Ghost Story Club

Chapter 88: Eleventh Ghost Story – The Forgotten Friend (1)

Thanks a lot S for the Kofi! One extra chapter will be posted as promised!

There’s a story about doing something very trivial that one would think is absolutely impossible to misremember.

①

Dukhun once mentioned having many online friends with whom he had been playing games for a long time.

Originally, they met through forming a guild in an online game (probably Dungeon & Fighter). There were about four people in that group who had been members for a long time.

Although their meeting started with Dungeon & Fighter, as they created a group chat and continued to hang out together, their relationship improved and they soon became like best of friends. They also started playing other games, such as MineCraft, together and became close friends online. According to Dukhun, these were his closest internet buddies.

One day, while they were playing the game diligently as usual through voice chat, Dukhun noticed that one member in particular was unusually quiet.

He thought that something might be bothering the silent member so he was quiet. However, the following day, and the day after that, the member remained silent.

In the end, curiosity got the best of him so he cautiously asked why the particular member had been so quiet lately. However, the other members became confused and started scolding him, asking what he was talking about.

They said that the silent member had a congenital condition that caused him to have a vocal impediment, so he had never used a microphone in the first place.

Surprised, Dukhun further argued, saying that they were the one who were talking nonsense. Just recently, they were raiding together and having conversations. However, all he got in response were baffled replies, with no one understanding what he meant.

Dukhun, who even remembered talking one-on-one with that silent member, quickly opened his call log. However, instead of the phone records, he only found countless text messages.

The conversations that he thought he had with the member over phone calls were written in text instead, filling up the screen. In reality, he had never actually heard that member’s voice.

Such a discovery only puzzled Dukhun further. He never used text messages to communicate at all, except for receiving codes for game authentication. Otherwise, he would mostly rely on KakaoTalk for text conversations.

After spending several years together, he wondered how he could have been under the illusion that he had heard the member’s voice all this time. He also puzzled over the fact why he had mistakenly remembered their text conversations as if they had talked over phone calls.

And even if it was a mistake, he wondered why he had used text messages for conversation with that particular member, instead of KakaoTalk.

Despite all the suspicious aspects, it seemed that the group was still continuing their gaming as usual.

Dukhun’s gaming friends were still seamlessly interacting with each other online without facing any problem.

And the silent member with a voice disorder still never used the microphone.

②

“Do you guys perhaps know about the existence of 200 won coin?”

“200 won coin?”

In the clubroom during lunchtime.

Gyeongwon asked, and Sunah showed a bewildered expression in response.

“There is such a coin…?”

“There is.”

Gyeongwon affirmed firmly.

“In my memory.”

When I asked what they were talking about, he replied that he remembered using a 200 won coin when he was young.

He recalled going to a stationery store with his mother to buy school supplies during elementary school. When he saw a toy claw machine there and expressed his desire to try it, his mother gave him a 200 won coin.

According to his memory, a 200 won coin was slightly smaller than a 500 won coin but a bit larger than a 100 won coin.

The claw machine was designed to require two 100 won coins to work. However, he even remembered in detail the the claw machine worked immediately when he inserted the 200 won coin.

He also remembered that after that day, whenever he found a 200 won coin while sorting coins at home, he would set it aside and collect it separately.

In a TV entertainment show, there was an explanation that commemorative coins from a specific year can be expensive. For example, it was mentioned that among 200 won coins, those minted in 1984 have special value.….

“Aren’t you confusing it for something like a children’s piggy bank? There could be toy coins too.”

“Absolutely not.”

Gyeongwon tapped his chest as if frustrated.

“If it was a toy coin, I wouldn’t remember buying things with it at the supermarket. I also remember running errands with several 200 won coins as part of my parents’ economic education session.”

“It could be considered somewhat rare, but still not extremely rare. Perhaps comparable to the old 10 won coins in terms of rarity? Although most coins have changed to smaller sizes now, we still occasionally come across the old 10 won coins. It was that level of rarity. I remember it all clearly.”

“….So? Do you really have them?”

“Of course, I don’t have them….”

Gyeongwon lowered his head dejectedly, his expression clouded.

“As I reached the upper grades of elementary school, do you think I’d be able to focus on a coin after busily focusing on studies and attending a cram school after that? I even rarely went outside or used coins. I had forgotten about them for a while, but one day the thought of, ‘Come to think of it, I haven’t seen one lately’ suddenly appeared in my mind.

“Hmm.”

“So I asked my Mom if she had any 200 won coin, but she rather scolded me saying there was no such a thing in the world and I was talking nonsense… I also experienced a similar situation and heard the the same thing.”

Upon hearing him, I couldn’t help but wonder if I could find a 200 won coin anywhere in the world.

“Even when I recalled memories of the claw toy machine or errands from back then when she handed me the coins, she couldn’t remember. Perhaps because it was quite a long time ago, and she completely couldn’t remember the events since she wasn’t involved directly.”

Then he took out his phone discreetly and showed it to me.

“But, look at this. I’m not the only one.”

What Gyeongwon showed me was the search results for 200 won coins on the Internet.

[There was a 200 won coin. I remember it clearly. 200 won was written on the coin… I used to buy snacks with it.]

[I remember that back in the old days, Cheetos used to cost 200 won, and I used to use it to buy snacks conveniently. However, at some point, it disappeared… Actually, I’m curious about it too. x-x]

[Was there really no 200 won coin? I vividly remember using 200 won for a long time… Was it just a childhood imagination???]

Besides that, there were buzzing discussions among netizens about having used a 200 won coin when they were young.

“It seems there are more people who say they saw it than I thought.”

I was also puzzled by the revelation.

Was there really such a coin?

But it doesn’t seem like there was one?

Because I don’t recall using such a coin like that ever in my life.

Gyeongwon sighed after seeing my confused expression.

“The Prez is right. There exists no such a coin.”

[2019, April 30 | Tuesday, 12:32]

[Lee Joon: Number of Attempts – 2]

[Ghost Story Points: 67]

[Causality Rate: 14%]

“Although it was issued as commemorative coins, a 200 won coin never existed in everyday use. I guess it was probably this mystery that led me to expand my interests from just detective stories to also exploring urban legends and ghost stories.”

“…I see.”

We swiftly finished our lunch and took a break in the clubroom.

We were discussing the misconceptions about small but absolutely infallible things that happened in our childhood.

“What do you mean they don’t exist, idiot. They do.”

Jinhee, who had been resting on the sofa at that moment, responded while lying down. It seemed she heard our conversation.

“…What?”

We, who were sitting around the desk and discussing, looked back at her with questioning gazes.

“200 won coins exist. When I was young, I used to play with them like crazy with the neighborhood older boys.”

“Playing with coins?”

Sunah turned around and asked me, wanting to know what it was.

“That… is a kind of gambling children play with coins. It’s a bad habit. Anyway, children sometimes play things like that.”

I left a vague reply to Sunah and turned to Jinhee before asking again.

“Maybe you’re mistaken? I was about to conclude that this doesn’t exist and move on to the next topic instead.”

“…How could they not exist? I still have piles of them at home.”

“What?”

This time, we were all startled by those words.

Even Dukhun, who was deeply engrossed in watching anime, was also surprised seeing our surprised expression and he took off his headphones and looked around.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“….Jinhee says she has 200 won coins at her house.”

“Huh?”

Dukhun raised his eyebrows and began thinking deeply about something.

Then he snickered and put his headphones back on.

“3 weeks of falsehood.”

[T/N: “우소 3 주다” or “3 weeks of falsehood” is a Korean slang expression. It’s a shortened form of “우리는 소문을 3주 동안 퍼뜨리다,” which means to spread a rumor or falsehood for three weeks. It implies that someone is engaging in deceit or exaggeration over a period of time.]

Whack-

A cushion flew from the sofa and bounced away after hitting the back of Dukhun’s head.

“Say clearly what you want to say.”

“Ahh… you guys don’t know the meaning?”

Dukhun smiled smugly with an indifferent expression.

“It seems people around me are all incompetent. It means ‘lies’.”

“Ahhhhhhh!”

Jinhee immediately got up from her lying position on the sofa and rushed to Dukhun while screaming. She grabbed the back of his thick neck from behind and began shaking and choking him.

“Someone kill this little bastard!”

“Co… cough… sor… sorry.”

Dukhun fell backwards and began flailing his arms.

Then, Hayoon with a playful smile, patted his belly that was facing up and tried to imitate his tone of speaking.

“Oi oi, Dukhun-kun. Where did your fighting spirit just now, go?”

“Cough… cough.”

Dukhun’s face turned bright red with his veins bulging. It seemed being beaten by Jinhee has embarrassed him.

‘….This is the first time I’ve seen Hayoon being playful.’

No, if I thought about it carefully… she had always been quite playful, although subtle.

I shook my head.

I’d really like to know who on earth first developed that kind of speaking tone.

‘It sounds like shit.’

“But do you really have 200 won coins in your house?”

“I do.”

Jin-hee, who, despite beating Dukhun who weighed more than 0.15 tons, responded with a completely unfazed expression as if it was no bother.

“Then after your reach home, can you take some pictures and send them to me? I’m curious.”

“Too troublesome. You guys should just come along.”

At the unexpected offer, we subtly glanced at each other, gauging the situation.

According to us, going over to someone’s house is more of a hassle.

“Would that be okay? You need to go to your part-time work…”

“It’d fine. You guys will be staying for a bit anyway.”

“Okay!”

I nodded enthusiastically.

When I asked the other members for their opinions with a glance, they all showed expressions of understanding.

“Thank you! Then let’s all go to Jinhee’s house after school today!”

“That’ll be fun…”

Sunah said with a slight smile.

I had been planning to visit each member’s home at least once to increase the understanding level, but somehow, it ended up starting with Jinhee.

That afternoon, during the end of the day homeroom period.

“As I’ve gotten older, I discovered that I have problem with urination…”

“Pfft haha.”

After the homeroom teacher said what he wanted to say and some of the responsive students laughed, the period finally ended.

We grabbed our bags and left the classroom.

“Let’s go~”

“Everyone’s here?”

The six of us rushed out of the hallway.

Teacher Hwaeun, who was coming down the stairs, was surprised seeing us all together.

“Where are you children going?”

“We’re going home since school is over.”

“Everyone can go out and have fun except this poor teacher!”

She grumbled, seemingly annoyed.

“We’re just stopping by briefly at Jinhee’s house to check if there’s a 200 won coin at her house.”

“200 won coin?”

Teacher Jang Hwaeun made a bewildered expression.

“Does Teacher want to come with us?”

“No, I have more important things to do.”

She sighed deeply as she denied.

“Then see you guys later. Bye~”

“Goodbye~”

The teacher winked at Sunah and then briskly walked down the hallway.

Soon, we stood side by side at the main entrance and took out our shoes from the lockers before putting them on.

“By the way, Sunah, what did you talk about with the Teacher yesterday?”

“Huh? Um…”

Sunah made a visibly flustered expression.

She put her particularly smaller feet into her old pink sneakers and slowly stood up, answering.

“I’ll tell you later…”

“Okay, I understand.”