The Kong Kong Ghost Haunting Korean Schools

One of the urban legends from the Korean classroom is the legend of The Kong Kong Ghost haunting the schools. It is a legend of the dangers if you reach for the number one spot without really deserving it, and the consequences of your actions.

The Kong Kong Ghost (콩콩콩 귀신) is an Korean urban legend about the student of a ghost haunting the school. There are many ghost stories tied to the school premise because of the long hours kids spend there and the means for stories to travel between the students.

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Korea

This particular legend about The Kong Kong Ghost became told in the hallways, in the bathrooms and locker rooms throughout Korea’s schools in the 1990s. Still to this day, and at least back then, it wasn’t uncommon for students to stay until late in the evening to self study, and the schools were open until 10 and 11 in the evenings.

The legend of The Kong Kong Ghost that is about the best student in school speaks to the fear of not being number one, and the ultimate defeat of being number two, no matter how you handle the situation.

In many of the reimaginings of the urban legend of the Kong Kong ghost haunting the Korean schools, art and other, it is often about two girls competing for the number one spot, but not always. They are usually in high school age as there is high stakes of what type of university they get accepted into on the line.

The Legend of the Second Best

The story of The Kong Kong Ghost follows the second best student in school. It is better than most, but it still isn’t enough for some. For the students’ future there is only one option, and that is becoming the number one. Because of the pressure from the school, the teachers, parents and even from the student herself.

To get into the college this particular student wants, she needs to prove that she was number one in something, but she is constantly beaten by her classmate that always score as the top of the class. Being the second best is simply not good enough. Because of this, the student turns her anger at her enemy and starts to hate her for being better.

One day the number one and number two student stands at the rooftop of the school together, perhaps taking some fresh air in between the intense study sessions. The anger that has been building in the second best student is reaching its building point and number two pushes number one off the roof, killing her as she hits head first into the ground when landing.

The murder is looked at as a tragic suicide of the pressure of constant being number one and no one really suspects that the good student, now the best one could have anything to do with it. For a while it looks like the new number one got away with it, but her horrible actions comes back to haunt her.

Read More: Check out stories like The Ghost in Red at Ping Shan Tat Tak School or Madam Koi Koi and The School Hauntings in Nigeria for more ghost stories from haunted schools.

Strange sounds are heard throughout the school, at least the new number one student hears it constantly. A mysterious thumping sound Kong Kong it goes. It is the sound of the murdered student walking the hallways, jumping on her head to move forward because of the horrible way she died. It is said that the horrible disfigured ghost of the student is looking for her killer.

According to the legend, the Kong Kong Ghost finally got her revenge. The new number one student sat to the late hours in the classroom to study one night when she heard it: Kong… Kong… it sounded from the hallways and a door to another classroom opened further down the hall. Perhaps just someone looking for the right classroom?

Not here!

A voice could be heard in the distance, and it sounded eerily familiar to the new number one that is starting to realise something isn’t right. This is not the sound of a student getting lost in the hallways. More knocking sound of something heavy is heard down the hall before another door opened, closer this time.

Not here!

The student is now panicking and afraid because she now recognized the voice of her former nemesis. She hides under her desk in hopes that the thumping sound will just pass her classroom and leave her alone. Kong… Kong… and the door opens slowly and something is staring in, looking for someone in particular.

Not here!

The door closes and the relieved student crawls out from under the desk, ready to pack up her things and get out from the haunted school. But when she stands up she is faced with her former classmate she pushed to her death and took the place of. Upside down she hangs from the ceiling, bloodless white face with eyes filled with hate.

Here!

One of the urban legends from the Korean classroom is the legend of The Kong Kong Ghost. It is a legend of the dangers if you reach for the number one spot without really deserving it, and the consequences of your actions. — **The Kong Kong Ghost:** Reimagined in Goeadam, the Netflix series about Korean urban legends and ghost stories, including a retelling of the urban legend about The Kong Kong ghost..

Of course, the student that thought she could get away with murder and take first place, was brutally murdered. Perhaps the ghost story of the Kong Kong ghost show us just how fierce the competition of school rankings in Korean schools can be, and to the extent it can drive certain people to madness.