Three Sounds from the Third Floor During Exam Season, and Second Place Must Not Answer

Our school’s old building has a self-study room on the third floor that is barely used now.

At the end of the hallway, there is a staircase leading up to the rooftop, and the door is always locked. An old padlock hangs from the handle. Above it, a faded “No Entry” notice is still taped to the wall. During the day, it is only a quiet hallway. Students rarely pass through unless they have to, and sometimes a teacher goes up there carrying a storage-room key.

But whenever seniors talked about that place, their voices got a little lower.

“Don’t go to the third floor of the old building at night.”

At first, I thought they were joking.

I first found the rumor properly in a notebook left in the literature club room. Between old magazine drafts and festival scripts, there was a short note.

“Old building, third-floor self-study room. Exam period. Around 10:40 p.m. Three sounds from the rooftop stairs.”

Under it, someone had written one shorter line.

“Kong kong kong.”

At first, I thought it was just a ghost story idea. Maybe some senior had written it down for a school festival piece. But the next page had a sentence that felt worse.

“Do not look back. Second place must not answer.”

I copied that sente