.
A corner of the hallway where many club rooms were clustered.
Scratch scratch!
A male student sat at a desk, drawing something on manuscript paper with a serious expression.
On the desk were comic books and how-to-draw guides, and beside them stood a Dragon Ball figure.
Thick eyebrows and sharp, intense eyes.
His expression was so serious it almost looked solemn.
His name was Jin Young-jun.
A second-year psychology major at Korea University.
Vice-president of the Comic Creation Club and…
A young man currently dreaming of becoming a comic artist.
His hand gripped the pen with considerable force.
Jin Young-jun held his breath as he stared intently at the manuscript paper.
The reason he was concentrating so hard was simple.
‘This time, I’m really going to draw a proper comic. And someday, I’ll become a pro.’
Since childhood, he had dreamed of becoming a comic artist.
However, in a “study-oriented” household where both parents were teachers, his voice naturally couldn’t grow loud.
That didn’t mean he hadn’t resisted.
In his second year of middle school, he had declared to his parents — who were glaring at him with fiery eyes — that he was going to draw comics.
But the response he received was:
- First, get into a good high school. Then I’ll allow it. —
But getting into a good high school turned into getting into a good university.
Once he got into a good university, the goal changed again to getting a good job.
As the years passed like this, Jin Young-jun himself felt his dream growing faint.
The Comic Creation Club he had joined with high hopes mostly involved reading comic books or anime and having otaku talks… or just drinking and partying.
Then, right after he was discharged from the military, something hit him like a hammer.
‘I’m going to become someone like David artist too. Even a high schooler did it, so there’s no reason I can’t.’
David — Kang Min-hyuk.
A boy who was only a first-year high school student had suddenly won the Presidential Award at the Bucheon Comic Awards.
And with an outstanding comic called Brave King, no less.
The long-forgotten dream ignited in his chest once more.
He realized that if he delayed his dream any longer, he might never be able to rekindle that spark.
So he boldly declared:
- My goal is February next year! I’m going to participate in the Hakyeoul Comic Land! —
- Comic Land? President, why are you suddenly talking about that? When did you ever do something like that? —
- Shut up! We’re the Comic Creation Club! If you don’t like it, then leave! —
The plan was for every member of the Comic Creation Club to draw one short story each and publish a club anthology.
This would be the first step. While still in school, they would build up their fundamental comic strength.
Then, after graduation, they would debut as pros as quickly as possible!
That was Jin Young-jun’s grand plan.
“I can do it. I can definitely do it. I, Jin Young-jun, am someone who can achieve anything I set my mind to.”
However, right as he was cheering himself on,
Gurgle gurgle gurgle!
His stomach suddenly let out a loud, fierce growl.
When he checked his watch, it was already pointing to 6 o’clock.
It was dinner time.
‘Has it already gotten this late?’
Jin Young-jun jumped up from his seat and called out,
“I’m going to the convenience store. Anyone want to come?”
“…”
But no answer came back.
“Why is no one responding?”
He turned his head, only to see that the seats where the club members should have been sitting were completely empty.
“…These guys with zero grit. They couldn’t even wait a little and ran off again.”
Haaaaah.
With this kind of mentality, could they even publish an anthology…?
Young-jun shook his head and walked toward the door.
Right at that moment,
Bang!
“Ow!”
The door flew open violently and smacked Young-jun right in the forehead.
As he stumbled backward, the club members standing behind him spoke up.
“Hey, President, why are you standing there?”
“Did you hit your head? Oof… that must hurt.”
Young-jun rubbed his forehead and scolded them sharply.
“You guys! Where the hell did you go? We said we’d work hard this morning, and you’re already slacking off again?”
“Ah, well… We just went to grab some coffee, but something came up.”
“What ‘something came up’? You just ditched work!”
“Actually… we saw a ghost.”
“A ghost?”
“Yeah! And we saw David artist-nim too. You know him, right, President? The high schooler who drew Brave King! We got his autograph and talked with him for a bit, so that’s why we’re late…”
Anger deepened on Jin Young-jun’s face.
“Are you guys messing with me right now? A ghost? And why the hell would David artist be here? If you didn’t want to work, just say so honestly! What kind of ridiculous excuse is—”
Right as he was speaking,
“Hello. You’re… the president of the Comic Creation Club, right?”
A gloomy voice, like a whisper right beside his ear, rang out.
He turned his head.
“Hiiiiiik! G-Ghost!”
Standing there was exactly the ghost they had just been talking about.
As Young-jun quickly stepped back, something bumped into his back.
“Ow!”
He whipped his head around.
“Hello.”
A boy who looked like a high school student was standing there, scratching his forehead.
For some reason, the face looked familiar.
“…Huh? Huh? Huuuuh?”
Young-jun pointed with a trembling finger as his voice grew louder.
“D-David… artist-nim?”
“Ah, yes, that’s right.”
It was unmistakably the ‘David’ — Kang Min-hyuk — he had seen briefly in internet articles and news.
A ghost in front, Kang Min-hyuk beside him.
‘Am I dreaming right now?’
Flustered, Young-jun blinked rapidly.
“Sorry to bother you, but our internet isn’t working right now… Would it be okay if we borrowed your club room’s internet for a little while?”
“Ah, yes! O-Of course! Please use my desk!”
Jin Young-jun quickly gave up his seat as if welcoming a VIP.
Then Ho Tae-yeon handed over a box of drinks she had bought from the nearby convenience store.
“Here, this is a small gift.”
“Ah, thank you! We’ll enjoy them!”
The two of them sat down at the desk, plugged in the LAN cable, and started working.
“Send all the files in this folder.”
“Ah, these are the previous versions, right?”
“Yes, yes.”
Meanwhile, the club members standing beside Young-jun spoke up.
“See, President? We were telling the truth.”
“Why don’t you ever believe us?”
Kang Min-hyuk and the ghost.
The scene was exactly as the members had described, and Young-jun couldn’t close his mouth.
About ten minutes later,
“Whew, thank you so much. You must be busy, yet you let us use your space. We really appreciate it.”
Having finished their business, Kang Min-hyuk and Ho Tae-yeon bowed politely and were about to leave the club room.
Just then—
“W-Wait a moment, Kang Min-hyuk artist-nim!”
“Yes?”
“I-I’m a fan! I really enjoyed Brave King. I also read all the short stories and anthologies you drew!”
“Ah… Thank you.”
“Um, I’m really sorry! I know you’re extremely busy, but… could you please do me one favor?”
“A favor…?”
When Min-hyuk tilted his head, one of the club members nudged Young-jun in the side with his elbow.
“Ah, President, if it’s about an autograph, we already got one for you in advance.”
“Right? Our sense is pretty good, huh?”
“…I don’t need an autograph.”
“Huh? It’s not that?”
Step!
Jin Young-jun took a bold step forward, firmly grabbed both of Kang Min-hyuk’s hands, and said,
“Could you… possibly… take a look at the comic I drew? Just once?”
Burning passion, like molten iron from a furnace, filled his face with desperate longing.